Disclaimer: I do not own anything of VA except the plot of this story.

"What?" I asked, whipping my head around to look at Christian after he had hit me on the arm hard.

"Russian! Russian at 12 o'clock!"

What?

My mouth hung open as my eyes met the cold, steely gaze of Dimitri.

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As much as I hated to admit it, the look on his face scared the shit out of me.

Never before had I been so shaken by how menacing someone looked.

Dimitri's lips were pressed into a thin, hard line, his brown eyes turned cold as ice and narrowed into slits. His countenance was so tightly strung with tension that it left me with absolutely no doubt at all that I had struck a nerve.

I stood stock still, not daring to move an inch. I could almost hear my and Christian's breathing in the dead silence. Funny how jokey and lighthearted the mood had been just seconds ago.

"If I hear you say anything like that once more, Miss Hathaway, I assure you that suspension is in order."

My eyes grew wide as my mouth dropped even further open upon hearing Dimitri's threat. "Suspension?"

"Dimitri, I know you're a hunk and all… but looks can only get you so far. Headmistress Bitch Kirova can't possibly suspend me for being… …" I shrugged, adamantly refusing to admit my mistake. Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed Christian give a slight shake of his head. And even I knew it was because I'd called Dimitri, who currently was fuming mad, a hunk.

It was probably also because I'd directly insulted our headmistress in front of a teacher.

Oh well, what could I say? I'd already done enough damage-why care so much?

"I have connections, Rosemarie." Dimitri's expression was still stone cold. Jeez, why couldn't this man lighten up?

It was then that his words sunk in. Connections? What on earth did that mean?

"What do you-"

I shot Christian a glare as he clapped his hand over my mouth, successfully shutting me up. He grabbed my other arm in a vicelike grip and dragged me away, shouting over his shoulder, "I apologise on her behalf, Mr. Belikov!"

As we rounded the corner, I hissed in Christian's ear, still very much aware of Dimitri's eyes piercing into my back. "What are you doing?"

"Preventing you from getting into more shit since you obviously don't seem to be capable of that yourself," Christian rolled his eyes bitchily, letting go of my arm, leaving red prints of long fingers.

I dragged out a long sigh as we trudged into our class and into our seats. "But don't you find his words a little odd? I mean, who ever says that anymore? 'I have connections'? What, are we part of the Mafia now?"

How ironic it was that my father, Abraham Mazur (or better known as zmey), was highly suspected by the public to be a Mafia boss. I only saw him once in a while-and while he certainly was kind and nice to me, we weren't very close. Still, I tried not to blame him for our unfamiliarity-I wouldn't choose to be part of any illegal business he might be doing. At least he still treated me like his daughter, and honestly, that was all I really asked for.

"I don't know. He's probably hooking up with Kiki. Who knows what Kirova could be involved in?" Christian shrugged dismissively as I gaped in disgust.

Did it never cross his mind that she was old enough to be his mother?

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"So as I was saying earlier, my aunt's coming here for a concert, and she's gotten us tickets too," Christian began animatedly, bouncing in his stride beside us.

"Right, your hot aunt. What's her name again? Natalie or something?"

Avery snickered hard at her boyfriend, hitting him on the arm in a very girly way. We'd all gotten use to his flirtatious matter-it was all for fun, and Adrian and Avery were happy enough with each other to not have anything to worry about.

"She's Natasha Ozera. Call her Tasha, she specifically told me to tell you that. And Adrian, if you hit on her, I swear I'll have your balls," Christian glowered, but a teasing glint flickered in his ice-blue eyes.

"Whose concert is she invited to?" I asked, interested. I'd heard of Christian's aunt before; apparently, she was a famous model had quite a range of contacts and sometimes was specially invited to their concerts. Christian also very much liked to talk about how 'great' he was, going to Marc Anthony's concert, and Usher's, and… … …

"Enrique Iglesias's."

My mouth positively flopped open for the second time that day. "Enrique Iglesias? You have to be joking!"

Beside me, Avery had a much more enthusiastic response. "-"

I was mildly interested too-Enrique was the sexiest man to ever walk the planet (next to Dimitri, as some annoying part of me whined). "When's the concert?"

"This Friday," Christian answered, smirking smugly at Avery who was still freaking out over going to Enrique's concert. He fished out his car keys and we all hopped into his Volvo, Adrian closing the door a little harder than necessary.

"What's wrong, Addie? Jealous your girlfriend's ecstatic over seeing some other guy?" Man, I loved jesting, especially when Adrian was the target in question.

Adrian shifted uncomfortably, sending me a glower that was meant to make me wither, however not achieving the desired effect. I shrugged lightly and smiled innocently at him.

A staring match was carried out the rest of the ride.

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That night, I tossed and turned in my bed, thinking of Dimitri. He certainly hadn't seemed like a very uptight person when I'd first met him-why the change? I seemed to trod on his toes so easily. What was it that I said that had affected him so badly?

Perhaps it was something personal. Perhaps it was something that he kept secret and didn't want anyone to know…?

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Whatever the reason, I was determined to find out the reason behind Dimitri Belikov's secrecy.

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A/N: Hey there. I was so happy when I saw the number of reviews I got, thank you so much. :) I hope this chapter isn't too boring though (it's a filler chapter) I tried to type it up as quickly as I could.

Please leave a review if you like how the story is going and want to read more! (Review too if you're a fan of Enrique… Bahahaha) Thank you in advance :)

PS Hope you guys don't mind the real-life references to actual living people. First, let's just pretend that Enrique Iglesias is actually the same age as Dimitri (24 years) in this story instead of his real age, which is 36 years. xD Big difference, I know. You'll understand why this is necessary as the story continues.