The sun shined brightly as everyone made their way towards Anubis house for another mystery filled year. Everyone was excited to see each other. From Jerome to Joy, who was still sporting a pretty huge crush on Fabian. As everyone sat mingling and waiting and stuffing their faces with food, in Alfie's case, Trudy came into the room with a sullen look on her face. Fabian frowned and asked, "Everything alright Trudy?"
Trudy shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I have some bad news that many of you will not be very fond of."
"Well don't you think you should wait for Nina and Eddie to get here first before you tell us? If its information that regards the house then I do believe that you should wait," Mara advised from her seat on the couch.
Trudy looked down towards the floor and looked up at the puzzled teens. "Its about them," she revealed. Everyone exchanged curious looks, especially Sibuna members.
"Are they coming back late or something?" Patricia asked.
"No dearies." Trudy sighed and pulled out two letters from her pocket. "They aren't coming back at all. I'm afraid that they've each decided not to return to Amun Boarding School this year."
The room was deathly silent. The only sounds that came from everyone's mouth were the sounds of heavy breathing. Breaking the silence, Amber slowly stood and looked at Trudy. "Are you serious? Like they aren't coming back at all?"
Trudy nodded. "The only things they have left to you all are these letters." Everyone looked at the letters that Trudy held out. "One is for Fabian and the other is for you all."
Amber and Fabian took the letters and began to open them. "I think I'll go read mine in private," Fabian uttered quietly as he left the common room.
Everyone watched him leave and then turned their attention towards Amber. "What does it say?" Jerome asked.
Amber a took a deep breath and began to read the letter aloud. "Dear, Anubis Kids," she began. "We're both extremely sorry that we can't return for another school year with you all. We just hope that you understand that coming back to Anubis wasn't good for us. It wasn't good for anybody."
Amber passed the letter to Mara. "There are some things that are keeping us here that we feel that is unfortunate to say are more important than being back there. We all have become so close over the last year. A second family even. Which is why we hope that you understand that this is it."
Patricia took the letter into her hands next. "The last you'll hear of us. We love you guys."
Amber looked up at everyone with sad eyes as she took the letter and finished it. "Sincerely Nina and Eddie."
The room was quiet once more. Everyone too shocked to speak. "I'm calling Nina," Amber announced.
Amber walked over to her purse and pulled out her phone. "Didn't you hear the letter Amber?" Joy asked. "It said the 'Last you'll ever hear from us.' I doubt you'll even reach her."
"Well I have to try!" Amber yelled. "She's my best friend. She can't just cut us out like this! And neither can Eddie." Amber held up the phone to her ear and listened for the ring. It never came. Suddenly she heard a dial up tone on the end. She pulled the phone down from her ear and cursed underneath her breath. "The number is disconnected."
"So I guess they're really gone, aren't they?" Alfie asked aloud.
"I believe so," Patricia whispered, realizing that she wouldn't get to even tell Eddie about her feelings for him.
"Well what about Fabian? Do you guys think his letter said the same thing?" Mara inquired.
"Nope," Fabian's voice came from the door way. He looked deeply upset. His brown hair was mess and his blue eyes lost their sparkle. "She just broke up with me. In a letter." He held up the letter and plopped it down on the table. "Feel free to read it. Its not like its worth keeping anyways," he said in despair.
In that moment, it really did hit them that their friends were gone.
A Year Later
Dressed from head to toe in uniform, Anubis house steadily made their way towards the drama room for some house meeting called by Mr. Sweet. Amber was the last to walk in, having to use the bathroom first. She walked in to see everyone sitting down waiting for Mr. Sweet to arrive. "Sweet's not here yet?" Amber asked as she sat down next to her boyfriend, Alfie. Alfie shook his head and Amber scoffed as she looked at Joy and Fabian on one side of the room. "I'll never like those two together," she voiced. "Fabina was supposed to be endgame. Not Jabian. Besides, they are too-"
"Afternoon students!" Mr. Sweet announced as he entered the room, cutting Amber off mid-sentence. He made his way to the stage and smiled. "As you all can see I've only called your house to this meeting."
"Yeah. Why is that?" Jerome asked as he wrapped an arm around Maya.
"Good question. You see, your house has been chosen to participate in a great exchange program. Your house will be locating to Beverly Hills, California where you all will indulge yourselves in the American culture."
Amber gasped and hopped up animatedly. "Maybe we'll get to see Nina and Eddie again!"
"Let it go Amber. It's been a year and we've heard absolutely nothing so far. So I honestly doubt we'll see them in America," Jerome said.
Mara slapped his arm. "Don't be mean," she chastised. She looked towards Amber. "What Jerome was trying to say was that America is a big country. It's very rare that we'd even get to see them."
Amber sat down dejectedly and wished that they would be wrong, but inside steadily realized that they were right. Seeing that Amber wasn't about to speak anytime soon, Joy stepped in. "So what else do we need to know Mr. Sweet?"
"You all will be leaving sometime next week and neither Trudy not Victor will be accompanying you all, but there will be someone checking on you regularly. So no silly games or tricks." Everyone nodded and threw out various answers. "Great. You are all dismissed."
Mr. Sweet left the room and as soon as he stepped out of the doorframe, everyone bursted with excitement. "Can you believe it? America!" Patricia exclaimed.
"I think this trip is going to be very interesting," Joy voiced.
Interesting is surely the right word to describe this trip. They were certainly in for a shock.
The sun shined brightly as the Anybis kids stepped out of the airport. "Man, it's hot." Fabian said as he removed his jacket. He looked towards Mara. "You said you called us a couple cabs right?" Mara nodded and looked back at a packet Mr. Sweet gave her.
"So," Amber began. "Are you guys excited? I know I am! It's good to be in a place where my amazingly cute clothes won't be suppressed to being only worn in the house."
Joy rolled her eyes. "Don't you think there are other things to be excited about? Rather than the clothes?"
Amber thought quietly for a moment. "Nope." She turned to see two cabs pulling up. "Look! Those must be our cabs! Come on let's go. I need my beauty sleep if I'm going to look amazing tomorrow morning."
There it was. In all its two story glory. West Beverly High School. The whole courtyard was a buzz as everyone was talking, heading to their lockers, and just having fun. "Whoa," Joy breathed.
"Whoa indeed," Amber agreed. "This is a lot of people."
Patricia rolled her eyes and began to walk across the road to the sidewalk of the school. "You guys are being wimps. It's just a school," she called out.
As she crossed the paved road a car honked at her multiple times as she tried to pass by. A girl with long curly brown hair poked her head out of the convertible and narrowed her eyes at Patricia. "Watch it! We were already driving!"
Popping back down in her seat, her two friends, the driver with long dirty blonde hair, and in the back a girl with straight brown hair each scoffed and attempted to roll their eyes through their sunglasses.
They drove off into the parking lot of the school, leaving Patricia in their dust. "Snarky much?" She groaned. She nodded towards everyone else. "Come on. The entrance is right there."
As they all walked up towards the entrance of the school the same three girls climbed out of their convertible. The loud music from their car suddenly stopping as the dirty blonde locked her vehicle. In this perfectly sychronized movement all three girls took off their sunglasses and looked at everyone around them. "How long do we have until first bell?"
The voice. That voice sounded so familiar. One by one, the Anubis kids turned around towards the voice. As Fabian's eyes grazed over her face, his breath hitched. "Nina?" He whispered to himself.
Nina Martin stood before them in all her glory, but a different Nina than they were used to seeing. The Nina that they were seeing dressed completely different, seemed a lot more confident, and just had this certain new quality to her that they couldn't quite put their fingers on. The girl with the curly brown hair pulled out her phone and checker the time. "We have about twenty minutes."
Nina smiled and thanked her friend. "Thanks Lexi." She looked towards her other friend. The one with straight brown hair. "What did Brandon say?"
The girl, now known as Simone, looked down at her phone. "He said they should be here in five."
Nina smiled and looked over at the parking lot before grinning even wider. "Or now," she smirked.
As all three girls turned their attention towards a jeep barreling into the parking lot, Amber took this as her chance to evaluate these people who she now knew as Lexi and Simone. Lexi appears to be short in Amber's eyes, but her long brown curls giving her a nice advantage. Her eyes were this chocolate brown and she had this nice sense of style, but too modern for Amber.
Then there was Simone, her hair shoulder length and unbelievably straight. She seemed to have this tough exterior, but a very girly choice in clothing. Her height was a definite advantage too. Her smile though seemed to light up the room as she watched the jeep park.
Finally, Amber's eyes traced over her supposed to be best friend. Nina was radiating confidence. Her hair was still just as long and even more rich in color. Her clothes changed drastically too. She dressed more modern, and stylish to be exact. Like today she was wearing a white crop top, blue jeans, and worker boots. Something vastly different from what she used to wear back at Anubis.
Amber broke out of her thoughts as she heard a car door slam. She looked over towards the Jeep and saw two boys climb out. One with short black hair and the other with brown hair. "Eddie hurry up!" the one with brown hair shouted.
The guy with short black hair an light brown skin walked over to Simone and hugged her before giving her a peck on the lips. he leaned down to her ear and whispered something that made her laugh immensely. Lexi looked over at the two and rolled her eyes. "Brandon and Simone," she mumbled under breath.
Suddenly, she was picked up off the ground by the guy with shaggy brown hair. "Luke!" she squealed. He twirled her around right before setting her back down in front of him. "I'm sorry about this weekend," she whispered. "I swear I'll make it up to you." Luke didn't even answer. He just laughed it off and captured her lips in a quick kiss.
Finally, the last guy filed out the Jeep. As if it was in slow motion, Eddie Miller walked up to Nina and kissed her sweetly before whispering, "I love you."
Nina bit her lip nervously and kissed him quickly. "Love you too."
Eddie grabbed her hand and looked over at their other friends. "Come on. Let's go to our spot."
The Anubis kids just watched as the group of six filed away from them and into the school. "Did you all just see the same thing as me?" Alfie asked.
Fabian gripped his bag tightly until his knuckles turned white. "Yep," he answered bitterly. "The exact same thing."