Chapter 2

Cassandra squinted at the sunlight. It was morning, a bright beautiful new day! She leapt out of bed and bounded out of her room. "Good morning mummy!" She said hugging her mother tightly.

"Hello Cassums." Replied Evelyn, obviously taken aback. Her little princess was not usually a morning person. She was a down right pouty-puss this early!

"No time to chitchat," Cassandra said skipping away, "time to get ready for school. Eagle pride!"

With that she rushed to the bathroom and closed the door. Alone for a moment she leaned against the bathroom door.

What the hades was that? She thought in shock. This was the strangest thing that had ever happened to her. It was time for school and she was HAPPY! Trembling with apprehension she looked in the mirror.

The horror! Her cheeks were rosy and her lips were smiling, her eyes bright and cheerful! Oh gods! This was a curse!

I can't go out like this! At least that's what she tried to say. What came out was "What a beautiful day!"

She couldn't even speak her mind! This was a nightmare. That was it! A nightmare, she'd just pinch herself and wake herself up!

She pinched her cheek but nothing happened. She wasn't dreaming, and now her cheek was rosier than before. I'm going to hurl myself off a bridge, she thought. "Time for school!" she said.

As Cassandra walked into the Prometheus Academy she noticed people were looking at her. That wasn't too unusual, but it was the way they were looking at her. Everyone seemed happy to see her; some were waving from their lockers a few even gave her a thumbs up. She felt her mouth and discovered she had a huge beaming smile across her face. It seemed to be attracting people like bugs to a campfire.

"Hey Cassandra, how are you?"

"Yeah, can I carry your tablets?"

"You look real pretty today is that a new tunic?"

Cassandra looked at the bumbling nerds surrounding her. Usually she would have told them to find the labyrinth and get lost, but all that came out was, "You sweeties! I wish I could talk to each and every one of you, but I'll be late! Bye!"

Ugh! She thought as she made her way to homeroom, ignoring the gawking boy she left in her wake. At least she had gotten away before they offered to carry her to class.

In homeroom everyone was milling about waiting for the bell to ring.

"My precious pomegranate!" said Icarus running towards her with moony eyes. Cassandra's first response would have been to shove him away but now she found she couldn't!

"Oh Icky, how are you?" Oh no! she thought in horror, anything but this!

"Hey Cassandra, are you feeling ok?" asked Hercules casually.

No! You have to help me before I do something crazy! "I'm fine Herc just peachy!"

Hercules looked at her skeptically. This was not the Cassandra he knew. Something was definitely wrong.

"Oops!" Cassandra squealed as the bell rang, signaling the start of homeroom, "We'd better get into our seats! I'll talk to you after class Icky." said Cassandra lovingly. Then to her horror she felt herself lean forward and give Icarus a kiss on the cheek.

She daintily took her seat while her stomach threatened to make her vomit for what she had just done. Holy Zeus! Why me? All I did was break a bowl! She hadn't even been the one to break it! This was all Icarus' fault! When she got her hands on that little brain fried twerp…On second thought, never mind, she told herself. In this state she didn't want to think about what would happen if her hands got anywhere near him.

"Icarus," Hercules whispered during role call, "did Cassandra seem a little, I don't know, strange to you?"

"I'm not complaining!" said Icarus happily looking at the back of Cassandra's head.

Hercules frowned, this wasn't like Cassandra at all, and he was worried. He had to do something. That's what heroes were for. If he could just talk to her for more than a few seconds he could put it together.

"Cassandra?" called the homeroom teacher.

"Present, willing, and able Mr. Nero!" chirped Cassandra from an unusual seat in the front row.

Herc shuddered. This was far too creepy for him, he had to do something fast. He would have a better chance to talk to Cassandra when they were paired together that afternoon in home grecenomics. In the meantime, he would have to keep a close watch on her.

That afternoon Cassandra walked cheerily to home grecenomics. It had been a very long day. So far she had managed to avoid Icarus and anymore involuntary kissing, but the strain of smiling and being nice to everyone was starting to tear at her insides. How did ordinary people DO this all day?

She had to talk to Hercules. Their classes didn't match up much this semester and every time she saw him in the halls she would be interrupted by some good deed or another. It seemed like he was trying to talk to her too, she saw him everywhere. He'd watched her help a scrawny kid off the floor in gym, let everyone cut in front of her in line at lunch and volunteer to be interviewed for the school parchment on how she felt ProAc was the best school in Greece. It was almost embarrassing.

She quickened her pace to a skip so she could get to class faster. She could talk to him then. Maybe he had already figured it out! He could ask Aphrodite to remove the curse. It paid to have friends in high places.

Everyone in the class was already working on their projects when Cassandra entered, and by luck she saw Hercules alone.

"Hi Herc!"

"Oh, hi Cassandra."

"Listen Hercules, I…"

"Hi guys! How are you?"

Drat! It was Helen with her perkiness in full bloom, "Cassandra, do you know yet if you'll be able to make it to the pep rally?"

No, but I will be able to watch the reeds grow with more enthusiasm. "You know I was thinking Helen, do you think I could join the Cheerleading Squad? That way I could show my spirit to the whole school! You were so nice to ask yesterday!" I did not just say that!

Helen's eyes sparkled. "Oh Cassandra that would be wonderful! I'll get you a uniform by tomorrow! And don't worry about the other girls, we'll just put you at the bottom of the pyramid, that way you won't look so much bigger than them! They can be a little touchy. See you tomorrow!" She scurried off excitedly, giggling that she had said the word, 'touchy'.

This has to stop! She looked at Hercules who was fixing her with a curious stare.

"Wow, the Cheerleading Squad, that's great Cassandra." He said, trying to sound supportive.

She looked at his face and her heart sank. Was it possible he hadn't figured it out? She loved the boy, but sometimes she felt he was a few straws short of a haystack. Brains and brawn didn't always go hand in hand. Now what was she supposed to do? She couldn't come right out and say what was wrong, the curse wouldn't let her. Maybe if she could find a subtle way of telling him…

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for ProAc!" She gushed sitting down with him at their table. "You know Herc, it was a shame I broke that bowl yesterday."

"Yeah that was a shame." He said simply.

Can he be anymore naïve?! "I guess I was just clumsy, it's a CURSE." She said more urgently. All she received was a blank stare. What did she have to do? Spell it out for him? She brightened as she got another idea. She took his arm and led him to the slate board. If she couldn't say it, she would write it!

Cassandra picked up the chalk and tried to write him a message. But she couldn't write her mind either! All that came out was, 'love, flowers, bunnies, sunshine…'

AHHHHH!!!!!!

Cassandra fainted.