Ena Ellinikos Skantalo

Greek. My Best subject this year, and the class in which I get in the most trouble. My teacher wasn’t too overjoyed when I corrected him on his spelling the first day in front of the entire class. Mr. Gilfred sent me to the dean’s office for insubordination. I told her, I had no idea how I knew it was wrong, I just knew it was. I still got a write-up for that. Mr. Gilfred has had it out for me ever since. But now I’m a week away from finals, and he is trying to get me expelled! For knowing more than him! He’s trying to say I’ve taken this class before at one of my other schools. But I swear the only thing I know about the Greek language, and Greece in general, is what I learned in history. In America, that honestly wasn’t much. Luckily for me he hadn’t quite convinced the dean, Mrs. Bowden. But I had “caused-a-scene-in-class” which led to a “scene-in-the-hallway-which-disrupted-all-the-other-classes-in-the-north-wing". Both of which consisted of him yelling at me while I basically just stood there calmly defending myself. So here I sat. Mrs. Bowden sitting across from me behind her sleek glass top desk going on about all of my previous problems.
“Ms. Lexington, this is your 6th insubordination offense this semester. I’m afraid I can’t be soft on you anymore. I can’t simply write you up or put you on academic probation this time,” she said.
Okay, so no academic probation, what else could there be. I knew I was already at the point where I could only take three classes next semester. If they cut that down any more they wouldn’t be making any money.
“We’ve already contacted your mother and she has been made aware of the situation. I’m sorry Ms. Lexington, but you will not be allowed to attend Taviner Prep after winter break,” she informed me.
“Wait, so you’re kicking me out?!” I asked in disbelief. I hadn’t been able to stay at the same school for over a year since 5th grade.
“Unfortunately, yes,” she said. The sentence was just dripping with insincerity. “That is all. You may finish the day out, take your final period to clean out your locker. The front desk has a box you can use."
She said nothing more so I stood and walked out of her office. Mom was not going to be happy with me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As I opened the door to our house I braced myself for what would come from my mom.
“Mom, I’m home! Jake’s here too. He needs help studying for his Greek final. We’ll be in the den." I spoke into the empty kitchen.
She wasn’t around but I knew she could hear me. Houses on the island aren’t too large. I didn’t get an answer and was relieved about that. I didn’t think she’d talk to me about my, dismissal, from Taviner Prep until Jake was gone. This is part of the reason I brought him home to help him study. See Jake and I have been dating for about 2 months now and since I’ve had a lot of detention lately we haven’t exactly gotten to spend much time together. I missed him.
He started at TavPrep about a week after me. He was tall, 6 feet, with dirty blonde hair that always reminded me of that beat boxing guy on that singing show a few seasons back, but much slimmer. His brown eyes made me think of chocolate chip cookies. On most standards, my own included, he was gorgeous. Every girl wanted to be his girlfriend, and not just for his looks. He is the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet. I’ll admit he does get very jealous, very easily. But other than that he has very few flaws. He had just opened his Greek book and taken out his notes when my mom came in talking.
“Alexandria, I need to talk to you in the- oh hello Jake, I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were here." She wasn’t alone, which was highly unexpected. There was a boy with her, probably about 20. I didn’t linger on him long. “Actually I need to speak to Alex here alone and it will probably take a while. It’d probably just be best if you went on home. I don’t mean to run you off this is just really important. How about I send you home with some cookies?" She said walking towards the kitchen, Jake and I close behind. “Oh and Alex, go on to my office I’ll be there in a moment."
I was confused to say the least, but didn’t want to get into any more trouble than I was most likely already in. Jake and I said goodbye before I went down the hall and into her office. He left me with a kiss on my temple. Little did I know that was the last time I’d see him as my Jake.

“Okay, we probably have about 10 minutes until he comes back for you. Alexandria, I need you to listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. You may not completely understand but that’s what Garrett is here for, to help you understand." My mother said closing and locking the office door before pushing her mahogany desk against it. The boy from earlier had appeared out of nowhere.
“Wait, what in the world are you talking about?" I asked.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you about your father," she said, though I was still confused as to what he had to do with anything, he abandoned us, I let her continue. “And, I’m going to tell you, about your mother. Your real mother."
“What!?" I was completely lost now. What does she mean my real mother, she’s my real mother, she gave birth to me, we have a very graphic home video to prove it.
“We don’t have much time. You need to give her the short version." The Garrett character said.
I looked at him for the first time. I mean really looked at him. He was taller than me, but not quite as tall as Jake. He had a tanned complexion, as if he spent all of his time in the sun. He had dark brown hair that was a disheveled mess. A hint of a five o’clock shadow on his face. But his eyes were what amazed me most. They were a dazzling emerald green and it seemed as though they danced like a flame. I’ll admit, he was quite attractive, but I was not okay with him rushing my mother.
“Okay, Alexandria, listen," my mother continued. It was then that I realized she was using my full name. She never did that. “You are not biologically my child. In fact, you aren’t biologically completely human. Before you interrupt asking if you’re an alien, you aren’t. Alex, you are what is referred to as a demigod. And you are a rare breed of demigod because both of your parents are in fact gods. However, you were born from me, so they had to make you partially human in order for that to happen, and to keep you safe. And yes I just said gods. As in the Greek gods. This is why I had you taking Greek. That’s their native language, which you obviously know a bit of. But I was hoping you could learn something useful, other than the language, before you had to leave but I didn’t expect you to have to leave so soon. Alex, your parents, they’re-."
She was cut off by a loud banging outside the office door.
“Ms. Lexington, these cookies you gave me have peanuts in them. I think you forgot I’m allergic." Jake said from the other side.
“Jak-" I was cut off by Garrett covering my mouth. I gave him a confused look. Jake definitely wasn’t allergic to peanuts, in fact they were his favorite food.
“Oh, I’m sorry Jake just let me finish this spreadsheet and I’ll be right out to give you the chocolate chip ones." My mom said through the door. She then whispered to me, “There’s no time, you need to go with Garrett. He will keep you safe and take you to people that can help you. Just remember, I love you with all my heart. I promise I’ll be okay. Once you get far enough away where it’s safe Garrett will tell you everything I haven’t been able to. Okay?"
“Okay…" I said reluctantly. I somewhat believed her. I mean it explained why I was so good in Greek and the look on her face said she wasn’t lying.
It was then that I realized there was no way out of my mom’s office. She picked the room without windows so she wouldn’t be distracted and the only door was the one we came in, where Jake was now. Though I didn’t fully comprehend, I knew we couldn’t leave that way.
“Mom, how are we getting out of here?"
“This way." Garrett said and he pulled me to the back wall.
I noticed a place where the brick didn’t quite meet and he pulled out a gold coin and inserted it between the two bricks.
“Ms. Lexington? Are you coming?" I heard Jake say on the other side of the office door as bricks shifted to form a small archway about knee high.
“Hurry." Garrett said as he directed me through the archway and followed. The last thing I saw was my mom opening the office door after she moved her desk away from it. And there stood Jake, only he wasn’t Jake. He had fire for hair and his eyes were completely black. He had fangs as well and claws for hands. The archway closed before he noticed it.
“What WAS that? And, now what? I mean, am I going to see my mom again?" I asked Garrett, realizing I just hid in a wall with someone I don’t even know while my mom stood there, defenseless, in front of that, monster.
“We need to move first, then I’ll answer your questions. Go forward." He answered.
I did as I was told and in about 50 feet we were able to stand up again as we came to a corridor. Garrett kept moving, and all I could do was follow.
«¤»

We walked through corridor after corridor for hours before we came to what I believed to be a dead end. Garrett knocked 3 times and the wall slid to the side revealing the inside of a small, one room cottage. Through the one window I could see what seemed to be a swamp outside. We must have walked miles to get to a swamp.
“We’ll be safe here for the night. You can have the cot." Garrett said before heading to the kitchen to find something to eat.
It was dusk outside and I knew it’d be getting cold soon. I looked for a fireplace, but there was none. Garrett came out of the kitchen with two granola bars and a Twix.
“I know it’s not exactly dinner but it’s better than nothing." Garrett said. I took a granola bar and half the Twix. “Now get to bed, we’ll want to get an early start tomorrow."
I walked over to the cot, noticing that there were a multitude of blankets on it. I took a few to Garrett, who sitting by the door. He gave me a half smile and a small “Thank you" as he took them. Walking the short distance back to the cot I thought how crazy my day had been. Laying down I hoped that it had all been a dream, and that I would wake up soon.