Heeere's Chapter 10!
Shout-out to amberrosalie! Her review was freaking awesome :D One of the best I've gotten for this story! Plus she's just an awesome weird person ;)
And um, yea, I was supposed to have this chapter up like a week ago but my bitch of a friend decided she was going to tell everyone I'm pregnant. I am not pregnant! I am 15. I don't even have a boyfriend!
MOLLY: Lmao, yes, your super-awesome powers are veerry persuasive :D But I've been working on this chapter for a few days now. Damned writer's block!
Oh, for anyone who's confused about Dimitri's age… He's the same age as Lissa and Rose. There's no age difference between them… But there's something else keeping them apart :D
RPOV
I woke with a sudden start, as if someone had electrocuted me. Warily, I sat up and realized that Dimitri was gone. I frowned, wondering how long I'd been sleeping alone.
"You're awake," Lissa's voice made me jump. I looked across our room and saw her sitting cross-legged on the bed. She uncrossed her legs and stood up, stretching her arms up.
"Where's—"
"Dimitri? He left about two hours ago. He didn't want to miss all of the school day." She said, not looking at me. "It's 11:30am. I stayed with you just in case something happened." Something was wrong. She wouldn't look at me.
"Lissa? What's wrong?" I asked, standing up as well.
She shook her head and looked down. "We should get ready for the last few periods of school," she said softly.
"Seriously, what's wrong?" I reached out to touch her shoulder, but she jerked away from me.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice was just a whisper.
"Tell you what?" I asked, frowning.
"About the nightmares!" Suddenly she was furious, yelling and glaring at me. "You never told me they were this horrible! I could've helped you, done something—"
"Like what?" I shot back. "You're no better than me, Liss! Hell, if it weren't for me, you'd have probably committed suicide years ago! I couldn't tell you! You wouldn't have been able to deal with it!"
She suppressed a shriek. "I'm your fucking sister, Rose! We're supposed to tell each other everything, so why didn't you? And do not tell me it's because I'm too fucking fragile to handle the truth!"
"Fine. I didn't tell you because I was embarrassed. I'm the strong one, the one who's supposed to protect you, and how am I supposed to do that when a nightmare destroys me like this? You couldn't know, Lissa, you had to believe that I was fearless or you would fall apart too!" I whirled away from her, too angry to speak.
"Having nightmares isn't a sign of weakness, Rose," she said softly. "It's perfectly normal considering our situation. I wouldn't have fallen apart, Rose. I would have tried to help. Did you know how scared I was last night? I thought you were dying!" Now, her tone was accusing. What the hell was her problem?
"You can't get scared, Lissa, not for me! That's not how it goes! You aren't supposed to be worried about me!"
"Well, guess what Rose? I worry about you anyways. I can't help it. I always wonder if you're truly okay, and it hurts that you'd keep these nightmares from me! Why are you embarrassed that you have nightmares about our father beating you up?" Lissa looked at me angrily.
"The nightmares aren't about me, Lissa." I hissed furiously. How could she think I'd ever be scared for myself? Did I come across as that selfish?
"Then what are they about?" Lissa asked throwing up her hands. "I mean, I don't know shit, Rose! You gotta tell me—"
"You remember that night?" I interrupted, not bothering to clarify which night. She would know which night I was talking about. She quieted and nodded, her face suddenly looking drawn and scared. "I have nightmares about not being able to get to the phone in time. He-It's the same every dream. He kills you and goes after me." I swallowed hard. "That's what scares me, Liss. I couldn't protect you, even when I promised you I would. Our father doesn't scare me anymore. He's locked up, and he will be until he dies. Then he will rot in hell for all eternity. But he killed you. And I can't deal with that."
Lissa's eyes were wide and teary as she reached for me. "Oh, Rose. You have never let me down." She mumbled into my shirt. "He won't ever hurt either of us again, I promise you." I hugged her back.
"It doesn't stop the nightmares. I could have been too late that night."
"But you weren't and that's all that matters," she said, pulling back. "Now, go get dressed so we don't miss Russian."
"I don't understand Russian," I complained. "It's so weird!"
"Hey, you opted to take it!" Lissa laughed. "Maybe Dimitri can 'tutor' you!" She put air quotes around tutor, winking at me.
I smiled faintly. "Maybe," I murmured, imagining what our tutor sessions would be like. Our first lesson could be all about how people in Russia kiss. Yummy
Lissa giggled. "Come on you lovesick teen. It's time to go." She pulled me out the door. I frowned and shook her off.
"But I look terrible," I complained. "Can't we take the rest of the day off?"
"No. We can't afford to get kicked out of the school—" Lissa's cell phone started ringing, and then mine did a few seconds later. We stared at each other, shocked. Then, Lissa shook her head at me and smiled shakily. "Answer at the same time?"
Slowly, I nodded and counted down. "1,2,3," We both reached for our phones.
"Hello?" Our voices mixed together and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
"Rose?" Janine's slightly frantic voice came through the phone.
"Janine?" I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice.
"Are you and Lissa alright?" She demanded worriedly.
"Um, yea… Why wouldn't we be?" I stole a quick look at Lissa, who also looked confused. She mouthed "Tanya" and pointed her phone. I nodded and mouthed back, "Janine"
"I just… I thought… I had a bad feeling, and you guys didn't call!" Janine said, relief clear in her voice. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Are you and Tanya okay, Janine?"
"Yes, we just had reason to be concerned. You didn't call us yesterday."
"I didn't know we were supposed to check in with you," I muttered resentfully. However, even as I said the words, a warm feeling rose up in my chest. Janine and Tanya had been worried. About us. They cared. It was an odd feeling.
"Well… you don't have to, I just got a letter and—" she cut herself off. "Never mind… Listen, Rose. If anything weird happens, or you feel threatened at all, you need to call me right away. Okay?"
I frowned into the phone. "…Okay?" I said it like a question.
"Alright. Goodbye Rosemarie."
"My name is Rose." I said, but the only answer I got back was the dial tone. She'd hung up on me. I groaned and looked at Lissa. "What did Tanya want?"
"Same thing Janine wanted I bet. To make sure we were both okay and unharmed." Lissa frowned slightly. "Wonder what happened?"
I shrugged. "Janine said something about a note… And then she made me promise to call her if anything weird was going on…"
"Weird. I wonder—" Lissa stopped as a girl walked up to us with a fake smile plastered on her face. Her eyes were a smoky grey and she had long light brown hair. I eyed her apprehensively. She looked like she was made in China.
"Hi," the girl said brightly as she reached us. "You two must be Rosemarie and Vasilisa!"
"Um, I'm Rose, and she's Lissa." I said, pointing to myself and Lissa respectively.
The girl's smile faltered for half a second and I thought I saw resentment in her eyes. Then her happy mask was back on. "Well, I'm Avery," she said with a huge smile. Her name sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. I assumed she was just in one of my classes and I didn't remember her. "I was on my way to the bathroom and I couldn't help but notice you two were just standing here. Are you guys lost?" Innocence laced her words.
I stole a quick peek at Lissa. She just looked back at me with a slightly frantic expression in her eyes. We couldn't afford to get caught, she was right. "Uhh, yea. Well, I was. Lissa was just trying to help me."
"Oh, well, I can take you to class so darling Lissa here doesn't have to miss any more of the class." Avery batted her eyes and gave Lissa a huge sweet smile. Ugh, this girl was so fake she made Barbie look real.
Lissa gave her a quick smile, obviously amused by her attempts to suck up and turned to me. "I'll see you after school in our room, right? Unless you're going to meet up with one of the three guys?" By that, she meant Dimitri, Adrian, and Mason.
"Nope, I'm not meeting up with them as far as I know. See ya, Liss" I hugged her and watched her walk towards her next class. I turned to Avery and tried to start up a conversation. "So, um, are you—"
"Bitch," she spat hatefully. I blinked, feeling an angry flush rise to my cheeks.
"Excuse me?" I asked incredulously.
"You heard me, little whore," Avery hissed. I clenched my fist and restrained myself from hitting her.
"What the fuck is your problem?"
"Stay the hell away from my boyfriend!" Avery exclaimed. "You're a slut, we get it, but do not fucking throw yourself at guys who are taken!"
"Who did I throw myself at?" I asked. "Are you talking about Dimitri? Because we didn't do anything last night."
Avery threw up her hands. "Great!" she screeched. "So you're whoring around him too? Jesus, you really are a slut." There was utter contempt in her voice as she regarded me.
"Who is your fucking boyfriend?" I all but screamed at her.
"Adrian Ivashkov. You know him? Of course you do; you all but raped him yesterday!"
I furrowed my eyebrows. So that was why her name was so familiar to me. Mason had warned me about her yesterday; she was Adrian's psychotic ex. There was nothing to worry about from her. If she got too out of line, I could just deck her and she'd go bawling to the nurse. "Adrian Ivashkov is single." I smirked.
She flushed a deep red. "He is not single!" Then she took a step closer to me. "And if you even so much as look at him, I will make you regret it so fast your head will spin. Watch yourself, slut," she hissed. Before I could show her what my fist felt like, she slipped away from me. "Good luck finding you class!" Avery sneered, turning to leave.
"I'll tell Adrian you said hi!" I called out just to piss her off. Then I ran before she could try and hurt me. Giggling, I walked into my classroom about ten minutes late.
"Miss Hathaway, I hope you have a good excuse for coming so late?" My history teacher blinked at me. I just smirked.
"Yea, some girl had a stick shoved too far up her ass. I tried to help her out but she just got madder at me." I replied lazily, taking my seat.
She stared at me, slowly turning an ugly shade of red. "Detention tonight, Rose. You need to respect the rules," she trilled, glaring at me balefully.
"Whatever." I sighed, slouching down. Teachers really pissed me off here, and right now I was too lazy to argue with her.
Once the teacher had finally turned back to the board and resumed talking, I poked Adrian in the back. He turned to look at me, a smirk on his face.
"Just couldn't get enough?" Adrian asked devilishly.
"Your ex is fucking insane!" I whispered. "Did you know that?"
"Which one, Rose-petal?" Adrian asked playfully. I rolled my eyes at him.
"That Avery chick. She all but scratched my eyeballs out today!"
Adrian's smirk vanished. "She did?" He looked worried.
"Yea, she thought I was fucking you. She also told me you two were still together." I eyed him apprehensively.
"Are you okay?" Adrian asked quietly. I was taken aback by the seriousness in his voice.
"Yea, why wouldn't I be?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. "Does she have like super-powers or something?"
"Well, no, but she's daddy's little girl… She has a ton of influence. When she wants something, she usually gets it. Watch your back around her, Rose." Adrian warned. "She can be a nasty bitch when she wants to."
"When she wants to?" I snorted. "I think that's the only thing she knows how to be."
Adrian smirked. "Now you know why I dumped her."
"So you're not still together." I raised my eyebrows. "You really should get that straight with her. Like, before she destroys half the girls on campus."
"Nah, we're not still together, Rose petal. You don't have to worry about any competition," Adrian winked.
"Oh, trust me, I'm definitely not worried about any competition."
"Miss Hathaway, is there something more interesting to you than my class?" My teacher (whose name I forgot) asked dryly, staring me down.
I bit my lip to keep from saying that there was nothing less interesting than history and shook my head innocently. "Not at all. I was just asking Adrian for the notes I missed." I smiled widely at her. The teacher examined me for a few more seconds before resuming her lecture on the Great Wall of China.
I zoned out for the rest of school, just trying to get through it without attracting any more unwanted attention to myself.
At the end of the day, I finally saw Dimitri in the hallway. Unable to stop myself from smiling like a fool at the sight of him, I called out, "Dimitri! Hey!" His head swiveled around, and his eyes met mine for a fraction of a second, just long enough for me to know he'd registered my presence. Then, he put his head down and hurried off in the opposite direction.
I stood stock-still for a few seconds, just shocked. What had happened to the kind, caring Dimitri from last night? Was—He couldn't possibly be avoiding me, could he?
"Hey, Hathaway, get a move on!" Someone hollered from behind me. I turned and saw Mason grinning at me. Suddenly, I was not in the mood to talk to anyone if their name wasn't Dimitri. I gave him a small wave.
"Sorry, Mase, got lots to do." With that said, I turned away quickly so I wouldn't have to see the disappointment on his face.
I reached my dorm room ready to collapse. I don't know why, but I felt drained and tired. Lissa was waiting for me outside. She smiled broadly.
"There's a package for you on the bed," she winked and nudged me. "It looks really romantic."
My heart leapt for a few seconds. Maybe that was why Dimitri had been avoiding me; he was embarrassed. Fumbling with my key, I asked, "Who is it from?"
"I didn't look, but I can guess." Lissa laughed happily. "Oh, Rose. You haven't gone out with a guy in so long! Maybe Dimitri will be good for you."
I smiled triumphantly, opening the door. "Got it!" I said breathlessly. I spotted the package, sitting on my pillow, and I nearly fainted.
With my heart in my throat, I approached the box eagerly, praying that the tag said "Love, Dimitri,"
I know, weird place to stop. But hey, I needed this chapter to be posted and if I'd done what I wanted, it would have been another few days before I could get it up.
For those of you who read Lost, the next chapter isn't even halfway done. I'm been writing in a notebook at school when I can, but I just haven't had time to actually DO anything with it… Hopefully my homework load will lighten up and then I can start writing again!
Review? Or do you all hate me for taking so damn long to update?