I remembered the day my mom dropped me of, to drive away and never look back. How I felt the earth faith away into oblivion underneath my feet. How I couldn't catch my breath. How I tried to hide it, because a guardian is strong, secure and bold. I stood there, watching until a woman laid her hand on my shoulder, and told me I'd be safe here. This would be my home from now on. This would be the place where they would make me the person I was meant to be. I decided that day, that I'd never feel like this again. I'd be strong. I'd be secure. I'd be bold.

After a few weeks, I forgot the promise I made myself, and I felt scared again. I felt like I didn't belong here. I felt like I didn't belong anywhere. I felt like an orphan, until I met Lissa.

"Rose!" I woke up from my daydream and looked right into Lissa's green eyes. "Just the person I was looking for." She smiled at me. "Lissa! Just the person I was thinking about." She gave me a strange look, but it changed quickly into a big smile. "Guess what?" I needed to choose between a sarcastic comment and a happy I-Have-No-Clue-What-You-Are-Talking-About kind of answer. "Well…" I changed my thought, and chose the last one. "No. Tell me." She was basically jumping by the time I spoke my last word. She took my hand and looked me straight in the eye. "We're going to spend our summer at our lake-house in Missouri!"

I felt like I just got stabbed with a knife… in my heart. Sure, I was happy for Lissa. She's my best friend and I wish her all the happiness in the world, but it meant a whole summer on my own at the academy. Even Mason, Meredith and Eddie where going away this summer. Lissa saw my unhappiness and asked me what was wrong. She looked kind of worried. "No nothing Lissa, I'm okay, really. I hope you are going to have a great time at the lake-house!" Lissa started to laugh. And with that, she started to get on my nerves too. "Okay, Lissa I get it. Your life is great. You have a loving family –who I truly start to see as my own, because they even sent me Christmas presents and all – but I'm stuck here. I don't have anyone to talk to. There will be no party to attend and you won't be there to make me forget that I'm actually abandoned by my own mom. And…" I stopped talking. I didn't know what else I could say. I thought I made my point clear. Well, until I saw Lissa laughing even harder. Okay rose, breathe. Don't hit her. She's your friend, your best friend. Her parents give you Christmas presents. Just breathe.

"Why would I say that, if there wasn't an 'us'?" I thought it was a pretty strange sentence, but after a second or two I started to understand what she was trying to tell me. "You mean us as in Lissa and Rose?" She nodded. "O my god is this for real?" I couldn't keep my excitement inside.
"It is. I convinced my parents it wouldn't be irresponsible to go away without my personal guardian you know." She gave me a wink. I was shaking with adrenalin -the kind you get after you just did something pretty painful, but you made it and you feel so proud. I hugged her so hard she probably couldn't get some air, but in that moment, I couldn't control anything I was doing.

Finely after a minute or two my brain seems to understand that Lissa needed air to live, and my body loosened up. I set her free, and let her catch her breath for a moment. Lissa laughed. "I know you are happy, but you need to keep me alive if you want to go with us." I laughed as well. "I know I'm sorry. I just can't believe we I'm going to spend the whole summer with you, away from the academy."

Authors Note:
Hey guys,
I always wanted to know what happened before Rose and Lissa got taken back to the academy, so I decided to write it. Please let me know what your thoughts were at the reviews. I would really like to know if you want me to go on with this story or if it's just a waist of time.
Thank you for reading; I really hoped you enjoyed it!

Disclaimer:
I don't own anything of the VA series.