Nico was a wreck for the first three days after Will left. Obviously Hazel was emotional, too. Nico, however, was having a crisis.
"What if he doesn't come home?"
"Oh, yeah," Hazel said. "Eighteen year old Will Solace is going to leave his Mom, friends and boyfriend. Totally."
"Med school, Hazel! He's going to become a surgeon and never be at home and when he is at home he's gonna be sleeping-"
"Dude, he's not a surgeon yet."
"Don't call me dude."
"Fine," Hazel sighed. "Let's take our minds off boyfriends. Are you ready to go back to school?"
"Not really," Nico replied. "Our table at lunchtime will be so empty."
"I know change is hard. Things are going to be fine!"
"Alright."
• • •
School wasn't exactly fine. Hazel had expected change, sure, but it was weird. Really weird. During free classes, they didn't go to get their friends. Their friends were at college. At lunchtime, the table seemed so empty. Everyone was talking about Jason, like, all the time, especially to Hazel and Nico. There wasn't as much noise coming from the Hermes table. It felt wrong.
One lunchtime, Hazel and Nico were in middle of an 'argument'. It wasn't uncommon, especially since they were siblings, but since going back to school they'd been happening more and more often. Spending the entire school day together and living together wasn't a good mix. So during lunch, Nico stood up and walked over to Alice, Julia and Connor to sit with them.
"He did not," Hazel whispered to herself, also standing up. "I am not sitting alone!"
She stood up and walked over to the table, sitting beside Julia.
"I sense tension," Connor said. "Oh my god, sibling drama? As if. Travis and I have a loving relationship. Anyway, what's going on?"
"You're acting weird," Alice whispered to Connor. A lot of people acted weird when Hazel and Nico were around, especially after Jason's death.
Julia laughed. "Keeping up with the Kardashians? I'd rather keeping up with the di Angelo and Levesque- yeah no that doesn't sound right. It'd be fun, though!"
"You are talking more than usual," Nico said. "Can't anyone act normal these days?"
Connor just laughed awkwardly. "We're totally normal."
Hazel raised an eyebrow.
"Okay," he sighed. "I just- feel bad, y'know? I mean, it's not like it's my fault, but I was talking to Luke that day. Hours before- you know- yeah. And he was like a normal guy. I mean he had this weird scar which was creepy but otherwise he just seemed like an average guy- I didn't think he'd- you know?"
Nico nodded. "A lot of people aren't as they seem."
"You are how you seem," Julia said. "You know- you got this whole emo look- and your personality just fits well!"
"Does it?" Hazel laughed. "Because yesterday-"
"Hazel." Nico glared at her.
"Yesterday he cried over High School Musical."
"What?" Alice laughed. "You're joking."
"I get it!" Connor sighed. "He wanted to sing and he wanted to play basketball! He wanted the best of both worlds!"
"Exactly!" Nico slammed his hand on the table. "It's a cinematic masterpiece."
"Agreed! The lyrics to the songs have so much meaning-"
Julia, Alice and Hazel all stared at each other.
"I never should've brought up highschool musical. It was a mistake," Hazel whispered.
"Agreed," Julia nodded.
"Seriously, though," Connor said. "Y'all should sit here all the time. It's been kinda boring without Cecil and Travis- sorry Alice and Julia, you're boring."
"Please," Hazel said. "Nico has been so annoying."
"Shut up-" he glared at her again.
"Sibling love," Alice smiled. "Other people can join us, too. Poor Mitchell, all his friends have gone to college. We can invite him over."
"Definitely," Julia said. "Senior year will be good. Trust me."
"I hope so," Hazel whispered, mainly to herself.
"If we make it fun, it will be fun," Nico said. It was probably the most positive thing he'd said in a long time.
Mr Blofis approached them, books in his hand. "Hi, guys. Last year's yearbooks have finally arrived- even though they were supposed to arrive in May. We're mailing most of them to the past students, but Connor you can take Travis' for him. I assume you'll see Cecil too."
"Definitely," Connor took one of the yearbooks.
"Nico and I are visiting Rachel later," Hazel said. "I guess we could take one for her!"
"That'd be great, thanks."
Paul walked away after talking to them for a few minutes.
Connor opened one of the yearbooks. "Watch there be a bunch of cringe quotes."
Alice closed the yearbook. "Maybe it's best if we didn't-"
"Why?" Julia asked.
"Remember Travis' quote? The context behi-"
Hazel opened the book she took for Rachel, instantly finding Travis' picture. "There is more to life than emos."
"Wait he actually carried through with it?!" Julia laughed.
"Obviously!" Alice sighed. "He's crazy."
"What's the context?" Nico asked.
Everyone stared at him for a minute.
"What?" He said.
"Cecil said that.. uhm.." Connor paused. "To comfort me."
"Comfort you?" Nico narrowed his eyes.
"After I got rejected."
Hazel accidentally laughed. "Sorry."
"Wh- OH!" Nico said. "Oh. Right. Mhm. Yep. Anyway- wait a minute I'm not Emo!"
Hazel rolled her eyes, just as the school bell rang.
"Ugh," Julia complained. "Spanish."
"I have art," Hazel stood up. "See you all at the end of the day, yeah? Cmon, Nico."
"Yep. See ya!"
People still stared as her and Nico walked through the halls, whispering. Everyone knew how close they were with Jason. Everyone wanted to ask questions about his death, nobody was brave enough. Maybe the whispers would die down eventually. Until then, Hazel knew she had to keep her friends close, both new ones and old ones. She'd get through senior year just fine.
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Word Count: 969
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A/N: y'all. I am so sorry. It's been so long. My motivation just disappeared, and I was also on holidays for the last three weeks. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of updating