"Now, this is different," Archie said.
The team turned to see what Archie was looking at. Jay felt his jaw drop. Neil and Selene were walking down the hall, laughing and joking. For once, Neil wasn't looking in his mirror and annoying the girl with his constant chatter about himself. In fact, Neil wasn't talking about himself at all.
"Those two seriously had commitment issues."
Selene giggled. "Everyone does at some point," she replied.
"I guess. But it was so frustrating. We all knew they liked each other," Neil explained.
Archie couldn't help but feel they were somehow talking about him and Atlanta.
"Oh, hey, guys," Neil called.
The couple walked over to where the team were hanging out.
"Everyone, this is Selene."
"Hi," Selene greeted.
"Selene, these are my friends. Jay, Herry, Atlanta, Theresa, Odie and Archie," Neil introduced.
"I met Theresa in History class," Selene replied.
"Well, now we've been properly introduced," Theresa said, holding out her hand.
Selene took it and the girls shook hands. Theresa hid her discomfort as she was hit by a vision. A wolf howled at a full moon.
"Theresa?"
Theresa blinked. "Uh...sorry, I zoned out," she replied.
Atlanta noticed that Selene wore a silver pendant. It looked like the charm that Archie had bought her from a Greek market.
"Where did you get that pendant?" Atlanta asked.
Selene looked down at her necklace.
"I bought it on my last trip to Greece. It's one hundred percent pure silver. If you haven't guessed already silver's my favorite color," she explained.
"No kidding," Odie whispered to Herry.
The bell rang to signal the next class.
"It was nice meeting you, Selene," Jay said before headed off towards the janitor's closet. The others followed. Archie looked over his shoulder.
"You coming, Neil?" he asked.
"I'll catch up," Neil replied.
Archie shrugged and jogged over to where Atlanta was waiting for him.
"Can I walk you to your next class?" Neil offered.
"You're such a gentleman," Selene replied.
The two friends headed down the hall towards the Chemistry lab.
"Hey, look who it is. Golden Boy and Silver Girl."
Neil groaned as Bruce walked up.
"Don't you have someone else to bother?" the model asked.
"I can't find King," Bruce answered.
He turned to Selene. Throwing on what Neil thought as a poor excuse for charm, Bruce casually draped an arm around Selene's shoulders.
"So, how about tonight you ditch this narcissistic dork and hang out with a real man?"
"I'm sorry, were you calling Neil or yourself the narcissistic dork?" Selene asked. "Because Neil has been the only real man I've seen today."
She pushed Bruce away from her and took Neil's arm.
"Come on, Neil. The bad vibes in this hall are enough to choke a rhino."
Selene led Neil down the hall. The model looked over his shoulder and waved in a friendly manner. Bruce returned it with a glare.
"Great. I'm with Archie on the top of Bruce's Most Wanted list."
"I'm surprised she's stayed with Neil for this long," Odie said, glancing at the clock on his radio.
"He even missed his session with Aphrodite," Jay added.
"He what?" the girls asked.
"Aphrodite said he was finding 'true love'," Archie explained.
Jay looked over at the door of the training gym. Neil had been late for training before but this was unheard of. Artemis was just about to dismiss class when Neil walked through the door.
"Where have you been?" Atlanta asked.
"With Selene," Neil answered with a dreamy tone in his voice.
Odie and Jay looked at each other. Was Neil serious? Usually a girl couldn't stand five minutes with him, let alone almost a full day.
"Selene is the most amazing girl I have ever met," Neil said.
"This is a training session not a dating service," Artemis pointed out, tapping the model on the head with her bow.
Neil rubbed the top of his head. Artemis cleared her throat and began the lesson. It was only when Herry jabbed him in the side that Neil realized he had zoned out. He looked up to see a very annoyed Artemis standing in front of him.
"Perhaps you would prefer to join Archie in lightning dodging?" the immortal huntress said.
Neil noticed Archie wince slightly. The last time the Warrior had had a crash course in dodging lightning bolts his brace had ended up getting struck and the inside had melted. He had healed quickly, however his leg was still slightly scarred. Out of all of them, Archie seemed to be holding the record for most scars.
"Neil!"
Neil yelped as Artemis hit her bow on his head again, this time a lot harder.
"Class dismissed. We'll continue tomorrow when everyone has their mind on training."
The team headed out of the gym.
"Neil, what's wrong with you?" Jay asked. "I've never seen you act like this."
"No offense, man, but you're creeping me out," Odie told Neil.
Neil could only shrug. "I've never really felt like this," he admitted. He looked up at the concerned faces of his teammates. "Is it wrong for me to like a girl?" he asked.
No one answered right away.
"No, I guess. It's just a little...strange," Jay explained.
"You haven't actually been known for being popular with girls," Theresa added. "You're handsome, yes, don't get me wrong. It's just that, you're too..."
"Self-absorbed?" Neil asked.
"Uh...something like that," Theresa commented.
"I don't know what's wrong with me."
Neil sat down in the circular chair that sat around the gold statue of Zeus.
"I can't get Selene out of my head. There's just something about her that makes me forget everything about my ancestry and the prophecy and everything else I have to keep secret."
"He's been spelled," Archie spoke up, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, by love," Atlanta added.
Another chapter done. Anything need improving? I know Neil's not completely in character, but I'm exploring a slight possiblity here. What would happen if Neil actually did end up falling in love with a girl. What do you think?