Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed the last couple of chapters, especieally Ginger (guest) and catnip851 for reviewing of chapter 24. You all rock! :D

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead.

I'd just finished getting changed after my combat lesson, and I was the last one in the changing rooms since I'd been unlucky enough to have to put all the equipment away. Whoever thought taking crash mats outside in the pouring rain needed to have their brain checked. I was had been covered in mud, and the only way to make myself half-way presentable had been to take a shower. And in the St. Vladimir's showers, there was a chance you'd come out dirtier than you went in. The shower heads unscrewed from the pipes, and this had allowed generations of students to fill them with Jell-o powder, mud, or paint. There was even a rumour of someone filling it with hair bleach, and a girl ending up with a full-body bleaching. After mom told me that one, I'd always checked the showers first. By doing that, I'd avoided a Jell-o incident of my own.

I was attempting to dry my hair under the ancient hand dryer when I heard the door swing open and a group of girls came in. Moroi ones.

When I heard who it was, I stood out from under the drier and flicked my still-damp hair back, successfully splashing some of them. They squealed in horror.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there," I said before turning around. "Oh, it's you. Forget I said I'm sorry."

Brooke glared as she used her air magic to dry the wet spots off her gym shirt.

Wait, gym shirt?

Seeing my confusion, she smiled like a cat that was about to torture a baby bird. "Oh right. You're probably wondering what I'm doing here. Well, now that I have a boyfriend, I thought I should start working out." Oh, there were so many jokes to be had there. Realising this, Brooke added; "you know, try and improve my flexibility."

I chanted all the Guardian mantras in my head to remind myself why I couldn't go over there and end this little bitch once and for all. I'd just have to give her a verbal beating instead.

"Of course. That's why all your fuck-buddies ditch you after one round, right?"

She glared. "So not true. They're left begging for more."

"Yeah, right. Except when it comes to Hayden, then you're the one doing the begging, right? Though I guess he doesn't mind your body, it's your tiny brain and vapid personality that he can't stand."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she hissed. "And I don't care about Hayden." Blatant lies. "But I can tell you that Aleks doesn't seem to mind my body, brain, or personality. In fact, he chose me over you. That's got to hurt, right?"

I got it then. "You're just dating Aleks to get back at me. And it is about Hayden. You think I 'took him away from you', so you're doing the same to me with Aleks. This whole thing is your way of getting your petty revenge." Something else clicked then, the conversation I'd overheard. "And at the same time, you're making Hayden jealous. And once his feelings go beyond just lust, you think he'll realise his true feelings for you. So by the end of it, you'll have added another notch to your bedpost, made Hayden fall in love with you, and got revenge on me."

Brooke grinned. "Clever Anya. You know, we're not as different as you think. We think alike."

I took a step closer, glaring up at her. "You're wrong, bitch. I'm nothing like you. And you're also wrong if you think this twisted little plan of yours is going to work. Because Aleks will never fall for your bullshit, Hayden will never fall for you, and you'll never, ever get the revenge you want." One more step, and I was so close that our faces were almost touching, and I could smell her fake tan (which was absolutely ridiculous on a Moroi). "But if it's a war you want, then you've got one."

I held my glare until Brooke backed off a little, but there was a murderous glint in her usually vacant eyes. "It's on, freak." She whispered.

"Brilliant." I gave her my best psycho smile. "Fighting talk from a girl who acts like a broken nail is the end of the world and gets drunk on 2 Tequila shots."

"Confident sarcasm from someone who acts like they have a right to be alive and lives her life in her parents' fame."

"Don't be too hard on yourself Brooke. Just because everyone expects me to be an amazing Guardian like my mom, it doesn't mean people don't expect you to become a prostitute like yours."

With a high pitched, frustrated grunt-like noise, she turned on her heel and stalked over to the lockers. With a triumphant laugh, I left the changing room and headed to lunch.

Anya:1

Brooke: 0

The next few days were pretty uneventful, considering I was at war. Though I'd been the one to initiate it, technically, I was the defending party. Because of this, I waited for Brooke to make a move. But aside from glares whenever we passed each other in the halls and a few more 'Anya is a slutty freak' rumours, there was nothing too out of the ordinary.

Aleks continued to be the dutiful boyfriend when he was with Brooke, but still spoke to me in lessons where she wasn't. We ganged up on Stan together, and I could almost pretend that things were normal.
But the distance that had been creeping between us for a while had suddenly become a huge chasm, and I still felt as though he was keeping something from me. But since the whole Brooke thing, it had gone from seeming as though he was choosing to not mention something to actively hiding it. I just didn't know what 'it' was.

The whole thing was almost as frustrating as it was painful. I pushed both of those feelings down, trying to keep my imminent freak-out from my friends. All their hate for Aleks, that had somewhat dissipated over my birthday weekend, came back in full force- and then some. They would openly show their disgust when he walked past with Brooke hanging off his arm. One day, he confronted me about it.

It was in Stan's lesson, and the douchebag had left to go and do some photocopying or some other pointless shit he didn't need to do. He probably just wanted to escape from us for a few minutes. None of us were complaining.

"Anya, why is Mason glaring at me?" Aleks whispered in Russian. "He's been doing it all lesson and it's freaking me out a bit."

I turned in my seat, looking past Aleks to where Mason sat. The intensity of the hate in his glare shocked me a little, but then, Mase always had been protective of me.

"Probably because of Brooke," I sighed.

"Why does he look as though he's about to kill me over that?"

"So he can stop the herpes outbreak before it goes any further." It slipped out before I could stop it, born of weeks worth of watching the love of my life get it on with my nemesis. It was enough to fry anyone's neural pathways- it seemed my brain was no longer connected to my mouth.

Aleks frowned. "What's what supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," I shrugged. "Just forget it."

"No, go on. You obviously have something to say, so say it." Aleks sounded angry now, getting loud enough that a few people turned to see what was going on. They turned away when I gave them a signature 'what are you looking at?' look.

"Okay, then. Your girlfriend is a narcissistic bitch with sociopathic tendencies that gets off on watching other people suffer, and has got off with about half the guys in this school. Mason is just registering his opinion by glaring at you because he's too much of a gentleman and much too nice to say the truth to your face."

Aleks raised an eyebrow. "Cleary, you're not too nice to say what you think."

Rolling my eyes, I said, "you know me, I'm not one for withholding information." I probably shouldn't have said what I said next, or at least not in the manner that I did, but I did anyway. "Which is why I'll also warn you that she's a cheating whore, and if you actually believe that she wants to be with you for you, then you're sorely mistaken."

For a second, hurt flashed in his eyes. Then, it was replaced by anger. "If you think that I'm just going to sit here and listen to this shit, then you're the one who's mistaken. Sometime, Anya, you're going to have to grow up and learn when to stop."

His harsh tone made me flinch, but Aleks didn't see as he's already looked away, probably returning Mason's glare with one of his own. Marina looked at me, concerned, but couldn't say anything as Stan chose that moment to come back into the room.

I've never been so glad to see the man.

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