Wish (6 page)

I think I liked it better before I
knew Tristan had feelings for me. Or maybe he doesn’t have them
anymore. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I hit his
two week
mark when it
comes to dating. Maybe he has changed his mind.

“
Why do boys have to be so
complicated?” I ask Savannah, while we’re getting ready for
breakfast.

She laughs. “You’re asking
me
?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I’ve never had a boyfriend,” she
says.

“
Yeah, but you have Kaiden and
Madox.”

“
I can’t even begin to understand
what is going on inside of their brains,” she says. “We play video
games and hang out, but it’s not like having a girl friend. They
don’t exactly talk about their feelings.”

“
What do they talk
about?”

“
Video games. Movies. Superheroes.
That’s about it,” she says. “Which is fine with me. I’m not exactly
a talk about your feelings kind of girl anyway.”

“
I kind of thought you and Kaiden
were kind of… sort of… dating.”

“
Me and Kaiden? That… no… it
would… he… and I… no. Just not happening. Ever,” she says.
“Besides, he’s my best friend. If I had feelings for him, it would
completely ruin everything. And I can’t do that. Him and Madox are
my only friends in this school. I mean, besides you, but you’re
always getting kidnapped with the president’s son.”

“
I’ve only been kidnapped with him
once,” I say. “The other time, I was hiding with
Tristan.”

“
See, you’re good at the whole guy
thing,” she says. “You’ve got Damon and Tristan.”

“
Damon and I broke up. And Tristan
is… well, obviously not interested in me anymore,” I say. “I mean,
I knew it was too good to be true anyway. He’s… like, way out of my
league.”

“Whatever, Katerina. You’ve got
that whole mysterious thing going on. And then there is the Russian
thing. Guys like accents,” she says. “He would be crazy
not
to like you. Even if
he is older. Plus, you’re crazy gorgeous.”

Our dorm room opens up and Alik walks
inside.

“
Ever heard of knocking?” I ask
him.

“
Sorry,” he says, then knocks on
the open door. “Just wanted to check on you.”

“
And the five bodyguards standing
outside my window and door aren’t enough?” I ask.

He shrugs.

“
I think I like accents too,”
Savannah says. “So, he’s really your brother, right?”

“
Yeah, but don’t waste your time,”
I say, looking from Alik to her. “He’s worse than Tristan. I think
the longest Alik has been interested in a girl is a week. And even
that is pushing it with him. Mum swears he’s going to be a bachelor
forever.”

“
Hey, I dated that one girl a week
and a half,” Alik says, not even remembering her name.

“
She was gone on vacation with her
family for eight days and you couldn’t get ahold of her to break up
with her. You even dated somebody else during that time,” I say.
“That doesn’t count.”

“
Maybe you should ask him whatever
you were going to ask me,” Savannah says.

“
What?” Alik asks.

“
Nothing,” I say.

Because, I am so
not
talking to Alik
about boys. If Eduard were around, maybe I would ask him. But not
Alik.

“
I think her and Tristan are
having problems,” Savannah says.

“
We are not,” I say, turning to
look at Savannah. “And you’re such a traitor. What happened to girl
code?”

“Girl code?” she asks. “I have
two
guy
best
friends. I wasn’t aware there was such a thing as girl
code.”

“
I don’t know. I’ve seen it in
movies.”

“
Is that where I’m not supposed to
date your ex-boyfriend or something? Cause you don’t have to worry
about that. Even if I were interested in Damon or Tristan, they so
wouldn’t be interested in me,” she says. “I’m a nerd, remember?
Besides, I’m kind of in love with…” her voice cuts short.
“Ssssomebody else.”

“
I knew it! It’s Kaiden, isn’t
it?”

“
I’m not saying,” she
says.

“
What do you mean she’s having
problems with Tristan?” Alik asks. He puts a hand on my shoulder.
“Kat, did he break up with you? I mean, I thought the two of you
were acting weird during training this morning. You weren’t doing
that weird flirty thing you guys do.”

“
We don’t flirt,” I
say.

“
Do too,” Savannah and Alik say at
the same time.

Okay, maybe we flirt a little.

“
Am I going to have to beat him
up?” Alik asks. “I mean, I was starting to kind of like the guy.
But it doesn’t matter how much I like him, I will hurt him if he
hurts you. Nobody messes with my baby sister.”

“
No, you don’t need to beat him
up. I can take care of myself,” I say. “Tristan is older. And
clearly he’s not interested in me. So we can just drop it. I’m over
it.”

“
Over what?” Tristan asks, walking
into my dorm.

“Does
anybody
knock around here?” I
ask.

“
Privacy went out the window when
you got kidnapped,” he says.

“
Fine. Just don’t follow me to the
bathroom,” I say, stomping off towards the small bathroom in my
dorm.

I really, really wish they would catch Rafael
and Matthews already. I’m kind of over this whole being babysat
thing.

Ex-terrorist.

“Salvador seems to be fitting in
really nicely,” I say to Alik as we walk into the dining hall that
morning for breakfast. It’s so nice to be back at
New Hope Academy
that I
almost don’t care that everybody is staring.

“
Yeah, the freshman girls love his
Russian accent,” Alik says, motioning to the table he’s sitting
at.

I notice Jade watching him from a
distance.

“
Hey, have you met Jade yet?” I
ask Alik.

“
Yeah. I introduced myself to her
before you got kidnapped.”

“
We should introduce her to
Salvador,” I say.

I was supposed to introduce her to Damon, but
then we got kidnapped. I don’t know when he will be back at school.
So I need to make it up to her.

I walk over to the table where Salvador is
sitting. He’s surrounded by freshman girls. All of them giggling,
which makes me want to laugh.

“
Hey, Salvador,” I say. “Nice to
see you outside of a basement.”

“Katerina, thank you for getting
me into this lovely school,” he says, then switches to Russian.
“
The girls here like my
accent
.”

“
Of
course they do
.” I laugh. “Want to meet my
cousin Jade? She’s a freshman too.”

One of the girls beside him rolls
her eyes. “Jade Bello is your
cousin
?”

“
Yeah,” I say, forcing a smile. I
don’t like the way she said it with disgust in her voice. “She’s
awesome.”

“
No she’s not. She doesn’t talk to
anybody,” another girl says.

“
Like we care,” the first girl
says. “Her mom is the dean. We wouldn’t be friends with her
anyway.”

I am about to tell the girl off. Nobody talks
about my cousin that way. But then Salvador stands up.

“
I’d like to meet her,” Salvador
says.

“
Stay here,” one of the girls
says, pouting.

Wow.

This is really weird.

“
Sorry, ladies. I’ll talk to you
at lunch, or something,” Salvador says.

He follows me over to where Jade is sitting.
She’s got the whole table to herself, which is incredibly sad.
She’s got on a pair of headphones and an open book in front of her.
When she sees us walk up, the pulls the headphones from her
ears.

“
Hey, Katerina. Alik,” she
says.

“
Have you met Salvador?” I ask
her.

“
No.” She face turns pink. “Um,
hi, Salvador.”

“
This is my cousin, Jade Bello,” I
tell him.

“
Your cousin kind of looks like
you,” Salvador says, taking a seat in front of her. “So, what are
you listening to?”

“
It’s just… umm…” she holds out a
headphone for him. “You just have to listen.”

Salvador takes the headphone and puts it up to
his ear. He grins. “Vivaldi. Nice. Which piece is your
favorite?”

“
Summer,” she answers.

“
We’re just going to go,” I say,
grabbing Alik’s arm and pulling him behind me.

Jade and Salvador don’t look at us as we walk
away.

“
Did you just set our cousin up
with a Russian terrorist?” Alik asks.

“
Ex-terrorist,” I say. “And he
wasn’t really a terrorist. His dad is. He never had a
choice.”

“
Whatever,” he says. “Let’s just
eat.”

I look at my table, where Tristan is waiting
on us. “I don’t want breakfast.”

“
Why not?” he asks.

“
Because, I don’t want to see
Tristan right now,” I answer.

“
He’s your bodyguard and trainer.
You can’t avoid him forever,” Alik says. “And my offer to beat him
up still stands.”

“
It’s okay,” I say. “It’s not his
fault that he’s not interested in me.”

“
Why do you think he’s not
interested?” Alik asks, as he walks with me out of the cafeteria.
My brother is sacrificing breakfast for me. He never gives up food
for anybody. I love him for it.

“
Because, when we were in Russia,
he basically told me so,” I say.

“
How so?” Alik asks.

“
Well, I was straight with him and
told him, this is how I feel,” I answer. “And I may have asked him
to be my boyfriend. Then he said it was the guy’s job to ask the
girl. But he didn’t ask. We just stood there awkwardly for a few
seconds and he changed the subject. That’s it.”

“
That doesn’t mean he’s not
interested,” he says.

“
Maybe. But then he didn’t talk to
me on the way back,” I say. “And he barely talks to me now that
we’re back on campus. It’s like he changed his mind about me. I
mean, if you’re interested in a girl, you don’t ignore
her.”

“
I don’t get it,” Alik says. “I
thought he was really into you.”

I shrug my shoulders.

I’m not going to pretend to understand
guys.

And guys say girls are complicated.

The most honest.

Everywhere I go, bodyguards follow me. And I
was sort of used to it, with Tristan following me and Damon’s
bodyguards, but this is different. They’re closer than ever and
really, really obnoxious. Is this what Damon always went through? I
feel bad for him.

The worst part of it all? Tristan is still
here. And he’s not talking to me. And I hate every second of
silence. But I don’t want to say anything, because everybody is
watching me. Maybe a little because I’m scared of rejection. As if
rejection isn’t bad enough, being rejected with an audience sounds
ten times worse.

In the student lounge, my bodyguards aren’t
the only ones watching me. So are the other students. I know
they’re curious about what happened to me, but I’m beginning to
feel a bit like an animal in a zoo.

They’re also curious because Damon isn’t back.
His dad wasn’t comfortable sending him back to school here, not
that I can blame him.

“
I have got to get out of here,” I
say to one of my bodyguards standing close by.

He says something into his phone. I hear an
“all clear,” come back through.

“
It’s safe to head outside,” he
tells me.

Oh my gosh. Do I really have to
have
permission
do leave a room?

“
Thanks,” I say to him, knowing
that it’s not his fault. He’s just doing his job. Which
unfortunately is to babysit me. Bodyguard. Babysit. Whatever. He’s
being forced to follow around a sixteen year old girl. That’s got
to be boring for a thirty-something year old man.

I walk outside and a burst of cold
air hits me in the face. It’s not
that
cold, not as cold as it was in
Russia, but it’s almost November. I like the cold though. It
reminds me of home. Even though I spent a few days in Russia, it’s
not the same. I wasn’t at home. And I didn’t see my mum. She’s
still kidnapped. I just hope my dad finds her soon.

Tristan walks out the door and looks at me.
I’m just standing in the sunlight, trying to clear my mind. There
is too much bad stuff going on right now.

“
Are you okay?” he asks, walking
up beside me.