I was late. Shit, shit shit, I was really late! Mia was getting married in fifteen minutes and I was just not leaving my house. The wedding party was supposed to be at the church and hour before the wedding started, but I got held up at my internship. I was interning at the Museum at Central School as a tour guide. It wasn't my dream job, but I had to start somewhere. Plus I was going to school so I was relatively inexperienced and no one really wanted to hire me. I was going to school, for a double major in history and architecture, so I could travel the world and work on different landmark sites. I was so absorbed in my day dream that I wasn't paying attention and almost ran over some of the guests.

"Sorry!" I yelled as I hopped out of my car and tried to put my shoes on.

"Rose! Where have you been? We've been waiting for you!" My best friend Lissa Dragomir was storming towards me.

"I know, I know, I'm late." She grabbed my hand and pulled me into a room down the hall.


"This is so much fun." Liss Sighed as she sat down next to me. We were at the reception and although I was surrounded by all my friends I wasn't in a very festive mood. Today was my last day of summer vacation and I knew I had to leave all my friends tomorrow afternoon. We live in a more rural part of Montana called St. Vladimir; only a couple hundred people. So I'm really isolated. The School Liss, Mia and I attend is almost three hours away. The City is pretty, but I like the peace and quiet our rural town provides.

"Yeah, but we have to leave tomorrow afternoon for school."

"I know."

"At least we get to live together and have parties and not be lame and married like Mia and..." She held out her hand." And now you." And then there was one.

"Christian proposed last night."

"That's great Liss."

"I'm sorry. Don't worry, I'm not going to make fun of you for being single like Mia did and I won't turn into a bridezilla either."

"Bridezilla or not, this wedding was amazing. She and Eddie look so cute together. And I am happy for them, but getting married at eighteen is a little early don't you think?"

"Yeah, well that's what I thought too before Christian proposed. Now all I can think about is being with him and how happy he makes me. I knew he was the one freshman year. He just got me you know?"

I got up and hugged her, "I'm happy for you Liss."


I walked into the dorm Liss, Mia and I shared last year. Liss and I had graduated high school early with honors and roomed with Mia. Mia is a year older than us, but all three of us were best friends in high school. We were never part of the popular popular group, but we had a lot of friends and everyone knew who we were. Now that Mia's married, she and Eddie lived in the marriage housing so only Liss and I lived together now. Liss's parents were really wealthy and offered to pay for the dorming house so we didn't have to work and study. My parents were upper-middle class, my Dad was a fashion designer and my Mom was a personal trainer. We have a comfortable life, but we don't have money laying around like the Dragomir's did. I worked last year at a popular student hangout diner/deli called Strigoi. It was good pay for the size of the place and I enjoyed working there. My boss, Mikhail Tanner, was nice and friendly and always accommodating. After we unpacked we met up with Mia. The three of us went over to Strigoi and were greeted by tanner (everyone calls him by his last name don't ask me why).

"So Rose are you coming back to work this year? We could really use you."

"Yeah, I would love to."

We sat and had a few drinks, well Liss and Mia did since I wasn't a drinker. After two hours it was getting pretty late so I left to go back to the house. I had a class at 8:00 and I didn't want to go to sleep too late and then be tired. As I was walking I saw, well heard and then saw, a super tall man complaining to another shorter man about something. The tall one was screaming in some foreign language I couldn't understand. I hated when people yelled. It made their faces all ugly and red and the veins in their neck would bulge. The tall man turned toward me and I ran into a bench. I was completely shocked that someone so hot could have sounded so ugly. And boy was he HOT. He had an amazing tan, a chiseled, square jaw, and shoulder length chocolate brown hair that looked so soft I wanted to run my fingers through it. My hand was twitching back while my brain was telling me to go and assuage it. My eyes began to absorb the rest of him but stopped when they took in his clothing. Eww, he was one of those guys; really wealthy and stuck up. Who wears preppy clothes like that? I hated the way rich people acted. The way they threw their money around and thought they were better than everyone else because they spent thousands of dollars on designer clothing. Like yay you! You know how to be wasteful, would you like a high-five for that accomplishment? Liss and I didn't act that way. In fact I found myself trying hard to make people not think of me like that, just because I have money doesn't mean I'm going to flaunt it. Ugh, I hope tall guy isn't in any of my classes.


I was sitting in Slavic Art when out teacher Mr. Nagy stopped lecturing. We all followed his gaze and I saw tall guy! Oh no, please don't be in this class please, please he opened the door FUCK.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, I believe I'm in this class." Tall guy walked over to Mr. Nagy and showed him a piece of paper.

"Ah, find any open seat and sit down. And Mr.…"

"Belikov."

"Be here at 8:00 when class starts or you will be locked out."

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! The only open seat was next to me. Tall guy, Mr. Belikov, walked over to me and sat down. Mr. Nagy had begun his lecture again, but he turned to look at me.

"You're that girl for the courtyard."

I didn't say anything; I just kept my head forward and continued taking notes. How had he seen me? Yes, I was walking out in the open, but I didn't think he had noticed me.

"You ran into a bench." He chuckled to himself. Mr. Nagy was done lecturing and was now passing out papers.

"Turn to the person sitting next to you and introduce yourselves. Good, you have just met your permanent partner.

When tall guy saw my scowl he started laughing even harder than he had before. Fuck my life!