Thank you everyone
Peggy: If I tell you right now then where is the fun in that? :p You will get your answers as we progress with the story
Love you all.
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Richelle Mead
Chapter2
"Rose, you okay?" For a moment I thought Mason was here but when my eyes met Lissa's concerned ones I felt touched. Only Mason really understood me and took care of me. Of course my mother loves me but she doesn't understand me. Now looking at Lissa, I know I am not alone. I gave Lissa a small smile and made my way towards the bathroom.
The scene with the 'trio' reminded me of the time when some really obnoxious guys bothered me. I had been defenseless then and always depended on Mason for my protection. He protected me from the bullies then but now, I have to be my own protector. I didn't realize I was crying when Lissa wiped the tears off my cheek and hugged me. Mia said, "Those people are dicks. Just remember to stay out of their sight and ignore them." They thought I was crying because of those idiots when in reality I was missing my late brother. Lissa asked, "Why don't you come to my house today?"I agreed while Mia apologized and said, "I can't. My parents caught me making out with my neighbor last night and grounded me." We gave her a sympathizing hug.
We moved out of the bathroom and into the busy lobby. The bell rang like ten minutes ago. Shit. I am late again. We said our goodbyes and rushed to our respective class rooms. After entering the class room I found myself sharing the seat with Christian. The day couldn't get any worse. He pointedly ignored me for rest of the lecture and I happily obliged.
After one hour I moved out to my next class where I opted for music. I love playing guitar and guess who taught me? That's right, Mason did. He once told me that nothing stops living as long as it's not forgotten. My way of keeping Mason alive is this music. The best thing about music is one can pour their heart into the music and no one will judge that person for it.
The next lecture got cancelled and we were asked to gather in the gym. I followed other students to the gym room. The room was as huge as I expected. There were bar-bells, parallel bars, jumping board, running path, tennis-balls, fencing gallery, and many more. I was impressed by the availability of many sport gears. I waved a hi to Lissa, Mia, Eddie and Jill. I sneered at the last two, "Tired?" The cute couple blushed furiously thinking about their adventure in the secret lair.
A grey haired hag stood in front of the students while a very athletic looking woman but not less than 40 years old tried to maintain the silence in the room. A sharp whistle pierced the room succeeding in gaining its goal. I looked around and found the whole school body to be present in the gym standing quietly. One boy stood out of the rest and that person turned out to the brown eyed god. There are rumors about Dimitri dating someone older than him. I wonder who that bitch is. He had a smirk on his face when he realized I was still staring at him. I hate that guy and anyway he is not available so why the hell am I lusting after a wrong guy? I moved my eyes to the front blushing slightly and was prevented from much more embarrassing moments when the hag talked. "I hope everyone is here." All the students chimed, "Yes Mam." That hag looked like a vulture with sharp nose and soul reading eyes. She continued, "An inter-school sports competition will be organized and hosted by SADV School where two students from each school will be participating. The venue and date will be given to the chosen candidates later this week. Your gym teacher, Alberta Petrov will be explaining all the technicalities and if any queries you can either approach Miss Petrov or me." Wow! A sports event is what I need to divert my mind and hopefully keep me away from the trio. Excited chatters filled the room.
The moment Alberta stepped in front of us each and every student's ears perked up to hear her instructions like that of a dog. It was humorous but I was kind of excited myself to hear what she was going to say. She looked like a captain of an army ready to command her soldiers. She said, "I know you are very excited about these events but remember that I will test your skills to select the most perfect players. I will be testing your stamina, your will and your intellect. I know this is not a quiz competition but I want my players to be 'the best' in every way and that includes your smartness.
First of all, I will be splitting you into groups of five. After selecting four candidates I will be testing your wisdom and the best two players will be chosen. Simple enough?" I love challenges. This should be fun. Stan handed a glass bowl filled with papers to Alberta. She continued, "Before you exit this room I want you to pick a paper from this bowl where your group numbers will be written along with the date of your test." As instructed, the students formed a line and picked up a small paper out of the bowl and exited the room.
After exiting the gym room I unfolded the small slip of paper.
Group 5-Thursday.
Great, so I have two more days to prepare myself and possibly win this treasure game. Lissa and Mia were in group 3 and Eddie was in group-1. Jill opted out of the game as she was asthmatic and doing strenuous activities could lead to serious consequences. She has no problem doing other kinds of exhausting activities but playing sports is a risk she is not willing to take. Eddie was all supportive of her as expected and I quietly laughed at Eddie's over-protectiveness.
Lissa and Mia weren't so lucky. Both of them hated sports and were very unenthusiastic about the test. Eddie was more like me. He admitted to like sports and looking at his muscles, I could say that he worked out too.
Finally the school ended and after saying goodbyes, Eddie and I walked to the bus stop. We talked a lot during the ride back home where he told me about his family. His mother worked in a bakery shop and he had a part time job in automobile repair shop. When I asked him about his father, his face grew sad and he explained that his father died when he was five years old. I seriously admire all those women who raise their kids all alone without any help from others which includes my mother too. At the age of twenty my mother lost her family to fire. I spoke to him about my family and how my father left us and my mother had to take care of me. I didn't tell him about Mason. I don't think I am ready for that yet.
Before parting ways, I hugged him and said, "I would like to meet your mother sometime." He smiled at me and nodded his head. He suddenly asked, "Rose, you mentioned about going over to Lissa's place right?" What was he getting at? I nodded my head once waiting for him to speak up again. Eddie continued in a rush, "I have a date with Jill today and I need your help in buying a gift for her." I smiled at him. "You love her." It was more of a statement than a question but he answered anyway, "Yes. So meet you in an hour."
Later when I reached home, I followed the delicious smell of food and found my mother in kitchen cooking something. I hugged her and greeted, "Hi mom." She turned around and gave a sweet kiss on my forehead. She asked, "How was your first day?" Was it only my first day? In a span of eight hours, I made friends, got humiliated by the guy I am secretly attracted to and got an invitation to my best friend or soon to be my best friend's house. So I began to tell her everything including the upcoming sport event but missed out the part with the trio. No need to worry her about something so trivial. I noticed that she looked tensed for some reason and when I asked her about it she shook it off saying "It's nothing, honey. I am just worried about this new case." Oh, did I tell you that my mother is a cop? One of the perks of having your mother as a cop is that she is a badass who is currently training me to be one too. I love my training lessons with my mother and can't wait to see what the school can offer. My mother can sniff out the criminals from their hiding spots and so mom is often given hard cases which sometimes results in her staying over-night in the office.
I gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder like she was my child and not the other way around and moved to my room. If you want to describe my room in one word then the most appropriate word would be 'mess.' My room follows the law of thermodynamics. No matter how many times I clean my room it goes back to its state of disorder where it attains its complete stability. In simple terms, my room is always a mess. I changed into a sweet girl outfit with knee length skirt and white shirt and combed my hair straight. After applying small amount of make-up I was ready to go.
I chatted with my mother some more until Eddie arrived at our doorstep. I introduced them to each other and we were soon making our way to Lissa's place. Eddie had a bike instead of a car. "If you have a bike then why do you travel by bus?" He admitted sheepishly, "The bike is not mine. I borrowed it for one day." Eddie bought box full of chocolates and a small locket with love engraved on it for Jill. Eddie looked nervous and I squeezed his hand in encouragement. "This is your first time, isn't it?" He looked confused for a moment and then nodded nervously, "Yeah. To be honest, I just want to turn around and escape before this door opens and reveals Mr. and Mrs. Dragomir." I held his hand tightly just in case he tried to escape and knocked on the door. The door opened and just like Eddie predicted Mr. and Mrs. Dragomir greeted us inside. They looked like sweet parents who just wanted their daughter to be safe and happy. After some more rules talking Jill came out of her room and saved her boy friend from her parents and went out. Lissa's mother asked politely, "Are you hungry, dear?" I am always hungry but I declined waiting for Lissa who was having her bath. Lissa's parents offered to show me their house and I replied, "Of course Mr. and Mrs. Dragomir. I would definitely like a tour of your house."
Lissa's father said, "Please call me Eric and this is my beautiful wife, Rhea. Lissa talks a lot about you." Rhea continued, "She said you are new to this place. If you need any help don't hesitate to call us." I smiled at them pleased and agreed to ask for their help when needed. The house looked like one of those model houses in magazines. Huge chandeliers hung down the ceiling of the living room and the kitchen had a door opening to the outdoor dining table. When we reached Lissa's room, I was rendered speechless. There was a canopy bed with ceiling fan and a walk-in closet attached to the wall. It was quite beautiful; in fact it was fit for a princess. Their house screamed money but they were humble enough to not gloat about it. Lissa came out of the bath room and into her room where I was already waiting for her.
She squealed and hugged me fiercely, "Lissa…..I can't…..breathe." She moved back and said, "Oh I am so sorry." She pulled out her drawer and showed me her collection of nail paints. "Choose a color." I picked red and Lissa sat in front of me asking me to show my finger nails. I tried to deny but soon learned that saying no to Lissa was like talking to a wall. She painted my nails red and then moved to style my hair. We talked a lot in that time period. I told her everything about my past except about my brother while she told me about hers. She said, "I have a brother named Andre who just graduated two years ago. He stays in Chicago with his friends for attending a college there. You already met my sister, Jill. She is a year younger than us but a real sweety. My mom and dad are the best couple I have ever known coz they love each other so much and I would like to experience that love some day." She even told me about her crush on Christian and how he never seemed to notice her. I asked, "Did you even approach him and say hello? Not that I am complaining because those people are fools. Stay away from them especially, Christian." She opened her mouth to defend her supposed lover but thought better of it. After some more pampering I decided to blow dry her wet hair and then painted her nails pink. Pink is her favorite color. Eww…
By the time Eddie arrived it was already 9. Lissa's parents asked us to join them for the dinner but we politely declined. Saying goodbye to them we moved back to our house.
That night I had dinner with my mom where we shared our day's work with each other. I told her about Lissa while she talked about her cases. I loved figuring out the puzzles and contribute in solving her cases. But this time my mother was a bit reluctant in sharing her case. But I finally coaxed her to tell me about the case.
Curious about the case?
And let me tell you that Janine married Rose's father at the age of twenty. Ring any bells?
RXR