(I'm not good with mythology. Forgive me.)

Chapter Nine: The Gospel Truth

Herc sat in his Greek and Roman history class, really bored. He already knew most of this stuff anyway. He went to Olympus Academy for crying out loud. Greek and Roman history was required, and the library had a wing dedicated to it. If you learned nothing about Greek and Roman history and mythology after going to that school for one day, there was something wrong with you. So, of course he knew the stuff. They were learning about Persephone, too, which only increased his boredom and slight annoyance with the repeated material. His uncle who was also his teacher, Mr. Haden Theós, was kind of like Hades in the story. You see, Hades fell in love with the goddess of springtime, Persephone, kidnapped her, brought her to the underworld, and only let her out like a few times a year. This was how they explained the changing of the seasons. Or something like that. Anyway, Mr. Theós recently fell in love with a flower shop owner and he was going to do anything to make her love him back. Considering Herc's family issues seemed to parallel that of the Greek and Roman gods (without relation complications), not to mention his uncle's dark appearance and strange love of death, he felt really sorry for the poor shop owner and her mother, who is aptly named Demetria.

To pass the time and ease the boredom, Herc thought back to what happened last week, the first week of November. He was out with coach Octetes on a nature run. They were training for another football game (they were really close to the playoffs), and also track season was going to start in a few months and you could never start training to early. As they came across a pond, they saw runner-up for homecoming queen, Megara Creon, trying to get away from some sleazy guy who was trying to kiss her. Herc decided to step in and save the poor "damsel in distress". The guy gave Herc a good sock to the jaw, which sent him tumbling back into a rock. If Herc hadn't tried to fight the guy off with a fish, he probably wouldn't have punched him. But Herc wasn't going to let a pretty damsel in distress be smooched upon by a sleaze ball, so he charged at the guy and head-butted him in the gut, sending sleaze ball back and freeing Megara. As Megara dried off Herc and sleaze ball started to wrestle. When the battle was done, Herc went to check up on her. The conversation went kind of like this:

"Are you, uh, alright, miss," Herc asked, nervously walking up behind her and trying to be all knight in shining armor polite.

She flipped her hair to dry it out and accidently whipped him. "Megara," she said bluntly. "My friends call me Meg. At least they would if I had any friends. Did they give you a name with all those rippling pectorals?"

Herc just stammered until he finally got out his name. Meg must have really messed with his head since he said Hercules instead of Heracles.

After saying that she preferred the nickname she gave him earlier, Wonder Boy, Herc asked how she got involved with sleaze ball.

"Well, you know how men are. They think 'no' means 'yes', and 'get lost!' means 'take me! I'm yours!'" she said while stand up and moving very close to Herc giving her best damsel in distress face.

Herc didn't understand. Even though he had girls falling all over him at school, he never really had a true girlfriend. Also, Hhe was much more polite than the guys Meg described. He offered her a ride, but she refused. She was a big, tough girl. She could tie her own shoes and everything.

As she walked off, Meg looked back over her shoulder and saluted. "Well, it's been a real slice."

Herc could just stand there, baffled and dumbfounded.

The bell rang and first period was over. Herc gathered his books and headed out the door. He had a free period, and there really wasn't anything to do. Eric was on the other side of the school and heading to his next class, so that was out. The gym was off limits during school hours, so no to that. Adam also had a free period during this time, but it was Adam. Students couldn't leave campus. And it wasn't like he was going to use this time to study; that would be ridiculous! When all else fails, find Adam. It wouldn't be too hard to find him. He was always sulking in a dark corner of the school and they only had a few of those. As Herc walked down the halls toward the music wing, he saw Ms. Octa's door was slightly ajar. With nothing better to do, he looked inside and saw Ms. Octa with her prized students, The Muses.

The Muses were composed of five girls: Calliope, the leader and head of the poetry club; Clio, head of the history club; Thalia, who is preforming comedy at the House of Mouse this Saturday; Chora, leader of the dance ensemble; and Mel, a girl who gets some weird enjoyment of off tragedy. There used to be nine of them, but the other four graduated. Now these five were all that were left for Ms. Octa to dote over. Despite their varying interests, the girls all had a love of song and chorus. Their genre of choice was gospel, and they had enough spirit to wake the dead and Mr. Theós from his naps. To celebrate Disney High's winning streak, which was mainly due to Herc, and Greek and Roman history, the history club decided that they would combine the celebrations into one. Clio told the other muses and they agreed they were going to do a song. Now, Ms. Octa just had to overhear and took it upon herself to write it up. The song was titled "The Gospel Truth", even though its truthfulness is iffy, and the girls were practicing it right now.

"We are The Muses, goddesses of the arts and proclaimers of heroes!" Calliope said, beginning the introduction to the song.

"Heroes like Hercules," Chora added.

"Heracles since he's Greek," Clio mumbled under her breath.

"Honey, you mean Hunkules!" Thalia interjected. "Ooooh! I'd like to make some sweet music with that—"

Herc blushed at her statement.

Calliope cut her off. "Our story actually begins long before Hercules, many eons ago."

The muses burst into song and started dancing. They actually weren't half-bad, and maybe people would actually learn something from the song. They probably shouldn't be using it to study for their test, though.

Herc continued down the hallway and headed out the front door to the quad. Near the back of the cafeteria, he could barely make out Adam's purple cloak in the darkness. As he got closer, he saw that Adam was huddled over something. He couldn't really see, but something caught his eye as the wind blew. As he sat down beside Adam, who still hadn't noticed his presence, he noticed that Adam was huddled over a book. His brows were furrowed in frustration and his knuckles were white from clutching it so hard. Herc snatched it out of Adam's hands and looked at it skeptically.

"Give it back," Adam growled, trying to claw at Herc's eyes.

Herc kept one hand on Adam's shoulder to hold him back as he looked at the book with the other. "It's just a book. I don't know what you're getting so worked up about. People read. I do, —at least, not that often—but I do. So, why are you getting so defensive?"

"I'm not getting defensive!"

"And trying to claw my eyes out like some sort of animal is not being defensive? And why are you reading out here? You can barely see. No wonder you looked so frustrated."

Adam let out a low growl. "I wasn't frustrated!"

"Listen, Adam." Herc let go of Adam's shoulder. "I know Eric's usually the one doing these supportive speeches and all that, but bear with me for a second. You can read, can't you?"

Adam punched Herc's arm, but it didn't do much. "Of course I can read, you numbskull! I'm surprised you can!" He then mumbled quietly, "I'm just not good at it."

"Are you, uh, um…?" Herc began carefully. He couldn't just ask Adam a personal question.

"Yeah."

"Well," Herc said, grinning, "admission is the first and hardest step toward recovery!"

"This isn't something that can be cured, Herc."

His expression changed to downcast. "I know. I told you Eric was better at these things."

The two sat in awkward silence for a long while. This was probably the longest conversation the two had ever had by themselves and the longest conversation they'd ever had without Adam threatening to kill Herc. The two fidgeted after a few minutes and Herc stood up abruptly and started walking off.

"You're just going to leave?" Adam yelled.

"I was expecting you to follow!" Herc called back.

Adam jumped up and jogged to catch up with Herc. He then sprung into a full blown run as Herc started jogging to Meg, who was walking across the quad. Meg started laughing when the two caught up to her. Adam was out of breath, hair all strewn about, and his barely buttoned blouse had come un-tucked and was now hanging loosely. Herc, on the other hand, was grinning like an idiot and trying to keep his composure and seem cool around Meg.

"A cape?" Meg asked in regards to Adam.

"It's a cloak."

"Cape." She turned to Herc. "So, Wonder Boy, who's you friend?"

"Oh, him?" Herc tilted his head in Adam's direction as Adam grumbled, 'who else could she be talking about?'. "This is my friend, Adam. You can call him Grumpy Kid."

"Grumpy Kid?!"

"I like it," Meg said with a sly smile. "It suits you. Well, I'll see you around, Wonder Boy. I'm meeting someone. Some girl named Ariel or whatever. The girl who saved the homecoming king from drowning."

Adam and Herc don't agree on many things,—let alone anything—but they did agree that ever since Eric heard that girl sing, he's been obsessed with her. Talking about how she's out there somewhere and he's going to find her one way or another. Eric would get a dreamy look in his eyes as he gazed into the distance and just sigh heavily and hum or play on his flute the melody to the song. Adam and Herc knew the look. It was really common at Disney High whenever someone got a first crush. Despite the fact that Eric was going loony on them, they figured they had to help him out. Herc felt that he still owed Eric for being his only friend and the time when Eric stood up for Herc when the guys on the football team laughed at him when he said he was going to try out. And Adam, even though he would never admit it, liked having friends. He may insult them or seem uncaring, but deep down inside Adam enjoyed their company, was loyal, and was also very protective of those he cared about. So, of course the two were going to help Eric find his dream girl.

Meg led them to the far end of the quad, closest to the art building and the street. She was skipping Painting 3 to meet Ariel. Apparently, she ran into Ariel on her way to class and took pity on the poor girl who seemed like a fish out water running around the way she was. Not to mention, Ariel did this face that just pulled on your heart strings. Her large blue eyes would get even larger and she would pout and put her head down. She looked so sad and cute, it was almost impossible to resist her request. Meg, who was also taking Greek and Roman history, considered her to be a siren. This girl was going to use her looks and charms to lure Meg to her death…or at least into some sort of shenanigans.

Sitting on the sidewalk watching the cars pass by, Ariel hummed quietly to herself and played with her necklace. There was something about her that seemed innocent and sweet yet fiery and headstrong. She turned around and jumped up as the three came up behind her. Now finally being able to see her face, Herc realized that she was actually really pretty. She wasn't the prettiest girl at Disney High because for some reason people gave a freshman that title, but she would definitely make the top five, and there was something else about her. Maybe it was the wildness and lack of refinement about her. Herc noticed that unlike some of the other girls Ariel didn't walk as if she was floating on air, instead she kind of stumbled and chose her steps carefully.

They led her into the main building through the door farthest from the front door after introductions were over with. Ariel looked around the school with curiosity and awe. She also felt the need to touch almost everything. From the lockers to the water fountain, nothing was safe from Ariel's inquiry.

"You said you were homeschooled, but no homeschooled person I've seen gets so excited," Meg said as she tugged on Ariel's arm to stop her from peeking into classrooms. "And stop doing that! Those two—" She jerked a thumb in Adam and Herc's direction. "—shouldn't be in here or else they'll 'distract the students', and I'm not even supposed to be in here."

Administrations in sight, the four were in the home stretch, but as usual, someone just had to have perfect timing and interrupt them. This someone was Mr. Théos. He was spending his planning period playing chess and writing down final grades on tests. Out of the corner of his eye he had noticed Megara walking down the hall with his sorry excuse of a nephew. He couldn't miss out on the opportunity to poke a little fun at the kid. I mean, sure he took every opportunity that was available, but it wasn't like had it out for Herc. It's not Herc's fault his dad stole the family's company out from under Mr. Théos. Mr. Théos was the oldest male. It made sense that he would inherit the company, but noooooo! Zeus just had to be named after a Greek god, be the hero, overthrow their father, and get the company. So, um, yeah. Mr. Théos has been holding a grudge.

Mr. Théos came out, knocking his chess board over in the process, and his face turned a fiery shade of red.

"What are you doing in my hallway?" he yelled.

"Oh, relax, Mr. Théos." Meg sidled up to him. "We were just escorting this girl to administrations."

Mr. Théos didn't believe her. He grabbed Meg's arm and pulled her into his classroom. Herc was going to jump in but he was interrupted by the bell ringing and Adam dragging him to the front door to head out to the auditorium for third period. As they left, Adam called out that administrations was down the hall and through the door next to the room with all the singing.

Inside the classroom, Meg stood in the corner with her arms folded across her chest. Mr. Théos came up behind her, grabbed her, and spun her around.

Her head was turned so she wouldn't have to look him in the eye. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

"What do you mean?" He shrugged his shoulders. "All I did was my job."

"You know what I mean! Sending that jerk after me last week so Herc could come in and save me and we could meet. The chance encounter during second period!"

"But, Meg—"

"Don't talk to me!"

Mr. Théos's face started to turn red again. "Now, listen! I am the last thing standing between you and expulsion! Do you really want dear, old daddy to find out that his baby girl was expelled from yet another school? No? I didn't think so. So, listen up. Your soul is mine. I own you. You do as I say and destroy that little brat. Now, if I say I want Wonder Boy's head on a silver platter, you say?"

She slowly turned her head to face him. "Medium or well done?"

Chapter Fun Facts:

-I was going to focus more on Adam without making him our chapter protagonist after leaving us at the "cliffhanger" in the last chapter, but then I wanted to start a new friendship so Ariel became the focus.

-Ariel is not my favorite Disney princess even though it may seem like it…

-Ariel and Megara were my only planned friendship. I wanted them to be friends long before I made Eric and Herc friends. The latter's friendship was only because I had no one else to put them with.

-Adam is in fact dyslexic. For some reason, I could never have them admit it.

-The curse on Adam, according to Disney Wiki, is also psychological. The longer he's under it, the more feral he becomes. That's why he has difficulty reading.

-Longest chapter (not including notes and fun facts) yet.