When I've Fallen Too Deep

Chapter 30- Confrontations.

wowzers this chapter jumps straight in so be prepared :)

.:NICO:.

She's hesitant at first but eventually spits the words out. "What's between you and William?"

My head snaps up to meet her hard eyes staring down on me. Her brows were furrowed as if I was puzzle she couldn't figure out.

I glance back down at my feet and continue sweeping, trying to hide my surprise at her question. "What you mean...?" I ask her lightly, feeling my heartbeat pound on overdrive against my chest. She couldn't have figured it out... I thought I hid everything so well. What if...what if he told her? My hands tightened around the broom handle in fear.

"I mean, he seems to be very interested in you. He's always shooting looks at you when you aren't looking."

"Right...." I already knew that much. He hated my guts, of course he was going to glare at me. He was probably mad he hasn't been able to get to me in so long.

"You do as well," she says.

"What?" I whisper.

"You look at him when he isn't looking."

I quickly scoff, "And why would I do that? I hate him and he hates-" I stop myself. Annabeth was far too clever to not put some of the pieces together if I gave her that much information. I look down at my hands in embarrassment.

"Why? He seems to care about you a lot. I've been told he frequently ask questions about you."

I was afraid I might snap the broom in half if she continued to question me. Annabeth seemed to notice my tenseness as well. "I just do, okay?! Don't butt into my life. It isn't yours to control so stop acting like it."

Her face darkens. "I was just trying to help-"

"Well, you aren't."

"He's hurting, Nico! Maybe you can't see that over your own ignorance, but he needs someone to talk too!"

"You do that then! That isn't my job to make other people happy! He should have thought of that before becoming a fucking dick!" I yell, losing my temper "And you have no right to call me ignorant! I am not the bad guy here."

"Will is not a bad person," She fumes, "He cares about you-" I snort "-and you care about him. Why can't you see that?"

"'Will isn't a bad person' my ass. So who are going to believe? A guy you've known for, what? A month? Or someone you've known for five years?"

"Well, right now, Will! He hasn't done anything wrong to deserve this hate! Nico, what in Tartarus is going on with you!"

I feel the back of my eyes burn. "No, fuck you. I don't deserve this. Get the hell out of my face. You have no. right. To talk about things you don't understand."

She yelled something I couldn't understand through the buzz in my head before turning on her heal and leaving the way she came.

My hands were shaking now as I fell to the grimy floor. An invisible hand clasps over my mouth. Adrenaline pierces my heart, unloading in an instant. I feel my ribs heaving as if bound by ropes, straining to inflate my lungs. My head is a carousel of fears spinning out of control, each one pushing my mind into blackness.

Everyone hates me.

The thoughts were accelerating inside my head. I want them to slow so I can breathe but they wouldn't. Suddenly, my body wracked with raw sobs and I shook like a leaf. Fright consumed every cell in my body, swelling them with terror. With every second I practically felt the rise of my blood pressure.