Another terrible crash drew their eyes to the entrance just in time to see one of Zeus’s thunderbolts soar past. There was a loud crack as it struck a sundial in front of the gymnasium.
“See that?” squeaked Mr. Cyclops. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
“You think it’s my fault Principal Zeus is in a bad mood?” Aphrodite turned her head from the door to look at her teacher, but his chair was empty now.
“I don’t think. I know,” said his shaky, muffled voice. It was coming from under the table! He must have only pretended to be unfazed. The last bolt had landed closer than the others and had finally unhinged him. Aphrodite lifted the edge of the white tablecloth and bent down to look at him. “Greek mortals are annoyed over your meddling,” he went on, still cowering from the thunder. “Principal Zeus is getting flack from them. Which means I’m getting flack from him. We’re all getting flack!”
Aphrodite wanted to ask what flack was. She figured it must be something icky since each mention of the word got Mr. Cyclops more and more worked up. But before she could ask, he went on.
“And when Zeus is in a bad mood, all the teachers are in a bad mood. Which means YOUR GRADE STANDS.”
Aphrodite winced, hoping no one had heard him. “What if I can figure out a way to convince mortals to forgive me for starting the Trojan war—um, incident?” she asked, beginning to feel desperate.
Mr. Cyclops crawled out from under the table and sat in his chair again. Planting both elbows on the tabletop, he gazed at her and tapped his fingertips together as he did when something intrigued him. “A community service project? Interesting idea. What did you have in mind?”
Truth was, she didn’t have anything in mind. She wasn’t even sure what he meant by “community service.” But she did know that mortals liked it when goddesses did things for them. It made them feel special. Her gaze skittered around the room, as she tried to think of something that would put a smile on Mr. Cyclops’s face and a good grade on her reportscroll. Her eyes fell on Persephone and her crush, Hades. They were holding hands. Seeing them together like that reminded her of love, which reminded her that she was the goddessgirl of love (not that she ever really forgot). Why not use her matchmaking talent to help fix her grade? Thinking fast, she said, “I’ll start a Lonely Hearts Club to help lonely mortals find love!”
“Hmm.” Mr. Cyclops’s eye blinked at her. “I don’t know. Your matchmaking with Paris, Helen, and King Menelaus was a disaster. Why would this be any different?”
“Disaster is such a strong word,” said Aphrodite. “I prefer to call it an unfortunate love triangle. Besides, how was I to know Medusa had already made King Menelaus fall in love with Helen too? Really, she’s the one you should be mad at.”
“If you’d been paying attention—”
“Nothing makes people happier than being in love,” Aphrodite said quickly.
Mr. Cyclops studied her for a moment. Then he put on his glasses, and leaned toward her like he’d reached a decision. Aphrodite held her breath, hoping.
“All right. Forge ahead with your community service project,” he told her. “If you give it your all, I’ll raise you to a B. However, if you don’t set things right with mortals by the end of the week, your D stands.”
Her jaw dropped. “You want me to spend my vacation on this? But it’s Hero Week! I was planning to go on a trip with my friends.”
“Your choice,” said Mr. Cyclops in a take-it-or-leave-it tone. “But I’d hate for you to have to repeat this semester of Hero-ology. And something needs to be done to get Zeus out of this funk.” He gestured toward the uneasy students still gathered at the entrance. “Mortals and teachers aren’t the only ones affected by his bad mood. Your classmates will eventually start looking around for a reason for it. And fair or not, you may get the blame.”
Aphrodite heaved a huge sigh. Doing “community service” was not the way she’d planned to spend the holiday. But she didn’t have much choice if she hoped to improve her grade, patch things up with mortals, and keep immortals from blaming her for Zeus’s grumpiness. “Okay, I’ll do it. And don’t worry. The Paris-Helen thing was a fluke. I’m the goddessgirl of love, and nobody is better at matchmaking than I am. You’ll see.”
“Let’s hope your enthusiasm translates into results,” said Mr. Cyclops, in a voice that told her he wasn’t truly convinced.
But she’d show him. As she left the gym and headed outside, her optimism was high. If she had to be stuck here during the break, at least she’d be doing what she loved best—matchmaking. Still, Hero Week was only five days long. She would need to do some fast advertising of her Lonely Hearts Club to get things rolling. Fortunately, she knew exactly who could help her with that.
Pheme, the goddessgirl of gossip.
2
Lonely Hearts Club
PHEME! OVER HERE!” APHRODITE WAVED TO a goddessgirl with short, spiky orange hair as she reached the MOA courtyard outside. The storm had quieted, moving off into the distance after Zeus disappeared beyond the sports fields and the gymnasium. Aphrodite stepped around one of the thunderbolts he’d left behind, which was stuck point-down in one of the courtyard’s marble tiles. The thunderbolt, which was as tall as she was, still sizzled and popped with electricity. As she hurried toward Pheme, she passed a custodian wearing thick gloves. He was pushing a wheelbarrow around the courtyard, plucking out smaller bolts that were stuck in the tiles, bushes, benches, and school walls. If Principal Zeus’s bad mood continued much longer, MOA was going to fall apart!
“Guess what?” she told Pheme when she reached her. Then her news rushed out so fast, it almost sounded like one overly long sentence. “I’m starting a Lonely Hearts Club and it’s going to be for mortals only. Mortals who are looking for love, that is. I want them to send me letters, then I’ll find the perfect match for them. Think you could help me get the word out?”
Pheme’s eyes lit with interest. “Definitely! Just let me be sure I got the facts straight. You’re starting a Lovely Hearts Club and you’re inviting mortals who’re in love to write you letters.” Each word she spoke puffed from her lips like miniature smoke writing. Which, of course made it even easier for her gossip to spread, since it could not only be heard, but could also be seen floating in the air above her head!
“No! It’s a Lonely Hearts Club,” Aphrodite corrected her. “And it’s for mortals who want to find love—wait, how about if I write it down for you?” She reached into her bag for her notescroll and her red feather quill pen.
But Pheme was already dashing off. “That’s okay,” she called back over her shoulder. “I’ve got it now, and I already see someone I can tell.”
Aphrodite glanced at the group of goddessgirls Pheme seemed to be heading toward. “But the club’s not for immortals!”
“I know, I know. Still, I have to be the first to spread the news around school about what you’re doing during the break or I’ll just die!”
“Be sure to go down to earth to let mortals know too!” Aphrodite called. “Tell them to send me their letters as soon as possible.”
“Sure thing! I’ll catch a ride in Hermes’ delivery chariot in a few.”
A little worried, Aphrodite watched as the girl paused halfway across the courtyard, veering off in a new direction to interrupt a conversation between two godboys. After she spoke to them, they both glanced toward Aphrodite. Then Pheme rushed over to two goddessgirls. After a moment, they too, looked over at Aphrodite and began to whisper. No doubt everyone was wondering why she was spending her holiday working. She’d have to think up a good excuse in case someone asked.
Pheme moved on again, jumping from group to group like a hopping flea. Aphrodite hoped she could be trusted to spread the news correctly. Sometimes the facts got twisted when Pheme was involved. Still, the girl had an amazingly wide social network and could spread news faster than a herald in a speeding chariot. And Aphrodite had no time to waste if she didn’t want the whole school to think she was a D-making airh
ead.
Turning, she headed toward the olive grove that grew just beyond the courtyard. She was supposed to meet her friends there for a picnic to finalize their travel plans for the holiday. Now she was going to have to back out. She wasn’t looking forward to giving them the bad news.
She found Athena and Persephone sitting on a picnic blanket surrounded by a ring of olive trees. Artemis lay on her stomach between them. Her three dogs were romping through the trees, chasing a magical bone-shaped ball that never stopped bouncing. There was a lunch basket on the edge of the blanket, and the girls were already munching ambrosia sandwiches and sipping nectar. Ambrosia and nectar were not only the food and drink of the gods—they also gave their skin a soft shimmery glow, which made them even more beautiful.
The center of the blanket was covered with a pile of scrolled vacation brochures and maps, and the girls were busy looking through them. “Hey! It’s about time,” said Athena, looking up. “Come help us decide where to spend the holiday.”
Aphrodite joined them on the blanket and unrolled one of the papyrus brochures. Hmm. There was a fashion show in Rome this week. Too bad she couldn’t go.
Athena eagerly unrolled another brochure and laid it in the middle of the blanket for all to see. “I vote for this museum in Venice. Just look at all the pottery and urns!”
“Urns?” Artemis wrinkled her nose. “I’ve been learning stuff all semester. I want to have fun during break. Besides, museums don’t allow dogs.” Her bloodhound trotted over and she gave him a pat. His name was Suez—Zeus spelled backward.
“Well, what’s your idea?” Athena asked.
Artemis quickly whipped four small rumpled pieces of papyrus from the pocket of her chiton. “Ta-da! Four tickets to the races at the Roman Colosseum. Only they’re going to flood the track where the chariots normally race, and bring in real ships to race around in instead. Can you imagine?”
Persephone sighed. “We went to the Colosseum last year for Hero Week. How about something scenic this time instead?” She held up a brochure with pictures of flowers. “We could go to this flower show. See some tulips.”
“Another flower show?” Athena said doubtfully. “I mean, flowers are pretty. But we already went to that one on earth a few months ago with your mom.”
Persephone let the brochure drop to the blanket. “Okay, but we leave tomorrow. We have to agree on something!”
“We could try eeny, meeny, Minotaur, moe,” suggested Artemis.
“No Minotaurs,” said Persephone. “Someone might get hurt.”
“Any ideas, Aphrodite?” asked Athena.
Aphrodite tossed the fashion brochure back onto the pile. “I’m sorry, but I can’t go.”
Her friends stared at her in dismay. “Why not?” asked Persephone.
“I’ve decided to stay at MOA,” she said, trying to sound upbeat to hide her disappointment. “I’m planning to clean my room and do a little shopping. And you know, just relax.”
Artemis sat up straight. “No way. Your room is already so clean I could eat off your floor.”
“And you go shopping almost every weekend,” said Athena.
“Yeah, what gives?” asked Persephone.
Aphrodite didn’t want to lie to her friends any more than she had to, so she told them what she could. “The truth is—I’m staying here so I can start a Lonely Hearts Club. For mortals.”
“Huh?” said Athena. “Why?”
Aphrodite stared at the three of them, stumped. She wasn’t about to tell them the real reason for the club—that she’d made a D for dumb and was trying to bring up her grade with an extra-credit project. She didn’t want her best friends to be embarrassed for her!
Persephone smiled uncertainly. “Mortals worship us all the time. I think it’s nice that you want to do something for them.”
“Sure. Great,” Artemis added. “But not during the holiday!”
“Is it because you don’t like our vacation choices?” asked Athena. She picked up a bunch of brochures and held them out to Aphrodite. “We’ll let you pick. C’mon. Surely you don’t want to spend this week here. My dad’s cranky mood is making everyone miserable.”
Artemis nodded. “Isn’t that the truth? My last three archery practices were rained out.”
“It’s definitely been gloomy around here lately,” Aphrodite agreed.
“Gloomy’s okay sometimes,” said Persephone. Hades lived in the Underworld and she sometimes visited him there. That place was definitely gloomy!
“Yeah, we’re all getting tired of playing Dodge the Thunderbolts,” said Artemis, abandoning the subject of where to vacation for the moment. She looked at Athena. “So what’s up with your dad anyway? Do you know?”
Aphrodite froze, waiting to see if Athena would blame Zeus’s bad mood on the war, um, incident she’d started in Hero-ology.
But Athena only looked down, toying with the ends of the shiny, braided gold belt at the waist of her chiton.
“Beats me,” she said, shrugging. Then she looked at Aphrodite, her eyes wistful. “You will come on our trip, won’t you? It won’t be the same without you.”
Aphrodite’s heart sank. Athena looked so sad. It was reassuring that her friends would miss her if she stayed behind. Maybe she should go with them after all. Mortals were already disappointed in her. She didn’t want to let her immortal friends down too!
BOOOM! Before she could reply, a tremendous crack of thunder sounded nearby, making them jump. “Uh-oh. Sounds like our unhappy principal is back from his walk,” Artemis said as all three of her dogs yelped and tried to burrow under the blanket. They were terrified of thunder. “We’d better scram!” she added.
The thunder was a timely reminder of the likely reason for Zeus’s bad mood, Aphrodite decided. Her mistake with Paris and Helen in Hero-ology. I have to stick to my plan with the club and hope it satisfies Mr. Cyclops, she reminded herself as she helped Athena and Persephone gather the brochures and blanket. There would be other vacations with her friends.
“Looks like this is going to be another bad one!” she said as Artemis grabbed the basket and tried to calm her three dogs. “I’m off to my room.”
“Sure you won’t change your mind? Why don’t you come with us to the Immortal Marketplace to get some more travel brochures?” suggested Persephone.
Aphrodite hesitated, but then shook her head no. Looking at travel brochures might prove too tempting.
As rain began to fall, all four goddessgirls dug in their bags for their umbrellas, and popped them open. Aphrodite’s was white with pink hearts and real diamonds; Artemis’s was red with black dog silhouettes wearing sparkly ruby collars; Persephone’s was decorated with glittering sapphire-centered flowers; and Athena’s sported philosophical quotes and was edged with emeralds. Aphrodite had picked them all out and given them to the girls as gifts when Zeus’s rainstorms had begun.
A quote by a famous Greek author named Plato on Athena’s umbrella caught her eye: At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. She smiled to herself. How true. “Stop by my room and tell me where you’ve decided to go before you head out, okay?” said Aphrodite.
“So you really won’t go with us—to the marketplace or on vacation?” asked Athena as she, Persephone, and Artemis strapped on winged sandals.
Unexpectedly, tears welled up in Aphrodite’s eyes. She shook her head, biting her lip to keep from crying.
At least her friends had stopped pressing her for the reasons she was staying put at MOA. “You’ll have to count me out,” she mumbled. “Have a good time though.” With that, she made a dash through the rain for the school building. When she reached the courtyard, she glanced over her shoulder and saw her friends winging off in the opposite direction.
All over the courtyard, students were running for cover and opening umbrellas. Everyone at MOA carried one these days because you never knew when Zeus would kick up another sudden storm. Once inside the school, Aphrodite shook out her umbrella, then took the stairs
up to her room on the fourth floor.
To cheer herself up, she got busy right away. At her desk, she pulled out her feather quill pen, a bottle of ink, and twenty sheets of letter-size pink papyrus. Deciding that might not be enough, she got out ten more sheets. Then she picked up a bottle of perfume and sprayed each sheet with a poof of fragrance. Ah! Eau de Goddess. It was her own personal fragrance, which Persephone had helped her concoct one semester in Beauty-ology class.
Any Lonely Hearts letters would arrive via one of the four magic winds—Aeolus, Boreas, Notus, and Zephyr. They were always whooshing around carrying mail to and from immortals. Usually, the winds just dropped letters through the windows at MOA. But now that she was expecting a huge pile of mail, she would need an actual mailbox. Otherwise, letters would wind up scattered all over her floor.
She dashed downstairs to the Craft-ology classroom on the second floor of the building and helped herself to the supply closet. Inside were shelves lined with scissors, tape, rulers, poster board, glitter, paint, clay, and boxes of every size and shape. She picked out a medium-size box, then decided it was too small for what she had in mind. She chose a larger one that stood as high as her waist. Setting it on a table, she got to work. An hour later, she finished decorating the box, and headed for the stairs again.
“What’s that?” asked a curious voice.
Pausing three steps up, Aphrodite peeked around the box she held and saw Pandora, Athena’s roommate, who’d been coming down the stairs toward her. As a symbol of her curiosity, Pandora’s long blue-and-gold-streaked bangs took the shape of a question mark, plastered against her forehead.
“It’s a mailbox,” said Aphrodite. She turned the box to display the side she’d painted with swirly glittered letters that read: Lonely Hearts Club.
“You’re starting a club?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Aphrodite moved past her up the stairs. Pandora’s questions never stopped. She would be here all day if she didn’t escape now.
Unfortunately, Pandora only turned and followed her. “Who’s it for? How many members do you have?”
Aphrodite the Diva (Goddess Girls) Page 2
