Starcrossed

we’re talking about, not just an athletic scholarship,” he said evenly, calmly. “I want you to quit. For now, anyway.”
    “You have got to be kidding me,” she replied, completely deadpan.
    “I’m not. Quit track. Until we figure out how to deal with Creon, it’s too dangerous.”
    “What if I just walked up to you and told you to quit football?” she asked sarcastically.
    “Done,” he said, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. “I told you once, and I meant it, that I’d never ask you to do something that I wouldn’t do myself. We’re in this together.”
    “You’re . . . That’s . . . I can’t believe you’re putting this on me!” she yelled, pointing a finger at him childishly. She stomped around in a circle, kicking at the sand and trying to figure out why she was so upset.
    “I’m not putting it on you! It’s on both of us! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” he urged, raising his voice in frustration.
    “I’ve always felt stuck on this island, and I always thought track would be my one way to get off of it. Now you’re telling me to give up on all of my plans like it’s the easiest thing in the world!”
    “It’s easier than dying!” he shouted at her, but there was a humorous lilt creeping into his voice and a smile tugging at his lips. “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but you can fly . You’re not going to be stuck anywhere again!”
    Helen didn’t want to laugh. In fact, she was working very hard to give him a penetrating glare, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep a straight face. She made a horrible noise, a huge piggy-sounding snort, and that made Lucas double up and laugh so hard he had to put his hands on his knees to brace himself. As Helen covered her face and really let herself laugh, she felt Lucas put his arms around her.
    They held on to each other, each of them propping the other up. That’s when Helen started to understand how things really worked between her and Lucas. They had to do this together, had to share fifty-fifty the huge burdens that had been placed on them, or they would be crushed.
    Lucas turned his lips toward her cheek as he ran his hand up her spine and began to stroke the back of her neck. She felt the muscles across his shoulders tense and he suddenly pushed a knee between her thighs. Helen gasped and tried to decide if she should pull him down on top of her like she wanted, or push him away like he wanted, but she didn’t get the chance to do either. As quickly as he had changed, he switched back. He pulled away from her with a sad smile, and then jumped into the air.
    “You know, you don’t need to run track to get into a good school. You’re going to kill it on your SATs,” he said breezily, but with the faintest bit of a quiver still lingering in his voice.
    “That’s what Hergie thinks, too,” Helen said. She still felt a bit dazed and shaky. She joined him in the sky and continued her thought when she finally had one. “I just didn’t want to be that girl, you know? The girl who does whatever her boyfriend tells her to do because she wants someone else to make all the tough decisions for her.”
    “I hate that girl,” Lucas said with a wrinkled nose as they flew back, hand in hand, to his house.
    “Everyone hates that girl. That’s why I can’t automatically do whatever you say, even if you are right. I’ve got my pride,” Helen said jokingly as they landed in his yard, but he didn’t laugh. She squeezed his hand. “What is it?”
    “Pride is a really dangerous thing for Scions. We’re prone to it, and it’s usually our downfall. I know you were kidding, but be careful, okay?” he said gently.
    “Oh, yeah. Hubris. Ancient Greece’s big no-no.” Helen nodded sagely. Lucas gave her a surprised look. “What? I’ve been doing my mythology homework. Actually, I guess it’s my history homework, isn’t it?”
    “It is. Family history,” he said, and pulled her close to him.
    They walked down to the fight cage with their arms around each other before separating. They changed into workout clothes and met back on the practice mat.
    Helen was expecting there to be a little lingering tension between her and Lucas after his “slip” at Great Point, but if anything, that momentary loss of self-control only served to make him more focused on training. Usually, there was a moment or two when one or the other of them would become conscious of the