This group will consist of the seven and Nico. I will put a part two to any of these chapters if requested as well.

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Jasmine Roth took quick steps as she escaped the school gates, her friend Piper McLean right on her tail. Jasmine had always loved those minutes between leaving her last class and then the school gates—it gave her a sense of escapism. Unlike most days, she wasn't going to head home that afternoon; instead, she was going to tour Piper's house. Somehow, Piper had convinced her famous father to let them use her house for a small school fair whilst the gymnasium was being rebuilt after a monster attack, meaning that Jasmine needed to get used to the layout of the house before she began planning where everything was going to go with Piper and the rest of the committee.

"This way, my friends are picking us up." chimed Piper, seeming more relaxed than Jasmine had seen her in a while. Piper then said something about bringing Jasmine to see her father's statue collection, which brought her mind to a halt. Collecting statues seemed like a large waste of money, though she supposed that a lack of money wasn't something a famous actor had to worry about.

The 'camp friends' that Piper had always spoken so highly of were gathered in a misshapen semi-circle in the school parking lot, all a range of shirts that had one of two symbols at the centre. There were maybe a little more than seven people, all radiating far more chaotic energy than Jasmine could've ever imagined Piper to mix around with.

There were a few kids in orange shirts, though the colour was a different shade for everyone, and all with different marks on them that suggested that either these kids got into a lot of messes, or they weren't very good at caring for their belongings. The kids in purple shirts seemed a tad bit more put-together, though their energy was evenly-matched with the kids in orange. There was also a boy sitting on the hood of the Delphi's Strawberries van that was parked behind them, head down and solving a rubix cube.

Piper quickly introduced everyone, going fast enough that Jasmine only processed about three of the names. She grinned widely, hand resting on a vague area at the side of her waist as if there was a lever handle of some sort there, before yelling for everyone to get in the van.

• • •

It didn't take as long as Jasmine had expected to get to the McLean's place. The mansion wasn't as extravagant or outrageous either, though it certainly said 'status'. Jasmine found herself falling back to the back of the group, unable to catch up with the conversation of the energetic and already familiarised group of friends whose names she didn't even know. Jasmine stuck her hands inside her pockets, noticing the dark-haired boy from earlier falling in step beside her. He was looking around without turning his head, hands still flying around the rubix cube, solving it and then unsolving it repeatedly.

The boy's skin was pale, and his dark hair framed his face in a way that only made that fact so much more clear. His eyes were dark, and he was dressed in clothes in shades between dark blue and black, the only contrast a beaded necklace around his neck—a single bead sitting idle at the centre. Jasmine thought that she wouldn't have been surprised if his name turned out to be Edward Cullen or the like.

Piper fell back in step with the boy and Jasmine, and at the latter's curious look, Piper nudged the boy's bicep lightly, raising an expectant eyebrow. The boy seemed to consider Piper for a second, before turning to Jasmine at last, establishing their first actual eye-contact since the hour before when they had first met.

"Hello," he greeted, "I'm Nico di Angelo. Pleasure to meet you."

His voice didn't sound stiff or awkward at all—it was almost like he had been raised to be a gentleman in the forties, but had just adopted an introverted personality that banished those manners to somewhere where they only came out when directly summoned. Jasmine played his name over in her head, Nico di Angelo. She hadn't heard a pretty name like that in a while. Tuning back to reality, Jasmine realised that Nico had been staring at her with a certain interest in his eyes, though he looked away when the girl whose name Jasmine remembered was Hazel pulled him away by the wrist.

Jasmine drummed her fingers against the side of her jeans, gaze flitting between the few statues she could see. She didn't know all that much about art, though she knew enough to recognise a few pieces from online. She turned her head to where she had last seen Piper, to see that Nico had taken her spot by a single statue in one corner. Nico turned around just then, gaze locking onto Jasmine's. He looked at her as if she was familiar to him somehow, like her name or face was one he'd seen before today.

Jasmine shook the idea out of her head. She was making something up from nothing. Besides, just because Nico looked at Jasmine in an interested manner, didn't mean that he was interested in her. The group moved away from that section of the large floor, and Jasmine followed suit, moving herself away from Nico's stare.

The next statue that Piper introduced was one Jasmine remembered reading about only a few years prior—created by a Sally Jackson, if she remembered correctly. She couldn't remember what the statue looked like, though she could recognise the sour expression of a bald man holding a cigarette to his lips, a stack of poker chips before him. His expression seemed more real than half the ones Jasmine had seen on actual people; with traces of anger, confusion, and something almost akin to terror.

"Hey, Beauty Queen," muttered a brunet boy Jasmine recognised as Leo. "What's this one?" He pulled a magnifying glass from one of the many pockets of his tool belt, pulling it over his eye and a spot on the man's forehead in a comical way.

Piper turned to Leo, and opened her mouth to answer, when Percy Jackson strolled over with an arm slung over Frank's shoulder, snorting a laugh and saying something at the same time.

"It's called the Poker Player."

"What in Hades is Smelly Gabe doing here?"

Piper's face scrunched up in a way that somehow still looked pretty, and Jasmine held back a laugh. Jason Grace, on the other hand, snorted, raising an eyebrow at Percy.

"Smelly Gabe?"

Percy just shrugged.

Jasmine glanced back at the statue, noticing Nico's figure right behind it. The dark-haired boy peeked over the statue, frowning at its features, before cracking something that resembled a small smile. A biased part of Jasmine wanted to say that it was adorable and only made her like him more—though realistically, the smile kind of terrified her, as if Nico had just found out a new form of torture, and was reserving it especially for her.

"Why are you smiling, di Angelo? The last time you did that was when Reyna gave you a birthday present yesterday." queried Hazel, arms crossed and head tilted in a curious way, almost like a cat.

There was silence for a moment, before Percy and Jason exchanged a glance and both blurted out: "Nico's birthday was yesterday?" All Hazel did in response to that was raising an eyebrow, and nodding a second later.

Jasmine cleared her throat, glancing at Nico. "But back to the other thing—why were you smiling at the statue? Not exactly a comical piece, in my opinion."

Nico stared at Jasmine with that same look of interest from earlier, as if he knew something she didn't, or something she did but didn't expect he'd know. But there was nothing that he could've found out about her after just one interaction that she would hardly consider an actual interaction, seeing as how all that happened was an exchange of one name.

"I met him once in a field." answered Nico, shrugging when Jasmine frowned at the vague answer. A field? Everyone else seemed to get it though, and she didn't want to see dumb or oblivious to people she's just met, so Jasmine stayed quiet.

A while after, when Piper and a few of the others went to get food for dinner, Jasmine found herself wandering back to where Nico stood against a wall, head down and solving his rubix cube yet again, just like when she had first laid eyes on him that afternoon. She sucked in her breath, stepping forward to where he was. Nico seemed like an interesting person who was probably too introverted to say anything, and Jasmine wanted to meet him again—so her curiosity got the better of her. Besides, if Piper was friends with him, he must've been a fun person in some way.

"Hey, Nico?"

The dark-haired boy glanced up, fingers not stopping as he flicked the rows of plastic cubes, only glancing down every few turns to see what he was up to. Jasmine would've thought the cube was only meant as something to fiddle with, if she hadn't seen it solved more than once in the past three hours.

"Hi," voiced Nico. "Do you need anything?"

Jasmine nodded. "I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out sometime? Coffee or something like that?"

Nico stilled for a second, before recovering. "Sure," he answered easily. "But I'm not exactly the most social person you'll meet." He waited for the nod of assurance from Jasmine that that was okay before continuing. "And just to be clear, this is just as friends, right? I have a boyfriend."

Jasmine felt her shoulders drop at that. Oh. She replayed what Nico said in her head before snapping to attention, a new light in her eyes different to the excited one from before, though it met the same standard of energy. "A boyfriend? I have to meet him! I would love to see who caught your eye—especially if this is some kind of opposites attract thing!"

Nico seemed amused by Jasmine's antics, and he turned to leave, before Jasmine remembered the last thing she wanted to ask him. "Wait." she called, waiting for the Italian to turn back before speaking her thoughts. "Why were you staring at me all afternoon if you weren't interested or something?" asked Jasmine, to which, Nico grinned; as if they were finally engaging in a conversation he could confidently participate in.

"Don't take me to be as ignorant as some of my friends," cautioned Nico, his words barely over a whisper. Jasmine frowned, confused. Nico then tilted his head down to Jasmine's forearm, the bare skin hidden beneath a long-sleeved blouse.

"Daughter of Jana, Roman goddess of Secrets." recited Nico. Jasmine's mouth fell open, and she blinked at Nico, who gave her a knowing look, backing up to where the others were, rubix cube completely solved in his hands. "Correct?"