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Everyone who knew Mara Jaffray, knew that she wasn't a goody two shoes. It was obvious. But hidden at the same time. It was so blatantly obvious, staring everyone right in the face, that no one saw it. Cheating for Mick on the French test, taking pictures of Mick with the teacher, getting a teacher fired, lying to Mr Sweet about badgers, not telling Nina that Patricia had stolen her locket, fighting with Amber, yelling at Jerome, letting him blackmail her, helping Poppy look through all of her brothers belongings. Spying on Vera, going into her room, sifting through her stuff… But then again…she really did all those things either out of jealousy, or kindness, or the fact the teachers had made her.

Either way, she should have gotten at least some detentions.

But she never had. Everyone saw her as the impossibly nice and helpful girl, who you would share your secrets too, and she would never judge or tell a soul. And this was true. She was the girl who always tried her best in every lesson, because, facing facts, the girl just loved to learn. This was true. She was the girl who hadn't been very lucky in love. That was very true. Mick and her…it never would have worked, it just wouldn't. She should have known they started off far too rocky. And then she had some small hope for Jerome, but at the beginning of third year, he had continuously ditched her for Nina and the gang. And she couldn't take it anymore. She dumped him, it was quick and painless…for him anyway, she hoped. She knew he had really liked her, whenever he did spend time with her, it was fun and sweet and memorable. So that's why it hurt to see him off gallivanting with Patricia and Joy, Fabian and Nina, Eddie and Alfie, and Amber. She didn't like it.

And she decided it would have to end. But she didn't want to hurt him, she had to make him believe that she was a horrible person. She dumped him quickly one winters morning, pretending that she was too good for him, she really acted the part. In fact…she was a little too believable. And he had cried for her, right there, and she almost broke. But she didn't, she was doing this for the both of them. Who were they fooling? The worker and the joker? The nerd and the hottie of the year?

And now, near the end of their 4th year, she missed him. She hadn't spoken to him all year, he avoided her, and she avoided him. In fact…he avoided nearly everyone in Anubis House. Distancing himself from everyone in there. Everyone seemed to remind him of her. He joined up with the other 'bad boys' of the school, ditching Alfie and Patricia, ditching the gang. And so when Mara sat in the living room with her book, and she saw a lost looking Alfie, a worried looking Nina, and a lost Patricia…she knew it was all her fault.

Of course, from the outside, it really looked liked Jerome had upgraded. This year, he was certainly more good looking. Well, he had always been handsome, but now, he was jaw dropping, heart stopping, mouth watering, eyes widening, blush makingly gorgeous. He was….everything. His hair was now slicked back, making his eyes shine. He dressed a lot better, making how he use to dress look amazingly shabby, even though it was far from it. He hung out with people a lot similar to him, manipulative…granted, a fair bit more stupid than him, but it allowed him to become the leader. And that was something Jerome had always wanted, but never really had.

So Mara sighed, slamming her locker, as she turned to see Jerome striding down the corridor proudly. The 'bad boys' in formation walking behind him. None of them wore blazers, a thing they had for some reason.

"I bet you regret dumping him," Amber sighed from beside her.

"No," Mara lied through gritted teeth "I should be focusing on my studies," Amber shrugged, following her small friend.

Line Break

It had been a supply teacher who gave Mara her very first detention. She had been day dreaming out of the window, thinking about her life. Only because she knew everything the teacher was saying off by heart…she was bored. And now she was walking down the corridor without her bag after school. She tugged her blazer around her more tightly, worried about who would be there. There wasn't going to be a teacher on duty in the detention room today, so she would be left alone with…ruffians.

She opened the door slowly, and almost jumped in shock. It was the 'bad boys' no Jerome in sight. She leaned against the door as they stood, circling her. "A girl!" they laughed loudly, maniacally, hearing a flurry of voices

"What's this one doing on this side of the school?"

"She's wearing a blazer!"

"Isn't that the school rep?"

"The school rep got a detention? Nice!"

"I bet she's a spy!"

"Not bad looking though-"

"Oh can we keep her? Can we Jerome?"

Jerome. That meant he was here, but she couldn't see him over all these tall people. "Let me take a look," Jerome called clearly, everyone cleared a path, and Mara saw Jerome sat in the teachers chair, his feet up on the desk. His eyes almost popped out of his head. "Mara Jaffray?" he asked in shock, sitting up properly, he motioned something with his hand, and everyone sat down around him. Mara stayed standing, beyond nervous. This was her first time speaking to him in ages. And she wasn't sure how to act. It was so awkward now. He breathed out lightly. "You might wanna remove your blazer," he advised.

"Why?" she asked curiously, realizing once again that none of the others were.

"In here…it's like flashing a hundred pounds at a homeless person," she listened to him, shrugging her blazer onto the back of her chair, and almost immediately, all of Jerome's good looking henchmen seemed to relax. "What are you doing in here?" he asked, somewhat softly

"I…was daydreaming in class,"

Jerome scoffed and shook his head laughing "No teacher would give The Mara Jaffray a detention,"

"He was a supply," she explained softly. Jerome raised his eye brows slightly, in a 'is that so?' kind of way. She watched him. Truly looked at him, and her heart ached with want, oh how she missed him. "Um…w-why are you in here?"

Jerome laughed, and immediately, everyone else in his crew did too "We switched a few chemicals around in the science lab,"

"Jerome!" Mara scolded, frowning "You should never do that! You could have died! The school could have exploded!"

"Since when can you tell me what to do?" Mara said nothing, looking down in her lap. "Guys," Jerome sighed "Could you give us a minute?" everyone nodded, lifting the window and heading out. Mara watched in shock, if they could just do that, why did they even bother coming in? "So Jaffray," he whispered quietly, leaning over the desk "Are you gonna tell me why?"

"Why what?" she asked dumbly, tucking a stray lock behind her ear

"Why you dumped me," he said simply, shrugging. But she could have sworn she saw pain in his cool eyes for a moment, before it faded.

"I don't think it really concerns you, what my reasons were,"

"How dare you-" Jerome cut himself off, trying to restrain himself from yelling at her, he took a channelled deep breath, and released it slowly "I just want to know, Mara. Please….it'll….help me sleep at night,"

"Jerome," she sighed, loving how his name fell from her lips "I didn't want either of us to get hurt,"

"Hurt?" Jerome laughed at this "You think I wasn't hurt? God Mara, you literally ripped my heart out, right in front of me, threw it to the ground and stepped on it,"

Mara winced at the description "It hurt me too-"

"Then why did you do it?"

"Because no matter how much it hurt then! If we'd kept going on like nothing was wrong, it would have hurt so much more later! I was helping us! I didn't want either of us to be that upset when we ended after so long!"

"What makes you think we would have broken up? What if we'd lasted?" Jerome quipped back quickly, eyes heating up.

"We wouldn't." she shook her head. Jerome leaned back, watching her carefully, waiting for an explanation. "I would have dumped you either way." She sighed, meeting his eyes, allowing him to see the pain that she was hiding. And he almost looked shocked, she really had taken it as hard as he had. "You ditched me so many times, I mean…you were better than Mick, you didn't ditch me on my birthday, you were sweet to me, but…I always felt second best, which I wouldn't have minded if it was Poppy you had placed before me! I get that, family and all, but…Nina and Fabian and Amber? I don't know how they suddenly became your best friend Jerome, but I didn't want to be the bad guy and tell you that you couldn't hang out with your friends," she let one tear escape, and she brushed it away quickly "And then…and then Eddie told me I should follow you, to find out exactly what it was you did with them, and so I was going too, I followed you into the woods, but I stopped. Realising what I was doing. I was following my boyfriend to find out what he was doing behind my back, what kind of relationship was that? So I went home, and slept on it, seeing if I would feel differently, but the next morning…I still thought it was wrong. But I didn't want you to hurt more than me. Because back then…I still loved you,"

She shook her head as if she were the most stupid person in the world, but carried on

"So I hoped that if I was cruel, and quick, it might be less painful for you. I pretended I didn't need you anymore-"

"You said you were too good for me," Jerome whispered, understanding everything suddenly/

"I never meant it," she paused, taking in his face…he looked shocked, yet…like he understood. "So there, now you know,"

Jerome looked down at his hands, feeling guilty "You should have said something to me,"

"I know,"

He swallowed "…H-how's Alfie?"

"Lost." She answered quickly, simply.

Jerome turned away, looking outside, seeing all his 'friends' talking out on the grass, thankfully not listening. "Me too," he whispered. He sniffed once, but there wasn't a tear on his face. "I've missed you," Mara pressed her lips together to stop from saying anything "I…still love you," Mara's mouth dropped open in shock, but still she couldn't say anything "I…I want to be with you again, I want to ditch these creeps," he motioned to the people outside "I want to hang around with Alfie, I want to make up with Nina and Rutter…I want to speak to Trixie…I want to make fun to the meathead,"

Mara looked down, another tear escaping "I only want one thing," she whispered. Jerome stood and crouched in front of her chair, lifting her chin with his fingers

"What?" he whispered. Mara never answered, instead showing him, she leaned down and kissed him softly, her hands tangling in his hair, their tears merging together so they couldn't tell who was crying. They broke away when their lungs burnt

"Let's make all your wishes come true," Mara whispered. Jerome smiled at her running his hand sideways through his hair

"And after we've done that…I'm going to explain why I kept ditching you,"

Mara nodded, and suddenly, as their lips met again, detention didn't seem that bad anymore.

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