As I awake, a grin spreads across my face. I register the soft sound of the raindrops falling on my window, soothing and familiar, and somehow I know that it's going to be a good day. The soft pattering is music to my ears, and I even catch myself humming as I dress.
Dimitri and I have fallen into a rhythm of sorts over the past week. He tolerates my snark surprisingly well, and in return I try not to act out too much, which is actually easier than I first thought. Though I still haven't gotten used to being followed around 24/7, there is a part of me that isn't exactly adverse to the company. Mostly because it's him. Unfortunately, I have been unable to shake my crush on him thus far.
"You look happy," Dimitri observes as we walk away from the house. His tone is filled with suspicion, and my smile widens in response.
"You make that sound like a bad thing."
He shifts his grip on the handle of the umbrella that he holds over us. Given the height difference, it's an awkward arrangement to say the least. He stoops slightly, and I also notice that he makes sure that I'm completely covered, while his left shoulder slowly gets drenched. It makes me frown a little, this small reminder that my race is supposedly superior despite our frailty.
He looks down at me with a smile in his eyes.
"I'm more concerned that the cause of your happiness will mean trouble for me."
I try to get out of my weird mood. "Never fear," I laugh. "I'm just enjoying the rain."
"Aren't you a fire user?"
I roll my eyes. "Are you actually asking? I know you've memorised my file."
"I only meant to point out that it's strange for you to enjoy a cascade of the opposite element."
"Woah there, isn't English your second language? Maybe you should stop reading dictionaries in your free time."
"Maybe I'd have more free time if you would stay out of trouble."
The smile is still there, in the brown depths of his eyes, but one of the many things I've noticed about Dimitri is that he never lets them escape.
We talk sometimes, and I make jokes that he sometimes finds amusing, but he never expresses it outright. Which, come to think of it, is probably a good thing. My heart would probably beat its way out of my chest, like a damned cartoon.
One day, I promise myself. One day I'll get him to laugh.
This is followed immediately by a more forceful, scolding thought: He's your guardian. You need to STOP.
Wrapped in my thoughts, I absentmindedly step closer to the very subject of them, and my arm briefly touches his.
Even though it was only a brush of his elbow, and through his ridiculous jacket, the contact makes me feel giddy. My self-admonishment only grows louder.
He's just doing his job. You're being ridiculous!
I try to keep all traces of my thoughts from my face, but I need a distraction, not to mention a little bit of distance. Literally. I step out from the umbrella and spin away from him.
My feet leave the path, and the wet grass clings to my shoes as I go. The rain is a cold prickling on my face and arms, filtering through my hair and clothes as they begin to stick to my skin. I flash a mischievous grin in response to his raised eyebrow, though he makes no move to come after me.
"You're getting wet," he calls drily, standing in the gloom underneath the umbrella.
"That does tend to happen, yeah."
But instead of scolding, he just stands there and watches me patiently.
I turn my face to the sky and revel in the taste of the rain on my lips. The air smells fresh and sharp; a blend of the over-green plants and the wet ground. Thunder rolls in the distance, the droplets roll over my skin. It makes me feel alive. This, at least, I can handle. Though Moroi have many other weaknesses, I do not melt when I get wet. Somehow, that knowledge makes me feel stronger.
I turn slowly in a circle, raising my arms to welcome the droplets. When I face him again, he has a peculiar expression that I can't quite place. But it disappears when he sees me watching. With one finger, beckons me back to his side.
"We'll need to go back to the house so you can change, and you don't want to be late for class."
Even though his worry is unfounded, I join him once again under the shelter of the umbrella.
"I don't need to change," I say with a laugh.
He raises an eyebrow, and briefly looks down at my clothes. He averts his gaze almost immediately, and clears his throat.
"Yes, you do."
My clothes cling to me like a second skin, and it takes me a moment to realise just how much they must reveal. Suddenly, I feel very warm, flushed with embarrassment.
"Stand back," I warn, giving him a second to obey before I use that warmth to call on my fire.
Despite the water in the air, it's easy to control the flames that flare up and flicker across my skin. I push until they're tinged with blue, enveloping me with a feeling of safety that leaves me warm and dry. It only takes a few seconds.
We carry on walking.
"Your parents don't want you to do that," he says, after a brief silence. I can't help but notice his wording.
"You don't seem to disapprove."
He sets his mouth in a line. "A spell like that takes practice. That's not something I want to discourage."
What does that mean?
We descend back into a silence as I try to solve the puzzle that is Dimitri, and that lasts until we reach the cafeteria. It helps me to retain my reticence.
Before we part, he reminds me that I haven't had blood in two days.
"I'll visit the feeders at lunch time," I promise, and then I join Lissa at a table.
"Hey."
She looks up from her pot of yoghurt, and I can immediately see that something is wrong. Without a second thought, I reach my hand across the table to grab hers.
"What is it?" I ask.
She looks away, trying to tell me that it's nothing, but I refuse to buy it, and eventually she tells me that she was placed in elemental basics again. I can see the worry and humiliation plain on her face.
"Don't sweat it, Liss," I soothe. "You're an enigma. It makes you cool."
She snorts, and smiles a tiny bit, but then it's gone. "Cool. Right, that's why I'm stuck in a class of sophomores."
"No, that's because you're smart. This way you have to do way less work than everyone else."
I can see she's upset, but my feeble attempts to make her laugh don't seem to be helping, so I change tack. "What did Ms. Cormick say?"
"She says that I exercise a high control in all four elements, and she's sure that one will shoot up any day now." Lissa rolls her eyes, letting me know exactly what she thinks of that theory. "More like she knows I'm a freak, and she doesn't want to tell me." She buries her face in her hands, and I feel a spark of rage at the society that came up with this whole stupid system.
I try to make my voice gentle, but I can't help but let a little of my irritation colour my tone. "Firstly, the only way you're a little freakish is in your ability to tolerate me."
She can't help but smile at that, and I continue, encouraged. "Secondly, there's nothing wrong with not specialising. Not that I think you aren't going to, I'm just pointing this out." My tone turns bitter. "And besides, even if you do specialise, it's not like we're allowed to use our magic anyway."
For some strange reason, this makes her laugh.
"What?"
"Oh, Rose," she chuckles, "sometimes I think that you'd make a fantastic princess."
My face darkens. "You know, you're the only one who can say that to me without getting punched."
"Trust me, I know. And I'm making full use of that knowledge. If you could hear yourself, you might even agree with me. I really think that this guardian thing is good for you."
"Don't push it," I growl, and she squeezes my hand gratefully.
"Okay, okay. I'm going to class now. And Rose?" She rises from her seat, but looks down at me. "Thanks."
My frown melts into a smile. "Of course, Liss. Any time."
I'm uncharacteristically pensive as Dimitri and I walk to my classes, thinking about what Lissa said in spite of myself. I've never really entertained the thought that I could ever be a proper princess, that maybe I could change things somehow. It's a disturbing prospect. With great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz. Plus, the whole viewpoint of our society has persisted for millennia. That's an incredibly daunting prospect for one teenage royal, most likely insurmountable.
What's marginally more disturbing though, is the thought that two weeks ago, I wouldn't even have dwelt on it.
The nice thing about Dimitri is that silence is his natural state. He's characteristically reticent, and he's okay to leave me to my thoughts. Though he's clearly curious, he allows me to think and doesn't ask questions. I find that I pay less attention in my classes, lost in my own head, until something brings me back to reality, with an abrupt bump.
"Rose Dragomir."
"Huh?" I look up, and find that the entire class is already staring at me. "Um, sorry, Sir, could you repeat the question?"
Where my classmates would normally snicker, there's only an uncomfortable and foreboding silence.
"I really would expect more," Mr Peter grins, wrinkles crinkling at the corners of his sparkling blue eyes, "from the student who got the highest mark on the last assignment."
For a second, I wonder if he's finally gone senile.
Me? The top mark? He must think I'm ridiculously gullible to believe that. I only did the damn assignment because Dimitri made me, and because I've had nothing better to do of an evening than homework, seeing as I'm biding my time before I attempt to sneak out.
But lo and behold, when he places the paper on my desk, the small '96' is written in red ink at the top corner of the page. I even blink a few times to make sure it doesn't disappear.
The class remains stunned into silence for the rest of the lesson, and I just sit there thinking.
Mason hurries up to walk with me as I walk down the corridor. Dimitri lets us outstrip him, providing the illusion of privacy while he walks a couple of feet behind us.
"Well that was…unexpected," I begin.
"What was?" Mason asks.
I stare at him, incredulous. "You're joking, right? I got the top mark!"
"Oh, that," he shrugs. "Well, everyone knows you're smart. Is this really a surprise to you?"
"Well, yeah."
"It shouldn't be."
"Uh… thanks?"
He laughs. "Rose, I know you hate to be reminded of it, but you are royalty."
I narrow my eyes. "Tread lightly, Ashford. I may not be able to take you in a fight, but you're not allowed to hit me back.
"Okay, okay," he raises his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just saying. You're the last Dragomir, Rose, you're a big deal."
And with that, I reach my tolerance capacity. Forcing as much dismissal into my tone as humanly possible, I say, "I have to visit the feeders."
He looks hurt, but I'm in no mood to care. His belief in my abilities unsettles me. I don't like it when people pay attention to me for serious reasons. I already have to deal with an over-observant guardian. What if now I've made everyone think that I'm trying? What if they expect me to do it again, for a different subject? The thought leaves me cold. One thing is certain; now everyone will be watching when I fail.
Dimitri follows me into the feeding hall, where I'm quickly seated in a cubicle. I don't take my anger out on Sam, my feeder today. In fact, I take less blood than usual, earning a disapproving look from Dimitri that I pretend to ignore. Before he can actually comment, I spot Lissa at our normal table across the cafeteria, and head that way without a word to him.
"Don't look now, but Jesse Zeklos is staring at you," she says, by way of greeting.
"Let him stare," I shrug, but I can't help smiling a little as I sit down opposite her.
Jesse Zeklos is crazy hot and throws the best parties on campus, but he is also an entitled royal and a future frat-boy. While piquing his interest gives me a self-esteem boost, it's not something I'm in the mood to encourage, at present.
"How were your classes?" I ask, as a distraction.
Lissa is a straight-A student, so we hardly have any lessons together.
"Good, nothing to report. I did hear something really interesting though."
"Oh? Do tell."
Some juicy gossip is exactly the thing that I need right now. Maybe I'll hit the jackpot, and somebody's pregnant.
She grins. "Well, apparently Rose Dragomir got the top mark on a history assignment."
I roll my eyes. "Oh. That."
"Yes, that! Rose, this is a big deal. Do you see what happens when you put in the work?"
Her sentence makes my stomach turn.
I close my eyes briefly. "Please, drop it."
"But doesn't it feel good, to know you can do it?"
"Liss, please."
I don't know what she sees in my expression, but it has the desired effect, and we return to normal conversation.
It's exactly as I feared; Lissa has just proved it. I get one good grade and everyone starts expecting things of me. There is no happy thought in my mind, I do not feel like this is a victory. This is what people have been waiting for all this time, so there is no praise for my achievement, but rather another sprinkle of responsibility on the top of a pile that is already too large for me to handle.
How could I be so stupid? How could I have forgotten so easily? I develop a silly crush on somebody that only pays attention to me because it's his job, and I forget who I am.
Well, I think, throwing a flirtatious smile over my shoulder at Jesse Zeklos. It's high time I reminded everybody.
Jesse's brown hair flops into his face as he sees my expression, and he gestures outside with a twitch of his head.
"What are you doing?" Lissa asks, as I rise from my chair to follow his retreating figure.
"Managing expectations," I coolly reply, and leave the cafeteria.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave me a review and let me know what you thought; what worked, what didn't. If there's anything you'd like to say, I'd love to hear it. Also, I apologise for any mistakes, as this fic is currently unBeta'd. I post pretty randomly, so if you'd like to keep in the loop, please favourite and follow.
Uh oh. I'm running out of stored up chapters. I really need to start writing again, but I actually have a job now. It's shocking, I know. I'm a contributing adult member of society. Blegh. I promise to write and update whenever I can. Your support is so amazing, so thank you for bearing with me!
The VA universe, and the characters therein, is the intellectual property of Richelle Mead.