A/N So I just notice that I have been spelling Hayley incorrectly all along. Oops. I promise to not do that anymore.

Also thanks to everyone who has been reviewing my stories. It really does make me feel good knowing that others are enjoying my stories as much as I have been enjoying writing them. I do plan to make this an adventure/romance story. So there will be Jayley eventually but I like to string it out for a while and just enjoy the tension between the two. So here next chapter.

Chapter 2

HPOV

I woke up bright and early, ready to start the day. My mom was also up and at 'em. She has an old college roommate that lives in DC and she couldn't wait to get caught up.

After listening to her instructions on how the Metro Transit works in DC, how to reach her if needed, a run down of emergency contact info and how she would be back to the hotel around 9pm for the evening it was almost 7:30am. We were supposed to check in at 8am and Jake was still sleeping. I went in to wake him.

"Come on, Jake. We are going to be late." I shook him.

He swatted my hand away. "Just a few more minutes, Mom."

I smacked him upside the head. "I'm not your mom, Idiot. Get up!"

Jake rolled over and opened his eyes. "Oh, its you."

"Yes, its me. Now get moving before you make us late." I said exasperated.

I left the room to let Jake get dressed. We were headed out with just minutes to spare.

We checked in at 8am to find there was to be a half an hour continental breakfast and a meet and greet. Out of habit both Jake and I took a minute to look around the room for anything unusual and to check out the other students there.

I saw Jake take notice of a petite girl with wavy red hair, green eyes, a creamy complexion and a nice smile. He gave her a smile and a head nod then walked over to her.

I walked up to a group of guys that were talking and introduced myself. I learned the group consisted of James: a skinny, blonde haired, freckled faced 16 year old from Kenosha, WI; Shane: a portly 15 year old boy with long greasy dark hair and an issue with acne from Park City, UT; and Thomas (Tommy): a tall, lean 17 year old from Tucson, AZ with short sandy brown hair and a gorgeous smile.

They were all very nice and we immediately got along as we compared our academic and extracurricular activities. During the speeches I sat with my three new friends, just occasionally looking around to make sure Jake was doing okay. Each time he seemed smitten by the pretty red haired girl. So I figured he was doing just fine without me.

Some of the speeches were fascinating. They were ranging from industrializing the modern world to going back to our roots and focusing on agriculture. Others were so boring and useless that I wondered how they even made it to the finals. Then I remembered that if Felix-bot hadn't competed against me I would have won by default. Must be the case with some of these guys.

When we broke for lunch I found a table with James, Shane and Tommy. We had some free spots so Jake came over with the red haired girl whose name I learned to be Mandy.

She seemed like a nice girl. And for some reason she was as equally taken with Jake as he was with her. I wondered what could be wrong with her.

Tommy pushed his way so he sat next to me. I was secretly pleased. Tommy had it all. The looks, the brains, the talent and the charisma. I definitely am going to enjoy this trip.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon Tommy and I sat next to each other. We critiqued and analyzed each presentation. He was so intuitive. Sigh.

I did notice that Tommy started to get possessive of me blocking out James and Shane. While I did find it flattering it was kind of rude at the same time.

We listened to an inspiring closing speech where Tommy was proclaimed the final winner and I was runner-up. I was a little disappointed to not win. I couldn't blame whom they picked though. Tommy's speech really was impressive. As the day wrapped up we made plans of where to meet in the morning for our tour of the city.

I then made my way over to Jake and Mandy. I asked them both if they wanted to hang out the next day with Tommy and me. I smiled at Mandy but turned to Jake to let him know it was time to go. After I told them where we were meeting in the morning I went to wait by the elevator while Jake said his goodnight to Mandy. I looked away to give them a little privacy.

Then Jake and I headed back up the elevator to our rooms. Jake claimed to be exhausted from listening to a day of "nerd talk" and lay down to take a nap.

I, on the other hand, was so excited about our tour of the city the next day, that I pulled out the itinerary I swiped from the group leader. I then researched every one of our stops. I wanted to know the history and inside tidbits of everywhere we were going to go, so I wouldn't miss any single interesting detail.

I heard my stomach growl. I looked at the clock and saw it was 6:30pm. I needed to eat. Pizza sounded good.

The door between the two rooms was wide open. Thinking Jake was still sleeping, I walked in the room talking.

"Hey, Jake, I was…" right then the bathroom door opened. A ball of steam rolled out the door. Out through the steam walked Jake with just a white towel wrapped around his waist. His curly hair was wet and lying against his head. Water glistened on Jake's body. It slowly rolled down his lean, chiseled chest, making its way down to his rock hard abs then traveling down to be caught up in the towel. I couldn't tear my eyes away. I hungrily devoured his body with my eyes. I wondered what was underneath the towel.

"Hey! Knock much?" I was snapped out of my daze.

I looked up with my eyes wide, embarrassed beyond belief.

"I..umm..I wanted.." I fumbled with my words. Mortified I turned my back to Jake and started walking out the door. The only word I could manage was, "Pizza."

I went back into my room and sat in the chair I previously occupied at the table and put my head down on the table. I banged my head a few times on the table trying to remove the images and thoughts that had a little too much fun roaming through my mind. This was Jake. A friend. Friends do not think about other friends with those kinds of thoughts.

Jake came in through the door dressed in jeans and one of his tight long sleeved two toned t-shirts that showed off his chest.

"Did you say something about pizza? I'm starved."

I popped my head up. "Pizza? Yeah, I wanted to see if you wanted to pick up some pizza then we can catch a movie here." I hoped Jake didn't notice the blush still on my cheeks.

"Lets do it." He smiled. Either he didn't notice or he was sparing me the embarrassment. Either way I was grateful.

"Great." We headed out the door. There was a pizza parlor on the first floor of the hotel. We placed an order for a thin crust pizza with sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes and fresh crushed garlic. While we waited for the pizza we made our way to the gift shop to buy some chips and some Cokes.

Armed with our food we made our way back to my room. We flipped through the channels for a while before finally agreeing on Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. It has enough romance to make girls happy but enough comedy so it's not a chick flick for the guys.

I sat on the floor leaning against the end of the bed. Jake sat in one of the chairs with his feet resting on the bed. After a while of the movie, some good pizza and snacks the events of earlier were forgotten and we were able to relax and be comfortable together again.

"So Mandy is pretty." I stated. "And she seems into you too." I joked like I couldn't believe it.

"Yeah, well, can you blame her?" I tossed a chip at Jake's head. He picked it up and ate it. He continued. "Tommy also seems quite the catch." He then made a face like he stepped outside of manliness for a minute. "I mean, if you are a girl. Which you are."

I laughed at his fumble with words. "Oh yeah. He's smart and cute. I think he's into me. I hope he asks me to be his date to the dance tomorrow."

"He'd be stupid not to." He smiled at me. "I'm going to ask Mandy if she wants to go with me."

"She'd be stupid not to." I echoed back. "Now lets watch this movie. Its one of my favorites."

We both turned back to the movie. Before we knew it my mom walked into the room. When she saw us just hanging out she gave us both an approving smile.

After filling her in on our day and hearing about her reunion with her friend we all decided to call it a night. Another busy day in store for tomorrow.

I fell asleep to images of Jake wet in nothing but a towel. In my mind though the towel might just slip a little.