Strawberry Blonde // Solangelo High School AU

Part 5

Nico Di Angelo POV

"Nico?" The teacher called.

"Here," I called, not looking up.

The teacher continued calling out names, each one melting together in my brain.

It had been about a week since I had arrived at Maple Leaf Boarding School. An awful week. 

I had to talk to so many people, so many names I had to learn. I guess it didn't really matter, I didn't plan on staying for that long.

I tapped my pen against my leg. 

I started drawing on my hand, skull patterns appearing. 

When I first found out about my powers, I had tried to stay as far away from the dark, death stuff. But now that I realized it wasn't going to be going away any time soon, I embraced it more. I had always been into dark stuff, not quite sure if my powers had anything to do with that or not.

I glanced to the side, seeing Will sit there.

The only good part of staying here was Will. Sure, I acted like I hated him but he wasn't that awful.

He was funny. He seemed to be the only one here who understood my sarcasm. He was also the only person who actually tried to talk to me. I acted like I hated it when he tried to talk to me but I actually enjoyed it. He made me feel like someone actually cared. Honestly, he was one of the only reasons I was still here.

Sure, he wasn't going to keep me here forever. But he delayed my leaving a little.

I smiled at him. He was so focused, his face relaxed. I didn't understand how he did it. He actually seemed to care about school. I don't know how he did it. How did he care so much?

He glanced over at me, catching my gaze. He smiled, his teeth like pearls. 

I shook my head, trying not to smile myself.

I didn't understand it. Whenever I was with Will, I had to try not to smile and laugh. I don't know why. He just made me, happy I guess? I don't know, happy may be too strong of a word. But it wasn't exactly wrong.

"Hey," I heard, feeling something poke my arm.

I looked up to see Will standing there, the sun making his blonde hair shine.

"Hey," I said, clicking my pen and slipping it into my pocket.

"The bell rang," Will smiled, gesturing towards the door.

"Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

The bell was my escape. This school sucked enough, having to deal with these classes made it so much worse. So me not hearing the bell was something that just didn't happen.

Will nodded.

"Oh, sorry about that," I stood up.

"Don't be," Will smiled, his eyes sparkling like crystals.

I bit my lip, my heart pounding in my ears.

"Now come on Death Boy," He turned around and started walking towards the door.

I bit my lip, my heart pounding in my ears.

That was another Will did. Whenever he was around my heart went crazy, beating in my ears to the point where i could barely hear anything else.

It honestly really annoyed me. Was this what having friends was like? And if so, how do people deal with it? It sucks! Actually, it didn't suck. It only sucked slightly. It was like a rush of dopamine.

I smiled and walked after Will.

----------------------------------------------

I sat at a table in the Mess Hall. Me and Will sat in the corner of the room, by ourselves.

I'm not sure what Will's social life was like before I came to this school, but I definitely made it worse. 

Everyone seemed to drift away from Will, sending weird glances his way every time he hung out with me.

I felt kind of guilty. I wasn't sure why it was that Will wanted to hang out with me. Sometimes I wondered if he was just doing a bit to get under my skin.

"Hey Will?" I started, tapping my fingers on the table.

"Yeah?" He smiled.

I wanted to kick him for that stupid smile. The way it made my heart skip a beat.

I still didn't understand why Will made me feel like this. The inability to breath, the way my heart skipped beats. I didn't get it. I just inferred it was things that normally happened when you had friends, not like I would really know.

I opened my mouth to continue what I was saying when I saw Drew walking over to us.

I clenched my teeth and balled my fists.

I hated Drew. First, she was just an annoying person. And not annoying like Will annoying. She was a jerk. I knew she talked about me behind my back but I tried not to care.

Second, she seemed to be obsessed with Will. She was one of the few people who actually talked to Will anymore and she was the only person who constantly tried to pull him away from me.

"Hey Will," She said, in her singsong voice.

I watched as she traced her fingers down his back.

I got a rush of some emotion that I'm not sure how to explain. It wasn't disappointment or anger. More of like a mix of them both. And something else that I couldn't place.

"What do you want Drew?" Will rolled his eyes.

Here we go again, Will mouthed to me.

"Why don't you come sit with us," Drew smiled, gesturing to the table where her and the other annoying kids were sitting.

Drew's smile was awful. It was so fake. So ugly. Nothing like Will's.

"I'm fine Drew, I've got Nico," Will flashed me one of his brilliant smiles.

"Oh come on, what does he have they I don't?"

"He has so much more than you do, now please, go away," Will sighed, inching away from her.

"Fine, but my offer still stands," 

I watched as Drew walked away, sitting back down at her table.

"Now, what were you saying Death Boy?" Will turned back to me.

"Will, if you want to, you should go," I cracked my knuckles nervously.

"Oh please, you're so much better than them," Will rolled his eyes as if what I had said was the dumbest thing he had ever heard.

"Okay," I nodded, still fiddling with my fingers.

"Hey Nico, don't listen to her, she's lying through her teeth," 

I smiled slightly at his accent slipping through.

I couldn't place exactly where he was from. It was southern yet also northeastern and something else.

"What?" Will laughed as he probably noticed an odd expression on my face.

"Nothing, I'm just trying to place your accent," I said.

"Oh yeah, I'm from Texas but I've lived in a lot of places so my accent is weird," 

"Oh I see," 

I smiled, glad to be back to our normal conversation.

(word count: 1095)