Chapter 4

Daphne's POV

"What do you call this Charriot?" I asked Mrs. Dodds who was driving.

"A car," she answered without looking at me. She turned on the wind.

"Are you a goddess or an air-nymph?" I asked her.

"No. And hardly a goddess. What I turned on is called an Aircon," She laughed a little.

"Are you taking me to School right now?" She nodded. "Why do you call it High School? Is it on top of a mountain or something?"

"No. We call it High School because, well, I can't really explain it."

"Then just tell me about the other things I should know about the learning system here in the modern world as you call it."

"Alright. Well, when you reach seven, you enter Grade school, which ranges from seven to twelve years of age. After that, you enter Junior High, which ranges from thirteen to fourteen. And then when you're fifteen to eighteen, you now enter High School. Then after High School, you go to College."

"How old should you be when you enter College?"

"You can enter college at any age, just as long as you graduated High School."

"Do you think I'll be able to blend in at this School?" I turned my face to look at her. She looked at me once before returning to look at the road.

"Well, in my opinion, what you're wearing is definitely eye-catching." She was referring to the clothes I borrowed from her. She told me that she would take me shopping after school, whatever shopping is.

She stopped in front of a large, what everybody calls, building. It wasn't long like most of the schools Mrs. Dodds showed me at her "Pictures", it was actually quite tall. It had 2 large doors for the students to enter. It also had lots of closed windows as well.

"Well now, shall we?" She asked me, I copied the way she opened the door of the "Car" at my side. It opened. As soon as it did, she gave me a basket than can be closed and carried around in your back.

"This is called a bag. Don't lose it," She said. As we enter the building, all eyes were suddenly on us. But I think it was only me they were looking at. We walked right inside a big room where there were lots of tables and busy women with their magic boxes and stuff. Mrs. Dodds led me to the lady with a blank look on her face.

"Excuse me, I would like to enroll my daughter here at your school," Mrs. Dodds said to the lady. I checked her clothing, there was a square shaped thing hanging from her neck, I read it. It said: Maria Shivers, Accounting office.

"She's you're daughter," The lady said. Mrs. Dodds nodded. The lady eyed the two of us. "Well, right this way mam." She led us to another room. This time, there was a bald man with gray hair sitting in the end of the room. He was reading unfolded scrolls.

Mrs. Dodds coughed.

"Mrs. Dodds," the man said looking up. He must've known Mrs. Dodds, they must be friends then. "What a pleasure it is to see you right now. What may I help you today?"

"I'd like to enroll my Daughter, Daphne." Mrs. Dodds introduced me. I only smiled at the bald man.

"Hello dear, my name is Bruce." The old man offered his hand, I honestly don't know what he was doing until Mrs. Dodds whispered in my ear.

"Take it and shake it." She said.

I took the man's hand and shook it, then I felt his grip loosen, so that must mean that the hand shaking was over.

"So, Daphne, how old are you?" He asked me. I remember what Mrs. Dodds thought was my age.

"Sixteen," I said.

"Ahh, a sophomore I see. Well, you'll be a little behind from the rest of your new classmates, but I'm sure you'll follow up."

"Oh, she will Bruce," Mrs. Dodds answered for me.

"Well, here's your schedule my dear. You can start today if you want to." I looked at him, then at Mrs. Dodds. She only nodded, so I nodded as well. I looked back at the smiling Bruce and nodded. "Excellent, I'll show you at you're new room."

He led me and Mrs. Dodds to a hallway where there were lots of metal boxes around. Then he stopped. "This will be your room." He then looked through the small window in the door and he seemed to be calling the teacher.

Soon enough, the door opened and revealed a square red head with freckles all over her face. She had a sharp nose and skinny body.

"Ms. Eli, this is Daphne. She's our newest student and would it be all right if I assigned her to you?"

"Yeah, that'll be alright Mr. Hamilton. C'mon kid, let me introduce you to your new classmates," She called me. I looked back at Mrs. Dodds and she hugged me.

"Goodluck, and remember, try to blend in okay?" I only nodded in response. I then let the teacher take hold of my hand and led me inside the room. It was a big room, it had a big green board that had writings in it, seats filled with kids that looked like me but different, books at some of the side and some plants as decorations.

"Okay guys, this will be your new classmate, Daphne," Mrs. Eli said and the whole class said hello to me. "Um, Daphne you can sit over there."

I sat on the seat 2nd on the left in the 3rd to the last row of the class. I was sitting next to a pretty lady with curly brown hair and a cute smile. She also had dimples on both side of her cheeks. When Mrs. Eli faced the green board, the girl leaned in and whispered.

"Hi, my name's Pauline," she said and smiled at me. I smiled back and said my name.

"Hello Pauline, my name is Daphne."

"Yeah, all of us already know that." She laughed then I laughed. I just noticed how stupid I must have looked in front of her. "Hey, wanna hang out later?"

I didn't really knew what she meant by hang out, but maybe if I said yes, I might actually blend in with the rest of the kids here. So I nodded.

"Awesome," she said in a hush, quiet voice.

After discussing the main body parts of the human body, something rang, kind of like a bell. Everybody seemed to be relief when they heard it and started standing up. They took their bags with them. I mimmicked everybody else.

"Hey Daphne, can I ask you a few questions?" Pauline asked me while we were leaving the room. I let her guide me.

"Yes," I said nodding.

"Great. Well, where do you use to live?" I was not very good at locations, especially now that I am living in the modern world. But I do remember something about Apollo talking about buying a house in a place called Hawaii with Leto.

"Hawaii," I said to Pauline. Her eyes seemed to widened in disbelief.

"Really? You don't look tanned, but, who am I to judge. I mean, Bella grew up in Arizona but she has pale skin just like you."

I only understood about a quarter of what she had just said.

"Okay, next topic. Um, why did you move here in New York? I mean, its a great city and all, but, why?" I remembered reading something in Mrs. Dodds room that said "New York is the place to be".

"Because, New York is the place to be," I told her.

"Well, yeah it is, but Hawaii is much more cooler than NYC, so what made you move here? I mean, there's gotta be a reason why, right?" I wanted to tell her the real reason why I moved to this place, but, I don't think it would be a good idea. so I just told her what first came into my mind.

"My father made me go here. He said that I needed to spend more time with my mother and that I needed to be around her."

"So, are your parents divorced?" I stopped and looked at her.

"What?"

"You know, are your parents together or not?"

"Oh, that. Well, no they are not. I mean yes, they are not together. Divorced," I said. She only nodded.

"Right... Well, I'm starving, let's go get something to eat. But early warning, stay away from the meatloaf, because, I don't even think they use meat to make that meat loaf," she said then she took my hand and dragged me away.

~

Apollo's POV

"Really? You'd really let me stay at your penthouse in New York while you're in vacation at Mt. Olympus?" I asked Ares. Before I left to find my currently missing nymph, I went to my good friend Ares. As soon as I found out that he was at Mt. Olympus, I wasted no time in going there.

"Yeah, just make sure that when I get back by November, that place better be spotless."

"You bet'cha," I told him and he smiled. He threw me the key.

"Good. That's what I like about 'cha. You bargain great." I only smiled at him.

Its been a while that I haven't visisted Mt. Olympus. Us gods and goddesses only go here whenever there were important things to talk about. I went inside the conference room where we usually do our meetings. I can see that Father had it remodeled. It was like a meeting room in the movies you watch where the big bosses have meetings about their moneys and companies and such.

I sat at my chair. To the mortal eye or, the demigods who have entered Mt. Olympus, our sitting position is difficult to know. But what they didn't know(or see) is that each chair has a secret symbol that only gods can see. My symbol is the Sun. I always sat next to Artemis. Her symbol is the moon.

Then Hera entered the room and I stood up out of respect. I don't respect her as a person since she banned my mother to give birth to me and Artemis at Mt. Olympus, but I do respect her as a god. She was wise and all knowing like her husband, my father, Zeus.

"Apollo, What brings you here?" Hera asked me in a calm voice.

"I just went to see Ares."

"Ah, yes, you came to see Ares who was doing his job." She was talking sarcastically again. She was trying to make me feel guilty for following my mother's footsteps by leaving Mt. Olympus to live in the mortal world.

"Forgive me, but I am technichally still doing my job as the Sun God even when I'm not here," I told her honestly.

"Really Apollo? Do you do it at the temple our people built for you? Where they worship you?" That's it. She was asking for trouble and I'm going to give that to her.

"Actually, I don't." Her eyebrows went up when I answered her question.

"And why is that?"

"Well, mainly 'cause, that temple that you were referring to, is now a well known tourist attraction."

"Well Apollo, that wouldn't have happened if you never left. It would have never crumbled down like what it is today."

"Hera, it would have still happened even if I stayed here, do you wanna know why?"

"Yes, Apollo. I do want to know why."

"Well, with the earthquakes and all, a temple like that would really just crumble down to what it is today." I watched her face shift into scary mode. I quickly averted my eyes away, bowed my head and left the temple.

I went to my room which was filled with lots and lots of gold and other shiny things. I looked down at each and every one of them, my first winged sandals that Hermes gave to me as a gift for my birthday, a book of knowledge that I won off of Athena, an angel fountain that Aphrodite gave to me. Then someone knocked on my door.

It was Eros.

"What brings you here Apollo?" He asked me and I only glared at me. "Lost your love again? When will you just give up Apollo? Just apologize and I will take away your curse forever."

"No, never. I will never apologize to you. The people around here don't know what the real story is, all they know is your side of the story. But what do you think would happen if they ever found out."

"About what Apollo?"

"The truth."

"And what is the truth Apollo?"

"That you played with my bows and arrows and I only scolded you for playing with them and you got angry and shot me and Daphne with your love arrows." Eros only laughed. As if I was making a joke.

"You're just like your mother Eros, you will never change." I took my tiny sun and went back to the mortal world.

I dropped landed inside the building where Ares's penthouse was. Nobody seemed to notice that I transported here, except a five year old boy who was eating an ice cream. I smiled at him and he still looked shocked.

I went inside the elevator. The Elevator music was Madonna's "Crazy for you". The old lady next to me sang along and I sang along with her. She seemed to be entertained.

"Son, you look so golden," when she said that to me, I noticed that I was still glowing. The good thing was, that it was only me and her inside the elevator. The elevator operator must be on lunch brake. Then I decided to go with it.

"That's because I'm Apollo mam," I told her and smiled.

"The sun god?" She seemed to be believing me. I laughed.

"Yeah mam."

"Can you really make it day when its night time?"

"No, I can't mam."

"Why not?"

"Because my sister will get mad at me."

"Who is your sister then?"

"Artemis, goddess of the moon."

"She sounds nice," then the elevator door opened.

"Mam, I believe that this is your floor."

"Why thank you sonny, I'll see you around." I only nodded at the old lady.

So, I waited until I reached the top floor where Ares's penthouse was. Pretty soon, I was already there. And when I entered his room, it was like I entered the aftermath of what seemed like a war. The scene was unbelieve, the smell was undescrible, in short, it was horrible.

No wonder he wanted his room to be cleaned. He actually tricked me. He's been spending way too much time with Hermes.

But, I guess I have to get started with my cleaning first before my search for Daphne.