1. Menopause

Four...Three...Two...One.

Theresa collapsed on the hard floor, panting and trying to calm her rapid breathing. She groaned as she lay her forehead on the cool wood beneath her. The sound of a thump beside her told her that Atlanta had finished her push ups and collapsed on to the floor as well.

Atlanta tried to speak between her uneven breaths. "What kind of stick did Ares shove up his ass today?"

She was right. Ares was in a bad mood, which wasn't a surprise. The God of War was always grumpy. But today it seemed as though he didn't just have a stick shoved up his ass, no, he obviously had a whole freaking tree up there.

Theresa rolled onto her back and tried to ignore the burning ache in her arm muscles. "Must be the heat. I think it's getting to everyone."

"Or maybe he's finally going through menopause." Atlanta snorted.

A weak laugh escaped Theresa's lips. "I just want to stay here, on this nice and cold floor, all day and forever." She muttered drowsily.

Atlanta groaned. "If Ares doesn't give us a break now, I will cry."

"No you won't, you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of Archie."

Atlanta was too exhausted to argue with her friend.

"Think we can get away with laying here for a while?"

Atlanta glanced over to Ares, who was watching Jay and Archie spar with wooden swords, his back facing her and Theresa. "We should be good for a while."

"Good." Theresa murmured. She had time to rest. She would close her eyes for only a minute. No more. Or so she kept telling herself.

Atlanta glanced at her friend with amusement and crossed her arms behind her head before relaxing herself. She could still hear grunts coming from the other side of the gym, where Jay and Archie were practicing. Ares's voice rang out every ten seconds, criticising the boys during their fight.

Thank Zeus I'm not either of them.

She managed to rest for about two minutes before something caught her attention.

Or more like the lack of something.

Atlanta frowned before popping her head up and looking around.

When her eyes landed on Jay and Archie, her frown deepened. Jay was sprawled on the floor, looking towards the two girls with horror and concern while Archie stood near him, also looking at them with wide eyes. His eyes diverted towards the side and Atlanta diverted her eyes to where he was looking at.

Her blood froze.

Ares was walking across the gym, his hands clenched, a look of fury contorting his features.

Oh crap, crap, crap shit mother effing Zeus crap.

Atlanta quickly made a calculation of how long she had to make up an excuse and wake up Theresa.

Ten seconds.

She subtly kicked at Theresa's leg.

"Theresa! Wake up!" She hissed.

No response.

"Oh mother of-"

"Atlanta! Theresa! What do you think you are doing? Get up this instant!." Ares's voice bellowed and echoed throughout the whole gym.

Atlanta's attempts at waking Theresa became more frantic and she punched her friend in the arm. "Theresa I swear to Zeus, if you don't wake up right now, I will kill you in the underworld because that's where we're going when Ares is done with us."

Theresa made and incoherent sound and murmured what sounded like, "Who needs Jay when I can marry this floor."

Atlanta suddenly didn't care about embarrassing herself in front of Archie if she cried.

She heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind her and squeezed her eyes shut.

Good bye world.

"Did you two girls not hear me command you to stand up?" Ares seethed.

Atlanta stared up at the God of War with wide eyes. "Uh, n-no sir. It's just that-we were just- Theresa fainted!"

Atlanta you idiot, that just made him angrier!

Ares's nose flared. "She what?"

Well, she walked into that one herself.

"I can explain sir!"

"How on Olympus can you explain this?"

"Well... it's because she's a girl..."

Ares seemed to be like a volcano, his anger rising with every stupid answer Atlanta gave him.

"Being the inferior gender does not give you two the excuse to be lazy!"

"Nooo, it's because she's a girl, girl."

Ares scowled at her. "Wake her up. I want you two to do another one hundred-"

"SHE'S ON HER MENOPAUSE OKAY."

Oh gods, did I just tell the God of War that Theresa is on her menopause?

"Menopause? What is this...menopause?"

Atlanta heard a cough from Jay and cursed herself.

"W-well it's this thing that all women get where your body uhh, changes, and every month, the body releases... blood... in a ... place, and it helps them with making... stuff... So uh, yeah."

Ares looked like he wanted to simultaneously kill her and run away from her. His gaze moved to Theresa.

And in that moment Theresa decided to ruin all of Atlanta's work.

"I love you floor."

Oh Zeus, please not now.

"I now pronounce you my floor."

Theresa, the pits of hell have a very special place for you.

Ares glared at Atlanta. "I didn't realise you could talk while you're unconscious."

Atlanta tried to look confident and shrugged. "Menopause side effects."

Ares shot one last glare at Atlanta before kneeling down in front of Theresa.

Before Atlanta could utter another word, Ares lowered his face towards Theresa's sleeping face.

A look of disgust made it's way onto her face before turning into a look of horror.

Was Ares going to kiss Theresa?

Atlanta was aware that Jay and Archie had moved closer and could see everything. She quickly looked back at Jay and saw a look of horror etched onto his features.

Poor boy, his crush was getting stolen by a man with a receding hairline.

Atlanta opened her mouth to ask Ares what he was doing but froze.

Ares kneeled by Theresa's side, his face directly in front of hers, only an inch away, and stared at her.

Atlanta glanced over at Jay and Archie questioningly but both boys had looks of confusion on their faces too. She looked back at Ares and her friend. "Uh, Ares what are-"

Theresa's eyes shot open.

Well hello there, looks who's back, haha.

So I asked some of my readers to chose which story idea to write about (The info is all on my profile page) and Heat Wave tied in with Untitled project B. I've chosen to write Heat Wave first, and hopefully I'll be able to write some of Project B while I update Heat Wave.

And If you're crying because you know I'm terrible and I take forever to update my stories, fear no more, because guess what? I. FREAKING. GRADUATED.

Yes, I am done with high school and I have the rest of this month to write as much as I can, so hopefully updates will be more frequent; I can't guarantee frequent updates though, I just hope for it, aha.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I look forward to reading your thoughts on it :)

Love, Purplepeace x