AN- Hi everyperson! Thank you all so much for reading! We're back to Lissa for this one. Please let me know what you think! I'd love to hear from you :)

Lissa POV:

Eddie taps my shoulder. "Hey Lissa, you talked to Rose lately?"

I shake my head. "I haven't seen her since this morning, why?"

"She got in a fight with Jesse."

Not again. "Why?"

He smirks. "Like Rose needs a reason to beat up Jesse."

"Fair point. Is she okay?"

"More like is he okay. But yeah, I don't think she got a scratch on her." No kidding, she could take Jesse any day.

"Do you know where she is?"

"Well, she's supposed to be emptying all of the trash cans at the academy, so she could be anywhere by now." I send her a quick text, but she doesn't answer.

"Alright, I'll go find her. Thanks, Eddie." I set off across the sidewalk, my heels clicking against the pavement. I guess it's a good thing I packed for Rose, since she'll definitely be busy this afternoon. I pull out my phone. Why isn't she answering me? Urg. I walk smack into something.

"Ouch. Sorry!" I look up. "Oh, hey Guardian Belikov."

"Hello, Princess."

I wrinkle my nose. "Just Lissa, please."

"Right. Lissa." What does Rose see in him? I mean besides him being gorgeous. Does he ever smile?

"Have you seen Rose?" I ask.

He looks a little surprised. "I haven't seen her since this morning. Why?"

"She...um." Wait….should I let her tell him?

"Lissa?"

I sigh. "Eddie said she beat up Jesse Zeklos." His jaw tightens. "I'm not sure why, I mean, he always deserves it, but still. Did something happen this morning that she'd be upset?"

"And you don't know where she is now?" Wow. Just ignore my question why don't you.

"Eddie said Alberta made her empty all of the Academy's trash cans, so she could be anywhere around here." He pushes past me wordlessly. "Dimitri?"

He turns around. "What?" There's something hard in his eyes.

"I, um, I think it might be better if I talk to her." Our eyes meet, and a flash of understanding crosses his face.

He nods stiffly. "If you need me, just let me know."

"Okay." I trot off. Where is she?

******************************17.8 minutes later***************************************

"Rose?"

"I'd stay away if I were you. The fumes will probably do permanent damage to your sensitive nose. Or to anyone's nose." She was right, I was practically gagging.

"What even is that?"

"I think some class was dissecting frogs."

"Ew!" That's actually nasty.

She giggles. "You know you drink blood to stay alive right?"

I frown at her. "Not the same thing."

"Right."

"Okay. Why'd you attack Jesse?"

She looks like she just ate a lemon. "Need we discuss this right now, Your Highness?" I cross my arms. "Fine….He was making fun of Janine. Not that I should care, but C'mon, she is my mother."

"So you punched him?" I ask, exasperated. She really needs some anger management.

"Well, I'm not exactly the civilized sort."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," she says, a forced smile smeared across her face. Right.

I narrow my eyes at her. "Fine. Alright then, you'd better hurry. We're leaving in three hours, and you've got to take a shower before you get in the car."

"What, you don't like my new perfume?" She waves the reeking trash bag at me, and I make a run for it. Why is she lying to me? Because it's my fault, and she knows it. And because she doesn't want me to feel like it's my fault. Why is life so complicated?

Christian sits next to me in the cafeteria. "Ooh. We get red goo instead of green gunk! We should celebrate."

"I think it's tomato sauce. Or possibly very expired tomato soup." I squint at the ominous concoction the academy has the nerve to call food.

"We could always just wait till we get to Tasha's to eat?"

"Yeah, and while we're there we should just eat enough to last us until Christmas, that way, we never have to eat this again."

"Sounds like a plan." Despite this declaration, he licks a bit of the goo off his spoon. "Liss, this is fowl."

"Try the roll. It's tasteless."

"Perfect."

"So, how are you feeling?"

"Good. It'll be good to see Tasha. She's the only family I've got left, you know?"

"Yeah! I can't wait to see her either! And to have a break from school. It sucks not having specialized yet." He squeezes my hand and goes back to inspecting his….well, it might qualify as food.

"So, I heard Rose knocked some sense into Zeklos today." He smirks. "Never thought I'd say this, but I almost feel sorry for the guy."

"You don't happen to know the details? She didn't really want to talk about it."

"She was walking out of the gym, and he came up behind her with some of his minions and started talking about what a crappy mom and guardian Janine is. Rose ignored him for a while, and just as he was gonna leave, she turned around and punched him in the face. She decided to follow that up with a knee to the crotch and a trip to Alberta's office."

I put my head on the table and moan. "No wonder she was mad." He checks his phone.

"Hey, we have to go in thirty-one minutes, so we should probably get your stuff in the car."

"Good idea. We can get Rose's too, so she can shower." We hurry back, and I try to stop worrying about Rose and just enjoy this moment, walking through the crisp fall air with Christian's hand in mine. We climb up the uneven steps. I trip on the top one, so Christian has to catch me.

"You should be more careful," he whispers, his breath rustling my hair. I lean back against him, and his arms tighten around my waist. More careful. I know. More careful not to hurt my best friend. Not to feel anything too strongly. Is that the price I have to pay?

Together we drag the suitcases down the stairs and outside.

"How much did you put in here? You do realize we're only going for four days, right?"

I giggle. "And this only my makeup bag!" His eyes widen, and he glances nervously down at the bulky suitcase in his hand. "I'm kidding, Chris." He shakes his head. "I have my shoes in there too."

"You're insane, Liss."

"Just another thing you love about me," I tease, setting Rose's bag down. He turns abruptly and brushes my hair out of my eyes.

"I love everything about you, Vasilisa Dragomir." I kiss him even though he used my deeply-despised full name, and he kisses me back, winding his fingers through my hair.

AN: Did you like it?

And guess what? I PASSED MY DRIVING TEST! YAAAAYYYY!

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Princess Doom