Chapter Text
Nico sat outside the principal office, his legs bouncing up and down nervously.
He had never been called in before, for anything, he had never gotten written up, or even went to detention, so being called directly by the school's principal had him scared to death.
Still, he couldn't quite place what offence might have brought him there. He never did anything wrong. Did someone try to frame him? But why? He was a good kid, barely spoke to anybody, why would anyone do that to him?
“Did they call my father too, already?” He wondered, and the thought made him shudder visibly. The two kids sitting in front of him, who had apparently gotten into a fist fight, gave him a weird look.
He grabbed the cross hanging from his neck and closed his eyes, starting to silently pray.
Being the son of the city's pastor, That's what he had been taught: anytime something goes wrong: pray, repent, and ask for forgiveness. Even if you're not directly involved, even if you don't know exactly what you did, do exactly those three things and you'll be saved. Nico really, really wanted to be saved.
His train of thought was interrupted by the door opening, and his surname was called by the principal assistant. He quickly finished his prayer, before opening his eyes and standing up, so quickly his vision went white for a second.
“Here.” He replied, trying not to sound too shaky.
The woman gave him a kind smile, before leading him in and closing the door behind them.
Nico stood straight, his hands neatly entwined above his stomach.
The principal looked at him and also greeted him with a small smile. She had always been a pretty down to earth woman.
“Come sit, no need to be standing.” She invited, and Nico quickly complied.
“So…Nico, can I call you Nico?” She asked.
“Absolutely, Mrs. Johnson.” Nico replied, maybe a bit too eager, as he wanted to appear nothing but disciplined.
“So, Nico…your father has been informed already.” She started, but she stopped for a second, as she noticed the colour basically drained out of Nico's face. She debated comforting him for a second, but decided explaining herself would be easier.
“We know you have been trying to earn a college scholarship, considering your economic situation might make it a little difficult for you to go to college without it.” She started.
Nico nodded quickly, still not understanding where all of it was going.
“We have noticed that, despite having a good general record, especially in literature, you seem to be still failing your chemistry class.” She was running her hands through some papers. Nico's folder, probably.
“And that might be an issue if you try to apply for any scholarship.”
He looked down in shame, and just nodded. He knew it was impolite to not reply to an adult speaking to him, but he felt too ashamed to say anything about it.
“Hence,” She continued, noticing Nico's mood drop once again.
“We have decided to insert you into a new peer tutoring program, where one of the top students in your own chemistry class is going to help you study the subject in exchange for extra credits.”
Nico seemed to finally go back to breathing normally, as he became sure, finally, that he didn't actually get into any trouble, and could go on living another day.
He sighed, and once again, he thanked God.
“In your specific case, your tutor will be…”
☆
“Will Solace!” Rachel all but yelled, almost flipping her food tray. The blonde had creeped up on her as they were having lunch, and he giggled as he sat at their usual table in the school cafeteria, where the rest of their friend group was sitting.
Both Leo and Percy found his entrance pretty funny, but the latter didn’t grin as much, considering his girlfriend, Annabeth, was shooting him a glare.
“At least I brought you an apple.” He said. “Same color as your hair.” He added.
Rachel huffed, kicking his shin.
“You can shove that apple up your-”
“Hey!” Hazel interrupted, slapping an envelope on the table. “Did anyone else get picked for the peer tutoring program?” She asked.
Will wondered if she had that conversation ready for the possibility that someone dared to curse, but nonetheless, he nodded in approval, showing his own envelope, which he had just got. Annabeth was also holding one.
“What’s that about?” Jason questioned.
Annabeth gave him a quick explanation, before being interrupted by Leo.
“What’s the envelope for?” He asked.
“It has the name of the kid we’re gonna tutor, the topics of the exams they didn’t pass and also a form for our parents to sign.” Hazel said.
“Fancy pants.” Leo grumbled. “Who did y’all get?” He asked.
“Some girl from my math class.” Annabeth replied.
“You. Seems like you’re about to fail french.” Hazel said, pointing to Leo.
“Wait, what?” Him and Frank said at the same time, raising their brows and beginning to bicker.
“Ah yes.” Jason took a deep breath, channeling his inner calm. “The usual.” He murmured.
“Wait a second.” Piper interrupted. “Who did Will get?”
Everyone turned to look at him, who was busy staring at his two friends brawling. “Oh, right.” He said.
“I haven’t opened it yet.” He stated.
“Then do it.” Piper encouraged, she had always been interested in gossip, and considering her blonde friend had been single for way too long now, she expected to hear something interesting.
Her hopes shattered as soon as Will read the name of his tutee out loud.
“Uhh…Niccolò…Di Angelo?” He announced, even though it sounded more like a question.
The whole table dropped silent, turning to look at him.
Will raised a brow, confused.
“What?” He asked. looking around.
“Second to last table just on our left.” Rachel said, pointing in the right direction with a movement of her head.
Will turned his gaze towards it.
“Uh is the kid who's trying to stick a mozzarella stick up his nose?” He asked. That could have explained his friend's reaction.
Annabeth shook her head. Apparently, everyone knew that kid but him.
“No, Will, that's your right. turn to the other side.” She said.
Will did so, and eventually, he focused on one particular kid.
He was sitting alone at a table, a book spread out in front of him and a little packet of grapes abandoned at its side, considering the guy’s attention seemed to be mostly focused on the book.
His clothes were pretty anonymous, but his face definitely wasn't.
His dark hair was cut quite short, but it wasn't shaved in any area, and Will could tell he had done his best to try and make it look neat, even though his slight waves were making a good effort to push through, especially in his bangs.
His nose was small, and straight, and his lips were dainty, but of a rich color, almost as if he was wearing lipstick.
Will couldn't quite make out his eyes, considering they were lowered on the book he was reading, but he could clearly see his high cheekbones.
“Dude stop, you’re being gross.” Leo called, tapping him on the shoulder.
Will blushed a little, quickly snapping back to reality.
“Shit, was I staring?” He asked.
“Kinda.” Jason replied, and both Hazel and Annabeth nodded in approval.
“Great.” He thought. “All my reasonable friends noticed it. Way to go, Will!”
“Yeah, no.” Percy interrupted, with a serious tone that didn’t quite fit him.
“Get that idea out of your mind right now, Will, cause it's not happening. Not in a million years.”
“What do you mean? I mean, I didn't even.i was just-” Will tried to plead, but Percy didn’t let him off.
“He’s on the soccer team with me, he's one of our goal makers.” He began explaining.
“And also, he's the son of our city's priest, and…Well, I don't think I have to explain what that means for the love story you might be picturing right now.”
“I wasn't picturing a love story.” Will tried to justify himself, but when Rachel shot him one of her signature “You're kidding.” looks he decided it was best not to argue.
“Well, alright, we might not get married and live in a cottage in the middle of the woods, but is he really that bad?” He asked.
Percy stopped to think for a second before speaking, and considering how rare of an occurrence it was, Will started feeling actually scared.
“He's a good player…” Percy said.
“But?” Piper insisted.
“But…uh…he's also quite weird.” He continued.
“He never, and I mean never, changes, or showers with us, his father signed a special permission for him to use a private bathroom, or else he couldn't play on the team.”
“He never really speaks, or hangs out much, he just comes to practice, plays the games, and then vanishes. Never once seen him at one of our celebratory dinners.” He stopped for a second.
“Not to mention, he takes time to pray before, and after every single practice.”
“Once, he dropped his pens next to my locker.” Leo started. “they fell close to my feet, so i grabbed them and passed them back to him, and when he saw i was wearing some nail polish, he snatched them so fast they almost fell out his hands again, before stuffing them in his backpack and walking away, whispering some prayers in a foreign language” He narrated.
“When he saw me and Frank holding hands once, he turned the other way and shook his head.” Hazel added.
“Boo-ooo, Christians, premarital hand holding.” Rachel mocked, earning a round of laughs.
“And don’t even get me started on the looks he gave me and Shell.” Piper added.
When Annabeth began speaking too, Will really knew it was over for him.
“We worked on a literature project together once, and he invited me to his house.” She recalled.
“And we ended up having to work in his kitchen while his father supervised us, cause he's not allowed to have females over without parental control.” She finished.
Will turned to Jason too, to see if he even had something to say about Nico, but the best he could offer was a sympathetic smile.
Will hid his face in his hands for a second, before running them through his hair.
“Jesus Christ.” He exhaled.
“Exactly.” Rachel replied.