"Adam? You actually decided to show up…and you're early. Impressive! Are you ready for that test?" Clara asked as she shook Adam, whose face remained buried in his arms. They were the only ones in the classroom it being fifteen minutes before it started.
Adam peeked at Clara, at the clock, then hid his head in his arms again. "Go away," his muffled voice said, with all the intention of resuming his sleep.
"Adam, please tell me about Ragnarok."
"Don't know, don't care."
"Aphrodite was the goddess of?"
"Hatred."
"…Mars was the god of?"
"Love."
"Now you're just messing with me! I'm serious Adam, how well did you study?" Clara was the more responsible one, but you couldn't tell from looking at her. She wore an intricate corset, a leather skirt covered in chains that came to mid-thigh, and striped gloves that went just above her elbow. Similar to Gothic style, but instead of dark, brooding colors, they were bright and buoyant; almost like she was saying 'fuck you' to the Goths of the school. Not that Adam blamed her, they did reject her friendship.
"If you fail this test, I'm afraid you'll fail the class."
"Who cares?"
"I do! And you should too. You'll-"
Students trickled into the classroom, their chatter interrupting Clara. Bits and pieces of their conversation floated towards them. They were debating about which was the better mythology, Greek or Norse. Greek seemed to be winning, and Adam, belligerent as always, played the devil's advocate.
"Greek mythology is filled with a bunch man whores." They students eyebrows raised, surprised that the usually quiet Adam was speaking, so he commenced after a pause. "C'mon, at least Norse mythology was surrounded by warfare and warriors; their whole lifestyle was based on that. They had character! Greek mythology is all about 'love and happiness.' Boring. Siegfried, Beowulf; they were interesting to read about. Odin, he cut out his own eye to gain wisdom and hanged himself to gain knowledge. He also had the eight legged horse, Sleipnir. That's pretty bad-ass. And Zeus, what was he know for? Impregnating every female who crossed his path."
"Duh, that's why Zeus is known as the Father of the Gods," a student retorted. "If it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have Greek mythology, and I don't see how you can fault him for that."
"I'm just saying there's nothing special about Zeus. At least Odin was also known as the god of Thought and Logic as well as war, magic, and a host of other things I don't remember."
"What would you know of Thought and Logic, Adam," another student snapped.
"As for Zeus being 'bad-ass,'" the first student argued, "He had Hephaestus beat him over the head with a sledgehammer to cure his headache."
"He still married his sister. His sister. Tell me you guys don't support incest."
"I don't think the Greeks meant Hera was literally his sister. What about Odin, though? He was swallowed by the wolf Fenrir. Zeus doesn't die."
"Screw Fenrir," muttered Adam. "It still doesn't change the fact that a day of the week, Wednesday, is named after Odin." Seeing the confused looks on the students, he explained, "Odin is also known as Woden or Wotan. In essence, Wednesday translates to 'Odin's day.' Tyr is named for Tuesday, Thor for Thursday, Frigg for Friday, Sol for Sunday, Mani for Monday. Do you see a pattern here? Yep, they're all Norse gods."
"What about Saturday? Oh yeah, it's named after Saturn," one student countered.
"Your point? Saturn is a Roman god, not Greek and that's one day out of seven. Norse still wins."
"Well, what about Hercules? Jason? The Trojan War? You act as if Greek mythology doesn't have heroes or warfare," some random student spoke up.
"Pff, the Trojan War was based on some slutty bitch that left her nine year daughter, Hermione, for another man," said Adam with a hint of bitterness.
"Hey, that's only in some versions-"
"Either way, she started a ten year war. She could have easily stopped it, but she didn't. Jason, as great as he was, died because he cheated on his wife, Medea. The Gods were angry that he broke his promise to her so they killed him off. Pathetic way to go. And don't even get me started on Oedipus. Like I said, Greek mythology is just full of whores."
"What about Heracles? The Theban Cycle? And Odysseus?"
"Odysseus…C'mon. He was one of the worst. The reason his journey home took ten years was because he spent a year fucking Circe and anther seven screwing Calypso. And Penelope was dumb enough to wait for him."
"Wait, why are you dissing Penelope for being faithful after hating the Greeks for being whores? Your debating skills suck, Adam."
"I have nothing against Penelope, I'm just saying that Odysseus didn't deserve her; he was the one who was unfaithful, and she waited on him for nothing. As for the Theban Cycle…don't even get me started on Oedipus."
"And Heracles?"
"Alright, the Greeks do have a couple good stories, a couple of good heroes, I'll give them that. But only a couple and that doesn't change the fact that the Norse gods could totally obliterate the Greek gods in seconds. End of story."
"Alright, time for the test. Faces forward, and no copying," the teacher shouted, ending the debate real quick.
"Hmm, I guess you did study," Clara whispered to Adam, impressed.
"Um, Clara? Do you have an extra pencil?"
"I always have an extra one for you. You're never prepared."
The teacher, noticing the whispering, warned, "Adam, I better not catch you cheating!" She turned around, passing out the rest of the tests.
"Oh Adam?" murmured Clara.
"Yeah?"
"Good luck! Please don't fail on purpose."
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"Hmm, I think you got most of the questions right. I can't believe you confused Jupiter with Saturn. Jupiter is the Roman equivalent of Zeus and Saturn is Cronus." This had been going on for quite some time; Clara asking questions from the test, and Adam answering them.
"It was because someone said Saturday was named after Saturn. Since Zeus defeated Cronus, I thought Saturn was Zeus," shrugged Adam.
"Other than that, I think you did well. What did you say about Tiamat?"
"She is a goddess associated with Chaos…and the sea?"
"Yes, she is considered the embodiment of Chaos and is sometimes represented by a sea serpent. Her name also means 'sea.' Yep, I think we got all the questions. You should get an A. Do you need a ride home?"
"Nah, I'll walk…or run. Depending on how I feel in five minutes."
"Ok, I'll see you later," said Clara, walking towards the parking lot.
"Aaaaaaadddddammmm, hold on a second," yelled a student that Adam didn't know the name of. He might've been new, but Adam didn't know for sure. Didn't really care either.
"Beat it kid, you're bothering me."
"Adam, Adam, Adam. We need you, the team needs you. You're one of the best! Please join the track team again. We all want you back."
"Yeah, that's real great and all, but no thanks. I got better things to do."
The kid's face contorted in anger and he snapped, "Like failing everything? They say you're not going to graduate high school, that you'll turn out to be a bum on the street. I bet they'll vote you for 'Most Unlikely to Succeed.'"
"You know, shut up. What the hell do you know?"
"Probably more than you," mumbled the student, disappointed. "We're better off without you anyways, you're not exactly reliable. At least we know for sure you're not going to show up."
"Yeah, you got that right, but I can still outrun any one on the team. Now beat it." This time the kid listened and left fuming.
This wasn't the first time someone came up to him about rejoining the track team, and Adam was certain it wouldn't be the last. He was one of the better ones on the team, one of the few who could run long distances in addition to sprinting. He just hoped that the track team wouldn't go to more unsavory methods in order to get his cooperation. They already slashed his tires last week, a fact he couldn't prove try as he might and also the reason he was walking to and from school now.
It seemed easier to just join and give everyone peace, but Adam wasn't like that. The more they tried to get him to join, the more he was disinclined to do it. If it wasn't for the coach, he might've stayed in the first place, but it was the main reason he was reluctant to join again.
Getting bored with walking, he used his one skill to the fullest. It seemed like a long time since he last ran even though it was only two days ago. Since he quit the track team, he hadn't been running as much, once every couple days, if that. But it's not like he needed much practice, running came as easy as breathing to him. Must be because ever since he was little, he was always running away from something.
"Hey kid, slow down. Can you tell me where the Wolf's Lair is?" asked a young man wearing sunglasse from within a snazzy car. Adam disliked when people wore sunglasses; you could never tell if they were looking at you or not.
"Yeah, it's just a block away. Go straight, then turn right."
"Thanks, you're a real life saver, kid. I hear good things about that diner, everyone's been recommending it."
"That's nice."
"Is it as good as they say?"
"Better." No need to turn off a potential customer.
"I've been craving raw meat like nothing else. You ever get that feeling?"
"No…can't say I've had."
"I use to wear glasses, but my eye sight is getting better each day. Never seen anything like it, literally. My hearing is getting better too. Have you ever heard of that happening to anyone?"
"Um, no."
"I also use to be the scrawny kid on the block that every one picked on, now I'm gaining muscle easily. I don't even work out. It's the weirdest thing. You know what I mean?"
"Look, I'm not a doctor so I don't get why you're telling me this." This guy clearly had issues. "If you got a problem, talk to someone who cares."
"Careful kid, you don't want to piss off the wrong person."
"Pff, I have, many times. It isn't anything new. C'ya." Reaching the Wolf's Lair, Adam escaped from the strangest conversation he ever had. What is with people these days? The Wolf's Lair wasn't all that crowed, only a couple people were eating, and some were at the bar.
But one person caught his attention right away. Fenrir, standing there in all his glory, looking out of place among the dinginess of the diner. He had forgotten how big Fenrir, how his muscles could probably crush anything, how powerfully he was built. Their eyes locked, battling, before Adam's averted them. Maybe he didn't see me, Adam thought, but that was ridiculous. It was apparent Fenrir spotted him, as apparent as it was that Fenrir came to see him.
Fenrir swagger towards Adam, smirking, eyes intense. Maybe Adam could pretend he didn't see Fenrir. Yep, he was going to try that. Twirling around like nothing happened, he smashed into the guy he met earlier. It was true, the guy was muscular, but nothing compared to Fenrir's strength.
"Where do you think you're going, kid," the man inquired, reaching up to hold Adam in place. "I'm not done talking with you."
Grr, what is with people touching me? Irritated, Adam swatted the man's hands away like bothersome bugs. "Do you think I care?"
The man only stepped closer, raising his hand to caress Adam's cheek. "You will. Maybe not today, or tomorrow. But you will." Stroking his finger down Adam's jaw line, he paused, "You resemble him a lot, you know?"
Adam turned his head away from the offending hand, "Don't touch me! Resemble who?"
"Why don't you come with me and find out," the man said, placing an unwelcomed hand on Adam's shoulder.
"Is there a problem here?" Fenrir asked, his tone dominating, eyes fasten on the hand that rested on Adam's shoulder.
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Thank you so much, Liv and Purpleteddy, for your support!!!!!