AN: Hi guys. So I've got chapter seven done. I really hope you enjoy it, because I had so much fun writing it.

Little Lies

All characters belong to Richelle Mead; I only own my imagination.

Chapter 7.

Christian's point of view

The night of the Halloween dance, I tried very hard to stay away from Sarah hoping that if I avoided her she'd forget to try and coax me into going with her and Mark. Try as I did, she still managed to catch up to me after dinner and after my feeding.

"Christian Ozera, are you avoiding me?" Her voice called out after me. I kept walking calmly towards my dorm and ignored her. She quickly sauntered up to me and stuck her chin out in a determined gesture.

"You're going to the dance, like it or not," she stated.

I gave her a sideways look out of the corner of my icy blue eye. We walked in silence for a while. She clamped her hands together and hummed. She was wearing a green sweater that brought out her light brown eyes and pale skin. Her heels clicked on the hard floor that we walked on. The sound of each of her steps hit my eardrums in sharp violent bangs. I bit my tongue and pressed my lips together tightly.

"You are not moping alone in your room tonight," Sarah said and crossed her arms. "I absolutely forbid it," she stated.

I felt my lips tug into a smile. "You forbid me?"

"Yes, I forbid you," Sarah said and slapped my arm playfully.

"I told you I don't want to go to the dance. Why can't you just be nice and let me be?" I asked with a bit of a whiny voice.

"Being a good friend doesn't always mean being nice. Haven't you ever heard about 'tough love'?"

I laughed dryly. "You're impossible."

"Impossible to say no to," Sarah chimed. "So it's settled then. You'll come to the dance. Try to wear something nice."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, look at the time…" Sarah gasped, making a funny face at me. "Gotta go, see you at the dance!" She exclaimed as she started her getaway with a light run.

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. "Shit, she's impossible alright."

After I finally made it to my room I was now faced with another problem. If indeed I was going to the damned dance I'd have to find something to wear. I dropped my bag on the floor and made my way to my closet. I let my eyes roam over the choice of clothes, not really settling onto anything special. I took another, more careful look and picked out a few shirts that Sarah just might consider nice. I dropped one on the floor of the closet and bent down to lift it up. As I did I noticed it had landed on a thick dusty book, a book I recognized very well.

The book I held in my hands held inside it thoughts, creations and miraculous ideas of very bright people. I let my fingers study the rough surface of the cover and land on the gold engraving of the title. It's funny how such a small object as a book could totally rip me out of reality and thrust me into the void of my own mind. Funny as it seemed, to me it was terrifying. I put the book down on my desk and dressed up in dance attire, which for me consisted of a white dress shirt and dark blue (almost black) suit pants. I grabbed my phone and a pack of gum and stuffed them in my pockets. I left my room and walked through the dusty corridors of St. Vladimir's to the main hall which had been converted into a dance room. As soon as I neared the hall I could hear the music blasting from every direction. For such an old fashioned school as St. Vladimir's they sure had one hell of a sound system. Instantly I felt like I wanted to sink into the ground or disappear into the shadows. I was surrounded by Moroi and Dhampir all dressed in their best clothes, all dolled up, squealing, excited and most of them highly intoxicated. Drinking or consuming alcohol inside school grounds was against the rules, but honestly it was probably the most breakable rule I had ever heard of. I tried to search for Sarah and Mark but it was kind of hard to pin point their exact location considering everyone was wearing costumes. I sighed and put on a black mask with silver patterns on it. Sarah had given it to me earlier today; she had insisted that it would bring out the blue in my eyes. Luckily it only covered the upper half of my face; otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd just look like some kind of whack job serial killer.

After what seemed like an eternity of pushing through Dracula wannabes and girls wearing ridiculously short dresses with plummeting neck lines lined with jewels and on their heads a pair of black ears (apparently they were supposed to be cats), I finally gave up on looking for Sarah and Mark. For people who really insisted on having me here at this bloody party they weren't showing much interest in how I was doing. I walked up to the refreshments table (that unfortunately didn't contain a drop of blood, such a shame) and grabbed a red plastic cup. As I filled it with orange punch that smelled suspiciously like alcohol I heard an eerily familiar voice let out a relaxed laugh.

"Look at what the cat dragged in." Rose smirked at me with her hands on her hips. "Didn't think you were the party kind of guy, Ozera. What are you doing here?" I could hear a slight slur in her usually steady voice.

"Actually I was just casually hoping not to run into you," I said and stuck my hands in my pockets.

"Well being at a party…" Rose said and spread her hands. "…isn't a very good strategy for avoiding me, since, I just happen to be a party kind of girl."

"Really?" I asked in a mock surprised tone. "I never would have guessed." I took a sip of my red cup and felt the liquid it held leave a warm fuzzy trail down my throat, thus confirming my earlier suspicions of the ingredients of the punch.

"Well, you know, a girl can't reveal all her secrets in the beginning of the game," Rose said and pushed back a lock of her dark hair.

"I didn't know we were playing a game," I said and narrowed my eyes.

"Don't pay such close attention to what I'm saying." Rose let out another burst of laughter. She leaned closer to me, invading my personal space. I could smell her perfume mixed with sweat. "I'm a little drunk." She let out another bubbly laugh that confirmed her statement.

"You don't say," I sighed, shaking my head playfully and grabbing her arm to steady her. "Maybe you shouldn't be wearing those heels when intoxicated."

Rose gave me a look. "Please, I could walk a mile in these shoes drunk and blindfolded."

"Alrighty then," I said, simply agreeing with her, because really there was no point in arguing. I was about to continue the flow of our unusually easy conversation when Rose suddenly stiffened.

"Quick, Ozera," she hissed at me and grabbed my arms pulling me closer to her. I instantly cringed away from her. It's not that there was anything wrong with Rose, well aside from the fact that she was completely plastered and probably wouldn't remember a thing about this whole conversation tomorrow, but as she pulled me closer I could only think of someone else I'd rather have me pulled close that way. And even though I would never admit it to myself, that someone was not a brunette nor did she have dark eyes.

"Rose, what are you doing?"

"The question is - what are we doing? Let me answer that for you. We are going to dance," Rose said hazardously, looking over my shoulder.

"Look, I'm not much of a dancer and I don't think this is a good idea." I uncomfortably moved away from her, but she pulled me right back. As a Dhampir she was indeed stronger than me and thus I was stuck. "Please," She whispered. "You don't even have to dance, just look like you're having fun."

"Um…I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly the poster child for having fun," I said, but followed her onto the dance floor.

"Oh lighten up, Ozera. If you just do this for me, I'll talk to Lissa for you. I'll say whatever you want." Rose placed her hands on my shoulders and clamped them together behind my neck. "Now you put your hands on my hips."

"You'll really talk to Lissa?" I asked, ignoring her orders and the eighties music that was very out of place for a Halloween dance. Suddenly all I could think of was that there was a slight possibility for someone else to fix my issues with Lissa.

"Hands!" Rose whispered in an impatient tone. I placed my hands on her hips with the utmost reserve. I wasn't comfortable touching her. Even though this clearly wasn't an awkward situation for her, it was much more than awkward for me who possessed the social skills of a garden gnome.

"Why do you want me to dance with you anyway?" I asked.

"I'm trying to make someone jealous," she answered me bluntly.

"And you think they'll be jealous to see you with me?" I asked a bit baffled. "I'm actually flattered."

"Oh please don't flatter yourself Ozera. I wouldn't be doing this if I weren't desperate. Plus, this someone is a special case." Rose moved quite swiftly to the music and made me follow her lead.

"Well, do let me know if this plan of yours works." I said and let her spin around.

We danced in silence for a while, listening to the fleeting words of people passing us. The atmosphere of the dance was all consuming. People seemed to forget who and what they were supposed to be. Screams and squeals could surely travel to headmistress Kirova's office, but no one seemed to care enough to break out of the party induced haze. After all I myself, Christian Ozera, was dancing with an admittedly beautiful girl, drinking spiked punch and having a better time than I'd hoped to be having. So, the girl wasn't the one I would have preferred, but apparently in life you couldn't always have what you wanted.

"So what are you supposed to be, Ozera?" Rose asked me, looking up with squinted eyes. "Is that like a lame Zorro costume or something, because I don't get it?"

"Zorro?" I asked and shook my head in disbelief. "No it's more like I didn't have a costume and my friend just had me wear this fancy mask," I said and lifted my right hand from her hip to tap at a sliver jem on the side of my face.

"You have friends?" Rose exclaimed, earning a few mildly interested glances in our direction.

I rolled my eyes. "Isn't that joke a bit old?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I didn't mean it like that. I just mean that…I mean… I actually don't know what I mean." Rose seemed irritated by her lack of words.

"It's okay," I said. "I know what you mean."

"You know it's actually not ok," Rose said looking straight at me. "It's not, but because generally the world is a dark and shitty place, no one tends to care."

"What has gotten into you, Hathaway?" I asked surprised by her sudden outburst of darkness.

Rose shook her head. "I don't know…lately I've just felt really…"
"Hey, Rose!" She was cut off quite abruptly by Mason Ashford who walked right up to us with a certain confidence in his step.

"Mase!" Rose exclaimed and turned around, leaving me feeling quite cold and abandoned.

"Hey," Mason nodded at me.

"Hey right back at you," I said and forced myself to smile.

Mason returned my smile and slipped his hand behind Rose's back, steadying her. "It looks like she had some punch," Mason laughed.

"Hey, I am not responsible for my current state. I'm pretty sure someone poured a whole bottle of Russian vodka into that punch." Rose leaned back on Mason.

"Well, I'm sorry Christian, I've got to steal her from you," Mason said with a steady voice.

"Please, be my guest." I tapped my foot impatiently against the floor.

"Why do we gotta go? I'm having actually having a nice conversation with him," she said and pointed at me. "And by nice I mean that I didn't want to gauge my eyes out when he spoke." She smiled fondly at me.

"Gee thanks, the compliments just keep coming." I joked back at her.

"Well," Mason cleared his throat. "Lissa is looking for you. You don't want to abandon her do you?"

As soon as I heard Lissa's name I felt my throat clench. It seemed as if everything I did and anywhere I went she was always there. I bit my cheek and gave Rose a leveled look. She had promised to talk to Lissa after all.

"Hey, Christian, why don't you come with us? I'd feel kind of bad leaving you here all alone. It would feel kind of like kicking a puppy ya know?" Rose extended her hand.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"You don't think anything is a good idea," Rose stated and nodded. "You know you waaaant to," she chimed.

"Just come," Mason said and started to lead Rose across the room to a secluded area with booths lined along the wall. I decided to follow them since I didn't really want to stay alone. And of course I would be lying to myself if I said that the idea of seeing Lissa didn't excite me at all. We pushed through the crowd until Mason led us to the very corner booth. I saw Lissa get up to greet Mason and Rose. She looked beyond beautiful. She was wearing a white full length gown that sparkled lightly. Her platinum hair was down in curls and her green eyes popped out like emeralds. My staring was interrupted by another figure emerging to stand next to Lissa. It was a tall lean man with green eyes a shade lighter than hers. He had hair that was styled carefully in a messy look and his outfit was completed by a mischievous smirk playing on his lips. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

"There you are," Lissa said and pulled Rose towards her. "I thought you were only getting a drink."

The man next to Lissa let out a laugh and rolled his green eyes. "It's never just one drink."

"Shut up Adrian!" Rose exclaimed and slapped the man (apparently named Adrian) on his arm. "Besides, you're the one to talk."

"I am. I have a policy of bringing my own drinks," he said and pulled out a silver flask and took a swig of something that reeked like hard core liquor.

I sighed and looked down at the ground. I wanted to dissolve into the ground and forget about this conversation.

"Who'd you bring with you?" Adrian asked and cocked his annoyingly neat eyebrows and fixed his eyes on me. I raised my eyes to meet his and started him down.

"This," Rose said and pointed at me. "…Is Christian Ozera. Do you know who he is?" She asked Adrian.

"I have a vague idea. I certainly know the name, Ozera. I got shit from my parents because I threw up on the Ozera family mansion's front lawn back in Court." Adrian smiled wickedly at me. "Sorry man. I've learned my lesson." He extended his hand. I took it and shook it. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Adrian Ivashkov," he said.

"Charmed," I mumbled at him and let go of his hand.

"Why don't we all sit down and eat something?" Mason suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lissa said sounding like I had just a minute ago. She fiddled with the long sleeve of her white dress and pulled at it nervously.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "I need to go anyway. I'm looking for my friends." I turned to leave and heard Rose telling Mason in an animated voice that I actually had friends.

"Who are you looking for?" I heard Lissa ask in a careful and fragile voice. It was like she was testing the ice, to see if it would crack.

"Why do you care?" I said in a monotone voice, turning to face her again.

Her face was an emotionless canvas that I had no way of reading. I felt the others staring at us, waiting for her to answer.

"I-I don't know, I just thought…" She shook her head and looked down.

"Yeah. Alright," I said and ran my hand through my dark hair. "I'm just gonna go now."

I turned and took fast steps leading me away from my certain destruction. "Bye Christiaaaan." I heard Rose yelling after me. And just like that I left the party, walked up stairs to my dorm room, slammed the door and sat myself down on the edge of my bed to figure out what the hell just happened.

AN: Soo? What did you think? Did you like Adrian? Did you like Rose and Christian having a little moment. Do you have any suggestions or guesses as to where this story is going? Well you know what to do! Leave a review!

Love Always, Alexandra!