* In no way, shape or form do I own the rights to Vampire Academy or any of the characters* *On a side note, this is my first fan fic, please bare with me. I have a nasty habit of getting writers block as soon as I know I actually have a deadline, so I apologize in advance for any waits for further chapters.*

It was happening again. And it was scary.

No, it wasn't a Strigoi attack on the school. It wasn't field experience and it wasn't trials. Nobody was running away, and nobody was being captured and tortured. There was no evil mastermind after anyone.

Then what on Earth, you ask, could possibly scare me, Rose Hathaway, so much? It was Wednesday. Game night. The one night every week where the entire gang — consisting of Dimitri, Christian, Lissa, Adrian, Eddie, Mia and me — got together in one of our rooms and played games. Or at least, had the pretense of playing games. It often ended up in a large bickering match. I guess that's what you get when you group all those types of personalities together.

Tonight was supposed to be a game of "Would You Rather," but I was willing to bet that wouldn't last very long.

Lissa had always wondered how I had gotten Dimitri to join in our mismatched group, but it had been easy, really. All I'd had to do was ask him to, and explain that playing kiddie games when you were older was a billion times more fun than when your actually a kid. I think that's why there are those types of games.

I was brought out of my reverie when there was a knock at my door. Through the bond, I could tell that it was Lissa, come to get me to go to Christian's room. I let her in while I finished brushing my hair out from an impromptu practice with Dimitri. And by impromptu, I mean: I saw an opportunity I couldn't pass up when he walked passed and jumped on his back. And by practice, I mean: I clung to his back and put him in a choke hold, until he leaned over and slid me off.

When I realized that there was nothing more I could do to stall, I sighed. Lissa laughed and tugged on my sleeve. I let her drag me there, though my feet shuffled and I huffed about it, muttering quietly the entire way there about the person who'd thought this up and something about necks and wringing. Okay, maybe I wasn't muttering quietly so much as nearing a yell. I was getting dirty looks from people all the way down the hall.

I knew once I got in there that I would have a good time, but it was the principal. If I gave in too easily, I'd lose my bad-ass reputation.

Lissa opened the door and I slouched my way inside, seeing that my dawdling had made us the last ones there.

"Finally!" Christian exclaimed with his usual snark. I gave him a sickly sweet smile.

"Can we get on with this, please, then?" Mia asked, probably feeling just like I did. "What are we playing first tonight, anyway?"

"Would You Rather," Dimitri answered.

"With a twist," Adrian piped up.

"What's the twist?" I questioned.

"It's strip Would You Rather!" Adrian replied happily.

Lissa frowned. "How does that work?"

"Every time you want to pass without answering, you take off a piece of clothing." Adrian smiled.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want to skip a question? It's Would You Rather, not Truth or Dare."

"Fine," he cajoled. "You can go first." I sat down in the loose circle that seemed to form by itself, and he continued. "Rose, would you rather sleep with Christian, or with me?"

I felt my cheeks go red. "I'm not answering that."

"Then you gotta take off a piece of clothes." Christian smirked at my obvious discomfort.

I sighed and unlaced my boot, slipping it off. I was not off to a good start with this game. "There. Happy?"

The circle was filled with nods as I realized that now I had to ask someone a question. "Adrian," I said, and he focused his attention on me. "Would you rather give up your cigarettes or your alcohol?"

He looked torn, as though he couldn't decide. He opened his mouth and closed it again before finally shaking his head in defeat. "I don't know."

I smiled at him knowingly and he grudgingly yanked off his shoe. Then he turned to Mia and said, "Would you rather be Moroi or dhampir?"

Mia frowned. "Can I say a little bit of both?" Adrian shook his head and she slipped off her shoe. That was when I realized just how quick a game this was going to be.

After two more turns we were back to me. I glared at Christian as he asked me his question. "Would you rather be playing this or Truth or Dare right now?"

"Truth or Dare," I answered truthfully. "At least then someone might give me a radical dare to do."

Christian looked put out that I'd actually answered as I turned to Dimitri. He hadn't had to answer anything yet, and I wanted to see just how uncomfortable I could make him.

"Dimitri, would you rather guard Lissa or Mia?" I asked. He shifted, his discomfort very obvious. He didn't want to dis either of the women, but he didn't want to take off his clothes. Finally, he bowed his head to watch what he was doing as he carefully unlaced his left combat boot.

I heard his muttered, "I didn't sign up for this," under his breath as he looked as Lissa. "Would you rather be an Ivashkov or a Taurus?" I sniggered. Of course he would go with something like that, something that she would have no trouble answering. He was too kind to try to make her uncomfortable. Now, one of the rest of us on the other hand, that was a whole different story.

"Ivashkov," she said, head held high.

"What's wrong with my mom's family?" Adrian asked. Okay, maybe Dimitri wasn't above trying to make someone uncomfortable, it was just that Lissa wasn't his target.

"Nothing!" Lissa replied quickly. "I didn't mean it like that I just meant —"

"What did you mean?" he demanded. Lissa looked flustered. Or maybe Dimitri was finally starting to get into the spirit of this weekly bout of craziness and was warming up to the idea that the night wouldn't be complete until everyone was thoroughly uncomfortable.

"All right then," I interrupted. I wanted to stop them before they descended into a full-fledged argument. After that, the night would be gone to the wind, but it was too early for that yet, though we all knew it would happen eventually. "Next question. Lissa? Who do you wanna ask?"

"Adrian," she said. "Would you rather . . ."

I started to tune everyone out after that, trusting that I would hear if someone said my name.

I had expected the whole Strip-Would-You-Rather thing; I mean, it was Adrian we were talking about here. Every Wednesday, at least one game we played turned into Strip-something-or-other. It was actually kinda weird. I don't really know why we agree to it.

My eyes strayed to Dimitri as I heard him laugh. It was odd that our mismatched group had such a good time together, especially considering most of us didn't even like one another when we first met. Thinking back, I found it hard to believe that the first time I saw Dimitri, I thought he was a threat and had been prepared to fight him. Now, every time I see him, my heart does flutters and I can't help but think of the cabin.

". . . Rose?" Dimitri finished.

I shook myself. "Sorry, what?"

He shot me an exasperated glance. "Would you rather live in St. Peterborough with me and Lissa, or here with everyone?"

I frowned. Everybody in the room knew about his and my relationship, but no one else at the academy did. That was the problem. If we told, I'd be expelled, and relegated to paper duty for the rest of my life, and he would be put on a desk job at best, at worst fired and sent to Alaska or somewhere equally remote. And I'd been to Saint Peterborough. It was beautiful, and all of Dimitri's family would be close by.

No matter how into ruffling people he seemed to be tonight, Dimitri was too nice to make me choose between himself and Lissa. He knew that would just tear me apart, so he grouped them both together versus all of my friends.

Mia laughed when she realized I was actually giving the question serious consideration. I flushed and answered, "St. Peterborough. And I mean everyone in St. Peterborough. Because you know that if Lissa moves to Russia, Christian's going to follow her. Then Adrian would follow just for the hell of it, and Mia would come 'for the change in scenery.' Or at least that's what she'd say. Really, she'd just be following the rest of us. And naturally Eddie would come too, because he always feels as though he owes a debt to me and everyone else." I finished by crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back, feeling proud of myself.

"You know that doesn't count, right?" Christian said, a sneer on his face.

"Why?" I demanded.

"It wasn't one of the options. Therefore, it doesn't count," he proclaimed.

I glared at him, but didn't bother fighting him further. It wouldn't have gotten anywhere, and we could be using that time to get this game over with. I reached down and unlaced my other boot, taking it off and throwing it over my shoulder without ever once looking away — glaring away, really, but that didn't make sense when I said it to myself in my head — from Christian.

I paused, then stood up and went after the boot. They were my favorite pair; no way in hell was I going to run the risk of losing them!

I took a second and took stock of who was down to what. Dimitri had lost both shoes and socks. Lissa, because of how polite she was, had no shoes, no socks, and no shirt. For some reason No shoes, No shirt, No service, rings through my mind. Eddie had one shoe missing, and Mia had two bare feet and no shirt just like Lissa. Christian, not being afraid to hurt someone's feeling's, was only missing one shoe. Adrian was sitting on the floor in only his boxers, pouting.

I laughed. "You wanted to play Strip-Would-You-Rather, you get ganged up on."

He stuck his tongue out at me, and everyone laughed.

Christian looked at me. "You realize it's your turn, right?"

"Oh, ya!" I pursed my lips, then looked triumphantly at Adrian. "Mr. Ivashkov, I have a new twist for you. Whatever you decide between the two that you'd rather do, you have to do." I smiled slyly at him, already planning what I was going to make him do.

His eyes widened. "Um . . . Okay . . . I guess . . ." He looked like he really didn't want to do this. I didn't blame him.

"Alrighty then, on with it! Would you rather kiss Christian or Dimitri?"

Dimitri shot me a pained look that seemed to say Why do you feel the need to do this to me?

Adrian's eyes started bulging out of his head. "What? I don't want to do that!"

I smiled. "I thought you might say that." I looked pointedly at the only piece of clothing he had left on.

He shook his head. "Uh-uh. Not gonna happen! These are staying on! As much as I know that you want to see what's under here, not right now. Meet me after we all split up, and most certainly, I will oblige, but not with everyone else here."

"I had a feeling you'd say that too. In that case, not only do you lose, you have to kiss both of them!" I squealed, trying to contain my laughter and failing miserably.

All the girls laughed so hard we couldn't breath, while Christian, Adrian and Dimitri glowered at each other and me. Eddie looked sympathetic, but not like he was willing to step up and be savior, either.

"Come on, boys, pucker up!" I laughed, holding my sides to ensure my liver and other internal organs didn't spill out, since it felt like my skin was splitting.

"Threesome!" Mia cried. I laughed even harder, really starting to wonder if it was possible to die from laughing to much. Because I think I was.

All three of them flinched and leaned in as one, giving each other a three way peck on the lips, then immediately backing up and whipping their lips. I laughed even harder, if that were possible. I ended up falling over due to my uncontrollable laughing fit, my head landing in Dimitri's lap. He glared down at me, playfully of course — I think.

"I hate you," he said.

"Love you, too," I caroled, as soon as I could get in a breath.

Christian gained his feet in a dignified huff. "I'm leaving," he said, glaring around the room.

Lissa stood too, still laughing, and waved before following him out the door.

"We should go too," Dimitri told me, rising and dragging me up with him. I smiled and waved between racking laughter, as my amazingly hot personal Russian god dragged me back to my dorm. He'd taken to spending the night with me and slipping out at some point in the night so as not to get caught by Alberta or some other guardian.

I finally managed to stop laughing as he and I settled into my way-to-small-for-the-both-of-us single bed and I peacefully fell asleep with my head on his chest and his scent enveloping me.

In those moments of half wakefulness right before beloved sleep envelopes you, I realized something rather disturbing about myself.

I was looking forward to next Wednesday.

*Hope you liked it! R & R! Hopefully I can get the next chapter up soon!*