Thanks for the reviews..and critique lol. I think the advice was really helpful! And guys, you're totally free to tell me if you don't like some of the aspects of the story and the characters, I don't take it personally or anything. But (am I sounding mean? ) I can't always make everyone happy and give everyone exactly what they want, but I sure would if I could. But...I think we can all agree that we like Alek, right? hehe...ya...

Jasmine's POV

Living in the city, I never knew whether or not I was an animal person(I was definitely a cat person, no pun intended), but now I can tell you with all sincere honesty and my heart that I love animals. The dogs being an exception sometimes. But, have you ever seen someone's dog and cat get along just fine? Well, that's the way it's been with the dogs and me at this ranch. Most of all, I love the horses. I seriously sound like a ten year old from a clishe movie about horses. Maybe it's because I somewhat missed out on my childhood and now I'm just making up for it?

Either way, I was having a great time. And something that I wouldn't be able to enjoy if I was ten? James. Yeah, that's right. If I was a ten year old, James wouldn't matter to me and I would be missing out big time. But since I'm seventeen, I get best of both worlds. Did I really just use a Hannah Montana line? Man, I really am turning into a ten year old.

"Do you have any idea when you might be going back?" James asked me on the other side of the horse that we were both brushing.

"Hopefully not very soon. The longer I don't have to deal with my mother and Chloe's failing assassins, the better," I admitted.

"Is that the only reasons that you don't want to go back?" He hinted playfully.

"Well...there's a guy that might have something to do with it as well," I teased.

"Really? What's he like?" He asked, playing along like I hoped he would.

"He's sweet. Sometimes he's a little too sweet because he's afraid of hurting my feelings. But he makes it up with a cute Southern style charm. Not to mention the accent."

"They say accents are the best." James grinned.

"Yes, they are." I agreed. "Any special lady on your mind?"

"Yeah, but sometimes I don't think she realizes how special she really is," he almost lectured. "She's way to hard on herself at times, which is sometimes why I think she is the way she is; because she always does everything to top standard. But once she forgets about all of her troubles, she's a total different person."

"Do you like her light side better?" I inquired.

"To be honest, I like it when she's happier, but I love both sides. Maybe it would be good to have someone a little more focused than I am so that she can help me if I need to be a little more serious sometimes."

"Maybe that girl needs you to bring her light-hearted side out because no one else can do it?"

"That way she and I could balance each other out." He suggested.

"She sounds really special," I smirked.

"Oh definitely, and your guy sounds like a keeper?" He was questioning it.

"For sure." I assured him.

"Good for him."

I walked over to the horses feet to clean out the hoof.

"Jasmine don't ever-

Both of the horse's back feet raised up and, despite my catlike reflexes, I didn't have enough time to dodge the blow. If it was a human or Mai, yes, but I was not expecting this from a horse at all. One hoof kicked me in the stomach and the other in the nose. I ended up landing on my butt and with a bloody nose.

-go behind a horse like that..." James finished, with a worried but amused look on his face. Of course he knew that I wasn't as hurt as a human would have been. But it did hurt, that's for sure.

I looked up at him and nodded in agreement, to much in shock to talk.

He smiled at me. It wasn't a happy smile of course, but a reassuring smile. "Come on, let's go get you cleaned up." He put out his hand for me to take. I took it but grabbed his other hand because I needed some more leverage to get up.

"Stomach too, huh?" He asked once I was up and subconsciously.

"Yeah," I grunted.

I have no idea why he took me to the infirmary room. Or why it was called the infirmary. What is it? The eighteenth century? But he did and as soon as we were there, he told me that he was going to get Lauren, the nurse in charge this week. She must have been on lunch break, seeing as it was 12;45.

I glanced at Paul who was sitting up in his bed and reading a comic book. Or a manga? I wasn't sure, but it was something with pictures.

"Hey...Paul?"

"Huh?" HE didn't look up from the book at my greeting.

"We're uh...friends, right?" I blurted.

That caused him to look up from his book and up at me.

"Sure?" He looked at me like I was psycho or something. "I thought you and Alek didn't like me."

"That's just Alek," I corrected.

His face brightened at the thought that only Alek didn't like him. But, seriously, who couldn't just love Paul? He's just like a big teddy bear or something. You just want to hug him. Trust me, I know that sounds so weird, but I'm sure that Chloe could relate big time.

"Oh, then totally!"

"Good..." I muttered.

"What do you want?" He asked skeptically.

"Nothing big..."

"But?"

"But I need you to somehow distract Alek for the rest of the day while I'm with James," I admitted, then I added, "please?"

"Chloe and Amy are already doing that right now. So I'll do you another favor." He said.

"Oh, and what's that?"

"Give you some guy insight, since I know that Alek isn't ever going to give you any because you're siblings...cousins, whatever. Guy friend to a girl friend...James really, really likes you. Just in case that wasn't obvious to you before. I would even say that he's in love with you."

"Really?" I asked. I mean, there was definite flirting and butterflies between us, but I hadn't really expected 'in love.' A week really isn't a lot of time to be in love.

"Do you think that Amy likes me for real? Not just because she doesn't want to hurt my feelings?" he asked me.

I raised my eyebrows.

"What? You're kidding me right? She's totally in love with you...it's annoying how much she loves you sometimes." I chuckled at the thought of how much she talked about Paul all the time. I mean more than Chloe talked about Alek and me about James put together.

"I know but lately she's been seeming a bit different," he noticed. "You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do know what mean. Chloe and I are working on that, don't worry about anything but your comic books" I assured.

"Here's Lauren," James announced.

"So what do we have here?" Lauren asked me, looking at my bloody nose. "Let me guess, your stomach hurts too?"

I nodded suspicously.

"Don't worry, Ginger has gotten the best of us too. Just sit down and relax while I get you some Tylonol.

I could get used to this...relaxing as these people put it.

Chloe POV

"What the hell did James do to Jasmine? She had a bloody nose!" Alek demanded.

"She got kicked by a horse Alek. Nothing else." I reassured him, kind of worried by his reaction to this.

"And why am I always the last one told about these things?" He demanded again.

"Maybe because you over-react?" I guessed.

He gave me a questioning look. Then he realized that I was talking about the way that he was acting at the moment. I rolled my eyes at his behavior. "OH."

"Why would you think that he would actually hurt her?" I asked him.

"I don't...I just don't want her to get hurt." He admitted.

"Aww...you love Jasmine, that's so sweet. But seriously, chill." I ordered. "My empthic spells has told me that he's utterly and completely in love with her, so don't worry. And why would you think that she would get hurt?"

His eyes widened like they usually do when he realized he said something that he shouldn't have...or didn't want to actually explain.

"I..gotta go." He lied.

"No, sit." I ordered. Wow, I'm turning out to be just like my mother.

He stayed standing against my orders.

"Fine, but you at least get to spill," I bargained.

He narrowed his eyes at me like a little kid would if their parents told them to do something they don't want to do.

"I've seen you get hurt with two guys. First when that kid that you kissed died...and then when you had to tell Brian that you couldn't see him anymore. I don't want that to happen to Jasmine. She may look really strong...but she's not prepared for being in love." He explained.

"And you are?" I pointed out.

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"It's different. I'm her...surrogate brother and it's wierd...because I've never had to keep an eye out for guys with her. I haven't even thought about it until now."

I sighed, looking at his concerned face.

"I know what you mean...I kind of went through that with both Paul and Amy...it's like having both of my siblings dating each other." I scrunched up my nose as we both shuddered.

"that's supposed to make me feel better how?" he asked.

"My point is; once she finds 'the guy', she's going to be the happiest girl in the world. Or really close. Anyways, if she goes through a break up with James, it's just going to make her a stronger person. Brian and Xavier made me the person I am now."

"First, what about me? I'm not part of you being a stronger person?" He asked, teasing slightly. "And second, I don't think being a stronger person would be the best thing for Jasmine, she's already so...strong or tough."

"You're part of me being a more patient person," I assured, completely serious. He did take a lot of patience. "And as for Jasmine, you're right, she doesn't need to be a stronger person. Which is why I'm happy to say that I think that James is going to be the person she's destined to be with."

"What about you? Are you with the one you're destined to be with for the rest of your...lives." Oh, Alek...he's so punny. Ugh.

I ignored the pun and smiled. "I don't know, do you think so?"

"I think you are."

I leaned into him and he kissed the top of my head. I hoped he was right.

Sweet, right? Hope you liked it!