Hope y'all like this! This takes place when Jerome was at Anubis by himself and the first student (besides him) comes to Anubis! Please enjoy it! I guarentee you will! :D

Jerome's POV

I stepped out onto the Anubis house porch, taking a deep breath of the cool air. It wasn't hot and it wasn't freezing, but it wasn't warm either, it was the perfect temperature for me. It was the beginning of the school year and I'm here by myself again. I hadn't left for the holidays, Trudy had spent them with me since my parents 'couldn't make it' again. The sky was clear blue, not a single cloud, and the sun shone brightly over the school yard, making it feel warmer than it really is. There was a cool breeze blowing through my dirty-blonde hair and the tall trees that surrounded Anubis. I jumped off the top step to the gravel path leading out of the yard. But instead of going forward, I wandered the wrong way. I settled in a place that was shaded by the house and no one would see me there. I opened one of the many books I'd collected. Trudy knows how much I love to read and gave me one every time I was good, which was often since I didn't have any reason to do anything bad. I heard a slam of a car door but it flew right past me. I ignored it, my blue eyes running over the page at a speed no one thought was possible, unless you weren't even reading. I heard a sob when I finished the chapter and looked up. No one was in the yard and I shrugged it off. But that was when I saw her.

A short girl walked up to me hesitantly and smiled down at me. Her black hair was long and pulled back in two low pigtails. She wore a yellow sundress that came just above her knees and pink converse. And even though it probably didn't look that good to anyone else, I thought it was cute. She looked really friendly, and that led me to my first question. She had to be my age, right? She was shorter than most girls at school, but then again, I was shorter than most guys.

I swallowed. I'd never socialized with someone my age before, or any kid for that matter. Who was going to talk first? Please let it be her, I don't know what to say.

"Can I sit?"She asked in a small voice.

All I did was nod.

"I'm Mara, what's your name?" she said a few minutes later of an empty awkward silence, holding her hand out to me.

I take her hand hesitantly and she shakes it gently. "Jerome Clarke," I managed to say without letting the shakiness I felt in my whole body come out with my voice.

"What are you reading?" her brown eyes flitted to my book.

I held the cover up for her to read and her face lit up when she skimmed over the title.

"20 Thousand Leagues under the Sea, is one of my favorite books! I've never met anyone that likes it too," a small grin grew on her face.

"Neither have I." I chuckled, running a hand through my shaggy blonde hair.

When I finished talking she reached into her blue shoulder bag, pulling out something brown.

"What's that?" I blurted out, unable to stop the question.

"Chocolate," she smiled, holding a rectangular thing up.

"Chocolate," I asked, eyeing the bar.

"Yeah, you want some?"

"Um, I've never…" I shook my head, gently refusing her offer.

"You've never had chocolate?" she gasped, looking at me as if I'd grown a second head.

I shook my head again.

Mara giggled and broke a piece of the brown bar off, holding it out to me. "Try it, you'll love it, I guarantee it!"

I looked at her and then at the small rectangle she held out to me. Biting my lip, I took it from her and popped it into my mouth. A sweet taste flooded into my mouth when I bit into the chocolate. "It is good," I grinned.

"See? I told you so," she smirked triumphantly.

I licked my lips when the candy was no longer in my mouth and thanked her silently. My eyes fell on the chocolate again and she grinned.

"Here, you can have it, I have a bunch more." she handed it to me and stood up. "I'm going to go get settled, I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, course," I nodded. "Thank you, for the chocolate."

"No problem," she sent me a quick wink and walked off to the entrance to the house.

"Jerome…" a voice said.

I looked up, who was that? Trudy's the only one that knows my name here and it wasn't her who had called my name.

"Jerome…"

There it was again. Wait, no one called my name when I first met Mara…

"Jerome?"

"You're so gorgeous," I ignore her.

A blush floods her tan cheeks and she repeats my name.

I snap out of my trance and raise an eyebrow at the girl sitting across from me. "Yeah,"

"You've been staring at me for ten minutes, practically unblinking, are you alright?" she asks.

"Oh, it's nothing, just thinking about when we first met." I reply, continuing to stare into her chocolate brown eyes.

"And," Mara asked, tucking a strand of her raven black hair behind her ear.

"And, I just realized that whenever I look into your eyes, I have to think about the day we first met. When we first met, you'd given me chocolate, and your eyes are brown, the color of chocolate." I explain.

Mara smiles and reaches into her purse, pulling out a Hershey's chocolate bar. My mouth immediately begins to water and I lick my lips.

"Chocolate," she holds it out for me to take.

"Thank you," I grin. I grab it and before she could take her hand back, I take her hand in my and kiss her knuckles gently.

"Ever the charmer," she teases, nodding her head at the chess board sitting between us. "Your turn,"

I move my bishop three spaces diagonally and place a piece of the milk chocolate bar in my mouth.

The sweetness…Mara's eyes…

I love chocolate…

There ya have it! Hope y'all liked it! I've got a few more one-shots comin' soon, I just gotta work on 'em! So, keep an eye out of 'em!

REVIEW!

Now, if any of you read my drabble series, House of Couples, and you LOVE it, please vote for it! It was nominated by a totally cool gal, xXAquaMangoXx, to be the featured FanFiction on House of Anubis Wikia! I've got some votes on the others right now...but I'd really like the votes! The link to the poll is on my profile, at the bottom, under the label Vote!. Thanks for the votes if you've already voted!

Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

God bless!

-Rachel