Ares strode casually down the hallway in the general direction to his dorms. The puny little eighth years, he noticed, were staying well away from him, disappearing into classrooms and backing into walls. He smirked. They had obviously heard the rumours circulating the school. Even if they hadn't heard about him, his looks alone could intimidate all of them into the darkest corner. Straight jet black hair framed a pair of cold emotionless grey eyes. He was invincible, unbeatable, powerful. He was-
"Ares!" squealed a shrill voice.
Suddenly he found the air squeezed out of him as a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around his chest and hugged him tightly.
"Hi Aphrodite," he gasped.
His girlfriend spun him round to face her. "I've missed these past few weeks," she said, hugging him again and pouting lips that were hidden under a mile of lip gloss. "Have you missed me?" She fluttered her long curly eyelashes at him.
"Well, um, er…"
He never managed to complete that sentence, for at that moment, Aphrodite let out a loud shriek, released him and turned to hug her best friend, Helen of Troy. Helen shrieked as well and hugged her back. Ares stared in confusion at the two females hugging and shrieking before him. Helen's boyfriend, Paris, gave him a sympathetic look and they immediately began talking about soccer.
Artemis watched the scene playing out in the hallway. "Boys," she muttered darkly, stupid idiots the lot of them."
"What?" said Apollo "Does that mean I'm a stupid idiot."
Artemis smiled sweetly at him. "Of course not my dear brother, you're different from all those other nitwits."
"Hey, said Orion, popping out from nowhere, "what about me?"
Artemis glanced at her friend and archery companion. "You," she said, patting him on the head, "are probably the most idiotic boy in the entire school."
Orion's face fell. Apollo snickered.
"Hi Arty," said a new voice, "Orion and Apollo."
Athena had appeared on the scene. Her light brown hair was fixed into a rather severe bun and she was wearing a cheerful expression. "I can't wait till the lessons start," she said happily.
"She's probably got a countdown calendar for how many minutes to go," snorted Apollo. Athena raised an eyebrow and kicked him in the shins. He went down, swearing.
"Nice choice of words, Sunshine," commented a breezy voice.
"Andromeda," said Orion in surprise "shouldn't you be somewhere else?"
Andromeda turned her cool gaze on him. Strands of golden hair escaped from her elaborate hair-do, swinging around as she moved, and her sea green eyes shot him a challenging look. "Such as…?"
"Shouldn't you be with Persues or something?"
Apollo snorted with laughter. Athena hid a small smile behind one white hand.
"Excuse me?" Andromeda said, colour rising in her cheeks. "Why would I be with-?"
"Me?" At that moment Phineus appeared, smiling at her slyly. "My dear Andromeda, you have every reason to be with me. I have gold and riches that others can only dream of. Plus I come from an important heritage to boot and I have everything you could ever wish for."
"And the brains of a dung beetle," added Athena under her breath.
"What do you want?" growled Apollo.
Phineus ignored both of them. "So, my Andromeda, would you like to take a pleasant walk with me? Just to refresh your memories of this school."
"In your dreams Phineus," said Andromeda in a disgusted tone.
Phineus sighed. "Very well, if you insist. But remember, my dear, the offer still stands if you need it." He walked away, winking at Artemis and shooting Apollo a haughty look.
"You know what I'm thinking?" said Artemis, outraged that any boy would even think about winking at her in that way.
"What?" muttered Orion.
"I'm thinking how lovely Phineus would look as a warthog."
Achilles threw his luggage under his bed and collapsed onto the blankets. The bed immediately began sagging down.
"Jeez," said Hercules, "you've gained some weight during the holidays."
Achilles chuckled, stood up and walked over to him. "What's this I see?" he said, poking Hercules rather rudely in the stomach. "My, Hercules, and you're calling me fat."
Hercules pouted in a very un-hero like way. "Well at least I can't make a bed collapse beneath me."
"Are you sure about that?"
Both of them turned around, and their jaws dropped open. A pretty petite girl with dark hair stood at the entrance to the door.
"Briseis," Achilles managed at last. "This is the boys' dorm."
She arched an eyebrow. "And?"
"You're not supposed to be in the boys' dorm."
"Point taken. By the way, Hector needs to talk to you two about the soccer team or something. It's something about kicking Ares out of the team and replacing him with Narcissus, even though that guy can't play to save his life."
"Okay, we'll meet him in a minute," said Hercules.
Briseis turned to leave.
"Wait," called out Achilles.
She paused in her stride, her long dark hair swinging behind her.
"That dress looks great on you."
Briseis hid a small smile that was spreading across her face and hurried off.
"Great going Achilles," said Hercules grinning. He sat down of his bed and it snapped cleanly in two. He collapsed in the middle of it and screamed curses that would be better not mentioned here, Achilles' laughter ringing in his ears.