no, i haven't decided on a pairing yet. i ship alina with literally anyone/anything. thanks for the question!

"Just the gal I was looking for," Nikolai's ever-confident voice said from behind me, and I didn't have the patience to talk or hurt him. When he saw that I didn't turn around, I could feel the apology in his voice. "okay, you're not that cranky."

I closed my locker and began walking towards the stairwell. The only thing on my mind at that point was lunch. And Aleksander. But mostly lunch. "I wanna make it to lunch without bruising my hand," the blond touched his jaw and winced, "so what is it you need? And make it quick."

"You have lunch next? What a coincidence!" he slung an arm around my shoulder, to which I blatantly grimaced. The last thing I needed was for this guy to be sitting next to me at lunch, which was supposed to be my time to get some blogging done and not have to listen to some rich boy's problems.

"I eat lunch in the library, Nikolai," I managed to shrug his arm off once I reached the stairway. "Pretty sure a guy like you would rather eat lunch downstairs with the other 'cool kids'."

"Hm... I suppose you're right..."

Thank God.

"But I'll have to decline that offer."

I trusted you, God.

It took everything in me not to groan once he started going off about some problem with his brother or father or some relative. The librarian didn't notice my presence but gave a glare towards Nikolai as we went towards the back of the library, where the bean bags and fuy chairs were. Once I plopped down onto a bean bag, I opened up my lunch and started munching on my turkey sandwich.

I looked over towards Nikolai, who was lying with his stomach down on one of the bean bags and still yammering away about his rich kid problem, and noticed he was missing his lunch. I swallowed my bite of turkey sandwich and asked, "Nikolai, where's your lunch?"

"Didn't bring any." he brushed off the question. And I would be lying if I said he didn't look hungry by the way he kept eyeing my lunch bag. I was also pretty sure that it was not some monster grumbling away underneath his bean bag.

I broke off half of my sandwich and held it out. "Here."

"You don't have to do that, Alina."

"Would you prefer a knuckle sandwich?"

He took the offer with a nervous laugh. As he began to literally inhale his half of my sandwich, I decided to make conversation now that he forgot about his earlier problem. "Do you not have time in the morning to make your own lunch?"

"Well, I usually have someone make my lunches," Nikolai explained, "but ever since my parents split up, we haven't had much help around the house."

At least he has parents. "Is it true you're rich?"

He laughed. "You're not afraid to ask questions, huh? Both of my parents are pretty prestigious, yeah, but since I stay with my mom, she's been pretty busy at work and keeping up appearances. She's, uh, the one who usually made my lunches."

While I was jealous, the image of Nikolai's mother taking time to make his lunches in the morning nearly made me squeal. "Must have been nice, then."

"What about you, Starkov? Is Ana Kuya your mom?"

I reached inside my lunchbag for the cookies as I answered, "No, she's the caretaker at the orphanage."

"Ah. Sorry."

"For what?" I asked, biting into one of the cookies. "There really isn't any tragic backstory to my parents, I'm fine with Mal and Ana."

He rolled onto his back, nearly falling off of the bean bag. "By the way, who is this Mal character? A brother? Cousin? Secret lover?"

I offered him a cookie, rolling my eyes at his list. "He's one of the kids who I grew up with in the orphanage. So, brother, kind of, yes."

We spent the rest of the period, surprisingly, talking and getting to know each other pretty...pleasantly. I supposed that when Nikolai was down to earth like this, we could get along just fine. He certainly was no Mal or Aleksander, but he was different. I still could not help but think this image was a bit strange, however, as I was sure that almost everyone had gotten to know Nikolai. He was not exactly the most shy person; I wouldn't be surprised if they ared have him as prom king later on in the year.

The bell was about to ring, and as I was packing up my stuff while listening to Nikolai go off about some teacher who had apparently mispronounced his name I heard the slam of the library doors and someone shout out, "Nikolai Lantsov!"

The blond lounging on the beanbag suddenly shot up, brushing the cookie and sandwich crumbs from his jeans as a red-headed girl marched over, positively fuming. She was a bit taller than me, possibly a year older than me, as well, and she was stunningly gorgeous. Her skin was sun-kissed and her eyes were a bright golden color, and I could immediately tell that she was one of those girls - who sat in the middle of the cafeteria and attracted everyone's attention. It was no surprise she seemed to know Nikolai.

"Genya!" The taller nervously laughed, opening his arms as if to hug her, "where have you been, I've been looking everywhere for—"

"Don't try that with me, Lantsov," the redhead cut him off, her perfectly manicured nails slapping away his arms, "Where have you been? I've been going crazy trying to find you all over the school, and I find you here with..." She turned to me, as if suddenly realizing my existence. "Hello."

"Um, is he...yours?" I pointed towards Nikolai.

She laughed a tinkling laugh— I had no idea if it were genuine or not. "No, but I am supposed to be showing him around. After all, the son of the principal needs a well-done tour of Ravka High."

I blinked, then blinked some more. Was the actual rumored son of our Principal standing right in front of me? Did I really just share my sandwich with him?

"Well, gee, Genya, you ruined the surprise." Nikolai chided, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Well, Starkov, you found me out."

"Starkov?" Genya turned towards me, reaching to close my gaping mouth before I swatted her hand away. "You're Mal's sister, right?"

"Er...not exactly," I replied, hiking my backpack onto my shoulders. "Well, it was nice meeting you, um, Genya, and," I glanced towards Nikolai before beginning to leave, "you, too, Nikolai."

I made quick strides towards the doors, wanting nothing more than to get to my next class and end this day already. Nikolai was already a handful to deal with, but now that he's the principal's son... I sighed and quickened my pace towards my locker.

It wasn't as if the principal was a bad guy. Well, I'm lying. No one knows much about him, just that he's maybe in his forties or fifties, a bit bigger and missing a chin, plus his nose is possibly full of broken blood vessels. I honestly could not see the resemblance between Nikolai and and the Principal - perhaps he got more of his mother's genes.

Genya, as it turns out, happened to be in my history class. She nearly lunged for the desk next to mine in the back of the room once she saw me doodling in my notebook. I tried not to notice her, but she made it hard - grabbing my notebook from my desk and flipping through my notes, for one - so I had no choice but to talk to her. And I know I say it like it was a bad thing, and I do not mean that Genya is a bad person, it's just that she was so... different. Different is not a bad thing, but the people I usually talk to (and they are limited) are a lot more reclusive and quiet. I'm just making all sorts of friends today.

I had to admit, she knew her fashion and gossip. Half the things she spoke about I had no idea happened in this school, especially the more scandalous things. Her laugh was tinkling, and after an entire class period with her, I could tell it was genuine - her laughter towards my obliviousness. Apparently I was the first person to never have had alcohol before at age sixteen.

"So, Alina, are you busy after school? Please tell me you aren't," Genya asked as we walked to our lockers.

"Well..." I had blogging in mind, so does that count as being busy? "I guess not."

She squealed, her fluffy hair bouncing on her shoulders as she literally hopped. "Maybe I can do something about that hair! Or those pale cheeks!"

I cringed at the mention of a makeover, but shrugged away my distaste for the sake of her excitement. Upon opening my locker, Genya's manicured fingernail poked me in the side, and she grabbed my arm to make me face whatever she was facing. Aleksander was at his locker, a hand casually in his pocket while the other was working his combination.

"That's one of the new kids, right?"

"Aleksander?" I raised an eyebrow towards her sudden change in tone, "yeah, he's in my anatomy class."

"Alexander?" she wrinkled her nose.

"It's with a K. Like, A-L-E-K-S-A-N-D-E-R."

She wrinkled her nose even more.