A ten year old girl was flying a kite, enjoying it despite being what most would consider to be too old for it. Other kids tease her for still liking kites so much at her age. “Kite girl kite girl.” They teased. “If you love kites so much, why don't you marry one.” Another would say. Even the name kite girl was shortened to just Kite with the popular kids making sure everyone, even teachers called her that despite giving up the kite thanks to the constant teasing of bullies. They had ruined something she enjoyed and now she was stuck with a stupid nickname that wasn't even shorter or easier to say than her actual name.

  When she graduated she talked her parents into sending her to the junior high school in New Haden in hopes of getting away from the name. However it somehow followed her. Apparently, the most popular girl in this school was friends with some of the popular girls from her previous school. So once again she was stuck with her stupid nickname. However, one day after coming in from eating lunch outside, she had an encounter that made her rethink her nickname.

  She had nearly bumped into someone on her way in. A guy in her grade who only shared one class with her. She hadn't thought much about him because he usually focused on his school work and didn't really talk much during class unless to answer a question. “Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking and almost walked right into you.” kite said in a shy and mousy voice. The boy smiled a genuinely kind smile. “It's fine. I was behind the door so it's only natural you didn't see me since you seem to be in a rush. Even if you bumped into me, I'm used to it. Despite my height I have a way of sinking into the crowd and being invisible to most people.”

  Kite just nodded and looked behind him. He was actually being nice to her so she thought maybe this was some sort of trick or trap but no one was watching them talk. “My name is Perseus by the way, but everyone calls me Percy.” The boy reached out his hand to shake hers with the same small genuine smile. Kite took a moment to take in every detail. The smile grew, but only on one side as the other remained small making the smile look like a smug smirk and there was a slight twitch under the eye on the side that wouldn't smile. Almost as if there was something wrong with the muscles or nerves preventing him from smiling normally.

  Kite looked at the smile and hand, going back and forth a few times. She decided to shake hands. “My name is [faded/muffled], but everyone calls me Kite.” Perseus’ smile didn't fade as he shook her hand. “That's a cute nickname, though it feels unnecessary considering how short your actual name is.” Kite blushed slightly and fixed her hair. “(This guy thinks it's cute?)” She looked him up and down. “(He's really nice and not exactly bad to look at, even if not exactly attractive either. I'll see where this goes.)” “You think so? I think it's embarrassing because I got it from liking to fly kites at an age others felt was too old.”

  Perseus scowled. “Well that's stupid. If someone enjoys something and it's not hurting anyone I don't see how it's a problem. Age-gating flying a kite is silly. Besides, that's nothing compared to the hate I used to get.” Kite looked away and nodded. Perseus looked at the clock. “Oops, lunch break is almost over. I'll see you around, Kite.” Perseus waved with a smile and started walking away. Kite touched her face and felt the warmth of her reddened cheeks. “(I should call myself. It's not like he was hitting on me.)”

  It didn't take her long to notice they shared a class together. So she started asking him for help before asking the teacher and going out of her way to interact with him more. Perseus was always kind and willing to help with a smile. He was a bit shy and reserved like her and had a small friend group that stayed far away from the popular kids. She started to eat with him and his group and started developing a solid and undeniable crush on Perseus.

  There was just one problem: he had eyes for another woman. Out of everyone for the kind soul to have a crush on, it just had to be the most popular girl in school. Alexandria, or Lexi for short. Apparently the two were childhood friends in grade school and she was even the cousin of Perseus' best friend Victor who had the same last name. Despite them growing a bit apart Perseus was confident that Alexandria would put their history before her popularity but Kite knew he didn't know her anymore. It was questionable if he ever did.

  With the encouragement of Victor, Perseus wrote a note asking Alexandria out after literal years of crushing on her. His heart was what ended up crushed when she sent a cronie to turn him down as harshly as possible. She started acting like she didn't know him or that only pretended to be friends because she felt bad. Perseus was never popular and although no one knew why anymore, it seemed Alexandria had been actively preventing him from ever gaining ground on the social ladder by regularly sabotaging him and spreading rumors to prevent him from making new friends.

  Perseus never saw that part before or even after because he went from thinking they were still friends to suddenly being devastated and withdrawn to notice. But Kite saw it, and didn't hesitate to give Alexandria a peace of her mind. Normally non-confrontational, she found Alexandria outside during lunch break one day and started laying into her. “She pointed angrily as her voice raised from its normal mousy to e to a property aggressive one..

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “You're a real piece of work, you know that? You two used to be friends in grade school so you could have at least put him down gently in private. If Percy wanted to make a public spectacle of asking you out he wouldn't have written a note.” Alexandria rolled her eyes. “Look who's defending Percy the Pansy. It's Kite. The most unpopular boy and the most unpopular girl. A match made in heaven. You too deserve one another.”

  Kite blushed from frustration and embarrassment but continued her barrage. “Percy doesn't deserve to be treated like that Lexi. What did he ever do to you?!” Alexandria leaned in and whispered. “He spent years holding me down, preventing me from ever being popular with his bad reputation. Poopy pants Percy the pansy. Did you know he used to crap himself back in grade school?” Kite took a step back and looked Alexandria in the face. “(That can't be true, can it? Even if it was, it's not like he does it now. Maybe there's a story behind it? Also l, the fact she's the only here that seems to know that is suspicious. If that's true why not use that to down his reputation and not just make fun of him for being poor even by New Haden standards.)”

  Kite scowled at Alexandria. “I see expecting an apology is too much to ask. So I'll just ask that from now on you leave him alone.” She stormed her way back into the school. Perseus being more reserved meant he hardly talked to his friends let alone other people. Try as she might, she couldn't get through to him. There was a woman that actually cared about his feelings right here and he couldn't even see it. First it was because he was crushing on someone else and now it was because of heartbreak. Unfortunately he moved so the next year he'd be transferred to a different junior high school in New Haden.

  Kite saw little reason to travel such a long way for school since Perseus wasn't there and her reputation followed her. She considered staying so she could reunite with Perseus in highschool but suddenly her father got all worked up over an increase of physical confrontations in New Haden schools and moved her to the highschool in New Roads closer to home. She spent the next several years of school being harassed by horrible men and creeps until she started to think most of not all men were trash. A sentiment echoed by her older sister. It definitely didn't help that her father regularly pissed her off. It was her mom’s family who had the generational wealth. He simply built himself up enough to impress the mom and she gave him a chance that led to marriage.

  Yet he acted like he owned the place. Like it was his house and his rules. She hated it, hated him, and wished he would just go away. She always felt bad for that. This was her biological father, the man who taught her how to fly a kite. But over the years he'd changed and became more greedy. Or maybe he was always that way and she didn't see it when she was younger. Her parents argued constantly and the dad started spending more time at work. It was later found out that he had been sleeping with his secretary for years, since before Kite was even born. The only reason it surfaced now is because the other woman got pregnant and did the DNA test hoping to get enough child support out of him to not need to work.

  Kite's mother divorced him and kept everything of hers with him only keeping his business that slowly declined since he was using the mother's money to keep it afloat for the last three years before the divorce. He was never able to recover and was forced to sell the business and became a subsidiary to Olympic Industries. Eventually Kite's mom found a nice upper-middle class man from New Corinth who didn't own his own company but was high up in one and knew humility. He also had children from a previous marriage, a widower who lost his wife to lightning in a freak micro storm while on a business trip to Japan.

  Her new family was better than ever with two new sisters making four kids in all. Late in highschool people finally stopped calling her Kite and called her by her real name. Mostly. She always objected to being called Kite. There was only one person, one man whom she would accept being called that nickname by. One for whom she still has a small amount of feelings for despite her bad history with awful men. If she somehow ran into Perseus again and he recognized her and called her Kite, she knew it would send her heart aflutter all over again.

  Kite had a positive relationship with all her sisters, step-sibling or not, but she started drifting away with her biological older sister as she started dating crappy guy after crappy guy, going only for looks then wondering why it never works. Complaining how all men suck, something she had a hard time arguing as she also felt most men sucked. But the sister had a bad taste in men and her taste in fashion seemed to be a magnet to awful men.

  Kite on the other hand became a bit of a tomboy, dressing in green, caring for plants and stray animals since she wasn't allowed to have any pet in the house that couldn't be put in an aquarium or terrarium. Limiting her to reptiles, amphibians, rodents, spiders, and fish. Though she definitely got into lizards and bugs more than anything, having to keep them in her room because they made other housemates outside one of her younger step sisters uncomfortable. Not everyone thinks reptiles and spiders are cool. Most find them creepy or gross.

  Kite started regularly avoiding home as much as she could, especially after graduation and got a job to give her more time outside the house even if her mother would happily pay for most things. Her sister also got a job to pay for things the mother wouldn't. Things like piercings and tattoos. Though the mother did nothing to stop it she definitely didn't encourage it. Kite's life felt monotonous for years until one day everything changed when she met someone who would be her new best friend despite her closed off life. A friend that would help her find a new purpose in life. A new best friend that would change her life forever, one that would follow her any and everywhere.

  “Hello there young girl. This may all be a little confusing at first, but to keep things simple I am a god of the old world who's soul and power was placed into a weapon. A weapon that is now bound to your soul. And if we are compatible enough, together we can ascend as a new god. One that won't be dependent on the worship of humans. I'll explain everything in time but human faith became like an addiction and the withdrawal was savage.”