An: omg my beta got this to me really fast! Thanks Tori! Well r&r poeple

Rpov

I walked back from Dimitri's evening practice session exhausted. I really needed to see the back of my eyelids since I hadn't been sleeping well because of Adrian's dream-walking. I walked through the dorm building's doors and made my way to my room. When I opened the door I was all but tackled by Lissa, and – yes – Mia.

"Where have you been, Rose? We came to help you get ready for the dance and you show up late!" Lissa demanded.

What the hell? Wait, crap! The pre-graduation dance was tonight.

"Yeah, Rose, I mean come on. After all the dances we made up, you show now?" Mia said. I turned around to stare at Mia, who still looked like a doll.

"Actually guys, I forgot! Besides, I don't even have a dress, so what's the point now?" I whined, completely unprepared. Lissa stood up, looking really happy and walked into my closet. She came out with a dress bag and some black stilettos.

"We knew you'd say that, so while you were at practice, Adrian got some people from the royal court to make us all dresses!" Mia said, eyes lighting up at Adrian's name. I suppressed a gag and walked over to my bed where Lissa laid the dress bag out. I slowly unzipped it, afraid of what was in it.

"Do you like it, Rose? I helped design it since Lissa's idea was too safe," Mia said. The dress was beautiful; it was black with sequins and stopped about two inches above the knee, making my legs look very sexy.

"Wow! You guys, I love it!" I gushed. I checked the time and there was still a lot of time left – about an hour left, if you want to get technical.

"Well don't just stand there, Rose! Go change!" Lissa squeaked. I went into the bathroom and took the worlds fastest shower, practically throwing the dress over myself as I stepped out of the shower. I walked back into the room and both of them stared at me.

"Oh. My. God," They both said in unison.

I mentally compared them to myself; Lissa had on a gold dress that brought out her inner angel, while Mia had on a short white dress that had a lace border on the bottom and a black floral pattern.

Mia and I both jumped on doing Lissa's hair and make-up since Mia had already done hers. After I got done with Lissa's braided crown, we gave her a mirror.

"Oh my-" Lissa almost screamed. I gave Mia a "does-she-not-like-it?" look, and she shrugged.

"we have thirty minutes until the dance!" said Lissa. Lissa jumped up and Mia and she both pushed me down in the seat. Lissa did my hair and Mia did my make-up. Ten minutes later, I finally got to look in the mirror. My hair was in a perfect bun with a loose strand on the side of my face, while my make-up was barely noticeable and yet made me look so much older than 18.

When we arrived at the dance, we were greeted by Christian and Adrian – who apparently was Mia's date. I gave Adrian a questioning look, but he just shrugged and carried Mia off to one of the tables. It didn't really bother me that I didn't have a date – I'd read tons of stories on my run-from-Kirova-and-her-Academy-guardians about girls who went to these prom-like dances stag.

I walked in last since I didn't have a date, and everyone's eyes were on me. I heard many guys say mutter "sexy" and "hot" under their breath and I'm pretty sure every girl in the room was instantly jealous. I was uncomfortable, so I walked over to the refreshment table – it beat sitting down with nothing to do. I smelled a familiar aftershave, and I turned around and just smiled.

"Hey comrade, did you come to party too?"

Dimitri let out a small laugh. "No, actually, I'm on duty." He motioned to his on-duty clothes, and for whatever reason they looked better on him tonight than any other day – or night, for that matter.

As if he could read my mind, he whispered in my ear, "You looking amazing, Roza." I could tell his male instincts were kicking in and I caught him trying not to stare at my rather exposed chest. A senior Moroi boy I didn't know passed behind me and whistled loudly. Dimitri surprisingly looked angry.

"Oh relax, Dimitri. No need to be getting jealous. Happens all the time." I knew it bothered him how well I could read him and I was playing with fire right now.

An extremely popular song came on and out of nowhere, Mia and Lissa pulled me away to the middle of the dance floor. This was one of our dances they had prepared and taught me in five minutes. All of us did the dance perfectly and I could guarantee all of the guys were looking at my butt the entire time. When I saw Dimitri watching me, I smiled and winked at him.

When a slow song came on, my friends and I all left since we were so tired. Dimitri came to the little table where all of us were sitting, and, bless him, brought me a drink.
"Thanks," I said before gulping down the drink. Some of my friends motioned me to the dance floor so we could make a giant circle so we could all sway back and forth to the song. The song ended and another slow song came on. I turned to head back to my table when I felt two arms wrap around my waist. I turned around to see that I was suddenly facing Dimitri.

"Roza, would you like to dance?" Dimitri murmured in my ear. Did he seriously just ask me that?

"What about the other guardians, Dimitri? We can't blow it, not this close to graduation!" I hissed.

He softly smiled "Exactly. Rose, they wouldn't dare loose one of the world's best guardians and fire another a guardian this close to graduation." I took in what he said and he held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me in close.

Wrapping his arms around my waist, my skin burned from his touch. I draped my arms around his neck and we danced slowly to the song. I heard everyone gasp when we started dancing. I quickly glanced over at the other guardians and they looked furious. Dimitri pulled me in even closer and I laid my head on his chest, inhaling his scent. Too soon, the song was over and I looked up at him with my chin still on his chest. He leaned down and kissed me lightly.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, yelped in surprise. Dimitri looked pleased and I laughed to myself at his expression.

"What?" he asked me.

"Nothing. You just look happy pissing off your boss and co-workers," I said, smiling. I stopped when Alberta and Stan came over.

"Guardian Belikov, what is the meaning of this?" Alberta snapped. Dimitri pulled away and stood slightly in front of me. "She is a student! How long has this been going on?" She was yelling now and everyone decided to bravely crowd around us including Lissa and Mia. I stepped from behind Dimitri and stood at his side.

"Go easy on them, Alberta, she is almost eighteen and she is so close to graduation anyway," Stan said, strangely sticking up for me. "I think Miss Hathaway should enjoy her evening, so why don't we finish this later?"

"I don't think it can wait until later, Guardian Alto. She is still a student," Alberta said, looking at my proximity to Dimitri. I put my hand in his just to make a point and she just sighed. "Look, I'll make the two of you a deal: if you stop doing that," she motioned to my hand intertwined with Dimitri's, "I will tell Headmistress Kirova about your little fling, or you can do that, and the both of you can tell her."

"It's not a fling!" I said defensively. Dimitri, however, had other plans of convincing her – he turned on the ball of his foot, and taking me up in his arms, flat out kissed me. Everyone around us was either gasping or cheering when I started to kiss him back.

We kept going until I heard someone clear their throat very loudly. I slowly pulled away from Dimitri smiling just to annoy whoever was interrupting. Who I didn't expect was Lissa to be standing there (everyone else had retreated) looking very angry. As soon as I was fully facing her, she grabbed me and violently pulled me away until we were right in the corner by the back door.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she hissed loudly through gritted teeth. "We are like sisters and you didn't even bother to tell me you loved Dimitri!" She looked on the brink of crying.

"Lissa, I'm sorry, it's just that I couldn't tell you!"

"Oh, so I mean nothing to you!" Lissa snapped.

"No it's-"

"It's what, Rose? I tell you everything, but you keep this from me?! You disgust me," Lissa added, and stormed off to Christian's arms. I felt tears leaving my eyes, and I didn't even bother telling Dimitri where I was going as I passed by him and bolted out the door.

I headed to the only place I found comfort – the cabin. When I got there, I started a small fire to keep myself busy, and then crawled onto the bed to cry my heart out.. I cried about Lissa, I cried for Dimitri and me, I cried about everything that I had been keeping locked up in my head and heart the past year.

I kept on crying until I heard someone open the door and stand at the doorway.

"Roza, I am so sorry," he murmured softly.

"Whatever. Everyone knows now, so what's the use in blaming people and pointing fingers?" I said bitterly, sitting up and leaning against the wall. I looked at him and my eyes felt dry and sore. I was pretty sure that they were red and puffy, too, just to taunt my horrible look.

Dimitri walked over to the bed and pulled me into his muscular chest. He took one of my hands and rubbed small circles, while wiping away my tears with his other. After about an hour of crying into his chest, I looked up into his deep, brown eyes.

"Things are going to be different now, aren't they?" I asked quietly, willing my voice not to break, but failing at the end.

Dimitri gave me a quick, sweet kiss. "Yes, they are Roza. Things are going to be very different now."