The orphanage- solangelo

You heard?!

Npov

Lou Ellen and Cecil were right behind Will as he walked in. I could tell something was on Will's mind.

"Will, are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine." He said.

Lou Ellen was smiling smugly and Cecil handed her money.

"Were you betting on something...?" I asked.

Lou Ellen nodded happily while Cecil sulked.

"What?"

"Solangelo."

I stared at the three of them. They seemed to know something.

"What is it? Did I do something?" I asked.

Percy suddenly started tapping my shoulder. "Nico!" He whisper-yelled. "Nico, I think I know what's wrong!"

"What?"

He cupped his hand around my ear and started whispering in it, "I think they heard our conversation!"

I paled and looked at Will.

Had he really heard? And does that mean Lou and Cecil heard too?

I felt sick.

"You heard our conversation, didn't you?"

"I..." Will wouldn't look at me.

My hands were trembling. "Oh gods...."

I darted out of the room as fast as I could. Tears clouded my vision.

No, no, no...he's going to hate me now.

I ran to the park. I sat down on the same bench as last time. I put my head in my hands.

He hates you.

You knew this would happen.

Why are you so surprised?

I heard Percy.

"Nico?! Nico where are you?!" I looked around to see Percy running around by himself. He must have tried to follow me.

"Percy?" I ran over to him and he looked relieved.

"Nico, Will said we need to get you somewhere inside. He said there's a storm coming."

I groaned. "Can my day get any worse?"

Percy grabbed my hand and started running. "It's coming soon!"

I felt the first few raindrops splatter on my skin.

Oh no...

Percy started running even quicker. "Hurry!"

That's when someone tapped my shoulder. Without stopping, I looked to see who it was.

It was Will. He wrapped an arm around me and said, "Let's get you somewhere safe."

Finally we arrived at a coffee shop. We went inside.

I was shivering, but I pushed off Will's arm. He looked genuinely hurt.

"Nico, I need to tell you something..."

The lady working here walked up and asked what we wanted. We all got hot chocolate.

"So Nico-"

Octavian entered to shop. At first he didn't seem to notice us. He just ordered and sat down at a table.

"And I didn't think it was possible for my day to get worse." I muttered.

Octavian whipped around at the sound and grinned at me. "Nico."

I tensed. "What do you want?"

"I think it's time you go back to the orphanage, don't you?"

"No. No, I do not." Percy said. "I think it's time you need to stop being a mean old hippo and be nice. If you were in my grade, you'd be getting detentions every day."

"A mean old hippo? Well Nico here is a faggot."

Percy looked up to me, "What does that mean?" He whispered.

"It's a mean way of saying that I'm gay." I whispered back, glaring at Octavian.

"Oh." He turned to Octavian and crossed his arms. "That's not nice. I'm going to tell Annabeth and she will come attack you. She got new water guns and everything."

"Yeah. Okay. You do that." He said. "Nico, after this we're going back to the orphanage."

"No. I'm not going to let you. It's about to storm and Nico doesn't like storms." Percy said stubbornly.

Octavian raised an eyebrow. "Why doesn't he like storms?"

"I'm not going to tell you." Percy stuck out his tongue.

"Then I have no reason not to bring him back to the orphanage."

"Nope. I'm not gonna let you."

"You are such a pain." Octavian muttered.