RPOV

We stand there in awkward silence for what feels like forever just looking into each other's eyes, having a staring contest of who would break first. I know I am being stubborn, not just about the staring contest, but about my bitterness towards him. It's been five years and I should let bygones be bygones, but I can't help it. After we graduated high school, I told him I was moving to L.A. to fulfill my dreams to become a singer. I thought he understood that and I'm sure he did, but I always dreamed that he would drop everything and come with me. I know it's a selfish thing to think and I shouldn't have expected him to do that, but we dated for two years. I was completely in love with him. I still remember the first day I laid eyes on him.

Flashback

It was my first day of junior year. I wasn't all that excited. It just meant that I had one year left after this before I could leave this crappy town and move to L.A. I was walking to my locker when my best friend Lissa ran up.

"Have you seen the new guy? I heard he is an escaped convict from Russia and that he's here hiding from the Russian government!" she screamed. Lissa always had a flair for the dramatic and loved her gossip.

I laughed and said, "Liss that is absolutely ridiculous. There is no way in hell that any of that is true. Where did you hear that?" I opened my locker and put away my backpack and grabbed my stuff for English Literature.

"Camille told me. She said her parents are good friends with the principle and that they told her that Principle Kirova said he's from Russia and is here to 'escape',"

I just shook my head and said, "Liss did you ever think that when she said 'escape' she meant leave for a different life? Not literally escape from the Russian government?"

"Oh," she said, "I guess that would make more sense. But regardless, I heard he is super hot. Like really REALLY hot!"

"How do you know? You thought he was a Russian criminal-turned-refugee," I laughed. Liss was a beautiful person, with long, straight, platinum blond hair and gorgeous jade green eyes. She wasn't just beautiful on the outside. She was the kindest person I had ever met in my life and sometimes, she was so kind that she wanted to trust everyone and tended to believe even the most ridiculous rumors, like this one.

"Okay, you have a point, but if you see him, let me know. I want to know how much about the rumors are true," Liss said right as her boyfriend Christian came up to walk her to class.

The first bell rang and I closed my locker and started walking to class. I wasn't paying much attention because I was double checking which classroom my first hour was in, when all of a sudden, I ran into a wall. At least, I thought it was a wall. Right as I was bracing myself for my inevitable fall, a pair of strong arms flew around my waist to catch me before I hit the ground. When I looked up I was captivated by the most beautiful chocolate brown eyes I had ever seen. My whole body was on fire (in an amazing way) being wrapped up in this stranger's arms, and even though I didn't know him, I felt safe. The stranger set me back on my feet and released me from his hold, still holding my gaze.

"I am s-so sorry Miss, I-I didn't see you there. Are-are you alright?" he said stuttering a little, with an accent I had never heard of before. Now, getting a full view of him, he was HOT! Then I realized, this must be the new Russian student. Well at least the rumor mill got something right for once.

"I-I'm fine. It's not your fault, I-I wasn't looking where I was going," I stuttered just as much as he did and a red heat started to creep onto my cheeks. I looked down and tucked some hair behind my ear trying to distract from my obvious blushing. Why was he making me so nervous? Rose Hathaway does not get nervous over a guys, and she especially doesn't blush! Then a thought occurred to me. He's new and this school was not exactly small. So I looked up at him and being nice, I asked, "Are um, are you new? If you are I uh, I could show you to your class. It's a pretty big school and it can be confusing."

The guy smiled a breathtaking smile that made me completely melt. "That would be really great. I-I just moved here from Russia. My name's Dimitri Belikov," he said and stuck out his hand for me to shake.

I smiled, all of a sudden not so nervous since seeing his beautiful smile. "Rose Hathaway. It's nice to meet you." I stuck out my hand out to meet his and when our hands touched, it was like an electric shock went through me. His eyes widened and I realized he must have felt it too.

"The pleasure is all mine," and he kissed my knuckles. I looked down again blushing but quickly recovered.

"So, you're the Russian student everyone has been talking about. You know you don't look like a criminal or a runaway but I guess you can't believe everything you hear," I said winking and laughed, hoping he understood I was only kidding.

"Where did you hear that from," he said in a serious tone and all of a sudden, all of the emotion was gone from his face.

"Relax I was only kidding. I didn't mean to offend you," I said putting my hands up in surrender. Geez, touchy subject I guess. That or he didn't have much of a sense of humor. Weird. "So," I said after an awkward pause, "What is your first period?"

"English Literature with a Mr. Alto," he said, his voice still serious and all the emotions still clear of his face. I looked into his eyes and could see some uncertainty and another emotion I couldn't quite put my finger on. This guy was good.

"Well lucky for you Comrade, I have the same class so I will take you there," I said with a smile, hoping that and my new clever nickname would relax him a little bit.

He raised an eyebrow after I used his new nickname and asked, "Comrade?" Finally he started to relax a little and I could see the amusement in his eyes.

I shrugged. "It fits," was the only answer I gave him. "Sooo, class? Luckily it's just down this hall and we don't want to be late, especially for Alto's. He's a grade A asshole."

He smiled again, making my legs almost turn to Jell-O. We started walking down the hallway to the class. "You know it doesn't seem very polite to call a teacher names," he said teasing. So he did have some sense of humor. I wondered why he freaked out earlier. We made it to the class right before the bell rang and took the last two seats left, which were right by each other. I spent the rest of the catching Dimitri stealing glimpses of me and knew right then and there, this year was going to be fun.

End Flashback

I was pulled out of my flashback and the staring contest Dimitri and I were still in when I heard a squeal that I would know from anywhere. Lissa.