As Rose walked out of the classroom, all of Dimitri's fears from that first day when he had driven her home started to flare up within him again, perhaps more now, because he feared for his career as before, but also for Rose's reputation and grades, as well as for the longevity of their relationship. He was more convinced now than ever that the two of them were meant to be. Rose was, without question, Dimitri's soulmate.

If she had only been born a few years earlier, none of this would be a problem, but as it was, so many things could be issues. Dimitri needed to talk to Ivan, unsure of whether he wanted to confide in his best friend or seek the counsel of his lawyer. He ultimately knew that either way, Ivan - because he was Ivan - would probably charge Dimitri his standard per-hour legal counseling fee, although he would hopefully extend the friends and family discount. Dimitri had planning period second hour, so he headed back to his own classroom, then closed the door and dialed his friend.

Ivan picked up on the fifth ring, far enough that Dimitri was sure it would go to voicemail.
"What?" Ivan groggily asked.

"I'm sorry," Dimitri hedged, "I didn't mean to bother you. Did I wake you?"

"Of course, you did. It's eight thirty on a Monday morning and I was out with Mia until after one last night. I'm not due in the office until eleven."

Dimitri felt guilty, but he plunged ahead, "I feel bad for getting you out of bed, but I really need your help, Ivan. It's important."

"I'm listening," Ivan said.

"Rose was in my first hour class. We didn't find out until class was started this morning."

Dimitri could hear the shock in Ivan's, "Oh!" response.

"I'm not sure what I should do," Dimitri added.

"What time is it, again?" Ivan said, and Dimitri could hear papers rustling as if Ivan were trying to find something.

Dimitri cocked an irritated eyebrow, knowing Ivan was asking because he wanted to track his legal advising time. "It's eight thirty three," he harrumphed.

"Good, good," Ivan replied, and Dimitri could hear the subtle scratching of a pencil on paper in the background, "Have you talked to anyone in authority yet about having her taken from the class?"

"No. It would have been much easier to have that conversation before the semester started. I wasn't sure if they'd even be willing without a good reason, now that classes have already begun, especially since this was the class that the school board had wanted most of the students to enroll in."

"I can understand that," replied Ivan, "Perhaps you could still cite a conflict of interest, without telling them that you have a relationship?"

"I could try to talk with the vice principal about that, I suppose."

Ivan added, "I still wouldn't suggest letting them know you're the one involved with Rose, unless you have no other choice. When - because I would say it's probably an eventuality that they will - they ask you what the conflict is, you could mention Adrian and say that he is her boyfriend. Didn't you say that he had attended St. Vladimir's? They might be aware he was with her."

Dimitri nodded, not consciously realizing that Ivan couldn't see the head nod over the phone. "I could probably say that now. I'm pretty sure they didn't know Adrian was my cousin and I've tried to keep that relationship quiet. I didn't think it would be the best impression. But now that they've seen me teach for a semester, they know that Adrian and I are very different people."

"Isn't that the truth," Ivan responded, "They probably never would have hired you in the first place if they knew he was related to you."

Dimitri laughed. "I know, right?"

Ivan mused, "If they deny your request to get Rose taken out of your class, do you have something in place, we've got to find some way that you're not responsible for her grades. Is there something to break the direct chain of authority there?"

"The school has given me a teaching assistant that will be starting later this week. My T.A. is supposed to be grading half of my students, so I've decided to arrange it such that she's grading all the females and I'm grading the males."

"That could work. Is that about half of the class?" Ivan asked.

Dimitri pulled his course roster out of his briefcase and looked down at it, counting out the females on the list. There were two more females than males. "There are a few more women than men, but it's pretty evenly balanced."

"Do you think that this new T.A. would agree to that division?"

Dimitri said, "I don't see why not. The principal said that I'm in charge of how she grades, as long as it's half of the class."

"You'll need to make sure that if you end up grading a couple of the women, that Rose isn't among them," Ivan counseled.

"Right," Dimitri agreed, "perhaps I could pick the two with the highest class grades. Rose is very smart, but she's never been in the top of her class."

"But you've been tutoring Rose, since Thanksgiving when you told her parents you were - right? Are you still going to keep tutoring her through the rest of the school year? You don't want her to do too well and end up being one of those two. Or perhaps you could have the two worst scores instead of the best?"

Dimitri furrowed his brow. "Perhaps I could ask Rose to throw in a wrong answer every now and again if she starts to get too good. Or if I take the two lowest, I could help her to stay out of the lowest with tutoring."

"Regardless, hopefully it's a moot point and she can be transferred out of the class. I'll let you go so that you can see if you can get her switched."

"Thanks, brat. I appreciate it," Dimitri paused for a moment, then added, knowing that Ivan would be checking the time again, "It's eight forty now."
*(brat - Russian for bro)

Ivan chuckled a little and Dimitri heard him scratching out the time on the paper with his pencil. "Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

"Go back to sleep. Sorry to wake you."

Dimitri and Ivan said their goodbyes and hung up the phone, then Dimitri picked up his desk phone and called Vice Principal Petrov.

"Alberta Petrov," she answered gruffly. As the vice principal, Alberta Petrov was primarily in charge of two things: course scheduling and student discipline. She did the second part of her job extremely well, and that worked partially because of her reputation.

"Vice Principal Petrov," Dimitri replied, "It's Dimitri Belikov. I was wondering if you had a few minutes to talk with me about a scheduling issue with a student in my first hour."

"I wasn't aware there were any issues," Alberta replied, "And feel free to call me Alberta, Dimitri. We are both faculty here. Now, what can I do for you?"

"I have a conflict of interest with teaching one of the students."

"I see. Since the course has already started and we told the school board that most of the senior class would take it, I'm not sure we'll have much of an option, but maybe we could work something out if there's a real conflict. Who's the student?"

Dimitri took a deep breath and swallowed thickly. Now was the time he could screw this all up if he gave anything away. "It's Rose Hathaway, ma'am."

"Mmhm," she said, "It would have to be a pretty major conflict in order to transfer Rose out of your class. If this is just because she's been difficult to deal with in detention and you would have her there, too, I'm afraid that's not a valid excuse."

"Actually, no, it's a ... romantic entanglement," he offered, "You see, you might know Adrian Ivashkov, who used to be a former student here. He's also my cousin. Adrian and Rose had been dating. I've seen Rose socially on multiple occasions. It's almost like she's a part of the family."

"I see. You're aware that Rose Hathaway's mother is on the school board and personally asked that Rose be a part of the class?"

"No, ma'am," said Dimitri, frowning, "I was not."

"I don't think we can really make an exception and remove her just because you're friendly with her. If anything, perhaps she could use a teacher who's got a connection to her in this course."

"I see," said Dimitri, the scowl only deepening on his face, "Thank you for your time, Vice Prin - Alberta, I mean. Have a good rest of your day."

"Dimitri," Alberta said, "I understand this isn't what you'd prefer, but I know that you're a wonderful teacher. I'm confident you can make this work, even if it's difficult."

"Thank you, Alberta."

"You're welcome. Have a good day, Dimitri."

~:~

As detention came to an end and the other three students all milled out of the room, Rose moved up to Dimitri's desk and sat on the surface. "So, teach, did you get me switched?"

Dimitri had been smiling, seeing Rose seated on his desk surface like that, picturing what he could do to her across his desk, but as her words, he frowned again, "No."

"Why not?"

"Did you know that your mother had specifically requested you take that class? I'm the only one teaching it."

Rose scoffed. "Damnit! Stupid Janine!"

"Ivan and I talked about it for a little while. I am planning on having the teaching assistant, Miss Grant, grade the women so that she will have your assignments and tests. Ivan had me check and there are a few more women in the class than men, so he suggested I either take the two worst scores in the class or the two best. Either way, we'd have to make sure you weren't among them," said Dimitri.

Rose chewed on her lip for a moment and then replied, "If you take the two best, you'd be taking Lissa, for sure. I know that could probably be considered a conflict of interest, too. I think I could stay out of the two worst, if you were tutoring me, though."

"What about Natalie Dashkov?" Dimitri asked, "I suspect I'd like to keep as far away from her as possible. I've already gotten contact from her father asking if I would call him tonight to discuss tutoring her. It sounded as though he would make me 'an offer I couldn't refuse'."

Rose's stomach dropped as she cringed. She knew Victor Dashkov had a way of getting whatever Natalie wanted. And she knew Natalie had the potential to be in the bottom two. "Maybe you should help find her another tutor sooner rather than later?"

Dimitri nodded. "Perhaps Miss Grant would be interested in tutoring Natalie, as well."

~:~

Author's Notes:

If you're willing, please take a minute to comment (💬)/vote (⭐) on the chapter.

As I have been doing for the past several chapters, this chapter dropped on Wattpad first and was posted on Fanfiction dot net and ArchiveOfOurOwn a few days later.  My plan is that I'll always post here first.

I had a guest reviewer leave a question for me on Fanfiction dot net last chapter and I just wanted to take a moment to drop a reminder here that I have no way of replying to guest reviews there. Getting your own Fanfiction account doesn't take long, but if you'd prefer, I would be glad to reply on Wattpad, ArchiveOfOurOwn (where I can reply to guest reviews), Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. I can be found under the same username at all of those places.