Finally, finally this awful chapter is done! It took me so long to write it, even though I knew what I wanted to be in here. I think it was the fact I was writing Dimitri from his daughter's point of view, which is really, really weird :S But hey, it's done, and I hope you like it :)
Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead.
The next morning, I bounced out of bed an hour before sunset- a magical occurrence that only happened when presents were involved.
Dad was already in the kitchen, standing over the cooker. Judging by the syrup, chocolate chips and berries on the counter beside him, he was making my favourite blini.
"Morning papa." I greeted him.
He turned around, smiling. "Happy birthday Anya. Did you sleep alright?"
"Yeah, not bad," I replied, sneaking a chocolate chip from the packet as dad turned his back on them. "Is mom still asleep?"
"Not quite," he laughed. "She should be up in a minute. I did try; but she threatened to hit me if I didn't leave her alone."
I rolled my eyes, just as I heard footsteps from behind us. "It's the anniversary of the most exhausting day of my life, and I don't even get any presents for the trouble. I at least deserve a lie-in."
I spun around, hands on hips. "Hey, you got me! And I'm the greatest gift you could have got."
"You're not bad, I guess. Though sometimes the option of a refund would be nice."
I glared playfully, just as dad told us that breakfast was ready. Mom and I both bolted for the table, and were sitting down with forks in hand waiting to devour the food.
After breakfast was finished, we moved to the sofa. I sat between my parents, and after replying to Sophia's 'Happy Birthday!' text, got started on unwrapping the first parcel.
I got a stack of books, clothes and the usual stuff, but I noticed that it wasn't actually that much. Logically, this meant that there would be a bigger, more expensive present on the way. I hadn't asked for anything like that- Abe was usually the one to spoil me with technology- so I was curious when dad handed me a large brown envelope.
After looking at my parents questioningly, I peeled open the seal and pulled out some sheets of paper.
When I saw what was written there, I couldn't help but squeal a little. Very unlike me, but then again, this was very unlike my parents.
"Riding lessons?!" I squealed happily.
"Yes- a week-long stay at a riding camp." Dad answered with a smile.
"See, we can take a hint."
I turned around and hugged them both tight. It seemed that leaving magazines with details of similar camps around my bedroom for the last 3 years hadn't been entirely lost on them after all. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" I repeated.
"I'm glad you like it baby." Mom said, hugging me back. "But this one was mostly dad's work."
I disentangled myself to look at him, grinning. "You just want me to be able to live your cowboy fantasy, don't you." He rolled his eyes, but I knew I was onto something. "If this goes well, and I get a horse of my own one day, I'll train him not to freak out around Dhampirs and you can live your dream."
"One step at a time, Milaya," he laughed.
Noticing that neither of them had made a move, I decided to go for it. "So... any more presents?"
They both laughed at that. "Just one," mom told me, indicating for me to hold my hands out. I did, and she dropped a small red box into my palm. Carefully untying the gold ribbon, I removed the lid and pushed the tissue paper aside.
My breath caught as I saw what was inside.
After casting a quick glance at mom's wrist, and having my suspicions confirmed, my hands began to shake a little.
Almost reverently, I drew the beaded bracelet out from where it was nestled against the paper. The heavy gold cross swung from the rosary, the dragon wreathed in flowers glinting in the light.
"Mom..." I breathed. "This is..."
"Yes," she replied quietly. "My chotki. Well, yours now."
"But... it's yours- you can't give it to me."
"It belongs to a Guardian of the Dragomirs. You're going to guard Sophia when you graduate, so I'd have given it to you then anyway. But I thought, after last night, that you should have it now. You already know your responsibilities, and you're going to be an amazing Guardian. This is just to remind you of that, when times get hard. You can do anything as long as you set your heart and mind to it."
I didn't know what to say to that, so I just hugged her instead. After a few moments, she released her grip on me.
"Go on and put your new dress on, then we can go see everyone and you can get even more presents. Babushka should be calling soon as well."
I nodded, standing up to go and get ready. I had only taken a few steps when I turned back and kissed both my parents on the cheek, before darting into my room to get dressed.
Half an hour later, I was wearing the black and white cotton dress that mom had got me. It was casual enough to be worn with boots in the day, but with heels and the right accessories I could wear it in the evening as well. Right now, my hair was left in natural waves and I had my black knee-high heeled boots which were totally impractical, but I loved all the same. It was only occasions like this, not traipsing around school, that I could wear them.
I'd just skyped with everyone in Russia, and was left with the contented feeling that I always did after speaking to my relatives. I'd opened their presents so they could see, before having a quick chat with Alicia. She'd asked about Aleks, but not wanting to spoil my happy mood, I hadn't told her about what a douche he'd been lately. It was bad enough to see her surprise that we still weren't an item yet.
I cast those thoughts out of my mind as the door opened, filling the apartment with the sound of lots of people entering. I closed the lid of my laptop to see the usual gang as well as Abe and Janine.
They came over to me first- after all, everyone else saw me pretty much all the time. Abe scooped me up in a hug, and as always I was surprised by the strength of the old Moroi. Not that his age really showed, though. He was still as feisty as I always remembered, same as grandma.
"Hey gramps," I greeted him. "Now I'm 16, can you tell me about all the kneecaps you've broken?"
He laughed good-naturedly as grandma let out an exasperated sigh, probably wondering how she'd been so unlucky to have another Hathaway that thought Abe was one of the coolest people in the world.
"Maybe later," he promised with a wink, "but I've got even better stuff for right now."
He was right. As well as the new iPhone, I got a book of 'how to steal anything'. From instructions on how to hotwire cars to computer hacks, it really did teach you how to steal anything.
"Is this thing even legal?" I asked.
Abe shrugged. "I bought it online, it can't be that bad. Granted, the seller did disappear from the site a couple of days later..." he mused, shutting up as grandma glared at him.
As mom and Abe joked about how it was probably a good thing he'd never bought her presents like that, I went over to my friends.
"Happy birthday!" Sophia squealed, practically squeezing the life out of me.
"Haven't you already done that today? And please don't break my back yet, I have loads more hugs to survive today."
On that cue, all my friends suddenly rushed forwards and pulled me into a group hug. Even Lily joined, which was rare. She wasn't really the hugging type. I guess the opportunity to irritate me warranted it this time.
"Ugh, gnet oghff," I mumbled, face smushed against Mason's shoulder.
They let go just as I heard laughter from the other side of the room, and I looked over to see Lissa blushing and dad looking uncomfortable as Christian and mom laughed. I immediately picked up on what they were talking about.
"Okay, I think it's time to get out of here," I said. "I have a feeling that they're joking about something that may have led to my conception." I scrunched my nose up, grabbing my jacket off the arm of the sofa. "We're going for a walk, we'll be back in a bit." I shouted in the vague direction of my parents. A lack of any disagreement was enough for me, and I followed my friends out of the apartment. I was pleased to see that they were still holding the gift bags they had come in with.
We stopped when we reached the Royal gardens that Lissa had created, sitting in the 'U' of benches overlooking a small pond.
"Your parents always get all loved up on your birthday." Ash noted.
"They're always loved up, idiot. They're Rose and Dimitri." Marina pointed out.
Ash sneered at her, and I spoke before a fight could break out between the 2 of them. "They're even worse on their anniversary. And they seem to have lots of anniversaries for different things." Their wedding anniversary and the one that fell about a week before mom's birthday were the worst. The first one was alright, but I didn't want to think about what the second one might be commemorating. I was pretty sure I'd have to scrub my mind out if I knew.
"I think it's really sweet. I hope my husband and I are still like that after so long," Marina sighed.
Ash snickered. "What, Angelo?" The weird thing about Ash was that even though he sort of stayed on the edge of the group, he knew practically everything about everyone- and that went for the entire Academy. A perk of being invisible, I guess.
"Shut up asshole!" Marina shouted at him, and I was pretty sure she was one snide comment away from attacking. They were really going at each other's throats today. Now I knew how everyone else felt all the time when Ash and I fought. Not that I would stop, though.
"Will you two shut up?! There are unopened presents here, and it isn't nice to torture someone on their birthday."
"It's always a good time to-" I cut Jet's joke off with a glare. "Okay, okay, chill out. I'm sorry, birthday-zilla." The glare intensified, and Jet slid a bag over to me. "Good girl, easy now..."
Rolling me eyes, I stopped glaring and instead focussed my attention on the box in front of me. I tore the paper off, and opened the flap of the cardboard box inside.
Tipping the box, a plushie turtle slid out.
The soft shell was studded with tiny bulbs, and I pressed the button on the turtle's front flipper. The bulbs lit up, glowing a soft bluish colour in the darkness of the Court garden and forming a swirling pattern that was like stars or flowers.
"Okay, now that is pretty cute," I admitted. "Not bad, Jet Li." Jet grinned as I used his old nickname. He had gone through a ninja phase a few years ago, and the name had been too funny to ever let him forget. "Okay, who's next?"
It was a pretty good haul this year. Mason had accepted the challenge of trying to beat my birthday present to him, and had got me a donut maker complete with recipe book and starter ingredients. I was so lucky not to have inherited my mom's cooking skills, or lack thereof.
Aleks was now the only one whose gift I had left to open. This was the one I was most excited about. After last night, I had been trying not to think about him too much, knowing I'd become a nervous wreck in front of everyone if I thought too much about what I had decided to do. He'd been pretty quiet so far today, and I wasn't really sure what that meant.
Aleks passed me a small box wrapped in gold and green paper. "Okay, so I didn't actually spend anything, but it's better than if I had." He told me cryptically. His voice had an anxious edge to it, as though he was worried about what I'd think of his present.
I pulled off the gold ribbon, and carefully unwrapped the paper to reveal a faded red jewellery box. Opening in the lid, my eyes just about bugged out of my head.
"Sasha!" I breathed, carefully pulling the ring out of its holder. The colour flipped between bright emerald and deep ruby as it hit caught the moonlight, and the electric lights of lanterns dotted around us. "This is..."
I looked up into his eyes, and the small, happy smile on his face took my breath away.
"What is it?" Sophia asked.
"Alexandrite. A really rare gem from Russia." I looked up at Aleks. "Where did you get this?"
He smiled. "It was my great grandmother's. It's supposed to pass down to the eldest girl in the family, but obviously, I don't have any sisters."
"So why didn't it go to the oldest brother?"
A strange look crossed Aleks' face for a second, before it smoothed back into a smile. "Well, the stone does share my name. That, and the idea is that it gets given to a special girl. You know my brother's a bit of a player- if he gave it to a girl, it would never be seen again after a week." Aleks paused, taking my hand. "And you're special to me, Asya. You mean more to me than any other girl in the world."
I pulled him in for a hug, feeling a little bit like I wanted to cry. "I love you, Sasha. And I love the ring. You're the best."
"I love you too, Asya. Always."
I knew that Aleks' version of love was a whole lot different to mine. He didn't believe in the whole romantic love thing, and generally didn't have deep emotions. Or so he said. I couldn't feel anything from him, which was always weird.
But in this moment, I allowed myself a second of pretending that he meant it in the same way as me. Not like sisterly affection, but the kind of all-consuming love I felt for him. Wrapped up in his arms, it was easy to pretend.
But all too soon, he pulled away, and I had to follow in the same instant. I couldn't risk holding him any longer, or I knew I wouldn't be able to let go.
And that was when I knew that, despite what I'd decided last night, I couldn't ruin this friendship that I had with Aleks. He was distant enough already, without my declaration of love driving a wedge between us. He wouldn't be able to understand anyway. It would just break us. It was less painful to pretend.
To cover up my disappointment, I stood up and grabbed my purse from the counter."Let's go show Court how to party."
3 weeks of work boil down into those 2,000 words. Please leave me a review and tell me what you think, and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can :)