Don't Bet On It Belikov

The sprain had been purely coincidental and very unfortunate, Dr Olendzki had said, as sympathetic as possible.

However I knew better.

I knew that unmelted piece of ice, probably the only one within a few miles of the academy, had been lying in wait, ready to stop me from nearly beating my best running time of the year so far. I had been doing the daily morning exercises with Dimitri, my all knowing mentor who had decided that it was now warm and safe enough and after winter to start going outside again. That was when I had slipped

How ironic and bloody annoying.

Now, after a large amount of swearing, a worried Dimitri and lots of pain later, I was stuck here. The white enclosure for unsuspecting innocents, whose only way out was through the greatest though kindest jailor ever. Her word was final and if you decided not to obey, then all the worst for you. Which happened to be the reason why my chances of getting out of here would probably be slim, I thought.

I scowled at the offensive devices being waved back and forth in front of me by said jailor. No way in earth was I going to be using those. Falling through a bench was bad enough; I wasn't going to be seen dead or alive walking with those things. I heard the door to my room swing open but paid no attention. One sign of weakness and she may have them on me.

"Rose" Olendzki sighed, "It's only for a little while, just so you don't put too much weight on your foot."

I narrowed my eyes, and if possible my scowl became even more defined when suddenly a large hand fell on my shoulder and the smell of aftershave hit me.

"If you use them you'll get back to training quicker" Dimitri said in my ear, as I turned around and looked at him.

With his dark hair falling in strands over his face and the slight half smile he wore most of the time, he was as good looking as ever- and as annoying.

"Why do you always play that card?" I asked, crossing my arms, lifting my chin and sniffing in the most posh manner I could muster. "It's cruel, heartless and completely unnecessary."

Dimitri laughed as he stood from his stooped position.

"Because I know you, and I know it will work." He said crossing his own arms. "Training is too important to you."

I tried to look indignant and not at all like I was happy, even though I was. I liked that Dimitri actually understood me- one of the few besides my friends- it was comforting and wasn't one sided in the least either; I understood him more than most people too.

Failing the previous look most probably, I huffed, and let my eyes roll, turning back to Dr Olendzki.

"Ok Doc, I have, against my will, been forced to comply" I said, cringing as the pair of crutches fell into my hands and across my lap.

"She makes it sound like torture" I heard Olendzki mutter to Dimitri as she walked to stand beside him, out of my way, I guess in case I made the great crash of '09 in a 5m by 5m room, taking out two guardians and the bed at the same time. It wouldn't be surprising since I've never used crutches before. It was a new experience - just not one I was looking forward to.

"Not really. If she thought this was torture there would be much more noise and possibly outbreaks of violence." Dimitri replied leaning against the white wall.

Ignoring them, except for a slight glare shot in my mentor's direction, I placed the armrests of the crutches under my arms and placing the opposite ends on the ground, heaved myself to a standing position, balancing on one foot. Any celebrations that I would have made be in order were soon shattered though as the slippery linoleum floor sent my moving crutches shooting forwards and I soon found myself sprawled face down on the ground.

Before either the Doc or Dimitri had time to possibly move, think, breath or god help them laugh, I had my hand up and pointed at Dimitri, face still hidden.

"If you laugh, I swear to God I'm reporting you to Kirova for forcing me to undertake a very dangerous and even life threatening action."

"Oh, do you believe in God now" He asked, bypassing the threat, knowing it was empty. I could sense if not see the one risen eyebrow and the smile on his face, looking at me; the ever so elegant Rose Hathaway.

I'll specially make an exception" I said heaving my face of the ground and staring pointedly at him "Just for you, since I at least know that God will be able to smite you where you stand."

Olendzki moved towards me with a worried expression on her face as Dimitri lost the fight to suppress the built up laughter. I groaned and let my head fall to the cold floor again, as his laughed echoed through the room.

"Are you alright Rose? Do you want some help to get up?"

With the risk of feeling more stupid than I already did I allowed her to get me once more to a standing position but fended off any more than that. I tried once more to move around and this time with much more success. I hobbled with as much grace as I could around the room in a repetitive step thunk rhythm.

By the time I had completed a full circuit, Dimitri was once again looking his normal slightly subdued, quiet self. I liked to think the threat had got through but I couldn't kid myself that much.

"Come on" he said moving to hold my shoulder, steadying me. "You have to get to your first class before your teacher decides to come looking for you."

I groaned as we walked out of the clinic and down the hall. I had hoped that my ever dramatic fall may have gotten me out of at least the first 2 periods of my academy schedule, but it mustn't have taken as long as I thought. Great, I thought, I get to make a complete idiot of myself in front of all my classes.

"I thought you had always wanted to learn Russian" Dimitri said, obviously hearing the groan and giving me his best hurt expression.

I scoffed, and shook my head when suddenly a brilliant idea jumped in my mind making me put on a bit of speed, increasing the step thunk rhythm. Dimitri used to the slower pace stumbled slightly before regaining his perfect balance.

"A change of heart about Russian Rose?" he asked noticing the change. "That was rather quick"

"Oh yeah" I said, trying to look excited rather than mischievous. "I just can't wait to get to Russian, totally looking forward to it."

Dimitri looked at me suspiciously "Why-"

I cut him off.

"I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before, such a great idea!"

Now looking slightly worried I could see Dimitri searching his mind in an attempt to figure out why I suddenly wanted to go to class.

I turned to toward him, a grin on my face.

"The Russian classroom has dictionary's" I said. "Dictionaries have words in them"

Dimitri sighed exasperated. "I know how a dictionary works Rose."

I felt my grin turn evil and I raised an eyebrow, an ability I had finally managed after large amounts of practising, making me feel like a Belikov replica.

"Yes, but the thing about these dictionary's you see Dimitri, is that they have English to Russian translations" I said, "Which makes finding the Russian word of our English incredibly easy if one wanted to know what a particular word was" I finished, poking him in the chest.

Dimitri rocked back from the poke, onto his heels and I saw realisation light up his eyes seconds before a groan had him looking at the ceiling and shaking his head, leaving me to continue walking by myself.

"There won't be swear words in those dictionaries Rose" he said exasperated.

"Don't bet on it Belikov" I muttered without turning around, knowing he could still hear me. Not the slightest disheartned by his comment, I continued tramping toward my Russian class.

Hope you enjoyed. Please review. I hope to continue this.

-NS-