Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Ch. 20 Party Time!

Everyone was practically screaming with joy once Victor's trial had ended. The man who had caused so much trouble and grief to everyone – well, mostly everyone, since we hadn't met Adrian when all this drama went down – was now going to be sitting in prison. For the rest of his life. Dimitri gave me a quick hug before he moved aside to speak with Alberta. Lissa and Christian kissed passionately, and I wondered if I had to find a hose and spray it all over them to get them to stop.

"Let's celebrate," Adrian suggested, coming over and hugging me.

I shot a look at him and gently stepped away from him. "And just how would you suggest that? By buying an entire bar of drinks and getting everyone here drunk?"

He burst out laughing as we walked out of the courtroom and out into one of the gardens. "Not a bad idea, little dhampir. I'll just buy some drinks-"

"Hello, everyone's still under 18, except for you," I pointed out. "Even I'm still under 18, and my birthday's a few weeks away."

Adrian shrugged, seemingly unaffected, and put his hands into his pockets. "True…"

"So, how are we going to celebrate?" Lissa asked, finally breaking away from her insanely long kiss with Christian, and walking over to us.

"Do I need to hose you down?" I said to Christian as he approached me and Adrian.

He made a face at me and stood closer to Lissa. "At least we're on fire, unlike you, forever alone."

Haha. Very funny. "Please, I have plenty of guys falling over for me, Sparky. You just wish you were as hot as me, since your fire isn't doing anything for you."

"If you're going to celebrate, make it something legal," Dimitri called to us. "I'd hate to have to call in the authorities and bust your alcohol party."

"We're not going to have an alcohol party," I called to him. "But not a bad idea!"

Even from here, I could see him rolling his eyes at me. "Like anyone would sell to underage minors?"

He had a point, I mused to myself.

"Let's go to a spa!" Lissa exclaimed, her green eyes bright with excitement. "We could get beautified and I know an amazing manicurist-"

"A spa? No, I refuse to go to a spa," Christian protested. "That works great if you're a girl, but I prefer to do something more manly."

"Like what? Get your toenails painted?" I teased him.

"Not in a billion years," Christian grumbled, glaring at me. "Liss, I refuse to go into a spa with you."

Lissa turned her big green eyes on him. "Please, Christian? I'll do anything you want afterwards."

"Tempting," he said, and he leaned in for a kiss.

I groaned and covered my eyes while blocking Lissa out of my head. "Ew, Liss! PDA alert! I don't want to see you making out with Christian!" Lissa ignored me and kept kissing him, hard. Ugh.

Eddie shook his head, not looking any more pleased than me.

"Eddie, go find a hose to spray them with," I said a bit more loudly than necessary.

At that, Lissa and Christian quickly broke apart. "Sorry," Lissa said, a slight blush spreading over her pale features. "Fine. If we're not going to a spa, where should we go to celebrate?"

Adrian coughed very loudly. "Well…I know this amazing exclusive place where we could swim and get massages. And we could go to a club and dance afterwards."

"Perfect," Lissa decided. "Let's go!"

Here, Dimitri said, "Do you need a chaperone for that?"

"No, Belikov," Adrian grumbled, glaring at him. I looked between them. Jealousy issues?

Dimitri raised his eyebrow at Adrian, but let it go. "Fine. Better be back by ten."

"That's not enough time," Adrian grumbled, pointing towards the horizon. There was a faint hint of light.

"If you don't abide by the rules, you're not going anywhere," Dimitri evenly returned.

We arranged to meet in front of Adrian's home in half an hour, and left to get ready.

I yawned once I was back in guest housing. Lissa looked over at me in surprise.

"You didn't seem tired at all earlier," she said to me.

I shrugged and made no further comment as I searched through my suitcase for something to wear to the pool and then the club.

I picked out a white bikini that would enhance my tanned skin, and pulled out a red halter top, black skirt, and heels to wear to the club.

Lissa raised her eyebrows at me. "I thought you'd want to go all out and look sexy for Dimitri," she teased.

I focused on changing out of my formal clothes and into my bikini before I replied. "He's not even coming."

"Hey, you never know," Lissa lightly retorted as she stuffed her club clothes into a bag. "He might decide to come along and 'supervise' when he's really trying to check you out."

I rolled my eyes, and we headed for Adrian's house.

We ran into Alberta along the way, who informed us that we were leaving Court tomorrow afternoon. We thanked her for the information, and continued on to Adrian's house, where Christian, Eddie, and Adrian were all waiting for us.

Adrian led us to a smaller building off the main Court buildings that was apparently exclusively for rich and important Moroi. "One of the many perks of being rich, and the Queen's grand-nephew," he said as he led us.

Although I was "with" Dimitri, I had to admit, he did look pretty hot in just his swimming trunks…

Snap out of it, I scolded myself.

We stepped through a pair of French doors, and found ourselves in a spacious indoor pool, with gleaming white marble everywhere. The large windows allowed sunlight to filter into the pool without hurting the Moroi. Moroi teens and young adults were everywhere, but from the looks of their swimwear, I guessed that they were influential or royal Moroi. An exclusive indoor pool indeed.

The door had just shut behind us when there was a knock on the door, and Lissa opened it.

My mouth nearly dropped. Dimitri! Although I was very happy to see him, I couldn't help but wonder why he'd come to see a bunch of teens go swimming with elite Moroi.

He was dressed in a pair of swimming trunks, sandals, and a gray hoodie clothed his upper body, which I secretly wished he would take off. Maybe if I was very lucky…

Lissa nudged me, a sparkling glint in her jade eyes. My prediction came true!

I put on a smile. "Guardian Belikov. Why are you here with us?"

"There does need to be an adult supervisor at a 'party' once you let it slip in front of us you were having one," Dimitri said lightly to me.

He's not really telling the whole truth, Lissa said. Of course, I don't know what his real motive is.

I gave her a look of exasperation, and tore off my towel. I could feel Dimitri's eyes locked on me as I sashayed towards the pool. "Last one to jump into the pool is a rotten egg!"

Everyone else burst into a flurry of movement to get into the pool and not be a rotten egg. I got in first after performing a cannonball off the diving board.

It turned out that Adrian was the "rotten egg."

"We should come up with punishment for him," Christian said, shooting a slight glare at Adrian as he finally jumped into the pool effortlessly and surfaced near us. "He is the last one in."

"Make him do handstands across the pool," Lissa suggested teasingly as Christian wrapped his arms around her shoulder.

"Or should we get him to skinny dip?" I asked, shaking my head and letting droplets fly everywhere.

"I have an amazingly sexy body, but I refuse to skinny dip!" Adrian protested. "Although I'm sure all the ladies would be checking me out…"

"No, you have to handstand your way across the pool," I decided. "If you don't, you have to pay everyone ten bucks!"

"I don't have forty bucks on me right now," he protested as I put my hands on his back and shoved him.

I smacked his shoulder. "Now hurry up and handstand! And try not to get run over by other swimmers."

Adrian groaned loudly, and started to handstand his way across the pool.

I looked up towards the entrance we'd come in through. Dimitri was stretched out on a chaise lounge, reading a Western novel. As though he could sense my gaze, he looked down at me. He wore his stoic guardian face, but I could tell that he was amused.

I challenged my other friends to some crazy stunts – like swimming sideways across the pool and back, who could jump in and make the biggest splash, etc. I lost the biggest splash contest – to Lissa, of all people.

We stayed in the pool for about two hours and left. Plenty of people still lingered at the pool.

After taking a quick shower in the showers located near the pool, we all changed into our club outfits. Dimitri only changed into slacks and dress shoes while keeping his hoodie on.

We went to a bar that doubled as a dance club. Dimitri shook his head in disapproval when he saw our location choice. "Please don't tell me I have to carry out a bunch of drunk teenagers by the time it's curfew."

"You wouldn't catch me drinking," Eddie said firmly, shaking his head as he watched Adrian talk to the bouncer. The bouncer nodded and let us in. Loud music blasted from speakers, making it hard to be heard, but I heard Eddie's last words as we dhampirs sat down at a table. "Not while I'm watching over them."

Dimitri patted his shoulder. "Nice to know that someone here won't lose their heads."

"Hey! Are you saying I'm going to lose my head?" I asked, tugging crossly at my halter top. It had a lower neckline than I'd expected, so I had to constantly tug it up when no one was looking so that it wouldn't slip.

"You never know," Dimitri said. "Even if the Moroi drink until they've gone silly, try not to follow their example. If you drink too much, you'll lose track of them and then if something happens-"

"Comrade, we're at Court," I whispered, cutting him off and gesturing towards a waitress. "Nothing bad will happen."

I ordered a glass of champagne and downed it in two gulps after the waitress brought it to me. I hadn't even gotten carded. I guess this was why Adrian had chosen this bar- a place where no matter how underage you truly were, you wouldn't get carded.

"You're going to no longer have a liver if you keep drinking," Dimitri noted.

"It was only one champagne Comrade! It's not like I drink that often to begin with!" I complained, although the world had started to tilt a little. "Besides look at what the others are up to." I pointed in the vague direction of where I'd last seen the others.

Dimitri looked over in the direction I was pointing (although it was hard to see in the dark) and raised his eyebrows. He muttered a swear word in Russian.

Lissa had downed what appeared to be two glasses of pina colada, and was laughing hysterically at something Christian had said to her. The buzz from her drinks was coming really strongly through the bond and I winced. Those particular drinks had been stronger than the usual stuff, and I carefully blocked the bond.

Adrian...When I saw the bottles littered around him, I groaned. He'd downed three bottles of vodka, champagne, and some types of beer. He was on his fourth bottle (of champagne) and I stumbled off my stool.

"Be right back," I said to Dimitri, but my voice came out a little slurred and the world was slowly spinning around me. Damnit. I was drunk, and it had only been one glass of champagne.

"Be careful," Dimitri said, grabbing me before I toppled off my stool. "I'll go get him instead of you."

"He won't listen to you," I complained.

"Fine," Dimitri grumbled, helping me off my stool. "Come right back."

I stumbled through the crowd and finally made my way to Adrian. He was halfway through his bottle.

"Stop drinking so much," I said, trying to pull on him with little effect.

"Hey little dhampir," he said, his voice coming out way more slurred than mine. His eyes were already semi-bloodshot. Great. If he kept this up, he was going to be passed out and drunk if he finished this bottle. "This stuff is amazing, little dhampir. You should try some."

"Stop trying to drink yourself to death!" I said, pulling on his arm a second time. He still wouldn't budge.

Eddie made his way over to me, with a glass of water in his hand. "Dimitri said to send this with you." I took the bottle away from Adrian, which wasn't that hard, and then shoved the glass of water into his hand. "Drink that instead."

Adrian groaned and lifted the glass to his lips. His bloodshot eyes closed as he sipped, and when he opened them, they were the bright emerald green they normally were. "T-thanks, little dhampir," he said, his words coming out somewhat less slurred. "But can I at least finish the bottle?"

"No!" I said in unison with Eddie.

Lissa and Christian got even more drunk in the next half hour we spent there. The rest of us danced, and Lissa and Christian were too busy drinking and drunkenly kissing each other. As predicted, Dimitri had to practically carry Christian out the door. Me and Adrian carried Lissa.

"I don't want to sleep in our room tonight," I groaned as we finally made our way to guest housing. "It's going to be impossible to sleep with Lissa so drunk."

"I'm not sleeping with Christian either!" Eddie protested as we stopped in front of the room I shared with Lissa.

"Just put them in the same room," Adrian said at last, regarding the couple who looked like they were asleep.

"I want Christian," Lissa drunkenly slurred, putting her arms out.

I unlocked the door. "Let's hope they don't throw up."

While Adrian put Lissa and Christian in the bed, I quickly got some water for them both and left the glasses on the nightstand.

"Let's get out of here before they start doing rated-R stuff," I whispered to my friends. "God knows what they will do when they wake up and they're drunk."

With that, we tiptoed out of the room and shut the door behind us.

Haha a filler chapter (sort of). Probably wrapping up this story in the next few chapters, so enjoy!