DAHLIA LOVED CHRISTMAS WITH ALL of her heart. It was the time in December when people rushed through the streets to get the best presents. It was the time when little children from church filled the towns with choir songs and old people gathered around old fireplaces talking about the beautiful snow that lay everywhere.

Dahlia breathed in the cold air, which smelled of hot chocolate and cinnamon cookies, and dug her nose deeper into her dark red scarf as she made her way to school.

"Dahlia!" she heard her friend Hannah shout. The blonde girl turned around and saw the black-haired girl hurrying up the stairs to the entrance of her school.

"Dude, it's so cold! I can't wait until summer." The girl smiled, her cheeks burning red from the cold. Dahlia laughed.

"The more I love the cold and hate the heat, the more you despise and love it," she replied as they entered the school and walked to their lockers.

"You don't hate summer." said Hannah, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right, I don't! I can't wait until I'm back at camp Half-.. my summer camp." Dahlia smiled.

"But still, Christmas could go on forever!" Dahlia said and thought of her friends, who were probably already on Olympus for the winter solstice.
The blonde girl was there last year, too, because she was afraid of the monsters that were dangerous due to the power of evil magic at that time. Around December 21st and 22nd, the darkest day of the year takes place, so many demigods gather on Mount Olympus.

Dahlia decided to spend the days with her family this year and couldn't wait to see her friends again in the summer.

"Noo, you're going? My birthday is in summer!"
Hannah said sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Hanni." She replied sadly.

"And what are you doing in winter break?" The girl continued to ask. Dahlia shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't have any plans." She then said and Hannah began to jump excitedly. Dahlia closed her locker as they walked to their English class.

"Good, because Melanie is throwing her birthday party and it's going to be Christmas-themed again! Let's go as elves!" Dahlia smiled at the thought of red and white striped tights and a silly green head with a bell.

"Oh my gods, that sounds great!" she replied excitedly and they both started squeaking and laughing.

Hannah was a person to get warmed with very quickly. It was one day in chemistry class when Dahlia explained something to her and they became friends. The two fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, even though they were quite opposite of each other.

"It's also not easy for me to tell you that I'm really disappointed with this class. The average of your test is 70%. If you're below a C, you can talk to me outside." Their math teacher, Mr. Fittick said as he gave them back their test. It was the last period of the day and Dahlia was exhausted.

"I will not let laziness and the spoiled nature of this class ruin what others are working hard for! Based on my technique I expected this class to be the best!" Dahlia had to suppress a roll of her eyes as he came to her seat.

Well his calculations were wrong. Maybe he should rethink his job.

"But only because of some people! This class will have to retake the test on last week's topics!" He presented her with the test, gave her a withering look and then paused.

"I will not mention your names! May the guilt and shame be enough punishment for you." he said, but was obviously looking at Dahlia, who was now looking down at the paper in front of her. Her eyes widened when she saw a big red D that was circled even thicker, printed on her paper.

"What?!" She gasped.

"Those of you who stand lower than a C are gonna have a conversation with me after class!" Mr. Fittick said as he walked up to the blackboard and started to write the new exercises in it. Hannah turned around to Dahlia.

"Man I'm a genius! What do you have?" She said smiling and proudly showing her B. She then looked at Dahlia's test.

"What?! You tutored me, how can I have a better grade than you?" she said, snatching the note from Dahlia's shocked hand. Dahlia had never been worse than a B in math.

She was already doing badly in her other subjects because of her dyslexia, how could she fail maths now?

"Dude." said Hannah as she held her tests side by side.

"Was that guy on crack or something? Your answers aren't wrong," she said, frowning.

"What?" asked Dahlia as Hannah placed the sheets on her desk.

"He marks them as wrong, but they're correct, see.." She showed Dahlia her answers, which were marked correct, and then her own answers, which were exactly the same but marked wrong.

"What the hell?" Dahlia asked, annoyed.

"He probably switched them or something.." Hannah was interrupted by the school bell announcing the end of school.

"Dahlia Green!" exclaimed Mr. Fittick.

"I thought he wasn't gonna mention names." Dahlia muttered angrily as she stood up. The other students left the classroom.

"See you outside." said Hannah as she left, so it was just Dahlia and her teacher.

Why didn't anyone else have a grade lower than a C?!

Dahlia was very confused as she walked up to Mr. Fittick.

"Sir, I'm sorry, there must be a mistake! 'My answers are correct-' she said and was interrupted.

"You're the most privileged person I've ever met, Green. Surely you can't accept a failure?" Mr. Fittick said and laughed in a strange way. The blonde girl looked at him in confusion and felt the anger begin to boil inside her.

"Not if I don't deserve it! My answers are correct!" She said, showing him the test.

"Make a mistake, Mrs. Green. Glory isn't everything." Dahlia heard his voice deepen, almost turning into a growl.
And the next sentence gave her goose bumps all over her body.

"Especially for demigods!"

Dahlia took a few steps back as she watched her math teacher grow until his head reached the ceiling and his nose grew awfully long.

Well shit!

She thought, because she had her sword in her pocket, locked in her locker. She was once again caught off guard in a situation that would eventually kill her.

The monster, which looked like a cross between a dog and an elephant, swiped at her with its claws.
The Demeter girl ran to the back of the classroom and tried to escape through the back door because the monster was blocking the door to the hallway, but the back door was locked.

She heard the heavy footsteps behind her and fled under the tables. She scurried on her knees between the chairs.

"Come on, Green! Don't hide from failure!"

She heard him pushing and throwing desks aside as she made her way to the door. A big hairy meal stopped her and she squinted as she was grabbed painfully by the back of the neck. The next thing she saw were black eyes.

That's exactly why she always thought math teachers weren't human.

Mr. Fittick was never sick and heard every single whisper, even if it was in the far corner of the room.
It all made sense.

Math teachers are literally monsters.

She heard the sound of the door and the slash of a sword. The next thing she felt was falling to the floor and groaning in pain. She heard the clatter of chairs and tables as she looked up.

A tall figure stood in front of her, sword raised in the air. Wearing green cargo pants and a white hoodie, none other than Luke Castellan stood protectively in front of the monster.

He took a few steps forward, rushed around the monster and tried to plunge his sword into its chest. But he was thrown against the wall.

"Ah!" Luke gasped in pain as Dahlia stood up and ran towards him.

"What are you doing here?!" she asked as she helped him up. She snatched the sword from his hand, ran towards her math teacher and slashed at him. She managed to plunge the blade into its back, right under the ribs and up into its heart.
She saw the monster dissolve into dust and dropped to her knees, breathing heavily. She saw Luke out of the corner of her eye.

The next moment she felt A hand under her arm and another one on her waist, pulling her up from the ground.

"You okay?" Luke asked. Dahlia noticed his voice got deeper and his Arms were stronger as he pulled her to her feet with ease.

"Have you ever thought about killing your math teacher? I guess I'm destined to follow my dreams." she said smiling at the boy.

"Why didn't you bring your sword?" Luke asked accusingly.

"Because it would be weird to have someone walking around with a sword rather than a gun," Dahlia said sarcastically.

"I left it in my locker. I didn't think my math teacher could be that interesting, she turned to Luke and smiled at him.

"Hi!" she then said and Luke started to shake his head. Then he chuckled.

"Hi." he greeted her and then stumbled back slightly as she happily wrapped her arms around his torso.

"I wouldn't have imagined our reunion under these circumstances, but I'm so happy to see you!" she said with a laugh as she looked up at him.
Luke wrapped his arms around the girl.

"I've missed you too, Lia."

When they calmed their breaths down and stopped sweating from the fight, Luke and Dahlia came out of the classroom, where Hannah was waiting for them.

"Finally! You took ages! What did he say?" she asked, giving Luke a puzzled look for a moment.

"Who, Mr. Fittick?" Dahlia asked, only to receive a confused look from her friend.

"Who's Mr. Fittick?" Hannah said even more confused.

"Right." Dahlia remembered the mist that had afflicted her friend and jumbled her memory so that she couldn't remember her former math teacher. Not that this guy was worth remembering.

"He corrected it. I got a B+!" she lied with a smile. Hannah squeaked excitedly.
Then they both looked at Luke and Dahlia opened her mouth as she remembered that Hannah didn't know her friend.

"Oh! Hannah, this is Luke! From my summer camp!" she then turned to Luke.

"Luke, this is my friend Hannah! Can you excuse us for a minute?" she looked Luke pleadingly in the eye and he got the message.

"Of course, I'll wait outside!" He said and walked down the corridor, earning surprised looks from the few students still standing by their lockers.

"Who is he?! Why does he have a scar?! He ran into the room I wondered if I should come in
too. " Hannah asked, startled.

"He had an accident when he was younger and like I said, he's.. Luke." the blonde girl replied, nodding.

"Is he your secret boyfriend?" the black-haired girl asked with a smile.

"No. He's fine though, isn't he?" she laughed and they squealed excitedly again. Dahlia wouldn't call Luke fine, even though he certainly was good looking, she just needed to distract Hannah.

"Bro, if he was here at school, he'd be one of Jackson's friends in a heartbeat," Hannah said as she looked after Luke.

"Eh.. I wouldn't say that! Anyway, see you Saturday?" Dahlia asked as they reached the doors.

"Of course! See you!" called Hannah as she walked towards her bus.

Dahlia sighed and immediately felt Luke walking beside her. She quickened her steps and nodded at him to indicate that he should follow her.

"Again. What are you doing here?" she asked confused as they turned the corner and she slowed down.

"Well, I thought I'd come visit you in your fancy mortal world," she heard Luke's giggle and immediately had to smile too.

When Luke asked her where she was staying and going to school on the last day of summer, she hadn't expected him to actually visit, which made her all the happier that he was here. She decided to take it easy.

"I love my mortal world. Apart from the fact that my math teacher has turned into a monster, everything is going great!" she said and looked at Luke. He was wearing a blue coat now and his curls hung loose in his hair.

"Wait, when was the last time you were in the mortal world?" She then asked. Luke looked at her, confused.

"When I was on my quest, why?" he asked. The blonde girl's eyes grew wide.

"Because I'm forcing you to go Christmas shopping with me!"

They went home to Dahlia's room so she could grab a few things while Luke looked around.

"Nice room," he commented, chuckling as he touched the plants that hung from the ceiling and stood by the window.

"Cabin rule. Everyone takes some from the cabin plants home, to get them through the winter, she said with a shrug and Luke shook his head, chuckling.

"Demeter kids, of course." The girl tapped her hand on the bed next to her and signaled Luke to sit down. The boy flopped down next to them as they lay on their backs, feet hanging off the bed.

"So tell me! What did I miss?" Dahlia turned to him and looked at the scar that marked his features. His face had become so normal that she couldn't even remember the boy without his scar.

"Not much, to be honest. Everyone gathered at Olympus for the winter solstice." Luke sighed. Then he turned his head towards her.

"So.. when are we going?" Luke asked, turning his head to her.

"What do you mean we?" She asked with a laugh and Luke furrowed his brows.

"That's why I'm here. To pick you up, why did you think I was here?" He said, amused.

"Uh.." Dahlia sat up.

"To spend some time with your best friend." She replied sarcastically, sighing in defeat when he cocked a brow.

"I'm kind of.. not going this year. I wanna stay with my family." she then said, biting her lip and Luke sat up with her.

"What? You're not coming? Dahlia you know why that teacher attacked you, right?" Luke became upset. It was clear that Mr. Fittick's attack had something to do with the dark magic, which was particularly strong.

"I know! I can take care of myself!" Dahlia shrugged her shoulders.

"It didn't look like that before." the son of Hermes said,

"Come on, it was an accident!" The Demeter girl shook her head and reached for her bag.

"Besides, you saw me kill that thing. You have to admit, I've gotten better!" She said as Luke followed her through the door. They walked down the stairs and bumped into Bethany, Dahlia's aunt.

"Oh! What are you up to?" the woman asked, smiling.

"Oh, uh... Beth, this is Luke. Luke, this is my Aunt Beth." She introduced the two of them.

"Nice to meet you." Luke politely extended his hand and Beth grasped it with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too!" She replied.

"We were just on our way into town!"

"All right! Be careful, if you need anything, just give me a call!" Bethany gave them a heartwarming smile.

They walked past her and out the door. Luke took a second look at the woman, his body tensing.
She reminded him terribly of his own mother.

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