Hey guys! I'm trying to write as much as I can when I have the time so that I can get the chapters out ASAP. I'll try to let you know ahead of time when I won't be able to update. Okay, let's get into this!

"That feels nice…" I whispered, loving the feel of Dimitri's hands on me.

He chuckled before saying, "In that case, I'll have to do it more often."

I smiled. "That you will… Oh, that's a little too hard."

"Oh? I thought you liked it rough."

I laughed as I turned around to face him. "Yeah, but not when you're trying to take chunks out of my back with your fingers!"

Dimitri grabbed my waist and pulled me up to lay beside him. "Hey, you asked me to rub your back and I did. You didn't specify how rough you wanted me to be."

I opened my mouth to talk, but he brought his hands to my sides and began tickling me before I could. "Dimitri!" I yelled through my laughter.

"If you ask nicely, I might – "

I didn't hear anything after that. My hands dropped down to my sides involuntarily, completely limp. I could no longer see or hear anything. I could feel my body, but I couldn't get it to do anything. I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to get…somewhere as fast as I could, but I had no idea where that was.

In an instant, my vision was back, even though I saw a dark shadow in the corners of my eyes. I inhaled deeply, only then realizing that I had been holding my breath. Dimitri had stopped tickling me and was now looking at me with concern.

I sat up as quickly as I could. "I have to go," I said before getting up and starting toward the door.

Dimitri grabbed my arm before I could make it and pulled me back to him. "Why? What just happened?"

"Let me go, Dimitri! I have to go!" I tried yanking out of his grasp, but he wasn't about to free me without an explanation.

He had a look of confusion on his face for only a moment before putting on his poker face. "Rose, you need to calm down and talk to me."

I shook my head as the need to run became even stronger. Tears were beginning to form in my eyes. "I have to go! I need to get to her! She's in trouble; I know it!"

Dimitri took no time to go into action. He got up and left the room with me in tow. He quickly grabbed his car keys and led me out the door.

I didn't really pay attention to anything on the way over to Lissa's. I was in my own mind. What had happened to Lissa? Was she hurt? I had no idea what was going on, but I did know that there was something wrong with her, whether it be emotionally or physically. One of the main things I was wondering about was how in the hell she'd been able to send something to me from so far away.

When we finally made it to Lissa's, I jumped out of the car at a run for her porch. I could hear screaming from inside, which only made me freak out more. I burst in the door to find Christian holding a screaming Lissa back from the stairs.

"What's going on?!" I yelled when I got to Lissa, taking her arms in my hands.

She pulled away from me and continued to yell. Christian, who had one arm around Lissa's waist, used his free arm to grab onto me. "Rose, don't go up there. It's not something you want to see. Just go."

"What? What's happening? Damn it, Christian!" I smacked him. "Tell me what's going on right now!"

Another hand grabbed the top of my arm. I turned to see Dimitri behind me, looking back and forth between all of us. "Rose, what's happening?"

"I don't know! Grizzly Adams over here won't tell me anything."

"Grizzly Adams?" Christian laughed. "What the hell, Rose?"

I turned and pointed my index finger at him, right in front of his face. "You are in no position to be joking around right now."

"Rose?"

I looked up the stairs to find my mom at the top. I mentally said a prayer, thanking whoever it was that put her here. Now I could get some answers. "Mom!" I ran up the stairs to stand next to her. "What's going on? Why are you here?"

My mom turned away from me, so I could barely see the blush on her cheek. I was confused as to why she would be blushing, but I didn't stay that way for long. Before I could say anything, Lissa screamed, "Yeah! Go ahead and tell her, Janine! Tell her how you've been sleeping with my dad!"

"What?" I whispered, hoping I'd heard her wrong. There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at me, wondering what I would do. "Mom?" She was still looking at the wall, so I couldn't read her face. "Mom, look at me."

But she wouldn't. My whole world warped, as if I were living in an alternate reality and hadn't realized it until now. My mom was…cheating on my dad…

Dimitri was at the top of the steps before I'd even realized he'd moved. "Rose, I think – "

"How could you?!" I yelled, not really knowing what else to do. I had an overwhelming urge to hit her, but I knew that would only make things worse. "How long have you been doing…this?!"

My mom turned to me, a mask of anger on her face. "Don't you give me any of that! I'm not the only one who's been lying about my love life." She specifically looked from me to Dimitri and back.

I involuntarily looked down the stairs to Christian and Lissa. During all the commotion, Mia and Eddie had arrived, but I hadn't even noticed. Lissa had this desperate look on her face, as if she wished she could take the words my mom had said back. Christian, Eddie, and Mia were all stunned, looking back and forth between Dimitri and I like my mom just had.

"I…" I wanted to deny it, but I knew there would be no point. Everyone here knew the truth now, thanks to my lousy reaction skills. I turned back to my mom. "I'm not married."

A look of shame crossed my mom's face for only a moment. She, like Dimitri, had an excellent poker face. When I thought about it, that was probably why no one had known what was going on between her and Eric Dragomir. "I'm not a minor."

"Rose," Dimitri said, tugging on my arm, "let's go."

"Oh, she isn't going anywhere with you, Dimitri," my mom sneered.

Dimitri calmly looked over at my mom with his – I could tell since I'd spent so much time with him – analyzing look. "To be honest, Mrs. Hathaway, I don't think you want Rose around you right now. This is a very…intense situation. You should both take some time to calm down before you sit down and talk."

"I – " My mom stopped speaking as she thought about it. She cleared her throat and continued, "I am going home. Rose, maybe you should spend the night at…" She looked at Dimitri. "At a friend's house. We'll talk tomorrow."

I couldn't say anything as she walked out. I was afraid that Lissa might try to hit her, but she just closed her eyes as my mom walked by.

"Lissa!" Mr. Dragomir called from down the hall.

Lissa opened her eyes and looked around at all of us. "I don't know about you guys, but I really don't want to be here right now."

"I DON'T KNOW what to say, guys," I said once we were all seated with our drinks.

Mia sighed. "Why don't you start with the beginning? Both of you."

I was a little surprised that Mia was the one to speak up, but I knew it shouldn't have. She – like Christian and Eddie – was probably completely confused right now and just wanted answers. I looked over at Dimitri, who stared right back into my eyes. When he gave me a small nod, I knew he'd read everything in my expression.

"Okay, then," he began. "We met last summer at the Jersey Shore. We instantly clicked and spent most of our time there together. We both…well, lied to each other about certain things, so when I took the counseling job here, I had no idea Rose went to your school. We tried to stay away from each other, but…"

Eddie scoffed, getting everyone's attention. "There shouldn't be a 'but'." He turned to look at me, his eyes narrowed. The light from outside the window behind me was shining right in his hazel eyes, making them look green. Instead of their usual twinkle and beauty, they were dull, accusing. "Rose, how could you…?" He looked to Dimitri, obviously perplexed. "I just don't even know where to start."

It stung, having Eddie look at me that way. He'd been one of my best friends for a long time and knowing that he was disappointed in me made me question – again – whether or not being in a relationship with Dimitri was a good thing.

I looked from Eddie to Dimitri, who took my hand underneath the table. His touch sent a shiver through me, but it wasn't nice-feeling in any way. It reminded me of how I felt every time I tried to let Mason down gently.

You know you have to let him go sooner or later, right? I thought. You knew that the moment this weekend began.

I let go of Dimitri's hand and took a deep breath. He turned to look at me and our eyes connected. He was worried and he had every right to be. "I…"

"Whoa," breathed Lissa.

I'd been so caught up in my thoughts – and worried about what I was about to do – that I'd completely forgotten about my friends. Turning toward them, I saw that Lissa looked as if she were swooning and Christian was looking at her as if she were crazy. Mia and Eddie were staring at her, confused as to what had just happened as well.

"What?" I asked her, snapping her out of whatever trance she'd been in.

When she realized that everyone was staring at her, she swept her long blonde hair behind her shoulders and sat up straight. Clearing her throat, she told me, "Don't do it."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Liss!"

"I'm sorry! It wasn't like I was – " Lissa stopped talking, looking over at the rest of our friends. "We'll talk later."

Christian put a hand on Lissa's shoulder while running his other hand through his hair. He was obviously frustrated. "No, you most certainly will not talk later. You two," he looked over at me and then back to Lissa, "need to stop keeping secrets from the rest of us. Look how well it turned out the last time: both of you got kidnapped and one of you wound up in the hospital. Enough is enough."

I was surprised at Christian's outburst and, by the look on Lissa's face, so was she. She opened her mouth to reply to him – I could tell that whatever it was, it wasn't pretty – but Eddie beat her to the punch.

"You knew about this?" His mouth fell open as blood ran to his cheeks. It was rare to see Eddie this mad; in fact, I was pretty sure I'd never seen him this mad. He looked over to Christian. "Did you know, too? Was I the only one who didn't know about any of this?!"

"Hey," Mia protested, "I didn't know, either." By the look on her face, Mia was upset that Eddie had completely forgotten about her, but Eddie wasn't paying attention. He was too upset at the rest of us to notice.

Christian leaned closer to Eddie, keeping his voice low. "I found out the same time you did. You should really think about keeping your voice down unless you want everyone in this place to know about it, too."

"Yeah?" Eddie asked, intentionally keeping his voice up. "Well, maybe they should."

With that, Eddie got up and left. He never even looked back for Mia, who looked pretty damn upset. She unfolded her arms and leaned toward me. "Rose, you're my friend and I want you to be happy. That's why I'm not going to give you hell about your relationship. I don't…understand it yet, but it doesn't matter."

"Thank you, Mia," I breathed, happy that at least one of them had understood. "You don't – "

"I'm not finished," she interjected. "I want you to be happy, but that doesn't mean I'm not upset that you lied to me. That being said, I'm going to go home and enjoy the rest of my weekend."

We all watched Mia as she left, none of us really knowing what to say after two people stormed off. Once she was out the door, we all looked at each other before Christian declared that coffee was definitely needed. Lissa went with him, giving me a look before she did. Although I was still a little irritated with her for reading my emotions, I was tempted to take her advice, at least until we could talk privately.

Dimitri let out a little nervous chuckle. "Well, that could've gone a little better."

"Yeah, I know. I was there," I whispered, staring at my folded hands on the table. Although Lissa told me one thing, my mind was telling me another. I had to end this relationship. My friend's reactions were just further proof that I was right. If the people closest to me couldn't accept my relationship, how could anyone?

"Hey, it's all going to – "

"Don't, Dimitri. Just don't say – that. It's all I've been hearing the past month. 'It'll all get better soon', 'It's all going to be okay'… Oh, and the worst? 'The sun will come out tomorrow'. Seriously? I got kidnapped, beat up, and died. You're really going to quote Annie to me?" I laughed.

Dimitri chuckled, draping an arm over my shoulder. I knew that we shouldn't be so open in public, but at that point, I really didn't care. My mom was cheating on my dad, my dad was forbidding my relationship, my friends were mad at me, and even a freaking teacher at my school was all over me. Besides, to the outside world, it just looked like a friendly gesture. To me, it was a life line.

"Listen kid," he said, affection in his tone. "Bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it." I looked over at him and gasped, trying my best not to laugh. He gave me a small smirk and continued, "That's a quote, too."

"Where in the world did you find such a horrible quote?"

"The Lion King." His smirk grew into a smile.

Before I could reply, Christian and Lissa returned with drinks for all of us. I thanked them, grabbed a cup, and said, "Alright, just ask what you want to ask, Christian. We might as well just get everything out in the open."

For a moment, I saw a look of amusement on Christian's face, but it was gone as fast as it had come. He turned to Lissa. "What did you mean earlier? When you said, 'don't do it'?"

Uh-oh. I hadn't meant for him to ask about that. My mind was spinning, trying to find something to say, but I was coming up with nothing. Hopefully Lissa could get herself out of this one.

"I meant…" She looked over at Dimitri and I could see, just by the look on her face, that she was about to spill the beans. A wave of anxiety went through me as I desperately wished I could stop her, but there was nothing I could do. Her face went blank for a moment before she nervously glanced over at me. So she wanted me to step in, too.

"Yeah," Lissa breathed, nodding. "I think Rose is right: we need to just get everything out in the open. So…I can kind of feel people's emotions sometimes. Next."

My mouth fell open as I looked at her, wondering what the hell she was thinking. "Seriously?"

Before she could answer, there was a commotion in the front of the store. We all looked to each other for a moment before standing up and running to the gathering crowd. I began trying to squirm through the people, completely losing track of Christian and Lissa. Dimitri was right on my heels.

In the middle of the crowd, Camille lay on the ground unconscious. There was blood running out of her nose and onto the ground. I was so shocked that I couldn't think, couldn't remember what to do. I just stood there with the rest of the crowd. Luckily, I didn't need to do anything because Dimitri was already in action.

He kneeled down next to Camille, taking her wrist in his hand as he tried to hear if she was breathing. "Camille?" he asked, but there was no response. It only took him a moment to examine her before he called me over. I hustled over to kneel next to him. "Do you know how to do CPR?"

"I – yeah, but I –"

"Alright." He nodded before turning back to the crowd. "Someone needs to call 911. Don't all call at once or you'll jam up the lines."

"I'm already on it!" Christian yelled from the back of the crowd.

Dimitri looked back at me. "Rose, you need to pump her blood while I give her oxygen. Do you remember?" I nodded before he'd even finished his sentence and had my hands in place on Camille's chest. He tilted Camille's head back only a little bit before giving her two deep breaths. Once he had, I started the chest compressions.

I'd gotten to the twentieth chest compression when I heard the sirens outside. Dimitri took Camille's pulse after I was done, but he shook his head and began giving her two more breaths. I'd gotten to the tenth compression when I heard a snap! I immediately took my hands off of Camille, worried that I'd done something wrong.

"What's wrong?" Dimitri asked, worried.

"I-uh-something snapped! I didn't mean to, it just happened!"

The paramedics made their way in then, so Dimitri and I stepped back into the crowd. "It's okay," he whispered to me. "You probably just broke a rib." I must have had a look of horror on my face because Dimitri gave me a small smile before explaining, "It happens sometimes, but it isn't anything serious. The important thing is getting the oxygen through her body."

"Did anyone see what happened?" one of the paramedics asked, a young blonde woman. She'd brought two other paramedics with her, who had taken my and Dimitri's spots in performing CPR. The blonde paramedic scanned the crowd as everyone began mumbling that they hadn't seen anything. I, too, was looking through the crowd and was surprised when I saw Nick.

He was looking down at Camille in horror. Yeah, I thought, welcome to our town.

"You." The blonde paramedic snapped me out of my thoughts. She was looking right at Dimitri. "You're – "

"Uh, yeah," Dimitri interrupted, glancing over at me.

She looked over to me and her eyes widened before she smiled. "Wow. I have to tell you, I will never forget that ride. I honestly don't know how – "

"Marissa?"

The paramedics who'd been working on Camille – both men – had stopped and were looking up at the blonde. One of them shook his head at her as the other began putting away their instruments. The blonde immediately stopped our conversation and began helping the other two.

I put my hand over my mouth as I tried to make sense of what just happened.

THAT NIGHT WAS horrible. Dimitri and I were spending the night at his apartment instead of his family's house since they were coming home that night. We hadn't spoken much all night and I was finding it hard to fall asleep, even in Dimitri's arms.

Once I was sure he was asleep, I slipped out of his grasp and the bed. I grabbed my laptop case – I'd brought my computer just in case, but I didn't think I'd actually be using it – and went to the living room, sitting down on the couch.

I spent the next six hours on the couch, surfing the web, and listening to music. I was tired, but I felt the need to get up and move around at the same time. Camille hadn't been a good friend – she hadn't been a friend, period – but she was still someone I knew, someone I went to school with. And I couldn't help but think of Mason as well, which made me think of everything that had happened in this crazy town.

I would finally stop thinking about it and just delve into the internet. That is, until I thought about Camille again. It was a vicious cycle.

At five in the morning, I changed into some sweats and a long-sleeve shirt since it was cold outside. I grabbed my Ipod and headed out for a jog. It smelled like coffee and donuts outside, probably from the store down the road from Dimitri's apartment. I pressed play on my Ipod and "Ridin' Solo" by Jason Derulo automatically came on. I was half-tempted to stop it, but decided I could use a little pick-me-up.

There was no one outside yet, so I decided to pick up my pace a little bit. Before I knew it, I was getting into the music and forgetting about everything else. I ran until I came upon the pasture in front of the local cemetery. The sun was coming up, making the pasture gleam in an orange light. The dew shined on the tips of the grass and made the place smell fresh and new.

As Kings of Leon performed "Closer" in my ears, I began walking, not even aware of where I was going. It seemed as if something were pulling me that direction. Maybe it was the eerie sound of the music, the way the place looked, or maybe it was just my subconscious.

I knew where I would end up even before I got there. Seeing the dilapidated state of Mason's honorary headstone made my heart ache. Eddie's parents had bought it and put it here for us to visit since Mason's actual grave was 3 hours away.

"You don't deserve this," I whispered as I sat down next to his headstone. Touching the grooves of it only made me feel worse. "Mason… Camille may be joining you. I don't know – I mean, they may have saved her at the hospital, but I…I just don't think so. I miss you, Mase. But maybe it's better that you aren't here, that you don't have to suffer through all the pain the rest of us have."

I turned away from his headstone, trying to think of what to say next, and saw the most beautiful sign. The cemetery had always gotten in bad shape during the winter, making it look creepy. I'd always found that odd. Why do we place the ones we loved and lost in such an odd, scary place? But right on the edge of the cemetery – just in front of the fence that separated it from the pasture – a patch of red roses stood.

I sighed. "Isn't it beautiful, Mase? The way the pasture is lit up compared to the dreary cemetery? It's like seeing in color for the first time."

"Ah, careful there, Rose. You're going to go crazy again."

I turned to look over at Mason, smiling as I did. "I'm actually starting to think being crazy might not be that bad."

"ROSE, WHERE IN the hell have you been?! I've been worried sick," Dimitri told me as I came in the apartment. It was just after six, but he looked completely awake. By the looks of it, he'd been in the process of getting dressed. He had on a pair of blue jeans, but hadn't yet gotten to the shirt.

I ran over to him, not even bothering to answer. He snatched me up before I'd even had the chance to leap into his arms. As our lips came together, I knew in my bones that Lissa had been right to stop me the day before. How had I ever thought I could give him up?

"I'm so sorry," I gasped, breaking away from him. "I love you."

He smiled, making his eyes light up. "Oh, and I love you, my Roza."

Life is so short. Both Mason and Camille were proof of that. And, sitting in that cemetery, I'd realized that my life could be snuffed out in an instant, so I wanted to spend every minute I could with Dimitri.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Dimitri and I shared a glance before he put me down. He gave me the signal to hide – taking both fists and rotating them around each other; we'd figured out signals we could send to each other so we wouldn't have to speak, just in case something like this happened – and I quickly snuck back to Dimitri's hallway, out of sight.

"Hold on just a moment," Dimitri called. I assumed he was getting a shirt on. A few moments went by before I heard the door open.

"Oh, uh, Mr. Belikov. Hi. Is Rose ready to go?"

I was already walking out of the hallway before Lissa could finish. "What are you even doing up? It's barely six."

Dimitri stepped to the side so that Lissa could come in. To my surprise, Christian wasn't with her. "I thought you'd want the official news." She waited for me to nod and then continued. "Camille is dead. They aren't saying how because it's officially an investigation, but I thought you'd want to know."

"Uh, yeah, thanks for coming and telling me. Although, you know you could've just called."

Lissa quickly glanced in between me and Dimitri, blushing as she did. "Oh, yeah, I'll just be going then…"

Dimitri offered Lissa to stay for breakfast, but she declined and we said our goodbyes until school. It didn't take Dimitri and I long to get ready and eat before we headed out. I'd offered to just walk to school so we wouldn't look suspicious, but Dimitri said that it was fine. My mom had given me permission to stay there.

That didn't prevent me from feeling weird, though, as I hopped out of Dimitri's car in the employee parking lot. As we walked to the entrance of the school, everyone was looking at us. Although this freaked me out a little, I felt more exhilarated than anything. If only they knew…

Looking at everyone, though, I could tell that the news of Camille's death would still be a surprise to some. That was strange to me, considering everyone knew about Mason's death the day after it happened.

"Hey, Hathaway," Jesse Zeklos called. "Going after the older guys, I see…"

I glanced over at Dimitri, who was stoic, and back at Jesse, giving him a smile. "Oh, he wishes."

My good mood plummeted as soon as I was in the school. There were grieving students everywhere and – although that was depressing in and of itself – there were also two men in suits at the office. I was about to tell Dimitri that I'd see him later when I saw Mrs. Stepp pointing at the two of us.

Oh, God, I thought. They know about us. How could you be so stupid, Rose? How could you be so sloppy?!

Dimitri apparently saw her pointing at us as well. He stopped walking and backed up to get closer to me. I knew that, if worst came to worst, Dimitri would do whatever he could to protect me, but it wasn't me that I was worried about.

We waited as the two men walked up to us. One was, well, completely and totally hot, even for an older guy. He looked maybe 35, with dark hair and a little stubble. The other was much younger, in his early twenties, with curly brown hair the same color as his eyes.

"Hello, Miss Hathaway and Mr. Belikov. I'm special agent Zack Browning and this is my associate, Dr. Harold Addy. We're from the FBI, investigating the death of Camille Conta. We're very sorry for your loss," the older one said.

Dimitri took Browning's hand as I took Addy's to shake. "It's nice to meet you."

Both of the agents, as if on cue, nodded to us. "We'd like it if you could come downtown with us for questioning," Browning, clearly the leader, explained.

"I have some appointments and I'm really needed here for Camille's friends. Is there any way we could reschedule it?" Dimitri asked.

Dr. Addy finally spoke up. "Actually, we could do the questioning in your office, if you'd like. That's really the best we can do."

IT WASN'T UNTIL P.E. that I got to finally see Lissa. I filled her in on everything the agents had asked us, mostly just stuff about Camille's collapse at the coffee shop.

"Thank God," she breathed. "I'd thought you two had been caught."

Before we could actually get the conversation going, Coach called for everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone. Today, we're going out to the track, running two laps, and then coming back in to play a game. If everyone gets it done quickly, I'll let you pick what game you play. Get to it."

Lissa and I were always the type to get the hard part over with as fast as we can and then play, so we waited to talk until we got done running.

"Gotcha this time, Rose," Liss said, trying to catch her breath as I ran across the finish line.

I laughed even as I tried to catch my own breath. "You wish. I let you win."

We'd gotten about halfway back to the school when I remembered I left my water bottle back at the track. Lissa offered to go with me to get it, but I told her to go on ahead. As I got closer to the track, I could hear Coach yelling.

"Mansle, Diaz, get out here and run or everyone will suffer! Trust me, you don't want that!"

Looking down the track, I saw Nick and Simon trying to hide underneath the bleachers. I'd had no idea that Nick was in that class, but I guess I'd been a little preoccupied. The new guy seemed like such old news.

"This is my last warning! You two better get out here or we'll all go in and I'll choose what we do," Coach went on.

It turned out that Coach did have to choose what we did because Simon and Nick decided to stay under the bleachers. Everyone was moaning about the two of them, but I really didn't care. I usually liked the games Coach chose for us to play. Looking over at Lissa, though, I kind of wished that they hadn't gotten into trouble. Lissa was pretty bad at sports, but even worse at the sports Coach chose.

"We're playing dodge ball. I'll count you off into two different teams…" Coach explained.

It didn't take long for us to begin playing. It was hard for me to try and defend Lissa – she was on the same team as me – and take out the other team's players at the same time, but I was managing pretty well. I was just about to take down Jesse when Simon fell flat out of nowhere on the other side of the gym.

Everyone ran to him, concerned. When I got up close and saw him, I knew that they were right to be.

Simon was unconscious, blood pouring out of his nose just like with Camille.

Lissa, who was at my side, grabbed my arm. "Rose…"

"Yeah," I breathed. "I know."

Sorry that these chapters have been a bit shorter than the other story. I'm going to work on making them a little longer, I've just been a bit busy lately. So, let me know what you thought of this chapter in the reviews and I hope you guys have a great day! :)