Sign {A Pernico Story AU} ✔

Nico - A World Gone Quiet

Hi.

My name is Nico Di Angelo. I'm 15 years old. I'm a freshmen in high school. I don't have many friends (they say one good friend is all you need, right?). I do have a younger sister, though.

Oh. And I lost my ability to hear at 10 years old.

It was my fault, really. I was being annoying and distracting. I wasn't listening to my sister. I'm the reason my mother's car swerved with all of us in it.

Anyway, long story short, I'm deaf. I woke up after the crash in a hospital. It was big, clean, and white, just like they are in the movies. A nurse was nearby. She smiled down at me and started talking. But I didn't hear her voice. I couldn't hear the beeping of the heart monitor. I couldn't hear the steps of the doctors outside. 

I screamed, but I couldn't hear that either.

Head force trauma, they said. The loud sound from the crash, they said.

It didn't matter to me why I was deaf. All I knew was that I was. 

My mother was gone. My older sister was gone. 

I was all alone in a world gone quiet.

The foster people reached out to my relatives. Most of them still lived in Italy. I didn't want to go back there (I literally just learned English) but it seemed I wasn't going to have much of a choice. Then they found my father. He was gone for most of my life, showing up to visit every once in a while. He took me, and introduced me to my new sister. Hazel. My dad and her mom shared custody, so she stayed with Ms. Levesque ever few months. I love Hazel more than anything else. She didn't treat me weird when I refused to talk. She learned ASL for me. She threatened all the kids at my old school who looked at me funny.

I thought everything might be okay.

Then I met Reyna.

And I knew everything was gonna be okay.

She was a year older than me. She had fiery eyes when she was angry. She liked the Hunger Games and thought Katniss shouldn't have chosen Gale or Peeta (but she was team Peeta anyway). Everyone thought she was too scary to be approached.

I guess everyone is pretty stupid, cause Reyna is great.

She always stuck up for me when everyone else wouldn't. Even if it was little things, like petty jokes at my expense..

Or chili being throw at my shirt.

I think the kid who threw it at me was either high on caffeine or drugs, because his lips moved at an inhuman speed. I couldn't even begin to understand him. I just assumed he was yelling insults. Why wouldn't he?

Then Reyna had shown up. I knew from experience that when Reyna gets involved, someone was going to get hurt and spoiler alert: it was never her. I tapped her shoulder, and she knew exactly what it meant. It's not worth it.

She turned to storm off and I turned to follow, but not before catching the eye of one of the boys at the table. 

Percy Jackson.

Probably one of the most handsome man alive.

Or maybe it's just me.

His sea green eyes were staring at me in confusion. I could feel myself blushing. I sped up a bit to catch up with Reyna.

I kept my eyes on the floor the whole walk to the bathroom. Reyna had insisted, in ASL, on going to the one farthest from the lunch room in case one of those "chili throwing jerk-wads try to follow"

(She didn't actually say jerk-wads, but I'm trying to keep this book PG)

I was still thinking about Percy Jackson's pretty eyes when we got to the bathroom. I really had it bad for him. Think I did for a while now. I met Percy on my first day of school. After being home schooled for the rest of my 4th and 5th school year, I wasn't sure I was ready to be around kids again. Sure, I'd see Reyna and Hazel around, but we were all in different grades and classes. My plan was to keep my head down and avoid everyone for the rest of the school year and, possibly, for the rest of my life.

Then I immediately messed up.

I walked right into Percy and fell to the floor. 

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry dude! Are you alright?"

I stared at his lips. Partially because I needed to know what he said but mostly because they looked so kissable. 

Then I snapped out of it and just nodded, collecting my things. I wasn't ready to start talking yet. Knowing I couldn't hear my own voice made me feel weird. Percy looked like he was ready to say something else, but I ran off. Just like I did today. Just like I'll probably do tomorrow.

I wonder if they'll be a day where I stop running

...

Fun fact: Slow burn makes my head hurt.

Sorry if this seems fast paced.

Please leave comments and feedback! I want to know if there is anything I can improve on!

Thanks for reading!

-Todoroni 🍝🧀