richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

Ugh. I'd forgotten how long the Academy's school day was. Novices and Moroi took separate
classes during the first half of the day, which meant I wouldn't see Lissa until after lunch—if
we had any afternoon classes together. Most of them were standard senior classes, so I felt my
odds were pretty good. Slavic art struck me as the kind of elective no one signed up for, so
hopefully they'd stuck her in there too.
Dimitri and Alberta escorted me to the guardians' gym for first period, neither one
acknowledging my existence. Walking behind them, I saw how Alberta wore her hair in a short,
pixie cut that showed her promise mark and molnija marks. A lot of female guardians did this.
It didn't matter so much for me now, since my neck had no tattoos yet, but I didn't want to ever
cut my hair.
She and Dimitri didn't say anything and walked along almost like it was any other day. When
we arrived, the reactions of my peers indicated it was anything but. They were in the middle of
setting up when we entered the gym, and just like in the commons, all eyes fell on me. I
couldn't decide if I felt like a rock star or a circus freak.
All right, then. If I was going to be stuck here for a while, I wasn't going to act afraid of them
all anymore. Lissa and I had once held this school's respect, and it was time to remind everyone
of that. Scanning the staring, openmouthed novices, I looked for a familiar face. Most of them
were guys. One caught my eye, and I could barely hold back my grin.
"Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on
your own time.”
A few snorts and snickers broke the awed silence, and Mason Ashford snapped out of his haze,
giving me a lopsided smile. With red hair that stuck up everywhere and a smattering of
freckles, he was nice-looking, though not exactly hot. He was also one of the funniest guys I
knew. We'd been good friends back in the day.
"This is my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session.”