Chapter 3

After we informed the class about the break, the gods, Yui, and I gathered around a table full of sweets. There was no way we could convince the others alone. But first, we had to explain what summer break was. Dionysus was so excited. "Great! I thought school just started but we already have a vacation!" Yui made a face. "No, it isn't normally like this. Summer doesn't come so quickly." Tsukio spoke up, "It doesn't matter. We need to think of a way to get the truants to attend school." I nodded and took a bite of cake.

Thankfully, Yui saved us. "Um this is just an idea but, what if we showed them the fun side of school life? There are many school functions during summer vacation." I frowned. "Functions?"

She gave me a confused look. "Yeah, like outside school and seaside school." I returned the look. Balder joined our look. "Yui, you repeated the same word." My confusion increased, but Yui knew what he was talking about. "Oh they aren't the same. It's "outside" school and "seaside" school. Both are overnight trips, but outside school is in the forest or mountains, and seaside is at the beach."

Apollo opened his mouth to speak, but I covered it with my hand. "Wait. How are they the same?" Now everyone was confused. I froze. "Are… Are you speaking Japanese?"

Yui slowly nodded, her eyebrows drawing together. "I… Think I am?" she said, uncertain

I groaned, sinking into the couch seat, and buried my face into Apollo's arm. "Sorry, it's just. I'm hearing everything in english. I'm speaking english. I think." Apollo patted my head, gave me a sympathetic smile, and changed the subject. "The beach sounds great! I borrowed a bunch of books from the library to study about humans."

Yui's excitement bled into her voice. "You studied on your own?"

He nodded, pleased with himself. "The most useful book of them all is this one!" He holds up something called Even Cupid Runs Away Barefoot: 100 Summer Fling. I snorted and hid my face. He was too excited to notice. "It really was informative. It's great! Even this book recommends the beach. 'At the beach in midsummer, setting sun at you backs rubbing naked bodies together breeds friendship.' If we go to the beach, I'm sure everyone will want to come to school. I'm sure they will!"

I sat up, finally over the language thing. It seemed like a great plan. Weird that the Japanese did this during summer, but oh well. Different cultures and all that jazz. Everyone spoke about inviting the others, and we broke apart with grins on all of our faces. Well, Hades looked less morose than usual, so that counted.

Yui ran to the store, and I ended up walking back to the dorms next to Hades. "Are you excited?" He nodded, but didn't say much else. I smiled at him, making sure not to walk in his personal bubble. He seemed not to like that. We walked in calm companionship to the dorms before splitting. He gave me a small wave, and I beamed back.

Friends!

"Yui! I don't wanna wear the uniform!" I whined. Yui ignored me and held it out. "Yui, we aren't even in class!" She groaned and walked away, throwing her hands into the air. I took it as a victory and quickly changed into some shorts and a tank top. After throwing my hair into a cute messy bun, I hurried to follow Yui out the door.

"Everyone's here! Everyone came!" Apollo cried, happiness shining in his eyes. I saw Loki eyeing my "normal" clothes with a slightly jealous look. I stuck my tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes. My eyes met Hades and I grinned. I think I saw him quirk a smile, but I wasn't sure.

We had been walking for a while when Loki started to complain. Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long. "Hey! I'm sweating like crazy here!" But he wasn't the only one. Takeru started up, "My legs are tired too." Balder, ever the optimist, "Apparently, that's how human bodies work." Of course, this horrified them. Loki's mouth dropped. "It feels so gross. How far do we have to walk? Surely not all the way to the beach?!" Apollo nodded. "The whole way!" Again, they groaned.

Takeru started up again. "If we're going to the beach, isn't there an easier way to go?" Yui grinned. "The journey is important too. The picnic- I mean, the seaside school last from the moment we leave the academy until the moment we return."

They stopped for a breath. I continued walking, catching up with Apollo. "Next time, I call riding your Pegasus." He grinned down at me. "Just say the word! We can go riding whenever you want." I patted him on the arm. "You just made young Rose extremely happy." We chuckled and continued on the walk.

We passed some of the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen. Waterfalls, giant trees, mountains in the distance- all amazing. However, when it came to the long swinging bridge, over a canyon, I stepped to the side. It's not that I'm afraid of heights. It's that I only trust certain things to keep me from falling to my death, and a wooden bridge that Zeus made is not one of those things. Someone stepped beside me.

"...I'm fairly certain Zeus wouldn't actually let you die." Hades was staring down as well, his hair not quite covering the soft red on his cheeks. I chuckled nervously. "I'd rather be on a flying horse again before I walked across that." Hades met my eye. "Would… would it make you feel better if I promised you Elysium, should you fall?" His lips quirked. He was joking with me! I returned his smile. "At least try to catch me first."

He nodded, then motioned for me to go. "However, my misfortune might make it worse." He warned, somewhat seriously. I rolled my eyes and waved him off. "Just because you're the god of the dead doesn't make you the grim reaper." I took my first step. It didn't swing as bad as I thought.

The others were just reaching the other side and stepped off to wait for us. Balder waved at us, "Are you okay?!" Actually, if he didn't fall off, I should be fine. With that thought, I continued, sure of my steps.

Of course, Loki had to be a little shit.

Hades and I got about halfway down before he made the bridge sway. I screeched and dropped to the boards- less chance of falling that way, right? I hadn't realized how tight I was gripping the rope sides until Hades tapped my hand.

"Balder pulled him off." he whispered, his low voice extremely comforting. I peeked an eye open and saw Loki being held back by Thor. Little shit. Yui called something to me, but her voice was caught in the wind.

Hades tapped my hand again, then opened his palm. I glanced up at him. His face was a red as a tomato and he was trying to avoid looking directly at me. It took a moment, but with a small thankful smile, I placed my hand in his.

He took the lead this time, and all I had to focus on was how warm his hand was and how broad his shoulders were…

When we finally made it across, I glared at Loki. "You'll pay for that." Of course he just smirked. Balder tried to apologize, but I just waved him off. He'll get what's coming to him.

The group continued on its way. I realized after a minute I was still holding Hades' hand and let go. No wonder Dionysus and Apollo were looking at us strangely.

"Thank you." I muttered, immediately wishing I had his hand again. Hades was still red when he nodded, and took a step to the side. Why did he always do that? What misfortune was he talking about?

Thankfully, the rest of the journey wasn't awkward. It was peaceful and honestly entertaining to watch everyone exploring as we went through the different valleys and forests.

Finally, we got to the beach.

It was every bit of a paradise. White sands, clear waters, and a killer view. Even Takeru and Loki were impressed! I turned to the usually gloomy man beside me and grinned. His eyes were bright and excited. Wonderful!

Apollo, with a huge grin, was the first to move. "Well, let's start enjoying this seaside school! Let's start by swimming. Let's swim!" He pulled his shirt off and Yui turned, face red. I, however, counted this as enjoying the view.

Yui, dear soul, was about to explode with awkwardness. "Stop! You're changing here?" Apollo grinned. "Yui, turn around! I read about it in a book. When humans go to the beach, they wear their clothes under their clothes!"

She barely turned her head and peeked through her fingers. I snickered and she shot me a look before turning to Apollo. "What are you, a child?" My humor was instantly gone, especially since Apollo's grin started to fade.

"Yui, that wasn't very nice." Everyone's attention turned to me. I crossed my arms.

"Just because you don't do that in Japan, doesn't mean it's childish. In America, that a common norm. Most guys don't even bother with shorts to go over their bathing shorts. Besides, what if they didn't want to change in the forest?"

Her face went red with embarrassment, and I realized my voice sounded a bit harsh. I quickly walked over to her and laid a hand on her arm. I smiled softly at her, and when she smiled back, I knew we were fine. "Why don't you go change? I'll make sure no one peeks." She squeaked and turned to the forest.

While she did that, everyone stripped off their clothes. Lord have mercy on my soul. It wasn't fair to be surrounded by attractive men like this. They were off limits and I could feel my soul dying when Takeru turned around to look at the water. His butt oh my god. My face was probably red as a tomato when I finished checking them out, something Loki, Dionysus, and Hades noticed. I could only shrug as the first two smirked. Looord.

I glanced back over at Hades and watched his eyes quickly come back up to mine. He quickly turned away, but I could see a bit of red on his cheeks. Maybe I wasn't the only one doing the checking? If I had any regrets getting a two piece bathing suit, they were gone now. My self esteem was through the roof at the moment.

Yui stepped out with her own bathing suit and everyone started to the water. A chiming of a bell made us freeze. A cold gust of wind blew and the entire group shivered. We watched as the trees started to fade into colors. It… it was fall?

Takeru immediately growled. "What is this?!" Loki jumped on that bandwagon, "This sucks!" and Hades, poor Hades, shrunk back. "It's because of me. I brought misery here."

However, Apollo was the angriest of all. "No uncle Hades, it's him. He did this! Don't let the seasons beat you. I'm going to swim, after all, this is a seaside school!" He started to stomp to the water. Amazingly, it was Thor who spoke up. "Impossible. You'll make yourself sick."

Though I agreed with him, it didn't make me want to swim any less. So, when Tsukito stepped forward, I did too. Besides, his reasoning was sound. "I'll swim too. I decided I was going to swim at this seaside school."

Apollo rushed and hugged us, even though Yui and Takeru warned us. Tsukito was a straightforward as ever. "You should follow through with decisions." and into the water we went.

I thought I had been prepared for the cold.

I was not.

But that wasn't going to stop me. As the Apollo tried to convince the others, I took a breath and dived under, ignoring Yui as she yelled for me. I came up shivering.

I tried to warm up by swimming around the two, but it didn't work. After about 5 minutes, Apollo stopped me. "Honeysuckle! Your lips are blue!" he yelled, then dragged me and Tsukito out of the water.

Honestly, I would get back in the water if it meant I would cuddle with the other two dorks again. We huddled around the fire, blankets around our shoulders and a hot cup of cocoa in our hands. Apollo sneeze and I leaned closer to Tsukito.

Balder grinned. "Apparently, humans can catch something called a cold." I rolled my eyes, but my lips quirked up. They're all dorks.

Loki chose that time to whine again. "I only came because Balder insisted that this would be fun, but it's boring."

Balder tried to keep his interest, "Loki, there are plenty of fun things to do besides swimming."

Apollo stepped in to help. "That's right! There's beach volleyball, smashing watermelon, surfing-"

Takeru cut in with a frown. "Those all sound cold." He turned to Tsukito. "I know you said I should come, brother, but I was stupid to follow you."

They all started to get up, intent on leaving. Apollo and Yui both looked upset. I bit my lip, not really sure what to say. Apollo stood up. "Wait! Please wait. I'll search for a way. I'll find one! A way to make seaside school fun!"

He ran out, and Yui followed him. I looked between the others awkwardly. It was quiet for maybe a minute before Loki snorted. "He's a student too. We don't have to listen to him."

If he left, that would ruin the trip. There's no way he would come to class after this… an idea popped into my head as Balder and Tsukito went outside to get the other two.

"Hold up Loki, I have a game we could play."

That caught everyone's attention. I grinned. "There's this game that everyone plays at these type of things. Truth or Dare. You sit around and take turns asking people things. Keep it reasonable, though." I gave Loki and Takeru a glare. "Everyone gets one 'pass' they can use. I'll go first."

I looked at Loki. "Truth or Dare."

Loki smirked at me and rolled his eyes. "Dare of course."

"I dare you to pretend to be a chicken for 30 seconds." He looked dumbfounded for a second.

"Seriously?"

I smirked. "It looks like you're doing a pretty good job now." He glared, then grinned. "Fine."

He turned and faced Thor. Thor's eyes narrowed. Loki squawked and flapped his arms. I snorted a laugh and Thor threw his arms up. Loki looked like he was trying to roost. Preferably on Thor's shoulder.

My stomach hurt when I called time. Loki looked pleased with himself and Thor, poor Thor, had an expression of 'yep. Same shit everyday.'

Loki turned as Balder and Tsukito walked in. "TRUTH OR DARE?" He screeched at the blonde. A moment of panic before Balder answered with a confused, "Truth!?"

Loki groaned. "Ugh! You're no fun. Fine… If you had to choose between being bald forever or naked for the next week, what would it be?"

I have to admit, I snorted a laugh at Balder's scandalized expression. He clutched his long flowing locks and glare. "Naked."

I smirked at his redding face. "I know what my next dare is."

Loki cackled and Balder had to turn away from me he was so red.

We played this game for about an hour before they started to get bored again. By 'they' I mean Loki. I think he just ran out of embarrassing things. Dionysus cut off his whining, "It's my turn! Hold on! Hey Rose." I turned to him with a frown. I didn't like the look in his eye. "Truth."

He smirked. "Who do you find the most attractive?"

It went quiet and I felt my face heat up.

"Haha! Jokes on you! I'm not answering this." Ignoring the cry of protest, I went on. "You should know better Dee-Dee! I'm pretty sure that question caused, like, 3 wars."

He rolled his eyes with a grin. "If you don't answer, I'm going to say me." That started another round of protest, this time Loki, Takeru, and Balder directing their ire to Dionysus. I caught Hades looking at me. I grinned and rolled my eyes at them. His lips quirked a little and I felt my smile widen.

Right when the argument turned to yelling, a loud boom from outside startled the gods. Everyone ran to the window in fear. I slowly started to grin. Oh that was a wonderful idea!

Dionysus, Mr. 'is there a monster - let's panic everyone,' was the first to panic. "Was that a bomb?"

Loki had ran outside and clutched the railing. I followed with a grin. "What are those?" he whispered, almost in awe. Thor spoke up beside him. "A flower?" Balder came to stand on my other side. "A flower in the sky?"

Yui smiled up from the ground. "They're called fireworks!"

Apollo smiled, standing next to her. "They're much more beautiful than I imagined!" A burst of color reflected the excitement in his eyes.

"I can't believe human invented these!"

I turned to Balder with a grin. "We use any excuse to blow something up, or light it on fire!" Poor child thinks I'm kidding and laughs.

We all stand there watching the huge fireworks go off. They were a big hit with everyone, especially Loki. I elbowed him and grinned.

"Is the fire god pleased?" he just smirks at me before running to get Sparklers from Yui. Yeah, he's loving them.

I ended up standing next to Hades after we got our own Sparklers. A soft smile played on his lips and I felt my heart grow 10 times its original size.

He glanced over at me, but I didn't shy away. I gave him a smile of my own and twirled the Sparkler. We were quiet for a moment before I looked up again.

"Hey, you never got a chance at the game, did you?"

Hades shook his head. "It's fine. I didn't want to ruin the game."

I gave him the most confused and offended look. "Dude, you wouldn't ruin it. I don't understand why you keep saying stuff like that." I kept going, stopping any of his protests. "We are all having a great time together. That includes you. Now, truth or dare?"

He stared at me, then shook his head. "Truth." I grinned, happy to win this argument. But then I gave the question some thought.

"Do you miss the Underworld? If so, what do you miss?"

He looked away, out into the trees. I was content to wait until he answered, happily playing with the sparks.

"I miss Cerberus." He says finally. It surprises a laugh out of me. That was such a human answer. He glances over and smiles a tad.

"Does he know any tricks?" I ask with excitement.

Hades nods. "Teaching a puppy the size of a horse was an interesting experience." I swear my grin is going to break my face.

I could see exactly what he would have gone through. Holding out three treats and motioning for them to sit. Maybe having someone else push down their butt so they learn to associate the word. Hades being extremely gentle and patient with them. Gaaah! Rose stop thinking about that. Hades doesn't need puppy thoughts to make him cuter… besides. Wife.

It was almost a peaceful moment. Until Loki decided to throw small fireworks at my feet- and not the harmless ones. Who gave him those? I screeched and ran. Stupid head followed me, intent to throw more at me. "Loki! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" His laughs made me think he didn't believe the threat. Just wait.

I can't say I had planned to climb Thor like a tree, but hey, it worked. Loki couldn't reach me from my perch on Thor's shoulders.

"No fair!" he cried. Thor gave him a look. Loki just groaned and stomped away. I stayed where I was, oddly comfortable now.

Thor turned to look at me, basically putting his chin in my lap. I petted his hair, "Your lightning bolt is super awesome." He rolled his eyes, but I saw a grin twitch his lips.

His arm came up to hold my legs, and I clutched around his forehead for a second when he started to walk back to the porch. I waved at Yui and Apollo, who both chuckled.

"For saving me from Loki, you get an IOU. Anything within my power shall be yours." He rolled his eyes and gave a small snort. I tugged a piece of his hair. "Excuse me mister, but I don't give those out to just anyone."

He stopped by the deck. I looked at him confused for a second before a squeal left me as I headed for the ground. I landed bridal style in Thor's arms. I slapped his chest as he chuckled. How did I forget he was friends with Loki?

"I'll remember the IOU." Wow his voice was deep. Have I actually heard him talk before? I bit my lip as he set me on the deck. He gave a small (mischievous?) grin before walking away. What did I get myself into?

For some awful reason, we started back to the school that night. It seemed like it took 10 hours to get there earlier, but I guess it took only two? It was fine… until I got tired after 30 minutes. Let's see… who could I whine to enough that they would carry me?

"Takeru~~~" I whined, walking over to him with a pout. He gave me a look, no signs of being tired, the turd. He also didn't look amused at my pouting.

"Do you want to be the most awesome person ever?" I asked, smiling sweetly.

"I'm already the most awesome person." He said it with so much confidence. I barely stopped from rolling my eyes.

"You would be even more awesome if you gave me a piggyback ride!"

I was not expecting the can of worms I opened. Tsukito immediately snapped his attention to me. "Piggyback ride? What is that?"

"I'm not sure what the Japanese call it, but it's just where you carry someone on your back."

"Why is the carrier called a piggy?"

I ignored Takeru's stink eye. "Uh? I don't know. It's just what we call it. But it doesn't mean anything!" I could feel my chances of being carried drop dramatically.

He didn't look convinced. "Please? I don't have the strength to go on!" I dropped dramatically to the ground. Ah yes. Dirt.

"If only the strongest, and most awesome god would carry this poor damsel…" I sighed sadly.

"Hey wait! I'm the strongest and most awesome, not this blue haired spiky shrimp!" Loki yelled in protest. I peeked at them as they started yelling.

Honestly, I wasn't sure exactly what they said back and forth, all I know is I was snickering, and then I was being pulled up.

"Get on! We'll show them!"

I quickly got on Takeru's back before he started running. I looked to the side and saw Yui on Loki's back. Did I… did I just start a human chariot race?

"Come on Take-Take! We can beat them!" he pushed fasted. Yui screaming in fear and I heard Balder yelling after us.

Amazing.

I giggled into my steed's neck.