A/N: So, quick update for once. It's an apology for not updating the last chapter as quickly as you guys would have wished.

Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters, plots, ideas and quotes belong to their respective owners. Any original characters, plots, ideas and quotes belong to me.

"First things first, where is your weapon?"

"Right here," I said, taking off my ring.

"No offense, but I don't think a ring is going to help you fight off monsters," he smirked. His expression suddenly changed when he saw the flash of light and the transformation of my ring into a dagger. I noticed that the surprised expression changed back into a smirk.

"Dagger on sword combat is difficult; you have control while I have reach, so it's best if you come in close." His blade glimmered in the sun as he motioned for me to attack him. I tried not to look straight at him, knowing that it would totally ruin my concentration. I did get in pretty close, and I tried a maneuver that I had seen in here earlier. He slashed back at me. I blocked it and grinned at him, and he grinned right back, which was when I faltered slightly and my dagger clanged out of my hands, and he had pinned one arm behind my back.

"Good try, but next time, try to not get distracted," he smirked. "Let's try again."

I sneaked a peek to see what Laila and Nico were doing. I half expected Laila to have somehow talked Nico into helping her practice like they did in those cheesy movies where the guy gets right behind the girl and teaches her how to play pool, but to my surprise, it looked like they were having another contest. I shook my head. Nico, of all people, should know better than to compete against Laila.

I turned my attention back to Ethan. This time we went a little into hand to hand combat. Once again, I lost. I wasn't very good at the fighting thing.

"You have to focus a little more on the target, Grace. You have to know what you want before you can get it." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Get over yourself, Ethan. One more time, and this time I'll win." I said. He got into a fighting position. I attacked him, and it was like someone had turned on a switch somewhere. I'd successfully disarmed him and continued to fight him hand to hand. Somehow, I grabbed both his arms and pinned them behind his back.

I looked up to give him a smug grin, but my breath stopped in my throat when I realized that our faces were mere inches away from each other. We stood there, just staring at each other until Nico interrupted.

"Are you guys just going to stare at each other all day?" he asked, jokingly. "Good job, by the way, Grace. Not many people can beat a seasoned veteran on their first day."

"For your information, di Angelo, I let her win."

"You did not!" I gasped.

"Yes I did," he responded coolly.

"Well, in that case, let's have a contest. Me and Laila against you and Nico."

"Great idea. Winner gets to order around the loser for the next hour."

"Ethan, I don't think you—"

"Oh, shut up, di Angelo."

"But, Ethan!" I mentally willed Nico to shut up. We would never compete if Ethan found out that Laila was a daughter of Nike.

"Are we gonna do this or not?" Laila asked impatiently. "I'm ready to kick some butt!"

"We'll see how much butt kicking you do. I don't think you've ever competed against a real man," Ethan said with a pointed look at Nico. That was not good. For him. I knew how mad Laila would get with that insinuation.

"Oh, really? We'll see."

"We will see," Ethan replied overconfidently.

"We'll attack." I said as Ethan grabbed his sword from where it had dropped earlier when we were fighting. "You take Nico, I'll take Ethan?" I said under my breath to Laila.

"Of course. I wouldn't let you near my man," she giggled softly.

"Let's do this thing," I said at a normal volume.

Nico had his sword aside, because Laila didn't have a weapon. Obviously, the guys had the same plan as we did; Laila against Nico and me against Ethan.

I wasn't sure how Laila and Nico were doing but I managed to stay focused. Of course, I lost my dagger first, I almost kicked him in the face but he was a little too tall. He kicked me in the side, which lead to me to fall straight down, I kicked out my legs and made him fall too. Except my calculations were a little off and he landed right on top of me.

"If you were so eager, you could've just asked," he smirked.

"Shut up." I could feel the blush creeping up my cheeks.

Why would he even say something like that?

"Because I'm a guy," he said.

Did I say that out loud?

"Yep," he said, laughing. My face reddened further.

"Let's get back to the fight, shall we?"

"Why? I quite liked this."

"Because I'm looking forward to bossing you around for an hour."

"Not likely." At that time, he pinned my arms above my head and draped his leg against mine so I couldn't move them. "Give up yet?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Considering that I can't even move, I'm going to say yes." He smirked at me again, and if I could have moved my arms, I would had slapped him.

"Hey Ethan, would you do me the pleasure of getting off of my best friend?" Laila asked. We both looked over at her and I immediately felt bad for Nico, both of his arms were pinned behind his back in what appeared to be a pretty painful way.

"Nope, I think I'm comfortable right here."

"Ethan, if I could slap you..." I trailed off, relishing the idea in my head.

"Fine," he said, slowly getting up. Once he stood up, he held his hand out to me to help me up. I ignored it and got up myself. "Don't be mean just because I get to boss you around for an hour."

"Does this mean that I get to boss Nico around for an hour?" Laila asked excitedly.

"Yeah, Laila clearly won against Nico."

"Hey!" Nico protested, I noticed that Laila was still holding his arm.

"Sorry, di Angelo, but she smashed you."

"Like a bug," Laila commented. She and Ethan laughed and high-fived.

"Fine. Let's try to be strong for the next hour," Nico said, looking at me. I nearly growled when Ethan slung his arm over my shoulder.

"Well, what could we possibly get done in a hour?" he mused.

A/N: So, please leave us a review and let us know that there are actually still people who read this story. We're getting a bit worried... Also, if you want random updates from Grace and Laila on stuff like when we're writing, like "Grace and Laila's Nook of Awesomeness" of Facebook. See you soon, hopefully!