I'm soooo sorry this is so late, but I have an AP test coming up so I have been studying like crazy! I will put two chapters up today to make up for it!

Chapter 9 - Arrows to the Heart

∞ Ethan ∞

I feel so bad for Natalie when we go to wake everyone up the next day. I'm sure she's embarrassed- I sure would be and I wouldn't want to have to go back to training so soon. Everybody, including the downworlders that showed up, go to wait for the girls in the training room. When Michelle gets there I turn on her and yell, "I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just go around making people feel bad about themselves. Laughing at Natalie yesterday was totally inappropriate!" Michelle starts to counter me, but Jace gets between us.

"Come on, let's just get to training," he says and walks away. As he passes me, he mutters, "Stop."

Natalie

Training didn't go too horribly that day, but we did work on finding our weapon of choice. "So, did you find your weapon?" I ask Rily and Bella once we stop for dinner.

"Yeah! Mine is a knife!" Bella says excitedly.

"Oh, you should see her throw them! She gets them in the target every time. I keep hitting the handles on the wall," Rily says. Bella laughs and says, "But I can't use a misericord like you! You make it look like it's an extension of your arm!" They laugh and start talking about their training, so I tune them out. I look over at the table and see Magnus, Carter, Jordan, Maia, Simon, and Michelle looking at me. Jace, Clary, Izzy, Alec, Ethan, and Tristan are nowhere to be seen. I sigh and ignore them, turning back to Rily and Bella. All of a sudden I hear my name. It came from Michelle's lips so I know she can't be saying anything good about me. I stand up and leave, not saying anything to Bella or Rily. I quickly head back to the training room and pick up my weapon of choice- the bow and arrow. I'm so tired of having to deal with Michelle making me seem weak. As my eyes tear up, I pull the bow back and angrily let it go. I shoot a couple times until I hear a voice behind me.

"Good job." It's Ethan. I wipe my eyes, not wanting him to see I've been crying and turn around.

"What are you doing here?" I demand a little rudely. He looks like I just slapped him and I realize how mean it sounded. Good thing it hadn't been anybody else because I probably would have gone off on them. "Sorry, I'm just mad at Michelle. I shouldn't take it out on you," I apologize.

"It's ok. I understand. Just don't let her get to you. She's like a sister; ignore her, don't let her know she makes you mad, and she'll stop," Ethan recommends as I sit down on one of the benches. He sits down next to me and rubs my arm to try and comfort me. My eyes tear up again. His hand against my arm is so comforting that the tears spill out of my eyes.

"Hey, it's okay."

"I'm just so tired of looking weak in front of everyone." He wraps his arm around me and pulls me into a hug.

"How about I help you? We can do some extra training and you can show off in a couple of weeks." I nod and say, "Thanks."

"Of course."

When I get back to my room, Bella and Rily ask me where I was. I explain what happened and how Ethan offered to give me extra training. When I said I was actually excited about it Bella says,"Ooh, 'cause you-." I cut her off by asking "Sooo, what have you been up to?" Bella just laughs and Rily looks confused. We eventually go to bed.

∞ Bella ∞

"Natalie just left with Ethan," I point out one day after training.

"Ok…" Rily says, giving me a confused look. I shake my head- How can people be so oblivious?

"Never mind," I say and after a couple minutes, they come back in. "Where did you two go?" I ask her. Natalie rolls her eyes and says, "He was showing me his book collection. We were talking about how much we like books today while we were training."

"Oooh, so you guys are finally talking," I comment. Natalie sticks out her tongue, showing off the little girl she truly is on the inside. "You know, he doesn't seem to talk to many people."

"I guess I'm just special!" she says and I say, "You are- at least to him."

"You're funny," she says and Rily asks, "Ok, somebody better tell me what's going on between Natalie and Ethan because I'm lost."

"Nothing is going on between us," Natalie says, her cheeks burning.

"Right…" I say and she persists on lying to me, "Seriously!"

"Fine," I say and she gives a sigh of relief.

I was just wondering how many people are actually liking this and wanting me to continue. Let me know by leaving a review!