Me? Attitude? Now I know you're dumb. (Sapphire)

James laughed at Taylor's frustration, getting an idea in his mind. He gently held the top of Taylor's arms, pulling her up into standing position. He stood behind her, holding her wrist and pulling her hand back. "Then just throw." He whispered, his front pressing against Taylors back. He thought this was his best idea yet.

Taylor wasn't too pleased with this. As soon as the pebble left Taylor's hand, she immediately broke free of James's grip. She pushed him back, but was careful not to push him towards the water. Taylor smirked. "Nice try, Dream Boy," she said, chuckling as she crossed her arms over her chest. Still laughing, Taylor went to throw another pebble to the creek, where it bounced three times before sinking. "I forgot to mention that I'm already taken," Taylor said, still smirking.

James's grin turned down for a second in dissapointment but transformed into a smirk once more. "What your boyfriend doesn't know won't hurt him." James shrugged cockily, raising an eyebrow suggestivly. He doubted that Taylor would give him a chance but it was worth a shot. "It's not like I want a relationship, just a bit of fun." He laughed, flicking another pebble in yet it sunk due to his lack of concentration.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "What my boyfriend doesn't know will give me a whole lot of guilty conscience," she said, correcting James on his first statement. She chuckled. "We have different definitions for the word 'fun'," Taylor said, flicking another pebble to the creek. To her surprise, it bounced fourteen times. She grinned. "Well, that's an improvement," she commented as she turned back to James.

Taylor lips stretched into an ear-to-ear grin. "Just watch me," Taylor commented with a mischievous gleam in her eye. She picked up a single flat pebble and got ready to throw. Taylor concentrated, feeling a slight tug in her gut. Then she forcefully threw the pebble to the creek. The water seemed to shift, some of it freezing into ice. The pebble landed on the ice patches, which seemed to suddenly rise, forcing the pebble back upwards before breaking off. With the help of the ice pushing it up, the pebble bounced twenty times! Taylor smirked, relaxing her stance and turned back to James. "Well, worth a shot," she snickered as the remaining ice on the creek melted.

Taylor laughed. "I don't recall you telling me the rules to this game, if there are any," she reasoned, smirking. "So technically, I didn't cheat." With another flick, Taylor performed the trick again, this time only earning nineteen bounces. She turned to James, laughing at the look of his face. Oh how she loved loopholes.

Taylor couldn't stop herself from laughing as James talked. She raised her eyebrows when James started to initiate a handshake. Smirking, Taylor decided to play along. She spat on her hand and gripped his firmly, shaking it once. "Deal," she said finally.

Out of the corner of her eye, Taylor saw something nearing her. She instinctively swerved to the side to dodge it. Bewildered, Taylor looked at the thing that was thrown at her--a rock. Before she could process anything, she was on her feet as she dodged more of the rocks. "Gods, James, don't tell me this is your fan club's doing!" Taylor said, annoyed, as she ducked to avoid a rather large rock overhead.

Taylor didn't mind that she was leaning against James at the moment. Her bigger priority was the rocks. "We throw them back?" she suggested lamely for lack of ideas.

The throwers seemed to be hidden from behind the trees, much like how Sarah had done. Taylor peered behind the tree, only to duck in cover as a particularly large rock went flying in her direction. A girl then came out of the shadows, holding another rock in her two hands. "Come back and fight, you coward!" Sarah yelled hoarsely, throwing them another rock.

Taylor was about to retort when around five girls appeared behind Sarah, each holding some rocks of their own. Taylor decided not to comment. Those rocks were still big enough to smash her bones into pieces. "Well, she did say she wasn't through with me," Taylor whispered through gritted teeth. "Alright, what do you suggest we do?"

Taylor grimaced. "I'm not that skilled with freezing," she told him. "No can do with solid stuff. But water on the other hand..." Taylor remembered the creek. She had an idea, but wasn't that sure she could work. The rocks were practically large enough to crush the ice, unlike the small pebbles she flicked to the water earlier. But it was worth a shot, right? Maybe if she concentrated enough, she could make the ice nearly indestructible.

"I have an idea. Get ready," Taylor said. She clenched her fists, feeling a tug on her gut as the water began to slowly freeze. A huge ice wall rose from the freezing water as Taylor raised one of her hands. Her breathing became slightly ragged as she concentrated on compressing the ice molecules to try to make it stronger. With one look behind them, Taylor swung her arm, and the ice wall began to move towards the girls, slowly but surely. "Go!" she gasped, trying to maintain the ice wall as rocks started to hit it.

Well, Taylor thought as she looked at the scene, that wasn't supposed to happen. Taylor facepalmed. That was definitely the worst idea ever. But, she wasn't about to admit that aloud. She stared at the shivering girls who were trying to get the ice off. Then she spotted James covering Sarah to somewhat protect her. A smile pulled on the corner of Taylor's lips. The ace flirt had a real protective side to him alright.

To reveal herself would be another stupid idea. But for reasons unknown, Taylor did it anyway. She put on a huge smile, as if nothing was wrong, and with a wave of her hand, moved the ice out of the way. "Thanks for the rocks," Taylor told the girls, still maintaining her positive aura while her voice dripped of sarcasm. "So... have some ice back." She chuckled awkwardly after that.

Taylor laughed. "Right you are, Ares boy," she said, clapping James on the shoulder. She faintly heard the other girls murmur agreement, except for Sarah, who seemed dumbfounded by what James did. Taylor nearly rolled her eyes at the sight.

"I knew it..." Sarah began softly, looking up at James. She didn't seem to realize that she was soaking wet. "You care for me... You saved me..."

Taylor hid a guffaw behind a cough. "Yeah, it's not as if he saved you from a burning building..." she managed to mumble under her breath, not sure if anybody else heard her too.

Sarah quickly got up and threw her arms around James, to which Taylor had to turn around to hide her laughs.

Sarah still sported a dreamy look on her face as her friends led her away from the scene. As soon as they were out of sight, Taylor turned to James and raised one of her eyebrows at him. "You know, you might get hypothermia," she commented, looking him over. He was totally drenched. "Yep. Go stand in front of a heater," she added jokingly, remembering a similar scene and lightly chuckling at the thought.

Taylor widened her eyes at the suggestion. She knew that it wasn't a flirty thing, rather a rule for survival, but still, she was apprehensive. What if someone saw them? But heck, would she let James die because of that petty little thing? Besides, she was the reason why he was freezing right now.

"You do know that my temperature is slightly colder than usual, being a Khione kid?" she asked him quizzically, but her conscience still bothered her. Finally, she groaned, then hugged him. "No funny business or I'll speed up the freezing process," she said through gritted teeth.

Taylor couldn't believe herself. She was hugging a flirt. And she was in a relationship with somebody else. Her only hope was for no one else to see them hugging like that, or else, she would be in really really big trouble. Taylor settled on awkwardly patting James's back, believing that it would help him get warm. It wasn't a solid fact though, and Taylor had no idea if it had any effect on him.

"Okay, are you warm enough now?" Taylor asked James impatiently. She didn't mean to be rude, but the sooner she got out of this position, the better.