Maybe You Can Change Me

Not Again

School hasn't been as horrible as I had planned. I've been here for a few weeks and nothing has happened. I joined the track team. I've become great friends with Jason, Piper, Percy, Annabeth, and Frank. Especially Leo, we hang out everyday. This actually feels nice and normal.

"Breakfast's ready!" exclaims Marie. I run downstairs and sit down. I eat the cream she made for me. Hazel comes down and seats next to me, Marie in front of us.

"So, how's school going?" asks Marie.

"Great! I got into the volleyball team, got all A's, and joined the TSA," says Hazel. "Good job Hazel, how about you Nico?" she asks.

"Nothing really. Got into the track team, my grades are A's and B's, well one A the rest B," I say. Marie smiles and takes a spoonful of her cream. "What about friends?" she asks.

"Everybody's great. Nico gets along with all of them, especially Leo. And Frank, he's not afraid of Nico anymore," explains Hazel. Marie looks at me and smirks.

"So you get along great with Leo. Do say," teases Marie. She was the only one who knew about my crush on him. I glare at her and stick my tongue out.

"Great! He's been helping me with some of my classes, and he's always working on some project with his mother, Esperanza. His mother is really nice, even a better cook than you Marie," I say. She gasps and puts her hand on her chest as if I hurt her.

"Well then," she says, turning around. We all start laughing and keep eating. When we finish, Hazel and I walk to the door. Before I get out, Marie stops me. "Tell Leo to come here sometime, I want to meet him," she says. I nod and smile. Then I run to catch up with Hazel. When we arrive at the school, we are greeted by all our friends. I don't see Leo with them, but I say hi to everybody. Then two hands cover my eyes.

"Guess who?" asks the person. I turn around to see Leo standing there with his huge, teethy smile. "The Latino elf that's always bothering me," I say sarcastically. He nudges me in the arm and rolls his eyes.

"Well you love this Latino elf so shut up," he says. I feel the tip of my ears getting red. I'm about to answer when Jason and Piper come up to me.

"Can you come with us for a second, Nico?" asks Jason. I nod and follow them away from the group. They stop and look back at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Oh nothing. I wanted to say that your clothes look awesome and I was wondering if-" Jason starts but gets cut off by Piper. "You like Leo!" she whisper screams. My eyes widen and I blush.

"H-how did y-you know?" I stutter. Piper looks at Jason and they both smile. "I'm the love expert from the group, and Jason's my boyfriend so he gets into this too," says Piper. I nod but then realize what just happened. I give them a deadly glare and they take a step back.

"You won't say this to anybody, or I swear I'll-" Jason cuts me by saying, "We promise you're secret's safe." I nod and walk back to the group. I walk up to Hazel who was talking to the others. When she sees me she stops talking and they all look at me.

"What are you guys talking about?" I ask. They all look at each other and keep silence until Percy speaks up.

"That, um, you are being great friends with Leo who is just about to ask you something," he says. Leo looks at Percy and puts his hands up as in saying 'What the heak?!'. "Yeah, er, what do you want to eat?" he asks. I look at him and raise an eyebrow. What were they hiding from me?

"Whatever your mom makes I'm fine with, you know that," I say. He looks at Annabeth for help. "Just making sure," she says. I look at Hazel who's avoiding me. "Well I'll see you guys later, I'll be late for class," I say, walking away. They were acting so weird. Hazel walks next to me and we go to our class. Mr.H gave us a grade on the birdhouses. Hazel and I got an A, since he had never seen that idea. We keep working on some other things he told us to do. Hazel does something wrong and gets hurt. They call Marie and she is taken to the hospital. I was worried sick, but I had to stay. I went to Mrs.Ath Language Arts. I explained what had happened to Hazel and she said that for today I could work alone or get into another group. I obviously decided to stay alone. Today was all about taking notes about figurative language. Then I went to chemistry Mrs.Aph. Today was the usual, her trailing off and talking about clothes, makeup, and love. I'm horrible at chemistry, so I was glad she's like that. Then I went to gym Mrs.Art. She let us practice if we were in a team for that sport. I just raced with some of the other students. I won every time, like I'm not used to it. Then it was lunch. I walked to our table to be greeted by Percy and Annabeth.

"Hey Nico! Where's Hazel?" asks Annabeth. "She had an accident in Mr.H's class, she's at the hospital," I explain. "She'll be okay?" asks Frank sitting next to me. "Yeah, don't worry," I reply. A few minutes later Piper and Leo arrive. "Where's Jason?" I ask. "He got in trouble in Mr.A's class," says Piper. "It was hilarious!" exclaims Leo. I look at him and notice he's sitting right in front of me. I laugh and tilt my head.

"Why?" I ask. "The class started saying that Mr.A was as hot as the sun, but they meant it as handsome duh," he says. "Is he?" I ask. "You could say that. Anyways some other students started saying that Jason was better. The class started fighting and then Jason and Mr.A went face to face. Mr.A is like a teenager that was smart so he's a teacher now, but that doesn't mean he's mature," says Leo grinning. I smile and shake my head.

"Where's Hazel?" asks Piper. "She had an accident at Mr.H's class. Don't worry she'll be fine," I say. She smiles and sits down. We talk about nothing in particular. That's until I mention my birthday. The whole table falls silent. It feels tense, and I can't handle that.

"What's wrong and what are you hiding from me?" I ask. They all look down. I look at Leo. "Leo!" I exclaim. He jumps a bit and looks at me. "Yeah?" he asks innocently. "You can't ever lie to me. What's wrong?" I ask putting as much force in my voice as I can. "Be strong," whispers Percy. He looks back down. I groan in frustration and get up. I walk away from the table as dramatically as possible. They all start calling my name, but I ignore. I walk out to the hallway and walk to my locker. I open it and put the stuff I used out of my bag and the things I need in. When I close the locker and turn around, I see I'm surrounded by a group of kids that look dangerous.

"Hey kid," says the blond guy with blue eyes. He's standing next to a girl with light brown, short hair and brown eyes. They look like the leaders of the gang. "What do you want?" I ask irritated. "So we did a little bit of digging about you," says the girl. She starts walking around me in circles. "You're a dark guy, Nico di Angelo," says the guy. "Octavian, you remember what his files said?" asks the girl. "Yeah I do Clarisse. You sir, have no family," says Octavian. "Yeah, you're adopted. Because you were the only one that survived the car accident," says Clarisse. I clench my fists and they all start to laugh. "The boy want to fight!" exclaims a guy with red hair. "How cute," says a girl with long, dark hair. "He's cute alright Drew, but he won't fight us. We outnumber him," says Octavian. "You shouldn't be alive," says Clarisse. "No" I grumble. "Yes, they both died and you lived. How is that fair?" says Octavian. "You should die," says one of the other kids. "Kill yourself!" exclaims another one. They all start punching me and I fall to the floor. They start kicking me and I can't do anything but roll up and let them hit me. Some of them spit on me and laugh. "We're doing you a favor. And deep down you know everything is all your fault," says Octavian. They all stop and look at me. My shirt is all torn apart, jeans all dirty. I have blood running down the side of my body and my face. "You'll rot in, what is it you'd call it, the underworld," says Clarisse and they all leave laughing. When they're out of sight, I stand up and run to the bathroom. I check myself in the mirror. I looked horrible, all beaten up. I splash some water in my face. I take off my shirt and look at my side. It was swelled up. Some things looked like just too much. I plop down on the floor and start crying.

After a while, I wipe the tears off my eyes and grab my book bag. I search inside for an old friend of mine. When I reach it, I take it out. I look at my black pocket knife. I hadn't used it in a long time. It shined and looked perfect.

"Hello Mr.Razor," I whisper, looking intensely at the knife. I pull up my sleeve and inspect my old marks. They had been fading. I bring the knife to my skin and make a deep cut from my wrist to my bicep. Pain shoots through my left arm and it makes me smile. I've really missed this. I grab the knife again and cut through my old marks. I start seeing spots but that doesn't stop me. They were right, I shouldn't be alive. My mom and Bianca should be. Tears stream down my face. I feel weak but I keep going. This was fair. This pain, this is fair for me. I hear the bell ring and know that the others are going to class. I'd be late, but I didn't care. Heak, why not just bleed myself to death. I move to my left arm and do the same as I did to the other. When I'm done, I drop the knife on the floor. I'm laughing and crying at the same time. That's when the bathroom door opens. Leo walks in and when he sees me, his eyes widen.

"What are you doing?!" he exclaims. "What I deserve," I reply. He runs towards me and I see tears forming in his eyes. "Oh my god," he whispers. He tries carrying me but I resist. The last thing I see is Leo looking at me straight in the eyes and screaming my name before I black out.