"Did you start another fire? No guys allowed in this hall."
"Whatever. Like that makes a difference." True. The school might be able to keep Strigoi out, but they did a horrible job at keeping the rest of us away from each other. "Let me in. You've got to get ready."
It took me a minute to realize what he meant. "No. I'm not going."
"Come on," he prodded, following me inside. " 'Cause you had a fight with Lissa? You guys are going to make up soon. No reason for you to stay here all night. If you don't want to be around her, Eddie's getting a group together over in his room later."
My old, fun-loving spirit perked its head up just a bit. No Lissa. Probably no royals. "Yeah?"
Seeing that he was starting to get me, Mason grinned. Looking at his eyes, I realized again how much he liked me. And again I wondered, Why couldn't I just have a normal boyfriend? Why did I want my hot, older mentor - the mentor I'd probably end up getting fired?
"It'll just be novices," Mason continued, oblivious to my thoughts. "And I have a surprise for you when we get there."
"Is it in a bottle?" If Lissa wanted to ignore me, I had no reason to keep myself sober.
"No, that's at Eddie's. Hurry up and get dressed. I know you aren't wearing that."
I looked down at my ripped jeans and University of Oregon T-shirt. Yeah. Definitely not wearing this.
Fifteen minutes later, we cut across the quad back over to the commons, laughing as we recounted how a particularly clumsy classmate of ours had given himself a black eye in practice this week. Moving quickly over the frozen ground wasn't easy in heels, and he kept grabbing my arm to keep me from falling over, half-dragging me along. It made us laugh that much more. A happy feeling started to well up in me - I wasn't entirely rid of the ache for Lissa, but this was a start.
Maybe I didn't have her and her friends, but I had my own friends. It was also very likely that I was going to get head-over-heels drunk tonight, which, while not a great way to solve my problems, would at least be really fun. Yeah. My life could be worse.
Then we ran into Dimitri and Alberta.
They were on their way somewhere else, talking guardian business. Alberta smiled when she saw us, giving us the kind of indulgent look older people always give to younger people who appear to be having fun and acting silly. Like she thought we were cute. The nerve. We stumbled to a halt, and Mason put a hand on my arm to steady me.
"Mr. Ashford, Miss Hathaway. I'm surprised you aren't already in the commons."
Mason gave her an angelic, teacher's-pet smile. "Got delayed, Guardian Petrov. You know how it is with girls. Always got to look perfect. You especially must know all about that."
Normally I would have elbowed him for saying something so stupid, but I was staring at Dimitri and incapable of speech. Perhaps more importantly, he was staring at me too.
I had on the black dress, and it was everything I'd hoped it could be. In fact, it was a wonder Alberta didn't call me on the dress code right there and then. The fabric clung everywhere, and no Moroi girl's chest could have held this dress up. Victor's rose hung around my neck, and I'd done a hasty blow-dry of my hair, leaving it down the way I knew Dimitri liked it. I hadn't worn tights because no one wore tights with dresses like this anymore, so my feet were freezing in the heels. All for the sake of looking good.
And I was pretty sure I looked damn good, but Dimitri's face wasn't giving anything away. He just looked at me - and looked and looked. Maybe that said something about my appearance in and of itself. Remembering how Mason sort of held my hand, I pulled away from him. He and Alberta finished up their joking remarks, and we all went our separate ways.
Music blasted inside the commons when we arrived, white Christmas lights and - ugh - a disco ball casting the only light in the otherwise darkened room. Gyrating bodies, mostly underclassmen, packed the dance floor. Those who were our age stood in too-cool clusters along the edges of the room, waiting for an opportune time to sneak off. An assortment of chaperones, guardians and Moroi teachers alike, patrolled around, breaking up those dancers who did a little too much gyrating.
When I saw Kirova in a sleeveless plaid dress, I turned to Mason and said, "Are you sure we can't hit the hard liquor yet?"
He snickered and took my hand again. "Come on, time for your surprise."
Letting him lead me, I walked across the room, cutting through a cluster of freshmen who looked way too young to be doing the kind of pelvic thrusts they were attempting.
Where were the chaperones when you needed them? Then I saw where he was leading me and came to a screeching halt.
"No," I said, not budging when he tugged my hand.
"Come on, it's going to be great."
"You're taking me to Jesse and Ralf. The only way I can ever be seen with them is if I've got a blunt object, and I'm aiming between their legs."