Chapter 38 – High School

Time skip to September 1989

[Main POV]

This was never supposed to happen.

In 1985, the Texas legislature officially made high school education mandatory. This meant all children in Texas had to go to school until they reached 18, or graduated from high school, for at least 6 months of the year.

Olivia and I had devised a workaround for this, where she would officially be homeschooling me. And while I had accounted for the possibility that one day CPS might show up, I did not account for such a betrayal.

Behind my back, Olivia and Ms. Davis conspired to send me to public school. Something about increasing my social skills. Like what the fuck. I already had a girlfriend.

So, Artemis and I were in the back of Olivia's new car that I specially made for her. At this moment, I was very glad that I didn't tell her that the car could fly.

"Do we have to do this?" I asked for the millionth time.

"Yes," Olivia responded. "All the papers have been filled out."

"What if I know more than the teachers in their respective subjects?"

"You probably do," Olivia sighed. "Remember, you're not going to learn. You're going to make friends and have fun." She said the last part with a little growl in her voice. I don't think she ever forgave me for not taking her to Japan.

"How am we supposed to make friends?" I questioned, "We're nine. Everyone at the school's going to be twice our age."

"I was four times your age when you hired me." She pointed out. "And both of you look 17. If anything, you guys look like you've been held back in the 9th grade. But I'm sure you'll do fine. It's not like you're going on dates with them."

I looked over at Artemis, who wore a neutral expression. Hopefully we'd be in the same class. If not, we were going to have problems.

"Don't worry," Artemis reassured me, "it'll be fine."

"I'm not worried," I responded. "It's just that this whole side quest is a waste of time. We don't need to learn or make friends."

"Well, sucks to suck." Oliva retorted, "You've already made enough products for the company to last the next few years."

I sighed, resigning myself to my immediate fate. Then I had an idea.

"Are we there yet?"

"The car wouldn't be moving if we were."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

.

Time skip 30 minutes

[Main POV]

"Are we there yet?"

"Are we there yet?"

"Are we there yet?"

"Apollo!" Olivia shouted, "I swear in your name that if you don't shut up right now, I will turn this car around and you won't be able to go to school!"

"Are we there yet?"

.

Time skip 30 minutes

[Main POV]

It turns out, Olivia lied. Artemis and I ended up going to school. Since she swore my name, I started coming up with punishments for breaking her oath.

As the car pulled up to Medford High School, I still hadn't decided on an appropriate punishment.

"C'mon we're here," Artemis whispered.

As we got out of the car, I saw lots of people outside dressed in cringe 1980s trends. Long hair, denim vests, goths, football players, and cheerleaders.

Once we were out, I grabbed Artemis and proceeded forward. First rule of high school: don't acknowledge the person who drops you off.

Beep, beep. The car horn blared, causing everyone to turn in our direction.

"Have fun sweetie! Remember, mommy loves you very much!" Olivia shouted before driving off.

That bitch.

As Artemis and I walked through the crowd of people and into the school, I heard a voice shout, "Hey girl, ditch the momma's boy and come hang out with us!"

I turned towards the direction of the voice and shouted back, "Fuck off buddy!"

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" I heard another voice say.

God damn it, Olivia. I'd rather not have several murders on my criminal record.

.

Artemis and I eventually made our way to homeroom, which was in a science lab. I guided us to the back seats next to the window: the place for protagonists.

In the next 10 minutes, people slowly trickled in and filled the remaining seats, until I saw a small child walk in and take a seat at the front of the class. Oh god, I recognized him.

"Alright, everybody, my name is Ms. MacElroy." A tall woman with frizzly brown hair said while indicating to her name written on the board.

"In addition to being your homeroom teacher, I'll be seeing some of you in my English class and some of you on the volleyball court."

Checking my schedule, I realized that we were also technically in English class. Why was English class being held in a room with lab equipment?

"Just to give you a little history, I've been here at Medford for 29 years, I've taught some of your older brothers and sisters, and sadly, some of your parents."

Holy cow, she's been around for a while.

"Not much I haven't seen. Until today. I'm sure you're well aware we have a student with us, who, despite his young age, is remarkably gifted." Ms. MacElroy said while looking at the small child at the front.

"And I expect y'all to make him feel welcome." She finished off while pointing to the rest of the room.

The small child raised his hand. "Yes, Sheldon?" she asked him.

"Per the student dress and grooming code, this boy's hair is too long, this boy is wearing sports attire outside of a designated area, and this girl's blouse is diaphanous, which means I can see her brassiere."

The room let out a couple of giggles. I was laughing my ass off in my hands. Holy shit that savage. Artemis gave me a small poke that got me out of my stupor.

"Thank you," Ms. MacElroy stiffly said. "I will take that into account."

Turning towards the rest of the room, she said, "We also have a pair of talented individuals – what?"

Sheldon had raised his hand.

"Also, in violation of the grooming code on page 48, article five, subsection B, you have a bit of a mustache."

At that point, the whole room burst into laughter. Even Artemis was giggling. The only people who weren't laughing were Sheldon, Ms. MacElroy, and a kid holding his head in his hand, sitting near Artemis and I in the back row.

.

Our other classes were similarly entertaining. Turns out Artemis and I had every class with Sheldon Cooper.

Five minutes into Ms. Ingram's math class, Sheldon questioned her credentials. Considering she didn't know what Euclidean Geometry was, I silently concurred.

In Mr. Given's science class, Sheldon noticed his weird smell, and accused him of being in breach of the hygiene code. This led to Sheldon and Mr. Givens getting into an argument which finished when Sheldon commented that Mr. Givens was just intimidated by his intelligence. To fill the silence that followed, Sheldon then offered to be his leader. Mr. Givens was speechless, and the rest of the class stayed silent as well.

Eventually, Mr. Givens regained his composure.

"We also have two other geniuses, Apollo and Artemis." Mr. Givens said while pointing to us at the back. He then muttered, "Hopefully, they'll be more normal."

I'm pretty sure other teachers were going to introduce us as well, but they were all gob smacked by Sheldon's comments.

"Hi everyone!" Artemis started. "I'm Artemis. I play chess and love the outdoors! I used to live in Russia before moving here to Texas for my boyfriend!" She finished off by giving me a kiss on the cheek.

Everyone then turned to me waiting for my introduction. I just continued looking back.

"Apollo?" Mr. Givens asked.

"Howdy." I greeted.

"Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" Mr. Givens questioned.

"Why?" I said back. Turning towards everyone else, I asked, "Does anyone not know me?"

Nobody responded. At this point, Apollo was a household name. However, it made sense that they didn't recognize me considering I had rapidly developed physically.

"Actually, there is one thing," I added. Putting my arm around Artemis, I said, "We're both nine. So, watch it pedos."

A bunch of guys and girls collectively looked away and blushed. Well, guess I know who to put on my shit list.

"Mr. Givens?" I squeaky voice asked.

"Yes Sheldon?" Mr. Givens acknowledged with a sigh.

Pointing at Artemis, Sheldon said, "Artemis performed in a public display of affection. This violates section four, subsection three of the school's code of conduct."

God damn it Cooper.

.

After that, Artemis and I got a lot more attention. Girls wanted to talk with her. Guys wanted to associate with me.

In gym class, I was asked to join the football team by Sheldon's dad. Based on my performance at the Olympics, I was surprised he didn't ask sooner. I politely declined.

Lunch time wasn't bad. After buying the crappy food served at the cafeteria, Artemis and I snuck onto the roof and fed our food to the seagulls. They seemed to like it a lot.

Despite the fame, we weren't swarmed by people. Most people appeared too intimidated to approach us, and we didn't linger in any place too long to give anyone the opportunity to. Except for now.

Currently, we were waiting at the front of the school for Olivia to pick us up. There were people loitering behind us whispering to each other, and I knew some of them wanted to talk to us.

However, I was still surprised when someone did approach us.

"Hello Apollo. Hello Artemis."

It was Sheldon.

"Hi Sheldon," Artemis responded, "I noticed you have a Northeastern accent. What state are you from, and when did you move here?"

"I'm not from the Northeast." Sheldon answered. "I refuse to use a Texan accent."

"Apollo," Sheldon continued, turning towards me. "You may have bested me in our chess match 5 years ago but know you will not best me."

I snorted. "Whatever you say Cooper. By the way, your outfit looks terrible without a bowtie."

Sheldon looked stunned for a second before nodding. "I agree. I'll be sure to wear one tomorrow."

"Shelly!" A woman who looked like Sheldon's mother rushed towards him. "Hi, I'm Mary Cooper, Sheldon's mother. Are you Sheldon's friends? We should have you guys over some time."

I simply nodded as she continued rambling. Artemis did the same.

"Well, we better get going Shelly. Say bye to your new friends."

Without even waiting for anyone to say anything, she grabbed Sheldon and dragged him to her car. It was clear she was very nervous for her son. She probably thought we were picking on him or something.

I felt Artemis grab my arm and turned to look at her.

"I don't mean this the wrong way," she said, "but what's wrong with that kid?"

I sighed. "I know I'm technically the god of medicine and health, but I don't even know."