I know that I wrote this fanfiction, 'Teardrops', in Archie's point of view, but I am including a sub-plot about which the rest of their team of heroes' descendants told him, hidden within the fanfiction's storyline. this fanfiction is a full four-thousand-two-hundred-eighty words worth of storyline at a good forty-six pages long.

disclamation: I do not own 'Class of the Titans' in any way, shape, or form. if I had, the series would have continued until the heroes' descendants all but finally defeated Cronus and sent him right back to the darkest depths of Tartarus. sadly, I have no rights to the actual series. I do not even own my own fanfiction's storyline in this fanfiction. I got the idea for this fanfiction from a completely different fanfiction on FanFiction and based this fanfiction upon it. it was called 'Teardrops on My Guitar', based off of the song by Taylor Swift obviously, it was written by another blogger on FanFiction under the penname of Robin Uses Wings Of Tanabi, and it was a Xiaolin Showdown fanfiction about Raimundo Pedrosa and Kimiko Tohomiko. yes, I also like that series. I have been needing inspiration for my own fanfictions for a while and I got really inspired by Robin Uses Wings Of Tanabi's own 'Xiaolin Showdown' fanfiction to write this 'Class of the Titans' fanfiction. have fun reading this everyone.

Had anyone ever told you that perfection is impossible and unrealistic? Well, I say they're wrong, because I actually came face to face with perfection in the most beautiful way the day I met Atlanta Kestrelson. Everything about her is perfect in my opinion; her beautiful hazel green stare, her slightly tanned skin, her gorgeous strawberry-colored pixie cut, and her pretty little smile that would shame even the all too submissive Cinderella.

You could probably define someone you like as cute, pretty, or even hot, but Atlanta is all around beautiful. It takes a special kind of girl to deal with all of the bad the world could ever offer and still sustain a heart of gold in the end.

Atlanta is also so athletic and fast. I'm not even talking normal fast. I mean, she's the descendant of Atalanta, a great heroine from Greek mythology. Except that her story was more than just a myth, it really happened.

She was the priestess of Artemis, I believe, because she was raised by a bear that the legend believed to be Artemis in a mortal form. She also wielded a bow and arrow for her number one weapon and she swore an oath that she would forever retain her maidenhood.

She pledged to only marry the man who could beat her in a foot race, something that was not easy to do against her. Atalanta was obviously beaten in a foot race eventually, other wise Atlanta would never have even been born.

My name is Archie Khilles, and I love Atlanta Kestrelson with all my heart. She's the best female friend I could have ever asked for. I'm sorry, I have to laugh about this considering the fact that the others once caught us laughing up a storm at the dumbest knock-knock joke Herry had ever made to us.

Odie: I see you're hanging out with your girlfriend, Archie.

Odie made sure to emphasize the word "girlfriend". I appreciate Odie being a friend of ours, but he can such a jerk sometimes. Then again, we all are jerks at times, other than Atlanta. She's far too pure to act like a jerk at all unless she was being controlled.

After she left with Theresa and I managed to babble like an idiot for five seconds, I finally spoke up for myself against Odie's teasing.

Yours Truly: Not my girlfriend, Odie.

Neil: Then, what could Atlanta ever be to you, Archie?

Yours Truly: My friend-girl.

Then, the guys laughed up a storm and Herry started rolling on the ground at my statement. I know it was embarrassing, but I was not willing to let Atlanta, of all people, know I had a crush on her, not just yet.

So many nights, I lay awake thinking of what would happen should I relate anything connected with love to Atlanta. What would happen to our friendship? It would most likely be torn apart at the seams. She would probably never talk to me again, especially if she were to say 'no'. At least, I can still have her as a friend.

Then, what seemed to be out of nowhere, a new hero came into our lives. The guy's full name was Mel Blancharis, a direct descendant of Melanion, an alias of Hippomenes, the husband of Atalanta who had managed to beat her in the foot race. Actually, the guy distracted Atalanta with a golden apple and sped past her to the finish line in her story.

Mel and Atlanta hooked up with one another very fast. I was alright with it in the beginning, but that was only because I was so sure she would eventually come to her senses enough to realize it was like she was dating her brother/male cousin. It never happened though, so I just made the decision to put up with it for real for the rest of the time the two of them were together.

You know when Atlanta's crush on her possible male cousin really irritated me was whenever she would just go on and on for hours at a time. Seriously though, it was always 'Mel said this', 'Mel did that', 'Did you know that Mel gave me a blah-blah-blah', or even the occasional 'This week, Mel took me to the blah-blah-blah and blah'.

It sickened me to no end. The worst part of it all was the fact that being the great friend to her that I was, I felt obligated to listen to what she had to say about the jerk. I could not listen too well, so I would also pretend to listen to Atlanta about her fling with Mel like he was the coolest guy she'd ever known.

I gave a frequent nod and wore a fake, plastic smile on my face to keep Atlanta from knowing that I was hurting. Meanwhile, behind my mask of happiness for her, I held back a monsoon of tears from basically flooding the room.

At least, I could still have a friend in Atlanta, and whenever she came to spend time with me, she made me feel like we had already defeated Cronus and he was in Tartarus to stay this time. After all of this, you would probably think that Atlanta would have easily come to her senses and realized that not only was it like dating her male cousin, but it was also pretty rushed. And yet, I knew that this auspicious moment was bound to come sooner or later. Luck was just not on my side because it came sooner.

Atlanta: Mel said that he loves me. Can you believe it?

She was bouncing up and down like she had just won the lottery. I was dumbfounded, gaping my mouth for a moment. I finally regained my composure thereafter.

Yours Truly: S-S-So, d-d-d-do y-you l-l-l-love h-h-h-him, t-t-too?

I had a quiver in my voice because I had only regained a small fraction of my composure before that.

I guess Atlanta did not notice it, because not even a second later, without missing a single heartbeat…

Atlanta: Yes! Yes, I definitely love Mel back.

I inhaled a breath in order to hold back a stream of tears wanting to escape so badly from my eyes. I may have opposed myself to crying, but I just hugged her in a rather forced effort to congratulate her on her thing with Mel finally getting this serious. Sure it was only into a few months after even meeting the guy, but it was by no means my place to tell her how a relationship should start.

I just decided to read and even to write up some of my poetry to help relieve the pain that I felt in my heart after Atlanta's revelation.

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was December 18th around five p.m. and in an instant, I was completely and undeniably heartbroken. Mel and Atlanta had just walked into Mrs. Hera's solarium and by the way the two of them looked, they had some news to share with the rest of us.

Mel: Everyone, would you please gather around? Yes, Neil, even you. Thank you. Standing before all of you today, I'm here to ask out the beautiful Atlanta Kestrelson. No, Herry, I'm not taking her outside. I'm asking her to be my girlfriend. Yes, Odie, I know she is technically descended from my own ancestor's wife. But, this feels so right.

Atlanta looked both shocked and ecstatic at the same time. In vain, I had hoped that she would go up to Mel, slap him across the face, tell him that I was the only guy who she would ever love, and finally run right into my arms.

I just cannot believe how unbelievably stupid I was to even wish for something like that. Of course, that would never happen in even a millennium.

Atlanta gaited past me to accept her place beside her new man, while her sweet-smelling strawberry scent called out to my nose. Too bad that beautiful scent was not headed towards me.

Herry came up to me sympathetically, or at least he was trying to be sympathetic. It came off more as unintended insensitivity.

Herry: Hey, Archie? Archie?! Archie, why do you have bags under your eyes? Are they painted on or something?

Herry tried to rub them off and I was honestly far too tired and miserable to do anything to stop his rubbing or even care about it. Herry finally took a look away from me and at Atlanta and Mel.

Herry: Oh, now I see what this is about. It's obviously got to do with Atlanta's new relationship with another guy.

For once, he actually hit the nail on the head about how I felt.

Yours Truly: I've been suffering from a brutal and severe emotional insomnia. That's why I have these bags under my eyes.

Herry: Sheesh! Don't have to take it out on me.

He really thought I did not know that already? But seriously, I had tried to snap out of it for so many nights by then. I kept on telling myself it was not worth killing myself over, but I could not sleep long enough to dream if I tried.

It was not like I was angry with Mel, at all, no, no, no. This was not like with Pan, yeesh. He had not really done anything to me. He had no idea that I was completely and hopelessly in love with the girl he was going out with.

But still, I could not say that I was by no means jealous of his relationship with Atlanta. Seriously, every time we were out risking our lives fighting against Cronus, Atlanta and Mel held hands and snuggled against one another right in front of my face as soon as all of the fighting was over and done with.

I was so hurt whenever it would happen, I felt like I was just gonna blow chunks every single time. One time , I actually did puke my guts out all over Neil's shoes. Neil chewed me up about vomiting on his shoes, that they were vintage, but at least my chunk blowing projectile missed Atlanta.

Definitely, though, Mel should treat her like the princess she was, for sure.

Up until that point, I was perfectly able to hold in all of my weeping and sobbing, but one day it just completely blew up in my face.

We were on a plane ride to yet another vacation in Greece, and just our luck, Neil had been running low on first class seat accommodations for us all, so we had to split up our flight arrangements. Turned out this had been happening since Mel joined our little ragtag group of heroes' descendants. Jay, Theresa, and Herry got to ride first class with Neil, while Odie, Atlanta, Mel, and I were sent into economy.

At least, I was seated with Atlanta while Odie and Mel were far away from the two of us. After she and I were seated, Atlanta only smiled at me apologetically.

Atlanta: I'm sorry I've only been talking to you about nothing and no one but Mel all this time.

I just glanced out the window and mumbled something incoherent while I had acknowledged her statement.

Atlanta (continued): And by the looks of your face, you're obviously pretty tired from it all.

She grinned at me, and I chuckled back at her in response.

Atlanta (continued): How about a Melbourne-free talk, Archie? Just like the old times.

I smiled a real smile at her for the first time since Mel joined our group.

Yours Truly: OK.

Just as our conversation began, a dark, shadowy figure suddenly showed up from beyond the aisle of airline seats. I took a closer look at its face and in an instant, I realized it was Mel.

Mel: Hey, Archie. Hi, Atlanta… so I talked to the woman next to me and she said you could switch seats with her. So would you want to?

Then just like she was a trance, Atlanta moaned hungrily and accepted Melbourne's offer in a heartbeat.

Atlanta: Mmmm, yes.

Mel held out his hand to her, and Atlanta grasped it like there was no tomorrow. Then, she turned to me with a beaming smile matching her grasp on her crush turned boyfriend, Mel's, hand.

Atlanta: Bye, Archie.

Her voice sounded so sweet and innocent the way she said 'bye' to me.

Yours Truly: Bye, Atlanta. See you…

She and Melbourne were gone before I finished, though.

Yours Truly (continued): … later.

I sighed and sank into my seat. I had had it by then. That was the end of it all. It was so hilarious how I had managed to live through all that and still dumb enough to even like Atlanta – never mind loving her. What was even more of a riot was that I never had the guts to tell her how I felt about her even though she's my best friend. And the funniest thing of them all? Obviously, it's how I was actually trying to convince myself that I did not even like her anymore.

Oblivious as I thought about all of it, I was unaware that a very portly woman sat next to me. And when I say portly, I mean she took up almost the whole seat section. If that was not enough, she also smelled a lot like asparagus.

Portly woman: Oh, hello. We're gonna get along great. Do you like swimming?

Before I could answer her, she continued.

Portly woman (continued): Wonderful, because I have a lot of pictures of myself in swimsuits for you to look at.

I inhaled to speak, but she interrupted me once again.

Portly woman (continued): Don't worry, dearie, I'll be sure to show them to you one-by-one.

Do I really need to say more?

After looking at pictures of my two worst nightmares rolled into one thing (water and obesity in a swimsuit), I found an excuse to go use the restroom in the back; a really, really long trip to the bathroom. Trying to fumble past that woman and her bitter, awful asparagus scent for a while, I finally made it to the passageway, taking my time to walk there.

Not all that hard to believe, I was without a doubt having the worst day of my life . You would probably figure that it could not have gone any more downhill from there, right? Oh, how wrong you would have been at the time. Guess who I found in row fifteen in seats A and B, making out like they were trying to repopulate the Earth in one go after a disease killed off the rest of society?

Correct. Atlanta and Melbourne were both eating one another's mouths like they were starving to death. Mel was not afraid to caress her stomach, either. He also fingered at her strawberry red pixie cut hair. The nerve of him just made me want to heave! They had the biggest patterns all compressed into one kiss. I had never a more monstrous make-out in my life.

The worst part of it all was that Atlanta looked as though she liked it. But, I knew perfectly well that she did not like it. She loved it. She was in a heavenly paradise that could have easily been compared even to that of the elysian fields, themselves. A heavenly paradise that was just like the darkest corners of the worst section of the Underworld to me. I stayed rooted in my spot, mouth open, heart broken and dejected, dreams crushed into tiny, microscopic pieces.

I had no more intention of going to the restroom any longer by then. Racing back down the hallway and sitting in my seat, I let loose the flood of tears I had been holding back for months. It gushed out, drop by drop, along my face, until it reached my chin and dripped onto my shirt. The flight attendant asked me if everything was alright, to which I responded with the scariest, loudest 'yes' ever. She ran away from me in so much fear. I am not kidding. I was seriously just about ready to kill somebody.

Apparently, Odie saw me crying from where he was, and so did Herry, Jay and Theresa from the first-class section. Heck, even Neil apparently looked away from his mirror long enough to see what was going on in the economy section with me. They all knew exactly what it was about.

Of course, Odie and Herry, being the good friends they were to me, told me everything that happened after that. Neil ironically joined them. He said he only joined the plan regarding Atlanta's innocent insensitivity because he'd always believed that Atlanta and I belonged together. It was not exactly my ideal reason for having his help, of all people, but I took whatever form of help I could actually get from even the vain blonde of our team of Greek heroes' descendants.

Once the plane landed at the Greek airport in Athens, we all went to get our luggage at the luggage carousel. Odie, spotting Atlanta getting her luggage off of the carousel, went up to her with Herry and Neil, and they all looked at her menacingly.

Odie: Are you blind or deaf or something, Atlanta?

Atlanta just stared at Odie and the other two foolishly and looked around confusedly. Herry suddenly scoffed at her.

Herry: Well then, if you're not blind or deaf, Atlanta, then maybe you're just stupid. Is that it, Miss Kestrelson, if that's even your real last name?

Atlanta: Herry, Odie, if this isn't my suitcase, you know you could just say_

Neil finally spoke up.

Neil: Oh, puh-lease! Atlanta, Archie loves you, just thought you might wanna know since you can't seem to see it on your own. Is it a crush? No! An infatuation, then? Definitely a no! It's obviously love!

Atlanta did not gasp or put her hand over her lips. She only sat there with her mouth open, finally acknowledging what she had been doing to me ever since Melbourne came along.

Then, two new voices joined in the lecture to Atlanta's innocent insensitivity.

First voice: That's right, Atlanta.

It was none other than the team's fearless leader, Jay. Theresa was with him, too.

Atlanta: But, Jay, I love Mel.

Jay: Do you love Mel, or are you just infatuated with him and the history of your shared ancestry? Archie loves you to the farthest possible extent, and all you ever even do with him anymore is jabber on with 'Mel this' and 'Mel that'. He loves you so much that he didn't wanna come between you and Melbourne.

Theresa: You and Mel were kissing on the plane ride here and because of it, Archie cried up an entire ocean of tears on the plane ride here.

Odie took over the rest of the lecture to Atlanta.

Odie: If you look Archie in the eyes right now, Atlanta, you'd be able to see that they're red as blood. He was crying because his heart's completely broken, as broken as a mirror that collided with a wrecking ball in fact. I think that Archie loves you more than Mel ever will, even.

Anyway, that was all Odie and the others told me about the lecture that Atlanta received from the rest of them. He tried to call it a conversation, but it seemed to be more like a monologue from the rest of them, in my opinion. The important thing was that the moment our vacation had started, Atlanta saw me sitting in my hotel room, alone and miserable, even knowing what the rest of our ragtag group of friends had told her.

I knew I should have been happier that my feelings were now out in the open, but it seemed to only make me feel worse. I mean, there was a chance of Atlanta rejecting my affection for her and staying with Mel even knowing what she knew with the rest of the gang's lecture.

Staring out at the horizon, I just contemplated the possibility of needing to finally let my feelings for Atlanta go, yet knowing full well that there was no way I could do that very easily. In fact, it seemed to be impossible for me to ever get over her. Atlanta is, was, and always will be, the love of my life.

Suddenly, I was brought out of my thoughts by a knock on the door to my room. I readied my adamantine whip, prepared to strike whoever was at the door in case it was Cronus. Instead of the evil god of time and space, however, the one who came in was very soon revealed to be Atlanta. She spoke to me after she knocked.

Atlanta: Hey in there. Is it OK if I come in, Archie? You're not already undressed, are you?

I blushed up a storm of crimson on my face at the mention of already being undressed in front of a girl.

Yours Truly: NO! I-I-I'm still very fully clothed. I was too depressed this afternoon to care about getting my pajamas on.

Atlanta: Really now? Would you care enough to explain why you were so depressed? Or do you not wanna talk about it?

Truth be told, I wanted to at least talk it out with her, but I just did not know if she would listen to what I had to say. She had not listened to me much since Mel came.

Yours Truly: Just come in, Miss Kestrelson. And please do not bring up Mel while you're in here, either. I know you like him, but I'm sure the guys and Theresa already told you about it.

I got up if only to let her into my room.

Atlanta: Hey, Arch.

My hotel room was suddenly a graveyard level of quiet.

Atlanta (continued): Um, Archie, I just wanted to apologize for what happened on the plane trip to Greece this time around. It's just that, well, you know, usually, I see you as like a brother or a cousin or something, since we've been friends for this long.

I turned to look at her, and she dared to look me back in the eyes. Then, she took my hands in her own.

Atlanta (continued): And that's also why I see you as a really super good friend. And I also hope it can stay that way, you know, if we were to started… you know, dating.

I almost jumped three feet into the air, surprised at hearing what she had just told me. Truthfully, I did not know if it was better to be surprised or overjoyed.

Yours Truly: What?

Atlanta: Archie, I wanna be with you.

Yours Truly: What about Mel?

Atlanta: I already broke up with him. Told him the love just wasn't there. Plus, now that I think about it, he's the one with whom I actually qualified as being just like siblings or cousins since he's a descendant of Hippomenes, who actually married my own ancestor, Atalanta.

I swear, it felt just like I was dreaming. I wanted so much to smile my biggest grin and dance my stupidest dance ever with the whole world as my audience, but I stopped short of it all. I decided to just settle for my kindest smile and no dancing whatsoever.

Yours Truly: Well, Atlanta, a great and very wise man once told me that if you really love someone, you always have to give what's best for the one you love.

Atlanta beamed at me, sitting on my twin bed beside me.

Atlanta: That's right. So if you really love me, then you'll let me do this, which'll just about kickstart our friendship-to-relationship upgrade.

The next thing I knew, Atlanta had her arms wrapped around my neck and her lips gingerly pressed against my own. It was a classic cliché, but hey! She kissed me! We were caught up in the moment as I finally wrapped my own arms around her waist, closed my eyes, and returned her kiss. Quiet and romantic, it was true love_ not an erotic love like what she had with that stupid Melbourne.

I started to taste her lips as she did my own. What was this strange sensation I got from the taste?

Apricot?

No, it was not that.

Peach?

No, that still was not sweet enough.

It was probably Mango, then.

No, that still was not even anywhere near as sweet as what I was tasting from Atlanta's lips during a kiss like that.

I finally concluded that it had to be love that I was tasting from this girl's lips. Yeah. Yeah, the sweetest thing of all.

So many questions I had to ask and so many things I needed to say, yet I could not speak at all. I was rendered completely speechless after a kiss from the girl of my dreams. I could feel myself go totally heart-eyed from my Atlanta's own touch.

We stared at one another, smiling, laughing for no real reason, and watching the Greek beachside sunset together from the hotel room.

So, this is Archibald Khilles saying to all those heartbroken guys out there that in the end, 'love wins'. Short and simple.

The twilight outside my room was romantic and beautiful and silent until_

Atlanta: Archie, you've got some lipstick on your lips.

After she kissed me, Atlanta noticed some of her orange lipstick on my lips.

Guess it was apricot after all, huh?