A/N: Hello, my lovely readers :) I'm back with another chapter! Miss me? Don't lie, you know you did. LOL.

Thanks so much to my 8 reviewers: Christal Sharbutt, Princess Redfern, Liv it up in style, kittenxxkisses, Nicia, chasing down a daydream, olivia williams and Ellixie! This chapter is dedicated to Nicia, the only one to guess who's going to be in this chapter! :)

Disclaimer: Dimitri, do the disclaimer.

Dimitri: Why?

Me: Because I want you to.

Dimitri: Okay . . . but only if you say please.

Me: Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Dimitri: *sighs* Sarah doesn't own me or any of the other characters of Vampire Academy. She only owns her plot and a few characters.

Me: Aww, thanks, Dimitri! You're a doll :D

Dimitri: *grumbles to himself as he walks away*

Haha enjoy the chapter, guys :)

~ Sarah Odair ~

Chapter Five

When the Ozeras announced that they were calling their parents to pick them up a few hours later, I scoffed and told them to come with me, since I'd be passing their house on the way back. Shrugging, they accepted my offer.

After promising Dimitri I'd hang out with him the next day, the three of us left.

The back stairs of Dimitri's house were icy, and I had a hard time not falling as I descended them. I was doing good; I'd cleared the stairs and managed to stay upright. But once we reached the Escalade . . . well, I didn't notice the patch of ice and ended up falling flat on my butt.

Christian and Tasha immediately burst out laughing. Tasha was completely doubled over, and she was squealing that she was going to pee herself. I found myself laughing as well, even though the jolt of the fall hurt my spine. It was funny, after all.

"Okay, dickwads, one of you needs to help me up," I managed to say through the laughter, holding my arms up.

Still laughing like a hyena, Christian came to my rescue, extending a hand for me to grasp. I managed to get up with some difficulty due to the ice and my back. I briefly considered pushing Christian down, but decided against it since he'd been nice enough to help me up.

"Thanks, man," I said, grinning. "Because you so gallantly came to my rescue, you get control over my iPod."

"YES!" he exclaimed. "I call shotgun, Tash!"

Tasha rolled her eyes at him and slipped into the back seat. I tried to brush the snow off my coat, but it was pretty wet, so I decided to just take it off. I got in the Escalade, tying my hair into a ponytail.

I started the car, blasting the heat. Christian immediately grabbed my iPod and started flipping through the songs, finally deciding on " Your Call" by Secondhand Serenade. I grinned, happy with his choice, put the car in gear and pulled out of the driveway.

As I drove, I sang along to the song, since I knew every word.

"Dudes, I'm stopping at McDick's. You guys want anything? My treat," I offered, turning into the parking lot of Lancaster Mall.

I turned to see Christian with a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

"I could definitely go for some McDick's," he said. Tasha murmured her agreement from the back seat.

I entered the drive-thru and peered at the menu.

"Welcome to McDonald's, how may I help you?" came an annoyingly cheerful voice through the intercom.

"Hold on a sec, we're still deciding," I said to her. "What do you two want?" I asked the dark-haired siblings.

"I want a chicken snack wrap combo, no lettuce, no ranch, with sweet and sour sauce and a Coke to drink," Christian replied. I relayed it to the girl.

"Just a large fries and a medium Sprite for me," Tasha said.

I passed that along to the girl, ordering a ten-piece McNugget meal for myself with sweet and sour sauce and Coke to drink.

She told me my total and asked me to pull ahead.

When I reached the first window, a short girl with bouncy blonde ringlets and deep blue eyes took my credit card. There was something vaguely familiar about her . . .

"Hey, Mia!" Christian called to her, poking his head closer to her window, leaning over me in the process..

She grinned. "Hey, Chris, Tash," she replied, seeing Tasha in the back. Her eyes settled on me, and I saw the same confusion there for a minute before she recognized me.

"Omigod, Rose! Is that you?" she asked in an excited squeal.

I smiled angelically. "No, I'm the queen of England. I get that a lot, and it's quite flattering to be mixed up with someone so amazingly awesome," I joked, my smile turning into a grin.

She rolled her eyes and smirked. "Same sense of humor,"she remarked. "When did you get here?"

"Today. We moved back," I said simply, not wanting to go into detail.

"Awesome!" She grabbed a scrap of paper and scribbled something down on it, handing it to me with my credit card. "Text me soon so that we can hang out!"

I laughed. "I will." There were angry honks coming from the van behind me, and I saw in my rearview mirror that it was a rather scary-looking plump woman. "I'd better go before Bertha back there eats me," I said, jerking my thumb back.

She giggled. "Oh my God, you're so horrible!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand in an attempt to control the giggles. She waved me away and I pulled ahead.

The skinny guy at the second window handed me the food, which I distributed before parking in the lot in front of the restaurant.

I devoured my meal hungrily, though I'd eaten less than four hours ago. I was pretty much a bottomless pit; one of these days, I'd end up eating myself to death.

I finished before both Christian and Tasha, though my meal had been the biggest. I slurped my Coke as I waited for them to finish, at which point I made Christian get out and throw out our garbage.

I drove the short distance to Douglas Avenue, parking outside a big, two-story brown and beige house that I remembered to be Christian and Tasha's. They got out, thanking me for the ride, and gave me their cell phone numbers.

I switched the song from "Roman's Revenge" to Glee's version of "Defying Gravity". It was one of my favorite songs, and I found myself belting out the notes shamelessly as I drove. Singing was one of my favorite things to do―well, anything to do with music, really. While I sang, I also played guitar, piano, and I knew how to play the drums.

I sang all the way home, which was about a twenty minute drive. I parked the car in the garage, unplugged my iPod, grabbed my bag and got out of the Escalade. I pressed the lock button on the remote and went in the house, hanging the keys on the hook.

"I'm home!" I called to anyone who was listening, sprinting up the stairs to the turret, also known as my bedroom.

My bedroom was amazing. It had a high ceiling with windows everywhere. It was octagonal, and the walls were painted hot pink―yes, pink; I went through a girly phase a few years back. I had a giant wrought-iron four-poster bed in the center with gossamer hanging from the ceiling. A 42" plasma TV was mounted on the wall in front of my bed with a black cabinet underneath that held my movies, my DVD player and my stereo system. A vanity table sat on the far wall, and I had multiple dressers since I didn't have a closet. I had a bookshelf on one wall that was filled with my favorite books―yes, I actually read.

I threw my coat and my bag on my bed. Someone had brought my bags up for me, though I wasn't about to unpack. Right then, I wanted to take a nice, relaxing bubble-bath in my giant tub.

I grabbed my bathrobe and all of my bathroom stuff out of one of my bags and padded barefoot to my ensuite bathroom.

The walls were painted black in here. The cabinets were all white. On the left side was the toilet and the separate shower. On the right was the sink and the tub. I loved my shower, particularly because of its size, and I loved the fact that it had four shower heads: one on the ceiling and the other three on the walls. My tub was amazing, complete with jets. It was probably big enough to hold five people.

I started running the water and putting the bubbles in. I then locked the door and began to undress, throwing my clothes in a heap before chucking them in my hamper. I twisted my hair into a high bun and felt the bubbly water, which was the perfect temperature. I climbed in, luxuriating in the feel of the jets against my back and the lavender scent of the bubble-bath. I leaned my head back so that I could gaze up at the stars through the skylight. There was lots of them, and I easily found a few constellations. I even saw a shooting star.

I got out half and hour later and got in the shower. I scrubbed my hair with my favorite shampoo that, ironically, smelled like roses. Not intentional, because I normally hated anything rose-related. People overused my name as an excuse to get me things that had something to do with roses. It really started to get annoying after a while. But, the one thing that no one ever got me that I actually did want was actual roses. They were my absolute favorite flower, but people thought I'd hate them.

I soon finished and got out, wrapping a towel around myself. I combed my wet hair and decided to let it dry on its own.

I left the bathroom and pawed through my suitcases for some warm pyjamas. I settled for a camisole, a baggy SVA sweater and fuzzy pyjama bottoms.

I took out my phone and sent a quick text to Mia. It's Rose :) U wanna go shopping on friday?

My phone chimed moments later with her reply. What time?

I bit my lip and paused. Decisively, I replied, Lunch time?

She texted back right away. Sounds good 2 me. C u then :)

I grinned. C ya.

I tucked my phone into the pocket of my sweater and pulled my fuzzy panda slippers on. I descended the two flights of stairs to Lily's room, where I knocked on the door.

"Come in!" she called.

I twisted the doorknob and walked in, finding Lily typing away on her laptop. When she looked up and saw that it was me, she grinned and closed it, setting it off to the side.

"Where have you been?" she asked, sitting up.

I sat cross-legged on her giant bed. "I was at Dimitri's for supper. Christian and Tasha showed up," I replied, grinning.

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yup. And I drove them home since I was gonna pass their house anyway, but we went to McDick's for some food. And guess who I saw there?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Mia! I'm going shopping with her in a few days . . . do you wanna come with?"

She pursed her lips and mulled it over for a second before nodding.

"Is everyone different?" she questioned.

"Nah. I mean, they look older and everything, but they're still the same people we played with when we were little," I replied, lying back against the wall.

"That's good," she said. She grinned and poked me in the side. "So, Dimitri's looking pretty good nowadays, huh?" she questioned, waggling her eyebrows. "You two looked pretty cozy tonight."

I scoffed. "Dimitri's just my friend, Lill."

"I don't believe you!" she trilled, giggling.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Think what you want, Lily. Dimitri is my friend, and that's that."

"Rose, I am your twin. Therefore, I know you inside out. And I know that you've got the hots for Dimitri."

"Lillian, have you been sniffing too much white-out? I'm telling you, I just see him as a friend. Nothing romantic. I'm not going to deny the fact that he's cute, but that doesn't mean I'm like, in love with him." But, as I said it, I didn't really know if it was true. I mean, even if it was, how was I to know if he liked me back?

"Whatever you say," she said. I knew that she wouldn't be convinced; Lily was stubborn as a mule.

But really, I wasn't trying to convince her as hard as I was trying to convince myself.

Oooh, I think Rosie has a crush! What about you guys?

So, who was expecting to see Mia? LOL, who else loved that part?

Anyways, I'm going to make some story recommendations now, because they're really good: "Life Will Turn Around" by Nicia (I beta that story!) "Spirit Saved Us" by Lock Ness Monster13 (I beta that too!) "Consequences" by chasing down a daydream (but ONLY if you've read Bloodlines.) "Who Knew?" by Alkerr (AMAZING story.) and "Jar of Hearts" by Liv it up in style (It's a little rough around the edges, but it's got a good storyline. I'm also the beta for it now!)

Next chapter is gonna skip ahead to the day that Rose and Lily go shopping with Mia :) with a few surprises thrown in!

Haha anyways, please review! I was so happy with the response that I got for the last chapter, so show me that same love, please :)

Until next time!

~ Sar ~