Jake drove the car up to the familiar gates and a guardian I didn't recognize came to the car.
"Hey. How can I help you guys?" The guardian asked in a deep voice.
"Hey. Umm, I'm Rose Hathaway. I'm coming back to the school." I said, giving him a nice smile.
"Oh. Can I see some id please?" He replied.
"Oh," I rummaged through my bag and found my wallet. "Here." I said, taking my school id card out to show him.
He grabbed it out of my hand and examined it. "Ok, who's he?" He asked, passing me my idea card with one hand and jerking his thumb in Jake's direction with the other.
"Jake Ozera. Miss Kirova asked me here." Jake said holding out his hand to the guardian.
The guardian took his hand and shook it before saying, "Guardian Mleeking. I'll just go open the gates for you." He said then went back to the controls and pressed a couple of buttons then the gates opened.
"Thanks." I shouted to him as we passed. We drove into the school car park and I let out a sigh as I looked up at the familiar buildings. "I did not miss this place." I heard Jake laugh as we stepped out of the car.
Just as I turned to head towards Kirova's office, I heard a high-pitched squeal from behind me. I turned around and before I could see anything, I was knocked to the ground in a massive hug.
"Rose! I cant believe it! Oh my God! You're actually here!" Lissa said in a high-pitch voice then squealed another high-pitch squeal.
"Lissa! I missed you so much!" I said in a voice almost as high-pitched. I got up and pulled Lissa up then pulled her into a tight hug.
"I still can't believe it! You're finally here!" Lissa squealed, jumping up and down in excitement like a little kid.
I laughed. "Believe it. I'm really here." I said, smiling. I then realized that it was midday and Lissa was getting a bit worn out by the sun. "Come on, let's get you to the shade." I said as I put my arm around her shoulders and lead her to the bench next to the walkway which was under shelter.
"Thanks." She said as she sat down, pulling me down next to her.
It was then I realized that Jake was standing in front of us. "Oh, Liss. This is Jake. He's the surprise I wanted to show you." I said pointing to Jake and winking at her.
She looked like she was utterly surprised. "Oh, Rose. I didn't think you'd have time to meet anybody." She said, looking between Jake and I.
"Wait, what do you mean by; 'meet anybody'?" I said, laughter in my voice.
"You know, with killing Dimitri and all..." She trailed off and assessed my face. I was pretty sure I was a little bit upset but I was holding together better then I thought I would.
"It's ok, Liss. You can talk about it." I said, looking down at my hands which were now fidgeting. Ok, I wasn't totally holding together, but I was doing better then I thought I would be. I thought I would be in tears by now, but my eyes didn't even sting. Much. "I...I did kill him. In case you're wondering."
Lissa pulled me to her into a tight hug. "It's ok, Rose. You were just keeping your promise. Remember, if he had any of his humanity left, he would of wanted you to do it." She reassured me, rubbing my arm.
"Well, that's what made it so easy. He didn't have any of it left. He knew he I was sure, but he wanted me to join him. He didn't want me to kill him. And, I-I..." I was too ashamed to admit the rest. I starting sobbing in disgrace. Ok, it was probably also for Dimitri, but some of it at least was for the disgrace I felt of myself and what I almost did.
"It's ok, Rose. You can tell me, no matter what it is." Lissa soothed me as she layed her head on mine.
"Its just... if it wasn't for you...I-I...I almost let him turn me." I started sobbing again, but I pulled away from her and crossed my legs on the bench, leaned my elbows on my knees and buried my head in my hands. I was too ashamed of myself to let myself near Lissa.
"Rose, It's ok. Of course you would of. You two were in love and letting him turn you would of meant you could be with him. Forever." Lissa put a hand on my shoulder in comfort.
"No, it's not ok Liss!" I lifted my head up to look through my tear-filled vision at her. "I almost turned. Willingly. How would you have felt if that had happened to me." I saw her flinch but kept going. "I would have broken my promise to you about coming back and being your guardian. I need to be your guardian. It's all I live for now." I buried my face in my hands again.
I felt someone sit on my other side and pat my back reassuringly. When I looked up, I saw Jake. I completely forgot he was here. "Look, Rose, I've only known you for a few hours but from what I've heard, it's just like Princess Vasi-"
Lissa cut him off. "Lissa."
"Lissa." He corrected himself. "It's just like Lissa said, you's were in love, people do crazy things when they're in love." Jake said calmly, rubbing soothing circles in my back. He sounded a bit like he knew what he was talking about. Hmm, will have to ask him about that later. I gave myself a mental note.
"It still doesn't matter!" I shouted standing up and turning to look at them. "I shouldn't of even thought that! Even if I did love him, it was just wrong!" I was breaking down. "He wasn't who I loved. He was a bloodthirsty monster!" I emphasized the word monster. "All he wants is blood, blood, blood and more blood! He was nothing like the Dimitri I knew and loved, so how the hell can I have even thought of that!" I started sobbing again and collapsed to the ground.
Lissa ran to my side and just wrapped an arm around my shoulders and rubbed my shoulder soothingly. Jake crouched in front of me and moved the hair hanging in my eyes behind me ears.
He looked me in the eyes and said, "Rose, you can't beat yourself up over it. Every single one of us makes stupid decisions." He broke the eye contact and looked down. "Sometimes they're the stupidest thing ever, but it doesn't matter," He looked back into my eyes. "As long as you move on."
"But..I-I...I can't..." I stuttered.
"Yes. You can. Is this how Dimitri would want you to be?" He had me. And he knew it because a small smile crept over his lips. "Go on. Get some clean clothes, and some sleep." He said and stood up.
He offered me his hand and I took it. He started walking off when I put my hand on his arm and said, "Wait," He turned around and I said, "Thanks, Jake. For everything." I tried to give a smile, but failed.
He smiled back at me and just said, "Get yourself cleaned up Rose." Then turned away and walked in the direction of the guest housing.
I turned to Lissa and she was staring at me with her eyebrows raised. "What?"
She looked down and shook her said and said, "Nothing. Come on, let's go to my room and get some sleep. I'm so tired!" As if to prove her point, she errupted in a massive yawn.
I put my arm around her waist and said, "Come on."
We walked to her dorm room, me dragging my feet, and then I remembered my stuff was in the car still. "Crap, I left my stuff in the car."
"Relax," she said, "Ok, theres some spare clothes in my closet. Me, I'm going to sleep." She flunked down onto her bed.
"Umm, Liss, have you forgotten, I don't fit into your clothes."
"Umm, Rose, have you seen yourself lately?" She mimicked my tone.
I looked own at myself and remembered seeing my reflection in the elevator doors and seeing how much skinnier I was.
"Oh, yeah, true." I said then went to her closet and got out a pair of white cotton pyjama pants with different sized deep purple spots on them and a matching singlet-styled top that was the same deep purple colour with a picture of a white persion cat on he front.
I grabbed the towel of the bed and looked over at Lissa. She was soundly asleep already, breathing deeply.
After I walked to the bathroom down the hall, I went into a shower cubicle and put my clothes and towel on the little seat that was there to put them on. I stripped down and put my dirty clothes there too, over to the other side, and turned the shower onto a boiling hot water.
I just stood there for about 15 minutes, letting the water wash away my tense muscles, the worries, the sadness and everything else. It was working like a charm. I washed my hair and body and shaved my legs then turned the water off.
I put my clothes on and towel-dried my hair quickly before I walked back to Lissa's dorm. The clock said it was 1:17 in the afternoon. Cool, I still got a couple of hours sleep atleast.
When I collapsed on the bed, I fell asleep basically as soon as my head hit the pillow and slept a dreamless dream.
"Rose?" I heard my name being called. "Rose?" It repeated then they shook my shoulders a bit. My eyes fluttered open and I saw Lissa standing over me. "Finally!" She smiled. "Now that you are awake, Can you tell me what the hell happened to you?" She said, worry clear in her voice, and pointed to my shoulder.
I looked where she pointed and remembered my bruise. "Oh, that." I sat up. "I got thrown into a brick wall." I gave a small shrug as if it was nothing.
"Thrown into a brick wall!" She screamed. "Oh my God, Rose. Why didn't you tell me? By who?" She shouted frantically.
I looked up at her into her eyes and said, "Who else?"
I saw the change in her expression change from worry to apologelic. "Oh, I'm sorry." She sat at the end of the bed at my feet.
"It's ok." I got out of bed and went over to her closet. I looked back at Liss - who was already dressed - and said "Can I use some more clothes?"
She looked shocked. "Of course you can!"
I smiled. "Thanks." I ended up getting a pair of dark blue jeans and a crimson red tank top and put my jacket over and zipped it up. "Come on, let's go surprise some people." I almost squealed.
There was a knock on the door then a faint, "Liss? You there ?"
"Cristian!" I whispered loudly. "I don't want him to see me yet!"
"Umm, quick, hide!"
"Where?"
"Umm... Behind the lounge!"
I ran behind it and crouched down.
I heard the door opening and a cheery Lissa squealing, "Christian! What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd come see you. Who were you talking to?" He sounded suspicious.
"Talking to someone? I wasn't talking to someone, you must be hearing things. Did you think I was talking to someone? 'Cause I wasn't." Lissa babbled on.
Great. She babbled.
"What are you hiding Liss?" I heard him walk past her.
Well, Rose... It's now or never.
I stood up and faced Cristian.
"Rose?" He gasped.