Mistake ♦ Romitri

Chapter 25

The atmosphere was bleak and the stone building in front of me wasn't radiating any happiness. If anything, I felt timid of the old building- archaic marks scratched upon its surface. I was terrified and even with Dimitri by my side, I felt venerable to the harsh winds whipping at us from the East. We took it step by step, the palm of his hand on the small of my back. I looked down to his hand and hesitated in grabbing it, in the end clasping my hands together, rubbing them in hopes of warming up.

'It'll be fine.' He reassured quietly as if not to alert the poignant woman strutting ahead of us in the direction of the Headmistress' office.

'I know it will.' I sighed, rubbing my hands again. I hated the cold and it seemed the large complex being surrounded by trees was only trapping it rather than blocking it away. My teeth began to chatter as soon as we were there, a large, wooden door in our way. The woman fished into her pockets and brought out a distorted, brass key and slipped it into the lock. How old was this school, anyway?

The door opened to reveal a rather warm environment. The fireplace was on, distracting me from the dismal autumn weather behind the window. The Headmistress was even more poised than the woman before her. Her nose pointed to the ceiling and he lips were pursed into a state of invisibility. I wanted to laugh in her snobbish face when she began to talk but kept quiet for Dimitri's sake, who was now trying to explain my situation. How we had met. Lie. Relationship. Lie. Mental health issues? Lie. He had made me out so much better than I really was and I couldn't help but thank him. Despite already getting into the school, I would rather it that the other students didn't give me a reputation without meeting me first.

'You're free to go, Rose. The first bell is about to go.' The Headmistress spoke, her voice a high-pitched squeal somewhat similar to a seagull's. I left in a hurry, taking a bag of my books off Dimitri. I made it to my first class before it was too late, Maths. It just had to start with maths. Dishearteningly, I had been put a year behind to catch up on what I had missed so now I sat next to a bunch of fifteen, sixteen-year-olds trying to ignore their loud chit-chatting.

The teacher entered soon after, just as snobby as the rest of them. His voice had a lilt of an English accent yet was masked with such refinement, I didn't even want to decipher what it was. We started on simple equations to start the year and I felt myself lulling off when we got thirty minutes in.

'Hey, you!' The boy next to me hissed, his flaming red hair blinding me from the sides. He looked naturally ginger but it looked as if he had dip-dyed the end of his hair a vibrant red, warding off any hopes of making new friends. I didn't want to judge looks but I would have rather not been blinded every second of my day. Oh, how that plan failed.

'What?' I whispered, exasperated. 'What do you want?' I repeated when he just beamed at me, not saying a word. Did the boy manage to get a crush on me already or something?

'Just wanted to talk to the new girl.' He flirted, winking at me. I hoped he was joking. Soon after the bell rang, I found out I was right. The boy liked to joke just as much as he liked to follow. He, somehow, had ended up in nearly all of my classes and for the time being, it seemed I was stuck with the blinding-hair boy.

'What even is your name?' I asked when he went to sit next to me at lunch. I shuffled along; he was already invading my personal space. I looked down at the slop on the rusty plate the school had given me and I wished that I had just brought a packed lunch. 'Want some of mine?' The boy asked and without hesitation, I nodded. I didn't care who he was, I needed food. A chocolate doughnut would have been so good.

'And to answer your question, my name's Mason Ashford. What's yours, new- girl-who-likes-a-fight? I sighed and shot him a look of knives.

'Rose. Rose Mazur or Rose Belikov even Rose Hathaway, I don't really care.' Why had I gone into such detail? The kid was persuasive. The look he gave me alone was enough to make me spill. He was trained in this area as much as I was trained in arguments. Dear god, please help me.

'That sounds like a backstory coming.' He rubbed his hands together but I simply gave him an annoyed glance. Despite my denial, he was already my friend and I was beginning to regret talking to him in the first place. I didn't want a friend yet within the first day, I had already befriended the most annoying kid in school.

'Not one that I'm going to tell you.' I shot at him, taking the sandwich he had offered me from his hands, biting it greedily. I was never one for majestic eating. I smiled at him for the first time that day as a thank you. It felt amazing to be back to normal. I had left drama and fear behind. For now, I could relax at school and spend my home life eating, doing homework and ignoring Dimitri. I was happy with my plan and it seemed it would all work out perfectly.

Until the day Dimitri got called in for the first time and everyone met my 'dad'. He had been called in after a rather minor fight with an English teacher in which I had called her a racist pig. It hadn't gone down that well with her.

Dimitri didn't mind being called in, surprisingly. He had known it would come sooner or later and as long as I was getting an education and not on the booze again, he was fine. He had met with the Vice-principal. Something I was not allowed to join him on. But, in the process, everyone had finally found out who my dad was and to say they were in love was an understatement. It was clear that I was one of the nicer looking girls of the year but Dimitri, he was a god on earth for them. A mix of the Russian accent and tall stature, along with the sadly overt muscles, made the perfect crush for all high school girls. Suddenly, I had felt the need to push him out of the school to avoid the students gaze. But, I had failed and had to deal with the multiple stares without punching their faces in.

Dimitri and I met on the grounds that was used to sit and laze around at break times. The air was still cold and it was clear that winter was beginning to seep in but we made no move to go inside. 'You have to stop this, Rose. I can't be getting called in daily. I have a job.' He looked down at me, his arms folded.

I sighed, 'I know. It won't happen again,'

'Good, now let's get home.' I nodded and trailed after him, ignoring the jealous stares of the girls and even a few of the boys. I guess this was as good as school could get, though. And as I waved Mason off, I realised, it really was.

word count: 1273

published: 24.03.17