A/N- So sorry for the long wait! I got really busy with homework and everything. :( It's been a crazy week. I wrote most of this a couple of days after the last chapter, but then I was hit with crap-loads of homework, so it took a while to finish. But it is here! So, YAY! :D

So, probably no update for a week or so, again. Sorry! I have a lot of study and homework. But in a weeks time is two weeks of holidays! :D So I should have regular updates after the next.

By the way, if you haven't noticed already, I do occasionally add little snippets of the actual Vampire Academy novel. I can't remember, but there is at least one in a previous chapter. There is another in here, which you will probably notice. It is one of my favourite scenes in the first book. ;)

So, enjoy!

Previously-

I turned to Dimitri with a smirk on my face. "So, Dimitri. If Adrian isn't allowed to keep me from curfew, how come you can?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Goodnight, Miss Hathaway," he said harshly, before slamming the door behind him.

And that was..?

Chapter 6 – Party

It was beautiful. I thought I was in the same dream as Adrian had brought me to – I was in my white dress with the beautiful green grass, and the roses too – before everything changed.

I was smiling, twirling on the grass, soaking in the sun with my eyes closed. Suddenly, I felt cold, and when I opened my eyes it was confirmed. The sun had disappeared, and dark rain clouds took its place.

Large, painful, rain pellets fell down and drenched my pretty dress. The water mixed with the grass and mud spread ugly stains all over it. I started to scream and curse at Adrian for ruining my happy place. But he wasn't there, he didn't hear me. The rain pelted harder, and I knew I had to get out of there.

I ran and I ran and I ran. But I got nowhere. What was once a beautiful vast green paddock had now become a cursed never ending mud-bank. I kept running, but I got nowhere. Nothing even changed; I only continued to face the occasional tree and flowers that had been squashed by the rain. I continued to scream at Adrian, maybe he was hiding. I continued yelling, shivering, I think I had even begun crying. I thought I was never going to get out.

I shot up in bed to my alarm, for the first time thankful for its intrusion, and thankful that it actually went off before Dimitri decided to bash down my door. I had kicked off my sheets during my sleep, reinforcing the chill from my dream. I picked them off the ground and hugged them around me. Suddenly aware of my tear-stained cheeks, I silently agreed to kill Adrian later. Why did he do that to me?

Barely two minutes later, there was a whack on my door. "Rose!" he called through it.

Go away Dimitri, I screamed at him in my mind. My alarm beat him, but not by long. Wrapping my sheet tighter around my body, another silent tear fell. He was a problem I did not want to face.

"Rose! Training!" he screamed again.

"I'll be there in a minute!" I screamed back, trying hard to hide the pain in my voice.

He obviously heard it though. "Rose, are you okay?" he asked, his voice a little lower.

"Fine! I'll be down in a minute!" I screamed back, not changing my tone. Although, I hoped he would ignore the sob I let out.

"Okay," I barely heard him say, as his footsteps retreated.

I washed my face before changing into my gym clothes. I picked some three-quarter length black tracksuit pants and a green singlet from my shopping trip. I also grabbed the grey hoodie that I had worn the day before. However not entirely happy with my slightly blotchy eyes, I headed out. My premeditated excuse was sleep deprivation.

He, of course, didn't buy it though. "You're tired?" he questioned, unbelieving.

"Yes, now can I train?" I almost growled, heading to the door towards the track.

"No." I turned around. "We are going to spar today," a small, barely noticeable, smirk appear alongside his words.

Oh shit! I did not want to spar. Remembering Mason's words – "...when he fights... wow. If you think you're hurting now, you're going to be dead when he's done with you." – I was definitely scared. "I don't want to..." I almost whispered. "I want to run."

He shook his head, his smirk growing larger. "No, we are sparring. C'mon," he beckoned me over to the already lain out gym mats.

This time, I shook my head. "No, I want to run."

His smirk grew larger, if even possible. He stalked over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the mats. "You can run later," he teased. I was not impressed.

I pulled against him. "No, Dimitri! I don't want to!" I could hear the anxiety in my own voice, could hear the sob rising to the surface.

Hearing it too, he dropped my hand. I almost fell back, having put all my body into pulling away. "I'm going to run," I told him confidently.

But he saw the single tear escape, ruining my facade.

"Rose..."

"Going to run, Belikov," I growled, turning my back on him.

I only managed to take one step, though, before he was in front of me. "Rose," he whispered, using a finger to lift my chin up.

I kept my eyes closed as he forced my face to look up at him, trying desperately to keep the other tears caged away. I hated acting weak. I was weak. But no one else needed to know that. Especially Dimitri.

"Rose..." I barely heard him utter, as he wiped away that single tear.

I couldn't hold it back anymore; I let out a huge chocked sob. But that was it. I couldn't let him see anymore. I felt the tears escape as I ripped past him and went for the tracks.

The wind nipped at my wet cheeks as I ran. I knew more were escaping. Somehow I thought the more I ran, the more the cold air would evaporate my tears. But they were coming so fast, that for every evaporated tear, five more fell. The air couldn't keep up.

I wasn't sobbing so much anymore, but I was crying. The tears could do nothing but fall. My legs kept pumping as my blood started boiling. The contrast was almost excruciating to the cold wind. But I kept going. If I stopped running, I would have to spar. And I couldn't spar... for more than one reason...

Before long, I couldn't remember why I was crying. There wasn't really a reason anymore, I was just crying. I was tired... That may have been the excuse I gave Dimitri earlier, but it was more or less an excuse. I really was tired now, exhausted. My eyes felt weak and my body was so sore. Yet, I couldn't remember if I felt that way before I started running.

I knew he was calling my name, but I couldn't hear him. There was a faint muffle through the wind that kept swishing past my ears. As I guessed, a moment later the muffling stopped and he was at my side. I couldn't ignore him now.

"You are late for class," he said with a sad sigh.

I grumbled, not looking at him, "I don't care."

"It's already ten minutes through first period."

"I don't care," I repeated louder.

"Rose..."

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to him. He ran a little father in front of me before he too stop and faced me. Not really remembering what my sadness was aimed at, I grew angry. Angry at everything. Angry at how weak I was, angry at Dimitri for not leaving me alone. Angry that I wasn't good enough. I would never be good enough for anything. Angry tears now burned my cheeks. I waited a moment, grimacing at him, before pointing a finger at him. Another moment passed as I tried to find the perfect words. There really weren't any. I walked towards him so that I could jab my outstretched finger into his chest, and growled loud and fiercely at him, pronouncing every syllable slowly, "Fuck off Dimitri." I growled a moment longer before I kept running.

He must have found it best to leave the crazy, crying, moody teenager alone, for I kept jogging undisturbed. When I was finally too tired to run another minute, I collapsed next to my duffle bag and skulled my water. I was content. I was exhausted, tired, and sore, but any other emotions that had haunted me before had disappeared. I'd burnt myself out.

I thought Dimitri had left. When I was ready to practically pass out on the side of the tracks he came up beside me. He crossed his legs next to my fully outstretched body.

"You know your entire class heard you yell at me."

"Good for them." I couldn't care less. I glanced back at the gym. It must have already been at least second period, because it was empty. Mason would have seen me going mad, as would the rest of the Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques students. I hope everyone was smart enough not to mention it when they next saw me.

"Maybe you should take the day off classes."

I nodded my head, closing my eyes. I was still trying to cool down, taking long, deep breaths.

"You need to do some warm down stretches," Dimitri instructed.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"Rose?"

"Hmm?"

He paused a moment, so I opened my eyes to see why he hadn't answered. Worry and concern clearly planted his expression. Oh, here we go, I thought. "What happened?" Or really he was saying, 'Why were you crying earlier?'

"Nothing," I grimaced, closing my eyes again.

"Rose, I know seeing Strigoi like that can't be easy. You thought you were safe now you are out of there. But I'm not going to lie; you will never be completely safe. That is why we train you. That is why I want to work you hard." He must have thought I was crying because of the encounter the day before. Although it had shaken me, I was fine. The dream... or more, nightmare was what had me crying. Well, that is what I was putting it down to.

"Whatever," I grumbled.

"Rose," he said sternly. Did he have to say my name so much?

I sighed frustratingly, opening my eyes, "It was nothing, Dimitri. I'm just tired, okay?" I wanted to get up and walk away, but I knew my legs would be jelly and I would most likely stumble and fall. I needed to rest a moment before I stretched and went back to my dorm to sleep. "Shouldn't you let Kivora know I'm having the day off?" I asked, hoping he would take that as an indication to leave me alone.

"Already done." Damn it.

I nodded and closed my eyes again, not saying anything else. I heard a shuffle beside me, and glanced a look to see Dimitri had lain down beside me. Can he not take a hint? I inwardly growled.

A good ten minutes had to have passed before he spoke again. "You don't have to tell me anything," he told me quietly. "But I want you to know – I am always here if you need anything."

"Sure," I said emotionless.

I had slept in my dorm for the majority of my classes. I got up, showered, dressed and went to the cafeteria for lunch. People looked at me, I couldn't ignore the stares. But I had already decided to grab my food and head back to my dorm anyway, so they didn't really bother me. I was about to exit the cafeteria when Mason came up.

"Hey Rose," he said, strolling to my side.

"Hey," I said with a small, meaningless smile. He was a good guy, but I wasn't really in the mood.

"You okay?"

"Please, Mase," I pleaded, telling him with my tone to drop it.

"Sure. Hey, not what I'm here for. I wanted to invite you to a party," he grinned.

"Party?" Never leaving the 'house', the closest I had ever come to a party was saying happy birthday to the people who actually knew their birth date.

"Yeah. Just a small get together up at Eddie's. I'll come get you, if you want?"

Suddenly, I was very willing. I had never been drunk before, hell I'd barely had a drink. But I knew enough to know alcohol dulls your emotions, for some people. I hoped I was one. "I'm there."

Mason's face soared instantly, "Awesome! I'll see you later."

I figured it was a small gathering, so I didn't bother dressing up. Not that I had much to dress up in. I chucked on some tight skinny jeans, an orange singlet, and the very expensive black leather jacket I had bought with Kivora's money.

Mason came and picked me up, just like he had promised. I think he may have thought it a little more significant than I, but I just let it past. I wasn't going to ruin my night by ruining his. I'd let him have his shining moment.

We made our way up to Eddie's in comfortable chit-chat. I was glad he had actually decided to drop things when I told him to, unlike bloody Dimitri. Stupid guy didn't know what 'shut up' meant.

"Oh, Rose! You made it!" chirped a very tipsy Eddie.

I laughed, knowing I was soon going to be as happy as him in his current condition. "Wouldn't miss it," I told him.

"Hey, get Rose a drink!" he ordered, waving to a small group of dhampir's standing around the esky.

One reached in the esky and brought me over a glass bottle with a red coloured liquid in it.

"Oh, come on!" Eddie whined to the dhampir just as he was about to leave, "Get my friend something a little stronger!" Eddie turned to me, "You're getting drunk tonight, ain't ya Rose?"

I laughed, a little awkwardly. "Sure thing, Eddie. But I'll just stick to this for now."

"Suit yourself!" he mumbled before stumbling away.

I hesitantly looked at the bottle. It read raspberry vodka cruiser, and I guessed it was a fruity drink, as indicated by the raspberry part. I didn't know whether or not to drink it. Did I really want to get drunk?

"You've never had a drink before, have you?" Mason asked, almost accusingly, before I looked up from the bottle in my hands. I didn't realise how long I had been contemplating about it.

"What? No, of course I have."

"You're lying."

"Whatever," I huffed, unscrewing the lid and taking a swig.

He chocked a small giggle, "Well, looks like you have now."

I gave him a glare before a swallowing another mouthful. It tasted sweet with an extra kick. I liked it.

The rest of the party went in much of a blur. I had lots more cruisers, plus some other drinks which I didn't remember the names. It was pretty boring, besides the alcohol. Before I decided to make it a little more interesting... but at the exact wrong time.

"Mr May-ay-son!" I squealed, dragging out his name, "I accept your challenge!" I stalked over to him and lifted myself on my toes to whisper in his ear. "Prepare to lose your mind," I tried to purr to him, which only turned into a slur of words.

I laughed and stumbled over to the middle of the dorm. There was a table there with various bowls of chips and pretzels. I shoved them all over to one end and stood up on the other, almost falling in the process. I cleared my throat, giggled, and then screamed, "Who wants a little show from little ol' Rose 'ere, huh?" with a shake of my torso.

I heard some cheers of acceptance and gave my 'audience' nods in all directions. "Crank up the music, Edd-man!" A slow, jazzy tune burst through the stereo. Sure, it probably wasn't the best kind of music for this situation, but I was drunk, so I just went with it.

I slowly removed my jacket, inching it off my shoulders with playful grins to all the guys – even some girls – around the room. It slid down onto the table before I could catch it. I used that to my advantage, and leant down slow and teasingly to show off my great bum. I heard a couple of wolf-whistles behind me. I giggled, coming back up to fling my jacket around my head lasso style. When I let it go it went and whipped some random guy in the head.

I heard a few laughs, as the guy removed it and flung it towards the door. I stifled my giggle with my hands, "Sorry!" He hissed before stalking off for a drink. He wasn't going to be enjoying the rest of my show. Oh, well, I shrugged it off. I turned back to the rest of my crowd, hearing a couple of "Take your top off!" and "Show us some titties!" coming from all different directions. I tried a sexy smirk, but it was probably anything but. I gripped the bottom of my singlet, slowly inching it up and around my body while swaying my hips. Once my singlet had released my hair, I shook my head, strands whipping their way around my head, before lassoing my singlet once again.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. Everyone was staring in my direction. At first I thought they were completely gobsmacked at my amazing body. It wouldn't have surprised me. But then I noticed they were all looking behind me. I didn't think much of it though, Oh oh, busted! I giggled to myself. But turning around, we really were busted.

There stood a very pissed-off Russian with an orange singlet hanging from his head.

"Oh, shit."

"Everybody, OUT!" Quicker than I thought imaginable, every person dropped what they were doing and were out of there faster than I could say she sells seashells by the seashore. Granted, I was never good at tongue twisters.

After everyone was gone, my mentor turned to me, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but that angry, disapproving message came through loud and clear.

And then it shifted.

It was almost like he'd been taken by surprise, like he's never noticed me before. Had it been any other guy, I would have said he was checking me out. As it was, he was definitely studying me. Studying my face, my body. And I suddenly realised I was only in jeans and a bra – a black bra at that.

I noticed that a hot flush was spreading over me, and that the look in his eyes was doing more to me than any others could have. Dimitri was quiet and distant sometimes, but he also had a dedication and an intensity that I'd never seen in any other person. I wondered how that kind of power and strength translated into... well, sex. I wondered what it'd be like for him to touch me and – shit!

What was I thinking? Was I out of my mind? Embarrassed, I covered my feelings with my drunken attitude.

"You see something you like?" I asked.

"Get dressed," he ordered, throwing my singlet at me.

The set of his mouth hardened, and whatever he'd just felt was gone. The fierceness sobered me up and made me forget about my own troubling reaction. I immediately pulled my shirt back on, uneasy at seeing his badass side.

I fiddled with my singlet, having trouble putting it on. I couldn't get my arms through the holes, as simple as that was. "You're drunk," he noted. I looked up at him, expecting the worry, concerned look from the gym earlier. But all I saw was disappointment.

"Ha," I called as a reply, continuing with my struggle.

"Rose." he growled, anger rising to the surface. He hadn't moved since the moment I saw him, and I too was still stumbling on the table. He stared at me, but I knew he was no longer looking at me like that. Even though my stomach and half of my bra was still uncovered, his eyes weren't looking at that.

I stumbled again, before pointing a wavering finger in his direction. "Dimitri, don' say anything. Okay? I've had fun tonigh-t!" I said, popping the t. "I don' care what disa-disapro- angry yell you have for me. You don' say anything."

He narrowed his eyes at me, "Get dressed."

"I'm tryin'!" I yelled, flailing my arms in the air.

He shook his head, "Get down."

I huffed, but complied, stepping down slowly and precisely – so not to fall over – from the table.

He took three long steps towards me until he was barely standing a breath away. I could feel his hot breath on the top of my head, keeping mine chocked up in the back of my throat. He grasped the hem of my shirt, lifted it above my head, and placed it back on perfectly. His fingers brushed my sides a few times, and I felt a burning fire linger on each spot. He didn't feel the same though. I must have imagined what I saw in his eyes before. Imagined the moment back in my room the day before. Because whatever he felt in those moments, they didn't exist. Not if he could touch me like this, and react none. Not if he felt the same way as I did.

He didn't even pause like he had in my room. Just as quickly as he walked up and fixed my shirt, he walked over to my jacket, walked back to me, put it on, and flung me over his shoulder.

"Hey!" I protested.

Holding me securely by my legs, he began walking out of the Eddie's dorm and out to the hall. I started slamming my fists into his back, "Oi! Let me down!"

He didn't say anything, didn't even flinch as I continually hit him. He just kept walking until we were at my dorm. He put me down, reached into my jeans pocket – which I couldn't help but react with a gasp – and pulled out my key. He unlocked my door, flung me back over his shoulder again, and then dumped me on my bed.

I composed myself enough to sit up, only to see him put my key on my bedside table and take my pillow. He put it under his arm and walked out of my room. "See you in the morning at practice," he said, like it was an ordinary day, and slammed my door shut.

He sure likes slamming doors, I thought. He'll probably break mine soon.

A/N- Oh dear. The trouble Miss Rose gets herself into.

How do you reckon the morning after will turn out?

I know you love me, so gimme a little sugar with a review!