A Triangle of Mixed Emotions

Chapter 18: An Old Man Wearing a Tutu Interrupts The Doll Fight

"Mars!" I exclaimed.

The whole class looked at me with confusion. The guy who was in Venus' arms turned towards me.

"You're right, punk. I'm Mars," he raised an eyebrow in my direction. "How did you guess?"

I was kind of scared of this guy.

"I... I guess I just guessed," I shrugged. Mars and I had a stare-down, but he just rubbed my hair and laughed.

"I like this kid. He has muscles and smarts," he grinned and turned towards the class.

"Venus, over here, has failed to mention why I'm here today. I'm just occassionally going to teach you about something I love," Mars said, with the biggest grin on his face.

He brought out a real knife from his pocket. It wasn't just like a normal knife you would use for cutting vegetables. It had wicked edges, and it was especially sharp and pointy. Everyone brought their heads back.

"War."

I heard a girl in the back of the class scream, "EPIC!"

I was scared... What was going to happen?

"So, to demonstrate that, I'm going to need two volunteers," Mars smirked in my direction. Oh no...

I must not show fear. I must not show fear. Uh oh, he's pointing at me. No, not me. Not me.

"You. Blonde hair guy who got hit with the brick," he said, with a wicked grin. "Get over here."

"My name is Jason Grace, you idiot," I said, glaring at him. I heard some oohs in the background. He did NOT just call me Brick Guy. No one could call me that. Mars glared right back at me, and it was scary. I stopped glaring.

"I suggest you to not look at me like that or talk to me like that or someone might get incinerated," he said, with a slight smirk on his face. I gulped, and understood the message loud and clear.

Don't mess with Mars. Got it.

"I'll need another volunteer!" Mars said, grinning. Everyone in the class looked shocked when someone stood up.

"I'll do it. I volunteer for tribute!" she said, with a determined look on her face.

Mars turned towards her. "And who might you be, Ms?"  

"I'm Katniss Everdeen, sir," she said, with confidence. Mars grinned.

"You're one of Apollo's kids, I doubt you'd even be able to fight. And besides, you're a girl!" Mars gasped sarcastically.

Katniss ran up to him and grabbed his chin. Their faces were inches apart from each other.

"I don't know who the hell Apollo is, but don't you DARE say I can't fight because I'm a girl, you got that?" she said, pushing him away from her.

Mars just grinned wickedly. "I like her, she's got spunk."

I gulped. If she could face someone like that, and not show the slightest bit of fear, how in the world am I going to win against her?

"Sir, how are we supposed to fight? With weapons, or something?" I asked, nervously.

"Oh, no, Jason. I'd be fired. You're just kids. You're going to fight..." he said, bringing out some figurines. "...with these."

I looked surprised. Shocked, even. Yeah, I was scared, but I was actually excited and looking forward to beat someone in a fight.

"DOLLS?" Katniss shrieked.

"THEY'RE NOT DOLLS, THEY'RE FIGURINES. GOSH," Mars corrected.

Venus nudged him. "Um. I know you're masculine and everything, but your inner gayness is showing," she whispered, loud enough for the entire class to hear. We all burst out laughing, until Mars glared at us. We instantly quieted down.

Mars walked towards a huge boom box and started blasting out  "This Is War" from one of my favorite band, Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Suddenly, someone burst opened the door. I didn't know who it was, but I swear I saw a grown man with a beard grinning, and looking weirdly excited. And the most surprising part was... He was wearing a tutu. A blue tutu with fish drawings all over it.

"DID I HEAR THERE WAS A DOLL PARTY?" he screamed.

The whole class had turned towards the old man with the scruffy beard. The creepy, old man instantly blushed.

"Neptune!" Venus face-palmed. "What are you doing here???" 

"Whoops... I'll just... go now," he said, disappearing into the shadows.

Then, silence grew across the room. All that could be heard was the song blasting out from the boom box. I coughed, just to break the awkward silence.

"That was... Interesting," I murmured.

"Yeaaaaah, right. Back to the lesson," Mars said, turning the volume down on the boom box.