I don't own VA. Enjoy!
Thirteen
Chapter 3
RPOV
It had been two weeks since Dimitri transferred to St. Vladimir's. We'd easily become friends, much to Kirova's barely masked annoyance. Lissa and I had gone to a dynamic duo to a group of three musketeers now that he was around. Lissa was her usual friendly self and easily accepted having him around. I didn't know how she'd react to me spending so much time with somebody that isn't her, but I guessed since she was always included, it was a non-issue. I was glad too because I couldn't stand the thought of not being near one of them. I wanted them by my side as much as possible. Mason and Eddie, a couple fellow novices and good friends of mine, easily accepted him into our sparing rotation as well. Whatever the Russian equivalent of our training was must have kicked ass; Dimitri was almost twice as skilled as we were. Or maybe he was just that good, thanks to his size. Either way, today was my turn to spare with him and I was determined to take him down.
"Come on, Roza," he teased as we circled each other on the mat, looking for a weak point in one another's guard. All of his defenses were up and strong. I held high hopes that mine were as well but knew he'd find an opening easier than I would. "I don't bite." He continued to taunt me and my eyes narrowed. I took a quick breath and feigned right, striking left. He easily deflected, a small smirk gracing his face. I huffed slightly and he quickly took advantage of my annoyance, kicking out towards my knee. I side-stepped him as fast as I could, causing his foot to connect with the back of my knee, instead on the front. It threw me slightly off balance but would have been way harder if he'd connected where he'd planned. I swung my body to the left, regaining my footing. I returned his kick with one towards his ankle and to my surprise, I hit my target. Trying to keep my momentum, I moved in closer and swung upward at his chin. Big mistake. My maneuver left my chest wide open and before I could land my punch, Dimitri's much longer arm struck out, knocking me backwards and off my feet. I landed on my butt with a thud.
"Point," he said, sounding smug and dropping his defense slightly. An evil thought crossed my mind. I hoped he'd do what I was expecting. And he did; stepping forward, he offered me his hand to help me up. I smiled sweetly at him, taking it delicately. My smile turned wicked as I tightened my grip, pulling towards me and leaping to my feet at the same time. It threw him off enough to knock him to his knees, so I keep up my own momentum, releasing his hand and kicking the backs of his legs in swinging motion, flipping him to his back. I threw myself over him, pinning his arms to his sides with my knees and slapped the center of his chest.
"Dead," I conceited, beaming like a fool. His eyes displayed shock which quickly turned to acceptance and then…admiration? He nodded once, inspecting my face. I hadn't paid any mind to my surroundings during this exchange but looked away from my friend's face when I heard a couple other novices whopping with delight at our show. I laughed, then jumped off of Dimitri's waist to do a little victory dance for my classmates. Guardian Jackson, who was leading our combat class today, nodded in approval. No one had been able to knock Dimitri off his feet since he arrived. My victory didn't last long, however, because he decided to kick my feet out from under me, landing me on my back next to him. I was caught by surprise for a mere second, then looked over and into Dimitri's smiling face. We locked eyes and immediately burst into laughter.
"Show's over, folks," Guardian Jackson announced. "I'd tell you all to get back to work, but the bell is set to ring in two minutes. Hit the showers early and call it for today after that." He walked towards the office in the back of the training gym, shaking his head at our antics. Dimitri deftly leap to his feet, offering me his hand once more. I took it gratefully and he hoisted me up next to him. I looked up at him, grinning.
"I'm surprised you helped me up after that," I teased. He laughed and shook his head.
"I'm impressed, Roza," he nudged my shoulder with his own, having to stoop to do so. "See you in Stan's class." We pulled faces at each other, neither one of us being Stan Alto's biggest fan. But none of the other novices were that fond of him either. We walked across the gym in opposite directions, heading to our respective locker rooms.
"They're definitely gonna end up making out or some shit," I heard Meredith tell the few other female novices as I entered.
"Who's making out with who?" I asked, intrigued by the middle school gossip that always flowed as we showered and changed. Her face flushed and she glanced at the others, who shifted nervously and wouldn't look at me. My eyes narrowed and I placed my hands on my hips. "Does this involve Lissa?"
"No!" Meredith exclaimed, knowing how protective I was of my best friend. Still, she adverted her eyes before answering. "You and Dimitri." The air left my lungs and time stood still at her admission.
"We're just friends," I insisted, flushing redder than she had moments before.
"Yeah, ok," she replied, getting a few nervous chuckles from our classmates. I rolled my eyes but let it go. Everyone headed off to their next classes and news started to spread about mine and Dimitri's sparring match to the whole school, even the Moroi students. We didn't get to chat much in Stan's class. The stick in his ass must have shifted extra deep today because he was in a mood. Regardless of the sparring talk, the rest of our morning classes passed quickly and Dimitri and I fell in step with Lissa on the way to the cafeteria. She looked nervous.
"What's up, Liss?" I asked her, shooting her a concerned look.
"A bunch of people are saying you guys kissed in the middle of your combat class," she stated, matter-of-factly. I stopped walking and both of my companions glanced back questioningly.
"What is wrong with this school?" I practically shouted. "I'm the first person in this place to take down the Russian giant and all anybody can do is make up rumors about kissing? Only like three people in our grade have even kissed anybody!" They both chuckled at my little rant.
"Come on, Roza," Dimitri waved his hand. "I'm sure you're starving by now. We'd better hurry, before all that's left is…" he paused dramatically and gulped, "vegetables." I glared at him and punched his arm as I caught back up with both his and Lissa's longer strides.
"Fine," I huffed. "But only cause you're right." I fake shuddered and my two best friends laughed.
"Besides," he said quietly. "Is it really such a bad thing if people think we're dating?" His tone was light but I could tell his feelings were a little hurt by how upset I was.
"It has nothing to do with that," I said, primly. "It's the fact that I did something super cool and all anyone else cares about is kissing." We entered the cafeteria and hoped in line. I could feel eyes on the three of us as we filled our plates and checked out with the lunch lady.
"Let's sit with Mase and Eddie today," Lissa suggested. I was sure she was worried one of her royal friends would set me off and I nodded, gratefully. Dimitri smiled at her as well, having gotten pretty chummy with the boys in the last couple weeks as well. He was uncomfortable around most the royals around here. The girls all eyed him adoringly and the boys all wanted to have pissing contests or to figure out why he transferred. I was the only person who knew the truth. Dimitri had told me the next day that even the school doesn't know why he needed to transfer and that it was part of the favor his mom called in. I was flattered he felt comfortable enough with me to share something so personal and would take it to the grave.
"I guess we were in different gyms today," Mason laughed as we sat down across from him and Eddie. "I didn't see any kissing at all." I rolled my eyes and that was the end of it. That was the beauty of the novices. They heard the gossip, made fun of it, and let it go. The royals, and majority of Moroi, wouldn't let things go for weeks. The rumors would get more outlandish as they progressed until something new happened. I'm sure we'd be eating with my friends until the replacement gossip began. Lunch was about half over when something incredibly random occurred to me.
"Hey, Comrade," I smacked his arm to get his attention.
"Ow," he shot me a wry look. "Just saying 'hey comrade' probably wouldn't sufficed." I rolled my eyes.
"There's no way that hurt," I informed him, haughtily. "Anyway, when's your birthday? Mine's not til March." A funny look crossed his face, and I guess I understood. It was random but I was thinking about how I was going to get presents for Mason and Eddie since there's were both shortly after Christmas.
"Next Tuesday," he told me, voice low.
"Next Tuesday?!" I shrieked back and he eyed me with obvious annoyance. "Your birthday is next week and you didn't even think to tell us, your new friends, 'hey, my birthday's coming up.'" I dropped my voice a couple octaves and tried to imitate his accent. He frowned.
"I don't really care about my birthday," he shrugged, then mock glared at me. "And that was a terrible British accent so if you were going for Russian, you might want to practice."
"What do you mean you don't care about your birthday?" I asked, incredulous. "You only turn fourteen once and then there's presents and cake and-"
"Family that's on the other side of the world," Lissa cut me off, shooting Dimitri a sympathetic look. My face fell and I leaned my head on Dimitri's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I'm so used to my family life being non-existent that I forgot some people have a family they want to be around."
"It's ok, Roza," he told me. "You didn't mean anything by it." The bell rang just then and we were forced to drop the subject. The rest of the day flew by in a blur while I tried to think of a way to get Dimitri a birthday present before Tuesday. It was already Wednesday so I had less than a week. Too short notice to beg Lissa's family to take us to Missoula. Thinking of Lissa's family did give me an idea. I went to the administrative office of the novice dorms and asked to use the phone. I dialed a number I knew by heart and waited for the answer.
"Hello?" a kind male voice rang through the receiver.
"Hi, Prince Dragomir," I replied. "It's Rose and yes, Lissa is fine."
Are we liking it so far?
