Training so good... gurrl... { F A I T H }

I wasn't even sure what I was doing in The Arena. I usually trained when no one else was around, or even in the Forest. Mostly the Forest, because I was surrounded by earth in there.
I'd kind of got up and wandered towards it. Which I could blame on a certain boy that I didn't particularly like at the moment.
It was all quite confusing. I should be happy. Lewis was coming home soon, Tink wanted to go shopping so she could run up my credit card bill, Dad had invited me home for a while...
But in all fairness, all I could think about was him.
As if my thoughts had brought him, as if all my energy had gone to bring him here, he was there, with a dummy.
'Well Mom, please tell me I don't have a power to teleport people or something,' I muttered, partly joking, mostly not.
Squaring my shoulders, I walked over to him as he cut off the Dummies head.
'On the plus side, you killed the Dummy, which was looking kind of shifty,' I said brightly, keeping a few feet away from him.

As he turned around, I sighed, walking to the side of the Dummy.
'James,' I said softly, stepping closer to the Dummy.
Another step.
Close enough that with one step to the side...
I reached out, putting my hand on his arm.
'Stop,' I said firmly.

[color=Thistle]'Because you're going to hurt yourself. And I don't want you hurt,', noticing once more how small I was compared to him.
I also, for a few seconds, started thinking about how I acted in Starbucks.
[color=Thistle]'I'm sorry. Really. I shouldn't have acted like that. It was cruel... it was mean,' I breathed deeply, 'Basically, I don't care about what you've done, what happened to you. Ok, so I care. I care about how you feel.'

'And your a cruel, heartless dork! You deserve someone... someone-' I screamed, but got cut off.
Then roughly, he pulled me closer towards him, and kissed me.
Breathless, I kissed him back, leaning into him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

It was around the same time he pulled away that I took a step back, putting a hand up to my hair, patting it.
Nervous gesture.
'Maybe because something is always wrong,' I said, offering him a small smile.
What the hell was that about Skyla...
'I'll try to stop if you will. The whole "Count to ten" thing might not work though. How about "Count to a 100"?' I joked.

I raised my eyebrows, but smiled a little bigger.
'Ninety Nine it is,' I said.
As he ruffled my hair, I laughed, ducking back instinctively to smooth it.
'James, you don't need to tread carefully around me. In fact, I have a very good sense of humor,' I nodded, smiling again.

I raised my eyebrows again, and shrugged.
'Ok. Sure. I'll go.'
Then I smiled slyly.
'But you're meeting me tonight, at seven, on Half Blood Hill, where we will leave in a Taxi to New York. From there, we'll be on a date.'
Then I turned.