CHAPTER SEVEN- FIRST TIME IS ALWAYS THE WORST

Hey there, this is chapter seven (obviously) and well, this one gets into more of Dereck Hays's character. I'm so sorry it took so long to update the last chapter because things have been kind of hectic- I GOT TWO KITTENS!! I'm so happy they are the cutest things you will ever see. I named them both: the boy is called Jack and the girl is called Tasha, like Tasha Ozera from Frostbite (even though I don't really like that Tasha was hitting on Dimitri, I still like her name ha ha) okay, okay. I'll stop talking now and let you guys read. I'm serious. Oh, one more thing- a shout out to Jess because I can't remember her account name. Anyway, she gave me a shout out so here's one back: HEY JESS!!

Okay seriously, here's the story.

There was a pair if guardian clothes in front of my door (the headmistress had moved me from guest housing to the guardian building). So in the morning, I threw those on and made my way to the gym. My ribs still hurt, but I was planning on sparring Dereck anyway, and if I re-brake my ribs, so be it. I was there earlier than Dereck, which was to be expected, so I turned on the radio and turned it on loud.

I think I'm drowning

Asphyxiated

I want to break the spell

That you've created

You're something beautiful

A contradiction

I want to play the game

I want the friction

I recognized the song as Muse's Time Is Running Out, it was one of my favourites, and how fitting for my state right now. With music blasting through the gym I took off the guardian sweater and blouse so I was just in my tank top. I got the beat of the song and started beating on one of the dummies. I got really into it, so when I saw something move in my peripheral vision a spun to face it, braced for an attack.

It was only Dereck smirking at me and I straightened out of my stance and smiled back and him.

"Are you going to hit me or train me?" he joked slyly and I brushed a few stray strands of hair out of my face.

"Both. Next time, stay further away when you sneak up on me because next time, I just might attack you" I added dryly. He dropped his bag and looked at me expectantly.

"What do you want to do first?" I challenged.

"Fight, use a stake, learn new moves; pick one."

"Do you know how to use a stake?" I asked raising my eyebrows. My stake (the one that Alberta gave me) was by the radio with my guardian clothes. I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was standing in front of this kid in a light tank top and pants; I became panicked for a split second, and then confused. Why should I care? I'd worn less (much less, actually) in the presence of a guy before, so why should I care now. I decided that I didn't and focused back on Dereck.

"No! They won't let me near one!" he exclaimed angrily. I laughed and turned down the radio, shaking my head.

"I don't know your style or techniques; I need to if I'm going to mentor you- so we'll fight." I decided then I tossed him fighting mitts. I could see the excitement dancing in his eyes as he strapped on his mitts, watching me.

"Use the red lines," I commented; adopting an offensive stance, Dereck was quick to match it. It was like what my and I had done; but I'd be sure not to punch him out, no matter what he said. I almost laughed out loud as I remembered it, but my smile quickly disappeared and I remembered that that was when things were easy and some-what normal. I sighed sadly and returned my attention to Dereck.

"Regular fighting?" he asked when I didn't attack him.

"Yes, go for your usual way of fighting- just fight me. Don't be afraid to hurt me, I can take it; just watch my ribs, okay?" I added; I was pretty sure that the doc would be pretty unhappy if I re-broke them, because I was disobeying her rules.

I lunged at Dereck, my fist making contact with his arm, not that hard. "Point,"

"Point," he grunted as he rubbed his arm. Okay, I thought it wasn't that hard. I moved on him again, but this time he was ready. He blocked my attack and reached to get me into a hold, but I danced out of his reach and taunted him by circling him on the lines. I was doing this to see how he would do on offence. I'd already figured out that we'd need to clean it up and make it sharper and work on his techniques.

Then he did what I expected him to and I had a little plan. I saw his leg move toward my thigh and my right hand was out at the same time. I caught his leg and once I pulled, he was on the ground and I fell on top of him because he used his other leg to kick out both of mine. Jerk, I thought jokingly as my knees fell on either side of his hips. I didn't like this position- not one bit. Oh well, just follow through with it, you started it. I told myself and I pinned his arms down and looked at him expectantly.

"What was that?" Dereck grinned up at me.

I shrugged. "'Thought I'd mix it up a bit. You need to be faster and sharper. If I was Strigoi, I'd have broken your neck." I released his arms and took his head in my hands and gently "broke his neck". Dereck's hands slid up on the floor and up onto my waist. Okay, time to get up.

I took his hands from my waist and helped him up and put my lips to his ear and gripped his shoulders.

"Do not even try it," I whispered sharply and in the same second, I was across the room, staring out the window.

"There's no competition, your old guy is dead." I heard Dereck say snidely and I spun around to glare at him.

"Dimitri Belikov was a great man, and even if I did like you, we couldn't be together and I don't like you- so that problem is completely out of the question. I am your mentor now and a guardian and guardians don't date novices." I said sternly. For me, it was a different story and Dimitri and I weren't really dating- not at all. I'd wanted Dimitri, yes, but I wasn't so obvious about it.

"You were with a guardian." Dereck protested and I looked down.

"That's different,"

"Now, how would that be different Rosemarie Hathaway?" he murmured in my ear and I jumped; I hadn't been paying attention to where he was. I turned my back to him and he only slipped his arms around my waist. I stepped out of his reach, completely pissed off now.

"Yeah, well, it's different because I say it's different- and I'm your mentor now, so you will listen to what I say. And I say: Don't be a pain in the ass!" I ground out through clenched teeth.

"And if I am?" he challenged, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms.

"I'll kick your ass and then I will resign as your mentor." I retorted rudely. If I was his mentor, shouldn't I be more polite and less threatening? Oh well, I didn't care. I dealt with jerks trying to hit on me regularly, so Dereck wasn't a problem.

"Shouldn't you be more nice or something?" he asked voicing my thoughts.

"I've got a different method than the usual." I snapped. Jeez, this kid was worse than Christian. Dereck was going to be a lot of work and I needed to train Blake. What have I gotten myself into now?

"That's okay; I like the unexpected," he said grinning like a little boy. I rolled my eyes and decided to tackle this problem a different way. I sank to the ground and patted a spot in front of me and tossed the mitts aside. Dereck looked suspicious but he still sat down.

"Right," I clasped my hands together. "Since you're only interested in talking, we'll talk. Tell me about what you do in your classes; who are your friends? Do you draw attention to yourself? What do you do in your spare time? Who is your best friend? Stuff like that,"

But Dereck didn't seem too keen on talking about himself- he'd much rather talk about me instead.

"Why are you in Siberia?" I just stared at him until he prompted me. "You know, this is where you answer my question…"

"None of your business." My words were clipped, curt and cold.

"Did you or did you not love this 'Dimitri'?"

"I'm not answering that."

"I already know the answer."

"So why are you asking?" I snapped at him.

"Because I want to hear you say it again." I looked at him for a few moments and he met my gaze without looking away. Okay, so he's got attitude, he's a smartass, and he's got a bit of courage.

"Yes, I did." I admitted quietly.

"Where is he now? Dead or Strigoi?" I thought his question was meant to be cruel, but when I looked up sharply at him, I only saw mere curiosity.

I winced as I answered. "Strigoi,"

"Where is Princess Dragomir?"

Again, I cringed. "In Montana,"

"Why isn't she with you?" he asked.

"Because,"

"Because what?" he insisted.

"There is something I need to take care of here."

"And that would be…" he said politely, leaning forward on his hands and I resisted a very strong urge to punch him out.

"Top secret guardian stuff," I smirked because I had a feeling that it would bug him as much as the guardians not letting him use a stake had.

"And I'm a novice so you can't handle it?" Dereck sneered.

"Exactly," I said loftily.

"Why did you take the mentoring position?" Dereck switched topics grudgingly.

"Because I didn't know who you were." I'm sorry-I just had to say it; he frowned.

"I'm not that bad; you eve said it yourself, you were exactly like me." he raised his chin.

"Yeah, that's true, I was kidding by the way." I added to make him feel a little better; I imagined that he got enough of that from his teachers. "Really, though? I took it because I know I can handle it, since I know how you feel; I'm going to try to do what worked on me. We're not that different-except your over-active hormones." I added straight faced and Dereck blushed from the roots of his brown hair to his neck and looked away.

"Well, if I'm getting this right, you were a little hot for your mentor yourself. Didn't you admit for falling for your mentor?" Dereck snapped, he seemed determined to discuss my relationships and I didn't really appreciate that.

"Right, we can stop talking about my love life thanks, especially considering you are not even remotely involved with it, and will never be." I added for good measure. He could ask as many questions as he wanted, I just wouldn't answer them. Dereck realized this and sighed as I smirked in satisfaction.

"Do you have someone who you want to guard, specifically?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't try to come back to my twisted life story.

"No, not really," he looked away and mumbled, which, of course, meant he was lying.

"Well, come on, you've got to have a good Moroi friend, don't you?" I pressed.

"Well…I do have a friend that is a Moroi…" he said uncomfortably.

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere. Do tell, what's his name?"

"Her name is Jane. Jane Ivashkov." I instantly reacted to the name, another one of Adrian's relatives. But the Ivashkov clan was very large and it could be just anybody.

Dereck still seemed uncomfortable; why? I decided to find out. I also made a mental not to mention Jane Ivashkov in Adrian's next dream-walk visit.

"Why so tense? What's wrong with Miss Jane?"

"Nothing, she's great, she really is. It's just the guy she's with…" Dereck's voice trailed off and he looked uneasy.

"Is he mean to her, or do I detect jealously?" I joked.

"No, I'm not jealous," Dereck blushed again- so he was jealous. "But the way he talks about her, behind her back. Like she'd just something he can throw away. A toy," Dereck's tone now reflected disgust.

"Who is he?" I asked merely curious.

"Riley Zeklos." He said flatly. Ah, another Zeklos, I thought bitterly. I have yet to meet one who isn't a jerk. I mulled this new information over as Dereck seemed to be lost in his own world. So a Zeklos was dating and Ivashkov that was friends with Dereck, and Dereck didn't like the boyfriend because eh talked about his friend like a petty possession. I repeated my train of thought out loud to Dereck and he nodded and then he made his own thoughts very clear.

"Yeah, I just don't want to see her get hurt. Zeklos goes through a lot of girls, but Jane says he's not what everyone thinks. She keeps telling me not to worry and that she and Riley actually have something going for them.

"I don't believe it, and neither does Leo or Tristan, but she won't listen to us. I swear, if Zeklos drops her, I'll be the one to kill him."

That was the longest speech I'd ever heard Dereck make, it also told me more about his personality: he was a good friend and he cared. And also he's very protective, because he said he'd beat the Zeklos boy.

"Whoa, slow down there, cowboy. If he hurts your friend or not, you won't be touching the Zeklos boy; at least not when other guardians are around." I grinned, and thought how I'd do the same thing for my friend. Dereck laughed at that and my smile grew.

"But you've got to at least pretend that I'm fixing you, because honestly? There's nothing really to fix, just sharpening up your moves, and I'm sure you know all the stuff they are learning in class. The only major thing that needs to be fixed is your attitude."

"You are probably the coolest guardian ever-no wait: you are; there is no possibility." Dereck said admiringly, glanced at the clock and saw that I had five minutes left with him.

"I'm going to be checking out your classes today, maybe meet your friends, I want to meet Jane Ivashkov, if that's okay." I said to him. "Alright, so I also want to meet the rest of your group too."

"That is no problem, my friends won't mind," Dereck said happily as he got up. "They're going to flip when they know who my new mentor is!" I heard Dereck mumble excitedly to himself and I chuckled quietly. When he went into the change room I laid out flat on the floor and closed my eyes. I was remembering Dimitri so, so clearly it felt like he was still alive, staying with me, as if he were beside me right now. But he is not, I growled at myself. Shit, I need to get a grip. I pushed my memories away and thought of nothing at all.

"Um, Rose? What are you doing?" I heard Dereck say, his voice coming nearer.

"Nothing," I sighed, I longed to do something, anything. But I didn't know how to start, where to look. Now that I was in Siberia, I was completely lost. I hadn't planned that far ahead, I never did, I usually just went with it and played along, letting things take the course it would take without my interference. It usually worked, but right now, my mission was on hold.

"You must be doing something," he objected, his voice nearer still.

"No, not really," I self-consciously shifted my weight; he might be looking at me. I opened my eyes and saw Dereck standing not a meter away, studying me curiously.

"If you weren't doing anything, you'd be dead." He joked, but I didn't think it was funny, considering that a ghost had come back to me after he'd died, so I wasn't really sure what ghosts did.

"Well, I'm lying on the floor with my eyes closed, well, I was." I said loftily as I sat up and wrapped my arms around my knees.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to," I got up and brushed off my black slacks, not meeting his eyes. He could tell too much already and I didn't like it and I didn't want him to know more.

"Well, my first class is here, so we can just hang out until then." Dereck offered a shrug.

"Yeah, um, I've got to go check on something, catch you later, Dereck." I said inching toward the door. His face changed to the same annoyed expression from before.

"Top secret guardian stuff?" he scoffed. Did he not get it? Like, come on, was he totally oblivious to other things going on around him?

"Alright, I'm going to take you on my top secret guardian mission." I scowled as I took his arm and led him out of the gym. What was I doing? Suddenly the thought of my lack of clothing came to my mind. So what was I going to do? Take him shopping? Then it hit me. My clothes! That were in my duffel bag…that was still in the forest beside the academy. Okay, I can do that, it was still day, well, night for humans, so Strigoi could be out. But he'd told me the other guardians hadn't let him touch a stake. Hmm.

I spun around rapidly and faced Dereck, he looked shocked, excited and…a little scared. He had every right to be, don't get me wrong, it's just he looked vulnerable.

"Where is the heart of a Strigoi?" I demanded my rage still going on strong.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean: where is the heart of a Strigoi?" I growled, he still looked confused, so I sighed and my anger slowly decreased.

"Point to where the heart of a Strigoi would be," I instructed. "On you," I thought it would be a little uncomfortable if he tried to demonstrate on me. Dereck pointed to his sternum with his forefinger.

"Here," he declared.

"Right and what's in the way?"

"The sternum and ribs," someone's been doing his homework, I thought snidely. I nodded and walked him back into the gym and over to a dummy. Taking out my stake, I shifted into an offensive stance that would give me enough power to stake a real Strigoi.

"Do you see this stance?" it was a rhetorical question and Dereck knew it.

"Yes, Guardian Hathaway, I see the stance." He said dryly.

"Watch," I said sharply, less tolerant of his snappy jokes now. I demonstrated staking the dummy at different speeds: slow, medium, fast and Dereck watched eagerly. I remembered when Dimitri had been doing the same thing for me. And that say was when – no. I would not get caught up in my memories like I had with Dereck yesterday, and I was still kicking myself for being so stupid and telling some guy I hardly even knew everything there was to me. Focus, present, not the past. I motioned for Dereck to come forward and I guided him through driving the stake into the dummy. We worked until novices stared to come in and I called it to a stop.

"Seems like Dimitri taught you well; more than romance I mean." I fisted my hands behind my back to retain from beating him right then. I'd been contemplating my choice to take him with me to retrieve my things, but his comment set me off again.

"Do not talk about Dimitri Belikov like that ever again, if you do…well, let's say you'd be out of your classes for serious injuries." I said in a low voice. Dereck needed to learn some respect; and I was going to make him respect me.

"Do you want to know what Strigoi are like?" I growled dangerously.

"Of course, I'm going to be killing them for a living. Why wouldn't I?" he scoffed.

"No, you really don't," I said seriously. I now had come to two conclusions: he was either and arrogant asshole who was full of himself or he was completely clueless.

"Want to bet on that?"

"Oh, I don't need to bet on it- I'm going to prove it. We'll see how your witty mouth does in the heat of a battle." I spat the words at him and stormed out the door, not caring if he followed me or not.

So…was it good. I know some of you think that I'm going to make Rose and Dereck fall for each other but that is a big NO NO; so don't worry. I know there is a problem with the characters speaking English in Russia, but I didn't really feel like getting that much into detail. Please review this chapter, pretty please. The button is actually begging you to hit it…so do it now! Hahahah.

~Alice~