unattainable | solangelo royalty au

Chapter Twenty

A/N: I have exams in May, so I might not update much until after then because I need to revise (sorry!) However, somebody asked me to update and I haven't updated this story in ages, so I figured I might as well.

NPOV:
"The ball is tomorrow night." Bianca tells me as she hands me a pile of books from the library. "I think you should go."

I shake my head and Bianca sighs. "Nico," she chides, "it's the polite thing to do! Will's parents are letting you stay here, but so far all you've done is use their books, eat their food and be antisocial!"
"That's exactly what I'll do at the ball, too." I remind her. "I'm just naturally antisocial."

"Please come, and try to talk to people?" She implores me. "You can make friends!"
"I don't want friends. I want to read." Bianca sighs and gets up to leave. "Fine." She mutters, throwing the door open and flouncing out.
"Drama queen!" I tell after her as she slams the door shut.

~~~Next Day~~~

Muffled music is good background noise for reading. I'm laid on my bed, listening to the quiet music from the ball drifting through the walls. It's all very peaceful.

"Nico!" And just like that, my peace is shattered. Somebody bangs their fists on my door and yells my name again, and I reluctantly put my book down and get to my feet, groaning.

I open the door, see Will's head, and instantly close it again.
"What do you want?" I call through the door. I can't look at him. I'll die of embarrassment.

"It's Bianca." He says worriedly. That gets my attention.
"What about her?" I open the door a crack but keep my eyes fixated on anything but Will.
"Sh-she fainted..."
"What?" My vision snaps to his face and I open the door all the way. "Where is she? Is she okay?"
"She's in the ballroom, and I don't know." Will answers me.

"Why did nobody take her to her room?" I barge past him before he can answer and start running down the hallway to the ballroom, though I'm not entirely sure where I'm supposed to be going. Will catches up to me quickly and steers me in the correct direction.

I burst into the ballroom and look around for my sister frantically. I expected finding her to be easy. I assumed that people would be crowded her, but people are milling around or dancing like everything is fine.

"Where is she?" I ask Will worriedly. He grins.
"I think she's over in that corner." He points to the other side of the room.
"Why are you smiling?" I shriek. Somebody gives me a disapproving look, and I retaliate with a glare.

I rush to the corner Will directed me to, him following me. When I get there, I find Bianca standing with some other girls and boys her age, including Thalia.
"Wh-what..."
"Oh, Nico! I'm so glad you could make it!" Bianca grins wickedly.
"You-you're okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" She smirks. I clench my fists and give her my best glare.
"You lied to me!"
"Well... Technically,nWill did." Bianca replies coolly. A few of the people she's with laugh quietly, but I quickly silence them with one look.

"I'm leaving." I decide, turning around and bumping into Will. "Move."
"Nico?" I look up and gulp, realising that's it's actually Will's father.
"Oh, uh... King Apollo, I'm so sorry. I thought you were... Someone else."
"That's okay." He says, smiling. "So how are you enjoying the party?"
"Uh... It's good." I mumble. He nods approvingly and moves on.

I start trying to get to the exit, but there are lots of people blocking my way. Before I manage to leave, Will's mum announces that it's time to dance. A random girl grabs my hand and leads me to the middle of the room against my will. When I try to pull away, she pulls me back, and she's much stronger than me.

"What the hell?" I hiss as she starts to dance with me. "I don't want to dance with you! I barely know you!"
"Shut up and deal with it." The girl replies quietly. "I'm only doing this to make my ex jealous. It'll be over soon anyway." As she speaks, I finally get a good look at her. She has dark hair in a simple braid over her shoulder and dark skin. Her eyes are barely visible in the dim light. Her purple and gold dress is long and sophisticated-looking. She's taller than me, but everyone is, so I'm not really affected.

"I'm Reyna, by the way." She informs me. "Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano."
"Nico Di Angelo." I respond.
"The Princess' brother?" She wrinkles her nose.
"Yes."
"Ugh."
"Hey!"
"No offence to you." She says dismissively. "I just don't like your sister."
"Why not?" I ask accusingly.
"She stole my girlfriend." My eyes widen.
"Wait-what?"

Before I can ask her how she knows, and more importantly, who else knows, the music changes and people begin to swap partners. Reyna grimaces as she is pulled away from me by a tall, pale, sickly looking blonde guy. I stand alone for a few seconds, then somebody takes my arm.

I look up at them and growl.
"What the fuck, Will?" I snarl.
"What?" He beams at me.
"We can't dance together! We're both boys! It's unacceptable!"
"Nobody is looking." Will smiles. "And besides, when do you care about rules?"
"When my entire family's reputation is at stake!"
"Oh relax, nobody will even notice." He says confidently.

"Well I don't want to dance with you anyway, or even be near you for that matter!"
"Why not?" He asks, looking hurt.
"You know why not!" I lower my voice to almost a whisper. "I kissed you, and now-"
"Actually, I kissed you." Will says matter-of-factly. "That means that if any of us are to feel bad, it should be me."
"But I kissed back." I whisper.

"So?" Will shrugs. "I don't care."
"So you're marrying Bianca soon!"
"And she's dating Thalia!" Will retorts. Before I can even process that he also knows about Thalia and my sister, a loud scream echoes through the room.

The band sprightly stops playing as everybody turns to look at the person who is responsible: the Queen. Her arm is outstretched and she appears to be pointing at something. Along with everyone else in the room, I follow the line her hand makes to see what exactly she's screaming about, then groan as everyone else gasps is horror.

Bianca and Thalia are standing in the centre of the room, holding hands, looking very guilty and quite obviously wearing eachother's lipstick.