*crawls out from under the rock and waves* Hey, everyone! I know I have been dead to the world forever, and I'm sorry for another late update! But now, I have a Facebook account for fanfiction. If you want, go add me, Cami Coles Fanfiction. Sneak peeks, teasers, etc would be up almost weekly. RL has been absolutely crazy! I've been moving, so I haven't gotten much free time to write. And someone quite close to me had a stroke, so that also took up a lot of my free time with worrying and hoping she would be ok. It's been a very long recovery process, and it's still going, but it is getting there. I love you, J! I know you're reading this! And since you are, I want you to know that you always seem to be the voice of reason, and I can call you when I'm having a bad day, and you help me through it. You put up with a lot of my crap, and I thank you for that. HAHA! Anyway... Then I got a huge case of writer's block in the middle of this chapter. And my first EVER year of high school started (And NO. I'm not a freshman), and it has been VERY stressful. So, that being said, I hope this chapter makes up for it!

Shout outs to: Twilighternproud, Blood Drinking Dark Emo Angel, Elena DanceLover05, PrincessRedfern, and DBM1710! A virtual hug goes to every one of you! For DBM1710, you guessed the POV correct, but I couldn't seem to get into Dimitri's head with what I wanted to have happen in this chapter, so I'm sorry for that.

Fair warning, Rose's mom is pretty much not like Janine from the books, but I thought that they need someone as a parent that is there for them, and she's kinda gonna be a little comic relief, I guess you could say. I'm rambling. Ok. Here you go.

Disclaimer: I do NOT, in any way, own or profit from Vampire Academy. Everything, aside from the plot of THIS story, belong to Richelle Mead.

Monday morning

I woke up to Shasta whining in front of my face. I grabbed one of my pillows, and put it over my eyes, still half asleep.

"Five more minutes." I muffled, waving my hand in the direction of where I thought Shasta was.

"You are still the same daughter that I knew a month ago." I heard a very familiar voice say from the direction of my door.

I was instantly awake. "Mom?" I threw off the pillow, and there she was, with a smile on her face. "Your home!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, and you, my dear, have to be ready for school in about 45 minutes. So, chop chop." She said, a smile on her face.

"School?" I pondered, slightly confused. I thought school didn't start for a few more weeks.

"Am I the only one that remembered that it's our first day of school?" Lissa said, coming in through the bathroom that conjoined our rooms, arms crossed, and Dawn right behind her.

"Yeah, I guess you are aside from our mother here." I answered, turning back towards her.

She threw up her hands in a defensive stance. "Don't look at me. Lissa, here, was the one that came into my room and the crack of dawn to remind me." Show's you where I get my not being a morning person from. She continued to look at me. "Now, if you don't mind, which I am positive you won't, I'm going to go downstairs and make the traditional, 'Hathaway first day of school' breakfast'." She turned towards the hallway, and walked away.

I threw my arms in the air cheered. "The one and only thing that I'm happy about when school comes back for another year." I cheered some more before I got up and walked to my dresser.

Lissa looked at me incredulously. "You amaze me sometimes, Rose." Lissa said, shakiing her head.

"I know, but you love just the same!" I said, rummaging threw my drawers, looking for my red halter tank top and dark gray jeans. "Now, I'm gonna get ready and then check on Adrian. Now, please let me get him up, because I have an idea that will only work if he's asleep," A michevious smile coming over my face.

"Oh, no. Rose, what are you about to do? You know what he will do." Lissa asked.

I grinned at her as I walked towards her and lightly pushed her back towards her room. "Believe me, you'll hear about it within the hour." When she went back to her room, I quickly got dressed, and grabbed my black leather jacket and red, 3-inch high heels out of my closet. I also grabbed my white and red running shoes, that had come in the week before, for the first cross-country practice after school.

I headed down the hall towards Adrian's room, and, as always, his door was open just enough for me to slip through it. The moment I realized this, I quickly turned around, ran down the stairs to the kitchen where I saw my mom hard at work, grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and ran back towards his room as quietly as possible.

I slipped through the door, again, as quietly as I could (which is quite surprising, seeing as I'm one of the loudest people in my entire grade) and unscrewed the top of the bottle. I walked over to Adrian's bed. He was sprawled out on his stomach. Perfect, I thought.

I quickly dumped the bottle of the ice-cold water on his head, and backed away.

My brother shot up out of his bed like a bat out of hell. Thank god that he slept in his shorts, I thought.

"What the hell was that for?" He screamed out, wiping his, now, wet hair out of his face.

"That's payback for last year!" I said, quickly thinking back to when he picked me up and threw me in the pool, pajamas and all. I still wonder, to this day, how he had succeeded in doing so.

I walked out of his room before he could reply, and went downstairs.

When I got to the kitchen, I saw my mom frantically finishing up breakfast, which smelt amazing by the way, and Andrew was sitting on one of the stools against the counter. The moment I saw him, I continued walking towards the living room with nothing more than a quick, "Morning," tossed his way. After all, he didn't deserve anything better after what happened a few days ago.

When I got to the living room, I saw my little sister, Jill, watching an episode that was a re-run of that one reality competition show. Dancing With the Stars, I think it was called. Even though I don't quite know the name of the show, and I will never admit it when asked, but I have a soft spot for the show. I always say, whoever is partnered with Derek is going to win the Mirrorball trophy.

I plopped onto the couch, sitting right next to Jill. "Hey, Jilly. Are you excited for school today?" I said, calling her by the nickname that she has had since she was three.

She kept her eyes glued to the show, but a few minutes later, paused it, and turned towards me. "Yes, actually. And, Rose, I'm 13. I'm not that little anymore, so no more need for 'Jilly'."

I ruffled her hair, and she quickly dodged out of it. "You'll always be my little Jilly. And I will always be your amazing older sister." I said, dramtically placing my hand on my chest.

"Whatever you say, Rosie." She smirked at me, using the nickname that annoys the hell out of me. I may as well be back in kindergarten.

I sighed. "I hate to say it, but if you were someone else, you would regret calling me that."

I heard the magic words. "Children! Time for breakfast!" My mom yelled from the kitchen.

"Here. I'll make you a bet. If you can beat me to the table, I'll clean your room for a month. If I beat you, you get to pick up the dog crap for a month." I got up off the couch. I would love to not have to pick up that stuff.

She glared pointedly at me. "Uh-uh. Not happening. One, you'll beat me, and two, Shasta is your dog. Not mine." She reasoned.

"What if I told you that I would let you win?"

"Still not happening."

"Damn. I was really looking forward to seeing your face when your room was spotless. Oh, well..." I trailed off, and started walking slowly towards the dining room.

"I'm not gonna fall for it."

I sighed dejectedly. "I know." I continued walking towards the dining room at my slow pace, hoping that Jill would go for it at some point.

As I got to the entrance of the kitchen, I heard someone creeping up on me. I turned my head just enough to see who it was. Who I saw was definitely not who I expected. I thought it would be Adrian, or maybe Lissa. Jill would have even made sense. I swear I heard her get up off the couch, I thought.

The man standing in front of me must have been a friend of Adrian's. He certainly couldn't have been one of Andrew's. But, at the same time, standing at about 6 foot 6, brown hair that just reached his shoulders, and chocolate brown eyes that could make any girl melt, he didn't seem like a senior in high school at all.

"Hi." He said, breaking the silence. "I don't think I've met you yet. I'm Dimitri Belikov." He stuck his hand out to me. I quickly shook off my nerves and shook it. Wait! Why am I nervous? "Are you a friend of Lissa's?"

"Rose Hathway. Actually, Lissa is my twin sister."

"Really? I've never seen you around here before. And you two don't look anything alike." He looked at me, skeptically.

"Yeah, well, that's because I spend my time locked in my room, writing new songs, and I look more like my dad than my mom, while Liss is the other way around." I smirked. Everyone seemed to think the same thing when they see us together. "Are you a friend of Adrian's?"

"That depends on who is asking. But, for you, yes I am."

"Hm.. Interesting. Well, I'm hungry, so I am going to go eat some of that breakfast that smells as amazing as it always does." I turned back around and started walking again. "Adrian is probably already sitting down. Come on." I waved my hand towards the dining room.

I got to the table and saw everyone already at the table. Including Jill.

"Wow, Rose. I never thought I would see the day when you would the one we're waiting for at the table when food is involved. Yet, here we are." Adrian said with his arms wide open.

"Yeah, and I thought I would never see the day that you got a good-looking girlfriend." I smirked. I put my finger to my chin like I was thinking. "Wait. I still am waiting for that. Darn."

He glared at me, but didn't say another word.

"Vasilisa! Rosemarie! Get your butts out this door before I have to kick them out!"

"Geez. Who rubbed her wrong?" I asked. "I didn't think I would ever hear her be that harsh."

"Rose, if you have forgotten, she does this almost everyday." Lissa said, smiling at me.

"Right. I forgot. That's why I love you. You remind me all the time." I joked.

"That better not be all you love me for." She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Of course it's not."

"Good."

We quickly ran out of the door and towards the car. Everyone else was already in and ready to go. "Took you long enough." Adrian muttered under his breath. I'm not sure if anyone else heard him.

"You girls ready for your first day?" Mom smiled at us through the rearview mirror.

Liss and I looked at each other, and smiled. "Yes!" We said together. We had been waiting all summer for this day. No matter how much I hate school, it gives me time to be with friends, and away from the house, and collectively Andrew.

"There they go again. The whole twin telepathy thing." Adrian groaned.

Lissa and I could not stop laughing the rest of the way to school.

I am already half way done with the next chapter. It should be up MUCH quicker then this one. I apologize again for the CRAZY LONG wait. The words weren't coming out the right way forever! Haha! Add me on Facebook for easy access to teasers and everything else related to this story. See you soon!

-Camzi