"Finally back," Patricia breathed to herself as her mum pulled into the car park of the school. She got out of the car and grabbed her bags containing all her clothes and knick-knacks needed for the next year. Her mum gave her a big hug and told her to call before driving out, back onto the road.
She spotted Eddie getting out of a taxi a couple of meters away from her. "Oi, Eddie," she called out to him. He smiled when he saw her and made his way over.
"Yacker," he greeted. "Miss me?"
Patricia rolled her eyes, "You wish Weasel."
"You really know how to hurt a guys feelings," Eddie said, pretending to be hurt.
"Fine," Patricia gave in, "maybe I missed you a little."
"I missed you too, Yacker," Eddie admitted. He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
"Glad to know the feeling is mutual," she said as she pulled away from her boyfriend.
"Oi lovebirds!" The two turned around to see Jerome walking over to them. "Sorry to interrupt this little love fest."
"You're one to talk Jerome, you and Joy are the mushiest couple out there, it makes me want to throw up," Patricia shot at the tall blonde.
"Don't look then." Jerome shot back. "But speaking of Joy, have you seen her yet?"
"No, I figured she'd be with you," Patricia said, shrugging.
"Did I hear someone say my name?" The four turned to see Joy standing behind them.
"Joy!" Patricia exclaimed, moving to hug her best friend. "I missed you."
"Didn't you two see each other over the summer?" Eddie asked.
"No, I spent the majority of the summer with Jerome and his family." Joy replied.
"How was it?" Patricia asked, noticing that the couple hadn't even really greeted each other yet.
"Uh yeah, it was good…" Joy said, looking over to Jerome as if waiting for him to continue.
"Yeah, it was fun," Jerome replied.
The two were saved from talking about it more by Mara coming over to the group. "Hey, guys."
"Hey!" the group greeted her. Mara smiled at the group but it faltered as she noticed Joy was barely even looking at her.
The tension in the group seemed to thicken, "We should probably head over to Anubis, Trudy's probably waiting for us all." Eddie suggested to the group to which they all agreed.
Joy started walking away fast causing Jerome to run after her, "Joy wait!"
The other three followed, Eddie slightly ahead while Patricia and Mara hung back a bit to talk.
Mara looked over at Patricia, "Did something happen?"
"I don't know," Patricia admitted. "The two barely greeted each other and then when we brought up their summer together, it got weird"
"Oh," Mara replied, looking unsure of what to do. "It just looked like as soon as I showed up the two got awkward."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, I don't think it's about you, they're probably just going through a rough patch."
"Yeah, I guess," Mara said, still looking unsure.
"So how was your summer?" Patricia said, changing the subject.
The two talked until they reached Anubis House and entered with the others. They were greeted by Trudy, who showered them all with kisses, and Fabian, KT, Alfie and Willow came out to say hi.
Everyone eventually moved to the kitchens to eat Trudy's famous treats, except Fabian who went to the bathroom. Eddie and Patricia stayed in the foyer. "So how was your summer?" Eddie asked.
"If you think listening to my parent's drone on about how amazing and talented Piper is as fun, then yeah, it was great," Patricia replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Who cares what they think? They are definitely droning on about the wrong twin." Eddie cupped her cheeks.
"Who knew you could be sweet?" Patricia smirked.
"Well, it is my last name."
"Really? I thought your last name was doofus?"
"Very funny," Eddie deadpanned.
"Thanks, I thought it was too."
"Oh shut up."
"Make me."
"My pleasure." Eddie leaned into her and connected their lips.
"Woah! Not the first thing I want to see after being gone a year."
The couple pulled away from each other, "Wait a minute," Patricia said. She could recognize that American accent anywhere. The two turned around to see Nina Martin standing in the foyer.
"Nina!" Patricia exclaimed, giving her a hug.
"Hey Trixie," Nina greeted her, laughing.
"Nina? What are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were coming back," Eddie said.
"Hello to you too," Nina laughed before giving him a hug. "I wanted it to be a surprise."
Some of the others came out of the kitchen to see what the commotion was about. Everyone was surprised to see Nina, running over to greet her.
KT hung back, feeling kind of left out, she'd heard of this Nina, but she hadn't actually met her before. Nina noticed the girl standing behind the group.
"Uh hi, I don't think we've met, I'm Nina," Nina said, moving over to her and putting her hand out.
"KT," she told her. "I've heard lots about you."
"Oh, another American. Before you know it we'll be running the school," Nina joked.
"Don't even joke about that, I'm already having nightmares," Patricia said.
Everyone was too busy talking to notice Fabian enter the foyer and stop in his tracks on upon seeing his ex-girlfriend.
"Nina?"
Everyone turned around. " Fabian…" Nina said a small smile on her face.
"Wha-What are you doing here?" Fabian asked, his voice cracking with emotion.
"I came back."
"And you didn't think to tell me?"
"I wanted to surprise you," Nina said. "Look we should talk about this...in private."
"Why don't you just write me a letter, that seems to be your best way of 'telling me what's going on'."
Nina was taken aback by the snap of his voice. "Fabian can we please just talk?"
"Fine, we can talk in my room," Fabian replied walking towards his room, Nina following behind him. The sound of the door shutting resonated around the house as everyone was silent.
"We should probably get back to the kitchen, they've got a lot to talk about," Eddie said. The group made their way there.
Nina coming back was just one of the surprises they had in store.