Chapter Text
There were a lot of places I would much rather be than here, at the top of that list was being back home asleep. Or eating junk food while bingeing more TV. All the things I was easily able to do during our fall break which ended yesterday. That freedom had ended and now I was back, stuck in the endless days of boredom and homework that was high school. The upside, besides seeing my friends, was that this was my last year. Just one and a half semesters left.
I leaned back in my chair, the front legs lifting from the ground as I stretched, yawning. It was the last period and I was an hour away from getting out.
My classes for the semester weren't terrible, but they left a lot to be desired. Under orders from my mother, I had to take a language course to look better on my college applications. After a lot of debate, Russian was the poison of choice. Now my afternoon's ended with an hour of hacking and gagging to try to get at least a passing grade from the Russian teacher who was almost a century old.
Just screamed fun.
We were ten minutes in and the teacher hadn't even shown up yet. It was off to a great start.
"Rose, that's dangerous!" Lissa’s hand caught the seat of my chair and forced the legs back to the ground.
I turned to scowl at my best friend, yanking on a lock of her blonde hair in retaliation. "Hey, dangerous is how I live my life. Let me live my dreams."
She swatted at my hand, matching my glare while still holding my chair so I couldn't lean back again. "You won't live anything if you crack your head open when you fall."
I scoffed at the old warning our fourth-grade teacher used to give us. I had laughed knowing that the teacher was just trying to scare us, but Lissa had believed her and repeated the warning ever since.
Lissa agreeing to take this class with me was my saving grace. Most of our classes were different, she was smarter and enjoyed studying while I just wanted enough to pass so I could finish high school and get away from my parents.
It was amazing how my mother, who was absent most of the time, was also completely overbearing. My father had some questionable connections and was jetting off around the world for business.
There were things I liked about my parents, but there was a lot more I didn't. They were the worst soulmates and the complete opposite of Lissa’s parents. They share the same symbol on their collarbones, easily hidden so they can pretend that they don't exist. Similar to how they treated me. Out of sight, out of mind.
I looked down at my desk, the afternoon sun catching the dark mark on the inside of my left wrist. It was shaped like a star, small yet still noticeable.
Some people would hide their marks, others eagerly showing them off in hopes of finding their match. It was even becoming common now for people to have theirs removed when they had given up on searching.
Just because everyone has a soulmate, doesn't mean they find them.
I could care less either way. My parents were soulmates, but that didn't guarantee love. Not everyone could be like the Dragomirs.
"Isn't there a rule that if the teacher is late we can all go home?" I groaned, checking the clock again. Still fifty minutes until the final bell.
Lissa tapped her pencil against her opened book, ready as ever to learn while I haven't even retrieved my book from my bag. "He is old, maybe he is taking a while to get here."
"Maybe he died," I gasped, feigning shock. Lissa shook her head in disapproval. "It's very possible. He's old enough to have sat behind Jesus in the second grade."
"Rose!"
"What –"
I clamped my mouth shut as the classroom door opened and a very, very, tall man who was most definitely not ancient, entered.
"I apologise. The halls were confusing. This will not happen again," the man briskly spoke as he marched across the room and placed his shoulder bag on the teacher's desk. He was clearly agitated as he removed the leather duster he wore.
I didn't recognise this teacher and I was positive I would remember him. With brown hair that was pulled into a low ponytail and muscles that I could see under his tight fitted button-up; attractive just didn’t seem to cover it. He had a deep voice and a thick accent that I could listen to all day. And when he turned around to face us, I was instantly drawn to his eyes.
For a moment, his eyes locked with mine. For that small moment, nothing existed except for us.
Then he turned back around to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and wrote as he spoke, "I am Mr Belikov. Mr Chekov decided to retire so I will be taking over teaching this class now."
My eyes didn't stray from Mr Belikov for the whole class, hanging on every word as he explained today's lesson.
I had a feeling that this would be my new favourite class.
It's been two weeks since fall break and I hated everything. Especially that stupid Russian class where I had somehow managed to piss off Mr Belikov without even trying.
It was going fine. After a week of classes, I was still obsessed with him and decided to ask him a question when class ended on Friday. I hid it under the guise of misunderstanding a part of the homework but really I just wanted to be able to talk to him and have his attention solely on me.
At first, it was fine, he was kind and explained things in a way that was easy to understand. I even caught him giving me a half-smile that made my knees feel weak. And then, suddenly, everything changed. His relaxed expression faded, eyes widening for a second before his face became blank. He packed up his things and told me he had a meeting and left.
Ever since then he's been different and only with me.
Sure, it wasn’t anything noticeable to others, but I could see the difference. He avoided being too close to me, his eyes never meeting mine. It was like he was normal to everyone but detached with me.
I realise I shouldn’t be analysing a teacher’s interactions with me like this. I shouldn’t even be expecting him to give me extra attention, I was his student, and he was my teacher. Nothing more.
But I wanted more, so much more.
There was so much wrong with crushing on my teacher but Mr Belikov was different. Ever since I first saw him, there was something that drew me to him, and now I’ve somehow ruined it all.
With a huff, I threw my books into my locker, barely resisting the urge to slam the metal door closed a few times.
“Damn, Rose. You seem a little tense.”
I glanced over my shoulder and flipped off Mason, earning a smirk from him. “What the fuck do you want?”
He sauntered over to me, leaning against the lockers with crossed arms. “Well, I was just going to ask if you were interested, but now I see that you need this.”
I gritted my teeth as I zipped my bag close, the pile of homework I need to get through during the weekend inside. “What are you talking about?”
“Come on,” Mason replied, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, turning me in the opposite direction, “Trust me. This will be good.”
I looked over the large building in front of us, then at both Mason and Eddie, raising my eyebrows at them. “One of you start talking. Why the hell have you dragged me here when I have doughnuts waiting for me at home?”
“Come on, Hathaway, this will be fun,” Mason cheered, gesturing for me to walk forward. Reluctantly, I followed the two of them into the building.
Hans’ Gym. The building looked like an abandoned warehouse from the outside but the inside was nice and simple. Skylights on the roof gave the open area a lot of light, the equipment spaced throughout and mats laid out to one side. There were only a handful of people inside, some working out alone, others standing in a group waiting for a class to start.
A man with short blond hair stood behind the desk, typing at the computer. Seeing us, he shot us a smile, “One second.”
I elbowed Mason, whispering, “What are we doing here?”
“Signing up, obviously,” he smirked, laughing at the glare I gave him. “Trust me, you’ll like it.”
“Okay. What can I do for you?” the man asked.
Mason stepped forward, “We want to sign up for the MMA classes.” My eyes shot to Eddie who shrugged. It wasn’t what I was expecting but the more I thought about it the more I realised how right Mason was for just dragging me along—I did need this.
“Sure. Are all three of you signing up?”
Mason and Eddie both nodded and then looked at me. With a smile of my own, I agreed.
It was Saturday and we were having our first class at the gym. Eddie was picking me up, my parents had refused to get me my own car to drive, so I had to rely on my friends. It was irritating that my parents wouldn’t let me drive when they were never around to give me a lift. Even this morning, instead of being greeted by one of them, I found two separate notes from them saying they will be gone until late Sunday.
I took the hundred dollars my dad left for dinner and slipped it in my bag just as Eddie pulled up, I could buy us all something after the class.
I jumped into Eddie’s car and relaxed back into the worn leather seats as he drove us. He was never one for mindless small talk, and being friends with him since we were young made the silence between us comfortable. Mason had always had a small crush on me, the day his soulmate mark showed on his skin on his sixteenth birthday and it didn’t match mine, he was devastated. Though since then, we managed to keep our friendship going, becoming closer.
Eddie never said much about soulmates, not even showing his off. I knew it was on his foot and that was it. Whereas Mason didn’t have much of a choice with the mark on the side of his neck. I told him it looked like a fish.
"What's been up with you lately?"
It wasn't a surprise that Eddie noticed my foul mood, it was surprising that he brought it up. I toyed with the ends of my hair which I had managed to tame into two braids. "Nothing."
He scoffed, "Yeah, right. You're fine in the morning but then in the afternoon, you're pissed. So what's going on?" When I didn't respond he tried again, "Is someone messing with you? Do I need to beat someone up?"
Eddie side-eyed me, sounding too much like an older brother I wished I had; my friends were the closest thing I had to a family. He managed to draw a smile from me, "It's fine, Eddie. Besides, if someone did need to be punched, you know I would do it myself."
The concern in his eyes didn't leave but he shrugged and let the topic go. "Okay, but if you need to talk, I'm here."
I still couldn't make sense of why Mr Belikov's cold shoulder towards me had such an effect on my mood. I’ve had guys turn me down before, not many, but it's happened and I didn't feel like this then.
I just wished I knew what I’d done.
“I think I’ve pulled something I’m going to need later in life,” I groaned, dropping without grace to the floor by my bag. My hands felt tender as I removed the padded gloves I wore. They wanted to test our overall abilities to see where we were at. I had some prior experience having taken Judo with my mother when I was younger, but my fitness level had definitely fallen since then.
Mason dropped beside me, guzzling from his water bottle. “I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow am I?”
Eddie rolled his eyes at the both of us dying against the wall of the gym. He looked like he barely broke a sweat, though with being on both the baseball and cross country teams, I wasn’t surprised.
I tilted my head back, closing my eyes, “Eddie, tell Lissa I love her and that it’s Mason’s fault I’m dead.”
“Hey, I didn’t make you do–” he paused, “Oh wow.”
“What?” I asked, peeking through slit eyes, finding Mason looking towards the mats with an awed expression. Needing more effort than I’m happy to admit, I managed to lift my head to see better. When I found what had pulled his attention, I couldn’t pull my eyes away.
The blond man that had signed us up yesterday—we have since learned is called Ivan—was sparring with another. A very tall man with brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail. I hadn’t even seen his face but I knew straight away that that was Mr Belikov.
They were circling each other, moving so fast that it was almost difficult to follow. It was like watching a dance, each moving with a grace and strength that must have taken years to achieve. It was enchanting and made my heart beat faster as I fell a little more for my teacher.
“I want to be like that,” Mason claimed, breaking me from my trance. I scoffed at him, completely ignoring my inappropriate feelings.
“You have to have skill to be like that,” I teased.
Eddie chuckled as he joined in. “You can barely throw a punch, Mase.”
We continued to pick on one another, I tried to keep myself distracted from the man across the room with the mindless chatter, yet I couldn’t ignore him. When they finished sparring, my eyes returned to them, hearing their conversation as their voices drifted over.
“Damn, Dimitri. Who pissed you off?” Ivan complained, rolling his shoulder with a wince.
Dimitri. Now I knew his full name, Dimitri Belikov. I liked it, longing to be able to call him that to his face.
Dimitri paused, a look of guilt crossing his face, “Sorry. It’s been a long week.” His muscles were tensed and covered in a sheen of sweat, the black singlet he wore did little to hide just how well built he was. But it was still his eyes that would take my breath away or the small half-smile that would tug at the corners of his lips. I wondered what he would look like with a full smile, hoping that maybe I could earn one from him.
He seemed much more relaxed here than he had at school, talking to Ivan with a low voice. I couldn’t hear everything they were saying but I could tell they were friends. I found my eyes wandering his exposed skin, not to check him out, but in search of his mark.
Surely he had a soulmate already, if not that then he must have a girlfriend. I could imagine a lot of women and men would be willing to ignore their soulmate mark for a man that looked like Dimitri.
“Hey guys, did you like your first class?”
I jumped in surprise when Ivan addressed us, watching as Dimitri turned towards us only to freeze. His relaxed posture from before was gone as his body became rigid, eyes dropping to his hands where he was fiddling with the wrappings he wore.
My heart squeezed painfully, pretending to be searching through my bag so I didn’t look at him anymore.
“Yeah, it was great,” Mason responded, nudging me with his elbow. I nodded mutely, looking up at Ivan for a second before casting my eyes down again.
“Classes are three times a week, I look forward to seeing you guys there if you want to keep going,” Ivan encouraged, having been the one to be teaching today. He had mentioned there were other instructors but not their names.
“You’re taking classes here, Rose?” Dimitri asked hesitantly. I wasn’t expecting him to acknowledge me, feeling a small joy that he had despite the strained tone of his voice.
I brought my eyes back up, looking more at Ivan than at him. “Yeah. Figured I would give it a go.”
“You two know each other?” Ivan questioned, gesturing between us.
Dimitri cleared his throat, shifting his weight on his feet. “She is one of my students at the high school.” There was an undertone meaning to his words, the reminder that I was his student made me shrink.
I shouldn’t be crushing on a teacher!
Ivan made a noise of surprise, a look of realisation crossing his face. “Oh. Well, I guess you will be her teacher here too,” his voice sounded teasing. Had Dimitri complained about disliking me and now it was just an inside joke between them?
I clenched my jaw, “What do you mean?”
“Dimitri is one of our instructors.”
I hid my grimace. I was both annoyed and happy at that information. On one hand, I would be able to interact with him outside of school, but on the other it would just be another place where he would ignore me.
I squared my shoulders, pulling on a bored expression, “I don’t know if I’ll be back. Doesn’t really appeal to me.” My eyes drifted to Dimitri, noticing the slight clench of his fist. I stood, shouldering the strap of my bag. “You two ready to go? I have sympathy money from my parents again. I’m thinking burgers.”
Mason’s eyes lit up, leaping to his feet. “How long are they gone this time?”
I shrugged, “Note said Sunday but who knows with them.”
“Burgers and movie night at yours?” Mason proposed, eyebrows wiggling. His playful energy always managed to cheer me up, drawing me into the same energy.
I swatted at his shoulder, pushing him forward towards the door. “If you can keep your hands to yourself, I’ll agree.”
“Hey! I’m always a gentleman.”
As we left the gym, I allowed myself to glance back towards Dimitri, seeing him shaking his head, a scowl on his face. No doubt he thought we were just stupid teenagers; he obviously didn’t think much of me.
I decided then that I was going to stop thinking about him. If he wanted to be a dick and give me the cold shoulder for no reason then I would do the same.
I wasn’t going to come back, I already had to see Dimitri every day at school. Why would I put myself through more of it? But Mason and Eddie were relentless in pestering me for the whole weekend to join the MMA classes with them.
I had lied when I said the class wasn’t appealing, I had enjoyed it a lot and wanted to learn more, and so my will to keep saying no cracked. That was exactly why I found myself back at the gym on Monday night.
Today was the first day of treating Dimitri as he did me, pulling out all the Rose Hathaway tricks. Normally, I was only that way with Stan, our dislike of each other well known by the rest of the school, but everyone was astonished that I was doing the same to Mr Belikov.
His height and stoic demeanour had led a lot of the students to be intimidated by him, so for me to talk back to him like I had today had caused a stir. Dimitri had barely reacted to it, other than his eyes narrowing, he had quickly reprimanded me and reminded me to not do so again in the future and then moved on.
Now he was standing before me again, watching the class with his hands clasped behind his back as Ivan explained blocking techniques. The other two instructors were women, Tasha and Alberta. I was pretty sure I knew Alberta from somewhere but couldn’t place her.
After the instructions were given, we broke into groups to practise the technique on each other, Mason grouping me while Eddie partnered with a brunette with bright green eyes. It was about ten minutes of practising hits when Alberta walked up to me, hands clasped.
“Rose Hathaway,” she exclaimed, making me halt.
I cocked my head to the side, “Yeah?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. I used to work at the Judo gym with your mother, she would bring you to the classes and I would look after you.”
My eyes widened, memories returning of sitting with Alberta when I was seven, doing my homework while my mother taught classes. I spent most of my weekends at that gym until I was ten and deemed old enough to be left home alone. I felt bad for not remembering her straight away.
“You’ve grown,” Alberta commented with a warm smile, “How is your mother these days? Still teaching?”
I hid my scowl, “Yeah, she has been travelling a lot to teach around America.” That’s all she did for the past couple of years. Once things started to get rocky between her and my father, she would always be coming and going, only staying for a day or two before leaving again.
I think her desire to run broke my father’s heart and he couldn’t bear to sit around at home waiting for her and threw himself into work as well. For the past three years, I’ve had to learn to take care of myself.
“I’m excited to see how you go with the classes. We will have to catch up sometime,” she told me, squeezing my shoulder before moving on to another pair.
Dimitri never approached us, though I could feel his eyes on me, when I would look he would be facing the other way.
By the end of the class, I was a sweaty mess, but it felt good to be doing something physical again. After my parents stopped being around, I stopped taking part in a lot of things. The school counsellor said I was acting out, having separate meetings with them because their schedules never lined up. My mother responded to it by telling me to get my act together, and my father by giving me some money to spend more time with my friends.
Ivan walked over to me as I was unwrapping my hands. “Hey, Rose. Surprised you came back. Thought it didn’t appeal to you?”
I cringed as he repeated my words, though his expression was one of amusement and not annoyance. “Yeah, I was convinced by those two,” I replied, dipping my head in the direction of my friends.
Ivan’s eyebrow raised, glancing between me and Mason. “Is he your boyfriend?”
My eyebrows drew together, “No. Why?”
“Just curious,” he quickly replied, rubbing the back of his neck, “Well, I’ll see you on Wednesday. You need to practise not dropping your shoulder when you punch, otherwise good work tonight.”
I was still confused as Ivan walked away, joining the other instructors. I shrugged it off, strolling over to Eddie and Mason, my lift back home.
“What’s going on with you?” Lissa whispered to me when Dimitri turned his back, writing questions on the board for us to translate and answer.
I kept hitting the end of my pencil against my book, feeling extra agitated today. It had been a month now since he became our teacher, and two weeks since I started classes at the gym, and things hadn’t changed in our interactions. He still kept a constant distance and said as few words as possible while I continued to try to push his limits whenever I got the chance.
This man must be a saint because he never got angry, at least never visibly. With how much I tried irritating him, it was impressive. Each time I could see it burning in his eyes, he would take a breath and say something that reminded me of the zen messages you find on motivational posters.
Though today’s irritation wasn’t from him—it added to it—but today I was on edge because of my parents. My mother had learnt of me taking classes at the gym when I came home after the Wednesday class. I hadn’t been expecting anyone to be home but she had been there waiting in the living room.
When she learned what I was doing I had to sit for an hour while she yelled about how I should be spending my time studying and doing homework instead. This morning I woke up to messages from my dad telling me to call him after school.
My parents didn’t agree on much but they seemed to agree on me doing everything I can to be accepted to an impressive university and finish an amazing degree that they can pretend to be proud of. I couldn’t talk to them and explain how I didn’t even know what I wanted to study or that the only reason I was considering applying was just to get away from them.
The classes at the gym were one of the few things that I was having any fun with and I refused to give them up.
My pencil snapped in two, half in my hand and the other went flying through the air and landed with a clutter on the ground beside my desk. My eyes locked with Dimitri’s who had turned just in time to see it.
I sunk in my chair as giggles from the class broke the silence of the room.
“Crap.” There goes my only pencil. In my rush to get out of the house this morning, I had forgotten half of my things. Lissa’s textbook sat between us because I left mine on my desk from when I attempted to do my homework.
Dimitri cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “Once you have answered the questions, put your hand up for me to check your work.”
I rubbed my hand against my forehead, massaging my temples where I could feel the start of a headache forming.
“Are you okay?”
I glanced at Lissa, her concern for me evident. She knew of my issues with my parents, often inviting me to stay with her family when mine were gone for days at a time. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before nodding, “Yeah. Do you have a spare pencil?”
Lissa was searching through her bag when another pencil was placed in front of me, looking up to find Dimitri. His expression was unreadable like always, though there was something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite place.
“I would like to have a word after class,” he informed me, turning away and returning to his desk.
Lissa shot me a look trying to figure out why he wanted to speak to me. Maybe I had finally pushed him to his breaking point.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
Dimitri blinked up at me, seated behind his desk as he arranged the papers in front of him. A couple of the students had questions after class so I had to wait for them to leave. I had waved Lissa off, promising to call her later.
“Yes. I wanted to ask if everything was okay. You seemed… distracted in class today.” His hands were clasped in front of him, seeming to be choosing his words carefully. I couldn’t help but notice that this was the longest he had held eye contact with me.
"I'm fine," I answered, shifting on my feet, "Is that all? Can I go now?"
His eyebrows furrowed, "If there is something causing you issues with your schooling you can talk to me or the school counsellor or –"
"I said I'm fine. It's none of your business anyway." The words were out of my mouth before I had considered what I was saying. I regretted talking to him like that, especially when his eyes pinched and his jaw tensed.
"Okay. I'm sorry for prying."
A lump formed in my throat. For whatever reason, I wanted to tell Dimitri everything that was happening, for him to give me words of comfort. Even if I was willing to tell him, Dimitri didn’t like me. The only reason he was saying anything must be because I caused a disturbance during class.
Spinning on my heel, I stalked out of the room, muttering to myself, “Just a waste of time.”
“Rosemarie,” my mother greeted me as I kicked the front door closed. She was sitting upright in the lounge room, hands placed on her lap, “I spoke to your father.”
I resisted rolling my eyes. “And what does he have to say?”
Her lips pressed into a firm line, “We have both agreed that as long as you keep your grades at an acceptable level you may continue these classes.”
My eyes met hers, a frown pulling at my lips, “Well, thanks for telling me what I can do. A-plus parenting.” I gave her a thumbs-up, marching past her and up the stairs to my room. I heard her calling my name again but I didn’t turn back.
This is how it was every time, there was no point in fighting her on it. It was Janine’s way and that’s it, there was no other choice in her mind. I threw my bag to the ground, climbed onto my bed and clutched my pillow as tears of frustration threatened to fall.
I wiped at my face, refusing to face the emotions churning inside me. I caught sight of the star on my wrist. It was the only proof I had that maybe, just maybe, there is someone out there that might love me regardless of my failures.
It felt like such a stupid thing to wish for but I did. Stroking my fingers over the star, I wished that my soulmate would come to find me and make things better.
“Rose, stop dropping your shoulder!”
I gritted my teeth as Dimitri called me out again. I had been sparring for the last twenty minutes and I was exhausted. Janine had been home all weekend, which in itself was rare, but then she decided she wanted to see where I was taking these MMA classes. It’s the most interest she had taken in me and yet it only irritated me.
At first, she had caught up with Alberta and then she spent the rest of the time watching me with a disappointed look. Dimitri pointing out each time I messed up was not helping.
The rational part of me knew he was just doing what an instructor was meant to do but I hated it. My attention kept being pulled from the girl I was sparring against, to my mother, then to Dimitri, and back again.
“Stay focused!” Dimitri ordered, lips pressed in a firm line as he watched me scarcely avoid a punch that I should have blocked. I fumbled my footing, losing my balance and falling to the ground, landing half on the padded mats and half on the hard floor.
“Fuck,” I hissed through clenched teeth, my elbow hitting the ground hard.
“That’s enough for today. Good job, Lacy,” Dimitri commented, crossing over to me until he was towering over me. He wore his usual singlet and sweatpants, though this time he also had on a jacket. The chills of winter were starting to seep into the days. He crouched down in front of me with a guarded expression, “Are you okay?”
“Peachy,” I replied dryly, twisting my arm to inspect my elbow. It was red and would hurt tomorrow but it wasn’t too bad.
Dimitri opened his mouth but my mother spoke before he could. “You need to focus more otherwise your opponent will always have the upper hand.”
It took what was left of my self-control to not react. Of course, Janine was more focused on how I messed up and not the fact I hurt myself. Doubt she even realised that she was the reason I wasn’t focused.
I pushed myself to my feet, refusing to look at either of the adults in front of me. I turned from them without a word, knowing if I opened my mouth I might scream. Mason joined me as I walked to my bag, I grabbed my water bottle and took greedy sips.
“You okay? Your mom seems extra fun today?” He teased, stealing looks behind me. There was a time he idolised her just like I did but when he realised how hurt I was when my parents began to leave me behind she lost his favour.
“Oh yeah. Who would have thought I would be counting down the minutes until she left again?” I took another drink, hoping to waste time before I had to get in the car and go back home with her. She didn’t mention how long she would be around but I hoped it wasn’t much longer.
At least when Abe was home as well there was a buffer between us, but when it was just the two of us, our tempers would flare. We got into a screaming match yesterday about me not applying for any universities yet. I was so angry that I couldn’t concentrate afterwards and hadn’t finished half the homework I had left. Dimitri was giving us a quiz on Monday and I was not prepared.
Mason stepped closer, ducking his head as if he was telling me a secret, “Do we need to stage a prison break?”
I laughed out loud, the first genuine smile I’ve had in days. “I think the warden would kill you and me, but thanks for offering.” I squeezed his shoulder.
“Come on, Rosemarie, it’s late.”
I held in my groan, shooting Mason a look. “Warden calls.” My comment made him smirk, covering his mouth with his hand so that she didn’t see it. With a quick wave to him and Eddie, I followed my mother to the front doors of the gym.
As I was stepping through the open door I heard Dimitri call, “See you on Monday, Rose.”