Serena's words made her heart lurch and when she reached for her wrist she went to jerk away but wasn't fast enough... Still, instead of yanking it off her Serena just pulled her sleeve down over it. Suddenly, she felt very very dirty and ashamed. Anna rubbed the back of her neck, "Serena... I-" but the other girl was already tugging her upstairs... Probably expecting her to bail on class again. Honestly, she'd been bailing because she couldn't deal with seeing Gunner looking at her the way he did... Angry and hurt, like it was HER fault that they couldn't be together. She could deal with a lot of things... but not with Gunner hating her. So, she'd abandoned class on quite a few occasions and practiced in the woods instead... when she wasn't with Jace.

As they passed Gunner and he spoke Anna cringed, her head dropping and her hair dangling in her face to guard her and keep him from seeing how much his words stung... Though it was probably evident in the way her shoulders sagged. As Serena tugged her away from Gunner Anna decided she didn't want to be here after all, but Serena's words made her focus on the fact that if she didn't try to make up for lost time she would never have a good Ward... She was no longer set on it being Seb though, that would be Gunner's go to and she... didn't think either of them would handle having to work together well anymore. Better that she let Serena take her place on that one... maybe she could guard Jace or Basil instead.

Anna sighed, "No, you need to NOT take it easy on me. I need to take this seriously again... for my family. Time to quit moping... at least in this much..."

Anna squared off with Serena and they began. The dizziness wore off, Dhampir healing taking care of it quickly enough since Jace hadn't taken much anyway. She managed to block a few blows but one nasty one caught her in the ribs and she stumbled back with a grimace... it had been sloppy of her to let the attack through. "No worries, just rusty... Keep going." After a bit Anna fell back into her old rhythm but her ribs, arms, and legs were going to have some very very nasty bruises. Serena was good, and unlike Anna she hadn't been missing out on practice. After being 'staked' at least a dozen times Anna had still only managed to 'stake' Serena a grand total of three times.

"I'm sorry... I can do better... I'm just, not quite all here at the moment. You deserve a better sparring partner, Old Anna would have given you a run for your money."

She rubbed her wrist where she'd blocked with it a couple times... it was hurting and she was sure the bruised skin was only just now fading back to a normal shade. Multiple bites in the same place could leave some nasty discoloration and bruising after a while. She'd had to take to wearing wide thick bracelettes because the bruising was pretty bad. "Let's go again..."

She took her stance once more and they went at it, fake stakes in hand. When the bell finally rang Anna caught Serena's arm, "Hey um... don't... don't tell the others okay? It's just a thing... between Jace and I. I don't want to, y'know... have sexy time and this is kinda... a substitute. Others would think he was using me or something... and it's... it's not like that..." Except she sounded like she was trying to convince herself. "I... better find Basil..."

Anna headed out of the class and as she past Gunner she again ducked her head and let her hair block him out, she didn't feel like being judged... she wanted to feel pretty, competent, and not so damn guilty again... and she knew who could make her feel that way.... who could help her forget it... forget the way Gunner's comments and that disapproving look had made her feel. She almost ran chest to chest into Basil in her haste to escape Gunner and Serena, "Sheesh! Oops, sorry Basil..."