Queen Of Hell & Paradise (Immortal gods: Book 1)

Chapter 24- Surprise!

Hellooo readers! Sorry for the chapter confusion these past few days, I've been editing and rewriting a lot of stuff in the book, so forgive me if I've confused you guys with updates, lol. I can't promise smooth sailing from here on out, but I'll try.

BTW, this chapter is two chapters combined. So you may have already read these parts. Not to worry though, I'll be updating soon!

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Samantha

Reality is the hardest tea I've ever had to drink.

Waking up to the same, clinical room with the same element of loneliness becomes tiresome after a while. After a weekend spent in Hades' realm in his company, it feels odd to be alone again. Especially when I know that things between my dad and me are...complicated.

I wonder if he's noticed I've been gone for the past two days? Time is difficult to keep track of when you're not on Earth. The underworld in particular, makes it almost impossible to remember time accurately. If my father has noticed my absence, he probably doesn't care. I don't have any missed calls or messages from him.

Sighing, I force myself to sit up from my bed. I don't have time for me to waste it on thinking about our dysfunctional relationship. Sundays aren't rest days for me, I have to meet up with the coach to organize the routine for cheer. If I spend my time thinking about my dad, I'll never get anything done.

I drag myself to the bathroom and rinse my face, getting ready for my habitual morning run. I dry my face and apply a small amount of moisturizer before gathering my hair up in a ponytail. I'm not going any place special, but I'm not about to go out into the cold wind and risk drying out my skin. I put on my running shorts and a tee before walking into my closet to retrieve the only pair of sneakers I own.

I have two hours to get ready until I have to meet with coach in the school's gymnasium. I can run for an hour before I have to be back home, then I can shower and get into my cheer practice uniform.

Stretching out my legs briefly, I go down the stairs and warm up before walking out the door. I put on my earphones and grab a bottle of water before jogging out my house. I turn on an app to keep track of the miles and their times as well as the calories I'm burning.

Once my legs have warmed up, I speed up and start running. I run to the nearest park and circle it around four times, remembering to breathe in and out as the burn of my muscles begins to intensify. One of my responsibilities as cheer captain is to set an example to my girls of the excellent physical shape we have to be in, in order to excel at what we do.

It's never easy, but the end result is always highly satisfying. I find that cardio before my routine meet up with the coach helps me warm up for our rigorous choreography sessions. I keep our current cheer routines in mind as I circle the park lap after lap.

I already have a few ideas I want to implement for the upcoming cheer competition we have in December. I want to up the complexity factor in our routines, maybe even put the girls under a special diet. A healthy food plan and copious amounts of exercise will help boost our performance and maybe even earn us a higher place in the ranks.

I was thinking of having the girls form a pyramid, maybe even throw a flyer into the air at the culmination of our routine. I don't know if the girls are ready for that just yet, though. I mean I can't even keep Jackie from eating junk, how the hell am I going to get them strong enough and light enough we can throw each other in the air?

I start my second lap around the park.

How many girls are on my squad, anyway? If I want to carry out the new pyramid idea, I am going to need a few more cheerleaders. Tryouts this year start in a week, maybe I can add three or four more girls to my team. Then, I'll have enough girls to implement my ideas for December's competition.