The Real World || Percy Jackson Olympians Fanfiction (2)

Chapter 18

"Morning!" I yawned, exiting the cave and addressing my two companions.

"Morning," they replied simultaneously.

"So, when do we leave?" I asked, taking a seat on the ground.

"Soon."

Leo passed me a sandwich and took a seat opposite me. Nico joined him on the floor, and we all munched down our food. The sun had recently risen, and now cast an orange glow across the beautiful snowy treetops.

Once we had finished, we packed up our belongings and set off again. We were in the same order as last time, and were carefulling picking our way across the rough terrain.

I slipped a few times on the icy ground, but Leo always caught me before I hit the floor. Unfortunately, we still had one more day of climbing in front of us, and then... Then we would face the goddess.

"Wait, hold on. I need to pee," Leo stated, causing us all to stop. "I'll be right back."

Leo walked off into the trees, leaving me and Nico on our own. I took a seat on a fairly large rock that jutted out of the path, as an awkward silence settled between us. I tried to lift it with a joke.

"You'd think me being the daughter of Zeus, I could just fly us up the mountain, ha ha."

Nico sighed. "Look, I know you hate climbing and everything but you don't need to keep mentioning it every five seconds."

"Woah, sorry. It was just a joke!"

"Well, stop it! You're not funny and you're not making this any easier! Out of all the people I had to go on a quest with, why did it have to be you?" He shouted harshly.

"What's wrong with you? Don't just act all strange and then kiss me, only to wake up in the morning and hate me again!"

"Oh please, why would I want to kiss you? You're a loner and no one likes you!"

I gasped, staring into Nico's black eyes which were filled with blankness. No emotion was in them, but his lip curled upwards with spite. Tears threatened to errupt from my eyes, but I pathetically fought to hold them back.

My gaze dropped and returned to the floor, letting his words sink in. They weren't new to me, of course. I had put up with a girl called Trinity bullying me for a few years now. But them coming from Nico... My friend... They just felt even more painful.

Just when I feared the tears would spill over, I heard a branch snap behind me. I jumped up and saw Leo coming out of the forest, anger printed on his face. He stormed over to Nico and pushed him backwards, which barely fazed the boy.

"Don't talk to her like that! You barely even know her, you don't know anything about her! We both know you like her really, but can't you get it into your thick brain that insulting her is not the way to deal with your feelings? Just back off, okay?"

"Don't touch me, Valdez," Nico threatened.

They stood sizing each other up for a moment, both puffing out their chests and glaring. I was about to step in when Nico turned away, storming off up the mountain. Me and Leo stayed behind, not sure of what to do. In the end, he walked up to me and wrapped his arms around my body.

I could no longer hold back my tears, so instead I just sobbed into Leo's shoulder. He rocked me gently from side to side, and whispered encouraging things into my ear like "shh" and "come on beautiful, you can't believe those things". Eventually, I calmed down enough to stop sobbing.

"Thanks, Leo," I croaked.

"Anytime," he whispered, releasing me. "Come on, we'd better catch up with that horrible being that we seem to be stuck with."