Tomorrow came like a flash, and I felt more nervous with every second that passed by.

I couldn't sleep last night, not because of my cramps from long hours of training, but because of the nerve-wracking thought of facing Zeus in a fight, a trial to test my skills at that.

I've seen Zeus fight before when he was fighting against Hermes in tiger form, and I could easily say that he could cut my head off if he wanted to. His skills were far more superior than mine, which I just acquired from a weaponry crash course he gave me for less than a week.

It was a Saturday, so Zeus told me we'll start sometime in the morning. The minute the sunlight outside our dorm's window shone on my face, I groggily rose up from my bed and stretched my arms and legs around. While doing so, I saw Athena sitting on a chair reading a book.

"Rise and shine, Amelia," she said. "You have an upcoming duel with Zeus in about two hours."

"Good morning to you too." I yawned. "Don't even remind me of that thing, Athena. You're making me even more nervous than I should be."

She smirked. "It's good to be nervous. That means you know how important it is for you to win."

"What if. . . I don't win?"

"Well, it's for Zeus to decide," she replied, shrugging. "He's the one who trained you, so he'll be the one to judge."

"Thanks a lot, Athena. Now I feel worked up." I rubbed my temples, trying to calm my nerves down.

"You're welcome," she said nonchalantly.

I groaned at her impassiveness and just went to the bathroom to freshen up and change from my pajamas to uniform. Athena was still busy with her book when I was done.

"Hey, you wanna have some breakfast at the dining hall?" I asked her.

She looked up and shook her head. "No, thank you. I've already had my meal a while ago."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you later then."

Soon enough, I arrived at the campus dining hall. The place was bustling with students coming from the dorms as well as teachers who were staying in the school's living quarters. Most of them were sitting together in their own groups, either chatting to each other or eating quietly.

Seeing that almost all of the tables were occupied, I hurried to the queue for me to get my own breakfast or I would be late for the duel. The line was a bit long so I had to wait for a while until it was my turn to place my order.

After I finally got my food, I began searching for a place to sit. I spotted an empty table with three chairs in the middle of the hall and went there. I settled in and started to eat.

I was halfway through my meal when I heard someone cough. I looked up and see a timid-looking Pierre standing in front of me with a tray of food in his hands.

My mood brightened at the sight of him. "Good morning, Pierre! What's up?"

"Yeah, I'm good. 'Morning to you too," he said, then looked around the place. "I was looking for an empty table when I saw you. So, um, is it okay if I sit with you? Don't worry, I'll be quick."

"Yeah, sure, no worries. Have a seat." I gestured at one of the empty chairs. "Also, it's fine if you stick around longer. I don't mind some company."

He smiled. "Thanks."

He sat down and we both ate our food. It didn't take long for us to clear our plates lick-clean and just sit there looking at each other.

"So. . ." Pierre began, "What are you going to do today?"

"Well, um, I'm going to do meet with Zeus later," I replied. "We'll be doing some. . . practice."

He nodded slowly. "Okay. . . What kind of practice are you talking about?"

Oh god. This is going to be terrible.

I began fiddling with my shirt. "It's, uh, you know. . . like those dance practice and stuff. . ."

Dance practice? Of all things, why did I say dance? I don't know if Zeus even does dance.

"That's nice. Can I come?" he said. "I mean if it's okay with you. I don't have a lot of things to do so I figured. . ."

I grimaced. "Well, here's the thing. . . I'm kinda shy about people seeing me, um, practice and Zeus. . . He doesn't like other people seeing him teach. . ."

"Oh, okay. . ." His expression faltered. "Can we hang out later then? In the library or the garden?"

"Sorry, but I'll be taking a test in Math later. . ." I hesitated. "Can we hang out next time when I finish all my work?"

"Okay, that's. . . fine." He sighed. "You can just say that you don't wanna hang out with me to spare me from your pity."

"Wha— that's not true!" I stammered. "I do want to hang out with you but I'm pretty busy right now!"

"But you've been mostly spending your time with Zeus after class," he said. "And I don't think you two are doing some 'dance practice'."

My jaw went slack as I listened to his words. Does he know that I've been training? Did he see me use real weapons?

"W-were you spying on me?"

"No, I wasn't," he snorted. "Whenever I head to the boys' dorms for the last several days, I would often see you go to the gym with new clothes on and look like you were in a hurry. As soon as you go in, I would hear some loud noises coming from the inside."

He must be talking about the clanging of my weapon whenever it hit Zeus's sword. Was it that loud?

"What were you doing in there?" he demanded.

"We were doing some practice, that's it!" I pressed. "Why would you think I was doing something else?"

"Because we stopped hanging out!" he huffed. "Ever since you came back three weeks ago, you became. . . silent. I was concerned at the time, but you didn't tell me much about what's bothering you. I then figured I was the problem."

"That's absurd! Why would I do something like that?" I exhaled. "I. . . have been busy with stuff, okay? Things have been difficult for the last few weeks. I'm not purposely avoiding you because I don't want to hang out with you. You're my best friend! I won't ditch you without any good reason!"

"I. . . I didn't. . . realize that, " he murmured, then averted his gaze in shame. "I'm sorry if I was too quick to judge. I just thought that I did something wrong to you that made you avoid me. . ."

I shook my head. "You didn't do anything wrong at all. I'm the one who should be sorry for looking like I was avoiding you. I'll try to be free so we could spend some time together. Just the two of us."

"No, it's okay if you don't right now." He scratched his head. "I understand that you have more important stuff to do. I can wait."

I smiled back. "Thanks, Pierre. I really appreciate it."

When the misunderstanding with Pierre was finally resolved, we parted ways and I directly headed to the school gym.

Just like for the last week, the gym's doors were closed, indicating that Zeus was already inside and other people were out. I checked around for any person who might see me before going in.

As I entered, I saw Zeus standing in the middle of the mat-covered floor with a sword on his hand. His face had a toothy grin and he looked relaxed by the way he stood, unlike me who began shaking a bit in nervousness.

"Hey, Amelia," he greeted. "Are you ready?"

Without warning, he quickly threw my staff, which was in baton form, towards my direction. I easily caught it with my right hand and immediately extended it to its longer form.

"Not really. . ." I said. "Can we, like, postpone this tomorrow?"

"Sorry Amelia, but I can't let that happen." Zeus chuckled. "We've got a tight schedule ahead for your next training. . . and a couple of people came here to cheer you on."

He swept his hand to his left. My eyes gazed in that direction to see Athena and Poseidon sitting at the bleachers.

"Took you long enough to notice us," Athena said with her arms crossed. "What are you, blind?"

Poseidon nudged his sister's elbow. "She's probably nervous, Athena. Don't make it too hard for her."

Athena scoffed. "Whatever. This should be at least worth my time."

I turned to Zeus, my eyebrows raised. "Why are they here?"

"Uh, well, I thought you needed some moral support," he said.

I squinted. "Seriously?"

He shrugged. "Well, they're already here so. . ."

Poseidon walked to us with his hands on his back. He glanced at me and Zeus, giving the two of us a small nod.

"The rules are simple," Poseidon said. "Whoever gets knocked out first will lose the fight. Whoever lets go of their weapon and doesn't retrieve it for five seconds will lose. Whoever surrenders and claims defeat will also lose." He looked at me. "Amelia, this is only a test to see if you're prepared enough to defend yourself. You don't have to win, just do your best. Got it?"

I nodded slowly. "Okay."

Even if that's the case, I'm planning to win.

Zeus smirked. "I hope you give up first though. My job will be much easier."

"So we're going to trash talk now, huh?" I pointed my staff at him. "Well, don't depend on it because I'm the one who's going to make you surrender."

Poseidon cleared his throat. "Okay, you two. I'd like you to shake hands before we start."

We both stepped forward and reluctantly shook our hands. Zeus clasped my hand a bit tighter than it should be.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you," he said, his eyes gleaming. "You know that, right?"

"I'm not even counting on it," I muttered.

Poseidon took a few steps back, reaching to the edge of the floor mat. Zeus and I did the same so the two of us had some distance between us.

"Alright." Poseidon slowly raised his hand up and quickly put it down. "Now begin!"