A.N: Hey guys!! As I promised here is chapter 15 ( you are so gonna hate me but it's ok lol.)
Firstly I would like to thank you guys for the lovely reviews. You totally get a free hug (isn't worth much but it comes from the heart).
Ok now I would like to apologize if some of you thought that the last chapter was not as good as the others grammar wise.
By the way, if you want to know, I picture Ben as being Jared "omg super hot" Padalecki.
Anyways here is chapter 15 and just to keep you up at night….there are more than one thing to be revealed *wink wink*
And please guys show me some love by reviewing…I need the love*pout* …Ok… Pretty please…??
ENJOY and REVIEW!!!
Chapter 15:
I've been awake for 4 days now, all dressed up and ready to leave this room that was really starting to drive me crazy.
It was true that I had many visits and even Kirova came to visit me twice. She was all nice and caring it was just spooky, but I let it slide since I would not be humoring her much longer.
Olendzki wanted me to wait for someone to walk me outside, but my persistent whining and childish attitude finally had reason of her patience and she let me go relieved to get rid of me.
Nice!! I still have this irritating quality! I thought leaving the building.
I stopped in the middle of the way to the guests' small building and slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand. I didn't know where I was staying actually. I've been told that my belongings would be in a guest room, but not which one. I already tried to phone Kashka but she didn't answer and I knew the others were busy with classes and stuff for at least another couple of hours.
I groaned and reluctantly started to walk in the opposite direction to the administrative building, as Kirova probably knew my room number.
I swear, if she asks me again to do the speech at the graduation, so help me god, I'll hit her. I thought losing track of things. I always hated hypocrisies.
I was almost there when I heard a warm voice from behind me.
"Guardian Hathaway?" Said the voice, surprised. "Can I help you with something?"
I rolled my eyes and turned around about to be super bitchy. It was the wrong moment to piss me off, but he had such a warm and kind smile flashing a set of perfect white teeth that I lost my perfectly built 'in your face' comment.
"I…." I smiled to him as a response but I was pretty sure that my smile was not one tenth of his. "I needed to see Kirova quick."
"Oh!" he said walking forward to shake my hand, his hand were wide and a nice golden color. He was really muscular I realized as I shook his hand. He was different than Dimitri on that. He was bigger, burlier with thick wiry muscles. "I'm sorry but she is not in her office right now she is in class with Ms and Mr. Oreza" he said all business like.
"Great!" I said sarcastically throwing my hands on the air in exasperation. "I'm homeless for a while then." I had a dark laugh. "Well I guess I'll have to wait for the others to have finish their class to tell me where I stay," I added twisting my lips deciding to settle for the little bench under the oak tree.
"Oh but I know which room you are staying in." He said clearly happy to be able to help. "Let me walk you there."
I crossed my arms on my chest and looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes. He had brownish hair with a shaggy haircut, clearly too short to put on a ponytail but also too long to be military. He had baby blue eyes, a very wide, muscular body and chest. He was about 6'3 and about 25.
"Who did you say you were?" I asked a bit more coldly than I wanted to be but I had some trust issues. Understandable right?
"Oh I'm sorry!" he said blushing slightly. "How impolite it's of me." He shook his head. "My name is Ben Jonascki I am--"
"Christian's guardian" I said cutting him off relaxing a little.
He nodded in confirmation.
"Well…. Good luck with that!" I said with a chuckle.
He chuckled too. "I'm the one who brought your bag and other belongings to the room so…" He bowed his hand on a very gentlemanly manner. "May I?" he asked showing me the way.
I nodded lazily and walked beside him. After a couple of minute of silence an idea reached me.
"Did…Did Christian asked to spy on me?" I asked on my guards again as it was weird for him to be across campus, in a place where he had no real business.
"Well not really." Said Ben putting his hands in his pockets shooting me a sidelong glance. "They knew that you would try to escape the clinic as soon as you could so they just wanted someone to be there, you know…" He shrugged slightly. "And I wanted to talk to you anyways so…" he smiled "I volunteered." He added lightly.
I stopped at once and stared at him with surprise, he turned to face me too.
"Talk to me? Talk to me why?" I asked, as I was already embarrassed that this stranger witnessed my disgrace in Tualatin.
"Well you're going to be Princess Vasilisa guardian and I'm Mr. Oreza's guardian which means we're going to spend a lot of time together." He smiled again. "I just wanted to get to know you that's all. Know you by yourself not surrounded by everyone."
"I…yeah" I sighed nodding. He shouldn't be the one to know my intentions first.
We were about to start walking again when I saw Kashka walking in the clinic building but not by the main door, which brought to my room but by the little side door which brought you god knows were.
I was about to ask Ben to go there when I heard a voice I hated come from behind me.
"Man what a drag! Rose found a new 'Mentor' already" said Jesse with a snort, as I perfectly knew that the way he said mentor had a real different meaning.
I turned around slowly, facing him and his butt licker Ralph.
"Jesse…" I nodded stiffly. "Ralph." I said as they both grinned evilly at me. I knew I would have to deal with stupidity soon enough and I was strong enough, or maybe stupid enough to deal with them. Our love was honest and pure; I had no shame and no regret on that point.
"Good to have you back Rose." He said in a wannabe seductive voice. "IS he as efficient as the last one?" Asked Jesse nodding toward Ben as if he was just an object. I could see him contracting just beside me, making fists with his hands.
"I wouldn't know that Jesse but" I smiled to him "the last one was more efficient than you that's for sure." I looked at Ben pretending to explain to him and he seemed eager enough to play the game. "Mr. Zeklos here is lots of words but poor in actions you see." I said as seriously as I could.
Ben nodded pretending to be really interested but I could see in his eyes that he was using all his will power not to burst into laugher. " Lots of words… No actions… Got it." He said like if he was learning a lesson.
"I get it now anyways," Said Jesse trying not to sound touched by my comments but the light blush gave his shame away. "I understand now why you loved tutoring so much!!" He said chuckling. "You tell me if you will be tutoring like he was tutoring you because if it's the case. I would LUUUVVV to stay one more year for you to 'tutor' me on every angles and positions."
I heard Ben gasp for air and just had the time to bring a hand on his chest to stop him. "You've got too much to loose and this poop worm doesn't deserve it" I said slowly. I only removed my hand when I saw his muscles relax.
Both Jesse and Ralph laughed now, with the new confidence to see that their words did touch us at one level. And that's when they said the only thing that could make me loose it. They touched Dimitri's integrity. "But we get it Rose! The dude had such a reputation I wonder how many girls he did manage to get that way with the all mentoring crap." He laughed looking at Ralph. "I mean how many underage, naive girls did believe his crap huh?" He asked rhetorically "well at least you took him out. Rose 1 the pedophile 0" he said with his thumb up.
That's when I launched myself ready to gauge his eyes out with the desire to probably make Ralph eat them but two strong arms encircled my waist. Boy Ben was fast!
"Don't," he whispered to my ear as I struggled to break free. "You've got too much to loose." He said repeating my own words.
"No I don't!" I shouted with fury "and… and it's worth it anyways just let me go."
Apparently I was scary enough that the two Moroi stopped laughing at once and just stared with wide eyes.
"You better go," said Ben in a raged voice as he was using all his strength to restrain me now. "If you're still here in two minutes I swear I let her loose" he added coldly.
The two moroi stared at each other and backed away almost running.
"Yeah you can run but… I'll get you!!" I shouted in their general direction.
Ben kept hold of me for a couple more minutes as anger was easing. I felt stupid to have reacted as irrationally as I promised to stay calm whatever I heard.
I sighed loudly and stop battling at once.
"Ok…" Said Ben "if I let you go, do you promise to not go all predator on them?" he asked seriously.
"Yeah…yeah" I said as he loosened his grip but stayed alert ready to catch me if I decided to break in a run. "Sorry…" I said slightly ashamed trying to put some order in my cloth. "That wasn't…. right." I said as I didn't find the right way to express my thought which was 'Sorry I did that in front of you I should have waited and then hurt them without any witnesses around.'
"It's ok," he said relaxing as we started walking to the guest pavilion again. "I've been here only 4 weeks and I already wanted to push his nose inward so many times." He said matter of factly.
"But…how did you end up being Christian's guardian anyways?" I asked as we walked in the pavilion.
"Damn!" I shouted, "How am I supposed to get in huh? I don't have the key!" I added exasperated.
He chuckled and showed me a set of keys he had in his back pocket. "I told you, I was looking for you." He said nicely. "Here…" he said handing me the key.
I smile apologetically. "I really need to control my temper," I said looking down.
"Nobody is perfect. It's sometime very hard to stay in control." He simply said walking down the corridor to my room so, as he had his back at me now, he didn't see my head jerk up and my eyes widen with surprise.
That was so what Dimitri would have said! I thought incredulously following him to destination.
When I opened the door I saw my duffle back and sword resting on a corner table and about 4 small boxes on the floor.
My whole life… I thought sadly looking at the few things I could call mine.
Ben was standing in the threshold uncomfortably.
"Please come in," I said gesturing to the sofa. "Want something to drink?" I asked looking at the mini fridge.
He nodded and sat fidgeting with his hands.
"So…. " I said giving him a can of coke and taking one for myself. "You and Christian?" I said trying to finish the conversation.
"Well…" he said happy enough to share his life experience with me. At least he was not all secretive mystery dude. He seemed pretty open and honest, it was a good thing. "I was working at the Academy in New Hampshire since about a year, I was teaching the oriental combat techniques when they asked me if I wanted to be Mr. Oreza's guardian as he will be an official teacher of the school and it also gave me the opportunity to teach here too." He said with a shrug.
"Oriental techniques?" I asked curiously. "That's… that's unexpected," I said slightly blushing realizing I sounded mentally challenged.
"Well" he chuckled, "I may be American but I've been educated in the Academy near Ar Ryad as my father was a guardian there and my mother followed him and worked there actually." he said winking.
"Oh… cool." I said wanting to slap myself. But he was only the second dhampir I met that had a Moroi mother.
"So…." He said looking at me straight in the eyes. "When do you intend to say to the princess that you don't intend to be a guardian?" He asked so sure of himself, like I told him that fact.
I coughed as I almost choked on the coke. "What…what did you say?" I asked so shocked.
"I think you heard me." He said nicely but he wasn't smiling anymore. "I did get it outside when you shouted that you had nothing to loose. You didn't even think about Vasilisa one second." He said with slight reproach. "She is expecting you to be with her all the time and…" he shrugged "I think it's not fair to lie and hide stuff form her."
"Yeah like you guys are not hiding something big from me?!" I snapped back coldly. "I was in the coma but I'm not retarded!" I narrowed my eyes. "I'll come clean when you will."
He looked at me calmly. "It's not my role to talk to you about what they are or aren't keeping from you." He said confirming my doubt.
I looked at him a bit longer. "It's big isn't it?" I just asked.
He shrugged but his eyes were confirming that it was even bigger than I imagined. "Every decision comes with its set of consequences Rosemarie." He said calmly putting the can of coke on the coffee table and resting his big hands on his knees. "Some of them were to be expected other are a bit more surprising, but in the end, we have to deal with them and do the best to accept what we did during a much more desperate time." He said in an even voice.
"Damn! You too?!" I asked really irritated that I didn't understand much of his speech. "What did they teach you back in the other continent huh? Do you have a class teaching all this Zen crap?" I asked as he sounded so much like Dimitri that it hurt.
He sighed. "It's not the point anyways," he said nicely. "I know that you're hurt and still grieving and… And taking decisions in such a state will drive you to make some drastic choice which you will regret in the end." He added reaching for me but finally hesitated and brought his hand back on his knee. It was probably due to the murderous look I was giving him.
"And what are you, huh? A mind reader?" I snorted "or maybe you are a doctor Freud in disguise? Maybe you could show me your psychology degree?" I asked with heavy sarcasm. Got you Mr. 'know it all' I thought proud of my come back.
"Actually I could." He said with a smile playing on his lips. "When I graduated I was guarding a friend of mine and went with him at the University of Sheffield in England were he studied Psychology and well…" he shrugged "I studied with him."
"Yeah well…." I grimaced pouting like a 6 years old doing my best not to stick my tongue out. "Well…" I needed to find something fast, I didn't want him to have the last word with me. "Well studying and living it are two totally different things!" I said with an icy voice where both pain and anger were entwined. "You don't know what's like! You don't know what I've been through and…" I stood up. "I would like for you to go now." I said showing him the door.
"Of course" he said standing up. He tried to sound calm but I could see that the muscles of his jaw were tight. He was doing his best to control his anger. He walked stiffly to the door before turning around. "Just so you know, I do know how it feels as my mother, voluntarily turned strigoi, killed my dad right before my eyes." He took a deep breath to try to keep his voice from shivering. "I had just graduated from university and I was home for 2 weeks, and when she tried to turn me, I killed her. I killed my own mother Rose," he said not able to conceal his pain and anger anymore. "That's when I dropped everything… My moroi, my life and went to hide in the New Hampshire academy so never…" He pointed at me, "Never tell me that I don't know how you feel anymore because" he opened the door "I'm probably the only person who actually does!" He said not even bothering to look at me again before leaving the room.
I sat back in the armchair shaken by his revelation. Wow Rose you did gain a whole new level of bitchiness!! I thought ashamed and angry with myself.
I took a deep breath and decided to go and find him. I felt so bad plus I was hoping to maybe cross Jesses' path in a dark corner somewhere.
I took my cell and tried to phone Kashka again but her phone was still off.
Yeah me Rose Hathaway, the badass kid was chicken enough to need someone to be with me while walking around school I thought staring at the door.
"Come on man up!" I said out loud. "The worse already happened to you. What else could you fear?!" I added trying to increase my courage finally leaving the room.
I was walking in direction of the teaching building, as I figured that the best place to look for Ben was where Christian was, and right now Christian was teaching one of his 'Defense with magic 101' classes with Tasha.
I bit my bottom lip, I would have felt a lot better to see Tasha with an ally by my side.
I shook my head. Never mind! I was almost there, but as I turned the corner to the main part of the teaching building I almost collided with a man walking in the opposite direction.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" I blurted out looking at him.
"It's…It's okay" he said looking at me in recognition. "It's nice to finally meet you Rosemarie Hathaway." He said with a smile.
I looked at him sighed and rolled my eyes. I knew it was just plain rude but I was just fed up with everybody knowing who I was when I didn't have the faintest idea of who I was talking to.
My reaction made him chuckled and his eyes lit with amusement. "Impetuous… Just like your mother." He said pleased.
I finally really looked at him warily, detailing him. He was a Moroi man of about 45 with a extremely faint accent that I would have called oriental. He wasn't as white as the other moroi and I guess he could be seen as Olive Skinned as far as Moroi could be like that. He was really tall about 6'4 and not as thin as the rest of the moroi, he was really burly as far as moroi were concerned of course not even close of Dimitri was and you would have needed at least 2 like him to match Ben, but still he was impressive for a Moroi, a bit like Adrian.
He kept staring at me with a smile playing on his lips.
I concentrated on his face. He had big brown eyes and some wicked dark brown thick hair, which look almost black.
Wicked hair… I thought rethinking my description. This realization gave me cold sweat as I was finally realizing who I was facing but also refused to acknowledge that fact.
"May I ask who I'm talking to?" I asked really formally taking a small step backward.
"Of course!" He said, as his smile grew wider. "It's such an honor to finally meant you kiz çocuk." He said sincerely. "My name is Ibrahim, Ibrahim El Dreidi but I guess you can call me dad." He said reaching out to shake my hand, as I stayed frozen on the spot.
It was different to suspect something and actually having my doubts confirmed. As I saw, from behind his shoulder my mother hurrying our way, I was just impolite and rude enough to turn around and run back to the guest housing.