DEMIGODS. (Percico/Pernico)

˚‧º·Chapter Eleven‧º·˚

"Would you prefer your water naturale or frizzante?"

I thought for a moment before answering the boy in front of me, who sat cross-legged on his neat, black-blanketed bed, reading to me out of a textbook that rested on his black-skinny-jean-clad thighs. He looked up at me expectantly with doe eyes.

"Naturale, por favore," I answered.

He nodded. "Okay, let's say you just finished eating. What would you tell your cameriere?"

"Il canto, por favore?" I said unsurely.

He bit his lip before correcting me. "Close, it is 'il conto', with an 'o'. You'll get it, don't worry. You were really close."

I nodded. "Okay."

"The quiz is on Wednesday, which is about six days from now. You should relax and take these flash cards. Ask your mom to quiz you, so you don't have to study so much over the weekend. She seems really nice."

"Yeah, she really likes you."

It was silent for a moment before I cleared my throat. "Um, Nico, I need to ask you something."

"Hmm?"

"Do you...um, are you into, uh, boys, maybe?"

He looked shocked for a moment. "Why?"

I hesitated. "I dunno, I was just wondering."

"I... I don't..."

"It's okay, Nico. I don't care if you are. You're still my friend and my band mate. I won't treat you any differently."

He bit his lip and his gaze shifted from his lap to off to the side despondently.

"Hey," I said gently.

He refused to look at me, so I moved my head to meet his gaze.

"Percy, you don't understand," he said quietly, almost a murmur.

"I don't need to. Just know that it's okay. I won't tell anyone."

"Promise?" He looked up at me with a look of trust and nervousness and held out his pinky.

I laughed at his childlike gesture and gave in, interlocking our pinkies. "Promise."

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯

I looked down at the overturned paper that sat in front of me. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. It was the following Thursday; the anxiety of taking the quiz had already been endured and now I faced my results. I looked back at Nico, who smiled at me hopefully as he looked at his own grade, which was no doubt perfect.

With a tremulous hand, I reached for the paper that held my fate, written in ink as a large letter on the top right corner. To save myself the intensity, I flipped the page over quickly, like ripping off a Band-Aid. My eyes widened at a letter I never thought I could achieve in my first period Italian quiz. An A- was written in black ink on my paper. I smiled in excitement at my quiz, reviewing my responses. I only got three wrong out of all the questions. I restrained a whoop of happiness that threatened to escape.

I looked back at the dark-haired boy that sat in the back of the room, who was looking at me expectantly. I did a fist bump in the air to tell him I did well, and he gave me a smile and a thumbs-up as a response.

Never was I so happy to sit through a whole period of Hell.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯

I felt the music whelm me. It carried me into a state of euphoria, yet feel shivers down my arms and legs. I enjoyed the notes Thalia played as I waited for my cue to sing. This time, I was not playing an instrument, rather than vocals. I began to sing the lyrics I've heard throughout my life, losing myself in the chords and words and strums of her guitar.

"Summer has come and past, the innocent can never last. Wake me up when September ends."

As I began the next line, I heard the gentle, high notes of Nico's keyboard join in with the music Thalia and I produced.

"Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars. Drenched in my pain again, becoming who we are. As my memory rests, but never forgets what I lost. Wake me up when September ends."

Leo began to drum, his hands itching to do something, rather than wait for his part to come. Thalia was happy to actually put some effort into her part, rather than strum lightly at her instrument. Jason joined in on his bass, and I continued to sing. The music we all created formed one song, beautiful and dripping with nostalgia.

Thalia zealously played her solo, the wide smile plastered on her face indicating that she enjoyed doing this as much as I did. We all enjoyed doing this; we felt as if it were our calling.

We wrapped up the song, with the strums of Jason's and Thalia's guitars and the notes produced from Nico's keyboard. My mom clapped from the doorway, acting as our first audience. I felt like a child putting on a show for his parents. This somehow was different, because she was honest that we were good at what we did and she was impressed by how much we've progressed in the past few months.

Reyna nodded at her comments. "Well, while we've still got a while to practice, I went ahead and asked a favor of my sister. She agreed, of course."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, we need to get more experience performing in front of actual people, other than your mom, so we got you a gig at the restaurant she worked at for a while," Reyna said. "It will be good experience for us. It's not too fancy, either, so that will be better."

"Sweet!" Leo exclaimed.

"That is awesome, Reyna!" I praised, hugging her out of excitement, which I could tell surprised her a bit, but she acquiesced. "Couldn't have asked for a better manager."

"It wasn't too much of a hassle," she shrugged.

While we celebrated the news of getting an actual gig, I smiled at Nico, who looked a little downcast for some reason. He caught my gaze, smiling at me sheepishly. I wondered if he had a fear of preforming, which would make sense because of his other anxieties and insecurities. I sat beside him and we watched the others cheer. Thalia had one arm around Jason's neck, and the other was around Leo. She ruffled Leo's curly hair to the best of her abilities with the remainder of her arm.

"We're going to be rockstars, boys!"

"You betcha we are!" Leo agreed.

"I guess," Jason buzz-killed.

She sent a playful glower at her downer brother. "Don't let it affect your grades."

"Speak for yourself," he countered. "You're not even a rockstar yet and you've already let your grades slip."

We all laughed, even sullen-looking Nico. We loved each other dearly. We had to. We were a family, after all.