CHAPTER TWENTY ONE-SURPRISE

Hey there, I hope you guys are liking my stuff, I'm going to mix it up here and these next two chapters are dedicated to 'XheartxX because you have amazing ideas Night and I'm so grateful that you could give me such great ideas.

Alright, here's the next chapter…

I woke up to very loud music, which was now giving me a killer headache, so I turned off my iPod and looked around blurrily. The plane had landed and Alexander was retrieving his bag with his back turned to me. Obviously someone's pissed off, I thought, I should go apologize.

I sigh and grab my bag and shove the shove aside the guilt and marched past Alexander and off the plane without even glancing his way. As soon as I acknowledge that Alexander had gotten off the plane, I stormed off to campus to go look for Blake and Tory because I really hoped that they could make me feel better. I knew Blake could. As soon as I thought this, a new guilt hit me; I'd been neglecting Blake and Tory ever since I got to the Academy.

****

I held my breath as I knocked on Tory's door, it was no doubt that Blake would be here too. The swung open and Tory answered…looking like hell. He smiled dryly at me and pulled me into a hug.

"We missed you, Rose," he said then he chuckled. "Especially Sleeping Beauty," I pulled away to see Blake spread out over Tory's couch with his arm hanging off the side and one leg over an arm rest and the other leg over the back of the couch. His blond hair was splayed over his sweet face and his lips were parted slightly. Blake was wearing a pair of blue boxers and a black t-shirt. He looked so adorable and vulnerable.

As Tory closed the door behind me, I walked to Blake and brushed his hair away from his face. His eyes snapped open and tensed, but relaxed when he saw me kneeling before him. He practically threw himself off the couch as he tackled me with a big bear-hug. He cheered in my ear, "Rose! You're back!"

"Yeah, I am," I laughed.

Blake pulled back to look at me and his brow crunched up in confusion. "Didn't you have a bandage on your face?"

I nodded distractedly. "Um, yeah, but I took it off, it was just so annoying." I fibbed quickly, hoping I sounded irritated. It worked because both Tory and Blake laughed at me.

"Want to go for a walk?" Tory offered.

Blake looked down at his outfit and frowned. "Well, I'm going to need some pants," he said and glanced up at me embarrassed.

"I dare you not to put pants on," Tory said as his protector started to get off the couch. Blake stopped in mid movement and looked at his friend challengingly.

"I'll do it," he said without missing a beat and I rolled my eyes.

"So…Rose, why did you leave and where did you disappear to?" Tory turned to me and Blake pulled himself up.

"The Royal Court because I had to go talk to…somebody," I made my voice firm so they knew not to push the subject more than needed. "I'm sorry, we really haven't hung out since we got here, I've just been so busy, I'm sorry. What do you want to do now?" I asked quickly. "Do you want to train?"

"Yeah!" Blake was just as excited as me now. I was pissed at Alexander so I didn't really care if he'd banned me from fighting until my ribs were healed because I was going to fight anyway.

"I'll race you there," I said. Blake's eyes flashed with excitement but we were stopped when Tory lazily said, "You're forgetting me,"

I paused only for a second before picking him up and starting to run towards the gym.

"What the fuck, Rose! Put me down! Damn it!" he screamed as I accelerated and turned his head into my neck. I laughed freely and kept running.

"Rose!"

I stopped dead in my tracks at the sound of Alexander's very pissed off voice. I put Tory down gently and turned very slowly to face Alexander. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I am spending time with my friends," I said slowly and distinctly.

"And your ribs?" he snapped.

I didn't respond and just narrowed my eyes slowly.

"Come with me," he turned on his heal and stormed off in the direction of the guardian building. I sighed and ran a hand angrily through my hair.

"I'll catch you later, guys," I said to both Tory and Blake who had caught up when I stopped at Alexander's call. I stomped after him angrily and silently, he was being such an ass lately.

We entered the guardian meeting room, it was laid out the same as the room I'd had the meeting for my supposed 'incompetence' during the field experience and the incident with Stan. Mikhail was in there, making himself a coffee; he looked up at the sound of our arrival. His eyes widened and then he got suspicious but before he could utter one word, Alexander snapped, "Mikhail, leave us,"

Mikhail was quick to grab his cup and hurry out the door with a welcoming and questioning glance to me. As soon as the door closed behind him, Alexander stared me down from across the long table.

"How can you be so irresponsible, Rose?" he demanded.

"Irresponsible?" I shrieked. "I am not being irresponsible, Alexander! It's my body and I can do what I want!"

"With the condition you are currently in right now, Rose, you cannot do what you want to because you would be putting yourself in a more critical state." He said seriously.

"Good God, Alexander! You make it sound like I've got some horrible disease! I am sorry, but, buddy, it's a few broken ribs!" I yelled at him.

"A few broken ribs, Rose?" he shouts back. "How can you talk about it like that?"

"Because that's exactly what it is!"

His voice softened. "Rose, I know what happened with your mother…that's not an easy thing to handle and even with your strength, it's hard,"

"Oh! 'What happened with your mother'?" I scream loudly. "If it wasn't EASY, Alexander, how come you failed to do something about it? I told what would have happened if I didn't have any self-control, so why didn't you do something to stop her, huh? Are you afraid of her? If you're afraid of Janine Hathaway then you are not the right person to be the head guardian at an academy!" I know that it was unfair, but I'm sorry, he should have done something.

"Rosemarie Hathaway! You are out of line-yet again!" his voice echoed off the walls of the building and I vaguely heard the door open but I ignored it and keep ripping on Alexander.

I leaned forward and smacked both of my hands on the long black table. "You've told me that more than once, so why don't you do something about it, huh? Or are you too afraid to, just like you're afraid of the big bad Janine Hathaway? Or did you not do anything because you didn't want to ruin the wonderful friendship you have with her? Would that make too much of an impact on your reputation? To lose a great guardian friend like Janine Hathaway?" I sneered cruelly.

I could feel his anger rolling off him in waves. "Rosemarie Hathaway."

"Alexander Contrive."

"This behaviour is unacceptable, return to me when you've controlled yourself." He growled and turned his back on me.

"Goddamn it!" I smack my hands against the table. "Alexander, come on! Just tell me one thing, if you can do that for me. Just one fucking thing…why did you not do anything about what happened at the Royal Court involving Janine Hathaway?" I demand icily.

Alexander spun around to face me with such speed and leaned forward so his face was only inches from mine and looked into my eyes. "I did not do anything about what happened because…" his voice trailed off quietly and I was now beyond infuriated.

"Because what?"

"Because I was afraid, damn it, Rose! I WAS SCARED!" he screamed in my face. I pulled back stiffly and look at him unfeelingly.

"Rose…" he starts but my face just twisted in disgust and his in pain of seeing that on my face.

"Guardian Contrive," I said briskly and prepare to turn my back on him.

Someone cleared their throat in the door way and both Alexander and I snapped to attention at the sound.

The person who had cleared their throat was so obviously Mikhail Tanner and behind him…was Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Adrian and Etienne.

Did you like it? That's a cliffhanger for you, so you've got to review and tell me what you think. Once again, shouts to Night because the end of this chapter and the next chapter are her ideas. Thank you so much!

Please review, it'll make me so happy.

alice