"Tell her," said Lissa desperately. "Tell her she's wrong."
Christian dragged his eyes from me to her, and as they regarded each other, I felt such a powerful wave of attraction, it was a wonder it didn't knock me over. Her heart was in her eyes. It was obvious to me he felt the same way about her, but she couldn't see it, particularly since he was still glaring at her.
"You can stop it, you know," he said. "You don't have to pretend anymore."
Lissa's giddy attraction vanished, replaced by hurt and shock over his tone. "I...what? Pretend what?..."
"You know what. Just stop. Stop with the act."
Lissa stared at him, her eyes wide and wounded. She had no clue I'd gone off on him last night. She had no clue that he believed she hated him.
"Get over feeling sorry for yourself, and tell us what's going on," I snapped at him. "Did you or didn't you tell them?"
He fixed me with a defiant look. "No. I didn't."
"I don't believe you."
"I do," said Lissa.
"I know it's impossible to believe a freak like me could keep his mouth shut - especially since neither of you can - but I have better things to do than spread stupid rumors. You want someone to blame? Blame your golden boy over there."
I followed his gaze to where Jesse was laughing about something with that idiot Ralf.
"Jesse doesn't know," said Lissa defiantly.
Christian's eyes were glued to me. "He does, though. Doesn't he, Rose? He knows."
My stomach sank out of me. Yes. Jesse did know. He'd figured it out that night in the lounge. "I didn't think...I didn't think he'd tell. He was too afraid of Dimitri."
"You told him?" exclaimed Lissa.
"No, he guessed." I was starting to feel sick.
"He apparently did more than guess," muttered Christian.
I turned on him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh. You don't know."
"I swear to God, Christian, I'm going to break your neck after class."
"Man, you really are unstable." He said it almost happily, but his next words were more serious. He still wore that sneer, still glowed with anger, but when he spoke, I could hear the faintest uneasiness in his voice. "He sort of elaborated on what was in your note. Got into a little more detail."
"Oh, I get it. He said we had sex." I didn't need to mince words. Christian nodded. So. Jesse was trying to boost his own reputation. Okay. That I could deal with. Not like my reputation was that stellar to begin with. Everyone already believed I had sex all the time.
"And uh, Ralf too. That you and he - "
Ralf? No amount of alcohol or any illegal substance would make me touch him. "I - what? That I had sex with Ralf too?"
Christian nodded.
"That ass**le! I'm going to - "
"There's more."
"How? Did I sleep with the basketball team?"
"He said - they both said - you let them...well, you let them drink your blood."
That stopped even me. Drinking blood during sex. The dirtiest of the dirty. Sleazy. Beyond being easy or a slut. A gazillion times worse than Lissa drinking from me for survival. Blood-whore territory.
"That's crazy!" Lissa cried. "Rose would never - Rose?"
But I wasn't listening anymore. I was in my own world, a world that took me across the classroom to where Jesse and Ralf sat. They both looked up, faces half smug and half...nervous, if I had to guess. Not unexpected, since they were both lying through their teeth.
The entire class came to a standstill. Apparently they'd been expecting some type of showdown. My unstable reputation in action.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked in a low, dangerous voice.
Jesse's nervous look turned to one of terror. He might have been taller than me, but we both knew who would win if I turned violent. Ralf, however, gave me a cocky smile.
"We didn't do anything you didn't want us to do." His smiled turned cruel. "And don't even think about laying a hand on us. You start a fight, and Kirova'll kick you out to go live with the other blood whores."
The rest of the students were holding their breaths, waiting to see what we'd do. I don't know how Mr. Nagy could have been oblivious to the drama occurring in his class.
I wanted to punch both of them, hit them so hard that it'd make Dimitri's brawl with Jesse look like a pat on the back. I wanted to wipe that smirk off Ralf's face.
But ass**le or not, he was right. If I touched them, Kirova would expel me in the blink of an eye. And if I got kicked out, Lissa would be alone. Taking a deep breath, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life.
I walked away.
The rest of the day was miserable. In backing down from the fight, I opened myself up to mockery from everyone else. The rumors and whispers grew louder. People stared at me openly. People laughed. Lissa kept trying to talk to me, to console me, but I ignored even her. I went through the rest of my classes like a zombie, and then I headed off to practice with Dimitri as fast I could. He gave me a puzzled look but didn't ask any questions.
Alone in my room later on, I cried for the first time in years.
Once I got that out of my system, I was about to put on my pajamas when I heard a knock at my door. Dimitri. He studied my face and then glanced away, obviously aware I'd been crying. I could tell, too, that the rumors had finally reached him. He knew.