I stood there for a moment until Roxanne pushed me lightly.

"Get in there! Don't keep your audience waiting."

With her urging, I climbed over the rope and faced Amira who was smiling at me.

"Didn't expect you to get in the ring on your first day," she said playfully.

"I didn't volunteer for this. Trust me. I saw how you took out that guy and he was at least twice the size of you!"

She laughed and said, "Well you're in here now and you can't back out now. I mean now you've got something to prove seeing as it's your first day. This is what everyone is going to take away."

The announcer said something and Amira looked back at me. "We're starting now. Best of luck!"

Then we took a couple steps back and got into a beginning stance. I bounced a bit on the balls of my feet and the guy that kept yelling things, shouted something else which I assumed was telling us to start.

I looked her over and remembered what I had observed earlier while she was fighting baldie. She used her legs more than her arms. While I was thinking about how I could use this to my advantage, she sprang at me. I moved out of the way just in time and turned around quickly where Amira was regaining her composure.

I moved forwards and tried to hit her with my fist but she was out of the way before I could even get too close. While my arm was still where her head had been seconds ago, she grabbed my wrist and my shoulder. Before I even knew what had happened I was on the ground with the wind knocked out of me. As she came closer to me though, I rolled out of the way to prevent her from pinning me down and was able to get up. Although I was still a bit out of breath I faced her as she tried to kick me in the chest.

As I moved out of the way, I kicked her legs from underneath her not completely unlike what she had done in the fight before this. Amira hit the ground with a little thud and she whimpered.

"My head... Ouch..."

My eyes widened as I went over to her. "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Oof!"

I was on the mat yet again with a grinning Amira over me.

"You cheater!"

"Well it wasn't in the rules that I couldn't act," she said trying to sound innocent. It seemed as if she was going to win when I tried desperately to use my legs to hit her but she just hit them aside.

I wasn't going to give up just yet so I wrapped them around her and pulled. She fell and I quickly got up sitting on her legs and holding down her arms. She struggled trying to get up but couldn't and finally everyone started yelling excitedly. I could hear Roxanne call out "You're done! You've won!" And I let go of Amira.

She grinned at me and said, "Good job. You're not that bad."

"Thanks. Wait so now what do I do?"

"You keep fighting until you lose."

I beat the next couple people until Anne decided to come in. She had me down in under a minute, and I left to go practice something else.

•••

"Don't look now, but that guy over there is totally staring at you."

"What?" She turned to look.

"No! I said don't look now! Otherwise he'll know we're talking about him... Okay... He's looking away! The guy in the blue T-shirt two tables away."

Kate turned to look at him. "Really? He was staring at me?"

"Yep," I replied. "He looks our age and you think he's cute."

"Yeah well-"

"Shhhh! He's coming over here! Act natural," I hissed. Since I said that we both obviously struck the most unnatural pose possible but he still came over.

"Is this seat open?" The starer stopped at our table and spoke to us in English which you could tell was not his first language.

"Yes," I answered for Kate who seemed to have lost the ability to talk.

"You are the visitors from the America, no? I am Blaise," he told both of us then turned towards Kate." I just could not help but notice how much beautiful you were from across the room. I finally decided to talk to you."

Obviously I was no longer a part of this conversation so I said, "It was a pleasure to meet you Blaise but I will be going back to my room to rest for a little before I do anything else. Kate you don't have to come with me so you can just stay here. I'm not going to do anything interesting. Really," I added because I saw Kate make a move to get up. I got up to put my plate away and smirked at my blushing friend after Blaise turned his head.

I walked back to my room thinking about what I had helped my mom with earlier today. I had helped her work on looking for openings and weak spots in an opponent. Then we had practiced fighting like I had in the ring but lost because really, you can't hit your mom. I mean she even told me it's okay to hit her so she can practice but still. It's just wrong. So I helped her with that as well as going over everything else my friends had told her very briefly.

I arrived at my room and fell onto my mattress. I was really tired and there was no one else in the room. My mom and Anne were discussing something else concerning my mother joining us for our fight and Kate was obviously still where I left her, so I decided to sleep since I had been somewhat deprived of it since I got here. It will only get worse too because when we actually go after the things, who knows how long it will take.

My head hits the pillow and only a few seconds later, I am drifting off. What feels like only two minutes of sleep, Kate barges in excited.

"What happened after I left?" I asked still a bit groggy.

"Well we talked a bit, then he asked me out."

I sat up now fully awake. "Wait what?"

"Well, I mean he technically said that he would like to get to know me better, at Angelina's tomorrow for lunch since we don't have training and that he would pick me up at 11. Then he winked."

I was excited until I realized, "Wait, you're going out with someone that you met," I checked my watch, "Twenty-seven minutes ago?"

"Yes," she said happily. "He seems very nice and his eyes are so dreamy."

"Mhm... Sure," I muttered but ultimately decided to just ask Amira what she thought of Blaise later.

***

The next day I was helping Kate get ready for her date. "How about a dress. I like this one that I brought."

"How about no. I think it's too revealing for a first date."

"Really, Ryan? It's only up to my knee."

"Oh! I know! You should wear those cute sweatpants you brought. The pink ones."

"How about no," she said mimicking me from moments earlier. "Honestly, you're worse than an overprotective parent." I huffed but didn't say anything. Finally, we compromised on something pretty casual.

"I think it's missing something. I don't know what it is though."

"I think I know what it is. How about you bring a knife... You know. Just in case?"

Kate just rolled her eyes at me and put on a thin necklace. "Well fine then."

Only a couple minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Kate left leaving me alone. I remembered that I had wanted to ask Amira about the guy I had just let my best fiend leave with.

Walking down the hall, I ran into the person I wanted to talk to. "Hey Amira!"

She stopped. "Hey Ryan, what's up?"

"I had a question about one of the people from your base."

"Oh ok. Who is it?"

"Do you know who Blaise is?"

"Oh yeah. He's actually pretty new. He started a couple month ago."

"What do think of him? Can he be trusted?"

"I don't know. I mean he's good-looking and all, but I don't really trust him. Something seems off about him. Why do you ask?"

"Oh because Kate just left on a date with him."

Amira frowned. "Well I don't want to break up any blossoming relationships but I don't really like him. She could do so much better. Like she should go out with, what's his name, Matt. He seems a lot nicer. But it's not my place."

A plan grew in my head. "Do you think I should follow them?"

A smile spread across her face. "I'm not saying that it's good to spy on people, but you know, Angelina's isn't that far from here and you could always look it up on your phone. Oh and I heard Blaise say that he was going to walk there. Theoretically speaking it can't be too hard to catch up to a couple walking somewhere. But you know, I'm not exactly endorsing anything," she said with a wink.

"Okay. Thanks and if you don't mind could you cover for me?"

"Sure thing! Have fun not spying on people!"

I smiled and quickly headed in the direction that I had seen the two walk in earlier. I didn't run into anyone I knew probably because the boys were still sleeping and my mom had gone out to shop with Anne. I went out the front door and walked down the path while searching where the café was before I got lost.

I easily found the place and started walking that way. A short walk later, I was standing in front of a fancy looking place. Right then I realized that I was not close to looking nice enough to go in. I was wearing a pair of legging with a hole in them, some dirty converse, a messy bun, and my favorite T-shirt that said 'The Book Was Better'.

But seeing as I had nothing to change into, I quickly braided my hair to make it seem more presentable and walked in. I remembered something my mom had told me once. If you don't actually fit in, just carry yourself with confidence and no one will notice. As much as love this piece of advice, it doesn't work. I stepped up to the front desk and asked for a table for one. The girl looked me over and obviously did not approve, but still let me in. She was leading me to a table when I caught sight of the person I was supposed to be watching over.

"Excuse me ma'am. But could I please have a seat at the table by the window? I love the view." I pointed at the table that was a couple away from Kate's. The lady looked at me like 'do you really have to be so difficult' but  with a sigh and a mutter under her breath probably about tourists, she led me over.

Another person came over and I assumed she was my waitress. I looked at the menu and decided to order from the pictures.

"One hot chocolate please."

"Yes. It will be right out," the lady said with a thick accent. She gave me a once over and looked as if someone was holding a rotting fish under her nose.

"Yes, yes, I know I'm a mess," I muttered and she turned away to place my order. Meanwhile I looked over to where my friend and my not friend sat. Kate had her back to me and was laughing at something he said. They went on talking, and I guess Kate felt me watching her because she turned to look behind her.

I think I handled it pretty well by flipping up my menu so that it covered my face. Neither of them said anything so I assume it worked. One hour and two cups of the best hot chocolate I've ever had later, they decided to leave. I asked for my check and almost spit out the last sip of my rich drink I had. Instead, my body decided to swallow it roughly and caused me to cough loudly gaining dirty looks from customers around me as well as the evil waitress as I've decided to call her.

As if that wasn't enough, I almost had to dive under the table when Kate turned to look at me seeing as my menu had been taken away earlier. I paid my extremely expensive bill and hurried out after the pair of lovebirds headed down the street on a little walk. For the next twenty minutes, I watched them walk and do couple things like hold hands and we ended up by a fountain in a little park of sorts. Honestly, I had to be watching her every second. The moment I turned away to look at a street performer he started to lean closer to Kate.

Well, she noticed and started to lean closer. At that time, someone innocent might have been walking by and they might have been tripped a little so that they would fall into the center of this little piece of PDA as I walked very rapidly in the other direction. From behind a bush, I watched as my sweet friend tried to help up a mortified person. I sighed in relief because the mood had been broken and my job was done. I stood up getting more dirty looks from everyone passing by. What was it with everyone hating us tourists.

I stepped back onto the path as I brushed the dirt off my pants. As I straightened up, a hand clamped over my mouth and said, "Don't you dare scream."

***

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating but this time I have an excuse. You all know it. School. I just started up again so it's hard to find more time to write with all the homework and projects and stuff. Anyways, I want to thank officialfangrl4ever for giving me ideas for this chapter. She was the one who suggested Angelina's as a place to eat. So thank you for that! Also over 400 reads! Thank you to everyone who is taking time to read my story and an even bigger thank you to everyone who is voting and commenting. On that note if you did like this chapter please click on the little star button below or comment on what you think. I promise I don't bite :) until next time ~Julia