Nico
"Happy Friiii-dayyyy!" Piper sang as she plopped her lunch tray down on the table in front of her usual spot between Jason and I.
"That means only two more days until states," Percy said, referring to the biggest swim meet of the year, maybe even of his life. It was his last one since he's a senior, and from what he's described, there was a lot riding on it. He was only swimming one event, his best event— the 500 free. He was undefeated in it all year, and he had to defend his title. He won state in that event for the past two years and is looking to three peat.
Jason scoffed. "Come on, don't act like you don't already have the win in the bag."
Percy knocked on the wooden table three times. "Hey, don't say that out loud. You'll jinx it. Plus, I can't think like that. This'll be the hardest competition I've seen all season."
"Hey, you know what Piper and I were saying we haven't done in a while?" Hazel interjects. "A movie night! And you—"she put a hand out in front of Percy— "need to relax. What better a way than to spend time with your friends, watching brain rotting television and pigging out on pizza and chips and soda and popcorn and whatever else?"
Piper smiles. "Now you're talking."
Percy smiles too. "You're right. I'm down."
"Same," Jason added, and soon the rest of the table chorused in agreement.
Piper bumped her arm to mine. "You're in too, right?"
I smiled. "Yeah, sounds cool."
I was happy to be included. I spoke to Will a few days ago about feeling like an intruder, but after this week, it was almost as if a switch had flipped. I talked more with the others besides Percy, Will and Annabeth. Gotten to know them better. They'd even added me to their groupchat.
"Okay, it's settled then!" Piper clapped her hands together. "And we can have it in our room, because it's definitely the cleanest. As long as that's okay with Hazel."
Hazel nodded quickly. "Yup, that's fine."
"Perfect!" Said Piper.
"Perfect!!" Leo repeated in a high-pitched, squeaky voice.
Jason reached over and playfully hit him in the arm.
"Hey, don't you dare hit me!"
"Don't talk to my boyfriend like that!"
"And don't make fun of my girlfriend!"
"Okay, okay!" Frank said quickly. "What time for tonight?"
Piper and Hazel shared a look. "8pm?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. "Cool, see you all then." And then the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period.
************
Nico Di Angelo's list of the top worst sleeps you can experience(in no particular order):
1. The night before an important exam
2. Any Sunday night
3. Stuffed nose sleep
4. A night at a hotel with your family
And, coming in at number 5....
5. Sleeping in a new place.
Making the transition from my old queen bed at home to the lumpy twin in my dorm at Goode would've been hard enough without the fact that I also had insomnia. I had the mental list going of the worst sleeps ever, and I was constantly adding to it.
