I decided today that Caspian was undoubtedly the most attractive boy I'd ever encountered(save for Peter, except I'll likely never see England again). I also decided he was one of the most annoying I'd ever encountered.

"Charlotte, keep up!" Caspian hissed at me.

I scowled and dove into the bushes we were taking cover in, carefully minding my wooden imitation sword. I rolled into a crouching position, and crawled into the thicket to see where the giant battle showdown was.

Caspian crawled up beside me and stared out at the idiots who weren't trying to hide. Heat radiated off of him like a little star. A little star, crouching beside me. A little star, breathing heavily.

I tapped his shoulder and he whipped around to look at me. I thought I would be in need of the most training, but I was clearly sorely mistaken.

I held my finger to my mouth and shushed him, pointing back a couple of meters away.

"Crawl quietly and carefully." I whispered, hoping the battling idiots wouldn't hear us amongst their grand struggle. He nodded and turned, slowly this time, to crawl back to the tree we'd decided to be our rendezvous point should we separate.

I would've turned too had a pair of legs not come dangerously close to the bushes we were in. Caspian crawled on, unknowingly without me.

Laura, the girl who took a particular dislike to me in the first place, traipsed around where I was sitting. A smug smile was on her face, and I instantly understood that she was beastly and evil.

"I know you're there," She called out.

I remained quiet and still. Laura circled the bushes around where I was sitting. I held my breath and didn't dare move in the slightest.

She came to a stop, directly in front of me. I clenched my wooden sword, prepared to stab the git the second I had a chance. She smiled, and reached for me, I somersaulted backwards and was dumbfounded that I actually could do such a thing. Laura shrieked in anger and started wildly grabbing amongst the bushes. I knew there was absolutely no way I could crawl away in time or make it to Caspian, so I stood.

Laura stopped attacking the bush and stood to face me. She smiled a little cruel smile before pulling her wooden sword from her belt.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me where your little prince went, do you?" She asked conversationally.

I rolled my eyes and stepped forward, attack me already idiot! Laura's little smile turned into a sneer. I've clearly impressed her in the short span of time I'd known her.

She took a calculating step to the left, I took a careful one to the right.

"I wish I knew! The little git ran off," I replied loudly. "Have you seen Cas?"

I knew Caspian heard me, and I hoped dearly he understood I was warning him. I added the nickname just to further annoy Laura.

She scowled and this time I replied with a smile. It was almost too easy to push her buttons.

Laura swished her hair impatiently.

"Well then," She started, but she never finished her sentence as I charged at her, fully intending to put a stop to all this useless blabbering.

Laura wasn't quite sure what to do when somebody was charging at her, so she held her sword out awkwardly. I took mine with both hands and slashed at the hand she was using to hold her sword. She cried out in pain(the little sissy), and dropped it. I took my 'sword' and stabbed her in the stomach before she pushed me away.

The rules of this welcoming battle were simple, three hits and you lose, if both the guard and ward are out then the team loses overall. We are given wooden swords because this is meant to test our abilities. The trainers were walking about, monitoring the battles taking place around them.

Laura picked her sword up again and looked back at me.

"How rude you are!" She yelled once more.

I scoffed. "Have you learned nothing from the last little pep talk you tried to give me?" I asked.

Laura scowled and charged at me. I tried to block her the way they showed us, by pushing your own sword under the enemy's and lifting it, using it as a sort of leverage to push them off balance.

I failed miserably at this and only wound up pushing her sword awkwardly to the side, but she wasn't holding her sword in a proper manner in the first place. Any technique I tried, even if I got it right, would be a miserable attempt. Laura shrieked again in anger and started slashing aimlessly at me. I jumped back a few feet.

She ran towards me once more, and tripped on something I couldn't see.

I took this chance to leg it away fast as I could. I hid behind one of the sparse trees, breathing hard. If I played this right, I could escape and possibly find Caspian.

I turned and crouched carefully peeking around the trunk to see where Laura was hiding, but was only puzzled to find that she was missing.

I had a vague feeling of danger approaching when somebody struck my head rather hard and I cursed Laura to high heaven before passing out.

-x-

I woke and sat up in a different type of room than the one I was in when I had my original head injury. This one was rather large, but held several cots, all separated by disgusting pastel curtains. A small girl with the same pretty olive skin and dark eyes as everyone else was directly across from me. I waved at her, but she just smiled slightly and turned on her side to sleep.

My head ached horridly.

I decided she had the right idea and turned(slowly) to sleep too, except I noticed then that there were two visitors in my room.

The first I saw was Caspian. I was immediately shocked and impressed he came to visit me after we'd just met and I'd failed the first test we had as partners. The second was the Trainer in charge of us all.

I stared a bit before noticing how strange it was and looking away. Heat rose to my cheeks and I wished I wasn't blushing, but knew I was all the same.

The trainer-General Montoya as it were-cleared his throat.

"You took the worst hit, but played well, McKinley." He stated.

Yes, like most trainers, General Montoya preferred to refer to us all by family name.

I shrugged and winced at the movement. "I failed, though, didn't I?" I asked.

Montoya chuckled to himself, and put his hand in his pocket. "Everybody failed at least one aspect of the battle." He stated.

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing with glee and restrained myself from dancing, I'm not the worst of the girls! Though, I'm not sure I'd be allowed to dance in Telmarine territory. They're not the most mischievous bunch.

Caspian smiled at me, obviously reading my mind. The general looked back and forth at us, so I looked away again, trying to gain composure.

"In fact," General Montoya called out clearly, "Caspian was the only ward successfully protected."

I smiled, satisfied and looked straight ahead. Sure enough, the girl across from me was awake, listening. The crack of the patients I could see between curtains beside her were listening too. Success!

General Montoya nodded at me. "Training tomorrow at sunrise. We'll be working on everybody's technique. Be prepared to sweat." He mumbled, turned and walked out of my section.

Probably off to share the news with the others.

I looked back at Caspian, who let a sunny grin crack onto his lovely face.

"The only ward successfully protected." I mumbled to myself before letting my smile widen to a similar grin.

Caspian let a nice laugh out, his laugh was rather nice, and grabbed my hand. My stomach fluttered.

"Thank you for protecting me properly, Char!" He exclaimed gleefully.

I blushed again and cursed my body, "That's what I'm here for!" I replied.

He laughed again, what a nice sound, and I joined in.

"Hey," I stopped abruptly, "You called me Char."

Caspian looked a little embarassed. "Well, I thought it was fine since you gave me a nickname first."

I smiled smugly for making him flustered. "That's fine, I just called you Cas to bug that Laura git." I replied.

Caspian looked back at me, chocolate eyes searching. Searching for what, I don't know.

"However..." I added, "It's fine if you want to call me Char, it's loads easier and I'll just call you Cas."

Caspian nodded, "We have to pass the awkward stage anyways. We need to be close to work together properly."

"Right," I nodded back. "It makes perfect sense."

A moment of quiet settled over us. I stared at Caspian, looking to see what he was feeling. He stared back. Butterflies set up a summer home in my stomach.

"Thank you for coming to see me, by the way." I broke the silence.

Caspian shrugged. "Well, you are kind of important..." He muttered.

"What was that?" I asked mockingly, a smile widening on my face.

Caspian rubbed the back of his neck. "Nothing!" He replied.

I gave him a knowing look and bit my lip to try and stop my smile.

We settled into another comfortable silence. I noticed we were still holding hands, so I played with his hand.

We sat in the silence for quite awhile before I plucked enough courage to speak.

"Hey, Cas?" I asked.

Caspian turned his chocolate eyes back to me. My stomach fluttered yet again.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"You're sort of important to me too." I stated.

He stared back at me. I looked to the side awkwardly and bit my lip.

Caspian smiled shortly and laced his fingers through mine. The butterflies raged, and I idly wondered what kind of party they were having in my stomach.

-x-

Well...nevermind planning, I couldn't spit this chapter out for the life of me after I planned it.

Sorry it took so long, I will try and plan the next five chapters which WILL be spent training properly.

Review/comment, please? :)