It has been two weeks since Nico and Zane's argument, and Nico stuck to her word and barely utter a word to Zane, not even glancing at him. Zane was okay at first, but later, he was started to have this empty feeling that he couldn't shake. Zane was at his desk surrounded by his friends, barely listening to his friends plan another party. To them, they were excited, but Zane didn't really have an interest in a party. As his friends talked, he glanced over between his friends, spotting Nico, sitting at her desk deep in thought, alternating between reading and writing. Zane leaned back, getting a better view of her. He watched her reading the book in her right hand, scribbling at what she was reading. Zane squinted a bit, looking at the book in her hand, and his eyes widen in surprise at the book Nico was reading. Zane felt like an idiot because he didn't recognize the journal Nico and him worked so hard on together. Zane started to feel sad because even though they never figured out who the book's owner was, Zane had to admit that he had fun with Nico. Zane stared at her, and that empty feeling crept back, and Zane sighed, looking back at his friends who were still talking. Zane propped his elbow on the desk and rested his chin in his hand, began to play with his pencil, giving his two cents whenever his name was called by his friends. As the bell rung, Mrs. Darcy came in, informing the class to return to their seats.
"Okay, class, today is the day that you will be handing in your assignments, and no, I am not giving you an extension. If you don't have it, then you both will be getting a zero," Mrs. Darcy said, pulling out a list of names and their partners.
Zane dropped his pencil and looked up at Mrs. Darcy in shock. With everything going on, Zane completely forgot about the project he was supposed to do with Nico. Zane was starting to panic, looking over at Nico, staring out the window without a care in the world.
"How can she not be panicking right now," Zane thought.
"Okay, when I call out your name, please hand in your assignment," Mrs. Darcy said.
Mrs. Darcy started to read the list of people, and Zane's gaze was shifting between Mrs. Darcy and Nico before finally settling his on Nico, who was now looking over at Mrs. Darcy.
"Okay, and the last group Zane Peters and Nico Waters. Please bring your assignment up," Mrs. Darcy said, glancing up at the two.
"Um, Mrs. Darcy, about the assignment," Zane started to say but was interrupted by the sound of a chair scraping against the floor. Nico got up from her chair, casually walking up to Mrs. Darcy's desk.
"Here you go, Mrs. Darcy," Nico said, handing her a couple sheets of paper.
Mrs. Darcy nodded her head, taking the paper from Nico's grasp, scanning it before looking back at Nico, motioning her back to her seat. Nico walked back to her desk and rested her chin in her hand. She glances over to Zane, having a dull look in her eyes, before looking back out the window. Zane let out a breath of relief that Nico came through, but his happiness was soon replaced with guilt. Zane slumped into his chair, having that guilty feeling eat at him because he sat back and did nothing while Nico did all the work. Zane slid his arms on top of his desk, folding them over each other, resting his head on top of them, only think about one thing, and that was the friend that he lost.
Nico sat in her room at her desk, reading the journal propped open in front of her. Ever since Nico spotted that thing in the woods that night, she went through the journal looking for something that might give her an idea of what she was working with. After an hour of reading, Nico started to get a headache and see double, so she placed the book down, raising her arms over her head, stretching slightly, letting out a small groan before getting up from her chair. Nico glanced out the window, watching the raindrops crash against it with intensity.
"Wow, it is really coming down," Nico said to herself before turning back to her desk. Nico pulled the chair, out ready to continue her session, but her stomach had other plans growling loudly, making itself known to the girl.
"I guess I should get a snack first," Nico said, pushing her chair back to her desk before turning to her door walking out.
Nico closed the door behind her and started to walk down the hall, stopping in from an empty room looking inside. Nico sighed, looking into the darkroom, knowing that it should be occupied with her father's sleeping body, but instead, it was vacant. Her dad got called for the graveyard shift because the nurse supposed to be there called in sick at the last minute. Nico's dad was always called in whenever they were down a nurse, but this time, he refused. Nico knew he was only staying home to make sure Nico didn't run off and get into trouble, but after a couple of days being under his watchful eye, Nico couldn't take it anymore, so she insisted that he go pick up the shift. Even though Nico's dad has the best intentions, he still can be a little too much. Nico turned away from her father's room and kept walking down the hall, reaching the top of the steps. Nico descended down the stairs hopping off the last step before rounding the corner and proceeding towards the kitchen. Nico stopped in the doorway, looking into the pitch-black room. She slid her hand against the wall brushing over the light switch before flicking it up, illuminating the room. Nico moved across the room to the fridge, throwing it open, bending over to see anything edible inside. Suddenly there was a loud thud that made Nico stop her quest for looking a snack. The girl slowly straightens up from the fridge, now on alert listening for another sound. After listening to silence for five minutes, Nico closed the fridge staring at the doorway, assuming the sound came from outside because of the storm outside. Nico walked over to her cupboard and reached up to open it but soon paused when she heard the sound again, much louder but now coming from upstairs. Panic began to rise within Nico, and she started to look for some kind of weapon to defend herself with, but she settled on a damp frying pan sitting on the dish rack and proceeded upstairs.
Nico poked her head into the dark hallway upstairs, gripping the frying pan in her hand. Nico rounded the corner, moving silently down the dark hallway. With every step, the voice in the back of Nico's head was practically screaming in her head, telling her to turn back, but the teenage girl pushed those feeling aside, reaching her bedroom door. Nico looked down at the light coming from the door and saw a shadow from behind the door moving back and forth. Nico sucked her breath in, gripping the pan even tighter before turning the knob and kicking the door in, knocking whatever was in her room right to the ground. While the intruder was lying sprawled out on the floor, Nico rushing inside, raising the pan over her head, ready to strike, but the blow never came. Nico froze in place, looking at the intruder turning over, locking his amber eyes with her.
"Zane!? What the hell is wrong with you?" Nico screamed, lowering the frying pan was Zane prop himself off the ground, still with a surprising look on his face.
"Nothing is wrong with me, Rapunzel," Zane said, and Nico rolled her eyes.
"Obviously, there is because no sane person would break into my house during a storm," Nico stated.
Zane got up from the floor, dusting himself off before looking at Nico taking a step to her, but his actions were soon stopped by Nico holding the pan out, motion Zane to stay at a distance. Zane took a step back, holding his hands up in defense, and watch Nico put the pan down back at her side, still on edge.
"Listen, I am not here to start a fight. I just wanna talk calmly," Zane said, causing Nico to scoff.
"You should have thought about that before you broke into my house," Nico stated, crossing her arms.
"I know you're right, I am sorry about that, but I wanted to come here to make this right," Zane said, taking a cautious step towards her.
"Zane, stop," Nico responded, rubbing her temples, and Zane took this opportunity to take another step.
"No, I am not going to because I want you to know that I'm so sorry. I was angry and stupid, and I never meant for this to go too far," Zane said, inching closer.
"Well, it did, Zane, and you can never take back things you said," Nico said.
"I know that, and if I could take it back, I would. Nico, I never wanted to hurt you," Zane told Nico, but the girl turned her back to him.
"Well, you did," Nico stated as her voice cracked, tears threatening to fall. Nico turned her attention to the floor, blinking the tears away. Suddenly she felt Zane's arms wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Nico dropped the pan when Zane rested his head in the crook of her neck, feeling his hot breath on her neck.
"I am so sorry I never wanted to fight," Zane murmured into her neck.
"So why did you go to Towns?" Nico asked, turning her head enough to look at Zane. Zane lifted his head slightly, peaking at Nico, looking into Nico's eyes before sighing and resting back onto her neck.
"I was scared," Zane muttered. Nico shrugged Zane off her shoulder, slowly turning to face Zane. Nico looked into his eye, and she saw a general sadness and regret in his eyes.
"Of what?" Nico asked, and she heard him sigh, rested his chin back on her shoulder, pulling her closer, afraid that she would disappear.
"You were so into this, and I was worried that what if you ended up like Emma and I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt and I didn't do anything," Zane said.
"So why didn't you tell me this was how you felt? Why did you keep me at a distance?" Nico said as she pushed Zane away from her running a hair through her unruly chestnut curls. Zane looked down, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"I see," Nico walked around Zane and walked to the window shutting it close. "Listen, I am not going force you to tell me your reasoning because it is obviously don't trust me," Nico stated coldly, turning back to Zane.
"Nico, I do trust you," Zane responded, walking up to her, reaching for her arm only to be grabbing air when Nico pulled away from him, holding herself.
"So why are you treating me like an enemy?" Nico said, walking over to her bed.
"I am trying not to, but when you were talking about going back there, knowing that it is dangerous made me panic. I didn't know what to do. I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you," Zane answered.
"Wow, I didn't think you care that much," Nico said, sitting at the edge of her bed.
"Believe it or not, Nico, I do. I know we didn't start off on the right foot, but I consider you a friend, and I would hate to lose that kind of friendship. Especially those days when you gave me the cold shoulder, I felt lonely not have you around," Zane said, sitting beside her.
Nico looked over at Zane for a moment before turning her attention to her black carpeted floor. During that time, Nico wouldn't admit it to him, but she really felt alone too. Yeah, Nico had her two best friends, but Zane's company was different for her. Even when she was working on that journal with him, she never wanted to end what they had.
"How about we start over?" Nico turned to Zane, holding her hand out. "This time, we don't keep things from each other, and if something is bothering us, then we talk it out? Deal?" Nico asked, and Zane grabbed her hand.
"Deal," Zane agreed, shaking her hand a bit before letting go.
"So now what?" Nico asked. Zane looked around Nico's room before looking back at her giving her a small smile getting up from her bed, walking over to her desk, looking at the work that she was doing.
"Any progress?" Zane said, picking up the journal flipping through some pages. Nico smiled at him, sliding off her bed walking towards Zane's side, looking on with him.
"Actually, yea. Some of the book's notes are written in Latin, and I tried to decode it, and I manage to uncover one word, and it wasn't right, but since you're here, you can help me translate some pages. Please," Nico said, giving Zane a pleading look. Zane handed Nico the book and walked over to her desk, picking up some sheets of paper, examing them before looking back at Nico.
"Okay, I'll help," Zane said, and Nico handed the book over to Zane and grabbing the papers from him.
"Yea, but first, I am not letting you help me looking like that," Nico said, gesturing at Zane's dripping form from being out in the rain.
"Oh um yeah, sorry about that," Zane sheepishly said.
"It's fine. You can wear some of my dad's old clothes, and I can wash and dry these cause this is a little dirty," Nico said, walking closer to Zane, tugging at his jacket sleeve.
"Oh, you don't have to do that," Zane said, but Nico was already walking out the room.
"It is fine. I am mostly doing this for me because I rather not have a living puddle in my room," Nico said, walking out. Nico closed the door behind her, leaving Zane alone.
Zane laughed at Nico's blunt response and turned towards the windowsill, watching the storm raging on, smiling to himself. Zane walked over to Nico's desk, placing the journal down before walking towards the window. Zane leaned against the windowsill closing his eyes listening to the rain that was pouring outside. Zane ran his hand through his damp hair, beginning to look around Nico's room. He looked down at Nico's nightstand, looking at a small dark blue frame sitting there. Picking the frame up, Zane smiled at the picture. Zane assumed that it was Nico's fourth birthday because she was sitting behind a giant cake with a large number four candle in the center. Nico was giving a big toothy grin, and her hair was big and wild like it is now. Zane smiled a bit, shifting his gaze to the two people behind her. He looked at her dad, standing to her left, crouched down with his hair tied back into a low bun giving off a small smile looking over at his daughter and a woman next to Nico. Zane saw the woman had a matching smile with Nico and held two fingers up at the camera with her eyes close. Zane placed the picture back on the nightstand, taking a step back, still looking at the happy family in the picture. As he was staring at the happy family, he heard Nico opening the door. He turned around, looking at the girl holding her father's clothes in her arm.
"Okay, so these are my dad's old clothes, so put these on and let me know if they fit or not," Nico said, walking over to Zane and shoved the clothes into his chest. Zane looked at Nico, blinking a few times before shaking his head.
"Um, okay, where is your bathroom?" Zane asked.
"Make a right, and it's straight down the hall," Nico responded, motion where Zane should go, and the boy nodded his head, walking out the room.
Nico looked back at her nightstand and notice that the picture frame has been moved. Nico picked it up and rubbed her thumb over her mother's face, giving her a small, sad smile.
"I miss you, mom," Nico said, placing the picture frame back on the nightstand. Nico walked back to her desk, sitting in her chair to resume her work but little did she know that Zane was right outside listening in.