richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

Inasmuch as it could, life returned to normal after that. Lissa did no more cutting. The doctor
prescribed her something—an anti-depressant or anti-anxiety drug, I couldn't remember
which—that made her feel better. I'd never really known anything about those kinds of pills. I
thought they made people silly and happy. But it was a pill like any other, meant to fix
something, and mostly it just kept her normal and feeling stable.
Which was a good thing—because she had some other issues to deal with. Like Andre. She'd
finally believed Christian's story, and allowed herself to acknowledge that Andre might not
have been the hero she'd always believed him to be. It was hard on her, but she finally reached
a peaceful decision, accepting that he could have had both good and bad sides, like we all do.
What he'd done to Mia saddened her, but it didn't change the fact that he'd been a good brother
who loved her. Most importantly, it finally freed her from feeling like she needed to be him to
make her family proud. She could be herself—which she proved daily in her relationship with
Christian.
The school still couldn't get over that. She didn't care. She laughed it off, ignoring the shocked
looks and disdain from the royals who couldn't believe she'd date someone from a humiliated
family. Not all of them felt that way though. Some who had gotten to know her during her brief
social whirlwind actually liked her for her, no compulsion necessary. They liked her honesty
and openness, preferring it to the games most royals played.
A lot of royals ignored her, of course, and talked viciously about her behind her back. Most
surprising of all, Mia— despite being utterly humiliated—managed to wiggle back into the
good graces of a couple of these royals. It proved my point. She wouldn't stay down for long.
And, in fact, I saw the first signs of her revenge lurking again when I walked past her one day
on the way to class. She stood with a few other people and spoke loudly, clearly wanting me to
hear.
"—perfect match. Both of them are from completely disgraced and rejected families.”
I clenched my teeth and kept walking, following her gaze to where Lissa and Christian stood.
They were lost in their own world and formed a gorgeous picture, she blond and fair and he
blue-eyed and black-haired. I couldn't help but stare too. Mia was right. Both of their families
were disgraced. Tatiana had publicly denounced Lissa, and while no one "blamed" the Ozeras