The Montana air was cool on my face as I walked to the caff with my stomach in knots. Once I found my way to the building, I realized I was completely and utterly lost. I watched a lot of the classic highschool films growing up, but none of them prepared for what I found when I entered the building. All those films went on and on about cliques, but as I looked around I realized that you couldn't tell just by looking what was the one thing that kept these groups together. I noticed Brandon and Matt, but they looked a little busy, their table being surrounded by pretty girls. And I suddenly felt like a little kid compared to them. I once again felt all alone, and yearned for Hanna.

I was lost in my thoughts when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped and quickly turned around to find a petite Moroi, with brown hair pulled back into a high pony, and a smattering of freckles across her pale skin. She was laughing at me.

"A little tense, huh?"

"Sorry, this whole school thing is kind of new to me, I was sort of home schooled." I explained.

"You don't say, well I'm Molly." She said holding out her hand. I found it odd and a little formal, but I shook it anyway. "Hey why don't you eat with me and my friends?" She asked.

"Well I don't see any better offers," I joked. She gave me an odd look but then continued to lead me to the food lineup, which I almost kicked myself for not noticing before."

I felt my stomach grumble as I saw the large lineup of food, and remembered that I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. I grabbed two slices of bacon some toast and some scrambled eggs. Which I immediately covered in ketchup. And then I saw the cinnamon rolls. I managed to grab three before I saw the incredulous look from Molly. I continued to put one back and decided I was done with the lineup. I noticed that Molly grabbed a cup of yogurt and some fruit. That was so Moroi of her. She led me back to a table with two boys, and I realized that this must be her group.

"Hey guys, this is new girl. New girl, this is Blake and Sean." Blake was a cute Moroi with dark hair and blue eyes, Sean was a Dhampir with blond hair and green eyes. I blushed as I realized I was staring, and that I hadn't introduced myself yet.

"Hi, I'm Jade." I said setting my tray down on the table. The boys both eyed it.

"Someone must be hungry?" Blake said.

"Hey, back off, you don't know what it's like to be a Dhampir." Sean came to my rescue.

"And besides, I haven't eaten since yesterday." I blushed as I realized how stupid that sounded. But apparently the gang found me funny. Deciding to change the topic I asked, "So how do you guys all know each other?"

"Oh, we've been friends forever. We were in the same class in kindergarten." Molly said. "These two saved the day when I was being picked on by some girls, and ever since then we kind of stuck together."

"Such gentlemen." I said. Looking at their dynamic though, I suddenly felt home sick for Hanna. "Well I had to leave my best friend behind when my mom forced me to come here." I muttered.

"Well it's worth it, we've got some of the best guardian training around." Sean said.

"Yeah. Did you know that this is where Guardian Rose Hathaway went to school?" Molly chimed in.

"Oh really," I said starting to feel uncomfortable.

"And the queen," Molly continued. "This is where their friendship started."

"And to think any one of us could be them?" Blake said.

I didn't say anything at that, I just continued to shove my breakfast in my mouth. I knew it was wrong, but I wanted to be normal, so I didn't feel like revealing my parentage just yet.

"So what class do you have first?" asked Blake.

I revealed my time table to find that these three had the same morning classes as me. Sean and I had the same afternoon classes, but the other two had special Moroi specialization classes. The bell chimed, revealing that our breakfast was officially over. I wrapped my last cinnamon roll in a napkin and took off with the rest of the group.

Molly was the one to continue our earlier conversation. "I'm just so excited to see what element I specialize in. Hopefully it will be something cool like spirit."

I cringed at her excitement over the element know knowing all too well the side effects of such power. "Fire sounds cool too." I chimed in. Fortunately for the dragomir clan, all the kids so far had specialized in fire. But everyone was holding their breath for when Hanna specialized.

"Yeah but it's so destructive, and you only have control over fire. With spirit you get to do so much, and imagine having the ability to turn Strigoi back. You could help so many people."

"Except most Moroi are too selfish to save people." The four of us turned around to see Brandon and Matt. I blushed as Brandon switched his attention from the group to just me. "Hey Jade."

For a moment, I was struck by his attractiveness, but I decided to argue Aunt Lissa's case. "It's not being selfish, it's self preservation. Bringing a strigoi back takes a lot of power. Power that can a spirit user to a Psych ward."

"You seem to know a lot about this." Matt observed.

He caught me off guard a little, but I decided to go with the truth. "My father is a spirit user, and he is still a large part of my life." And my step dad was a Strigoi brought back, but I decided to not to mention this.

"That's pretty cool." Inching closer to me.

"But I bet he has his own family, doesn't he?" Matt chimed in.

"He does." I confirmed.

"See all Moroi just see Dhampirs as their whores." I was startled by his choice of words, and apparently so was Brandon.

"Dude cut it out." He said to Matt, and then to me he said. "I'm father did care about your mom." I nodded silently thanking him for standing up for me.

In the background another bell chimed. "Warning bell." Molly said. "We'd better go before we're late."

Blake grabbed me arm and guided me to our first class.

And then I heard, "See you around Belikov." I turned my head to see Brandon smiling at me.

We sat down for out first class when I heard Sean mutter, "What a jerk."

"A cute jerk though." Molly cut in. "Don't you think, Jade?"

I was cut off guard by the question. "Yeah, I guess."

"And to think, most girls don't see past that pretty face." Blake muttered.

The final bell went and the teacher started the class. In the morning, I excelled. Academics were my friends back at court, and apparently it showed here. The teachers were surprised at my amount of knowledge. Which didn't surprise me considering how little the other Dhampirs tended to pay attention.

I found it quite sad actually. I felt that Dhampirs didn't get much of a choice in this life. It was either fight or live a completely mundane life, probably working at some grocery store part time. I stated these views in my first novice class. Bodyguard Theory 1 with Guardian Alto.

"That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard!" Apparently this guy didn't take criticism well.

"I'm just saying that even though Moroi now get the choice to fight, with the new afterschool training, Dhampirs do not. Even though it seems like it, those who walk away are shunned in our society, especially the males. And the females who do leave are expected to live simple lives raising their children. Now does that seem fair?" I reasoned from my seat at the back of the classroom.

"Fair is our right to live." Alto argued back, "Which we do not receive if we hide."

"I'm not saying hide. I'm just saying a choice would be nice."

"Nobody wants to fight Strigoi. But it's a job that needs to be done."

"A job that very rarely lasts us until retirement. Because not everyone can be lucky and get a teaching position." Alto flinched at my words, then proceeded to grab a slip of paper off his desk.

"What's your name?" he asked grabbing a pen.

"Jade," I said confused.

Alto looked up from the paper in complete annoyance, "Jade what?"

"Belikov." I muttered.

"What?" he bellowed.

"Belikov!" I said louder, He returned to the piece of paper and then stopped suddenly. "Hathaway's daughter?"

I was taken aback, most people never made the connection between me and my mother, the last name normally put them off. "Uh…yes?" I stuttered. I suddenly felt pure horror, he was going to blow my secret.

"Oh. I didn't realize we had a celebrity in our midst." He spoke sarcastically. He then began to take an over dramatic bow. "I am honoured to meet someone with so much experience. Now tell me, how often did you leave court?"

"What."

"Exactly. Miss. Belikov, if I wanted an opinion, I would receive it from someone who actually has some experience. Not a spoiled Dhampir like yourself." His smug look made me want to punch him. "Oh and by the way. I taught your mother, I can see the family resemblance."

At that he chucked the paper slip into the garbage, his damage was done. He had succeeded in revealing my secret. I could hear the whispers of my classmates as they started to stare. Sean wouldn't look at me directly. Suddenly my stomach was in knots again.