Chapter Four

A knock at the door distracted Anastasia from her ministration.

"Coming," she called and abandoned her current hairstyle, letting her hair fall down her onto her shoulders. She opened the door and found Zhanna waiting impatiently.

Zhanna smiled widely at Anastasia. "You're wearing the dress I got you!" she stated excitedly.

"Anastasia sighed, "Yes, I did. You're going to have to wait. I still have to do my hair.""

Zhanna waved her hands dismissively. "It's fine. Here," she ran her fingers through Anastasia's hair and fluffed it, "There. Now come on."

She dragged Anastasia out of her room and outside into the cold early morning. The sun was hours away from rising and the early morning air made Anastasia shiver. The thumping music erupted from one of the dorms could be heard clearly.

Daniel spotted them as soon as they entered the dorm and raced over to meet them. "Hey, Zhanna," he greeted in his best 'cool' voice.

Zhanna rolled her eyes and pushed him aside, "Move over, loser. You're in my way."

Daniel wasn't deterred. He followed her like a lost puppy as she made her way to find someone.

Anastasia went her own way. She met Ancel halfway up the stairs with a drunken female dhampir under his arm. "Hey, Annnna," he slurred as he stumbled a few steps. "Watcha doin' all alone?"

"Where's Marco?"

Ancel shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. Haven't seen 'im." With his final words, Ancel departed stumbling some stairs and falling down the rest.

Anastasia continued p the stairs. She hoped Marco was there. She didn't want to spend the rest of the night alone. She could hang out with Antoinette, but she hung with the Moroi Royals at these parties. The last thing she wanted was to associate herself with them.

As she reached the top of the stairs someone with pale skin and brunette hair bumped into her. "Marco?" she asked.

The boy turned around to face her. "Polo," he giggled drunkenly. As soon as she had seen his face she knew it definitely wasn't Marco. She rolled her eyes in disgust and pushed the drunk Moroi away.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards the balcony at the end of the hallway. She looked up and found it to be Enrique. His normally shaggy hair was sleeked back with gel and his face appeared freshly shaven. "Enrique, what are you doing?"

They reached the balcony, which was vacant, and Enrique quickly shut the door behind them.

"Enrique?" asked again, this time cautiously. Whatever Enrique was planning could not be good.

His head snapped up and their eyes met. "I wanted to talk to you," he said.

Anastasia glanced anxiously towards the door then walked over to lean against the railing next to Enrique.

"What is it?" she questioned, uneasily.

He shifted nervously on his feet. "I've been think…"

Oh here we go, thought Anastasia.

"… What are you planning to do when you finish school?"

"What all dhampir are planning to do – become a Guardian."

"Well, you see, I know someone… they're looking for a Guardian. They're in Russia… near your mother. I though you would…"

"Why are you being all nice about this?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Why do you care where I go when I finish school?"

He suddenly became very shy. His cheeks turned a deep crimson and he quickly dropped his head to hide it. "B-Because… because I…." He said the last few words so low and quickly she couldn't hear him.

"Because you what?" Anastasia whispered, trying not to embarrass Enrique further. Despite how much of a dick he was most of the time, she wasn't as cruel as him and didn't want to humiliate him.

"Because I like you," he mumbled as his eyes snapped to hers.

Anastasia stared back at him, shocked. She couldn't believe what he had just said. He had always been such a jerk to her and her friends. She supposed the saying was true – boys who pulled your hair really did like you.

Enrique took her stillness as a good sign and thought it was the best time to make his move. He learned in slowly towards her and gently pushed his lips to hers. She was too dumb-struck to react at first, but as Enrique forced her lips apart, Anastasia knew she'd have to either encourage the kiss or end it. His hand trailed up her arms to delicately cradle her head.

Before Anastasia could decide, she felt herself reacting to his kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers though his hair. He took this as encouragement and kissed her even more deeply.

Anastasia lost track of time. It felt like an eternity until the balcony door opened and there was a gasp. Anastasia quickly broke away from the kiss and spun around to face Marco, who stared back at her. His eyes flickered to Enrique, then returned to Anastasia.

"I-I've gotta go," he stuttered and walked quickly back inside.

"Marco, wait!" Anastasia called and went to run after him. Enrique caught her hand to stop her. "Let me go," she demanded and tried to twist out of Enrique's grasp.

"Let him go, Ana. He'll be fine, he's just in shock. Give him time to think about it," Enrique said calmingly and drew her into a hug. Anastasia let herself be pulled towards him and be engulfed by his warmth.

As he stroked her hair, all Anastasia could see was the broken look upon Marco's face - the look of despair and disappointment that tugged at her conscience. Silent tears slid down her face as she tried greatly not to cry.

Why was she so upset that Marco had seen her kissing another boy? Why did it matter? They were only friends. Or were they?

The next day, Anastasia could feel the eyes of her friends following her as she entered the mess hall for breakfast the next morning. Everyone - except Marco. He stared intently at his slight tray of food in front of him. As soon as Anastasia had taken her seat, everybody returned their attention to their food. They were all quiet except for Zhanna, who immediately grabbed Anastasia by the arm and dragged her away from the table .

"We need to talk," she muttered.

Zhanna's grip didn't let up until both moroi and dhampir where outside the mess hall's door and, therefore, out of their friends range of hearing. When Zhanna was happy with their location she shoved Anastasia away and into a nearby tree.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Zhanna snapped as Anastasia hit the tree with a thump.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Anastasia replied with just as much emotion.

"I heard about last night," she answered with a glare, "How could you do that to Marco?"

The attitude in which Zhanna shouted her words carried the underlying suggestion that what had happened the previous night was all her fault. The tone immediately put Anastasia on the defensive.

"What do you mean, 'how could I do that to Marco'? I'm not his girlfriend and he's not my boyfriend. What could I have possibly done to Marco? We're friends, that's all."

Zhanna rolled her eyes and pinned Anastasia against the tree in frustration. Anastasia could have easily torn Zhanna's hands from her shoulders but had learned from the past that when things got physical between them in a verbal conflict Zhanna ended up hurt. So Anastasia didn't fight Zhanna's brutish hostility.

"Are you blind? Did you not see him this morning?"

"I saw him," Anastasia retorted, "But do you honestly thinks I planned this? And besides I don't see why he's so upset."

"He saw you making out with the Jerk King! What do you think he's upset about?!" Zhanna barked. "Shit, Anastaisa, you can be really thick sometimes!"

"For your information, he was really sweet last night – not like he usually is… and… I think he likes me. He was really nice to me last night."

Zhanna sighed pityingly, "Anastasia, this has happened before. You know it. Don't go down that path again."

"It's different this time."

"No, its not. It's exactly like the other half a dosen times, only this time Marco's seen you whoring around. And he wasn't bothered when you and Ancel had that 'accident' because he knew neither of you had any feelings for each other. And the other boys – the ones you thought were 'the one' – were different, they weren't the biggest jerk in the school. He's sat by and watched you with other boys, but he was secure because he knew – we all knew- that it would end and you would go crying back to him. But now… now you would rather be with the worst guy in school than with him," Zhanna finished softly and as she gazed at the tree above Anastasia's head.

"It's not like that," Anastasia vehemently shook her head.

Zhanna's eyes instantly reverted back to Anastasia's face. "No? But that's what it's like to him."

Zhanna sighed heavily and released Anastasia. "Don't talk to him again. This is the only way to fix this. Forget about Enrique and break it off. Marco will forgive you."

"No!" Anastasia exclaimed.

Zhanna stared at her shocked. "You would rather ruin your friendship with Marco, your best friend, then leave this boyfriend who –not even 24 hours ago – called you a whore school in front of everyone?"

Anastasia didn't answer. She simply stared at the grassed ground in front of her.

"Fine, if that's how you want it," Zhanna said disappointingly then began to walk away. "I don't think you should rejoin us at breakfast," she added over her shoulder.

"Fine," Anastasia muttered, "I wasn't hungry anyway."

Enrique found her sitting alone under a tree during lunch. She looked so lonely and dejected staring at the clouds in the sky in solitude as they passed over her. He approached her quietly, only the crushing of the grass under his shoes were the only sounds in the area as most the children ate lunch in the mess hall.

He reached her and leaned over so he obstructed her view. Her face brightened immediately and he felt overwhelmingly important to her. She excitedly patted the ground beside her.

"Where are your friends?" he asked.

At the mention of her friends her face darkened. She looked away and gazed at the blade of grass in her hand. "Oh, they were… we are not really talking at the moment."

"Was it because of last night?" he asked cautiously.

She simply nodded her had, still not meeting his eye.

He reached over and placed his hand over the blade of grass… and her hand. She reluctantly looked at him. He stared back her.

"I'm sorry," he said and leant closer, "I won't be like them, I won't let you sit alone."

She smiled at him sadly, "Thank you, but I feel like I've done the wrong thing. I feel so bad at what I did to my friends."

A tear escaped her eye and slowly rolled down her cheek.

Enrique wiped it away with his thumb, "Shh, you did nothing wrong."

"Maybe I should go apologise to them," she cried softly as she started to move away.

"No, no, no," he said softly to her. He gently wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her close.

"You don't have anything to apologize to them for, " he whispered in her ear, "Stay here with me, okay? You don't need them, if they won't accept who you like then they're not very good friends, are they? No. No, they're not."

He kissed away the tears on her cheek then kissed the rest of her face, finishing on her lips. As soon his lips touched hers, her arms wrapped around Enrique's neck like a vice. She was not going to let go of him anytime soon. He was like a security blanket. He would hurt her. He would never hurt her.

They fell back onto grass together, lips locked. When she finally came up for air, Enrique stared down at her tear-streaked face.

"Don't worry, Ana. All you need is me."