Boom!

It is Friday morning. Nick woke up hearing the shower.

Nick sits up and notices that the walls are filled with pictures of him and his mother. There are also parts where the room's wall is filled with posters of Black Pink. This is his mother's bedroom.

Nick massaged his forehead. He remembers what happened last night. His mother insisted on sleeping with her last night. It's been a long time since they have done this, it's been a long time since the time when he last slept with his mother, it was way back when he was still a kid. Now Nick is a teenager, he didn't expect for him to have another chance to sleep with his mother.

Truly it was comforting for Nick, however…

Nick took a deep sigh as he stared at his young handsome face in the mirror. His hair, dark and unruly.

'When will these nightmares end?' Nick asked himself while his face sunk in his right palm. 'Am I even awake right now? Is this real?' Nick slapped himself to make sure that he is really not dreaming right now.

Slap!

"Ouch!" Nick groaned out of pain. Not knowing that his mother was just inside the room's bathroom. The noise coming from the shower stopped.

"Sweetie? You're awake, are you okay?" Nick's mom called out from the bathroom.

Nick decided to avoid his mother getting worried just because he stupidly slapped himself. "Uhh… I'm okay mom. Thank you." Nick answered. "Okay sweetie, you can wait for me downstairs, once I am done here I'll make breakfast." his mom said.

"No mom, relax, I'll make breakfast for the both of us." Nick said, "No sweetie, let me handle it. I'll just finish this." Nick's mom said, and the sound of flowing water from shower resonates from the bathroom.

'Oh mom, there's no need for you to do this for me.' Nick thought, "Whatever mom, I'll make us breakfast." Nick grinned and went straight to the kitchen. "I'll finish this real quick sweetie" his mother groaned, but she hasn't prevented her son from making breakfast for the both of them.

Nick and his mom end up making their breakfast together. Nick's mom was so happy to see his son not worrying about the nightmare he was having every night.

Nick made pancakes, while his mom made Curry. "That smells good mom." Nick said as the aroma of the curry reaches his nostrils. "This not only smells good, but tastes good also."

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The curry sauce was already boiling, Nick's mom turned off the heat and grabbed a frying pan and four pieces of eggs. "I call this, the Madison Ivy L. Fargrove dish." Nick's mom breaks the eggs, and puts them in a bowl. She then battered it and prepared plates with one cup of rice in each.

Mrs. Madison then cooked two eggs, she slightly cooked it and turned the two eggs into two ovals. She then put each egg on top of the rice, and sliced it in the middle.

"Wow mom! I didn't know you could cook Omurice?" Nick said.

"And, for the final touch of the Madison Ivy L. Fargrove dish…" Nick's mom poured the curry sauce on each plate. Once again, the fragrant aroma of the curry reached Nick's nose.

"Let's eat sweetie." Says Mrs.Fargrove, and Nick nodded as he looked at his mother with a big bright smile. "I can't wait to have a taste of this mom."

Nick and Mrs. Fargrove te one another's cooking, and both of them were satisfied and enjoyed their breakfast. Somehow, Nick isn't having a hard time afterall. Imagine having a nightmare at night and then, you'll wake up being greeted by delicious food.

After eating breakfast, Nick helped his mom with the dishes. Together, they clean up the table, a mother and son bonding. After which, they bid each other farewell.

As Nick opens the front door, "See you mom, I'm going to school." He reached school quite early today and he was relieved to see no one in peplos. 'Darn these Nightmares! Making me afraid to step in my school.

Nick passed through the hallway where students normally interacted with one another. Nick passed through a group of girls talking to one another, a group of boys just went past him going the opposite direction.

Nick thought that it will just be a normal day for him, free from the terror of his nightmares. No weirdos speaking in some language he couldn't understand. Everyone is wearing normal clothes instead of Peplos. But then, as he was about to enter their classroom, a girl came out and they both stopped staring at each other.

'This girl?!' Nick thought in his surprise. The girl in front of him had long and light hair, she was pretty and… 'She is the girl I saw outside the bookstore and…' before Nick could even finish his thoughts. The beautiful girl just frowned at him and left. Nick turned back, not sure of what he should do. He was arguing with himself in his mind 'Should I say I saw you in my dream last night?'

Unbeknownst to him it would be best to ask her that, because the girl was heading to Ms. Amelia's office. 'That's the guy who protects me daily in astral space. I am quite sure he is the avatar of Zeus, but… how do I talk to him?' the girl asked herself and then realised what happened between her and Nick a few moments ago.

Well, maybe it's also best that they haven't spoken with one another. Because if they do, Nick will have a headache again getting confused with this Avatar thing.

'But that was awkward' still frowning she headed straight to Ms. Amelia's office. Without even knocking, she just burst into the office. "Hey Amelia!" the girl yelled, and bitched her way to the sofa of the office.

Ms. Amelia, feeling disgusted by how the girl talks to her, replied, "I'm still your guidance counsellor Rebecca." The girl Ms. Amelia called Rebecca, glared at her. "And I'm the Queen of Olympus." Ms. Amelia didn't reply, for sure, the goddess she represents, Mnemosyne wouldn't be pleased if she keeps talking back to Rebecca, the avatar of Hera.

"I found that guy who tried to rescue me in astral space by the way." Rebecca lies down on the sofa. "Oh, the boy who keeps coming back here for nightmare counselling? Who would have thought that he is one of the avatars like us, it seems to me that he's not even fit to be one." Ms. Amelia replied and went to the pantry, unconvinced that Nick is one of the god's avatars..

"Do you want some tea, QUEEN?" Ms. Amelia said as she got a pot of tea and started filling it with water.

"Give another sarcastic remark and I'll make sure that you'll regret speaking to me that way. Or do you ever want to speak again?" Rebecca replied, but the avatar of Mnemosyne gave another sarcastic remark. "Wow, scary."

Ms. Amelia is a 21 years old woman who has just started working as a regular employee of Washington High. Rebecca stood up, the skies within the vicinity of Washington High suddenly went dark. Ms. Amelia knew that this would happen if she angered the avatar of Hera. But she's not easily threatened, Ms. Amelia knew very well that she needed her help.

"Look, QUEEN." Ms. Amelia put the pot in the electric stove in her pantry. Rebecca went in and bolted towards Ms. Amelia. Rebecca punched the wall, and buried her fists. "Kill me if you want, I'm tired of this Rebecca."

Rebecca forced herself to calm down. She doesn't want to kill or hurt Amelia. She just wants to achieve the respect she deserves as the avatar of the Queen of Olympus. "We kept searching for the other avatars, and we found most of them." Ms. Amelia said, and left Rebecca whose fist was still buried in the wall.

"We even forced all of the students to get into astral space to safely check who are the avatars and who are not." Ms. Amelia added as she sat down on the sofa and relaxed her back on the back of the sofa. "It may not cause any kind of harm to them, but still think about the mental and emotional damage it did to them?" Ms. Amelia explained.

"Amelia, this is the only way to find all of the avatars. And, if I were you, I would better keep doing my best to maximise the coverage of the astral space." Rebecca said and sat beside Ms. Amelia.

"I already told you Rebecca, there may be a big chance that the other avatars are also here in Washington High. But, that doesn't mean that the other avatars couldn't be far from here or some of them are even outside America."

"We already found some of them in this school. The guy you just met in your class included" Ms. Amelia said. "Yeah, lots of them actually." Rebecca answered, and stood up once again after seeing in the clock that her class was about to start in 10 minutes. "We already found lots of them, what are you searching for exactly Rebecca?" Ms. Amelia asked, but instead of answering. Rebecca just bit her lips and left her office.

Meanwhile, Nick suddenly felt like he needed to pee. He looked at the clock in the middle at the top of the whiteboard.

'Hmm… 5 minutes left before class starts.' Nick thought and stood up from his chair. He went straight to the door, and opened it. To his surprise, he once again met the girl in his dream.

'Why is he just standing there and staring?' Rebecca thought.

Both of them are trying to find the courage to talk to one another. But Rebecca decided to break their staring contest.

"What are you doing, 5 more minutes and the teacher will arrive." Nick was flabbergasted. "Ah… I uh… I am in the bathroom." Nick said nervously.

Rebecca laughed and replied, "What?"

'At first I thought this guy was the avatar of Zeus?' Rebecca asked herself 'There's no way this guy is the avatar of Zeus, he gets so nervous easily.'

"I ah… uhm…" Mr. Mark the literature teacher suddenly arrived and stood behind Rebecca.

"Let's go inside, guys. Nick, Rebecca, come on inside now." Mr. Mark said 'Oh no, I need to pee' Nick thought. He had no choice but to go back to his seat. As Rebecca, Nick and their classmates have finally settled down on their chairs. Mr. Mark decided to start the class.

"Students today we will be studying Composition. So, Composition is…" Mr. Mark is as if fading away, Nick was still distracted, 'cause he really needed to pee. As Mr. Mark was discussing, Nick kept fidgeting. Rebecca couldn't help but feel annoyed at how pathetic the person whom she thought the avatar of Zeus was.

'No, he's not the avatar of Zeus, there's just no way.'

Mr. Mark noticed Nick. "Is there a problem Nick?" Nick slowly looked at Mr. Mark's face, and slowly nodded and said, "I need to go to the bathroom please." Mr. Mark gestured his hands towards the door, telling Nick that he had the permission to go to the bathroom.

'If he is not the avatar of Zeus! Why has he accumulated a lightning essence in his hands?' Rebecca was arguing with herself, whether Nick is the avatar of Zeus or not. 'Also, I have been saved so many times by him in astral space, does he even remember me?'

As Nick leaves, and the lesson of Mr. Mark continues.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Nick finished relieving himself. He was washing his hands as he looked into the mirror thinking 'That's definitely the girl I met in my dreams!' Nick said and put his weight in the stone sink. 'Who is she? I don't even remember her being in the same class as me.' These thoughts plagued his mind but choose to set it aside for now, he has to return to class.

'Maybe I should talk to her?' Nick thought and returned to their classroom. While walking in the hallway, Nick keeps thinking about his dreams. He thinks he's being weird thinking only about Rebecca. 'Why did everyone but Ms. Amelia, Mom and her had to wear peplos in the dream, just why?' As his mind tries to put some sense with that fact, he lets his mind wander until he gets to the point where he realises that Rebecca is such a beauty.

He almost went past the classroom with his mind thinking over and over, when suddenly he came to a halt as he noticed a boy leaving a classroom adjacent to theirs. He turned back and saw a masculine man wearing peplos. "Peplos?!" Nick was so shocked, he stopped walking and just stared at the boy with a man following him.

The man following the boy had long white hair. Nick couldn't see the facial features. 'This is not real, but I am sure I am not having a nightmare too.' Nick closed his eyes for a few seconds. And when he opened his eyes, the boy being followed by a man wearing peplos disappeared.

Sigh! 'I must be daydreaming, or I'm just sleep deprived.' Nick thought, convincing himself that what he just saw isn't real. A man in peplos? This day was supposed to be a normal day for Nick, but will it be just a normal day?

Nick returned to his seat, his eyes wandered off to where Rebecca was seated. Rebecca was sinking into her notebook, jotting down notes. Mr. Mark is as if speaking a gibberish language because of what Nick keeps thinking of.

'That's it, this is not good.' Nick thought. 'I am going to meet Ms. Amelia after this class.' Nick thought and stared at Rebecca.

Nick sighed, and laid his back on the back of his chair still staring at Rebecca.

A few moments later, Nick felt a nudge on his shoulder "Did the school goddess charm our friend Nick as well?" a classmate whispered. "Leave me alone." Nick said and opened his notebook again. Nick accidentally looked out the window of their classroom. "Pff… come on man, admit it… you were staring at her just a few moments ago." says Nick's classmate who keeps insisting that Nick is interested in Rebecca.

But Nick's attention is hooked by something else, he doesn't have time for romantic stuff right now, because he just saw the boy and the man in peplos walking in the hallway again.

Nick looked back to where Rebecca was sitting and said, "Damn."

"See! I told you guys, Nick is interested in Rebecca." classmate shouted in his excitement. The whole class heard him.

"Excuse me, we're still in class everyone." Mr. Mark said, trying to calm his students.

Nick's face went rosy. A classmate just yelled in the whole class that he is interested in Rebecca. This is true, but he is interested in Rebecca because first, he met her just outside the bookstore, second he met her in his dreams, and now he met her in his class and couldn't even remember her being in their class.

"Well you're interested in her, I just saw you staring at her." Nick lost his temper, and yelled. "What is it to you if I am staring at her?" Nick accidentally bumped his table, and his phone almost fell to the ground. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he caught it with his hands.

"Nick, that's enough." Mr. Mark tried to stop Nick.

"Bro, staring at her is harassment." Nick's classmate replied, and this remark made Nick's blood boil up to his head and couldn't control his anger anymore. "What did you just say?" Nick slowly went close to his classmate, "That's one tough accusation." Nick's grip on his phone tightens.

"Why would you stare at her then?" Nick's classmate keeps on with his accusation against him. "Nicklaus Fargrove, I won't tolerate violence inside my class, now sit down before I bring you to the Principal's office." Nick took a deep breath, and went back to his chair.

Nick inhaled and breathed in air as much as he could. And, breathed out…

Boom!

Something inside the classroom suddenly exploded. Nick's reflex made him cover his face with his arms, Nick's eyes were closed and a burning smell reached Nick's nose.

"Nick, let go of your phone now!" Mr. Mark said. As soon as he heard those words, Nick let go of his phone.

Thud.

As the phone hits the ground, Nick opens his eyes and sees his phone smoking.