Meredith shut off the alarm on the nightstand, which stood between the new beds she and her roommate had been given. She sighed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and moved to get a view of the window. The curtains were open, showing the meager light of day disappearing quickly. It was about time for everyone to be up and about in the co-ed dorm the Dhampir of St. Vlad's had established as their own. Of course, it wasn't as lavishly furnished and gilted as the Moroi dorm about a mile or two way, well within a two minute run for the Dhampir.
She sat up in bed, taking a second to reorient herself before moving anything closer to the edge of the bed. Swingng her legs over, she got up and moved toward the bathroom. She cut the light on it the room, and noticed Olena's bed was empty. Usually, her roomate would still be asleep, vying for a few more minutes of sleep while Meredith took her morning shower. lookign around, she noticed the bathroom door was closed, and she heard the shower running.
"Huh. There's a first time for everything, I suppose," she thought out loud. "Hopefully, she doesn't use up all the hot water." Meredith yawned and streched, getting out the clothes she planned on wearing that day. Light gray jeans, her black sweater, and a dark blue turtle neck. Once she got her clothes out, and Olena still wasn' out of the bathrrom, she knocked on the door. The shower had stopped, and yet Olena was still in the bathroom. What was taking her so long? It was usually an in-and-out job when it came to the bathroom. The two of them had that routine down-packed.
"Olena?" she called. "Hey, do you mind-" Meredith paused hearing odd sound. Before she could comprehend what the noise was, which she thought might have been gagging or dry-heaving, the toilet flushed and the door swung open.
Olena was wrapped in a towel, her hair damp. Water droplets clung to her smooth-looking skin (aside from the scars), and ran paths down her legs and arms as she rushed out of the bathroom. Meredith almost didn't have the time to step out of the girl's way. Her face was pale, almost sickly.
"Hey," she said to her. "Um, are you okay?" her brow was furrowed, seeing the new additions to her roommate's skin- the pink scars that were perhaps the only reminders of the attack almost a month and a half ago. Olena did answer her, or look at her; she simply moved quietly about the room. Olena had put her clothes on her bed, deciding to put them on while Meredith took her shower.
Meredith stared at her for a moment longer before nodding, and telling herself to simply let her friend be.
"When you're ready to talk, I'm here, okay?" Olena nodded, taking off the towel. Merdith winced at the marks on the Wilder's back. They made slightly raised, puckered marks up and down her back. It was as if someone had simply taken a rusted butter knife and carved Olena's back like it was a wood-carving. Who ever mutilated her had a serious grievance with her. Meredith sighed, trying not to think of the way she'd found her: the scent of blood overwhelming, curled into the corner of the room, close to death, and with her clothes tattered and torn.
She shook her head, not getting a reply, and gathered her things before moving into the bathroom, leaving Olena to stand in the middle of the room.
Olena quickly moved down the steps after getting her clothes and gathering her books. And this was only after nearly ten minute of assessing herself in front of the mirror than hung on the door in her and Meredith's room. Tears had burned her eyes as she ran her fingers over the pink, slightly raised scars all over her body. She'd even had one just underher chin, albiet small.
Olena had looked at the closed bathroom door, then to the mirror again, and let out a shaky sigh. She forced herself not to look into the mirror for fear of beaking into a million pieces and crying until her eyes ran dry. She pulled on her jeans, but decided to change her shirt. Olena thought that she probably shouldn't wearing anything like a v-neck. If she nearly cried at the sight of the hideous marking on her body, which were all over her arms, torso, and chest, then who else would want to see them?
Self-pity consumed her as she rummaged through the drawers on her bed. She was angry with herself for putting her weapons in a now seemingly obvious place. Smart move, Olena. Her mind scolded. Yeah, under the bed was probably not the best place in the room to hide a few throwing knives and a hand gun. You got them past security some how, yet a smiple Varinski can walk right in, beat the living shit out of you and do who knows what else, and just take your stuff. Way to go, girl.
Olena tried to shake away the self-depriving thought, but she knew it was no use: she was weak, and she couldn't even fight off a Varinski and an air-magic user. A young Varinski, yes, and a weak Moroi royal with the power to wield air like a dragon wielded fire, but still. She'd been no match for them; her brothers and father were right. Olena simply needed to go home, tell them what happened, and lock herself in the solitary confinment that was the room she shared with Firebird.
Pulling on a white turtle-neck sweater dress that ended just at her thighs, she pulled her hair up into a long pony before grabbing her jacket and heading downstairs. She'd put on black, knee-high leather boots lined with fur to insulate herself against the cold air outside.
"Hey, Lena!" she heard someone say. It was Mason and all his adorable ginger-haired glory. His blue eyes lit up in greeting. He smiled, and Eddie wasn't too far behind him.
"Hi," she said, turning towards the sound of his voice. Mason stood before her with a pack of twizzlers in his hand. How he'd gotten his hands on them, Olena didn't know. She took one from the pack. "Good morning, boys."
"Yo," said Eddie, his hand raised in greeting as he nodded. "It looks like you're prepared to fight the necessary evil of the cold wind blowing about outside." he noted. Olena smiled and laughed.
"Yes, it is very cold outside," Rose said, coming down the steps, and moving into the living room, one of which the dorm housed. Olena and Eddie nodded, munching on twizzlers. Rose was unfortunately in the fact that Mason was now guarding the few red rope-like candies left in the pack.
Olena pulled on her coat, her scarf, and her gloves. Although he really didn't want a draft going down her back from the cold, she was able to tolerate the chilly weather changes that occured in the state of Montana. They seemed almost identical to those in Washington.
Novices milled about, preparing for the school day, as usual. Students passed them by on their way towards the outer area of the dorm that served as a sort of reception area to the dorm. Most of them, which happened to consist mainly of the male gender, had ruffled hair and tired-looking eyes as they wandered by on their way out the door. Olena, Meredith, and Rose were three of a handful of female novices (perhaps 25-50 or so) that attended St. Vladimir's Academy. It was awell-known fact that there were few female Guardians in any one given place, which was why those like Rose's mother were particularly famous in their world.
Olena pulled her backpack over her shoulder.
"You all should be getting to breakfast. It'll be over in an hour or so." Olena started involuntarily as a deep voice came from her left. Even though she'd seen him across the room, Dimitri Belikov still managed to sneak up on her. The others glanced at her, and she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I did not mean to scare you, Wilder." Olena nodded, her heart palpitating, the ounding blood in her ears muffled sound. She sighed, and quickly moved for the door.
"I'm just gonna go to class," she turned and waved to her small group of friends, and the Guardian that calmed her down the other day as she headed towards the door.
She couldn't help feeling those dark eyes on her as she stepped out of the door and into the cool air of the evening. Thinking of them kept her warm as she moved across campus to the main school building.
Her classes were long, and it was a tedious task to remain awake. Even though she'd gotten a well-deserved full-night's rest, Olena still felt tired. She struggled to keep awake during history, and ended up falling asleep. It was one of the few classes she had Aleksandyr.
When she'd walked into the room, the two exchanged looks, and each gave the other a warm smile. Olena was able to sit near him, but without him being near her, and thus being the noise that kept her awake in the class, she fell alseep.
"Miss Wilder," the instructor called on her. She lazily opened her eyes, and sighed.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Honestly, could you a least give me the courtesy of not falling alseep in my class, please? And if you do, don't make it obvious that you're asleep and snore." She nodded in response, feeling her face heat up.
"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly, and heard a chuckle to her left. Looking over, she threw her eraser at Aleksandyr. "I don't snore," she mumbled.
Olena was smiling as she walked out of class. Aleksandyr caught up with her in the hallway.
"Hey," he said to her as they moved about. "Are you okay?" His thoughts strayed to the other day when she'd completely lost it in front of him when they were at the library.
"Aleksandyr, you did nothing wrong," she said, sensing his worry through the bond the two of them now shared. It was as if she were attached to him, not on a physical level of course, but a mental, spiritual level. Whenever she was close to him, she had a sense of well-being, life everything bad in the world didn't exist. Or maybe it was simply because of the way he was looking at her now.
With stark, ice blue eyes filled with worry, and guilt. She smiled, trying to keep his mind from being his worst attribute. "I'm fine, Sasha." he groaned and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I feel better, besides being tired. I got the bandages taken off, since I'm pretty much healed, and I've been able to join in on practice for about a week or so.
Her weeks recuperating in the hospital from the attack had set her off her schedule, and with the brief disruptions and extremely futile escape attempts, Olena had to stay longer than it might have been usual. She felt eyes on her again, and looked up at Aleksandyr. He was staring at her, but the odd feeling wasn't coming from him.
Then where? she thought. Who is it? The itiching on the back of her head had her turning around, to find a pair of dark eyes watching her. Dimitri Belikov stared at her overlong, while Stan was speaking to him. She furrowed her brow, but turned again, and shook off the feeling.
"...Not to call me that." she caught the end of Aleksandyr's statement as she centered herself again. Olena nodded.
"Well, still. You didn't do anything wrong, like I said." Aleksandyr sighed, and looked as if this was something he didn't want to talk about. "Look, maybe we can talk later... How about a movie, afterschool?"
"Your place or mine?" Mason was a step behind them. Olena began to tense up, but a sudden calm washed over her. She furrowed her brow and let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.
"Anything you want. But seriously, aren't we going a little too fast? I mean, not to say that you can handle this, but honey, I don't come cheap." Mason smiled.
"Whoa, slow down," Aleksandyr moved his neck like he had an attitude. "Not so fast, buddy. Before you assess the goods, make sure you figure out what you want first." Olena put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing outright.
"Well, the good don't come cheap, like I said. You gotta take me to dinner first. No skipping to dessert, you naughty boy." Mason scrunched up his face, and waved a finger in the air, and sounded like a scolding mother. By this point, Stan had caught up to them in the crowd moving to their next class, the Guardian gave Mason a queer look. Olena shook her head, and laughed in surprise, pointing at Mason.
"What?" he asked. He exaggerated his surprise at seeing Stan. Aleksandyr shook his head, and rolled his eyes, but his shoulder shook.
"Ashford, no one wants to have a guy that can't pay for his date," the Guardian said. "Plus, I like my dessertss before dinner. I skip the juicy parts, and go right to the steamy bits. Sweetness is my thing."
Not in training, no. she thought,
Olena nearly fell on her face from laughing and crying at the two of them. Mason and Aleksandyr looked ashamed with their red faces. They both looked embarassed and confused. "What just happened?" Mason asked.
"We just got duped. By the Warden..." Mason used a favored nickname among the novices for Guardian Alto. Realization dawned on their faces. Olena shook her head, and went on to her next class, unable to breathe from laughing too much.