Chapter 11

     He wasn't sure what exactly it was about her.

 

     Maybe it was her eyes, dark brown and beautiful.  Or maybe her laugh.  Cheerful, light and full of life, no matter what the situation.  Or, perhaps it was her hair, long and soft as silk.  A beautiful blonde that looked gold in certain lights. Whatever it was, Dimitri found himself thinking of Dialla Reinhart constantly.  Often times she would be the highlight of his day. 

 

     Dimitri was reading his book, waiting for her to come to practice when his eyes flickered to the clock.  She was ten minutes late for practice.  Sighing, he put a bookmark in his book and set off to go find her.  He found his student not far from the gym, in the middle of a conversation with Asalie Kettoshi, the top student in the first-years.  She was adopted by Master Gilbert as an infant but she has never won his approval, so she does the best she can to convince him she is worthy.

 

     "Are you saying you love Ian?" Asalie asked, slightly confused and curious.

     "No!" Dialla cried, then added. "Well, I don't know.  It might've been that stupid love spell. . . . Anyway, that's not the point!  The point is I have a huge, HUGE, crush on my twenty-five year old teacher who doesn't have the same feelings and probably thinks of me just as a petulant child, or Tyler's sister, or just his student or--!"

     Asalie cut her off. "Enough.  Stop talking like that or you're going to start hyperventilating.  Calm down and take some deep breaths." Dialla did so and her eyes fell upon a clock.

     "S**t!  I've got to go.  Dimitri's probably going to start hunting me down.  We'll talk later, okay?" she spun on her heel and headed towards the gym.

 

     Dimitri teleported there and resumed to his casual position on the bench, feigning to read.  Her words spun around his head, echoing and taunting him.  She assumed he didn't have the same feelings for her, eh?  If only she knew how wrong she was.  That must have been what was bothering her lately, aside from the death of that Jason boy.  Suddenly, the image of him kissing her appeared in his head.  She had been awake when he did that, he knew it and so did she.  What was puzzling Dimitri was that she hadn't spoken of it once.  Knowing her, she was probably trying to forget it ever happened.  The same question crossed his mind, a question he had been asking himself over and over ever since that day.

 

     Why had he kissed her?

 

     Even Dimitri wasn't so sure.  Seeing her asleep like that, even though he knew she was faking, made his body react in a way his mind, way in the back of his mind, had been urging him to do for so long.  And before he knew it, his lips were pressed against her.  He remembered everything.  How soft her lips were, how they tasted like cherry from the chap stick that she complained she was running low on.  He wanted her so badly, and, after overhearing her conversation, knew she wanted him as well.  A teacher and student in love.  How cliche.  Nonetheless, he knew it couldn't work out.  The age was too much.  In a couple of years, perhaps when she is eighteen, it wouldn't matter.  But right now, he was her teacher and she was his student.  An adult and a child.  A petulant child, according to Dialla.

 

     Dimitri didn't even notice Dialla until he noticed something was thrown at him.  He caught it and prepared to throw it back when he saw that he wasn't holding a lethal weapon.  He was holding her shoe.  He looked from the shoe, up to Dialla, who had an odd look on her face.  A look he couldn't read for once. 

 

     "Can I have my shoe back now?" she asked, returning to her usual calm self.

     "Why would you throw your own shoe at me," Dimitri tossed her the shoe and gestured to the weapons scattered on the floor. "When there are dozens of weapons you could've used?

     She shrugged and flashed me a smile. "Because I thought it would be funny.  And it was.  You're face was pretty priceless." She let out a soft, short laugh that made his heart thump in his chest.

     "Did I mention I'm leaving the Tower?" It was his turn to joke now.  He said it in a playful tone, but she still took it the wrong way as her eyes widened with sadness and shock.  They were soon flooded with anger when he told her he was kidding.

     "That's not funny!" Dialla snapped, but Dimitri laughed, giving her one of his rare, wry smiles.

 

     She seemed to melt under it and her ivory face became red.  She controlled herself and started with her stretches.

     "Are you saying you would miss me if I left?" Dimitri was serious now, but said it in a teasing tone.

     She hesitated for several heavy moments. "Would you miss me if you left?"

     Ah, she was starting to get better at this. "You didn't answer me question."

     "Answer mine and I'll answer yours."

     She's been hanging around Tyler too much.  He needed to be careful with this.  Short and simple.  Don't give away too much, but not enough either, otherwise she might take it the wrong way.

     "I would miss you.  And, Tyler of course,  I would miss a lot of people." she half-frowned at that, but their was happiness in her eyes. "Your turn."

     "I would miss you, too.  I still need a lot of training," She suddenly looked like she had more to say.  Dimitri waited patiently.

 

     "Hey, um, Dimitri?"

     "Yeah?"

     "Is it okay if I take the day off Saturday?"

     "The whole day?"

     "How about just the afternoon?  We could do practice in the morning, and then at night."

     "What for?"

     "I, um, " Her face started to turn red. "I have a date with Lance, so. . ." Her voice trailed off and he considered this.  A day off wouldn't be that bad.  Or at least an afternoon off.

     "You will be here at five a.m sharp.  We will practice from five to twelve.  Then you can leave with Lance.  If you are not back by three o' clock, I will look for you, I will find you and bring you back.  Then, we will continue until dinner.  Understand?"

 

     Dialla's face lit up with joy and she nodded. "Thank you so much, Dima!"

     To his surprise, she threw his arms around him in an embrace.  He stiffened, caught off guard, but slowly his hands went around her back, near her waist.  Dialla's breath caught in her throat, quickly remembering who she was hugging and leaned away, her face an even brighter red than before.

 

 

---

    

 

     I told Lance I was able to go on the date with him Saturday and I've never seen him happier.  He mentioned that he was wondering if I wanted to go ice skating instead, since there weren't any good movies out.  I agreed, recalling several frozen ponds not to far by.  The closet one was about a half an hour away if we walked, which I didn't mind.  One of the things I liked about Lance was he was easy to talk to.  We always had light conversations and he always knew how to make me laugh.

 

     Dimitri dragged practice out a little longer, making me late for my date with Lance.  I had a feeling he did it intentionally, but didn't say anything.  I took a quick shower and threw my hair up in a ponytail.  Changing into a casual attire, along with a winter coat and black UGGS, I met Lance outside the Tower.  He too was dressed in a heavy coat and boots.  Thought it wasn't offically winter, weather in Washington was chilly and icy.  It was snowing out and I was able to catch a snowflake on my tounge.  Our feet crunched softly through the snow that blanketed the ground.  There were a couple of leaves on the ground, a sign that autumn was ending and winter was coming.  The sun was desperately trying to peak its way out from behind the clouds as bits of golden light hit the vicinity.  Snow rested upon trees and it was beautiful.  It was the only reason I like winter.  That and snowball fights.  I planned to hit Lance with a snowball, but we arrived at the ice-covered pond.  It appeared nice and hard and there were scrapes and scratches on the surface so people have been here before.

 

     We strapped on our skates and I had Lance be my guide, since it was my first time ice skating.  After a while, I got used to it and challenged Lance to a race.  He agreed and in less than a minute he was out of sight.  I did my best to catch up with him.  I could hear him laughing and calling my name.

 

     "Cheater!  Slow down--Aaah!"

 

     The ice broke suddenly beneath me and I fell into the freezing water.  It was odd, because the ice was perfectly solid and for it to break so easily was weird.  My mouth was wide open as water rushed in and choked me.  I coughed and ended up swallowing water.  A lot of water.  I started hyperventilating, thrashing my arms and trying to call for Lance.  Hearing my scream, Lance rushed to my aid, but I couldn't see him.  My body was starting to grow numb and I tried to climb out but my hands were feeble and trembling.  I contemplated on whether or not to succumb to my watery death and Dimitri's face flashed in my mind.

 

     Dimitri, I...

 

     Then I blacked out.