Hey everyone. Second chapter! I have a pitiful (read: huge) amount of free time right now so hopefully I'll get chapters up pretty quickly – and then this fic will be done pretty quickly, I'm only expecting like, three chapters. Thanks for all the reviews already that was exciting, I want more! Note: I don't own Class of the Titans, I only pretend I do.


Another Chance
Chapter Two: Jumping

Theresa smiled to herself as she walked away from her frustrated friend. She knew what she had said was enough to make Atlanta realize what she already knew but was just denying to herself – or so Theresa hoped. She had to admit, Atlanta could be stubborn and oblivious, but there was a point when she had to realize what was in front of her.

Theresa paused in front of her room; she had only walked away from the table for emphasis and didn't really need anything from there. Oh the deceit of being a matchmaker, she thought with melodramatic sarcasm. She leaned into her room to see if she really did need something of which she had just forgotten, but, seeing nothing, turned back towards the table. Atlanta was no longer sitting at it and seemed to no longer be anywhere in the house. Theresa sat down with a satisfied grin on her face and rested her chin in her hands. Or at least she would have done so if at that moment a handsome brown-haired boy had not strode through the door.

"Theresa, just the person I wanted to see!" he smiled, sitting next to her.

She lowered her eyes shyly. "Really? Little ol' me?" she replied, looking up again and batting her eyelashes much too much to be taken seriously.

Jay laughed. "Always," he said softly.

Theresa blushed and looked down at her lap quickly before looking back up to Jay. His eyes were creased into a rare smile: his face was usually so serious in concentration. She loved it when he smiled and always just wanted to… "Uh, so did you hear about Archie and Atlanta?" she asked him, bringing her thoughts back from where they had been wandering. Not yet, not now, she scolded herself in her head.

"Oh, uh, yeah that was what I was hoping to talk to you about," Jay replied, also looking as though he had been pulled from a happy place. "Something like this could be so breaking for the group dynamic," he thought out loud, "and though I'm really not the right person to deal with this kind of thing, I know someone who is…" he looked at Theresa from the corners of his eyes in a sly smile.

"I've done all I can already," she said, lifting her shoulders with a smile. This time she decided no emphasis was needed and stayed right where she was.

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Archie sat up painfully. His jaw ached where it had slid along the dusty track and his head felt as though it would burst past his skull. He clutched his head and looked up, seeing the blurry figure of Atlanta kneeling over him. Clenching his teeth he looked at his knees, where two equal scrapes reminded him again of what just happened, and why he had been running. He remembered seeing Atlanta sitting on the bleachers and the next thing he knew he was grating along the track. He closed his eyes in pain and frustration but refused to voice it, especially with Atlanta there. She had hurt him enough but he would never make it obvious to her.

"Archie, are you... are you alright?" Atlanta asked, her voice threaded with worry. When she had seen him fall her stomach felt like it flipped itself and she had run as fast as she could to his side.

"Fine," he said through his teeth, using a hand for support to raise himself off the red ground, the other hand still trying to subdue his throbbing headache. Atlanta rose with him, reaching out in a vain attempt to help him.

"I was just down here to, uh, think, when I saw you. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you fall," Atlanta babbled as Archie stiffly straightened up. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and erase everything that happened. What are you thinking? Where did that come from? she questioned herself, shaking her red head.

"You didn't make me fall, there was a… rock on the track," Archie lied, turning away from her. He gingerly touched under his chin where a sharp pain told him an open cut was present.

"Are you hurt? Is your chin okay?" Atlanta asked, reaching for Archie's shoulder.

"It's fine, I'm fine," Archie said again, frustrated with Atlanta for being there and frustrated with himself for tripping.

"Are you sure?" she said, her hand finally reaching his shoulder. Her touch made his skin tingle and he could feel the warmth of her hand through his shirt. His hand was kept clasped against his head even though his pounding headache seemed to evaporate, replaced by his pounding heart.

Archie furrowed his brow and shrugged her hand away. "Yes," he growled angrily. She's only looking out for her 'good friend', he told himself, fixing his eyes on a cluster of trees in the distance and trying to ignore what he was feeling.

Atlanta dropped her arm from his shoulder as Archie walked determinedly away, not looking back. If he had he would have seen the mixture of shock and hurt on her face, but instead his pace quickened into a run as he crossed the furthest track, heading towards the forest. Atlanta only stared after him – for once she knew her speed would not help her.