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FOUR

IT BEGAN

At first, things weren’t too different from any other day Dhampirs and Moroi attended separate classes in the first half of the school day, then joined up after lunch Christian had most of the same afternoon classes I’d had last seain The difference was that I was no longer a student in these classes I didn’t sit at a desk or have to do any of the work I was also a lot more uncomfortable since I had to stand at the back of the roo Moroi Outside the school, this hat it was usually like Moroi came first Guardians were shadows

There was a strong te tist theh The pressure and adrenaline of the first day had us all on good behavior

After biology, Eddie and I started using a bodyguard technique called pair guarding I was near guard and walked with Lissa and Christian for iuard, walked farther away and scanned the larger area for any potential threats

We followed this pattern for the rest of the day, up until the last class caave Christian a quick kiss on the cheek, and I realized they were parting

"You guys don’t have the sa over to the side of the hall to stay out of student traffic Eddie had already deduced that ere parting and had stopped far guard duties to come talk to us I hadn’t kno Lissa and Christian’s schedules lined up for this new seave ether after school, but right now, I’ve got to go to creative writing"

"And I," declared Christian loftily, "have to go to culinary science"

"Culinary science?" I cried "You elected culinary science? That’s like the most brainless class ever"

"It is not," he countered "And even if it waswell, hey, it’s roaned

"Cohed Lissa "It’s just one class period It won’t be that - "

She was cut off when a commotion broke out farther down the hall We and everyone near us stopped and stared One of uardian instructors, E Strigoi - reached for a Moroi girl He swung her away, pressing her to his chest and exposing her neck as though he would bite her I couldn’t see who she was, just a tangle of brown hair, but her assigned protector was Shane Reyes The attack had caught him by surprise - it was the first one of the day - but he fumbled only a little as he kicked Euys squared off, and everyone watched eagerly A few even whistled and shouted, cheering Shane on

One of the catcallers was Ryan Aylesworth He was so fixated on watching the fight - which Shane, wielding his practice stake, had just about won - that he didn’t notice two other adult guardians sneaking up on him and Camille Eddie and I realized it at the sa forward

"Stay with them," Eddie told me He headed toward Ryan and Ca set upon Ryan didn’t react as well as Shane had, particularly since he faced two attackers One of the guardians distracted Ryan while the other - Di her fear She apparently didn’t find being in Di as I did

Eddie headed toward the from behind, and landed a blow on the side of Dimitri’s head It hardly fazed Dimitri, but I was still amazed I’d barely ever been able to land a hit on his Eddie’s attack forced Dimitri to release Caraceful as a dancer, and advanced on Eddie

Meanwhile, Shane had "staked" his Strigoi and ju around to Dimitri’s other side I watched, fists clenched in excite Dimitri in particular It amazed me that someone so deadly could be so beautiful I wished I was part of the fray but knew I had to watch the area around oi" attacked here

But they didn’t Shane and Eddie successfully "finished off" Dimitri Part of ood at everything However, Ryan had tried to help and failed Dimitri had technically "killed" hi that Dioi He and E fast on his feet and Eddie for realizing we had to treat this as a group endeavor rather than one-on-one trials I got a nod for watching Eddie’s back, and Ryan was chastised for not paying attention to his Moroi

Eddie and I grinned at each other, happy over getting high htly bigger role, but this wasn’t a bad start to the field experience We high-fived, and I saw Dimitri shake his head at us as he left

With the draave h the bond, Have fun in culinary science! I rolled my eyes, but she and Eddie had already rounded a corner

"Culinary science" sounded pretty impressive, but really, it was just a fancy ter Christian about it being brainless, I had some respect for it I could barely boil water, after all Still, it was a lot different fro or debate, and I had no doubts Christian was taking it as a blow-off class and not because he wanted to be a chef so hi Maybe he’d even wear an apron

There were three other novices in the class ere guarding Moroi Since the culinary science rooe and open, with lots of s, the four of us worked together to come up with a plan to pool our efforts and secure the whole room When I’d watched novices do their field experiences in past years, I’d only ever paid attention to the fights I’d never noticed the tea on Theoretically, the four of us were here to only protect our assigned Moroi, but we’d slipped into a role where ere protecting the whole class

My post was by a fire door that led outside of the school Coincidentally, it was right by the station Christian orking at The class normally cooked in pairs, but there was an odd nuroup of three, Christian had volunteered to be by hiarded him and his family with the same prejudice that Jesse did Toa cake

"What is that?" I asked, watching hiround-up erator

"Meat," he said, du board

"I know that, you idiot What kind?"

"Ground beef" He pulled another container out and then another "And this is veal And this is pork"

"Do you have, like, a Trex that you’re going to feed?"

"Only if you want some This is for meatloaf"

I stared "With three kinds ofcalled et some meat out of it?"

I shook my head "I can’t believe this is only the first day with you"

He glanced down, focusing on kneading his tri- deal out of this Do you really hateat the top of your lungs back in the gym"

"No, I wasn’t AndI don’t hate you at all," I ad it out on et paired with Lissa"

I didn’t answer He wasn’t that far off

"You know," he continued, "it ood idea for you to practice with someone different"

"I know That’s what Dimitri says too"