FINALLY GOT OUT OF SCHOOL FOR THE SUMMER. YAY! More time to write now. I apologize for it taking so long.

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"He gave you flowers!" Amy gushed on our way to school. Jasmine was riding in the backseat because apparently I couldn't even manage the five minute drive to school without the fear of being killed.

Last night had ended almost perfectly. I was still mad at him for asking Valentina for more protection, but between the flowers and the kiss, it might've been the best night ever. After he kissed me, we just sat on the roof and talked until it was almost three. Of course, that means I'm about to fall asleep right now, but it was worth it.

"Did he steal them from a garden?" Jasmine asked.

"It's possible, but I like to think that he didn't." I admitted. Even if he did take them from a neighbor's garden, it's still a nice gesture. Well, kind of.

"Did he kiss you?" Amy asked excitedly.

"Yes," I could feel my cheeks warm up a little bit. "It was nice."

"It was nice? You're not going to give us any more details?"

"That was pretty much it." After hesitating for a moment, I continued. "But, I do have more protection now." I saw Amy's smile turn into a frown.

"Why?"

"Alek thought it would be safer if Mimi and Derek were put on her security detail." Jasmine responded. "I have to say that I agree with him. Just this week you've almost died twice."

"So what? My entire life is going to be like this. The Order is NEVER going to stop even if you guys manage to kill the Scarface Creep. I can't live my entire life in fear of what might happen. And I can't let anybody sacrifice themselves for me." I said as we pulled into a parking spot at school. For once, Amy remained silent. Jasmine opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, I was already out the door.

"Chloe." I heard behind me, but I chose to ignore it and in just a few seconds, I was already walking into the school. "Did you not hear me call?" Somebody said as he put their arm around me. It was Alek.

"I didn't. Sorry." I lied. "I'll see you later. I don't want to be late for class." After I shrugged off his arm, Alek spun me around to face him.

"Relax, we have the same class. There's plenty of time." Alek frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing,"

"Don't lie to me Chloe. I can tell something's wrong. Especially after seeing you storm out of Jasmine's car."

"Everything's fine. I'll see you at lunch."

Alex POV

"Everything's fine. I'll see you at lunch." Chloe said before quickly taking off.

"She's really upset right now." Jasmine said as she stopped beside me. "She thinks that the death threats and the protection detail will never stop."

"I know. I heard her talking to you and Amy in the car." I had been walking over to say hi to Chloe when I heard how upset she was. Then, before I could go over there and attempt to comfort her, she had stormed out of the car and was nearly running into the school.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think she has a point. Chloe may never be safe again." The warning bell rang, interrupting whatever Jasmine was about to say. "I'll talk to you later."

As soon as I entered the history room, I searched for Chloe. She was sitting alone in the corner of the classroom just staring off into space. "Hey Chloe," At first, I thought she didn't hear me, but then she rested her head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry for earlier."

"You have a right to be frustrated."

"That doesn't mean I should take it out on you or Jasmine. Ugh. I feel horrible about that. She's done so much for me and I treat her like that?"

"Everything will turn out okay." I promised her; even though it was a promise I could never keep.

"Hey guys. Is this seat taken?" Mimi asked as she sat down. I felt myself stiffen automatically, but I couldn't help it. Chloe and I were finally together. Well, kind of together. And Mimi, my ex-girlfriend, shows up and I haven't mentioned to Chloe that we dated for two years. "So, I was thinking tonight we would have a practice that way I could see what Chloe can do. Then we could figure out everything from there."

"Sure." I said at the same time Chloe said, "No can do."

"Why not?" Mimi questioned."

"My mom is furious with me for getting home so late. I'm grounded. If she catches me sneaking out again, I'll be in even more trouble."

"Just tell her you need to train or that it's Uniter business. She'll have to let you go then."

"Chloe's mom doesn't actually know Chloe is the Uniter. Or that Mai exist at all."

"How is that even possible? If she's Chloe's mom, then obviously she knows Chloe is Mai because she is one." The look of confusion left Mimi's face. "Chloe's adopted?" Chloe nodded her head. "I feel like an idiot. I'm so sorry." I waited for Chloe to say something, but all she did was shrug. "Are you sure you can't come out tonight? It's really important to train as much as possible, and I really need to figure out where you're at."

Chloe hates training. If I only knew one think about her, it's that she hates to train. She hates that she has to lie to her mother to go train. She hates how training ruins her rule about eight hours of sleep a night. And, she despises that it's necessary to train at all. But instead of arguing, all she did was shrug and say, "Meet me on my roof tonight at two a.m."

Chloe POV

"If my mom finds you here, I'm grounded for life." I tell Alek as he makes himself comfortable on my couch. He followed me home saying "I'm your guard until training." and that's why he couldn't leave me alone. Eventually, he walked side by side me, making conversation.

"And if she catches you sneaking out tonight, you're grounded for life, so why are you risking it?"

"You heard Mimi. She wants to know where we're at for my training."

"That doesn't mean you had to say yes."

"I thought you would be happy. The more training, the better. And this time, I didn't even complain."

"You're right that I think the more you learn to protect yourself, the better," Alek gently pulled me down beside him on the couch. "I'm just a little confused on how easily you said yes." A smile crossed his face. "Besides, now that Mimi is going to be at the training from now on, it means I can't do this."

Alek placed his hands on my cheeks and leaned in to kiss me. I half expected Amy to barge in, or for one of our cell phones to ring and interrupt this moment, but nothing happened. Instead, I felt myself being gently pushed down so I was lying down on the couch. He moved his hands to support his weight, and I tangled mine into his hair.

I could feel his racing heartbeat, and no doubt, he could feel mine. This moment was perfect. There was nobody interrupting us like usual. Nobody was trying to kill me at this moment. I forgot all about everything except for him.

"So, what were you guys working on before I came?" Mimi asked later that night when we got to the practice area. Hopefully, we weren't going to continue the pole fighting. I'm done with being knocked down on my ass.

"We were fighting with poles." Alek answered.

"Great, we'll continue with that until Chloe is proficient." No such luck for me. "In your opinion, how much work does she need for this?" When Alek started laughing, I had to resist the urge to hit him.

"A lot," Mimi frowned a little and then got out the staffs.

"Take this," She tossed one to me. Before she said anything else, she attacked. At first I was mad that she didn't give any warning, then I figured that it makes sense that she didn't. It's not like the order was going to tell me when they were going to attack.

I expected to be knocked down within a matter of seconds, but I wasn't. Instead, I was actually dodging all of her hits pretty well and she was the one knocked down within seconds. "That was really good. How does that qualify as needs a lot of work?" She said breathlessly while I was barely winded.

How did that happen? I always sucked at using the staffs. A point that Alek made very clear. "I'm just as shocked as you are." Alek laughed. "Want to see how much Chloe can handle?" His smile made me very suspicious of what he was going to do. Mimi nodded and then suddenly, they were attacking me on both sides.

I quickly ducked; avoiding the high shot from Mimi only to have to jump to the right to avoid Alek's hit. When I fell down, I somehow managed to do a handstand right back up. Even though I was facing the other way, I could sense something was going to hit me in the back, so I quickly turned and blocked with my stick. Swiftly, I twisted my stick sideways, knocking Alek's stick out of his hands.

Right after I knocked him to the ground, Mimi suddenly appeared to my left. Without thinking, I leaned my weight on the staff and used it to support me while kicking her in the stomach. Apparently, Alek had gotten up while I was fighting Mimi and had grabbed his stick again. Our sticks got tangled when I tried to block him, and then I lost my grip on the stick.

Alek quickly grabbed my stick and tossed it up into the tree, a good six feet above us. He smiled like he knew the fight was almost over, but I didn't want to be shown up during the first training session with Mimi, so I jumped up. My hands were barely able to grasp the branch. The staff was still a few feet away, and Alek was raising the stick as if to hit me. I quickly drew my feet up to avoid the hit, wrapped them across the branch behind me, and swung backwards to grab the staff.

As soon as I grabbed the staff, I lifted myself on top of the branch so I could stand. The width of the branch seemed a lot smaller once I stood, but I didn't have much time to ponder that fact because Mimi had jumped onto the branch as well. I was about to jump back down to the ground, but saw Alek right beneath me. I was trapped.

There was a tree about twenty feet away with a branch a little lower than the one I was on right now, so I jumped. I thought I was going to miss, and pathetically fall down on my butt, but I didn't. Instead, I had gripped the branch with one hand while holding the staff with the other. After jumping down, I lunged to Alek, quickly hitting the staff out of his hand and knocking him to the ground. Mimi jumped down to the ground as well, and tried to hit me in the gut, but I tripped her.

I expected Alek and Mimi to get up and attack again, but they stayed down gasping for air. "Good job Chloe." Alek said when he was slowly getting up. "I'm impressed. "

"Same here," Mimi chipped in. "That was some jump," Alek tossed us both some water before I went and sat down next to him. "You don't even seem tired." My breathing was a little heavier than usual, but not nearly as much as theirs, so I shrugged.

"What are we doing next?" I asked.

"You should probably get some sleep. It's almost three thirty in the morning. We can practice again tomorrow. Or later today I guess." Mimi answered. "Alek, do you want to walk her home when I pack up?"

"Sure," Alek smiled. "Race you back?" Without even waiting for a response, he took off. I caught up quickly and then pulled in front of him. By the time we got back to my room, we were both out of breath.

"Beatcha," I smiled victoriously.

"That won't happen again. It was just a fluke."

"Really now?" I took a step closer to him. "You sure about that?"

"Not even the slightest." Alek grinned. "Good night Chloe King." He pressed his lips against mine. The kiss was short, unlike the others, but it was sweet. Simple, short, sweet, and perfect.

What did you think? Too much description of the fight? Liked? Loved? Hated? (Hopefully not the last one.) Thanks for reading.