I hate homework. Just saying.
Usual disclaimers apply.
I whistled loudly to get their attention. It had been my class of juniors that had been the mot inappropriate about the whole Dimitri thing, and seeing him in the room had sent the entire class into a frenzy. Only Raine didn't get involved, and with her nose in a book, she didn't seem to even know that Justin was shooting glares of death towards Dimitri.
"Hey!" I finally shouted. "If I don't get silence in one second flat, I can promise you that a fifteen-page essay due on Monday that's worth ten percent of your final grade will be the least of your worries!"
Silence followed.
At least some things shut them up. I didn't doubt that if I had to have assigned it, and assuming they all did it, Stan could have them all graded by Wednesday.
"Thank you," I said, my voice much more quiet. I noticed Dimitri uncharacteristically shifted weight from his left to his right foot.
Somebody coughed. I pretended not to have heard them.
"Speaking of essays," I announced. My voice was now the loud "teacher voice" that was required of all little kids when they gave presentations in class down on the elementary campus. "I have the ones you all handed in on Monday. And before we get into today's lesson, going over them would be the understatement of the century."
I pulled off the giant paper clip that bound all the juniors' essays together and went about passing them back. Before putting it face down on her desk, I was glad to see Raine had gotten a much needed full grade on it.
Stan stopped me when I got to the front of a row, and muttered quietly that the class average had been a 69. I smiled in acknowledgement, and went back to passing papers out.
I leaned against the desk at the front of the room, facing everyone, and crossed my arms over my chest. Christine leaned over to Shelby like she was about to say something, but I shot her "don't-mess-with-me" look.
"The class average was a sixty-nine, despite some of you getting much higher grades than that. This wasn't a very hard essay – in fact, I think Guardian Alto has gone soft since I was in his class." His guardian mask didn't falter at all.
"The Four-Point Rotational Surveillance Method isn't as complicated as some of you portrayed it as. Justin, since you and your friends are having such an intriguing and intellectual conversation, would you care to inform us of the basics of it?"
"Of what, Teach'?" Justin asked with his infamous cocky grin plastered back on his face.
"Thank you, Mr. Willet," I said, before moving on. The class tittered as Justin realized he'd been called out.
"The basics, [Marie]?" I asked as the spiky-haired girl pulled her fingernail out of her mouth.
"Look North, East, South, and West. If you aren't aware or sure of where exactly North, East, South, and West are, just look in four points with a ninety degree rotation." She flashed me a half-hearted smile and poked her fingernail back in between her teeth.
"And what are we looking for, Drake?" Unlike his friend, Drake was actually paying attention. For someone who'd failed the paper, he'd better be paying attention.
"We're watching for Strigoi. The four points would be around our assigned Moroi."
"But necessarily Strigoi, correct? And the Moroi we're circling may not be our charge. They may be someone else's charge, or they may not even be someone's charge." The last part was something Janine had said years ago, and I was just now recalling it. Over the course of the years, however, I had forgotten the context in which she said it and why she had said it and why I had gotten the sense that she was reminiscing instead of giving me advice.
"Yes," said Drake. "We're watching whatever Moroi is put in our protection and we're surveying for any threat. But Strigoi are the main threat."
"Now please explain to me why you received a thirty-three on your essay."
Drake shifted in his seat, discomfort written all over his features. Everyone then turned to stare at him, and his uneasiness shot through the roof.
"The essay wasn't very hard," I said. "It was only five hundred words explaining the Four-Point Rotational Surveillance Method." I paused, counting the words. "You all just explained it briefly in about sixty-five, seventy words. A little detail, some citations of outside texts, there's your essay. I'm pretty sure your English teacher wouldn't like knowing that none of you know how to write an essay, a topic you all have been studying since the seventh grade."
I glanced at Stan, and he nodded. I hated handing out lectures, and I wasn't very good at them in my opinion, and I would rather hand out smiley face stickers for anyone who at least turned it in.
"On that happy note, let's get started," I said, redirecting my attention to the screen behind me.
The morning passed quickly, as did the rest of the day. Dimitri, playing temporary guardian, just followed me around. He raised an eyebrow as the Russian I class started, but I ignored him. I hoped my eyes didn't give away how enthralled I was and just how much of the class I was soaking up.
I would have gone to a different class to avoid Dimitri getting suspicious of anything to any amount – it was just my luck that they would be starting how to talk about how others felt in terms of emotions.
As soon as the school part of the say ended, I took off for the guest dormitory in search of Lissa and Christian. I was at the door when Dimitri stopped me.
"Do you think they'll mind if I hold you hostage for a few hours?" Dimitri asked me, his voice dangerously near my ear. I had to stop my erratic breathing and move my head to look at Dimitri, a feat not easily accomplished.
"I think that if Lissa and Christian found something to do for seven hours, they can keep doing it for a few more hours," I muttered quietly. I was suddenly thankful for the giant tree that partially hid the entrance to the guest dormitory.
"Isn't it a good thing that we both agree on the same thing?" Dimitri asked, a smile working its way onto his carefully guarded face.
I didn't answer him; I swung the door open and headed up the staircase that was to the right. Dimitri came up behind me and slipped his hand into mine. He pulled me along to his room, telling me that his room was at the complete opposite end of Lissa and Christian's room, for whatever reason the school had not told him. Which, considering that privacy might be a factor, was a good thing.
He flicked the light on, and a suite identical to the room Adrian had years ago appeared out of the darkness. Dimitri closed and locked the door, throwing the key onto the table in the kitchenette area.
Without warning, he pulled me into a tight hug. I put my arms around his waist, and he buried his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply.
"Roza," he murmured after a few minutes. I pressed my face into his chest in response and tried to keep from crying. The past month and half had been extremely trying on us, and I had taken to hugging a pillow when I slept so the loneliness would be a bit more bearable.
After standing there for a good ten minutes and a light kiss on the forehead, I followed Dimitri into the adjacent bedroom. I sat against the headboard, using the pillows as a backrest.
"I think you'd appreciate this much more if I gave it to you in person," Dimitri said softly, sitting down next to me with his hand gingerly clutching a package wrapped in plain silver paper.
I raised my eyebrows as he handed me the package. "My birthday was weeks ago, Dimitri."
"Exactly," he said cryptically. I carefully ripped the paper away. Staring back at me was the picture of Dimitri and me at my college graduation, the same picture in the same silver frame that sat on my bedside table back home.
"I know how much you love that picture," Dimitri whispered as I ran my fingers over the glass lightly. I was surprised how thick his near-gone Russian accent had gotten. "And I thought you would like it, just to have it as a piece of home."
"Thank you," I breathed. I put the picture on the nightstand and wrapped my arms around Dimitri. Even in moments like this, where it couldn't have been more obvious he was still head over heels for me, I still had a bit of a hard time grasping the concept that Dimitri had chosen to be with me. And no one else.
I ended up staying the rest of the day and the entire night with Dimitri. Since it was about three in the morning for humans, all of the infomercials and crappy movies were on; Dimitri and I had a great time making fun of the cheap products shopaholics were no doubt searching for their credit cards to buy right now.
We ordered in food since neither of us wanted leave, and I was pretty sure the Chinese place wasn't used to getting food orders at eleven in the morning. Nonetheless, I knew I was going to pay for the lo mien I accidentally threw in Dimitri's hair.
I fell asleep in his arms, the TV still going. We were lying flat on our backs at that point, and between the stress of being a school guardian, being in Dimitri's extremely warm and comforting arms, and just the fact that Dimitri was now tangible instead of computer pixels, it was hard not to fall asleep. I think Dimitri fell asleep at some point, but not before turning the TV off and pulling the covers out from underneath us so body parts like my feet wouldn't get too cold.
When I woke up, my security shift was way over and I could hear students shouting in the quad with their parents yelling reprimands even louder over them.
"Morning, sleepyhead." Dimitri pulled me into his chest.
"Can't. Breathe," I choked out against his shirt.
Dimitri chuckled and let me roll back onto my back. "It's almost lunch. Not getting enough sleep lately?" His voice was teasing and I soaked it in. I knew that after tomorrow, he'd be back to being computer pixels with a half-second delay in movement time.
I shook my head and blinked a few times to get the crud build-up out of my eyes. All of the sudden, I felt Dimitri's fingers in my sides, my one last ticklish spot, and I nearly kicked the blankets off due to my hysteric laughing.
"Now you're awake," Dimitri said assertively.
"Yes I am," I said, sitting up. I twisted to look back at Dimitri. "I can't believe I wasted a night that could've been filled with ''I-missed-you' sex with sleep."
"You were tired," Dimitri said, sitting up next to me. He started massaging the back of my neck. "And who said sex was a night thing? It may be daytime for us, but it's night for humans and those in the Eastern hemisphere."
"Dammit," I growled as he nipped playfully at the back of my neck. "I can't do this right now."
"And why not?" Kisses. Up and down my jawline and neck. A leg wrapped around me. Dimitri press into my back. Distractions, all of it.
"I've got to help with the..." I started, but my words trailed off as he resumed his earlier neck massage. He rested a chin on my shoulder. His breath against my neck just added to the pile of distractions.
"I think they can wait a few more minutes," Dimitri murmured as he pulled me back towards the pillows.
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