Tera Childs: Oh. My. Gods.

Turning back to the window, I find the Eiffel Tower gone and all I see is the rapidly rising asphalt of the runway.

Great, one step closer to stupid Serfopoula.

The only thing remotely exciting on the flight to Athens-if you don’t count the woman trying to smuggle a hedgehog onto the plane-is actually catching it. We run through the airport like we have Cerberus biting at our heels, managing to get directions to the wrong gate twice-sometimes I think the French try to be unhelpful-and have to go through security again before sliding into the gate seconds before they close the door.

I consider slowing us down-maybe playing the bathroom card or the cramps card-but I have a feeling I would lose all my pouting points for a stunt like that. Besides, better to get it over with rather than draw out the inevitable.

By the time we land in Athens-after three and a half hours of listening to the two women in my row chattering nonstop in enthusiastic, rapid-fire Greek-I am almost happy to be on Grecian soil.

Until we find him waiting for us at baggage claim.

Damian Petrolas, my new stepdad.

If not for the fact that he married my mom and dragged us halfway around the world and is making me go to his stupid school, I’m sure I wouldn’t think he was such a bad guy. He’s charming, the kind of guy that makes you feel like a princess, even when you want to hate him-which I do. He’s tall, like over six feet, and with his black hair dotted around the temples with gray, he looks wise and powerful. Not bad characteristics for the headmaster of a private school, I guess.

Mom, forgetting all sense of decorum and public decency, drops her not-insubstantial carry-on and runs for him, practically throwing herself in his arms. I am left to lug her ninety pound-or I should say kilos since I’m in a metric country now-briefcase the rest of the way to the carousel.

My backpack weighs nothing in comparison.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Mom says between the stream of kisses she’s laying on his face.

“And I, too,” he says, “have missed you.”

Then, with no consideration for my sensitive stomach, he takes her face in his hands and plants a big, open-mouthed kiss on her lips. And Mom opens her mouth right back.

I am looking around for a trash can to lose my airplane pretzels in when he speaks to me.

“Phoebe,” he says in the disgustingly charming accent, “I am so happy to welcome you to my country. To my home.”

And then, with no warning whatsoever-and it’s not like I’m sending out approach-me vibes-he steps forward and puts his arms around me. In a hug.

Ewww !

I stand there like I’m waiting at the starting line, frozen and not sure what to do as he’s squeezing me and patting me on the back.

Mom catches my eye over his shoulder and gives me a pleading look, which I ignore. Then she scowls her I’m-your-mother- and -a-therapist scowl.

The one I have long since learned never to ignore.

So, with all the courage I can find deep down in my toes, I lift one hand and pat Damian on the shoulder in a show of returning the hug. Mom looks not quite happy, but he doesn’t seem to notice my hug is half-assed.

He releases me, then-to my continued horror-grabs my head and presses two kisses alternately to my cheeks. Cesca told me all Europeans do this, though different cultures do different numbers of kisses. I guess Greeks do two. I can’t stop the impulse to wipe his kisses off my flesh. Thankfully he has already turned away, taking Mom by the hand and leading her over to baggage claim. Leaving me with the ninety-kilo briefcase.

Our bags-two really big ones for each of us because most of our clothes had to come in the suitcases since the movers aren’t scheduled to deliver our boxes for nearly a week-are already circling the carousel by the time we get there with a rented cart. At least I don’t have to lug the briefcase all the way to the car.

Damian, leading the way with the cart, asks, “Would you prefer the bus or the metro?”

Whoa! Bus? Metro? As in public transport? “I don’t know,” Mom says. “Which do you think, Phoebola?”

I stop moving, but nobody else seems to notice. They keep on walking, even though I’m getting farther and farther behind with every step. Then I have to run to catch up because as much as I don’t want to be in Greece, I want to be lost in Greece even less.

As I run up, he explains, “The bus system is quite a confusing adventure, so perhaps we should take the metro and save that for another trip.”

Nice. Another decision made without me. Not like it’s my life or anything.

“Hmmph,” I say as I shrug my backpack higher up on my shoulder.

Damian pulls the suitcases off the cart, handing one each to me and Mom and taking two himself, and heads off in the direction of signs that look like the Adidas stripes next to a golf ball. Mom follows blissfully behind, oblivious to my irritation.

This is a picture of my life for the next year-no, make that nine months because no matter what Mom says I’m moving in with Yia Yia Minta for the summer before college. Nine months of Mom inblissville and not even caring what her only child wants is going to be a nightmare.

“Where’s Stella?” Mom asks.

Crap. I forgot about the evil stepsister.

Okay, I have not actually met her yet because she didn’t bother to come to the wedding in America, but aren’t all stepsisters evil? (Myself not included, of course.) Damian looks at Mom, embarrassed. “She had other commitments.”

Yeah right. What he really means is she doesn’t approve of this any more than I do. Only he couldn’t make her come to the airport like Mom had made me move to Greece. Score one for Stella. Maybe I should take lessons.

“Oh,” Mom says quietly. “I guess we’ll just meet her when we get… home.”

It’s very hard not to puke on my shoes. Home? Like his house will ever be home. Like any house except the burgundy and cream bungalow we’d lived in since I was born will ever be home. Mom must be seriously twisted by love hormones.

“Here we go.” Damian leads us down an escalator and onto a train waiting at the platform.

We file onto the train, Mom and I sitting while he stands in front of us. I watch out the opposite window as the train starts out of the station.

This is not my first time on a train-we rode the subway in New York once on vacation-but it takes me a few stops to get used to the stop-and-go motion. Then, as we pull into the third-or fourth or fifth, I kinda lost track-station I actually notice something besides the rolling in my stomach.

The station has a display, like a museum exhibit, on the wall behind the platform. There is some old stuff, like pots and plates and scraps of fabric, and a bunch of plaques with bits of history and timelines and stuff. A sign above it all reads, “Domestic Life in Ancient Greece” in really big English letters, with the Greek ones right below.

Hmm. Pretty cool, I guess.

If you’re into Greek history and all.

The train pulls out and I manage to both keep my balance and control the motion sickness. When we pull into the next station I’m looking for the display.

This time, the sign says, “The Cradle of Democracy.” A huge mosaic fills up most of the wall, showing a huge crowd of men staring at one guy standing on a platform. The one guy looks like he might be making a speech or something. There are no women in the crowd. Or, for that matter, anything but old white guys. Typical.

As the doors glide shut, I flop back against the bench and cross my arms over my chest. I hope this country has evolved from the stone age. I’m not a feminist or anything, but I like my rights and I’d like to keep them. The ancient world was not very equal opportunity.