Still playing in Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy playground.

Dimitri ate dinner alone and escaped to his room. He was in bed, reading, when someone knocked at his door. He opened it, and Malina entered without him inviting her in.

He wasn't any happier to see her now than he'd been at lunch, but despite a few mis-steps in his life, he'd been trained too well – he couldn't be outright rude to a Moroi. It was against the rules for girls to be in the boys' dorms, but he'd never seriously paid attention to those rules before. He pulled out the desk chair for her. She sat on his bed.

He tried to hide his irritation and sat on the chair. "What do you want?"

"Why aren't you at the party?" She tossed her long coat on the bed and sat back against the headboard. She curled her legs up on the bed, looking completely relaxed. She was dressed up in a short wool skirt and tights and a soft-looking green sweater that matched her eyes. Her hair was down and loose, and her dark curls cascaded over her shoulders. Dimitri tore his eyes away.

"Not interested."

"Why not?"

He ignored the question. "Why aren't you there?" He'd heard the invitation during dinner – a class-wide word-of-mouth rather than a formal initiation or announcement – but he'd ignored it. He definitely wasn't in the mood for a party.

"I was there. I came to see if you'd go back with me."

That stopped him. He hadn't been bragging or exaggerating to Katya – most of the Moroi girls who showed an interest were only interested in sleeping with him. He must have misunderstood her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean as my date, silly," she smiled.

He studied her more carefully. She looked slightly seductive and very serious. It wasn't unheard of for Moroi girls to openly date dhampir guys, but he'd always been reserved enough around Moroi that actual dating hadn't been much of an issue. He raised one eyebrow. "You're asking me out?"

She rolled her eyes, reminding him a little of Katya. "Of course."

He debated. He had been hiding out, not wanting to get dragged to the party by his fellow novices. Malina's relaxed, open interest in him was quickly becoming more flattering that irritating, though. Ivan Zeklos would be at the party, he was sure, but maybe it was best to get that meeting over with.

He was still cautious. "Okay?"

She hesitated, then leaned forward and smiled a different kind of smile – less serious and sweeter somehow, almost shy. "I like you, Dimitri. Everything is going to change when we graduate, and I just don't want to miss the chance to get to know you before everything is different."

That smile decided him. She was royal Moroi so her confidence in pursuing him could easily be arrogance or entitlement, but despite some of his other experiences in life, he did know that "royal" did not automatically mean brainless or heartless. That smile said she might actually be telling the truth. It couldn't hurt to take her at her word. He gave her a half smile in return. "We've had classes together. We've done projects together. Why now?"

The confident vixen smile returned. "Come out with me tonight and I'll tell you later if you still want to know."

He had to admire her tactics. He tried to negotiate a point of his own. "I'll go with you if we skip the party."

"Make an appearance with me at the party, then we can go somewhere else," she countered. "I promised Ivan I'd introduce you."

"Did Zeklos tell you to come up and get me?" his voice turned cold in an instant. He had no idea what kind of games Zeklos could be playing.

Shock and real hurt crossed her face, as well as a flash of anger. "I'm not a puppet. Ivan saw me talking to you at lunch. He assumed we were going out. He wants to meet you."

"Why?"

"I don't know! He's new! You're the best novice, maybe he wants to get to know you, see if you'd be his guardian after graduation." He'd offended her, badly. It was Katya all over again. "Why are you acting like this?"

He took a second to get his temper under control. He met her eyes and forced himself to apologize. His issues were not her fault. "I'm sorry." He had to give her more than that. "If it's that important, I'll go to the party with you, at least long enough to meet Ivan Zeklos and see what he wants."

She still looked angry. He wasn't sure if he was really interested in her, or just willing to go out with her simply because she was pretty and intriguing and because she'd asked, but he was sorry he'd snapped at her. "Really. I'm sorry." He gave her another half smile.

"Okay," she said finally. She smiled at him again, more cautiously this time, and confusion and speculation replaced her anger. She picked up his book from his nightstand and opened it, but let her eyes linger over his bare chest and drawstring sweats before focusing on the page. He felt oddly exposed, but also a little proud as she seemed to like what she saw. "I'll read while you get dressed."

This bit was one of the first parts of the story that I wrote, so I was able to edit it fairly quickly for posting. Okay, gotta get back to HON :-D. Thank you so much for reading! I know it's starting slow but things are building, I promise!