I was mad. At everyone and everything. At my dad for abandoning me here, at this school for being a fucking dump, and most of all, mad at myself.
Why did I let Dad leave? I should have fought harder, I should have done SOMETHING to make him stay with me.
The letter that I received was short, but straight to the point. No sympathy, no 'sorry for taking away your only parent and leaving you an orphan.'
I skipped classes for the next few days, and I guess the school must have been informed of my current situation, because no one forced me to do anything.
Leo would bring me food and try to get me to eat but I refused, staying cooped up miserable in our room.
About three days later, I guess my roommates must have gotten really worried because they snuck Nika in so she could talk to me. I admit, it helped a little, I even ate an apple, but my heart still hurt way too much to do anything else. She talked to me and filled me in on all the silly details that we would usually laugh and gossip about.
Matron came to see me too at one point to explain what would be happening to me for the rest of the year. Since I was now an orphan, I didn't have a home and I was almost positive I would be kicked out of the school and sent to an orphanage or foster home.
"Good news," she had said to my surprise, "your father had actually paid for your full year here at Charford upfront, so we've talked to the people who deal with this kind of stuff and they are allowing you to complete the school year here."
I couldn't tell if that was good news or not.
Of course I didn't want to leave Nika, the only friend I had ever had, but I also had lost motivation for my whole life right now.
"He's grieving," I heard Jason whisper when he thought I was asleep. "It's a normal process, we're all grieving right now. You know, Hazel and Frank... " He trailed off and Leo sniffled. "I miss them so much."
After a full week of moping around in my bed I gave up. Dad wasn't coming home, he was dead. I had less than a year to spend with Nika, and I was not about to give up any more of that time.
Friday morning I got up and put on my uniform, wiping my tear stained cheeks. Yes, I had been crying myself to sleep every night, boys cry too.
The day was bleak, nothing special, no one except my friends had noticed that I had been absent the whole week. Nika gave me a bear hug, and I was grateful even though I acted annoyed.
Have I ever mentioned how gorgeous she is? Like w o w-
I had started to believe that I was attracted to no one at all, but now I was not so sure. Eh, sexuality is a weird thing, I try not to dwell on it, it just gets me so confused. Like bros, who am I?
After our last class ended, which was math, Nika dragged me outside to the gardens. Apparently she was going to make me socialize.
Gross.
There were a bunch of people sitting out on the grass, all of whom I knew. Percy was sitting with Annabeth and she was fussing over his history assignment, Leo was annoying Piper about her hairdo, which for some reason he disliked, and Nico was sitting next to Reyna, talking in a low voice and looking rather suspicious. I kept thinking back to Harris and his claims against Nico... I was starting to think that he may be right... ? Oh well, for now I wouldnt dwell on it too much.
There were still police officers who would visit Charford every day, 1438728 safety precautions being taken, and it was highly annoying. As we sat in the gardens, I could see them, watching us. Ew ew ew.
"OATS! You're outside!!!" Leo exclaimed, whacking Jason in the face as he threw his arms out to the side. I appreciated his enthusiasm towards me, but I didn't like the attention.
"Hey Otis," Percy said, putting his fist out for a fist bump. "Heyy guys," I mumbled, sitting down next to Nika, pulling my hood down. Everyone was bundled up as it was pretty cold at this point in the year, and I honestly had no clue why we were all sitting outside.
They got into a really heated conversation about a topic that I couldn't care less about so I decided to not pay attention. Nika seemed pretty invested in it too so I ignored them all, staring at a squirrel that was climbing up a tree.
"Hello kids," I heard a familiar voice and turned to see everyones favourite detective. Harris looked peeved. Like there was smoke spilling out of his ears. I scowled, this dude is such a rat.
Wow Nika's vocabulary is such a virus.
"Hi," Leo squeaked. He was still under close watch, and didn't want to do anything that might make him look even more suspicious than he already was.
"Which one of you choked Will Solace to death?" Harris looked at all of us intently.
Shocked silence.
"What-" Nico finally said, blinking confusedly.
Before Harris could say anything else, Mr. Brunner our principal rushed out of the main doors with a megaphone in his hands. Very dramatic.
"EVERYONE INSIDE! GO TO YOUR ROOMS AND LOCK THE DOORS!" He yelled into his microphone.
"WHAT!" Nico shouted. "WHO KILLED WILL-" I forgot that Will was his boyfriend, he was about to go through a harddd time.
"Oh-," Percy laced his fingers through Annabeth's hand and stood up. "Come on guys, we're all going to the same room, fuck the rules. I'm not letting anyone else we care about die."
Was I included in the people he cared about?
I glanced down at Nika and saw the look of terror on her face. Leaning over I whispered in her ear, "hey it's ok, calm down I'm here."
This was probably the last straw. Another person had died and Charford was about to get into a heck of a lot more shit