Nico was struggling to get ready too. He had to compete with his two sisters for the bathroom, even though their house had like seven, everyone wanted the biggest one. His sisters, Hazel and Bianca, were currently taking their precious time removing every single knot from their hair. Hazel, the youngest, was trying to tame the lion mane of hers, which would never work. She should have realized this by now. But she wanted to look great for her first year here; she was going to be a sophomore. This meant a lot to her. She had just moved into this big house after her mom died.
Bianca, his older sister, going into her senior year, had to look perfect for her girlfriend. She hadn't seen Thalia since the end of the last school year. Her horrible mother had dragged her off to California with her brother (how awful). Nico had missed hanging out with his friend Jason too. Okay, friend was a loose term. They helped each other with homework sometimes, Nico giving him most of the answers, and Jason protecting him from anyone who might try and pick on the younger boy.
Nico himself was going into his sophomore year. Last year was pretty horrible. He got made fun of for his dark clothes. He wasn't emo or suicidal, he just didn't like bright colored clothes, they weren't his style. The girls all flocked him for his Italian, but then backed off when he told them he wasn't interested in any relationships. This wasn't necessarily true. He wasn't interested in any of them. If you like someone for something they can do, and not who they are, you are just plain stupid. And Nico wanted someone who could actually hold decent conversation.
Nico and Bianca lived with their mother their entire lives. Their father was gone almost all the time. Then he died, which left them with another mouth to feed. Hazel. His other daughter. After her mother died, she had no one. So Mrs. di Angelo graciously welcomed her with open arms. Bianca was worried about how this might hurt their mother, their father having another kid that none of them knew about. Well, Mrs. di Angelo knew. Their father had told her in the beginning. He had a one night stand and gotten the woman pregnant. He was drunk stupid at the time, so Nico's mother forgave him. He was originally going to shut out that part of his life, but she made him go and check on her all the time. And supply funding for everything the baby needed.
But now she was in poor health. Her husband dying had certainly not helped her lifelong disease. She was supposed to die before the age of thirty, but at forty-five, she was finally feeling the pain. Everyone had joked the only thing keeping her alive was his love. Nico hoped that wasn't true, so she could stay much longer that everyone thought she would.
Nico grabbed his backpack, shouted at his sister to get their asses in gear, and charged to the car. He had only just gotten his driver's license, so there was no way Bianca would let him drive. He sat in the passenger's seat and waited for his sisters to arrive. Hopefully this year would go a lot better than the last.
