The Children of Water

School with Friends

Chapter 7- the children of water

"Omgosh," Lily said sitting down exasperated next to Nico, at their other wise empty lunch table. Nico looked up at her as he opened his Happy Meal. It was Mc Donald's day at the cafeteria. Lily was dressed in her regular school wear: blue jeans; random fandom or band t-shirts, most of which under the influence of Annabeth and her stock pile of books and new love of British shows; her fitted white racing jacket, that Nico was convinced had been charmed to stay pure white despite stains; and of course her gray fabric high tops with their dark blue ribbon laces. Nico was dressed respectively in his black Leather jacket, t-shirt, dark jeans, and black Vans. The pair of them with black hair and contrasting jacket colors were always interesting duo to the people around them. Lily was loosing her tan from that summer and was only a few shades lighter from Nico's pale complexion.

That summer had ended on a spectacular note with Percy's birthday and a final game of Capture the Flag where Lily and Nico dominated the creek. After they went back to the city Percy introduced Lily to his mother and her husband Paul Blofis. They were thrilled to meet her, as thrilled as people could be to meet a step daughter. It was awkward at the beginning but Mrs. Jackson handled it well and had a liking for Lily and her kind persona. The day before school was meant to start, Lily found out that she was eligible to skip a grade according to her SAT scores. Thanks to continued tutoring "for fun," by Annabeth, Lily was ready to go straight into her first year of high school.

"Nico." Lily had said to him that day upon finding out she would be in the same grade as he would, "you have to go to school with me," she said excitedly. Nico was caught off guard. He hadn't been at a school since Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia had rescued him and his sister from a demented boarding school. Soon after his sister passed away. Nico had no inclination toward schooling in anything but a home-school environment.

"Um...Lily, I don't know...." He said looking down. She moved so that she could look up into his eyes. Her blue sapphires pleaded.

"Please?! We would be in the same grade and everything!" Lily begged. Nico didn't want to go to school. He would rather take an unplanned trip to Singapore, which would be bad considering what happened there last time. But this was Lily. She would be there. Nico wouldn't be alone. He would be able to see her everyday and make sure she was safe, although Nico doubted she needed protection after seeing her take down five Apollo kids at once during Capture the Flag. He would be so uncomfortable though. . . He thought, he would have to deal with other freshman and seniors who would look down on him. The thought wasn't appealing. But Lily wanted him there. It made the rest of it seem okay.

"Well. . ." He said after chewing on the idea a while, "maybe I could try high school-" Lily grinned widely and gave him a hug.

Soon they were both signed up at Gilbert's boarding High school in north New York. The two of them were able to get two classes together and lunch together as well. Lily signed up for the choir class upon choosing electives. When Nico had to decide what elective to take he surprised Lily by choosing to take Art I.

"You draw?" She questioned surprised. Nico blushed embarrassed and gave a nod.

"Yea, a little," he admitted. She gaped at him.

"A whole summer together and you never tell me you like drawing?" She asked astonished, Nico laughed a bit, "had I know I would have gotten you something else for your birthday!" She said. She had given him a tan woven bracelet that she had one of the Hecate kids charm it to draw on energy around him to make shadow traveling easier. It was a very thoughtful gift on her part. Not many people remembered his birthday and it meant a lot to him.

Nico only laughed and shrugged it off. But after almost an entire semester he found he really enjoyed the art class. His natural skills became much better and he became more confident in himself. He didn't dare show Lily his work but he was able to deal with the irritation of people because of the renewing his art class gave him.