Heroes of Olympus: a Mortal High School Story

Chapter 15: Weekend

     "Hey, Nico," Hazel said, walking into his room. She stood half in his room and half out, so it looked like the door was cutting her in half. "Hi," he said. "Question," Hazel said carefully. "What...do you want?"
     "Can you drive me to the mall today? I have to be there at one."
     "Who are you meeting?" He looked up from the book he was reading.  The Infinite Sea.
     "A friend..."
     "What friend?"
     "Just a friend, Nico."
     "It's Frank isn't it?"
     Hazel huffed. "Yes. Now will you please drive me to the mall?"
     "Hazel, do you classify this as a date? If so, then no. I am not driving my sister to go on a date."
     "Nico. I have to be there at one. And we're just friends. Why are you so paranoid? Just drive me to the mall and go hang out with Will or someone."
     Nico glared at her. She did her cute puppy eyes and his eyes softened. "You're sure you're just friends? You don't like him at all?"
     "Well–Nico." He raised his eyebrows at her. "Well, I mean, I like him a little. But–"
     "God. Let's go. It's 12:45." Hazel grinned. He was probably going to "talk" to him when they got there though. Oh well.
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When they got there, Frank was already waiting, leaning on the hood of his car. He smiled when he saw Hazel.
     Hazel hopped out of the car,  but leaned back in and whispered to Nico, "Don't give him 'the Talk,' okay?" He rolled his eyes and waved his hand in a motion to tell her "just go." She grinned and said, "Tell Will I said hi." He nodded and half-smiled.
     Nico drove away and Hazel turned to look at Frank. He was smiling and they started toward into the mall together.
     "So what do you want to do?" Frank asked. "I don't know."
     "Wanna go to the bookstore?" Frank asked. "Sure," Hazel said cheerfully.
     Inside the bookstore, Frank asked Hazel, "What books do you like?"
      "Oh, come here!" Hazel led him to the "classics section," in the back. "I like this one." She pulled a large book from the bottom shelf. Styles Through the Years. ((Not an actual book, I just made it up.)) It seemed to be about the evolution of styles around the world throughout history. Frank smiled at her. She opened it and grinned at the pictures. Frank payed no attention to the book, just to Hazel. 
      After they visited the bookstore, Frank introduced her to manga, she loved it, they went to the arts and crafts store.
      Hazel told him what different papers were used for and what different paints were used for. Frank remembered during lunch when she had talked with Rachel Dare about art.
     "Hey, what are different pencils used for?" He asked. Her face brightened up and she grabbed his hand before pulling him to the section with pencils.
     "They're for shading. The soft ones are for darker, smudgier shades and the harder ones are for lighter, more precise shades or lines. Look," she said, pulling out a sample pencil, and showed him how the colors got darker and lighter, depending on what pencils she used.
     Frank sketched out a house, or tried to, and used the different pencils to shade it. Hazel watched him. When he finished he said, "What do you think? I think it's pretty good." She laughed at him and added more shading to make it look 3-D. He watched in awe as she switched pencils and signed it Frank + Hazel.
     When they left, they went to Hot Topic.
     "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Hazel ran, pulling his hand to the store. When they stepped inside, they were overwhelmed with the sound of My Chemical Romance playing. Hazel grinned as Frank looked at her with confusion.
     "What is this place?" Frank asked.
     "Hot Topic," Hazel said dramatically. Frank laughed at her and let her pull him around the store. She bought him a CD. He looked at the cover of the box and it read
Panic! at the Disco.
     "What..." Frank said uncertainly. "Trust me, I love it. You're going to love it."
     He chuckled as they walked out. 
     "Hey, it's getting late, do you want me to drive you home?" Frank asked.
      "Sure," Hazel said, sneaking a glance at him.
      They started making their way to the car. "So what kind of music is Panic at the Disco?" Frank asked.
     "Well, most of it is pop, but one or two are rock, and the rest are sorta, poppish, kinda rockish, I don't really know, but they're the best," was Hazel's answer.
     "You're so weird," Frank muttered as he chuckled.
     "Yeah, but that's the thing you love about me."
     "One of the things I love about you," Frank said. As soon as he said it, his face turned bright red and he ducked his head. Hazel giggled and grabbed his hand.
     He laughed with her and twirled get around. She landed right next to him with his arm around her shoulders and layed her head on his shoulder. Hazel sighed as he layed his head in hers.
     "Nico would kill us right now," she whispered. "Well it's a good thing he's not here, isn't it," Frank said.
     "Yeah," Hazel said as they reached Frank's car.  They got in and buckled up.
     "Alright, let's see what this is." Frank put in the CD and pressed play. This first song was Miss Jackson.
     "Hmm," Frank said, and started the car's  engine. They drove in comfortable silence, except the music playing and Hazel softly singing along.
     When they reached Hazel's house, Frank turned down the music and stopped the car.
     "Okay, here we are," he said, looking at her sadly. She smiled. "I'll see you Monday," she said.
     "Yeah," he breathed. She looked at him. He was gazing at her. She reached and brushed next to his eye. "What's wrong?" he asked.
     "Nothing–you had um, a peice of glitter next to your eye," she stammered. Her hand was pressed to his face.
     Frank laughed and turned his head to kiss her palm. "Good night," he said softly. She leaned forward and presses a kiss to his forehead before opening the door and getting out. She walked up the steps to the porch and opened the door before turning and looking back at him. He was still watching her. She smiling softly and stepped into the house. She looked outside and smiled at Frank before shutting the door behind her.
     Frank pressed a hand to his forehead and smiled happily. He found himself looking forward to Monday.