The Girl that Hades called Persephone

-4-

~Persephone~

I sat in the back, trying not to make eye contact with the teacher. He was an older man, and my guess is that he's been teaching a little too many years, and went off the deep end. 

He was entertaining, that was for sure, but he was a very odd man.

He liked to talk a lot. It wasn't until we were an hour in that he actually took attendance. My worse fear came true when he came to my name, and butchered it like hell.

"Steffi," I told him.

He went on, and I knew he was going to try to butcher my name again pretty soon. He went over the books we were going to read, and how it was important to actually take this class seriously, but he promised he was a cool teacher.

I sat in the back, looking at my phone every five seconds. He didn't seem to care. Half the time, I am usually so quiet people forget I am there. That was okay for me though, I actually liked it. I could get away with more stuff.

I wish my mom would have forgotten I was there sometimes.

About two hours into the class, H had texted me back, making me grin and turn red. I was glad he couldn't see my face.

              Did you want to meet again tonight? I very much enjoyed our conversion

I tried to wait a few seconds, to make it look like that I wasn't glued to my phone (even though I was). Thirty seconds later, I replied anyway.

              I would love to! Where would you like to meet? I don't know the town well

He took a lot longer than I did. It honestly made me nervous, waiting on him. My anxiety went off like an alarm. What if he was annoyed by how fast I replied? What if he changed his mind? What if this was a prank? What if, what if, what if.

Ten minutes later, he replied:

              H: I can meet you by your dorms, and we can walk into town. Play by ear?

I replied: Yeah, that sounds great!

H: What time?

Me: Would six work?

H: Of course

Me: Great, it's a date

My eyes widen. I actually put down the phone before I realized what I had typed. In the moment, when I looked at the screen "it's a date", I had fallen into a black hole, disappearing and flowing into space.

I was stupid. I quickly raced my fingers on the keyboard:

I mean, not like a date

Just meeting

And talking

Not a date at all

He wasn't replying, and I was starting to get scared.

Lol

If I could, I would jump off a cliff, and just end it all, because well, that's what I basically just didn't. He didn't reply at all. I must have scared him, and I wasn't going to show up. I would have punched myself in the face if I wasn't in class at the moment.

I'm sure I would be questioned if I did so.

After class, while waiting for my next one, I was glued to the phone, hoping that he would reply. I started to accept that he wasn't going to message me back, and I was done for.

I was digging myself into a very deep hole, and there was not climbing my way out of it.

My second class was done at five. Since my second class was on the other end of the campus, I got lost walking back to my dorm. It took me a good hour to get to where I was supposed to be. My heart dropped when I got to the building.

H was standing outside, waiting. He had his eyes right on me and giving me a smirk. "Oh, there you are."

~Hades~

It was very hard to work while she was texting me, but I didn't want her to stop. Paperwork could wait, but she could not. 

My mind had swum around and around the idea of seeing her face again, to see her eyes looking up at me, her little shy smile. 

In the thousands of years I have existed, the feeling of butterflies inside my stomach, making me float higher and higher was hard to shake off. 

I checked my phone again: I mean, not a date. Just meeting . . . And Talking . . .Not a date at all

Her messages made me giggle like a little school boy. She was too adorable, too precious, and too sweet for someone like me. I didn't know what I was doing, messing around with a mortal, but I couldn't get myself away from her. 

I couldn't get her face out of my mind, her soft skin, her lips. I needed to keep away from her, but I couldn't. 

 The chance of seeing her again, it was overwhelming. 

She honestly scared me. 

Me, the most fearing God, King of the Underworld, was scared of a pretty girl. Men would not even say my name for the longest time, I was prayed away by mortals, and yet, this girl was embracing me without knowing me. 

Was I selfish? 

Maybe I was. 

I got up from the desk and opened a portal for her school. Walking into the mortal realm always hurt my eyes, seeing the sun after so long of darkness. I was in front of her dorm, staring up to her window. Her roommate must have been home. 

When I turned around, I saw Steffi there. "Oh! There you are," smiling at her.