Chapter 5

     I've never been more excited to go to lunch than I was now.  So far, the day was going pretty good.  My new friends, Lance Finradi and Asalie Kettoshi had almost all the same classes with me except for second period.  Dimitri continued to pursue me, but he stayed a bountiful distance away.

 

     "Hey, how come Biranchi is following you?" Lance whispered.

     "Biranchi?" I said, puzzled. "Oh, you mean Dimitri?  He's my mentor and I guess a friend."

     I continued walking until I noticed my friends stopped.  I turned befuddled and their mouths were agape.  I blinked and strode back to them.

     "Uh, guys?  Are you okay?" I inquired.

     "You're being mentored by Dimitri Biranchi?!"  They exclaimed in unison.

     "Ow!" I complained, and leaned away. "What's the big deal?"

     "He's.... a prodigy!" Lance said.

     "Is he really that good?" I asked.

     "Yeah!  He's incredible!" Lance chirped.

     "And, if you think you're hurting now, you'll be worse when he's through with you," added Asalie.

     I didn't like that idea very much.

 

   

     We took our seats at a table and I met a couple of their friends.  They began talking about something trivial and my eyes scanned the room.  I noticed one of the upperclassmen was looking at me.  He had raven black hair and tan skin and he looked a lot like Lance.  I assumed he was his brother.  He didn't seem the least bit upset or abashed that I caught him.  Instead, he winked at me and I did my best to keep my composure.  I wasn't normally like that around upperclassmen, but there was something different about this guy.  I don't know how to describe it, but thankfully the bell rang at the same moment as my mark vibrated painfully.  I bit back a yowl, but I still cringed.  If my friends noticed, they didn't say anything.

 

     The rest of the day went by pretty fast and I actually had a lot of laughs.  Unfortunately, the mark was really starting to hurt.  The pain was coming more and more frequently and it was starting to become unbearable.  But by then it was the end of the day and, like he ordered, I met Dimitri in the gym.  He was leaning against the wall, like he had been all day, and startled me when he spoke.

 

     "Is your mark paining you still?" I nodded.

     As if to back me up, the mark throbbed and I cringed, narrowing my eyes in pain.  Dimitri stalked up behind me and placed his hand on the mark.  His hand was nice and gentle and there was a faint glow.  The pain receded and I relaxed, sighing softly.  He removed his hand and threw me a pair of clothes.

 

     "These are you're training clothes.  You'll use them for practice with me and for your sparring classes," he explained and gestured to the locker room. "Go change and meet me out here."

     I did so and came out in a black T-Shirt and matching kaprees.  I was getting pretty sick of all the black and asked him why we couldn't dress casually.

     "Think of it as a uniform.  However, you can dress casually on weekends when you don't have classes or for special occasions such as holidays or dances," he explained, "Now, come on.  Time for some stretches."

 

     We did all sorts of stretches for a half an hour and then he told me what my daily routine would be.  Five miles, fifty push-ups and sit-ups, fifty pull-ups, and ten suicides.  I was a little surprised that he knew what suicides were, but then assumed Tyler mentioned it to him.  Now I understood why Asalie had said I'd be in worse condition than I already was.  The only good part was my mark had stopped hurting.  For now, at least.

 

     I began the five miles and I don't know how long it took me, but the look on Dimitri's face told me it was bad.  The push-ups and sit-ups were fairly easy.  I had a little difficult on the pull-ups and just barley completed them.  By the time I got to the suicides, I was ready to pass out.  But I wouldn't let him know, so I ran.  I was only halfway done when I stumbled and fell.  I lay on the wooden floor and tried to regulate my anomalous breathing.  I got back to my feet and finished the rest of the suicides.  Then I passed out.

 

 

 

     I awoke several minutes later and my vision focused on Dimitri's face.  I quickly sat up and the world began to spin.  I held my head and laid down.

     "Try not to move just yet.  You fainted due to exhaustion so you need to drink water," he handed me a bottle, which I gladly took from him and drank deeply.

     "There's nothing wrong with taking a break.  Especially if you are about to pass out.  Were those to difficult for you?"  I wasn't sure if he was taunting me or being serious.  Either way, I wasn't going to admit it to him.

     I shook my head. "No, I...I'm just out of shape.  It was a tough first day, but I'm fine."

 

     I returned the empty water bottle to him and sat up.  I began to get vertigo but I erased the feeling by shaking my head.  I got to my feet and stumbled while Dimitri remained on the bleachers.  He studied me carefully and I frowned.

 

     "What is it?" I asked.

     "You are...a lot more like Tyler than I thought.  Like him, you are also determined.  Stupid, at some times, but determined no doubt."  I glared at him and turned away from him.

     "I hate being compared to him," I muttered mainly to myself, but I guess he heard to.

     "Why is that?"

     "'Oh, Tyler!  You're so amazing!' 'Tyler was the best in my class!' 'I hope you'll be just like Tyler!'" I sneered. "It's not exactly a great feeling."

     I heard Dimitri stand up, but didn't turn to him. "Are you saying you hate your brother?"

     I whirled around and stared at him incredulously. "No!  Of course not!"

    "But you hate being compared to him."

     "So what?"

     "It sounds kind of odd, don't you think?  I would think being compared to someone like Tyler is a good thing."

     "That's because you don't know anything about me."

 

     He didn't answer to that.  Instead, he looked directly at me, watching me, and I stared back.  Brown and green orbs bored into each other intensely.  Our staring contest ended when he finally spoke.

     "Yes, well, that's enough for today.  Go change and I'll show you to your room."  Dimitri sat back down on the bleachers while I disapeared into the locker room.

 

 

     I took a shower as soon as I got into my room.  I played some music as well, to soothe myself.  As water trailed down my body, I examined to see how badly I was injured.  I had bruises all over my body, some worse than others.  I mentally groaned.  This was just the first day.  I knew I needed to improve dramatically if I wanted to catch up with everyone else.  After I showered, I found a light pink nightgown on my bed as well as a sticky note.  I slipped on the nightgown and read the note.

 

     Glad you're finally here, sweetie.

 

     It occurred to me then that I hadn't seen my Mom since my birthday.  Although she was here, I had a feeling I wouldn't be seeing much of her.  I laid down on my bed gently and stared at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come.  It took various hours, but finally it came.  The next morning, most of the bruises had faded, but the one on my cheek was the most annoying.  No amount of cover-up would fix that, so I just left it, not really caring. 

 

     To my surprise, and joy, Tyler came to my room.  He was still injured, but he was able to walk.  We sat together at breakfast and I explained my first day to him.  During the middle of my story, two girls walked past us briefly and said "I'm glad you're feeling better, Master."  Once they left, I looked at him and demanded answers.  He told me that he was a teacher here and that's when it clicked.

 

     "You're my sparing master, aren't you?" He nodded. "Makes sense.  That's why you taught me all that self-defense stuff."

     "Yup.  I wanted to prepare you as best I could."

     "Well, it didn't do any good.  I got killed yesterday.  Both in classes and with Dimitri."

     "It'll pass, don't worry."

 

     He was right, for once.  As time passed, my reflexes grew sharper and my muscles stopped disputing with me.  I was only slightly behind in my sparring classes, but it was the elemental classes I was having trouble with.  It was difficult for me to learn and I discovered that my main element was fire.  Go figure.  However, every time I practiced, the spell always backfired and either burned me or simply evaporated me.  Nine-out-of-ten times it would burn me.

 

     Dimitri noticed once because I failed to hide a burn on my arm adequately.  He chided me and treated it, as well as some other burns.  However, I only allowed him to treat burns on my arms, legs or hands.  I didn't want him touching my face or any other part of my body.  Every time he touched me, a shock went through my body.  It was light and it didn't hurt, but it did surprise me.  It wasn't as bad on my arms or legs and I don't think he even recieves the shock when he touches me.

 

     I strode into the gym one day and found him sprawled out of the floor reading some book.  He had brought an iHome but my excitement ended when some oldies music reached my ears.

     "Hey, Dimitri, do you think we could maybe listen to something from this year?"

     His emerald eyes were the only part of his body that moved; the rest of his posture remained the same.

     "You don't like 80's music?"

     "Hell no.  What sucked back then still sucks now."

     A smirk formed on his lips and he turned up the volume. "Oh, real mature, Dimitri."

     "What does it matter to you anyway?  I'll be the one listening to it.  You'll be outside doing your routine."

     I moved onto my next pair of stretches. "Hey, what's with all the running anyway?  Shouldn't we do something with hitting.  I'm still getting beat in class."

     "Hit harder."

     "I'm serious."

     "Is that right?  It's hard to tell the difference." He put the book down and stared at the ceiling and I continued with my stretches. 

     "I won't be of any use to you if I can't fight."

     "Yes, but you also won't be useful if you can't keep up with us, or escape the enemy."

 

     I bit my lip and remained silent.  He got me there.  He sat up in one swift motion and crossed his legs.  I was envious that someone as tall as him was so graceful while I was clumsy.  He turned off his iHome, but took the iPod with him.  He told me he would do the routine with me, which surprised me completely.  He increased the push-ups and sit-ups to one hundred and the suicides up to fifty.  We still ran the five miles, but we did that first.

 

     The icy wind nipped at my skin and I shuddered, but running helped me warm up.  Dimitri ran next to me and I knew he wasn't even running half-speed, so I pushed myself further, ignoring my aching thighs.  As we ran, I saw some upperclassmen staring at either my breasts or my a*s.  I snorted and ignored them.  Once the laps were done, I beat my old time by a few minutes, I was only a little tired and I moved on to the pull-ups since I struggled with those the most.

 

     Unfortunately, that only caused the boys to stare more.  My shirt would rise up a little bit each time I pulled.  They started whistling at me and it was getting really hard to concentrate.  My grip faltered a little bit and I struggled to regain it.

 

     "Focus, Dialla.  Ignore them." Dimitri scolded me from below.  "Focus on me if that helps."

 

     I didn't need to be told twice, but surprisingly, looking at Dimitri did help me concentrate.  I regained my grip and finished the pull-ups.  After that, the rest was easy, but I was still exhausted when we finished.  I finished the sit-ups last since they were the easiest and now I lay on my back.  The cold grass tickled my arms and neck but it felt nice.  Dimitri handed me a water bottle, but otherwise remained silent.  He hadn't even broken a sweat while I was covered in sweat.

 

     He dismissed me and after a nice shower I went to dinner.  On my way back, I took a little detour, not wanting to go to my room yet.  I thought about visiting my Mom, but changed my mind at the last second and strode back to me room.  As I turned a corner, I smacked into something hard and stumbled back.  Hands flew to my shoulders and caught me before I fell.  I saw that I had run into an upperclassman  I recognized as Lance's older brother.

 

     "Careful, now," he said. "We wouldn't want you to get hurt, now would we?"

     I hesitated before speaking, momentarily stunned at his appearance. "Ah, um, yeah, I-I guess."

 

     He flashed me a smile and I felt my face go hot.  He leaned close to me and studied my face.  I did my best to breath normally.

 

     "You must be Dialla Reinhart, Lance's friend," I nodded. "I'm Ian Finradi, a fourth-year student.  It's a pleasure to meet you."

 

     I don't know if I said any actual words next because his hands moved from my shoulders to my hand as he brought it to his lips.  I blinked several times rapidly, as if I had just woken up, my cheeks a bright red.  He offered to walk me back to my room and all I could do was nod.  I felt like a bobble head.  We walked back in silence, but thankfully it wasn't for very long.  He kissed my hand again and said. "I look forward to seeing you again,"

 

     Then, he stalked away silently and vanished in the darkness.

 

 

 

     October finally came around and my friend Cleao Fairchild had said that there was a Halloween dance coming up and asked what I was going to be.  I told her I had no idea and said I would go shopping later.  I brought it up by mistake while training with Dimitri and he said he was driving Roselia to the mall and asked if I would like to come.  I agreed without thinking it through but it was too late.  I wore a lavender, V-neck shirt with black lacy shirt underneath and jeans.  I placed a navy blue hat on my head and departed with Dimitri and Roselia.

 

     After an hour of meandering around the mall, I told Dimitri I would go on my own and meet up with him in an hour.  He looked a little hesitant, but agreed.  I left the mall and searched for some other stores.  I finally found a nice cat outfit that showed a little cleavage but nothing s****y.  I bought it and noticed three teenagers staring at me.  At first, they looked normal, but as I got a better look at them, I noticed a black aura swirling around them.  Extended.

 

     I reacted as casually as I could and went into the street.  I used the reflection in another store as a mirror.  Sure enough, they were following me.  I glanced at my silver watch and it had taken me a half-hour to find the costume.  I strode towards the direction of the mall and their footsteps began to quicken.  I cursed and started sprinting.  They followed me and I ran into the street, nearly getting hit by a car as I did.

 

     It stopped just in time and I did a flip over the front of the car and kept running.  Surprisingly, I was keeping a good distance between them but skidded to a stop as I reached a dead end.

 

     "Damn," I turned around and they had already surrounded me.

 

     They closed in on me slowly and my mark throbbed.  As they moved in, I tried to think of a plan to escape this.  I had absolutely no solution.  All Dimitri had taught me was how to run, and if I'm cornered I can't run.  I couldn't survive an attack from Lance so fighting was out.  Last but not least, was magic.  I figured it was worth a try and tried to remember any offensive spells.  There were few I knew but hadn't mastered, but if I didn't try, I'd be dead.

 

     I took a deep breath and began to focus my energy to my hands.  The air around us started whirling like crazy and my hands started to glow a white aura.  I slashed my hands horizontally and a disk-shaped wave of air flew at them.  Said wind blew my hat off and it flew a yard or two away before landing on the ground.  Two of them got hit but one jumped straight into the air and was coming down on me fast.  He landed in front of me and pinned me against the brick wall in seconds.  Both of my hands were pinned above my head by only one of his hands.

 

     I struggled to move but he pressed his body up against mine, immobilizing me.  His brown hair covered his green eyes and his face was inches from mine.  If I tried to move my face, my lips would brush his so I stayed still, but thrashed my legs.

     "Hey, behave.  I'm not supposed to kill you, but that doesn't mean I can't hurt you."

     I glared at him and he loosened his grip a little bit but not enough for me to break free.

    "What do you want?" I asked, trying hard to disguise the fear in my voice.

    "You are coming with us.  That's all you need to know."

   

     I didn't like the way he looked at me, but in order for me to escape I had to make him believe I was coming with him so I relaxed in his hold in a feign of surrender.  I nodded slowly and he leaned away from me but kept my hands locked in his.  He hesitated, then removed his hand.  I slammed my forehead with his.  He yelled in pain and I groaned and stumbled back.  That probably wasn't my smartest idea, but I knew I couldn't waste any time.  I sprinted for the street but was quickly stopped by his comrades.

 

     The one closets to my right grabbed me by the waist while the other one twisted my arms behind my back.  I thrashed and struggled as best as I could and then pulled off my girliest, loudest scream.  It didn't last for more than a few seconds since a fist connected with my jaw.  I yelled in pain and nearly choked on my own blood.  I coughed and it spilled onto the ground and trailed down my lip.  The brunette grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.  I whimpered in pain.

 

     "That hurt, didn't it?  If you try anything else, I'll do more than break your jaw,  I will break every bone in your worthless little-"  His threat was silenced when all three of the Extendeds were blasted back by a gust of air.  I sank to my knees and held my jaw, groaning in pain.  Dimitri appeared infront of me in an instant, crouched protectively.  I heard Roselia's gasping voice from behind me.  The Extendeds recovered and glowered at him.  The brunette started towards Dimitri but his comrades stopped him.

 

     "Don't Auel!  It's not the right time!"

     Auel growled and retreated with his teammates.  Dimitri sighed in relief then crouched down so we were eye-level.

     "You okay?" he asked, and I saw Roselia glaring at me.

     I ignored her and stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

    Dimitri copied me and his hand went to my jaw.  I expected him to be harsh like he was when my shoulder was dislocated, but instead he was gentle.  He cradled my jaw like it was glass and it would break any second.  He ordered Roselia to get some cloths from a store next door and bandages.  Her mouth fell open and I almost laughed.  Dimitri's back was to her so unfortunately he missed it.  She went reluctantly and Dimitri checked if I had any other injuries.  I assured him I was fine.  I opened my mouth so speak but he clamped it shut.

 

     "Only you could get hurt on a day off," I wanted to gape at him but his hand kept me from doing so.  My eyes were wide with surprise and he smirked.

     "Keep your mouth still until Rose gets back," I replaced his hands as he removed them.

     "I sensed your aura flaring when you used the spell and that's how we found you.  Although your scream helped out too, but I'm impressed.  That was technically your first spell, right?"

 

     I nodded slightly and pointed over to my hat.  Dimitri followed my finger and walked over to my hat.  He picked it up, dusted off some dirt then placed it back on my head but pulled it so it covered my eyes.  I frowned and adjusted my hat to my liking with one hand.  Using the same hand, I slapped his chest playfully.  He looked up as Roselia returned with the supplies.  Dimitri wrapped the bandage around my head in order to keep my mouth still and used the cloths to clean my chin and hands.  Then he placed his hand on my cheek and said "Heal her injuries." and the pain in my jaw dissapeared withing minutes.

 

     "It wasn't broken, but it was damaged.  However, you should be fine by later tonight," He removed the badage. "Anyway, if you're done getting attacked for today, let's head back."