"Pretty."

The single spoken word echoed softly in the back of his brain, and he forced his eyes to open.

"hmmm?"

The lake spread out before him like a huge stretch of grey-green glass. Not a breeze moved it's surface, or ruffled the branches of the tree he lay at the base off. Around him, he could hear voices of some of the others students on the science trip, others who had chose to come down to the lake to rest.

Rest. Jeremie's eyes flew open. He wasn't supposed to be resting! The science project...he sat up quickly-

Boom!-

And lay back down just as quickly, a huge red mark from a branch above now gleaming on his forehead.

"Ow...that really hurt..." He rubbed the lump, trying to sit up, only to have his vision swim. "Crap."

"Jeremie?" The speaker from before scooted over until they were almost nose to nose. "You've hit your head!" Aelita's eyes, almost the same green as the lake she had been admiring, widened in concern, and she dived out of site. Jeremie winced, hoping that she hadn't noticed that being so close to her had made his face as red as his forehead. A moment later, she was back, and from Jeremie's slightly blurry vision, it looked as if she was caring a first aid kit. She beamed at him, and his heart skipped.

"It's good you remembered to bring this, Jeremie," she told him cheerily, pulling out an ice-pack. "Other wise you'd be seeing stars by now."

"Who says I'm not?" Jeremie muttered, making her giggle. "But what were you talk about earlier? You said something was pretty." Although nothing could be as pretty as she was, muttered a voice in the back of his head. Jeremie blushed and tried to ignore it.

Aelita smiled gently at him as she placed the ice-pack on the lump on his head. "The lake. It's the most wonderful color." She shook her head, her pink hair flipping around her face. "I've never really seen such a thing before."

"The ocean is a similar hue," Jeremie heard himself saying, and wondered vaguely how he could talk, let alone breathe, every time her fingers touched him. "Celadon, I believe." Not thinking, he flicked a hand up to her face, his heart skipping again. "Similar to your eyes, actually. Only not as-"

What on earth was he saying? Talking about the color of her eyes?! Right in front of her?! This close?! He snatched back his hand from her cheek as if it had burnt him. Blushing neon, Jeremie forced himself to sit up enough to back away slightly. "I- I'm s-sorry, I must've hit my head h-harder than I thought." Was it just him, or was Aelita blushing? He shut his eyes, pushing about the silly idea. Of course not, she probably was now annoyed at him for making no sense.

For a minute, neither of them spoke. Both glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, but both would look away before their gazes met. Finally, Aelita sighed slightly, still not looking at him.

"D-does the ice-pack help?"

Jeremie peeked at her. Why did she look so nervous? "Uh...um, yeah. Thanks." He was sure that his face would burn off soon if he blushed anymore. She wiggled slightly in her spot, moving closer to him.

"Um...Jeremie..."Aelita still didn't look at him. "What did you say that color was again?"

Jeremie blinked at her. "What? Oh! Um, celadon. It's used in pottery a lot, but-" Stop rambling, you idiot, he told himself firmly, chancing a glance at her. She was watching him, and Jeremie went red when their gazes met.

"It's pretty, that's all," she muttered, her voice slightly hoarse as if her throat had gone dry.

"Yeah. Pretty." Now fairly certain his ears would be smoking soon, Jeremie tore his gaze away from hers. The next section, however, a warm hand settled lightly on top of his. Jeremie looked over at her, his heart now jumping in his chest. She wasn't looking at him, but she was smiling, her cheeks almost as pink as her hair. Her hand didn't move, except to press down a tiny bit more on his.

Jeremie, speechless, just smiled.