The New Age of the Gods

Aphrodite was queen bitch of the popular girls. In fact, she defined what it was to be a popular girl. Whereas Nike was popular and kind, Aphrodite was just plain popular and got that way by stepping on other kids' heads. She didn't care who she had to do it to to stay ahead. She even dated Ares, the quintessential popular boy, in that he was a jock, quarterback of the football team, and naturally exuded that confidence that only popular kids did.

That kind of ego was rare in their high school, which came as a blessing to kids like Psyche, Aphrodite's unpopular virtual twin. Only their hair color and eye color were different. In every other visual way, they were alike. They couldn't be more different inwardly, though. Psyche kept to herself, while Aphrodite was an extravert whose self-esteem depended on the envy and admiration of the other kids to remain at its height. Psyche would only later realize what a blessing being so self-reliant in her self-esteem was. In high school, that was seen as such a negative that it made it difficult to navigate that world.

Psyche wasn't alone in being considered a loser. Asteria rather reveled in it, owned it. She knew she didn't fit in and shone in that. She was naturally dark, though light even within that. She got enthused about dark things: Graveyards, black, cats, ladders (walking under them), anything that was considered bad luck. She thought superstitions were silly. She didn't wear crosses, as she wasn't Christian. She was actually Pagan. She thought the typical Wiccan mentality was silly, too, in that female Wiccans would sissify the male ones, even including public humiliation in that. She had no familiars because she needed none. She considered cats companions and friends, even part of the family. She didn't want to use any of them to help her do magic.

Another dark, but light one was Eris. She dressed punk, but more in a rocker-influenced way. She would often dye her hair, or at least part of it, pink. Fuchsia was her favorite color. She loved cats and even identified with them. She would often spend time with Asteria in graveyards, sitting on tombstones. Where she felt the need to talk, Asteria didn't wish to break the silence and rather relied upon the comfort of her company.

The more intellectual of them was Athena. She often took refuge in intellectual pursuits when things got tough for her. She relied on her strengths in her classes to reinforce her self-esteem. She also got a sense of satisfaction when she'd finish a book. She was a cat person, but identified more with how people perceived owls and with tigers. She felt like an intellectual protector of her friends. They would often come to her for advice. They only ever came to Psyche when Athena wasn't available.

Nemesis was like the "Year of the Tiger" exactly, and a bit like a Scorpio, too. She was naturally good at archery. She was also very protective of the group of friends, but much more in a physical capacity.

Nike was the kind popular girl, the kind that was more popular with boys because she was so easygoing and into sports and loved dogs. She even had a husky. She was naturally good at all of them. The boys regarded her with an envious admiration. She still belonged to the group of friends labeled the loser kids, but didn't care what others thought of her. The flow of her self-confidence already made up for that. She was Athena's sister.

Themis was Athena and Nike's mom. She was an intellectual feminist and had a strong sense of right and wrong. She's where Athena got her's from.

Hera was Aphrodite's mom. She prided herself on being mother of the year, even if only she thought so, and would get highly defensive when anyone would give her parenting advice. She saw her daughter as a deserving princess, while the other parents saw her for the bitchy popular girl she was, hence their handing her parenting advice.

Demeter was Hera's sister. She lived with her ever since her divorce from Zeus. She used to live next door to them until she couldn't afford it anymore. She loved spring and summer and hated winter. She loved to cook and pick plants. Hera even let her have her own garden, which was her favorite hobby.

Persephone was Aphrodite's cousin by way of Demeter. She was drawn to the dark boys, the "bad" boys. She fell in love with Hades, who turned out to be only an uncle figure and not in fact her biological uncle. He'd simply met Demeter a long time ago, and they'd never really felt that way about each other, so they'd stayed friends.

Ares eventually hung out more and more with Nike and began realizing how much he resented Aphrodite, who he came to call Phro as a derogatory nickname. He'd only call her that when confiding his resentment in Nike. He disliked how Aphrodite would boss even him, her own boyfriend, around and how he saw her treating the other kids. He might've been popular, but he didn't get that way by being cruel to them.

Nike advised that he tell Aphrodite that and that, if she couldn't handle that, maybe they shouldn't be together.

When Psyche noticed Nike spending more and more time with Ares, she tabulated all they had in common and deduced that they were developing unexpressed feelings for each other. When she mentioned this to her, Nike dismissed it at first, then confirmed that she was being Ares's confidante because she wanted to be with him.

Nemesis even advised her against spending too much time with him. Athena simply allowed Nike and Nemesis to handle it since she agreed with what they were saying.

Asteria kept her nose out of it as she agreed with Nike's pursuit of Ares. She liked how she was doing so, though it wasn't her style, but then she was more the blatant type. If she liked a boy, there was no disguising it. She was shameless.

Towards the end of high school, everyone who wasn't popular at their school wanted to be more like the official group of losers. They were there for each other and didn't make anyone feel judged, whereas even if Ares didn't ridicule the other kids, he still made them feel insecure next to him.

Styx was Asteria's mom. She was a sexual feminist, meaning she believed in women's freedom to sleep with whom they wanted, just as men could. She was best friends with Themis. She was never able to stay with one man because of her temper and changeability.

Zeus, Hera's ex-husband, had a bad track record, too. He could never trust the devil in himself, so he never trusted it within the women he was with. He was a wonderful parental figure to his own children and to other children, hence his being the school principal. He didn't trust the devil in himself or others because of his past with his father. He'd had to kill him in self-defense when he was a child because Cronus had been convinced that Zeus was going to kill him, as Cronus was a paranoid schizophrenic. He then moved to a smaller home with his mom, Rhea.

Herakles was Zeus's illegitimate son with Alcmene, conceived when he'd been married to Hera. He was Psyche's brother. He was on the wrestling team with his friend, Aeolaus, who followed him in every pursuit of his. Aeolaus maintained that it was just to watch Herakles's ass, but even Aclmene (Herakles and Psyche's mom) knew that it was because he had fun along the way. He was also popular and kind. All the parents would've bet money that Herakles would've ended up with Nike, but it was Ares who did instead.

Alcmene was a mama bear to Herakles more so than Psyche. Psyche was more self-reliant and less misguided then Herakles.

Jason was one of the teachers at the school and waited until he had tenure to ask Alcmene out. He was also already a good mentor to Herakles.

Aeolaus was happily Herakles's follower because of one other reason: Girls swarmed around him. Aeolaus shamelessly hoped to catch some of that wave of horny girls. He never did.

Iphocles was Herakles's cousin. He was part of a gang because of his skills as a thief. He was a high school dropout. He admired and envied Herakles for how he was. Aphrodite ended up with him after Ares left her for Nike.

Medea, Jason's first wife, died by suicide after killing their two children, one girl and one boy, when she'd been convinced that Jason had abandoned them. She was a delusional schizophrenic. Jason regretted having children with her, though he mourned the deaths of his children more, however crazy they might've turned out to be.

Hestia was the English teacher. She was consequently the loser girls' favorite teacher since they understood the symbolism in all the books she'd have them read. She was a good teacher because any amount of symbolism her students drew from the books, however abstract, satisfied her. She had two cats. She did arts and crafts at home, often looking up YouTube videos on how to knit a new kind of stitch, or how to work on a new creative pursuit. She read a lot. She'd never been married. She was often talked about behind her back in pitying ways. Everyone would've bet money that she'd end up with her neighbor and friend, Hephaestus, but she wound up with Helios, the gym teacher, instead. They were such opposites that they were drawn to each other. Helios was full of strength and vitality. He was naturally hot of temperature, even in the coldest of climates. Hestia and Hephaestus were too good of friends anyways.

Ananke was Themis's mom. She lived next door to her. She outlived her husband, Chronos, she still did yoga, and she played Chinese Checkers and Mahjong. She was a dogwalker for fun.

Poseidon's temper came through like a wave. Once it passed, he expected everyone else to be on the same page as him. He was changeable like Styx. His passion would sweep others up with it. They would feel themselves get down once it passed. His wife, Oceania, had died, and his daughters, all very attractive, were his most precious jewels and he was very protective of them. Galatea was the oldest, though Calypso was the most well-known. Calypso and the other four youngest made up the main part of the cheerleading team.

Galatea was the most guarded of Poseidon's daughters. He didn't even have to bother doing so himself. She had a contempt for men's easy desire of her that seemed haughty. She'd be happier if a man were more challenging or if he liked her for something deeper than just her looks. She was good friends with Atalanta.

Atalanta raced track and wasn't interested in dating. She was also tired of how easy it was for men to desire her. She'd prefer a man so difficult to seduce that he was impossible.

Eos was kind and popular. She was pretty and happy. She would avoid negative topics. She enjoyed shopping and hanging out with friends.

Selene was dark and starkly beautiful. The moonlight would show forth her beauty to its greatest extent. She was friends with Athena. She was an avid reader.

Eros was Aphrodite's brother. A bit before Ares did, he got fed up with how Aphrodite treated him and stood up for himself. He would later go on to major in psychology and become a cognitive behavioral therapist.

He ended up with Psyche.