The Group Chat [Leico Valdangelo]

part five

GhostKing181 has entered the chat.

Chiron - Welcome, GhostKing! We were waiting for you.

GhostKing181 - okay

Chiron - SupersizedMcShizzle has some news. Want to share?

SupersizedMcShizzle - shur y nt. wel i wnt 2 skool 2day

GhostKing181 - Did you like it?

SupersizedMcShizzle - wel, i ddnt mak any frends bt thr wuz ths 1 kid tht talkd 2 me a bit

Sparky754 - Really? That's great.

SupersizedMcShizzle -2 actlly. ddnt lyk da 2nd 1 tho. kinda douchey

Chiron - Language, SupersizedMcShizzle.

SupersizedMcShizzle - rite, srry. k enyway, da kid i met wuz kinda nice bt he gt picked on a lt

GhostKing181 - that's sad.

SupersizedMcShizzle - tried stdndin up 2 da bully. no good

GhostKing181 - You should try befriending the kid. I'm sure he'd like a friend.

Sparky754 - Yeah. I tried to talk to the new kid that came to our school today. He looked at me like I was weird lol. Then there was this other kid...he was bullied too. I heard him crying, so I tried to talk to him. But he didn't wanna talk so I left him be.

Chiron - Some people just need to be alone for a bit, Sparky.

Sparky754 - yah I guess.

GhostKing181 - well, I gotta go. Lots of homework.

SupersizedMcShizzle - yah sam. dis new skool givs u lots uv hw lol

Chiron - Bye, SupersizedMcShizzle and GhostKing.

GhostKing181 - Bye.

GhostKing181 has left the chat.

Nico turned off his computer, pulling out his Chemistry homework, which was assigned a week ago and still unfinished.

"I don't know what the hell Phosphorus reacts damgerously with!" he screamed in frustration.

"Language, Nico!" Persephone called up the stairs.

"Language, Nico," Nico mocked in a girly voice, rolling his eyes as he put his homework away. "Not today, homework. Not today."

He scrolled through his phone and blasted some Fall Out Boy into his headphones. It was loud enough to burst his eardrums, but he couldn't find it in him to care. He needed music right now. He closed his eyes and fell into a much needed sleep.

---

"Nico! Wake up, it's dinner time!" Nico felt someone shaking his shoulders. He sat up, looking over to see Hazel grinning at him. "Time for dinner."

"Not hungry."

"Persephone said you still have to come downstairs."

"Well Persephone can take her demands and shove them-"

Persephone appeared in the doorway, causing Nico to pause.

"No, no, carry on. Persephone can what?"

"Persephone can take her demands and shove them...in my brain because she's right!" Nico covered and Hazel shook her head.

"Yeah, okay. Come downstairs."

Nico groaned and walked downstairs with Hazel and Persephone.

All throughout dinner, while Hazel and Persephone were conversing and eating, Nico zoned out, thinking about how much he'd love to punch Luke Castellan's face-

"Nico. I got a call today saying you had to leave class because you were crying," Persephone said, looking up at Nico as she cut her steak.

"I was just upset."

"Was it that Luke kid again?"

"No. I was just stressed," Nico lied.

"Have you been doing that group chat thing I told you to do?" Persephone asked, grinning at Nico.

"Yeah. It's stupid."

"Well, the school counselor recommended it for you. He also told me today you made friends with a new student."

"Wait..." Hazel trailed off. "You made friends with Leo Valdez? The guy who-"

"We're not friends, okay? He was just sitting at my table at lunch, so I let him. Don't make it a big deal when it's not," Nico snapped, causing Hazel to cringe. "Sorry," his apologized immediately.

"So...who's this Leo Valdez character?" Persephone asked.

"Just a new kid. He was recently in a mental institution for killing his mom," Hazel explained.

"No," Nico argued. "In the pamphlet, it said that he was in a mental institution years ago for killing his mom. Now, it's just because he has manic depression."

"So...why are they letting him into the school of he killed his mom?" Persephone feigned innocence.

"I personally don't think that's the whole story," Nico said, "He doesn't seem like the kind of person to do it. When someone mentioned that he was the kid who killed his mom, he looked really sad. I bet it was an accident."

"Jason tried to be his friend," Hazel said. "It didn't go over well, from what he told me."

"I don't get why you hang out with him," Nico rolled his eyes.

"He's one of Frank's friends, so I hang out with him too. He's not that bad, Nico. Plus, he keeps us happy. It's kind of like he's putting our happiness in front of his own. He's very sweet."

"That's nice," Nico replied. "I'm gonna go back upstairs."

He ran up the stairs and collapsed on the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

• Leo •

*trigger warning*

As soon as Leo walked into the house, he saw a note on the kitchen counter.

Dads still at work. Jake too. I'm at a college meeting. Won't be home until late.

Love ya, Nyssa.

Leo looked around. It was very quiet in the house.

"Great," he mumbled, crumpling up the note and throwing it into the trash bin, missing. He was too lazy to pick it up.

He walked up to his room and to his bathroom, closing the door and locking it even though no one was home.

Better to be safe than sorry.

He slid down the wall, curling up into a ball and crying into his knees.

Every time someone says he killed his mom, he has to stop himself from crying. He didn't kill her.

The door locked and he couldn't get it unlocked. Then the fire started-

Leo shook his head. He didn't want to relive it.

That's when he realized he had been tapping "I love you" in Morse code on the bathroom floor.

He couldn't take this anymore. He went through his drawers and pulled it out.

His lighter.

He lit it and watched the flames flicker, before rolling up his left shirt sleeve.

And he relived the pain of depression all over again.