Mythology 101

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Jamey! Get out of bed!” Jean called. Well, her real name was Jeanie but I think Jean is shorter and simpler. In short, she was my little sister and an annoying one at that.

 I groaned and dragged myself out of bed and lazily walked down stairs to the kitchen. I saw Jean sitting at our kitchen table eating a bowl of some sort of chocolate cereal.

“You’re lucky mom’s not out of the shower yet, she would have yelled at you.” I rolled my eyes. “Whatever,” I said in the middle of a yawn.

 I walked over to the cabinet to get a bowl and then to the pantry to get some cereal.

 “Where’s dad?” I asked as it dawned on me that he didn’t come down stairs to say ‘good morning’ like he usually does. “He’s working another late shift again” Jean responds in the middle of taking a bite of cereal. I grabbed a random box on cereal and dumped it in the bowl. “Oh.” is all I can say. He has been working really hard lately.

I went to the fridge and poured some milk into the bowl and sit down at the table to start to eat.

“Oh yeah!” Jean suddenly exclaimed and jumped up from the table, causing it to shake. I grabbed it to hold it steady and called to her sarcastically. “Whoa, going fast enough?”

 “Sorry!” she responded from the other room.

 I took another bite of my cereal and remembered the dream that I had. I was with a man, he was glowing, that had salt and pepper hair and a neatly saved beard while he kept repeating “Time is running out, time is running out.” It made me uncomfortable. Like there was something more to it than I knew a hidden meaning or something.

 Jean walked back into the kitchen while carrying something behind her back. “What do you have there?” I ask.

 “Um…” Suddenly she sticks out her arm and in it is a flat rectangle dressed in wrapping paper that said “Happy Birthday” in different colors.

 That’s when I heard the thudding of footsteps on the stairs. “Jean! Don’t tell me you already gave her the gift!” Jean just smiled with an eye roll. “She hasn’t opened it yet!”

 My mother came walking in the kitchen wearing a bath robe and a towel wrapped in her hair. “Happy birthday Jamey!” exclaimed and gave me a hug. She let go and clasped her hands together. “Okay open it, open it!”

I took the present from Jean’s hand and started to open it. It was a book. A mythology book actually.

“Wow, thanks you guys!” I got up and walked over to Jean and my mom to take them in my arms to give them a hug. I looked down at the cover and saw that the nine major Greek Gods that were on the front. The one holding a lightning bolt, Zeus, looked very familiar.

I look at both of them then at my cereal bowl. “Well, time for school!” I say with just a little too much enthusiasm. They both frown at me.

 “What?”

“Sweetie, why don’t you take the day off today, since it’s your birthday? I’ll write a note for you saying you were sick!”

 I stared at her, astonished, for at least a minute. “What?! Me skip school? No way! Besides, I have a final exam in history today and I’ve been studying all week for it!” My mother sighed. “Fine.”

 Then they all went upstairs to our rooms.

I kicked the door closed behind me and walked towards my closet. I decided to wear a pair of jeans and a Winnie the Pooh t-shirt. “Skip school... I’m not that crazy” I muttered to myself as I slipped on my t-shirt. After I slipped on my pants I walked to my window and opened the blinds to see what the weather was like.

 I saw that the sun was just coming up and there was a light blanket of fog. It’ll clear up before I walk outside. I thought to myself. Then I noticed something strange, a red Mercedes Benz parked in front of my house. That’s weird I thought, but I just shrug it off. I closed the blinds and opened my door. I went to the bathroom to get ready.

 I’m half way there when I hear a voice.

 “I can’t believe you would pass up the chance to skip school. If I were you, I would have said yes in a heartbeat.”

 I stopped and turned around to see Jean in the doorway of her room. “Shut up, I told you I can’t miss school today.”

 She shrugged and tossed some of her brown hair behind her shoulder.

“I’m just saying that I would do it all the time, I mean, if mom would let me. Kelsey does it all the time.”

 Kelsey is Jean’s best friend and a horrible one at that. All I can say is that she’s a trouble maker.  Every time I say something that suggests Kelsey isn’t exactly what she’s cracked up to be Jean gets very defensive and starts yelling at me.

Finally, I just rolled my eyes and turned and to go in the bathroom.

 “Just go get ready for school, Jean.” I mutter.

“Ha! I don’t have to! The middle school doesn’t start for another hour and a half!” I stopped and clenched my fists, getting very annoyed.

 Suddenly, I heard Jean gasp.

 I took a deep breath and turned around while unclenching fists. “What?”

“You…You were just…Electric! It was weird!”

 I stared at her for a moment. “Please shut up, I have to get ready for school.”

 “I’m being serious!” She exclaimed just as I reached the bathroom door.

 “Whatever!” I yelled back and stuck my tongue out before I slammed the door.

 I brushed my teeth then washed my face. It takes me a while to brush my oh-so-thick blonde hair but I manage to get it in a ponytail, only to see that it turned into a giant puff ball in the back of my head. Ultimately, I decided to just leave it down with a clip on the side.

I walked down stairs to see my mother dressed in her business suit sitting at the kitchen table going through her purse.

 She looked up and smiled

“Bye mom, tell dad I said bye when he gets home, okay?”

She nodded and got up to walk to the other side of the table.

 I saw my mythology book just as she grabbed it. “I think you’ll need this.” She said as she hands it to me.

 “Why?” I asked and I took it from her hand and looked at the cover again. Zeus really did look familiar but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I think it’s because I’m not trying hard enough.

 She just smiled with a wink and shrugged.  “Mother’s instinct I guess.”

 I hugged her good bye and called out one to Jean too.

She gets on my nerves sometimes but I think it’s an attention thing. I made a mental note in my head to schedule some girl time with her one day. I called out one more goodbye and closed the front door.

I paused for a moment to put my new book into my backpack for safe keeping then continued on my way.

 I started walking down the road. I have to walk three blocks to get to my bus stop. I was just about to pass the second block when I saw the red Mercedes again.