Sorry it took a while to post this, fell asleep early last night. I was too tired! But trust me, I had every intention to post... I was just tired... Thanks for reading, and please post reviews! Love you all!

Warning: Language!

I own no characters, those belong to Richelle Mead (that lucky, lucky lady...)


Bang, bang, bang

I groaned, rolling over in my bed. It was early in the morning on a weekend. Who the hell would be stupid enough to bang on my door? Who would even be up this early?

Bang, bang, bang

"I'm coming!" I shouted, throwing off the covers and getting out of the bed. On my way to the door, I picked up pair of sweats off the floor and pulled them on.

I opened the door, about to start cursing at whoever was on the other side of it for waking me up. But then I saw who it was.

"Oh, Dimitri. What are you doing here? You do know it's a Saturday morning, right?"

He ignored me. "Come on, you have to see this."

We ran down four hallways, three flights of stairs, and halfway across campus before I realized where we were headed.

"Dimitri, we don't have practice in the gym today," I said, already chilly from the cold and wanting to climb back in my bed.

Finally, he stopped running. We were standing in front of the door to the gym. "I know," he said. "But for today this isn't the gym."

I stared at him, and then placed my hand on his forehead, checking for a fever. Yeah, dhampirs didn't get sick too often, but it was possible he had caught something.

I pulled my hand back, frowning and dissatisfied. He had no fever, but this clearly was the gym. I had been practicing in this very place with him for over four months now. "Dimitri, I don't know what's wrong with you, but this is the gym. It's been the gym for, oh, forever, I guess."

The corner of Dimitri's lips tugged up into the hint of a smile. "Nothing's wrong with me. And like I said before, this isn't the gym. Come inside with me."

Still skeptical, I entered the door he had pulled open for me. And I froze.

Dimitri was right - this wasn't the gym. This was a nightclub.

What had been the gym just yesterday had been fully transformed into what looked like a human nightclub. There was a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, a DJ booth on a stage in the middle of the room pushed up against the wall, and a bar - one that looked like it held real alcohol. Not to mention the thunderous body-pulsing music playing from the speakers.

Faintly, I heard the gym door close behind Dimitri as he walked up beside me. "What do you think?"

I barely noticed he had been speaking to me. Dimitri chuckled at my astonishment.

I turned around. "Okay, what'd I miss? Is this a joke? Or am I still sleeping?"

"No, you're awake. Trust me; you'd know you were too if you'd saw the look on your face when you opened your bedroom door."

"Well what the hell threw up on the gym and made it look a hundred times more fun?"

I heard a high-pitched, girlish laugh erupt from behind me. I whirled around.

"Lissa!"

Lissa ran up to me, pulling me into a massive hug. "Rose, look! Doesn't the gym look amazing?"

"Yeah," I said, stepping out of her arms to look at her. "It's definitely an improvement, but why? What's the occasion?"

Lissa looked shocked. "You mean you haven't heard yet?"

"With the way she's been sleeping like the dead ever since her trials ended, I'm honestly not surprised."

I glowered at Dimitri momentarily, and then turned my attention back to Lissa. "No, I hadn't heard about anything. What's going on?"

Lissa grinned. "A few days ago, a few Moroi asked Kirova if they could go to a club this weekend. She said no, of course, but eventually allowed them to have a party in the gym that looks like a nightclub. And she's even allowing minimal guardian and teacher supervision!"

I couldn't believe it - Kirova had never approved something like this, and lots of people in the past had asked. Unless . . . "Uh, Lissa, this whole thing is really cool and all, but they didn't use compulsion on Kirova, did they?"

Lissa looked shocked. "Rose! They would never do something like that! I can't believe you think so lowly of the Moroi students." I was just about to apologize for my radical idea when she added, "Well, they would never do something like that. But Adrian would." She grinned impishly again.

My mouth dropped for the second time today, and I laughed. "That drunk party boy would do something like that. I wonder why I didn't hear about this sooner though."

"You were kinda busy around the time I was looking for you to tell you."

I frowned. "Doing what?"

An awkward silence fell, and Lissa shuffled her feet, coughing. Dimitri avoided eye contact, pretending like he was scoping out the perimeters of the room for nonexistant Strigoi. I understood. "Oh. Right. Ha . . ."

"Anyways," Lissa said, trying to clear the uncomfortable air, "The party's tonight, and we still have tons to do, so you could help out after you, uh, get dressed a bit more properly." She nodded at my attire.

I realized I was still wearing the skimpy camisole I had slept in last night and the rumpled sweats I had put on today. Not to mention the fact that my hair was in a haphazard ponytail and I probably had morning breath.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go change now," I laughed. I said my goodbyes to Lissa and walked out of the gym, Dimitri following behind me.

I turned around. "Where are you going, Comrade?" I smirked.

Dimitri's cocked his head to the side. "I was going to follow you back to your dorm. . . ."

I crossed my arms. "Uh-huh. I'm sure that's all innocent and stuff, but I have to get dressed. And that would require me to get undressed. So you stay here, and I'll be back in ten minutes tops. 'Kay?"

Dimitri smiled at me. "Hurry."

I took off for my dorm. Once there, I rifled through my closet, picking out my favorite thermal top, skinny jeans, and the awesome ankle boots Lissa had given me on my birthday a couple years ago when we had been on the run. I didn't bother applying any makeup, except for lip gloss. Looking in my mirror at my hair, I decided all I really had time for was to comb and brush it and pull it back into another ponytail, which had sadly become my default hairstyle since I first began practice with Dimitri earlier this year.

I set out of the dorm, kicking my pace up to a brisk speed-walk. The weather at this time of day was nice. It was evening for the human world, meaning mid-morning for us vampires and half-vampires. The night air was dewy from the rain shower last night, and I basked in the perfume of the flower gardens permeating the atmosphere. I arrived at the gym in no time, and I also happily noticed that I stayed within the time limit I had given Dimitri.

I opened the door and sauntered inside, again captivated by the renovation of the gym.

"Hey there, little dhampir. Want a drink?"

I turned around, knowing the voice speaking to me. "Hi Adrian," I greeted him. "Don't you know I'm too young to drink?"

He grinned, leaning against the wall I was standing near, ever-present drink in hand. I had to admit he was looking really attractive in the button-down blue shirt and skinny jeans he was wearing. "Never stopped you before."

I laughed. "Whatever. I can't believe you used compulsion on old Bird Face! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that it was time I got back into my natural environment. Don't act like you don't love me for it." He winked, giving me a lopsided grin.

I couldn't help returning the grin, and I leaned over and smacked his arm. "Slummer. Where's Lissa and Dimitri?"

"Lissa's working with the balloons in the corner near the DJ booth, and your man's talking to Alberta by the snack table."

I had been about to make a comment about Dimitri not being my "man", but decided to ignore it since it was clear Adrian wouldn't be fooled.

Waving bye to my drunkard friend, I spotted Lissa. "Hey," I greeted her, coming up to grab one of the multitude of un-blown balloons resting on the table she was sitting at. "Where's Fire Crotch?"

Lissa shot me a look, smoothing out the skirt of the sleeveless chiffon top she was wearing. It matched the jade green color of her eyes. "You mean Christian?"

"Yeah, him."

"He's making up a test he failed."

I laughed. "I can't really say that's a shock."

Lissa apparently didn't find me very funny. She looked me directly in the eyes. "Rose," she murmured in a level, silky voice. "You're going to stand there, frozen, not moving, and you won't object to what I'm about to do. Okay?" She smiled at me, using all of the Dragomir-Princess charm she could muster - which was a lot.

I was momentarily confused. "Liss, what are you talking about?" If this wasn't weird, then I didn't know what it was.

She continued smiling at me, her grin getting sizeably bigger. I could see her wo tiny fangs poking out.

I was about to open my mouth to say something again, but then, I shut it. I didn't really even think much about it. I just . . . decided not to talk. And then everything I was seeing glazed over, and I knew I had this dopy grin on my face. I couldn't help it. Looking at Lissa again, I realized how much I wanted to please her. . . . I just loved her smile. I would do anything to make her happy. "Yes," I smiled. "I won't object."

Lissa grinned, standing up, and took the fully blown balloon she was holding and rubbed it against my perfectly made ponytail. Then she stuck the balloon to the wall. "Hey, it sticks!" she exclaimed.

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, I snapped out of whatever daze I had previously been in. My happy-go-lucky mood shifted. "Lissa!" I shrieked. "You used compulsion on me!" I was astounded.

She looked back at me. "I did? Oh, huh, I guess I did. My bad." She giggled.

My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe it. She'd been spending way too much time with Christian. I was just about to pounce on her and give her a noogie (yes, it's childish, but she messed my hair up so why not mess up hers?) when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What's going on?" Dimitri asked. He saw me then, and I could tell he had to fight hard to keep from laughing.

I scowled at him and Lissa. Lissa began laughing too. "I hate you all," I muttered. At least Adrian wasn't over here.

"No, you don't," Lissa sputtered. "'Cause if you did you would've jumped across the table at me by now." She lowered her voice, stepping closer. "You also wouldn't have done the dirty with Dimitri."

I gaped. "Oh, no - you'll pay for that Liss!" I grabbed her, pulling her into a headlock as I rubbed my fist into her hair, tangling up the strands.

"Rose!" Dimitri chastised.

I released Lissa just as fast as I had grabbed her. She stood up straight, staring daggers at me. "I hate you," she grumbled.

I laughed at her disgruntled expression and disheveled hair. "No, you don't," I teased, "'Cause if you did you wouldn't have been so happy to see me earlier." I stuck my tongue out.

She ignored me, hands flying up to her head to try and fix her hair. I did the same, taking my hair out of my ponytail and shaking it out. Just as I was reaching to put it back into another one, Dimitri caught my hand.

"Leave it down," he murmured in my ear, and I recalled that long-ago practice where he had advised me not to cut my hair.

I smiled at him, instead wrapping the hair tie around my wrist before walking over to help Lissa out.

Once we had gotten the hair situation straightened out, I helped Lissa, Eddie, and a few others that were there decide on the playlist for the party. With the way things were turning out, everything would be just right tonight. Who knew; I might even get to have my first dance with Dimitri. See? I can be optimistic.


So did you likey? Please review and let me know how you feel about everything!
xoxo,
RyRy