Introduction
Does something ever happen to you and you think, "Wow, I must just be really lucky!" Most people live their whole life and never really stop to think about why they are the way they are. Is there really such a thing as luck, or is there a reason behind everything that happens? You wake up every day and the daily routine never really changes. Occasionally, something lucky happens to you, but you don't think twice about it.
This was exactly how young Polly and her twin brother Arty's life was going as they entered into their sophomore year of high school. These siblings were very smart, but not just the average smart kids. It was almost as if they had luck too. At least that's what all of the other kids thought of them. They were the type of students who did exceptional on everything (mostly everything), but never studied for anything. You know the type. But there was one class that they didn't excel in, and that was their mythology class. The twins didn't mind studying for this class, however, because this was an interesting subject to them. And at least it gave them a chance to relate to the other kids at school in a small way.
It was nearing finals week and the two as usual hadn't started studying for anything yet. While everyone else was locking themselves in their rooms studying, these two were packing for their annual family vacation. Polly and Arty were very close to their father, but their real mother had died when they were at a young age, so they didn't really remember her. Each year, their father planned a vacation to a new country, with a goal being to travel to every country in the world before he died.
This year the family was traveling to Greece, and the twins were very excited because they both loved the history that Greece offered, and they loved learning about the ancient Greek mythology the most in their Mythology class. This was ironic since that class was the only class that they were both nearly failing. It was like their teacher, Mr. Pose, was out to get them. They wrote many papers but their teacher didn't like how they wrote and always gave them bad grades.
After they were basically packed, Polly decided it might be a good idea for them to study Mythology. Arty agreed and they began to look through the stories of the Greek gods and goddesses.
"What do you think the final will be like?" asked Arty.
"I think I remembered in class he said that it was short essay questions that would summarize some of the stories in this textbook," replied Polly.
They looked through their textbook and reviewed the plots of the stories they had read. They got sidetracked when they got to the story about Athena. They thought it was so cool that the Greeks honored this goddess during war and she guided the armies into intelligent military decisions that led them to victory. The particular story that caught their attention was the story of Athena defeating Poseidon. The two were competing to win over the Athenians, and the winner would claim the city that is now Athens, Greece. Athena offered an olive tree, while Poseidon offered a spring of salt water, and they chose Athena.
"And she is the patron of the city we are about to visit!" pointed out Arty.
The twins went to school that Monday, and as the week went on they had aced almost every exam. Finals week was almost over, and it was finally time for their Mythology class final. All of the students were fully prepared to do a lot of writing and summarize the stories they had read, but when they opened the final, it was a multiple choice exam. Mr. Pose picked very tricky and specific questions for the final. After the final was over, all of the students were complaining about their failure on it and how he switched it up so much from their normal classwork. However, the twins felt confident that they knew all the facts, even stuff they had not read over the week before. They got their grades back by the end of the day, and naturally they received not only the highest score on the final, but the teacher decided to curve the class so much that they got an A. It was strange the luck they had with school in situations like that, thought Polly, but Polly and Arty never thought twice about their luck on their Mythology final. That is, until their family arrived 12 hours later in Athens, Greece.
