A/N: I'd left this for so long I had to go back and re-read the whole thing so I could remind myself of the character and the storyline...oops. As I was reading it...I couldn't help but feel like this is really bad...
Anyway, sorry guys, but I think I've posted the A/N's on here too so you all know why and I'm really sorry but it's out of my control. I'm afraid as much as this is definitely what I prefer doing, my exams are more important!
So I've skipped a few weeks otherwise it was probably going to get a little bit samey...I doubt that's a word though.
Also, I do apologise, I completely forgot that Victor Dashkov's trial was in Shadow Kiss, so we're just going to say he's already gone to jail etc because it doesn't really fit in this plotline. I started this before re-reading Shadow Kiss hence me forgetting. Sorry if any of you were wanting to read that bit! Plus I've made it all suit a little more to this, so maybe little things might be different to the book eg Mia still at the school. I don't think it matters, but it won't follow things exactly or anything like that. Did that make any sense at all?
Disclaimer: I don't own VA!
JPOV
"So why aren't you doing the field test?" Eddie asked giving up on stretching for a while.
"I wouldn't know where to begin." I admitted, "Being here, as a teacher is all a bit...odd. I can remember mine so clearly that...it doesn't really make sense in my head, to be doing that." I shrugged, "It's no big deal. I'll just be patrolling instead."
He raised his eyebrows, "Surely patrolling's a lot more boring."
"Yes. It is." I smiled slightly, "But, it'll be fine. Who do you want to have? As your Moroi."
"I'm not sure." he frowned as he thought, a slightly confused cute expression taking over his face, "Christian's probably a good bet."
"Lissa?" I'd began to catch on to the nicknames.
"No. She's Rose's." he shook his head.
I laughed, "For a field test? Doubt it. Everyone knew I was going to be Sophie's Guardian. But I was paired with a Badica I think. Honestly I can't remember her name. I may be able to remember the fights, but the Moroi? Not at all. They like to make things difficult. Spice it up a little. To see how everyone copes. Not just the Dhampir's, the Moroi too. Two birds with one stone."
"That seems...odd." he frowned again.
"One of them will die eventually. There's no denying that. And if they don't die at the same time then they need to be able to deal with protecting or being protected by someone else. Rose relies on that bond. Could she protect Lissa without it?" I pulled my hair out of the tie and let it messily fall down to my shoulders.
Eddie paused, "She could. But it'd be hard for her."
"Exactly. A little bit of practice never harmed anyone. Now, sparring or something else?"
"Sparring." He nodded.
It was no surprise that Rose wasn't impressed. It was also no surprise that she felt the need to cause a scene. I left before it got serious, mostly so, if Tatiana asked I'd have nothing to say as I wasn't there. It seemed like a reasonable excuse.
"Jess, I was looking for you." Ian said walking into step beside me.
"Well I haven't been anywhere unexpected. You can't have looked very hard." I snapped.
He chuckled, "I didn't say how long I'd been looking for. Calm down."
I shook my head, in a half-hearted attempt to get some of the anger out of me, "What do you want?"
"I'm intrigued as to what you'll be singing tonight. You know I hate surprises."
For some reason, Kirova had arranged it so the audition part of the whole band nonsense had been done the day before the field test started. I don't think anyone knew why she'd chosen that. The woman was insane. But she did seem to hate me a little less than before. Perhaps now it was all aimed at Rose. Or maybe she felt sorry for me. It was always hard to tell.
"I haven't quite decided yet." I said slowly, "There are a few different ones that they've got the music for. I'm not interested enough to waste my time picking a song."
Ian laughed this time, "You might at least want to practise once first though. Wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself."
I gave him a look, "I'm sure you'll manage to make me to that no matter what I sing or how I do it."
"I'll make it turn out however I want." he shrugged, "I know you can sing. But what I need to know, is whether you enjoy it or not."
"Why on earth would you need to know that?" I demanded.
"Jess you know where I stand with you. Whichever irritates you more I'll have happen." He smiled.
"That's...petty."
"When it happens once, yes. But it's the little things that are important." he walked away
I had no idea what that was about. I was still trying to decide what he'd really wanted when I discovered I'd wound up at Eddie's door. A part of me must have just wanted to see him. So I knocked.
He didn't have a roommate. They'd never replaced Ashford. I didn't know much about what had happened. But I knew the basics. Mainly. He let me in without hesitation. I hadn't actually been in there before. We either met at the gym, outside whatever class he'd had, or it'd be at my room. I did know where he stayed though.
It was quite...sparse. There wasn't much there. There were a few marks on the walls where a tiny bit of paint had come off, or the remains of a piece of paper that had been ripped off still clung to the walls. Hints that there'd been a breakup or someone had died. I knew it was the latter. The walls had probably held pictures, perhaps of him and Ashford, or with Rose in them too. The marks showed he'd ripped them off, the way I had with the pictures of Sophie. A tell tale sign.
But aside from the walls everything was spotless. Four books sat in a pile on the desk which was otherwise empty and clear of any sort of dust. The table holding the computer was tidy too. It didn't seem like he sat in his room tidying all day, it was more like...he just didn't have much stuff. It was probably a much easier way to live than how I did. With little pieces of paper, ornaments, books scattered across every inch of surface area on anything slightly elevated off the ground. It wasn't that it was messy, it was just cluttered.
"What do you need?" he asked after I didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, I'd been busy taking in his room.
"If I'm honest I don't know..." I sighed, "Are you...singing tonight?"
"Sadly." he sighed himself, "I don't see why she felt the need to make us do this."
I smiled slightly, "It's one of those enrichment things they try to get you do to. Everywhere does it, I just assumed st Vlads would either ignore that, or do something less extreme. It's supposed to...make you more all-rounders or something. Better people. Happier probably. It's probably supposed to bring students and teacher's closer. Not that that really seems to need to be done."
Eddie's cheeks flushed a little when he managed to work out what I was hinting at.
"But as a general rule, most students don't even talk to the teachers in class." I added hastily; he really did seem quite embarrassed, "Take Stan for example...no one talks to him unless it's to insult him. Shame the girls don't get to see that...I guarantee Stan and singing shouldn't mix."
He laughed now, "He won't live it down."
"Even if he can sing." I smirked, "Now that would be a sight worth seeing. But we get Alberta."
"Mmm, I can't imagine anyone's really interested in this." he ran a hand over his ridiculously messy hair; something must have gone wrong in the styling department that morning. It was a lot like Adrian's.
"There'll be someone taking it seriously. Mia perhaps." I suggested, curious as to how he'd react.
He rolled his eyes, "She takes everything seriously...do you know what you're singing?"
"Nope. I can't be bothered with it. I may like music. But not this sort of thing. Not having to perform in front of a bunch of teens I don't know." I sat next to him on the bed, "But I'll pick something. You?"
"I know but...I don't..."
"Want to tell me?" I finished for him, a slightly playful smile on my lips.
"Exactly." He looked down.
"Fair enough. Well...I need to pick a song and I'm sure you have something to do. Do you want me to stop by after or...not?" I stood.
He shook his head, "I'll be moving into Lissa's, you turning up isn't something I can explain."
"Yeah...that's probably true." Something in the way I said that seemed to be really quite hilarious. I wasn't sure if it was the tone, or the wording, but it sent us into fits of laughter for a few minutes.
"Ok ok, I really have to leave, I'll see you...when I see you." It was all a bit up in the air because of the field experience. I'd cancelled training so he could do it properly, but it did mean I really didn't know when I'd see him. I knew I would, it was just a case of when.
He nodded, "Jess, I know that one of the men who's judging it, isn't...I know you don't like him. But it'll be fine." he met my eyes, "Even if I can't do a thing, Adrian or Alberta could."
I smiled, "I know. Well...there's probably not much Adrian could do. But Alberta will put some sort of measures in. I don't know what. But there'll be something."
"Adrian could talk to his father. They are related." he teased.
"His father?" I frowned, "Yeah but he's in Court so..."
"You didn't hear? He's judging as well. Volunteered as soon as Adrian mentioned it apparently."
"Oh." I stiffened, "Well yes, Adrian could say something to him but Nathan's not one to listen. He has a mind of his own. But thank you." I forced the smile back on my face.
He walked over, always slightly hesitant, "Is something else wrong?" he asked softly.
"No." I shook my head, "I'm just not a performer. I'm really not looking forward to it."
"If you want to talk. I'm here." He pressed a very light kiss to my cheek before leaning back.
"Hey!" I complained pulling him back, "That didn't even count as a kiss." I muttered bringing his lips down to mine with a hand on his neck. I wasn't leaving without my kiss.
"You know, that's cheating. Doing sound instead." I said to Alberta as I walked up, carrying my safety net, my guitar.
She laughed, "I don't sing. At least you have some sort of musical background."
I smiled "Yes well, I'm no singer."
"Good luck."
"Thanks. I'm thinking I'll need it with these judges." I muttered heading onto the makeshift stage before she could reply.
"Teacher right?" Nathan said when I sat on the chair.
"Yep." I was trying, and not doing very well, to ignore who was talking to me.
"Name?"
"Guardian Woodstock"
He nodded, "Go right ahead."
I'd decided, a backing track terrified the hell out of me. So I'd gone for just playing my guitar and doing a song I'd grown quite fond of when I'd been back in England.
Missing you, missing you
Oh I'm missing you, yeah
Where's the pain when you walk out the door?
It doesn't hurt like it used to before
Where's the love that we couldn't ignore?
It doesn't kick like a pill anymore
Where's the thrill at the end of our fights?
Where's the heat when we turn off the lights?
I just miss all the mess that we made
When we still had the passion to hate
I miss missing you, sometimes
I miss hurting you, till you cry
I miss watching you, as you try
Try not to end up in tears
Beggin' to get back together
I just want you to be,
To be stuck in this second forever
So don't freak out if I leave
Sometimes I'm just missing, missing you
There's a dark cloud pulling me in,
That's the girl, I was bathing in sin,
There's a blind force letting it win,
And its longing to tear us apart
I get high when you're making me weak,
Let me down till I crawl on my knees
I just miss all the mess that we made
When we still had the passion to hate
I miss missing you, sometimes
I miss hurting you, till you cry
I miss watching you, as you try
Try not to end up in tears
Beggin' to get back together
I just want you to be,
To be stuck in this second forever
So don't freak out if I leave
Sometimes I'm just missing, missing you
I wanna crash in your arms at the other side of the world
I wanna die for you cause love is only true if it hurts
I miss missing you, sometimes
I miss hurting you, till you cry
I miss watching you, as you try
Try not to end up in tears
Beggin' to get back together
I just want you to be,
To be stuck in this second forever
So don't freak out if I leave
Sometimes I'm just missing, missing you
A/N: This seemed a longer, maybe slightly better, chapter? Lol I don't know.
So, I'll link the song in my profile, it was Missing You by The Saturdays and I based it on the acoustic version. I almost did a different song, because I wondered if this would make you think something of her…I don't know. But I hope the fact that she liked it while she was back in England shows you guys that she's not in that frame of mind anymore…if that makes any sense or am I just rambling?
If any of you know much about the Saturdays, you may recognise my profile pic if you do, then I'd tell you I'd imagine Jess to have a similar voice to Una Healy in the group.
Don't worry; it's not a big part of the storyline or anything. There won't be chapters filled with just lyrics to songs you may or may not know!
Sorry for having two massive Author's notes in this one!
Please review!
Chocorose x