A/N: Brownies! hellraiserphoenix, atp-pc, gossamermouse101, BrokenGamerDoll

I'm so sorry, but in better news . . . I GOT INTO UNIVERSITY. GUYS I HAVE A FUTURE! WOOO!

So now, hopefully updates will come more frequently. So sorry, but enjoy

Chapter 7: Nature vs. Nurture

Needless to say, after a long night of pondering, I had come to terms with my crush on Herry. But that's all it was and all it would ever be. A crush. It was just a passing fancy. So, the next morning as we all stumbled in for breakfast, I did what any girl would do . . . completely avoided any physical or eye contact with said boy.

I ran into the kitchen, grabbed my toast and sprinted back up to my room. Then I did the unthinkable. I asked Theresa to go shopping. It was drastic but necessary. This gave me a guarantee of not running into Herry at any point during the day.

Now just to clarify, shopping with Theresa is dangerous. You think she's scary with nun chucks? Don't even try and get between her and a pair of shoes.

Of course, this fool proof plan fell through when Theresa turned to me in the middle of shoe shopping and said, "Oh yeah, the guys and Atlanta are going to meet us for lunch."

Cue face palm.

"Theresa!"

"What?" she defended. "I thought it would be a good idea. It's not like anyone else is really doing anything today. Think of it as team bonding."

I nearly screamed. There was no team bonding needed. I wanted to avoid bonding anymore with a certain person. "Theresa, stop and think for a second. Why would I, of all people, ask you to go shopping, when normally you would have to drag me out of the house? Why?"

I watched as the look of realisation dawned on her face. "Ohhhhhhh…"

I nodded. "Yeeahhhhhh..."

"Wait," her face scrunched in confusion, "who are you avoiding?"

I gave her a sheepish look. "Herry."

That surprised the hell out of her. "Herry! But the two of you are so close! You might as well be best friends!"

Wait for it. Wait for it.

"Oh my gosh, you like him! That's why you're avoiding him! Aw, Selena!"

And now comes the red faced embarrassment.

"Look, Theresa, it's not a big deal. I just don't want to talk to him until I figure out what the hell is going on with me. It's just a passing fancy, and I don't want it to be confused with something else. Or worse, do something stupid that could ruin the whole group dynamic. So, I'm just going to avoid him until school tomorrow and hope everything will be fine."

"Well, too late, there he is." Without even realizing it, I had followed Theresa all the way to the food court, and there was the whole gang.

Joy, oh joy.

And so the chorus of 'Heys' began as everyone greeted each other and we found a table big enough to sit at while we grabbed food. And just my luck, who do I get caught between? Theresa and Herry.

"So, I didn't see you at breakfast this morning," Herry said.

"Yeah, sorry, I woke up early," was my curt response.

This, of course, got me a confused glance from Herry as he muttered quietly, "Hey, you mad at me or something?"

This softened my demeanour. I wasn't mad at him. I didn't want him to think I was mad at him. I just needed time to figure myself out. I didn't want to hurt him. So I turned to him, offering a small smile and said simply, "Nah, Herry, I could never be mad at you. Just a little tired is all. Got a lot on my mind." It wasn't a complete lie.

"You know I'm here if you need to talk," he said. But then, he gave me that smile that only I ever got, and just like that I knew. This wasn't just a passing fancy. It wasn't going to just go away if I avoided him. So I would have to deal with it.

And then, with her impecible timing, Theresa nudged me with her elbow and whispered, "Mhmm just a crush," and then turned back to Jay.

So, of course, I simply nudged her back and said, "You're one to talk."

Unfortunately, I was too loud and Atlanta piped up from across the table, "One to talk about what?"

Theresa and I simply shared a look. Then Theresa turned to her and said, "We'll tell you later."

And after that, lunch was great. Filled with lots of arguments, laughs, and Neil laughing so hard, juice came out his nose (followed by a very sarcastic, "Oh, that was attractive Neil," from Atlanta). Until Jay became his leader-self once again and said, "Time to get back before we're late for training." Which was followed by groans and disappointing sighs as we all grumbled to our designated cars.

But in the parking lot Theresa had a marvellous idea that I was not at all fond of. "Hey, Jay! Why don't you come with me and Selena can go with Herry?"

We all looked at her a little confused, until Herry shrugged and said, "Sure, come on, Lena. I'll even let you drive."

My momentary shock from the nickname he'd given me passed by quickly as I rushed to his side, on our way to the truck, "Seriously? You're going to let me drive? No joke?"

He laughed, "No, I'm not letting you drive." And then climbed in the driver's side.

That was a freaking jerk move. I may not have been mad at him at lunch, but now he deserved to think I was mad at him. So I did the very mature thing. I put my bags in the back, looked in the window and said, "Fine then, I'm walking." And then turned and started to march, quite dramatically, through the parking lot.

Herry, ever the gentleman, drove right beside me the whole time saying things like "Seriously, you're this mature?" "Come on, Selena, just get in the truck." "You're going to make us late for training and Ares may kill us." "Lena, please."

That last one almost got me to give up and get in the truck because he said it with the most adorable puppy face. But I held strong. Until, of course he got out of the truck, threw me over his shoulder, and tossed me in the passengers seat before getting in and driving to the school.

Needless to say, I sat there with my arms crossed, pouting the whole way and never saying a word.

But lucky me, when we got to training, Ares decided on hand-to-hand combat for the day. And let me tell you something, Herry may be big, but I'm fast as lightening. His ass was on the mat all freaking day, and it brought me great satisfaction to beat him over and over again. It took out a lot of my frustration and I was no longer mad at him by the time training finished. It was like there was never a rift between us and we went back to the familiar banter.

Thank Gods.

The next morning, things returned to normal. As usual, Herry and I ate breakfast as the rest of the troops wandered in. Archie and Atlanta joined us after they got back from their morning run. How they get up that early to go before school, I will never know. Jay, Theresa, and Odie joined us just in time to grab some cereal before school. And Neil of course, didn't grace us with his presence until we were all threatening to leave for school without him if he didn't get out of the damn bathroom in the next five seconds (Atlanta and I were generally the ones yelling said threats).

But what started off as a simple day at school, quickly changed once we got word of the new kid. Now, I don't know about you, but to me being 'the new kid' is generally a bad thing. Somehow this kid, Phil, had become quite possible the most popular kid in school in only a few hours. He was all anybody talked about. And apparently he was throwing a party on Friday. Theresa and I figured that gave us a whole week to dig up some dirt.

Theresa and I met up with Atlanta at her locker.

"Have you ever seen anyone become so popular so fast?" Theresa said.

"He must have a spell on the whole female population of the school. It's crazy!" I agreed.

"I know!" Atlanta said.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Ladies," Phil smiled at us, handing Atlanta the flyer, "Consider this a personal invitation to my concert."

"We were just talking about how this school could use a good party," Theresa said, smiling back at him.

"Hey," Atlanta said looking up from the flyer with a million watt smile, "This is a benefit for the Green Alliance? I volunteer for them all the time!"

"Really," Phil replied, "You know, out of all the environmental groups, it's the one I respect the most."

"Me too," Atlanta said in awe.

Then Phil got an idea. "Would you mind helping me hand out these flyers? The more people that know about the show, the more money we can raise for the Alliance."

"Yeah, sure," she said, not even hesitating to go with him. She didn't give us a backwards glance.

"Ummm….did we just get ditched?" I said to Theresa.

She got a puzzled look on her face. "Yeah, I think we did."

As we all sat at lunch, we could see Atlanta and Phil.

"Aw, a lunch date, how cute," I mocked. Honestly, I was happy she found someone she was interested in, but as one of her best friends, she would get teased mercilessly by me. It's in the Best Friend Code of Conduct. It's true, look it up.

"I always figured Atlanta would have higher standards," Neil said, looking down with a strange fascination.

"They're just sitting together, it doesn't mean they're dating," Archie denied. I think he was still holding on to that little bit of hope that he still had time to ask her out.

Ever the sensitive one, Theresa chimed in, "Hey, we should be happy Atlanta's finally met someone."

"Oh, we are," I said, "But she's never going to hear the end of it."

"Yeah, well, I think I'd make better DJ than him," Neil said as Theresa and I shared a look, rolling our eyes. "I mean, just look at me! I'm handsome, personable, and co-ordinated beyond belief." He then proceeded to give us a fabulous demonstration with the cafeteria plates, complete with sound effects. We all started laughing as the devil himself strolled up.

"Hey c-ch-ch-check it out! Scratch it DJ Neil!"

"There you go, Neil," Herry mocked, "You've officially been dubbed 'DJ material'."

I turned to him with a proud look, "I think I'm rubbing off on you." He just shot me that smile with a wink that would've made my legs turn to jelly had I been standing up.

Then the most horrifying thing happened. Archie stood up. "Hey Atlanta, listen, I've been meaning to ask you something. I—"

Theresa and I both shot up out of our seats. "Atlanta! Conference call!"

Then we dragged her out into the hallway.

"So what's the story with you and Phil?" Theresa asked as we cornered her against the lockers.

"Yeah, spill the beans," I said.

"I-I really like him," she said honestly. "He's smart, cool, and he's totally into the same things as me."

"I've never seen you act like this before," Theresa responded, almost concerned.

Atlanta got a giddy smile on her face. "That's because I've never felt like this before."

I smiled at her. "We're happy for you, 'Lanta, we are, but just don't go too fast ok?"

She nodded at me, before heading on her way.

I turned to Theresa once Atlanta had turned the corner. "I'm worried."

"Me too," she said, chewing her bottom lip. "Something just doesn't seem right."

"So, we leave it alone and keep our eyes open."

She looked appalled. "And snoop, of course," her tone suggesting it was the most obvious thing in the world, and how on earth could I forget that.

The next day, as Theresa and I were walking down the steps outside the school (sans Atlanta, again), Herry came up from behind me, wrapped his arm around my shoulders said, "Theresa, I'm kidnapping her," and steered me away to his truck.

"Don't I get a say in whether you kidnap me?" I said, climbing into the truck.

"Well, considering you're willingly getting into the truck, I figured you don't want to be at school anymore than I do right now."

"Fair enough," I nodded, "So what are you planning on doing, now that you've kidnapped me?"

"I don't know. I didn't think anything further than kidnapping you to spend the day with you," he said, glancing over at me.

I held back my blush, realizing it was Herry and he probably didn't mean anything by that and was just stating fact, but boy did I wish he meant it the way it sounded.

As we walked up the steps to the dorm, I went straight into the living room, sat on the floor and opened the cupboards under the TV to look for a movie.

Herry just leaned on the door frame, staring with a smirk and raised eyebrows saying, "So I guess were watching a movie then?"

I beamed up at him, "Yup! You want to make popcorn?" And with that, he headed off to the kitchen. He walked back in just as the menu came up for Crazy Stupid Love.

He groaned as he sat the popcorn down on the coffee table before throwing himself back on the couch. "Whhhyyyyyy? This is torture."

I laughed as I sat down beside him. "It hasn't even started yet! And besides, weren't you the one who said you just wanted to spend the day with me?" I smiled up at him batting my eyelashes.

He looked down at me and said quietly, "You're lucky I love you." Then he paused a moment before sighing and saying, "Play the damn movie."

I gave him a small smile and replied with a soft, "Thank you," before pressing play and getting myself settled next to Herry on the couch, the popcorn in his lap, his arms stretched across the back of the couch as I curled up beside him with my blanket.

Next thing I know, I'm rubbing sleep out of my eyes. I definitely don't remember falling asleep, but here I am leaning against Herry, a hand on his chest, legs splayed across his lap, and his arms wrapped tight around me as his head rests on mine. When we got like this, I don't know, but if Theresa saw this she would have a field day!

I tried to slowly disentangle myself but all that happened was Herry's arms tightening around me. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but it would really suck if someone saw us like this. So I had to wake Herry up whether I liked it or not.

I started off quietly, just shaking his shoulder and saying, "Herry, wake up." When that didn't work I tried everything short of yelling in his face, so I did the only thing left I could think of. I bit his neck, or at least what was visible to me. Needless to say he woke up with a sleepy, "What the hell?!" Then he realized the position we were in and let go immediately as his face went beat red. I scooted to the far end of the couch, both of us looking anywhere but each other.

"So…"

"So…"

"Pretend this never happened?"

His face looked almost crestfallen for a second, before he nodded, "Yup."

"Great," I said before sprinting upstairs and barricading myself in my room.

Just great.

The next morning, Theresa, Neil, Herry and I were hanging outside at school.

"Did they fire the gardener or something?" Theresa said, looking at all the plants slowly overrunning the schoolyard.

"Mr. Suez sure is letting this place go," I agreed.

"I know, it's like this everywhere, it's weird!" Herry said.

"Speaking of weird," Neil said pointedly as Atlanta and Phil walked passed, arm in arm.

"Hey guys," Atlanta waved, absentmindedly.

"Looks like someone's too busy to be with her friends," Neil called after them.

"It's alright by us," Theresa said, shrugging her shoulders. I gave a half-hearted nod. "We're just glad she's found someone."

"Yeah, but it's kind of fast, don't you think?" Herry pointed out.

"At least someone agrees with me," I muttered. Herry just nudged my arm and smiled down at me.

"So when are we going to snoop?" Neil turned to us.

"Count me out," Herry said immediately.

"I'm free tonight," Theresa sidled closer to Neil.

"Me too," I said. Herry looked at me in shock. "What? I'm just slightly concerned that's all!"

"Yeah," Theresa defended, "Neil and Selena have a point. No one even knows the guy."

"Great," Neil chimed, "Then let's do it." He moved between me and Theresa, throwing his arms around us.

"Neil," I said quietly, "Remove your arm now, or I will remove it for you." He snapped his arms away from Theresa and I in a flash. "Good boy," I laughed as we walked away.

"This forest is freaking creepy," I said as we made our way to Phil's place.

"I'm getting weird vibes from this place," Theresa said shakily as we walked.

"That's because it is a weird, creepy place," Neil stated with a duh tone of voice, before letting out a very high pitched shriek as a leaf landed on his face.

Theresa and I simply rolled our eyes as Neil let out an indignant, "What?"

Theresa snuck up to the house as Neil and I snooped through the yard.

"Why is there a random backpack?" I said, confused.

Neil reached down to grab it, as a vine shot out from the bushes and wrapped around his wrist. He quickly pulled his arm back with a yelp, snapping the vine.

"Now that's creepy."

"Told you so."

"You're telling me," Theresa called quietly from the house. "The guy is such a slime ball!"

I quickly jogged up to the window with her, just to hear Phil say, "Maybe I've finally found my muse."

In my head all I could hear was Atlanta last night, gushing about how he called her 'his muse'. And Atlanta never gushes. That jerk!

"That is just so wrong!" Theresa ranted.

"That clinches it," Neil said to himself, "I am definitely becoming a DJ now."

I smacked his arm. "You ever do that to girls and I will hit you so hard your grandchildren will feel it!"

"We have to tell Atlanta," Theresa said.

"I thought that was obvious," I told her.

"I'd rather you didn't," came an angry voice from behind us.

"No one can move that fast," I muttered worriedly to Theresa. As we looked back in the window, the girl was too caught up in Phil's music to notice he was gone.

"Stay away from Atlanta you creep!" Theresa shouted.

As he howled at the moon, I said quietly, "I think that's the least of our worries right now."

"Dude, stick to spinning records," Neil advised, "You have no singing voice."

And then the vines wrapped around our ankles.

"Now that I have your attention," Phil stated.

Theresa was the first to break through her vines, me closely following. That's when the fight began, but even Theresa, who was a black belt at the age of 12, couldn't get a hit on this guy. He was untouchable. Then with another howl, we were wrapped in vines and stuck in a tree.

No matter how much we called, no one would hear us.

Herry's POV

He hadn't seen Lena since yesterday when she'd gone off with Theresa and Neil. The other two weren't back yet either, but it wasn't like them to stay out all night. He became increasingly worried when she wasn't there to have breakfast with him before school. As Herry walked up to Jay and Archie, he couldn't get the bad feeling out of the pit of his stomach, praying she would be in home room.

"Hey, have you seen Theresa, Neil or Selena?" Jay asked.

"Not since yesterday," he responded, his concerns growing. "Neil wanted to spy on Phil, so Theresa and Lena went with him."

"Let's check inside," Jay said, "They might be in homeroom."

"So, it's 'Lena' now is it?" Archie smirked as they walked up the steps.

"Worry about your own love life first," Herry shot back.

He wasn't quite sure when he started referring to her as Lena in his head, but when the name slipped out at the mall, he knew it was serious. He wasn't quite certain what this feeling was, but he knew that he loved having her in his arms that day they fell asleep on the couch. And now, with her missing, he couldn't get this weight off his chest.

All he knew was he needed to find her. Now.

Selena's POV

"Selena, don't you have your swords with you?" Theresa asked, as the idea popped into her head.

I groaned, "No, I didn't wear my rings. I thought we were just going to snoop on a guy that Atlanta liked, not get held hostage by magical plants. I didn't think I'd need them."

Think, Selena, think.

Theresa started swinging herself into a tree. It looked like it hurt like hell, but at least it was an attempt to break the vines.

After a rather hard wing she let out an, "Ow! Maybe you should try it, Neil."

"Wack myself into a tree?" he said. "Don't think so."

Wait, Neil.

"Neil!" I called out, getting excited. "Do you have anything in your pockets, nail clippers, anything?"

He brightened as he realized, "I have a nail file!"

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Theresa called as she swung herself over and flipped, grabbing the file out of Neil's pocket with her teeth. I'm sorry but I would never want to get my face that close to Neil's but.

"Selena," Theresa called, although it came out more like, "Swemena."

I swung myself over, grabbing the nail file out of her mouth and cutting one of the vines. Then I swung over, cutting Theresa down and then Neil. Theresa landed gracefully on her feet, while Neil let out a yelp when he hit the ground with a thud. I let myself down, landing in a crouch. Then we were off.

"Wait, what about the others?" Neil said as we looked back up at the innocents stuck in the tree.

"They're fine," Theresa said in a rush.

"We'll get them down later," I agreed. "You know, after we stop plants from coming to life."

We ran up as Atlanta kneeled beside Phil, the man looked like he was in pure agony. The stage was absolutely obliterated, and there was a giant four-headed dead plant in the middle of the clearing.

"Woah, come concert!" Neil called.

"Yeah, looks like we missed a great party," Theresa sassed.

"Yeah, drat," I mocked.

And then the earth started to shake, and the cracks swallowed up the extra plants and vines lying around as they closed, and it seemed like everything was back to normal.

Until I noticed the tear in the side of Herry's shirt. As Atlanta took care of Phil, or I guess Pan, I walked over to Herry.

"Are you okay?" I asked hurriedly, as my hand went to the tear, checking to make sure there was no blood coming from the skin underneath.

He simply smirked down at me. "Why? Concerned?" he mocked.

I fought to keep the blush down as I looked up and answered poshly, "Not at all, but you ruined a perfectly good shirt."

His gaze turned serious as his hands rested on my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

I smiled, "All in a days work, right?" He didn't look quite satisfied with that answer. Both my hands rested on his waist now and I said simply, "I'm fine, Herry. Really." He looked slightly less concerned. "Now seriously, what'd you do?"

He smirked just a bit, and I felt immensely better, until he said, "Got up close and personal with a plant that spewed acid."

I looked up shocked, "You did what?! Herry, that's a little too close, don't you think!" If he had have been just an inch further left he would've been toast.

He laughed, "Lena, I'm fine." I was so not okay with this. "Lena," he said bending just a little bit to look straight in my eyes, "I'm fine. I'm okay, I promise. Not a scratch."

I nodded, though the smile never returned to my face. Herry just wrapped me in his arms, and I wrapped my arms around him. It was a relief, to be back together and know that we were both okay. That we would be just fine.

Herry, Theresa, Neil, and I wandered back to the tree that still had the innocents hanging in it. We got everyone down and safely into the truck. I watched as Pan left into the woods and Archie and Atlanta went back to their usual bantering.

It seemed like everything was going back to normal. As I looked across at Herry in the driver's seat, I realized normal was good. We may have been expected to save the world, but whether the Gods realized it or not, we were normal teenagers and we were going to fight with each other and we were going to have crushes and we were going to stress about school, but we had a bond that no one could ever break. So screw what would happen in the future, because right now, we were normal. Well, our version of normal at least.

A/N: So hoped you guys liked that chapter! A little bit more Herry/Selena moments in that one! Let me know what you thought! Any suggestions or constructive criticism is most welcome!