Thank you very much for your reviews! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.

CHAPTER 35

2 months later

DPOV

"Have you heard?" Ivan said.

"What?" I said, annoyed, as I helped Liam put on his shoes and tied his shoelaces because he was too impatient to do it himself.

Today was the first school day and I'd been up all morning trying to get my kids ready in time. Last night, they'd been whining and complaining that they didn't want to go to school and this morning, I had to literally drag them out of their beds. And now Ivan was here, making us late. Something I'd not wanted to happen on their first day back to school.

"Rose is back in town."

I froze for a moment. Rose. I hadn't seen or heard her in two months. Which wasn't such a surprise since I'd broken her heart. Of course, she didn't want to talk to me anymore. A week after she'd left with Christian, I'd tried calling her, but every time I tried it went straight to voicemail. I figured she'd blocked my number, because when I called Christian, he picked up and when I asked him about Rose, he scolded me and told me to never call her again. So I hadn't tried calling anymore. Christian was right, after all. I didn't have any business calling Rose. She wasn't my girlfriend anymore.

Ivan had scolded me, too. For breaking up with Rose when everything had been going so well. He'd called me a moron for listening to Rose's mother.

"Oh, she is?" I asked, trying to appear casual.

I was lucky Liam was distracted and hadn't heard Ivan mentioning Rose or else he would've started to freak out. Liam had had a hard time when Rose had left. His nightmares had come back, but this time he hadn't been crying for his mother but for Rose. Inna and Alisa had been mad at me for the first few weeks, but after a while they'd started acting normal again, which I was glad for. They still missed Rose, though. They all did. And I did too.

"Yes. Are you going to talk to her?" Ivan prompted.

"No. Why would I?"

"Um, I don't know. Maybe so you can get back together with her?" Ivan said sarcastically, looking at me as if I was stupid.

I got up and sighed. "Can we talk about this later?"

"Fine," Ivan said.

I called Alisa and Inna down and when they came downstairs five minutes later, Ivan left. I dropped the kids off at school and then went to work. I tried not to think about Rose, but it was hard. She was all I could think about these past few months and now that she was back… I had to force myself to stay seated and not rush over to campus and see her.

Ivan came over during lunch time to discuss Rose - again. He tried to convince me to go to Rose and apologize to her.

"Maybe she'll take you back," he said, hopeful. "But I think there'll be lots of groveling – from you – needed. I mean, what you did was awful so I think she deserves a little more than an apology."

"Ivan," I said, clenching my jaw. He just rambled on. "Ivan!"

He stopped and gave me a questioning look.

"I can't go talk to her," I said.

"Why not? You still love her, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." With all my heart. "But I can't. Nothing's changed. I don't want to trap her. She's finally free. I can't just-"

"Then what are you going to do?" Ivan cut me off. "Are you going to stay miserable for the rest of your life? Because that's how you've been this summer. You've been doing nothing but moping around."

"I haven't!" I protested, frowning.

"Yes, you have! You might put up a brave face for your kids, but I see right through it," Ivan said. "I know you feel miserable and I know you want her back."

I looked down and shook my head. "It's too late."

"You don't know that."

I looked back up at Ivan. "I do. And I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Ivan stared at me for a long time, his face hardening. "Fine. I'll leave you to your work, then."

I let out another sigh and forced myself not to think about Rose so I could finally get some work done.

RPOV

It was weird, being back on campus. Christian and I had come back yesterday in the late afternoon. As soon as we'd arrived, we'd left again to have dinner at our favorite pizza parlor and afterwards, we'd gone to the movies.

Yesterday, I'd only unpacked the necessities. The larger part was still stuffed into boxes and bags. I was just going to unpack the rest of my stuff when there was a knock on my door. I wondered who the hell it could be. Christian had just gone up to his room so he could unpack his own stuff. I didn't expect anyone else but him, really.

It could be Adrian, though. I hadn't seen him all summer, though we'd mailed each other. He'd spent his summer touring around Europe with Sydney.

But when I opened the door, it wasn't Adrian or Christian standing in the hallway. It was Ivan. I stared at him, surprised.

"Ivan, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I heard you were back," he said, giving me a small smile. "I thought I'd come and see how you are. So…how are you?"

"I'm good. How are you?" I stepped aside so he could enter. "Where did you hear I was back? Did Christian tell you?"

I don't think Christian would have, though. But I couldn't imagine who else would've told Ivan.

"Um, no," Ivan said. "I know from a girl from your classes. She saw you walking across campus yesterday."

I raised my eyebrows. "A girl from my class? Who is she?"

"Her name is Abby… I think," he said, a small frown on his face. Then he shrugged. "I slept with her once. Maybe a couple of times. She said she knows you."

I laughed. "Okay. I did not need that information. I hope you told her not to expect a relationship?"

"Of course," he said grinning.

I rolled my eyes. "You're such a man whore."

"I am not," he denied.

I gave him a pointed look. "You are."

He just smiled.

"So, why are you here again?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see how you are doing – I mean, it's been so long since I've seen you. And, well, I'm also here on behalf of Dimitri."

My heart clenched when I heard Dimitri's name. "What do you mean?" I asked, trying to appear casual. "Does he…does he know I'm back?"

Ivan nodded.

I glanced away. "Oh."

"Yeah. Do you think you'd like to see him again? Talk to him?"

I looked back up at Ivan. "No."

Ivan frowned. "Why not?"

I scoffed. "You have to ask?"

"Dimitri is really sorry about what happened," he said. "And he's miserable."

"Yeah, well, it's his own fault," I said flatly.

"I know and he knows it too, but-"

I sighed. "If you've come here to talk about Dimitri, I'd prefer you leave. I'm over him and I don't want to see him again."

That was a lie, of course. I was nowhere near over Dimitri. I was still aching for him, still missing him like crazy. But Ivan couldn't know that. He would definitely tell Dimitri and I didn't want him to know I was still pining over him.

"Okay, I understand," Ivan said after a few moments. "I just thought you should know that Dimitri still loves you."

He gave me a small smile and a nod before turning around and leaving. I let out a sigh and sank down onto my bed. This was so not what I needed right now. I needed to get over Dimitri, but Ivan telling me that Dimitri still loved me didn't make it any easier. It only made things harder.

Don't think about it, I chastised myself.

Shaking my head slightly, I forced myself to stop thinking about Dimitri. Getting up, I returned to my task of unpacking my things.

When I finished unpacking, I went into town, looking for a job. I didn't find one that day, but the next day, when I went to the supermarket, I noticed a vacancy taped to the wall. I applied and hoped for the best.

A week later, I got a call from one of the staff members, telling me that I was hired. I was relieved, because college would start tomorrow and I needed money to pay for my new books and tuition.

Even after being apart for two months, I still had to adjust. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and think I'd have to babysit Dimitri's kids. Then I'd realize we'd broken up and that I had a new, crappy job now as a cashier in the supermarket.

The next few weeks, I didn't hear from Ivan again and I didn't see or hear from Dimitri either. I thought for sure Ivan would've told Dimitri he'd seen me and then Dimitri would come and see for himself if I was back. I know I should feel relieved that he was leaving me alone, but actually I just felt sad.

Had he already moved on? Had I meant that little to him? Or did he have a new girlfriend? Hayley maybe? I would be mad, though, if she was his girlfriend. After all, Dimitri did break up to me because he thought I had a whole life ahead of me and didn't want to trap me, right? Then it should be the same for Hayley, too. She was even younger than me so it wouldn't be fair if he treated her differently.

Stop thinking about Dimitri! I chastised myself again, clearing my head of any thoughts of him.

Christian and Adrian took me out on a Friday night, to help me forget about Dimitri. Adrian tried to get me drunk while Christian said horrible things about Dimitri and told me I was better off without him. Neither of them were really helping me, but I appreciated that they were trying. I was really blessed with friends like them.

On that same night, I ran into Ivan again. He was at the same bar we were and when he noticed me, he walked over to me. He was with a younger girl – like always – and she followed him petulantly as she glared at me.

"Hey Rose," he said, hugging me, which made the girl even more pissed off. "Long time no see. How are you?"

"I'm fine. How are you?" I asked smiling.

"I'm great," he said winking. Then he turned serious. "But Dimitri…"

"Ugh, don't start again, please," I said with a sigh.

Christian scowled at Ivan. "Did Dimitri send you to make things right for him or what?"

"No. He doesn't even know about our last talk," Ivan said, looking at me. "He'd kill me if he knew."

"Why? It's not like he cares," I muttered, downing the rest of my drink.

"Yeah, he's a prick," Christian said darkly.

Ivan glared at him. "Careful there, you're talking about my best friend."

Christian paled a little and quickly looked away, taking a sip of his drink, while Adrian laughed softly.

"You're a wuss," he said chuckling, which earned him a glare in return.

"Look, Ivan," I said sighing. "I appreciate you being concerned, but I'm fine. I'll be okay without Dimitri. And I'm sure he'll be, too. So, please stop trying to get me to talk to him."

Ivan looked at me for a long time and sighed. "Fine. But you should know that Dimitri isn't okay. And he won't be okay as long as you guys are apart."

He left, his new conquest following him like a puppy.

"You shouldn't listen to Ivan," Christian muttered. "That guy is full of crap. The way he treats those girls…" He shook his head slightly and took another sip of his beer. "Seriously, stay away from him."

Ivan might be a player, but he wasn't all that bad. I considered him a friend…sort of. And he was Dimitri's best friend. He wouldn't tell me all this if it wasn't true, right?

But even if it was true, it was too late for Dimitri and me. He'd broken my heart and I didn't know if I could ever trust him again. But it didn't matter. Dimitri never tried to look me up so I figured he was okay enough and that he didn't need me or want me anymore. Ivan had probably overreacted.

I groaned. "Ugh, I need another drink. And distraction. I especially need distraction."

"Well, let's go then," Adrian said. "It's kind of boring in here. We can go to this club I know. It's never boring there. And you can get another drink there."

Christian looked disapprovingly, but I didn't care. I really needed something to distract me from my thoughts.

"Fine," I said, hopping off my barstool. "Bring me to this club that's going to make me forget about Dimitri."

So, Ivan is trying to get them back together. But it isn't really working, is it? ;)

Don't worry too much, though. I promise that next chapter there will be some Rose and Dimitri interaction! Have a nice day/evening! :)