Chapter Seventeen

Back to School

A/N: You guys are really good at convincing me to do things I either don't want to, or am to lazy to. *grin*. Thanks. I finally started writing this, and if it weren't for you guys, it would probably have been postponed for 'Another time'. I hope you enjoy!

Rose POV

"Roza. It's time to go. Come on," I faintly heard Dimitri whisper. I cocked my head to the side.

"Nooo..." I quietly moaned in my sleep. I curled up and faced the other way, maybe he would leave me alone.

"Rose," Dimitri said in a stern tone. My eyes flung open. Since when did Dimitri ever call me Rose? "I'm serious, we're going to be late," I heard his distant footsteps meaning he was leaving. A second later, I was tempted to get back into bed and sleep, but then I realized the truth in his words. Whether Dimitri or I liked it, we had to go back to Montana. I had no idea how long this trip was going to take, but honestly I didn't care. It's been a couple months since I last saw Lissa, and I miss her. And all my other old friends that I had there.

I hauled myself out of bed after that last thought. I tried to remember where I put my suitcase last night with my things in it. I hadn't brought much, but just enough to have to last about a week or two. I finally found it; it was under my bed. How the hell it got under there, I would never find out. I pulled it out and got dressed for the day.

Damn, who am I kidding? It's midnight. I should be asleep. Since I'm living in a dhampir community, we all are awake during the day rather than asleep. There are scarce amounts of Moroi around, and if there are, it's men. And I bet you can guess why that is.

I dragged my suitcase out of the room; I was in zombie-mode. Dimitri came out of nowhere and picked up my suitcase. It wasn't much, maybe about thirty pounds, but Dimitri made it look like it was two ounces. God, I'm jealous.

He wrapped his spare arm around my waist and brought me to him, placing a kiss to my forehead. "Come on, Roza," he said, using my Russian name. I breathed out a comfortable sigh. He smirked as we started down the stairs to the ground floor. Without saying any goodbyes, we just left. This wasn't the first time we've ever done this, and plus, I doubt that Dimitri's family would be happy to be woken up at nearly one am.

It took about two hours to arrive at the airport, and we arrived around three thirty am. There were very few people there. Dimitri said hi to a couple dhampirs, and fewer humans. Most just stared at us; we looked like hotness reincarnate thanks to our looks. Thanks to our earliness, we had to wait about twenty minutes. It wasn't bad, but I felt like complaining about it because I was tired and in a pretty bad mood.

"Dimitri... we could have slept in more..." I whined. Dimitri chuckled.

"If I had let you sleep in five more minutes, you would have been in a coma," Dimitri chuckled. I punched him lightly in the stomach, and he didn't look the least bit affected. He liked to make comments about my sleeping habits- he called them my comatose nights.

"That's because you make me train too much! I'm a growing woman!" I said in an annoyed tone, crossing my arms over my chest and sporting a pout. Dimitri glanced over at me and laughed. He placed a finger under my chin and brought my face to his.

"Don't pout. It's irresistible, and I don't want to lose my job by jumping on you in front of a bunch of other respected guardians. So stop it," he said with a serious demeanor. I looked up at him with my big brown eyes. "Damn it, Roza! You're..." he whispered the next part, "going to give me a boner in public..."

I laughed out loud. A couple people looked over at us, and I ignored them completely. I leaned in and kissed his lips. He tried to break away, no doubt to tell me that we were in an inappropriate setting. I just laughed again and kissed him before he could start.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the plane coming down to land. I got off of him right before Alberta walked into view. She glanced over at us, and then gestured for us to follow her. I stood up along with Dimitri quickly doing the same.

We climbed onto the privet jet ten minutes later. Along with Alberta, we were the only passengers. We became accustomed to that, so we didn't mind too much. Plus, extra privacy was a good thing. Alberta didn't sit with us, and when she did, she was discussing privet guardian matters with Dimitri.

Sitting side by side, we interlocked our fingers. I tried not to make it obvious that I was sexually frustrated and that I wanted Dimitri so, so, so much. If only we were in a more suitable place and Alberta wasn't just five feet away from us... I would honestly have my way with him. This thought caused me to chuckle.

Dimitri looked down at me with a confused expression. I just laughed all the more at how cute he looked. I noticed that Alberta had left. I took my chance to talk dirtily with him. "What's wrong with you, Roza?" he asked, obviously joking around.

"I was just thinking of the places that we could do it," I said and he turned a little pink. I nodded in the direction of the lavatory. "We could do it up against the wall in that cramped area," I said as I leaned over him. Dimitri stiffened up, and I knew I had gotten to him. My fingers lingered over him in his area downstairs. He gulped visibly and I giggled.

"You like doing this to me? Seeing me all flustered... and..." Dimitri was at loss for words. I knew I made him crazy, and that's what made me all the more crazy. I leaned my head on his shoulder as I traced patters over his quickly tightening jeans.

"Or you could bend me over that table and have your dirty way with me," I said, laughing even more now. Dimitri muttered something in Russian and turned to look out the window.

We landed a very long time later- in fact, probably about thirteen or so hours passed by. I had fallen asleep on Dimitri's shoulder, and at one point, he had actually passed out too. I guess that was good, we were both a little behind on sleep.

To my joy and excitement, Lissa was waiting for us when we got there. Some guardians got our luggage while I sprinted over to Lissa and gave her a tight bear hug. She laughed as I squeezed her; though I had been here a few months ago, I had missed her. I looked to her side where I saw Christian.

I let go of Lissa, and she did too just as reluctantly. I walked over to him and sized him us. "Well hello there, Sparky. It's been a while," I said, a smug smile forming on my lips. I was figuring out which way I would kill him, and if anyone would find out. I could stake him, then-

"Rose, settle down," Dimitri said gruffly at my side. This time Christian smirked.

"Thank god someone has got her on a leash," he joked, and scoffed. Lissa gave him a don't-go-there kind of look, but he just waved it off.

I took a deep breath. "You have a ten second start," I said quietly, but calmly before pulling a hugely fake smile. "Ten. Nine. Eight," I started counting off.

Christian's eyes bugged. "What! What for? To run?" he scoffed again. "As if I would run from you," Lissa gave him a horrified look as I continued to count down the numbers. I was at five. "I should start running shouldn't I?" he asked, terror slipping into his voice. Lissa nodded hurriedly as Christian took off into the distance. I had to give it to him, he was pretty fast. Being a Moroi and all.

"Two. One," I finished. Dimitri and Lissa looked at me, making sure I didn't make a run for it and kill that little bastard. I looked around. "What? You guys thought I would waste energy and catch that little prick?" I asked and laughed. The two relaxed as an embarrassed grin pulled at both their lips. I smirked. "Who am I kidding?" I took of running full speed after Christian.

I faintly heard Dimitri barking at me to get back here, but I ignored him. Rose! Don't! I heard Lissa through the bond. I ignored her as well. Christian was my bitch now.

Speaking of Christian, he turned around and caught sight of me. "Holy shit!" he shouted, obviously scared to pieces. I laughed as I ran, and it hurt slightly. The way he screamed that, it sounded like Kyle from South Park.

I dove for him, and caught his waist. My legs flew up in the air as I snagged him and dragged him to the ground. Christian was screaming at me to get my 'fat ass' off of him, but I just smirked. I sat down on my calfs as Christian stared at me in fear. "What have you done to her?" I shouted, grabbing his collar.

For once, he looked flabbergasted. "What!" then pursued some curse words.

"The way she looks at you... it's like you gave her some sort of drug. She actually looks like she gives a crap about you," I said mockingly.

Christian scoffed. "Yeah, you're real funny, Rose. Of course she gives a crap about me, she's my girlfriend." At this, my eyes widened and I unconsciously lifted my fist, getting ready to punch him in the face.

"Rose!" now a new voice called. It sounded like Lissa, so I stopped in my tracks and glanced behind me. Lissa was running, and Dimitri was much further in front of her, about three steps from me.

Dimitri hoisted me up by my waist and threw me over his shoulder. He mumbled some more Russian. "Naturally, Rose, I would tell you never to hesitate. Unfortunately, this is the wrong circumstance," he said and sighed. "Why would you try to hurt him?"

"He drugged Lissa!" I shouted. Hey, it was my last resort.

"I didn't drug her, are you nuts! Hey, what am I saying. Of course you are, Rose," Christian said in a monotone voice.

I gave him the finger and Lissa came flying into the picture. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Are you okay? She didn't hurt you did she?" Lissa asked nervously, pulling away from Christian and wiping off some dirt on his clothes.

"Hey! Since when are you on his side?" I called from over Dimitri's shoulder. I couldn't get a good view at what was going on since I was facing away from the group. I was also over my hot Russian's shoulder.

Dimitri chuckled. "Some friends you have, Roza," he mumbled, jokingly of course. Lissa glared at Dimitri, as if remembering something. Something, indeed.

"Hey! I don't want to hear anything from you! I could have you turned in for adultery on a minor!" she said loudly, but no one was around. Dimitri tensed up as he let me down from his shoulder. He placed his arm around my waist to ballance me, but I felt more like he was trying to shield himself from Lissa with me.

"Don't put me in front of you," I grumbled as I ripped out of his arms, something I never thought I would do.

Lissa poked her finger at Dimitri's chest. "I don't want to see you anywhere near Rose, you hear me?" she yelled. I grabbed Lissa's other hand and held it to my heart. She turned slowly, and her eyes turned compassionate.

"It's okay, Lissa. He was joking the other day," I explained.

Lissa puffed. "He has some nerve," she said, glaring at him out of the corner of her eyes.

I laughed. "Whatever. Lets go get some food. I'm starved," Lissa laughed at this and I felt instantly more comfortable. Christian smirked at me and I shook my head. I would never completely trust him with Lissa.

I realized what just happened and laughed loudly. Everyone turned to me and shot me a weird look. Lissa just yelled at Dimitri for being with me while I just yelled at Christian for being with Lissa. Ah, what a pair Liss and I were...

It was about midday, err, night at that point. When we entered the cafeteria, everyone's eyes were on us. I just smirked as I walked in, Christian and Lissa in tow. I knew my sexy Russian was back there somewhere, but wasn't sure what spot.

I walked over to the lunch line and picked up a slice of pizza. Then a cheeseburger, and lastly a bowl of spaghetti. I then grabbed a soda. Christian scoffed for what felt like the millionth time today.

"Would it honestly kill you to eat a salad among all the things you've chosen?" he smirked.

A quick Rose Hathaway retort was at my lips in an instant. "Do you see any salads around here?" I asked gesturing to the assortment of food on the long lunch counter. Christian shook his head and his smirk had momentarily vanished, but then quickly resurfaced.

"There's a tomato," he said, and sure enough he was pointing to one. I frowned at this.

"Why the fuck is there a random ass tomato in here?" I asked, picking it up. I put it to my lips and took a big bite. Lissa cringed, I knew she hated tomatoes; I had once switched a cup of blood for tomato juice and she had a fit. Then vomited until she was blue.

We went to sit down. Christian and Lissa sat on the other side of the table and Dimitri sat down next to me. He was obviously bored, you know being with kids seven years younger than you ought to do that. He pulled out his phone and started texting someone.

We ate in silence, Lissa and I having some quick conversations here and there. They both had gotten a plate of food, though the amount they had compared to mine was minimal.

I noticed someone walking down the isle, and my eyes lit up.

"Hey Rose," he said in that sexy voice he had.

"Hi Jesse," I countered, winking.

"We should hang out some time, I take it you still have my phone number?" he asked, winking. I laughed and nodded my head. We said our byes and then he left. I looked over at the two love birds to see them both smug. I then glanced over at Dimitri who looked like he wanted to strangle something.

"Give me your phone," Dimitri said sternly. I didn't question it, as I handed him my iPhone. He took it and scrolled through some things. A smile lit up his face as he handed it back to me. I rose an eyebrow as I placed it back in my pocket. "If you ever smile at him one more time, I'm going to rip his neck out," Dimitri said with a faux smile on his face.

I laughed. "Jealous?"

"Very." Lissa and Christian laughed at our little dispute, but then when Lissa felt Dimitri's eyes on her, she went back to glaring at him.

Lunch ended later on, and Lissa and Christian went hand in hand to the feeders. Dimitri broke off with me to go talk to some other guardians, so I was alone. Wow, I realized, I have been a lone in a long time.

I kind of liked it.

I snickered as I walked in the direction of the classrooms. "Time to pay Stanny a little visit..." I said aloud to myself.

I heard a 'tsk' noise and I turned around only to be met with the head mistress of the school. Fuck. It's Kirova. "No, Ms. Hathaway, but there will be none of that," she said and chuckled darkly. I shuddered, but then followed her reluctantly. "We need to have a talk," she told me.

Once we entered her room, I was instantly freaked out. Something horribly wrong must've happened. She motioned for me to sit, and I did so. The chairs were comfortable, but not very.

"I heard about your little episode before lunch," she said, crossing her hands in front of her so that she could lean on the desk. I rolled my eyes. "I want no more of that." She paused, obviously conflicted in what she had to tell me next.

"I want you to come back to the academy."

It was simple, though it bothered me so much. Alberta slipped into the room quietly. I realized that they assumed I'd have some sort of flip out and throw things around the room. I nodded my head. "You do?" I asked, a smile pulling at my lips. I would milk this for all it was worth.

"We... do," she said reluctantly as if it wasn't her who made the decision, which was absolutely preposterous since she made all the final decisions in this place.

"I see..." I grinned. "Well, I don't know," I said as a look of fear crossed her face.

"Guardian Belikov as told us how much you've improved and we are eager to witness it," Alberta added from the back of the room. This only inflated my pride.

"I'll have to think about it, could I get back to you?" I asked, the smirk never leaving me lips. Kirova nodded vigorously. I resisted the urge to laugh my ass off. It's funny how one minute she's telling me how expendable I am, and then the next she practically begging for me to return.

I left the room with the biggest shit eating grin. I was walking blindly around campus. I had no idea where I was going, plus it was dark out, and though I was made to be in the dark, I wasn't used to it. I sighed as I quickly dodged out of the way of a tree.

Sooner or later, I'll be back in Siberia at Dimitri's house. I scoffed, I mean, seriously? It was obvious that I was going to choose Siberia. It was essentially Dimitri... or Lissa. It was a hard question, and in all honesty they both held high places in my heart. Lissa was more of my sister whereas Dimitri was my man. I reconsidered quickly.

I shook my head, I had to rid myself of that thought. While I'm here, I'm going to have fun. Not have some annoying choice drone in my head. "Roza?" Great. Now I'm hearing things. "Roza, what's wrong?"

I looked up, I realized that this wasn't me speaking, but Dimitri. He looked down at me with worry and concern. "What?" I asked, confused.

"You look sad. And confused," he mused. I nodded, but waved my feelings off.

"It's nothing. I'll get over it," I said, but mostly I think it was directed to myself. He smiled as he wrapped his arm playfully around my waist. He took an overview at what was going on. There was no one around. I realized then that it was a regular school day and that students were in class and guardians were on duty, not just walking around freely.

Dimitri pressed me up against a wall. It was the back of a building that I didn't care to name. He started trailing kisses down my neck and onto my chest.

"Dimitri..." I groaned. This triggered a response from Dimitri that could only be named as an animalist growl.

"I love it when you say my name," he said as I felt a smirk tug at my lips. I leaned into his ear and bit the lobe.

"As I love it when you say mine. Or rather, scream it," I giggled and I felt Dimitri harden. He pressed our bodies closer and placed his knee between my lips. "I like where this is going," I groaned as he fondled my breast. Our lips met and we started making out like wild teenagers with raging hormones- well that would describe me, but I wasn't so sure about Dimitri. I guess I just brought out the teenager in him.

I heard footsteps then. I sensed someone was coming, but I wasn't sure who. I tried to pull away from Dimitri, but he was too obsorbed in what he was doing to give a crap if a tornado occurred.

"Rose?" I heard a strangely familiar voice say. Dimitri heard this and pressed his mouth to my neck, not wanting his face to be seen or recognized though I didn't see why he didn't just break away from me.

I turned to the stranger. I noticed his unruly red curls and amount of red freckles on his face; this could only be one person. "Mase?"

It was silent for a second, and Dimitri stopped moving. It looked obvious that he was hiding at this point. From where Mason stood I guess he looked just like a regular dhampir, save for his height.

"You're the same as before you left," Mason croaked out. His face looked broken, and I guessed his heart was the same. I noticed tears welling up in his eyes as he turned to leave. I felt horrible.

"Ginger boy?" Dimitri asked insensitively. I groaned.

"His name is Mason, Dimitri," I said monotonously. Dimitri pulled away from me and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. He had such a meaningful look in his eyes. I saw how gorgeous he really was; his hair was tied at the back of his head and only stray strands stuck up. His chocolate brown eyes were compassionate, as if he truly felt bad- which I'm sure he did judging by the look on his face. His jaw was locked, and that only meant that he was deep in thought.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly. My eyes snapped open.

"For what?" I asked, confused.

"This is the second time that I've snuffed up things between you and Mason," he said. I nodded in understanding. I pulled him in for a hug.

"Mason is only a friend; I would feel bad to lead him on since I have no feelings for him," I paused to pull back and look at him in the eyes. "I only have feelings for you," I said honestly. Dimitri just smiled and swooned in to kiss me full on the lips.

We walked away hand in hand after that, though pulling away to keep them at our sides when any guardian or student passed by.

I was in a good mood once again when I met up with Lissa after classes were over. She gushed about how Christian had sent her an amazing note in class. I sighed as I rolled my eyes. Their relation was just so sugary sweet.

We went back to her room and watched movies. Well, I watched movies. Lissa worked on her homework. I ordered Chinese food to be delivered to her room, and thirty minutes later, it arrived. At that point, it was about five am human time. It was beginning to lighten up outside, and little birds were chirping in the background.

Lissa finally finished and we sat on the floor of her bedroom, positioned right in front of the TV. There was some reality show on but we weren't really paying attention to it.

"So what've I missed this year?" I asked, a smirk curling my lips. Lissa was thoughtful for a moment.

"Lots. First off, there was this little bitch- Mia Rinaldi. I have no idea what the hell her problem is. She's going out with Aaron, remember? My old boyfriend?" I nodded and she continued her rant. "So she just wants to ruin my life for some unknown reason," she sighed exasperatedly. I laughed.

"I could teach her a thing or two," I said as I cracked my knuckles. Lissa surprised me by agreeing.

"I wouldn't mind at this point. She's done so much shit to me that I wouldn't give a fuck if she got hit by a train right now," she groaned. Usually, Lissa was the type that never wanted harm to happen to anyone- even her worst enemies. Though this was just different.

"Maybe you're just stressed. I have a one-on-one conversation one day," I said, an evil glint in my eye.

"So tell me about your relationship with... Dimitri..." she said his name with disgust, though I knew she was excited to hear about our drama.

"I don't know," I was flustered. "I just really love him. He's perfect."

"He's hot as hell, I have to say. But he seems like an asshole," Lissa said, a snarl forming at her lips. I laughed out loud.

"You'd be surprised. He's more of a subtle... Antisocial even?" I laughed. "He's really sweat. I think you just met the wrong side of him."

Lissa sent me a skeptical look. "I see..." she paused. "How many times have you done it?"

I gasped. "Lissa!"

"What? I'll be honest. Christian and I've done it like... four times in the last couple months," Lissa admitted, not embarrassed at all.

I would tell her... but I was afraid that she might tell someone. I scratched that idea out; this was Lissa I was talking about. She would never tell a soul. "Two? I think. There's been lots of foreplay, however," I told her as I took a bite of my orange chicken.

"Foreplay, huh? You've given him head? You're such a slut. I love it. How many times?" she laughed as she took a sip of water.

I laughed at her, she was acting off. Usually she was just the quiet mouse, but now she was different. "Uh... I don't remember," I probably could have estimated, but this was getting a little bit personal. Lissa noticed this and dropped the subject.

We talked about other things, but then what happened today in Kirova's office came up. "She offered me to stay here," I told her. Lissa gasped and jumped up, doing a happy dance.

"You're kidding! Rose, that's great! Come stay here with me and your other best friend Christian!" she shouted, jokingly of course.

"In his wet dreams," I mumbled and Lissa either didn't hear it, (which was highly improbable) or just plain ignored it. Most likely the latter.

"Why didn't you say yes?" she asked sadly. Hurt registered through the bond. I felt guilty. Without telling her the answer, she found out. "Because of him, huh? Well... I mean... I might be able to pull some strings..."

"No Liss. I think I'm going to stay here. I know it's tough, and that Dimitri really won't like it, but I'm going to get a good education here, and I'll be around kids my own age. Though, Dimitri has a younger sister that is just a year younger than us. She's really awesome, you would like her," I said with a huge grin. Lissa fell silent and jealously flashed through the bond then. I dropped Viktoria, hoping that she wouldn't get madder than she already was.

"Well, I personally think that you should stay here, even if it is for only a while. He was supposed to just be your mentor, not your lover," Lissa said, the rational part of her returning. Frankly, I was glad.

A part of me became pissed, however. Pissed that Lissa got to go out with whoever she wanted and be public with it. Me? Not so much. My boyfriend was seven years older than me and also my mentor. Dimitri could go to jail for that, and we both wouldn't want that.

"Whatever," I said coldly. Lissa noticed this and glared.

"You've had a long day, you should get some rest," she said and gestured to the clock. It was midnight, err, midday. No, midnight. I was on vampire schedule. I had to keep reminding myself that. No light shown in through the windows thanks to the tinted-ness of them.

"Yeah, sorry if I'm in a bad mood. Things are just hectic. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," Lissa grinned. "Just get your ass in bed," she said, pointing to hers. The damn Moroi get bigger beds than the dhampir, which was just plain unfair. We switched into our pajamas and slid into bed together. We talked a little bit more, though it was all just casual talk. I liked the comforted feeling that I got when I was with Lissa.

I felt relaxed. For once.

TBC.

Kay. I have a plan for the next eight chapters. They may be a bit small, probably ranging from 2k to 4k each. I never make a chapter less than around 2.5k, but... In the grand scheme of things, that's how it's going to work out. ;) Maybe DPOV next?

Kay review. Tell me what you think.