The Daughter of Apollo

Chapter Ten: The Play's the Thing

Chapter Ten-The Play's the Thing

Everyone hurried to pre-assigned seats, sticking Meg, Lana, and me to the only seats left in the first row. Mrs. Alexandra sat at the front of the class on a tripod stool. She spoke in riddle and rhyme before she asked us who or what she was. I raised my hand without knowing. She looked at me surprised that the new student knew.

"Jaycee?" She called.

"You're the Oracle of Delphi, speaker of prophecies for Phoebus Apollo, the Olympian god of prophecy," I said casually. I didn't know the answer, but I did. Does that make sense? Probably not. The teacher nodded.

"Correct," She sounded flabbergasted. "I am the Oracle of Delphi. Speaker of prophecies. For Phoebus Apollo, the god of prophecy. How did you know?"

"I love Greek Mythology, I guess."

"Yes," She nodded, "That must be it. Anyway, I'm happy to tell you that the Goode Theatre program is helping us with our new class project! We will be putting on a play about the Greek Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. You have to participate to get your grade!" She said sternly. Then she smiled.

"I'll be passing around a sign-up sheet for actors and actresses. If you'd rather not act, you can work behind the scenes as tech crew, costume, or make-up. Understand?"

We all nodded and she smiled wider. She started with my row of seats. She handed me the paper for actors and actresses. On impulse I wrote my name down then handed the paper back to Meg with a smile.

So far, Mythology was my favorite class, not because I was considered a myth to my classmates, but because it was fun and definitely a hands-on class. Sort of like how in F.A.C.S. class you cook. In Mythology class, we're Ancient Greeks and go around 'praising the gods' and 'thanking the gods' and asking each other 'which god we worship'. Meg said Athena, Lana said Aphrodite-making the Preps squeal a little, probably thinking she could join them-and I would say Apollo with a bright smile.

Mrs. Alexandra had had us join the other people who worshiped the god we'd chosen and that'd be our group for the rest of the year as a new class project. In my group, there were five boys and two girls, reminding me much of the Apollo Cabin back at Camp. A waved at them, and the two girls looked bored and the guys were acting like weirdos. Nothing unusual here.

I quickly glanced around the room to find Haylee had gone to Hecate and Colton and Brandon had both said Hermes.

One of the girls looked at me. "Taylor Alexandra. Mrs. Alexandra's daughter." I nodded. Taylor had blonde straight hair and brown eyes and was wearing an assortment of colors. She pretty much looked like a walking rainbow.

"Maddison Zeller." A girl with red hair and brown eyes said. She didn't look like the 'Apollo' type, but neither did I. The thing is I don't look the part, but my personality does, when I'm not trying to stay to the shadows.

"Jaycee Carter." I looked at the guys. "Who are they?"

Taylor smiled and pointed to a guy who was maybe 5' 3", "That is Peyton Hawkins," she then moved her finger to the really tall guy who must've been past 6 feet tall with short cropped brown hair, "Trevor Redman," then to the quiet guy with sandy blonde hair and blue-ish eyes, "Logan Miller," then she pointed to the last two guys who seemed to be arguing, "And the one with the dark brown hair is Noah Morris and the one next to him is Clayton Doug."

I nodded and looked around the room again, this time much more slowly, till I saw one guy standing alone in the corner. He was wearing all black, a silver skull ring on his finger, and a leather necklace with one bead strung onto it.

With a shock, I realized that it was Nico Di Angelo. The same Goth Boy who escorted me out of my old school and into Camp Half-Blood borders safely. I caught his eye and waved. He managed a small smile and waved back.

"Don't." Maddison said. I looked at her confused.

"Don't what?"

"Talk to him. Don't look at him, either."

"Why not?"

"That's why," Taylor pointed over at his direction and I looked back. Some of the jocks who decided they'd be the Ares group went over to him and had picked him up and stuffed him in the trashcan. I glared at the laughing bullies, and-despite Taylor and Maddison's protests-went over to Nico and helped him out.

"Thanks, Jaycee," He mumbled.

"No problem. Anything for a friend, right? At least, that's what my mother says." I smiled at the thought of my mom. She was nice enough, a little short-tempered, but nice all the same (At least, when others were around). She had curly red hair and warm brown eyes like melted chocolate. Sometimes, when I asked, she'd forget which story she had already told me and tell me the wrong one of how she met my dad. My favorite was when she met him while she was working.

My grandparents' shop happened to be a joke shop. My mom told me that a man-my dad-had walked in with a cocky, bright smile and his teeth were a bright white, almost like diamonds. After that week, she went back to her day job being a dental hygienist and my dad came in feigning a cavity, insisting that he see Susie Carter.

The other story was that they met after college and everything went from there, my mom having Drew at the age of twenty-six. Four years later my parents had me.

I hadn't noticed I'd walked back to my group, and everyone was staring at me-other than the teacher of course. She just looked at me smiling-and the jocks had stopped their obnoxious laughing and glared at me. Taylor and Maddison just shook their heads in disappointment.

"What?" I asked everybody, glaring at anyone who looked me in the eye. I sat down with the other Apollo 'followers' as Mrs. Alexandra went on about our assignment.

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Lunch came round at about 12:37 and I was starving. I entered the lunch room with a sack lunch Sally had packed me. I looked around for Leanne and her friends, but couldn't find them anywhere, so I made my way towards an empty table and sat down. Soon, Haylee and her friends surrounded me. Haylee placed an arm around my shoulders and Brandon smiled.

"That was a great thing you did back there," Haylee told me. I smiled.

"He's my friend. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing," I explained. Colton nodded his head in agreement.

"I got you," He spoke in a tone of understanding before turning his music up so we all could hear it. Haylee removed her arm from around my shoulders and motioned around the table to the other people who had sat down with her and introduced them. There was Bailee, Airel, and Jeff, all of whom I hadn't seen until just now. Unfortunately, I got introduced as the new girl who was a freshmen. Someone cleared their throat from behind me.

I turned to see Meg and Lana standing awkwardly behind me. The rest of the table stared at them, void of any immediate emotion.

Meg stuttered out a few words. "I s-see you've made friends."

"Yeah," I told her. I looked around the table, noticing there wasn't any other open seats with us. A boy with two Dr. Pepper cans had taken the last open seat a few seconds ago. "Um, I think Kendra said something about wanting to have you guys go sit with her?"

Lana looked slightly hurt and crestfallen. Meg gave me a we'll-talk-about-this-later look. I dreaded later already. After the two had walked off and joined Kendra a few tables over, conversation slowly picked up. I heard about twenty different funny stories and learned that Brandon had signed up to act for the play too. We were all laughing by the time lunch ended and had to go back to class.