Chapter 10 - divided

Adrian and Dimitri fought for Rose's sake. Adrian told Dimitri to back off, Dimitri said make me. Adrian ended up tackling Dimitri, Dimitri got out a switchblade and threatened to use it.

"Let's settle this," Adrian snarled. "You don't look at her, you don't talk to her, you don't even think about her."

"I'm trying to help," Dimitri said, trying to contain his anger.

The janitor, Stan, walks in.

"Hey, Mase," Stan called.

Dimitri looked at Mason. "Your dad works here?" Mason looked down, embarrassed.

"Hey, Stan," Dimitri called. Stan looked at him. "How do you become a janitor?"

"Why? You interested?" Stan asked.

"No, no," Dimitri said. "I'm just wondering how a person becomes a janitor. Adrian here is interested in the custodial arts—"

"Oh," Stan said. "Really? Do you guys think I'm some untouchable peasent? Peon? Maybe, but cleaning up after shitheads like you for the past eight years I've learned some things. I listen to your conversations, I look through your letters, I look through your lockers. You don't know that, but I do. Oh, and that clock's twenty minutes fast."

Dimitri smiles at Stan; everone else, obviously irritated.

"Shit," Adrian muttered.

At 11:30, Kirova leaves her office and goes to the library, telling the kids they're able to have lunch.

"In here?" Adrian said.

"Yeah—in here," she replies.

"Wouldn't the cafeteria be a more suitable place for lunch?" Adrian asked.

"I don't care what you have to say, Ivashkov," Kirova snapped.

"Will any beverages be made available to us?" Dimitri asked.

"Yeah, I have a very low tolerance to dehydration," Rose added.

"I've seen her dehydrated, ma'am, it's pretty gross," Adrian said.

"Don't worry, I'll get it," Dimitri said.

Kirova motions Dimitri to sit down. "Do you think I was born yesterday? The last thing we need is you roaming the halls." When Dimitri sat down, showing a smug smirk, Kirova points at Adrian: "You and"—she looks at all the other kids, except Dimitri—"you." She points at Mia. When Mia didn't respond, Kirova snaps her fingers. "Hey, wake up! This isn't a rest home, young lady, get up."

"There's a vending machine in the teacher's lounge, let's go." Mia gets up and follows Adrian out.

As Adrian and Mia walk through the halls, Adrian asked: "What's your poison?" Mia stays quiet. "What do you drink?" Mia still stays quiet. Adrian shook his head. "Okay, forget I asked—"

"Vodka," Mia said abruptly.

"Vodka?" Adrian looked at her with disbelief. "When do you have time to drink vodka?"

"Whenever," Mia said harshly.

"Is that why you're here?" Adrian aksed. Mia doesn't reply. "Why are you here?"

"Why are you here?" Mia retorted.

Adrian averted Mia's big, blue eyes. "I'm, uh, here cause my old man and my coach don't want me to blow my ride. I get treated differently cause my coach thinks I'm a winner. So does my dad. I'm not a winner cause I wanna be one, I'm a winner cause I'm strong and fast. That's about how involved I am in what happened to me."

Mia nodded, clearly not buying Adrian's little aversion. "Very interesting," she said. "Why don't you tell me why you're really here?"

Adrian stiffened. "Forget it."

Dimitri, Rose, and Mason, clearly bored, sat in their spots. Dimitri looked at Rose with a hidden longing, Rose picking fingernail polish off.

"Hey, Rose, wanna see a guy with elephantitus in the nuts," Dimitri said.

Rose made a noise of obvious disgust. "No thanks."

"Would you ever consider dating a guy like that?" Dimitri asked.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Rose whined.

"The guy has a great personality," Dimitri continued. "he's a cool dancer and has a nice car. You'd have to sit in the back cause his nuts would take shotgun."

"You know what I'd love to be doing?" Rose said dreamily.

Dimitri held a hand up. "Watch what you say," he said. "Ashford here is a cherry."

"A cherry?" Mason squeaked.

"A plane going to France," Rose murmured.

"I'm not a cherry," Mason said firmly.

"You ever laid?" Dimitri said, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes," Mason lied. "I've done it plenty of times."

"Name one."

"A girl I met in Texas," Mason said. "When I was visiting my aunt over the summer. You wouldn't know her."

"You ever laid a girl here?"

Mason motioned for Dimitri to be quiet, pointing to Rose, whose back was turned.

"Rose?" Dimitri said. A little louder, Dimitri said: "You and Rose did it?"

"What?" Rose asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Drop it," Mason said quickly.

"No, don't drop it, what were you talking about?" Rose demanded.

"Well, besides the fact Mason was telling me about a number of girls he met in the Texas area, that you two were going at it," Dimitri said coolly.

"Disgusting pig," Rose snapped at Mason.

"No! Dimitri said I was a cherry and I said I wasn't, that was all," Mason said quickly.

"Why were you motioning at Rose?" Dimitri questioned.

"I don't appreciate this, Mason," Rose said.

"He's lying," Mason stammered.

"So you weren't motioning at Rose?" Dimitri pressed.

"Please, Rose, you know he's lying."

"Were you or were you not motioning at Rose?" Dimitri said.

"Yes, but I d-didn't want her to know I'm a virgin, okay?" Mason admitted. Dimitri just looks at him. "Well sorry for being a virgin."

Rose chuckles. "Why didn't you want me to know you're a virgin?"

"Cause it's my personal business," Mason said, looking at Dimitri.

"I think it's okay for a guy to be a virgin," Rose said. Dimitri looks at her in shock.

"Really?" Mason said.

"Mhm," Rose said. She smiles.

Once Mia and Adrian got back with beverages, everyone began getting their lunches out. Rose gets her lunch, sushi.

"What's that?" Dimitri said.

"Guess—what's your lunch?" Rose commented.

"You're wearing it," Dimitri said.

Rose scrunched her nose in disgust. "You're nauseating." Rose pulls out her sushi container.

"What is that?" Dimitri said, pointing to Rose's lunch.

"Sushi," she said simply.

"Sushi?"

"Yeah. Raw fish, rice, and seaweed," Rose said.

Dimitri's face scrunched in disgust. "You won't accept a guy's tongue in your mouth, but you're willing to eat that?"

"Are you done?" Rose said.

"I have no idea," Dimitri said, shaking his head. "Go ahead."

Adrian, pulling a big bag out, grabs multiple sandwiches, a few bags of chips, an apple, a banana, and a can of soda. Rose and Dimitri look at him wide-eyed.

"What's the problem?" Adrian snapped. They look away. In the back, Mia pulls out a bologna sandwich, take the bologna out and places it on the table, takes out some pixie stix and pours it on the bread, gets a ziploc bag of Captian Crunch and dumps it on top of the pixie stix. She loudly takes a bite of her 'sandwich.' She notices everyone looking at her and scowls at them.

Before Mason got a chance to get his lunch out, Dimitri comes over and takes his bag from him. Taking out a sandwich, a thermos of soup, and a carton of milk.

"Well, Mason, I must say, you have a nice lunch," Dimitri said. "Who did your mom marry? Mr. Rogers?"

"No, Mr. Ashford," Mason said sheepishly. Adrian and Rose smile at each other. Dimitri stands.

"Here is what I think happens at the good Ashford home," Dimitri announced. In a deep voice—deeper than his own—Dimitri says: "Son!" Then in a high pitched kiddie voice, Dimitri says: "Yeah, dad?"

Deep voice: "How was your day, pal?"

Kiddie voice: "Great, dad! How was yours?"

Deep voice: "Super! Say, son! How about we go fishing."

Kiddie voice: "I'd love to, dad, but I've got homework."

Deep voice: "Aw, that's fine, son. You can do it on the boat."

Kiddie voice: "Wow!"

Deep voice: "Gee, sweetie, isn't our son just swell?"

A quiet, motherly voice: "Yes. Isn't life swell?"

Dimitri mimes the father and mother kissing, then punching the mother in the face. The humor evaporated.

"What about your family?" Adrian said.

"Mine?" Dimitri said.

"Yeah, yours."

Dimitri lowered his voice again, only there was a sharp, angry tone to it.

Deep voice: "Worthless, stupid, no good, God damned, free-loading, son of a bitch, big mouth, retarted, know it all, asshole jerk!"

In Dimitri's regular voice: "You forgot ugly, lazy, and disrespectful."

His father's voice: "Shut up, bitch! Go get me a beer."

Dimitri's voice: "What about you dad?"

His father's voice: "Fuck you."

Dimitri's voice: "No, what about you dad?"

His father's voice: "Fuck you!"

Dimitri's voice, yelling: "No dad! What about you?"

His father's voice, yelling: "Fuck you!"

Dimitri's arm snaps out, pretending to be his father, and his father hit him. He glares at Adrian.

"Is that real?" Mason said quietly.

"Come over some time," Dimitri growled.

"I don't believe you," Adrian said. "That's all for your image. I don't believe a word."

Dimitri looked at Adrian with a hurt—a really hurt—expression. "You don't believe me?"

"No."

"No?"

"Did I stutter?"

Dimitri approached Adrian, rolled his sleeve up to show a circular burn mark on his wrist.

"Do you believe this?" Dimitri whispered harshly. "Huh? It looks like it's about the size of a cigar. Did I stutter? That's what I get for spilling paint in the garage." Dimitri backs away, glaring at all of them. "I don't think I have to sit with any of you fucking dildos anymore." Dimitri knocks some books off of a bookshelf.

"You shouldn't have done that," Rose said quietly.

"How was I supposed to know?" Adrian said defensively. "He lies a lot anyway."