Liability

Chapter 1 - Dmitri

Dmitri adjusts his dorky, but supposedly fashionable, tortoiseshell glasses, grimacing at his reflection. He doesn't feel ready to teach anyone anything, let alone a bunch of spoiled young princes at one of the States' most prestigious all boys academy. Hell, he doesn't even feel like an adult. What happened to being an over-worked undergrad student scrambling to finish ridiculous essays twenty minutes before the deadline? He doesn't know what his professors at Columbia's Teacher College were smoking to think it was a good idea to give him a degree, a master's at that, but they must have been out of their minds because Dmitri is definitely not ready.

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to put on your big girl panties and do your shiny new job?"

"My big girl panties are on, already cutting into my circulation," he snarks back, shooting Carmen a scathing glare from the mirror before it melts into a jagged grin.

Carmen's dark red lips stretch wide as she walks closer, her lusciously curved hips swaying in the wake of her stiletto aided steps, and then there is a hand on the top of his head, patting it like he's five years old instead of nearly twenty-five, using her heels enhanced 6'6" against his shorter height. Dmitri scowls, but it's only for show. They've known each other all his life. Carmen is like an older sister to him, even if he once offered to marry her. He was fourteen and she seemed like the perfect choice to succeed his grandmother as head of the family. Her reply was laughing at him and giving him his first kiss.

Even now he is aware that Carmen would be a better choice than him despite the lack of blood relation, but he's the heir and he knows his duties. He knows that a time will come when his grandmother will step down and he will have to fill her impossibly large shoes. But gor now he can enjoy his life as a high school teacher, passing on his love for books and reading.

"You can still back out, you know," Carmen says, her dark eyes watchful as she studies him.

"I can do this," Dmitri says, pushing as much certainty into his tone as he can. "It's been my dream since I was a kid. I'm not going to give up an opportunity like this just because of my stupid brain."

"Good, then tell your 'stupid brain' to shut the fuck up and get going. Or you're going to be late on your first day," Carmen responds, pinching his cheeks, hard.

He bats her hands away and looks into his reflected pale gray eyes, willing himself to shake off his idiocy. He gives himself a tight nod then straightens his starched collar and turns away from the mirror. He can do this. Carmen hums and pats his shoulder, her dark red lips stretched wide. It's her way to say, "Good luck."

He refuses the offered car,with a shake of his head when he sees Bree hovering by the elevator. She rolls her large, deceptively innocent eyes at him when he tells her that no one drives in the city. "Yeah that's why there is always traffic."

"Another reason not to take the car."

"Oh shut up." She swats at him, her fist hiding strength her willowy body belies, but he manages to evade her the last moment and winks at her just as the elevator doors open. "If you kill the brats, just call. I'll wait with the trunk open."

Dmitri rolls his own eyes at that. He's sure all his new students are little gentlemen in training. Spoiled beyond belief, but brimming propriety and eager to please their usually absent parents. Still, he smiles at Bree's strange sense of encouragement and kisses her on the forehead, huffing a choked laugh when she drives her elbow into his stomach.

"Shoo, Young Master. Teach them rich brats some manners." Her grin is sharp, near feral, and for a second Dmitri allows his doubts to flood his mind once again.

No, she is just teasing him.

Edison Academy is a prestigious all boy's school for the heirs and sons of important people. So, his students should all be hard-working and polite and maybe even cute in a way. They will love him and he will do his best to further their knowledge and make them well-read and even more eloquent than they already are.