As promised, a new story! I'm hoping to make this one fairly long so wish me luck! I don't own VA.
Thirteen
Chapter 1
RPOV
Kirova glared across her desk at me, staring down her beak-like nose. I leaned back in my chair, throwing a devil-may-care smirk onto my face. I could feel the arrogant glint in my eye. I had been in this office an impossible to count number of times before and thanks to Lissa's family, my punishments have never gone past two days of suspension.
"Miss Hathaway," she all but shrieked. "What on earth were you thinking?"
"Well, Headmistress," I drawled in a sugary sweet voice. "It is, after all, an animal behavior class. I wanted to see how those specific animals would behave if put into the same enclosure."
She gaped at me like a fish and I had to hold back a laugh. The corner of my lip twitched, wanting badly to smirk at her but I knew that would make things worse for me. A knock at the door prevented her from answering my bullshit answer and I through a silent thank you out into the universe for once again having my back. Ms. Merryweather, the secretary, popped her head in.
"I apologize, Ma'am," she grimaced in my direction. "Our new student has arrived."
Kirova leaned back, pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a long breath. She waved her hand at the other woman in a send him in sort of gesture. I expected to see some posh royal-looking Moroi, or even a small child but instead, a dhampir boy not much older than I sauntered in. He was tall, at least six three or four and well muscled as we tended to be. My jaw almost dropped at his handsome features and dark hair and eyes. I was a freshly thirteen year old girl and just starting to notice boys in that way. He sat gracefully in the seat next to me, despite his height and glanced at me curiously before focusing on the royal bitch across from us.
"Hello, Headmistress Kirova," he said politely, a Russian accent lacing his words. "I didn't realize I wasn't the only new student. I apologize for interrupting."
"Rosemarie is not new," she fixed me with a cold look before softening her gaze and addressing the newcomer in a much friendlier manner. "No need to apologize. I was just about to issue Miss Hathaway her punishment for her latest of stunts. Having you walk in gave me an excellent idea. We're very pleased to welcome you Mister Belikov. All of you test scores, both educational and combat, are rather impressive. As for you," she once again fixed her hard eyes to mine, "since detention and suspension don't seem to be doing the trick, for the next week, you will be acting as the sole welcoming committee to Mister Belikov here. You are to show him around campus, help him find his classes, introduce him to the student body and answer any questions he may have. Politely. And he will inform me if you are anything but." She leaned back, crossing her arms smugly across her chest and it was my turn to gap.
"That's not fair!" I proclaimed. "How am I supposed to have any kind of social life if I'm toting around the new foreign kid?" I jabbed my thumb in his direction, glancing his way to see the ghost of a smirk on his face. My stomach flip-flopped and I tried not to let it show.
"I agree that I really don't need that much attention, Ma'am," he injected, clearly trying to help. "A tour would be sufficient and I can figure it out from there."
"I'm sure you're rather capable, Mister Belikov," Kirova sighed. "But it would very much help teach Rosemarie here some respect and my punishment stands." With one last glare her way, I snatched my bag from the floor and pointed at the door.
"Let's go then, comrade," I gritted out. He stood as well, not hiding his smirk this time. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. He was really cute and seemed to share at least some of my dislike of authority, though he clearly masked it better.
"Remember that politeness I spoke of, Hathaway," Kirova snapped as we walked out of the office. I slammed the door unnecessarily hard and the Belikov kid started laughing. I scowled at him and smacked his shoulder.
"What's so funny?" I exclaimed, jutting my hip out and crossing my arms defiantly. His laughter died to a small chuckle and he wiped his eye.
"You have to learn to at least act like you're respecting authority," a beautiful smile filled his face, making his dark eyes dance. "You can get away with more if you do."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. "Where's your schedule? Looks like we're stuck together til Friday." He handed it over wordlessly. We had all the same classes, which would definitely make my life easier. I gave it back, already knowing my own schedule. We were three months into the school year, which made a new student starting pretty weird. Lunch started five minutes ago, which already meant I was behind on Lissa time. I turned on my heel and Russian boy followed me.
"I'm Dimitri, by the way," he said, easily meeting my stride with his much longer legs. I was only five two. "It's nice to meet you, Rosemarie." I pulled a face. I forgot Kirova called me by my full name in there.
"Just Rose," I almost growled. He held his hands up in mock surrender.
"Loud and clear, Roza," he accepted but I stopped walking and turned to face him again.
"No," I said slowly. "Rooossse. Not Rosemarie. Not Rosa. Just Rose." He met my gaze, his eyes dancing and a full smile on his face once again. My heart basically soared looking into those eyes.
"Right, just Rose. I'm sorry. Roza is Russian for Rose and sometimes my native tongue comes out more than others," he offered by way of explanation. I nodded once and began walking again. I pointed out a few buildings on the way to the cafeteria but we walked in silence overall. We hopped in the short line and grabbed lunch. An impressed look crossed his face when I filled my plate almost as high as his. A growing girl has got to eat, I thought to myself. I led him past a table of novices like us, nodding in acknowledgement at a couple friends. They gave me weird looks but shrugged it off, figuring it would get explained later. I stopped at a table of royal Moroi and gestured with my shoulder for him to sit. I made sure where I motioned left room in between him and my best friend Lissa, for me. I plunked next to Liss and knocked my shoulder into hers.
"How long do you have detention?" she asked, smiling with mild annoyance in her eyes. She looked behind my head at Dimitri, giving him a polite smile and I could see the question in her eyes.
"I don't," I deadpanned. "Instead, I've been reduced to concierge service," I gestured over my shoulder at our new student. "This is Dimitri, fresh from the RSSR."
"USSR," he interjected, a smirk on his beautiful face. God, why did I keep thinking like that? I should be annoyed right now.
"Yeah, yeah," I waved him off, turning to face him. "This is Lissa, Aaron, Camille, Abby, Jesse, and Ralf." I gestured to each person in turn. "Lissa is my best friend."
"Nice to meet you all," he told them, warmly, shooting me a slightly questioning look. I gave him a look back that hopefully conveyed that I'd tell him later. He nodded so discretely that I almost didn't notice. Everyone was nice enough to Dimitri but nobody except Lissa went out of their way to talk to either of us. Most everyone stuck to senseless small talk and gossip anyway. The warning bell sounded and we all gathered our garbage, heading out the door.
"We have the same schedule, comrade," I told him, leading him off to our next class, which also happened to be with Lissa so she joined us in our walk. Art history. Boring. If I wasn't already in trouble, I'd skip. The rest of the day passed without a hitch and almost in a blur. I didn't get much opportunity to talk to Dimitri, not that I really wanted to but I was curious why he transferred in part way through the school year. The final bell rang and I met him at the door of our last class. We stepped into the hall and I leaned against the wall next to the door. Dimitri faced me with a devilish look on his face.
"Since you're stuck showing me around," he began, shuffling his feet a little. "Do you want to hang out in where ever the common room is here? Do you guys have pool tables in yours? We could play a couple rounds?" He looked surprising nervous and hopeful so I smiled a genuinely polite smile. It couldn't be easy moving across the world and changing schools part way through the year so I did feel a little bad for him. I nodded slowly.
"We can hang out in the commons, sure," I said, tentatively. "But I don't know how to play pool…" I admitted, looking down at my own feet. A grin spread across his face and his brown eyes gleamed.
"I'll teach you," he said, earnestly. So I grinned back and we set off. Maybe this wasn't such a clever "punishment" on Kirova's part after all.
Let me know what you think!