richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

Our instructor was Stan Alto, whom we referred to simply as "Stan" behind his back and
"Guardian Alto" in formal settings. He was a little older than Dimitri, but not nearly as tall, and
he always looked pissed off. Today, that look intensified when he walked into the classroom
and saw me sitting there. His eyes widened in mock surprise as he circled the room and came to
stand beside my desk.
"What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a
privilege! How very generous of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your
knowledge with us.”
I felt my cheeks burning, but in a great show of self-control, I stopped myself from telling him
to fuck off. I'm pretty sure my face must have delivered that message, however, because his
sneer increased. He gestured for me to stand up.
"Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the
class.”
I sank into my seat. "You don't really mean—”
The taunting smile dried up. "I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the
class.”
A thick silence enveloped the room. Stan was a scary instructor, and most of the class was too
awed to laugh at my disgrace quite yet. Refusing to crack, I strode up to the front of the room
and turned to face the class. I gave them a bold look and tossed my hair over my shoulders,
earning a few sympathetic smiles from my friends. I then noticed I had a larger audience than
expected. A few guardians—including Dimitri—lingered in the back of the room. Outside the
Academy, guardians focused on one-on-one protection. Here, guardians had a lot more people
to protect and they had to train the novices. So rather than follow any one person around, they
worked shifts guarding the school as a whole and monitoring classes.
"So, Hathaway," said Stan cheerfully, strolling back up to the front with me. "Enlighten us
about your protective techniques.”
"My…techniques?”