I don't own VA!
Thirteen
Chapter 2
RPOV
I watched in fascination as Dimitri skillfully racked up the balls and lifted the plastic triangle away from the table. We were the only people in the rec room at the moment. He came around to my side of the table and showed me how to line up the breaking shot. He sent the cue into the white ball, scattering all of the colored ones around the felt lined table. One ball sunk into the corner hole and disappeared from sight. He grinned at me, proud to be showing off his skills. It was pretty cute and I found myself studying him curiously. A few Moroi in my grade had started going boy/girl crazy depending on who caught their eye. A couple dhampirs were following not far behind but I wasn't one of them. Not normally anyway but there was just something about this new Russian student that caught my attention and wouldn't let go. I watched him lean down and line up his next shot, which missed by a mile. I narrowed my eyes.
"You had to have thrown that one," I accused. He laughed outright and gestured for me to line up a shot.
"Of course I did," he admitted. "I can't teach you to play if I sink every shot and you never even get to lift your cue." His tone was teasing and my stomach flip-flopped. I awkwardly tried to line up my much shorter than his cue. He chuckled a little at my clumsy motions and stepped up beside me, placing his large hands over my smaller ones. My breath caught in my throat and I prayed he didn't notice.
"So, the ball I sunk was a solid, which makes you stripes," he explained, close to my ear, his warm breath making my hair tickle my neck. We moved the stick together and aimed for the purple striped ball. It went flying into the hole with a satisfying thud and I squealed, jumping up and down.
"Thanks, comrade," I nudged him with my shoulder and he smiled at me. I was more confident in how to line up a shot now and tried by myself this time. I aimed at the red striped ball and…missed completely. I glared at it, offended making Dimitri chuckle.
"You're supposed to hit the ball, Roza," he teased and I felt a blush creep to my cheeks. I didn't bother to correct him about my name this time because I honestly kind of liked it. We continued our game mostly in silence, Dimitri giving me pointers and verbally helping me make a couple shots on my own, which made me do victory dances each time. He still won by a landslide but it was fun. We grabbed a can of coke each out of the mini-fridge the dorm monitors keep stocked for us and plunked down on the couch that was meant for studying and group projects. Nobody ever used it for either of those things. Dimitri sat on one side and I leaned against the opposite arm, plopping my feet into his lap. He rested a warm had on my top calf after I crossed my ankles and tapped one foot against the couch's arm.
"So," he began leadingly, after a swig of cola. "What did you do to get yourself in trouble with Kirova?" The question was innocent enough and I smirked at him.
"I was in Karp's class this morning and she has a couple of caged animals on her desk," I started explaining. "You'll see them tomorrow cause we have all the same classes. But anyway, there's a hermit crab, a hamster, a tree frog, and some kind of gecko. I dropped the hamster into the hermit crabs cage to see what would happen and they attacked each other. Karp freaked out and sent me to Kirova after she managed to separate them. Her finger didn't fair well against the hermit crab's claw." Dimitri chuckled lightly and shook his head.
"I don't personally involve animals in my pranks but I'm sure the class probably lost it," his eyes gleamed with mischief.
"Ooooh," I leaned across the couch, looking into his dark eyes. "Did Kirova unwittingly place me with another troublemaker? Is that why you had to transfer schools partway through the year?" My questions were posed in a teasing tone but his eyes darkened with anger and he looked away. I knew his anger wasn't directed at me but it still took me aback. I removed my legs from his lap and placed them on the floor, clearing my throat.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, not looking at him. "I shouldn't have asked that. It's not my business." He laughed but there was no humor in it. He turned slowly to face me, eyes sad now.
"No," he sighed. "You have every right to know how and why I got sent here. Do you know you're father?" Now I was the angry one.
"Not that that's your business, but no," I bristled, my heritage being a sensitive subject.
"I know mine," he replied, ignoring my anger which turned to curiosity at his tone.
"Oh," I didn't know what to say. He swallowed thickly.
"My three sisters are also his. Two older and one younger," he said, shocking me. Usually when dhampirs had more than one child, they all had different fathers.
"That's unusual," I answered tightly, not knowing where this was going. His fists clenched at his sides, knuckles turning white.
"He liked my mother," he gritted from between his teeth. His rigid posture and tone made my stomach turn, but I wasn't afraid of him. A million thoughts swirled in my head as he continued. "He liked to hit my mother." I gasped.
"One day, when we were on a break from school, he was beating her and I heard her scream. I was already angry but then I heard my little sister's voice, begging him to stop. I was in the other room but I heard him move towards her voice and I was afraid he'd hit her too," he continued, eyes growing darker as he spoke.
"Please tell me you beat the shit out of him," I interrupted, leaning towards him. His eyes met mine and lighten a bit, some of the kindness he wore all day until now returning. His lips twitched up into a wry smile.
"I beat the shit out of him," he assured me and I smiled back in support. "He didn't get a chance to hurt my sister, but my momma was pretty bad off. She had a black eye forming already and a bloody lip. She wasn't mad at me but she was concerned about what he'd do. That turned out to be fair because he got me kicked out of St. Basil's. He hasn't returned to my family's house since because I scared him bad enough but he had to get payback somehow. My momma called in a favor from a man she knows that can make things happen and got me in here so I can continue my training."
"For what it's worth," I began slowly. "I think it was worth you beating him up." His eyes met mine and he smiled his normal smile. My heart fluttered.
"Me too," he answered softly. "Plus, I think you and I are gonna be great friends, Roza." He gave me a wolfish grin and I felt myself beaming back.
"I think so too, Dimitri," I whispered. Just then, about twelve of our fellow novices burst into the room, laughing and talking boisterously. We sprang apart, not realizing how close we'd gotten. He met my eyes across the couch, silently imploring me not to tell how he ended up at St. Vladamir's. I nodded in understanding and he almost sagged in relief. I caught the attention of the other dhampirs and made some introductions. Everyone was excited to see what Dimitri could do during sparring tomorrow and I was right there with them. We hung out with the others for a while, just goofing around but I watched Dimitri yawn a few times and realized he must be exhausted from traveling all the way here from Russia.
"Did anyone show you where your room is yet?" I asked. He shook his head, yawning again.
"Just gave me the number," he said. "I'm sure I can find it." I shook my head back, a small smile on my face.
"I gotta take you, comrade," I said, seriously. "Part of my punishment." He laughed but told me his room number anyway and we excused ourselves from the others. I led him to his room, secretly glad I knew which one he was in so I could show up whenever I felt like it. He didn't seem to mind either. I didn't know why, but I definitely felt some kind of connection to him.
"Thanks for your help today, Rose," he said earnestly, finally using my actual name. I grinned, leaning against the wall by his doorframe.
"You got it, Dimitri," I said. "Don't tell Kirova but she messed up with this punishment. I kind of liked hanging out with you today." He smiled for a second before dropping his gaze to his feet.
"I liked hanging out with you too," he said. "Maybe we can still hang out after Friday, you know, once your punishment is up." He looked back up eyes hopeful.
"I'd like that," I replied, turning and walking to my own room without another word. I heard his door open and then close as I reached the end of the hallway. I glanced around to make sure the coast was clear and did a stupid little dance then took off up the stairs to where female novices rooms were. I didn't know what the future had in store for us, but I knew it would be good.
Good? Bad? Dumb? Do we like young Romitri?
