After their football practice, apparently Percy noticed me being there without me noticing. And, I thought I was watching him the whole time. Wait, did I really just admit that? Don’t tell Percy if you ever meet him.
I was the first one that Percy decided to go talk to. I probably would’ve felt a little more honored about Percy deciding to talk to me first out of all of his friends, but I was pretty sure I knew that he was coming to ask why I was even there and not at work.
“What are you doing here, Nico?” Percy demanded after he closed the distance between us.
I glanced up at him. Yep, I was right. I decided to play innocent, and if he actually remembered where I should have been. I cleared my throat, trying to tone down the blush that threatened to spread across my face due to how Percy looked after practice. I decided to never come to his football practice again. “What are you even talking about?”
Percy rolled his eyes. “Stop playing stupid. Why are you here?”
Apparently everyone was watching our conversation, because I could feel their gazes on us. But whenever I stared at one of them, they were just in their own little conversation with someone else. And I had the strangest feeling that their conversations were fake. Why did they even care what Percy and I talked about anyway? Or did they just want to see how I talked to people I was comfortable with, since I barely talked to them? Well, I wouldn’t say that I was exactly comfortable with a guy I secretly liked.
I innocently shrugged. “I don’t know. Ask Silena; she was the one that dragged me here.”
Percy’s eyes quickly flickered in Silena’s direction, who was currently having a fake conversation, before his gaze fell on me once again. “Aren’t you supposed to be working at the library today?”
Since when did I tell him that I worked at the library? I narrowed my eyes at him as I pushed the question into the back of my mind, knowing full well that it would come up into my head again. I rubbed the back of my neck. “My boss decided to give me a break since I told her why I wasn’t working for so long.”
Percy blinked a couple times at me, but I couldn’t figure out why. He shook his head after he snapped out of his daze. “You actually told her everything? Like, everything?”
I could pretty much feel Silena’s anxious and curious gaze as to what “everything” referred to on the side of my head, but I chose to ignore it. “She’s actually known for awhile now. I mean, she’s my boss; she’s bound to find out sometime.”
Percy scanned my face with a look that I couldn’t read, but he chose not to response to my statement. Instead, he glanced at Silena over to my right when she cleared her throat. I already knew what she wanted to talk about.
“Percy? Can I, um, talk to you? Privately?” Silena timidly asked, glancing at me. I didn’t know if she wanted a confirmation or not, but I nodded, despite the knot forming in my stomach once again at the thought of my back story being brought up again.
Annabeth eyed both Silena and me with an uncomfortable, yet calculating gaze. I gulped, feeling slightly more nervous. I had another strange feeling that she was in the middle of reading both of our minds—specifically mine.
Percy cocked his head to the side, his expression mirroring one of curiosity. “Uh, sure, I guess?”
They started to walk off, when I called out, “Hey, Percy?”
Percy glanced behind his shoulder, while Silena turned around fully. “Yeah?”
“When she asks, tell her. She’s not lying when she said I let her know,” I told Percy, who only raised an eyebrow.
“What are you talking about?”
I sighed. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Silena smiled at me. “Thanks, Nico.”
Percy glanced from Silena to me, and then sighed. “What kind of conversation did you guys have earlier?”
Silena only giggled and tapped on Percy’s shoulder. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
“What is that, phrase of the day?” Percy said exasperatedly, before he followed Silena farther into the field, where no one else was.
“Wait, Nico, you know what Silena wants to talk about?” Hazel turned towards me.
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?! How does that answer my question!”
I shrugged. “Who knows?”
Hazel sighed heavily and rubbed her right temple. “Why do you talk in riddles?”
I shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Nico!” Hazel laughed.
“No but seriously, what are they talking about?” Jason decided to join in on the conversation. “I’ve never seen Silena get like that.”
“She only gets like that when she’s afraid or nervous,” Beckendorf answered, taking a swig from the half-empty water bottle in his right hand.
“Maybe she wants to ask Percy out on a date.” Leo snickered. I totally forgot to mention that Leo was here as well, even though he wasn’t on the football team either.
Annabeth sent the Latino a venomous death glare, crossing her arms across her chest. Beckendorf shoved Leo off his chair. I smiled at them, clearly amused.
“Ow, jeez guys, can’t take a joke?” Leo grumbled, pushing himself off the ground and dusting himself off. He glanced at me and saw me smiling. “Glad you enjoy my suffering.” He dropped himself into his seat.
Everyone glanced at me and my smile instantly died. I blinked blankly at all of them, unsure of what to say. I felt very self-conscious, and I didn’t like it. No one ever noticed me; I made myself unnoticeable on purpose. But, now I was the center of attention, and I certainly hated it.
“Wow, well would you look at that. Nico was actually smiling.” Will smirked.
“I should’ve gotten my camera ready.” Kayla sighed.
“You guys are all idiots,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest and slouching in my seat. I glared at all of them around me.
“Nico, you are just so cute. You are the cutest freshman I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised I haven’t noticed you earlier,” Piper cooed, pinching my cheeks.
I swatted her hand away and sat back up in my chair. “I make myself unnoticeable.”
“Why?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.
I realized that I had said way too much for my liking. I opened and closed my mouth several times, unsure of what to say for the second time of the day. I decided to keep my mouth shut, and my lips tilted downward. I soon responded, “None of your business.”
“Come on, Nico. We’re you’re friends, right?” Hazel encouraged. “You can tell us anything.”
“Not to be mean or anything, but I don’t trust you guys just yet,” I muttered under my breath.
Apparently Reyna heard me. “I seem to not trust you either.”
“Reyna!” Piper exclaimed. “Not helping!”
Reyna rolled her eyes. “Just saying.”
“You seem to just trust Percy and Silena just fine,” Butch pointed out.
I frowned. “That’s because I’ve talked to them the most.”
“Then, maybe we should start getting to know you more.” Will ended up taking Silena’s spot next to me and swinging an arm around my shoulders. “So, when’s your birthday?”
I shrugged his arm off of my shoulders. “January 29th.”
“Holy shit it’s the 23rd!” Will exclaimed, letting his arm that was pushed off return to his side. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
I furrowed my brows. “You guys never asked. I never make such a big deal about my birthday anyway.”
“You don’t?!” Hazel asked, clearly shocked.
“Now we have to make a huge deal about his birthday, I’m guessing,” Reyna surmised.
Piper giggled. “Oh, you bet.”
I rolled my eyes at them. “You guys don’t have to. I mean, Silena and Percy already got me a gift on Friday. And I already told them I didn’t need one. You guys don’t have to if you want.”
“Are you kidding?” Beckendorf coughed. “Even if I just met you, you’re still my friend.”
I sighed heavily. “Don’t tell me you guys are going to get super expensive presents.”
“Why? Did Silena and Percy get you something super expensive?” Miranda ventured.
“Most likely. On Friday at the mall, they told me to wait outside while they went into Kay Jewelers,” I answered.
“Jewelry? You don’t seem like one to wear stuff like that,” Butch said.
“If both Silena and Percy agreed on the idea, then I’m pretty sure it’s more than just regular jewelry.” Annabeth finally decided to speak up to everyone. Her calculating gaze that was studying me fell.
“Well, no offense, but they’re both idiots,” Leo remarked.
“You’re one to talk,” Frank and I spoke simultaneously. We both glanced at each other and Frank chuckled.
“Looks like Nico’s on my side.” Frank smirked at Leo.
“Man, you guys just hate me.” Leo shook his head.
“I feel like you guys made a bet on whose side I would be on,” I guessed, glancing between Leo and Frank.
“They did.” Piper rolled her eyes as if to say: Boys.
“You guys really hate each other, do you?” Annabeth directed at Frank and Leo.
“I’m pretty sure you can answer that yourself, Ms. Brain Girl,” Leo replied, resulting in a book hitting his forehead.
“Jason, can you pass that back to me?” Annabeth asked like she didn’t just throw a book at Leo.
“Wow, thanks for the sorry!” Leo waved his arms in the air for emphasis.
Annabeth only rolled her eyes as she caught the book she threw at Leo. “No problem.”
“Hey, look who’s coming back.” Butch pointed a finger towards Silena and Percy, who were currently walking back.
When they finally reached us, Silena was staring at the ground as drops of water touched the ground. I then realized that she was crying, but for what, I wasn’t sure. Was she feeling bad for me? Was that why? Percy was staring back at her with a sympathetic look across his face.
“N-Nico,” Silena began through tears, “I’m so so so sorry.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to be. I mean, what did you do? It’s not your fault.”
“It’s my fault for not being there when you need someone!” Silena retorted, continuing to have her conversation with the ground.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a thing of the past, don’t worry.” I attempted to reassure her.
“But, Percy said you haven’t gotten over it,” Silena replied.
I shot Percy a look. “You really told her everything.”
He put his hands up defensively. “She told me to. Every single thing, she forced me to say. I wasn’t even going to talk about how you felt until she started to yell at me.”
“Yell? Silena doesn’t yell,” Miranda said, making Percy’s and my gaze fall towards her.
“This ‘everything’ must really be troubling,” Jason muttered.
“And, even if she was yelling, we would’ve heard it,” Katie said.
“They were standing all the way down to the end of the field. And, we were in our own conversation,” Annabeth stated.
“That is true,” Jake agreed.
“Okay, my curiosity is killing me. What were you guys talking about?” Beckendorf got up from his chair and went to go hug Silena around the waist.
Silena shook her head, snaking her arms around his neck, and burying her face into her chest. “I c-can’t tell you. I’m sorry, Charlie.” She sobbed into his chest, but I wondered why she sobbed so much over it, like it happened to her instead of me.
“I bet that’s how I looked like when I explained it to you, huh, Percy?” I glanced over to Percy, who glanced back at me when he heard his name in my sentence.
Percy gave me a sorrowful look. He parted his lips before he started to speak seconds later. “Yeah, I guess.” He glanced back at Silena and Beckendorf. “I don’t really like to think about how my friends cry though.”
“But, what were you guys talking about?” Will brought up again.
“Like what Silena said, we can’t tell you.” Percy shrugged his shoulders.
“Why not? I’m pretty sure we have to get Nico’s permission, since from earlier, he said for you to tell her,” Jason pointed out, glancing from Percy to me. “I’m guessing this is Nico’s secret or something.”
Percy glanced at me, unsure if he should answer, but I nodded, answering for him. “Yeah, it’s my secret, I guess. I just don’t like talking about it, which is why I made Percy tell her for me.” I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold in tears from just thinking about it.
Annabeth, surprisingly, walked over to me and wrapped an arm around me. “It’s okay, Nico. Don’t push yourself.” She whispered to me. She glanced up at all the others. “Don’t push him either. If he doesn’t want to talk about it, leave him alone. He looks like he’s had enough anyway.”
Everyone nodded, and to my surprise, even Reyna nodded and said, “He’ll tell us when he’s ready. For now, I agree with Annabeth. We should leave him.”
Annabeth pulled me closer, and I realized that this was the side of Annabeth that I was thinking about yesterday while I was painting my room. This was the side Annabeth had yet to show me, and now she was opening up to me. Did that mean I should open up to her? Could I even trust her just yet?
A warm feeling tugged at the pit of my stomach before a tear rolled down my cheek. I let it fall, not giving a care about it anymore. Annabeth wiped it away from my cheek for me, and I could see Percy’s eyes widening at the tear from the corner of my eye. I hugged myself tighter, and Annabeth’s arm around me tightened. I was glad to find Annabeth’s other side, and not her calculating side that studied me like a Calculus problem.
And the day on the field continued to be just like that.