Chapter Text
Lily was student council president, president of multiple clubs, and an NHS student. She was very involved in the community.
So naturally, she was always asked to show around new students.
Not that she minded too much, it meant dibs on the hottest new guys. She’d put on her hi, new kid! smile. She’d talk about their beautiful, diverse school, as if it wasn’t 92% white and kids didn’t get suspended for smoking in the bathroom once a week.
The works.
She made her way to the counseling center bright and early before first period to get the new kid.
“Hello, Lillian!” Mrs. Fletcher, one of the counselors said. Beside her was one of the oddest people she’d ever seen. The kid was skinny, from what she could tell. His face was kind of gaunt, like he’d recently been kidnapped and starved or something for multiple years and just had been rescued. His black hair was flowy and somewhat long. He was still attractive somehow, with the upturned nose and big brown eyes with dark, long lashes. His outfit was certainly… interesting. He wore black cargo pants, okay normal. And a big bright yellow Hawaiian shirt, like someone dressed him and really didn’t want his first day of high school to go well.
“This is Nico di Angelo,” Mrs. Fletcher said. “He’s been homeschooled for years, right Nico?”
The guy nodded.
“Lily here will show you around. You said you um… ‘didn’t care’ what classes you took? So until we sort that out I’ve aligned your schedules.”
Lily stifled a laugh. She could imagine Mrs. Fletcher’s cheery smile falter when this kid said he didn’t care about his classes. Maybe this could be interesting.
“Alright, I’ll let you guys go. First period is in twenty minutes, so feel free to walk around and if you two are late to first period no worries.”
Lily nodded and opened the door for them to exit the room.
“So, where are you from?” Lily asked to make conversation.
The kid shrugged. “Everywhere, I guess. Born in Venice, moved a lot.”
Lily nodded. That was pretty cool, and Italian guys are pretty hot. “Were you excited to go to public school?”
Nico shrugged again. Was that all he did? “Last week my step-mom said I need to socialize and get out of the house during spring. And my boyfriend said I might fall behind too much in school. So here I am.”
Boyfriend, damn. Oh well, there are always more new kids. “So you decided to come to school last week?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
They walked around more, Lily making more small talk. Finally, the first period bell rang.
First period was math, which they both had apparently. Lily took Algebra 2/Trigonometry, like most sophomores. The teacher let her and Nico do a review packet. They sat at two desks in front of a window overlooking a parking lot.
“Okay, let’s do number 1. It starts at basic algebra, which was like 8th grade, so it’s gonna be annoying but she’ll want to see your work,” Lily said.
Nico picked up his pencil. “Factor,” he read. “X squared plus 3x minus 4.”
Lily waited for him to do so. All Nico did was stare blankly at the paper. He looked kind of frustrated. “Should I know this?”
“Um… yeah,” she responded.
“Oh. I guess school’s not for me. Thanks for the tour though,” he said. “May I go to the bathroom?” he asked their teacher.
Mrs. Reed nodded kindly. Nico stood up and left.
Two minutes later she saw him exit the school from the window, get in a limo, and leave.
Nico di Angelo didn’t come back.
Lily was left with no explanation for the weirdness she'd just witnessed.