Aphrodite the Fair by Joan Holub

Author:Joan Holub
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

7

Liars and Cheats

Aphrodite

OKAY, TEAM!” APHRODITE SHOUTED. IT was after school on Wednesday, and she stood at the top of the granite steps that led from the Academy’s big bronze front doors down to the marble courtyard. Half the student body–her team in the grades competition–had gathered on the steps below her with some members spilling out into the courtyard. She’d called them here for a pep talk.

Aphrodite raised her pink megaphone to her mouth. “Are you ready to win this thing!” she yelled in the enthusiastic voice she used for Cheer Squad.

“Ready!” her team yelled back.

“That’s the spirit!” she responded. Truth was, though, Eris had just informed her that her team was trailing Athena’s by several points. That wasn’t necessarily cause for alarm, as the lead had seesawed back and forth throughout the contest. But today was Wednesday. There were only three more days counting today until the contest was over!

“Now, what will we all be doing tonight?” she shouted through her megaphone.

“Studying!” her team yelled back.

“That’s right!” Aphrodite encouraged. Then she led them in a cheer she’d composed especially for this rally:

“Come on, team–we can do it!

We’re the best–and we can prove it!

We will burn that midnight oil,

And with all our mighty toil,

The other team’s hopes, we will spoil!

Get on your feet, and let us hear it!

(Stomp! Stomp! Stomp-stomp-stomp!)

Hands together, let’s all cheer it!

(Clap! Clap! Clap-clap-clap!)

Go, study, win! Go, study, WINNN!”

At the end of the cheer, her team erupted in enthusiastic yells and applause. Some of the girls even did air splits, while the guys punched fists in the air. Then, with renewed energy and determination, they started back inside the Academy to go up to their rooms or to the library to study. Too bad students couldn’t earn points for team spirit, Aphrodite thought. Her team would win hands down. Or rather, hands waving up in the air!

Unfortunately, two godboys named Makhai and Kydoimos, were hanging out on a bench just inside the Academy’s front doors when Aphrodite’s team broke up and started inside. They were on Athena’s team, like Ares, who got along with them for some strange reason.

As she followed the last of her team inside, the two boys jumped up. Makhai pulled a quizscroll from his pocket and waved it in front of her face. There was an A plus grade on it. She’d heard some complaints about these bullies lately. A few of her team members suspected that they were cheating to better their grades.

“Read it and weep!” the squinty-eyed Makhai told her.

Kydoimos waved his quizscroll, too, also graded A plus. “Your team is toast!” he crowed.

“Get away from her, you . . . you cheaters!” shouted a centaur on Aphrodite’s team. Like many of the boys at MOA, this centaur–half boy and half horse–had long had a crush on her, she knew. Now he pawed at the marble floor with one of his front hooves and lowered his head like he was getting ready to charge the two boys.

“Cool it, Four Legs!” said Makhai.

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