We Are Cursed (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 2

Chapter 4 || Nico

Nico couldn't focus in class.

It was just a fact. The thought of seeing another algebraic equation was terrible to him. Eleventh grade. What a perfect time to be in a war when you're literally just gonna turn seventeen. All Nico could think about was... well, Percy. If he could think, that is. Looking at his beautiful sea-green eyes made Nico's stomach jump and his eyes squint.

"Mr. Di Angelo?" Nico almost jumped when he heard Mr. Ralltof's voice, like someone's nails scraping against a chalkboard.

Just thinking of the feeling of nails scratching chalkboards already got Nico's fingers shaking and squirming.

"Hm?" Nico asked when he realized Mr. Ralltof had just asked a question.

"Mr. Jackson, do you mind telling Mr. Di Angelo what the question was?"

All the girls' heads turned and Nico felt a prick of jealousy poke him in the chest.

"Uh..." Percy had a cute thinking expression on his face. "Eh, I've got nothing."

Mr. Ralltof sighed before looking at Annabeth.

"Ms. Chase, do you want to explain the question?"

Nico always envied Annabeth in a way. She was pretty, smart, and had the one thing Nico didn't. Percy. A wonderful, sweet, funny, and hot boyfriend. But she wasn't someone Nico could hate. Sometimes, she was so sweet and nice that Nico wanted to hate her for that.

"Nico, Mr. Ralltof asked if you could prove that WY is parallel to YZ."

"Oh... uh... I don't know, sir."

The jeers from the jocks--the people who were Percy's friends--stabbed at Nico from every angle. He could see Percy glaring at his jock friends to shut up, defending him. Percy... always so kind-hearted. Of course, in school he had to downplay it to not raise any suspicion, but he couldn't stay away from it for too long.

He was just... Percy.

"Mr. Di Angelo, I know you have learning disabilities that may make it harder for you to do this, but I expect you to focus in my class, even if you have ADHD and dyslexia. Failing is not an option."

"It's not an option, it's a choice," Nico heard Percy mutter under his breath.

"Now!" Mr. Ralltof turned to the board. "Can someone name a property of parallel lines?"

Annabeth's hand shot up, a cupcake in a sea of muffins. Yes, that was how Nico put it.

"Ms. Chase?" Mr. Ralltof sighed, having called on her the last five times in a row.

"They are always next to each other and never intersect," Annabeth answered perfectly.

"Very good, Ms. Chase. Anyone else?"

Percy slowly put up his hand, a look of uncertainty on his face. Nico fought the urge to shake his head. He had no reason to be uncertain. He was perfect. Inside and out.

"Mr. Jackson?"

"Uh... I think there's something about how if you draw a line to intersect both of the lines, you'd get matching angles on the right side and opposite angles on the left."

Mr. Ralltof's eyebrows raised as he stared at Percy. "Very well done, Mr. Jackson. Anyone else? Ms. Grace?"

Thalia scowled at the usage of her last name, but she looked up at the teacher defiantly nonetheless.

"If you added another pair of parallel lines, you get a parallelogram."

"Not on the list... but true," Mr. Ralltof took off, walking towards the front of the classroom. "What we're going to focus on is congruence in this lesson."

Nico hated Geometry. And that was official.

___

Music class wasn't Nico's favorite subject. Even if he didn't like it when his friends would lightly tease him about being emo, he had to admit he was a bit anti-social. Okay... maybe very anti-social. He hated being around people. And sitting shoulder to shoulder with someone while they were busy strumming loudly on a violin wasn't on his mind.

What also wasn't on his mind? Playing the flute. He had no idea why he had agreed to be a flute player, but he would always run out of breath, even faking the act of playing by pressing random keys and keeping his mouth open in an 'ooh' expression. The conductor was too busy on the best instrument players in the front anyways.

Surprise, surprise, all of his friends were in the back. Well, except for Percy. He was at the piano because he somehow got to win over the band teacher with the help of Annabeth, who didn't care about band either way. Surprisingly, the Kelp Head knew how to play it. Unfairly, it was the easiest job, as he only had to play chords.

"Clarinets, you may sit!" Mrs. Moore said, lowering her hands down. "Flutes! You're up!"

Just Nico's amazing luck.

"F**k," he cursed under his breath.

"It's not that bad," Piper reassured him from her seat next to him. "You do fine every time."

"Yeah, I don't even play the instrument," Nico muttered.

"You'll be fine! I can manipulate my voice to sound like you're playing." Piper gave him a wink before putting the long, brass stick to her mouth.

"1, 2, 3, 4! 1, 2, 3, 4!" Mrs. Moore waved her stick around in the air.

"This is torture," Nico somehow whispered to Thalia, who scoffed.

"You're not playing the violin," she replied. "It's way worse."

"Ms. Grace and Mr. Di Angelo! Stop talking!"

When the flutes finally sat down, Nico could spot Percy throwing a paper airplane towards what appeared to be Annabeth. Instead, it flew off course by the fan and landed into Nico's hands. Nico curiously unfolded the note paper, looking at the blue handwriting that belonged to his "sorta" cousin. Well, the gods didn't really have DNA, did they?

Hey, Wise Girl :) Looking forward to our date tonight <3

Percy gave him that look as Nico looked up and Nico folded up the airplane, passing it to Annabeth, who caught it, unfolding it. Taking out her gray flair pen, she wrote a little message before throwing it back to Percy, who barely caught it before it went flying into Mrs. Moore's conducting stick.

Nico looked away from the scene and was aware of Annabeth's gray gaze on him, full of what he believed to be pity.

He hated every second of music class.

He hated every second of his gods damn life.