Shooting a last glance at Lissa, I doubted that this was the best idea she could possibly come up with.It had been her birthday present to me, yet it was still debatable if that meant that she loved me like a sister or simply hated my guts.
"Come on, Rose! You got to meet your fate eventually?!", her voice sounded unsure, as did the last sentence. I was pretty convinced that she tried to reassure herself more than me right in this situation, but eying the impressive gothic building in front of me, I couldn't even take it personally. That this immense mansion was actually meant to be a school still stunned me; that it was a private boarding school for rich kids, didn't.
Lissa had been telling me all about it for the last past years, so that I probably already knew more than half of the teachers and students without having met them, but even the knowledge didn't ease the nervousness that started to build in my belly. Giving her hand a squeeze, I stepped out of the car, relieved as she followed me to the back to get our luggage.
"Really, Liss?! Whose idea was it to offer me a whole year at the Academy? Couldn't you have gotten me a trip to Paris or to Vienna?", I giggled jokingly, hoping to ease the more than tense situation, smiling when she indeed started to laugh.
"You won't escape meeting my boyfriend Rose.", she exaggerated on the seriousness, throwing us back into laughter and, like this, everything went back to normal.
Following the great flock of people, we slowly climbed the stairs to the quite ancient looking school, which throned over the valley. I couldn't help noticing that Lissa's anxiety grew each step we took, making me wonder what it was she was hiding from me.
"What's wrong, Liss?", I sounded mildly concerned and as she completely avoided my glance, I came to a halt.
"What's up, Liss?", I asked again, a tint of anger marking my words, because whatever she was keeping a secret from me sure wouldn't please me. I knew her habits and I knew her. Whenever she acted all giddy, but frightened, it would only be a matter of time before a big change occurred, mostly to our dismay.
"We probably won't be able to see each other as much as we had planned to…", she slowly confessed, keeping her eyes narrowed to the floor.
"There's more… isn't there, Liss?", I took a deep breath, calming my temper. It would be stupid to make a scene right now, much less to start a fight with my best friend before classes even started.
"I told you about the mentor system, didn't I? Every student gets advised to a student 2 grades above him, which has an influence and the afternoon classes.", she started, finally meeting my stare.
"Your mentor will be Belikov…", she whispered, an apologetic smile on her lips.
It took me a while to pin the name to various stories, yet the results didn't exactly make me happy.
"Asshole Dimitri?", I inquired to make sure, cursing silently as she nodded her head.
Damn, I was fucked. Literally…
