Hello everyone :)
This was another idea that just popped into my head. However, I did not originally plan for this to be over 10,000 words. I initially wanted it to be around 4,000 or 5,000 but it just kept growing! Oh well, I like it and I hope you all do to :)
I absolutely love Patricia and Joy's friendship, and I really wanted to create a piece that explores how they met and how they became friends. I had so much fun writing this!
There are a few parts of the story that I tried to get dialogue or actual scenes right from the show, so pardon me if some are wrong! I just couldn't remember all of it. There are some parts that I tweaked anyways to help my story :)
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own House of Anubis
Pinky Promises
Little Joy Mercer was only six-years-old when she thought the world was ending. Her family had packed up and moved to Liverpool, England. It was a nice neighborhood, and the houses on Nightingale Ct. looked nice, but it was nothing like her old apartment in the middle of London. She had been in her new house for only two days and she already hated it. She wanted to go back to London; that was where the rest of her family was and her friends from kindergarten were. No one really spoke to her in her first grade class now; didn't they want to know her and make new friends? Joy didn't understand their logic but she did understand this: she was all alone and she absolutely hated the thought of being alone forever.
It was official in her mind: her life sucked.
Her mother had told Joy of two little girls that lived three houses down from theirs. The Williamson girls: Patricia and Piper, six-year-old identical twins that really shouldn't be labeled identical at all. Sure they had the exact same face, hair and everything, but their personalities defined the two girls to where most people, if they hadn't known the girls were sisters, would think they weren't related at all. Joy sighed and after hearing her mother talk non-stop about these girls practically since they moved here, she gave in and asked her mother to arrange a play date just to get her mother off her back.
("I'll play with them under one condition: Bunsie Buns must be allowed to come!")
So on Saturday, Joy sat with the twins in their room, playing with Piper's Barbie dolls. She listened to Piper ramble on and on about anything that crossed her mind, and that was mainly music and instruments. Really old music and weird instruments to be specific and it bored Joy to no end. But Piper was friendly enough to let her play with her best doll. She had only three, but the red-haired doll was by far the best—at least that's what Piper had told Joy. Suddenly, Piper gasped.
"Patricia! What are you doing?" She yelled at her sister. "You're ruining my new doll!" Patricia paid no attention to her twin and continued with what she was doing to the toy. Piper stood up and ran out the room. "Mummy! Patricia's messing up my new doll!"
It was then that Joy noticed Patricia for the first time since she was welcomed inside the Williamson's house. The other twin sat cross-legged next to her, coloring the Barbie's hair brown, a shade very similar to Patricia's own hair color. She hadn't said much since Joy arrived.
"Why are you doing that?" Joy asked curiously. Patricia didn't look at her. She put the cap back on the marker and examined the doll's new appearance.
"Because when we went to the store, I wanted to get the brown-haired doll, but Piper wanted another blonde-haired one," She explained, her eyes finally meeting Joy's. "Mummy didn't have enough money to get two dolls, so we played rock, paper, scissors to decide which one to get. Piper won so Mum bought the blonde haired doll."
"Oh." Joy said looking down at Bunsie Buns, who sat politely in her lap. She then smiled. "That makes sense."
"Yeah?" Patricia asked and Joy nodded, still smiling. Patricia returned the smile. "Do you want to go outside? My Daddy put up a new swing-set he had been saving to buy for Piper and me and it's really fun."
"Sure!" Joy squealed happily, standing up to follow the girl out into the hall. They went down the stairs only to be met by Mrs. Williamson who sent Patricia straight to the naughty chair in the corner of the family room.
("I usually send Patricia there more often than Piper; Trixie is my feisty, sassy girl and Pipes is my sweet, happy girl," Mrs. Williamson explained to Mrs. Mercer. "That's how most people tell them apart.")
Once six minutes were up, Patricia forced out an, "I'm sorry, Piper," to her sister and was crushed by her sister's love for hugging. Then she sprinted away from Piper once she let go and grabbed Joy's wrist to lead her to the backyard. Patricia ran straight for the play structure, not caring that her bare feet were getting covered in mud from the wet grass. Joy was more hesitant: these were her new purple sandals and she didn't want to mess them up. Once she saw Patricia pat the swing next to hers, Joy didn't seem to care that her feet sank straight down into the mud. She just wanted to play.
The two girls laughed as they tried to see who could swing higher and who could jump off the swing the furthest. Patricia went first and landed pretty far away. Joy knew she could do better. She swung as high as she could and leapt from her seat, determined to win. She must have gained too much momentum because she soared higher than expected and landed right on her butt in the muddy grass. She was a complete mess! Mum would be so mad that she ruined her new outfit. Joy felt like such a baby; she was embarrassed and felt tears sting her eyes—
But she heard Patricia begin to laugh and heard her stomp towards her in the mud. She was still smiling.
"You won!" She exclaimed happily, offering Joy a hand. Joy took it, the red covering her cheeks fading away. Patricia didn't care that her new friend was covered in mud—she was impressed.
They then proceeded to see if Joy could keep her title as the ultimate swinging sensation and continued to play outside together until their mothers called them back inside.
"Joy! Look how dirty you are!" Her mother exclaimed, her eyes growing wide. But they weren't growing wide from the grass stains on her daughter's jeans or mud on her T-shirt, but rather that Joy came inside the house giggling loudly with little Patricia. There was no Bunsie Buns in sight—Joy had left him upstairs in Piper and Patricia's bedroom. Joy had put down the rabbit for an actual person.
It was that moment when Mrs. Mercer decided that Patricia Williamson was her favorite of Joy's friends.
"Mummy, can Patricia and I play again tomorrow?" Joy asked, grasping her Mum's hand. "Pretty please with sprinkles on top?"
"Yeah, can we play again Mum?" Patricia asked her mother, a large smile etched on her face. Mrs. Williamson had never seen her oldest daughter (by three minutes) connect with another person her age, except for her twin sister. She looked up at Mrs. Mercer.
"It's fine with me, Emily, if you're both free."
"Well if you're sure you want us back over here so quickly, Katherine," Emily Mercer said with a laugh. Katherine Williamson laughed along with her. Patricia and Joy weren't the only two who had made a new friend.
"You are both welcome anytime." Mrs. Williamson said.
"Yay!" Joy squealed in delight. She hugged her mother's legs. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome, but we must be going now, Joy." Her mother said, rubbing her baby's small back. "Daddy's made us dinner and it's getting close to bedtime."
"Same goes for you and your sister, Trixie." Mrs. Williamson added, giving her daughter "the look." Patricia was notorious for whining about her bedtime. She hated curfews, unlike Piper who was usually asleep before bedtime.
"Fine!" Patricia huffed, crossing her arms. She and her mother lead the Mercers to the front door and Patricia remembered that Joy's stuffed rabbit was still in her room. "Wait one second!" She ran up the stairs and grabbed the soft little toy. She came back down and handed it to Joy. "You almost left it here."
"Oh thank you!" Joy said in relief. She wouldn't be able to sleep without Bunsie Buns. "How could I have almost forgotten? Bye Patricia!" Joy waved Bunsie Bun's little stuffed arm at her new friend. Patricia waved back as she watched her new friend leave with her mother.
"See you tomorrow, Joy." She said and closed the door when the Mercers were on the sidewalk.
"So I take it you had fun?" Mrs. Mercer asked her daughter, swinging their intertwined hands. Joy never looked happier and it filled her heart with sunshine.
"I sure did! Patricia's really cool and funny; I like her a lot." She said and then began to tell her mother everything she and her new friend did today.
Maybe moving here wasn't so bad.
(And it wasn't, she realized in the future. If she never moved to Liverpool, she'd never have met her very best friend in the whole world.)
"So Trixie," a nine-year-old Joy said to her best friend, who was eating her lunch underneath the elementary school's apple tree. Joy plopped down beside her, her dress lying daintily over her knees. "I've been thinking."
"Oh no," Patricia began, a smirk playing on her mouth. "Alert the masses: Joy Magnolia Mercer is thinking! I better tell the school that you're brain is churning and no good is going to come from it!"
"Oh hush!" Joy said teasingly, pushing her friend's arm lightly. Joy turned to her own lunch bag and pulled out her peanut butter sandwich. She pulled apart the two pieces of the bread and looked expectantly at her friend. "Ready?"
"Yep!" Patricia replied, already having her grape jelly sandwich pulled apart. The two girls gave the other one piece of their sliced bread and smushed their new peanut butter and jelly sandwiches together. They had been doing this since Joy found out that Patricia had never tried peanut butter and Patricia learned that Joy never had grape jelly.
"So what were you thinking about?" Patricia asked with her mouth full. She didn't have the best table etiquette. Joy didn't mind though. Joy swallowed her bite of sandwich and smiled widely.
"I was thinking that we should have a Best Friend Code!" She said joyfully.
"A what now?" Patricia scrunched her eyebrows together. "That sounds like something Piper would say."
"Well she's where I got the idea from," Joy admitted, taking a sip of her juice pouch. "She, Elizabeth, and Aggie made this list of things they would do as friends. I thought it was really sweet and realized we could do it to since we're best friends!"
"Uh, no thanks," Patricia declined with a little huff. "No matter how much I like you, Mercer, that sounds just plain dumb."
"It does not!" Joy shouted indignantly. She thought it sounded really fun and cool—something that really made their friendship official. Well they had been friends for three years now, but still! It was something they could follow for the rest of their lives even.
They were going to be best friends forever after all.
("Duh!")
"Aw, come on Patricia!" Joy whined, shaking Patricia's arm. "Please, please, please!" Joy shaking her arm was impairing Patricia from drinking her water bottle. Some water splashed onto the leg of her jeans and she gave another huff. Why couldn't she have made a friend who wasn't so girly all the time? Someone who didn't became as stubborn as she was when she wanted to? "Please, please, please, please, ple—"
"Okay fine!" Patricia shouted, prying Joy's hands away from her arm. "Jeez, you have one heck of a grip, girl!"
"HOORAY!" Joy shouted gleefully. Yes, she got what she wanted, yes! Her and Patricia's Code was going to be full of great, great things—things that other best friends will be jealous of. In fact, other best friends will be jealous of Joy and Patricia's friendship in general.
(They should be, Joy thought to herself. After all, Joy did have the greatest friend ever…and so did Patricia, even if she was too proud to admit it.)
Joy leaned over and zipped open her very full backpack to grab a pen and paper to begin making the Code. Lots of graded papers, pencils, and other little trinkets fell out of it, spilling all over the grass.
Including Bunsie Buns.
Joy's face instantly became red and hot: she had been caring Bunsie Buns in her backpack ever since she started pre-school. She just felt better when he was with her, that's all. Besides, Bunsie Buns would miss Joy when she was at school. What kind of friend would she be if she left him at their house all by himself?
(Joy didn't like to be alone and neither did her stuffed rabbit.)
Not even Patricia knew she carried him around and she told her everything. She scooped up her little friend and dusted him off. "Sorry!" She whispered to him and shoved him close to her chest. She sighed loudly. So what if Patricia had seen Bunsie Buns? Patricia didn't say anything; rather, she just shrugged it off. She knew Joy had an obsession with her rabbit toy and liked to have him near her. It didn't bother her one bit.
(Besides, her invisible [not imaginary!] dog Sniffles was sitting right beside Patricia, resting his head on her right leg.)
Unfortunately, Patricia wasn't the only one who had seen Bunsie Buns. Alfie Lewis and Jerome Clarke had spotted the toy from where they were sitting a few feet over. Jerome let out a loud snort and pointed a long finger over at the two girls.
"Joy carries a toy to school!" He yelled loudly, which caused most of the fourth grade to hear. He and Alfie burst into uncontrollable laughter. Amber Millington, Mick Campbell, and Willow Jenks were snickering lightly, while some of the other students, like Mara Jaffray and Fabian Rutter gave Joy looks of pity. It wasn't fun to be picked on by those two mischievous, naughty boys—both of them had at one point and it was not pretty.
"Are you a big girl, or little baby?" Jerome continued to taunt in between his laughter.
"Shut it, Clarke!" Patricia yelled, shaking her fist menacingly at him. Patricia was the only one who could tease Joy and get away with it. "Do I need to beat you up again like I did in the first grade?"
A loud "Ooh!" came from the kids sitting near them. Jerome's face flushed completely. "She surprised me okay?" he shouted quickly, trying to save his reputation that he had on the playground. "I could have taken her if she hadn't come from behind and slugged me!"
Alfie patted his friend on the shoulder in comfort. He however, was paying more attention to Mercer and her little animal friend. He looked over at Joy whose eyes were becoming very wet. "Seriously though," Alfie said, "you're nine-years-old: time to grow up!"
"Why don't take your own advice?" Patricia said, standing up now. "You both act like you should still be in diapers."
"You just got burned but Malicia Patricia!" Mick shouted from his group next to the two boys. He had one hand over his mouth, trying to hold in his laughter.
"You're one to talk, Alfie Lewis." Patricia said, crossing her arms. She was on a role now—they were going to get it. "You still sleep with Blankie every night?"
Now every fourth grader was laughing at the two pranksters, including Mara and Fabian. Alfie hung his head in shame, avoiding his friend's looks of amazement. He really did love his Blankie…
"That's what I thought," Patricia said, sitting back down next to Joy, her back facing them. "Boys are so stupid and rude. Girls are far superior, wouldn't you agree?" She asked with a small smile. Joy was playing with her rabbit's ears, not meeting Patricia's eyes for the fear that her tears would spill over. First being made fun of and then crying in front of the whole fourth grade? No thank you! Maybe she still was a baby…
"So," Patricia said, cutting the awkward silence between them, "about that Best Friend Code. The first rule should be to always have each other's back, no matter what."
Joy lifted her head up at her words and smiled a pearly, wide smile. Her tears vanished instantly and she whispered, "thanks," ever so quietly.
"Eh, don't mention it." Patricia said, waving her hand at her words. "What are friends for?"
Joy left Bunsie Buns in her lap, not caring who saw. She knew Patricia would destroy anyone who dared mention the rabbit ever again—and for that she was so grateful.
"Best friends stick together, forever!" Joy squealed happily. "Promise?" She asked, holding out her pinky to Patricia.
"Yeah. Forever." She wrapped her pinky around Joy's ever so tightly.
The Best Friend Code
By: Joy Mercer and Patricia Williamson, Two Very Best Friends.
We solemnly swear to follow these rules for as long as we are best friends, (which will be for all time!):
1. Always have each other's back, no matter what.
2. Always put each other first, over any other friend, over any boy, over anyone
3. Always help each other out, even if the other gets in trouble too
4. Always stick together, forever
"How does that sound?" Joy asked Patricia, who was snuggled into her sleeping bag. She gave a long yawn. It sounded very "Joy," but right now, Patricia didn't care.
"If I say it's perfect, great, wonderful, and any other positive synonym I can think of, can I go to sleep?" She asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes. It was three in the morning and she was sure Mrs. Mercer told them to go to sleep four hours ago.
"I suppose," Joy commented, still looking over their code. While fixing the grammar mistakes, Joy eventually yawned as well. "It is pretty late. We can make adjustments in the morning if we need to."
"Thank goodness!" Patricia muttered into her pillow. She knew making Joy one of her famous marshmallow sandwiches would keep her up all night. But now she could finally close her eyes and go to—"Oh wait!" Patricia groaned. She was so close… "We have to sign it. That way it's like an official document."
"When I first met you, I never realized I'd have to finalize our friendship in writing," Patricia said with a very, very sleepy smirk. Joy just held out her pen for her friend to sign. She sighed and wrote her full name under Joy's. "There. Now good night!"
Patricia turned over on her side and instantly started to snore. Joy giggled. She looked at their signatures: two sloppy cursive names. To Patricia, this might have been something silly and she might have only done this to make Joy smile after the whole Bunsie Buns incident at school, but to Joy this meant something completely different.
She finally had a best friend.
(And so did Patricia.)
Signed by: Joy Magnolia Mercer, age nine
Signed by: Patricia Anne Williamson, age nine and one half
A few years passed and Joy and Patricia aged with it…or did they? They discovered the beauty of make-up, developed a new view on boys (Joy liked, liked them while Patricia thought they were even stupider than in elementary school) and they even allowed more people to join their exclusive group, population: two. Now it was a group of nine. Fabian, Mara, Willow, Jerome, Alfie, Mick and Amber all eventually learned to like each other and become dear friends (except for a certain tall, blonde haired Brit and a certain female, red-headed Brit. They still clashed.) Patricia didn't understand why so many people wanted to hang out with her and Joy—they were awesome girls and all, but she liked it better when it was just the two of them. She doesn't regret talking to more people: Mara was sweet and helped her in school and Alfie was quite funny and Fabian was practically a walking teasing target, but Joy would always be her best friend. The group knew it and accepted the fact that Joy would be first to Patricia and Patricia would be first to Joy.
(If it was any different, they thought the zombie apocalypse must be about.)
Really though, did they change? Joy still went over to Patricia's house at least once a week to have a sleepover and vice versa. Patricia still copied most of Joy's math homework since she wasn't the best at it. Joy still loved Patricia's marshmallow sandwiches. Patricia still stuck up for Joy whenever someone messed with her. Joy still had Bunsie Buns and carried him with her wherever she went. Patricia still had a feisty, sassy attitude that she expressed quite regularly.
They both still had a copy of The Best Friend Code in their bedrooms: Joy's in her jewelry box, Patricia's in the drawer of her bedside table. Though it may have been hidden from sight, the two girls stuck to it like glue, subconsciously following all the rules every day.
Nope, they didn't change much.
(Hallelujah to that, they both thought.)
It was in the eighth grade when it happened. Joy was at her locker, getting her Algebra I book and making sure Bunsie Buns was all right being cooped up here rather than in her backpack. She was heading to the cafeteria to study with Fabian and Alfie for the pop quiz Willow had told them about the period before when she saw the crowd. Crowds only gathered around two people:
Jerome and Patricia.
"Oh no," she groaned and pushed her way through the crowd to the front. There they were, standing a good six inches from each other, both looking like steam was coming out of their ears. Joy knew this fracas was quite different than any before. Usually they would just tease each other, throwing a harmless insult here and there, in between conversations and such. This though, this was way different. This was a heated argument over something. It was scary for Joy not to know what they were upset about, because then she wouldn't know how to calm down her friend.
"Why do you always block me out?" Jerome yelled; his usually chill, conniving blue eyes were lit on fire with anger and confusion. "Every time I try to help you with something, you don't care and you just throw me to the side."
"Why do you want to be involved in my life so badly, huh?" She challenged back, her voice oozing with fury. "What did I ever do to make you think that I'd even want you in my life?"
"You're doing it again!" He yelled, gesturing his hands widely at her. "You're blocking me out. Everyone else has gotten through to you: Joy, Fabian, Mick, even Alfie and you hated the two of us for like forever. You've accepted him but you keep me out and I just don't get it!"
"I don't have to explain anything to you, doofus." She said bitterly, not daring to back down. That was the Trixie Joy knew and loved: fearless and strong—she'd never seen Patricia act any differently. Still though, everyone had their limit to what they could handle. Joy had never seen Patricia reach hers.
Until now.
"You can explain a lot of things to me," Jerome countered back. "You can explain why I'm the one man out, why you're always so grumpy, why you wear the same outfit all the time—"
"…What?" Patricia interrupted him. Her voice had lowered greatly, back to her normal level of speaking. However it still wasn't really her voice. It sounded frail, a little bit broken, and embarrassed? Was she embarrassed? No, Patricia Anne Williamson never got embarrassed. That was one of the things Joy loved about her best friend the most: she didn't care. She didn't let people get under her skin. She didn't let anyone intimidate her—she intimidated them.
"You heard me," Jerome said, shoving his hands in his pockets. His voice had lowered a little after he heard hers, but he felt really good that he was actually getting somewhere with her. For once. "Why do you wear the same outfit all the time? I mean you've been wearing it since, like, sixth grade."
Joy did a once over of her friend. She had on her grey sequenced shirt, dark denim jeans. black flats and her favorite long silver necklace. Joy was actually there when she got all those pieces: she got them as birthday presents from her aunt, Amber, Mara and Joy herself. In fact, Patricia hadn't purchased anything she was wearing.
In fact, Patricia had yet to make a comeback. Joy guessed Jerome noticed and took one more stab at her.
"What, can your parents not buy you clothes or something?"
It was the first time Joy had ever seen her very best friend's face turn completely red out of pure embarrassment—she was mortified. It was also the first time she had ever seen her very best friend lost for words. It was also the first time she had ever seen her very best friend flee from a crowd—she didn't run away or anything dramatic like that. Patricia Williamson had class: she simply raised her head high and walked away, pushing through the wall of people to go somewhere neither she or Joy knew where. She was just getting away from all this madness.
It was also the first time that Joy had acted without thinking. She jumped in front of Jerome Clarke and stood as tall as she could (even though he still loomed over her) and tried to look intimidating. She had been hanging out with Patricia for seven years now; she must have learned something about being scary.
She whacked him hard on the chest with her Algebra I book. "What the heck was that, Clarke?" She screamed at him, her voice too high to sound really threatening. "What kind of person asks such an insensitive question? What kind of person goes out of their way to make someone feel so awful about herself? You should be ashamed of yourself and learn some manners or something close to it!" She took a breath. Man, this was amazing! Joy had never really yelled at anyone before. She could see why Patricia did it so often: it felt good. "You're supposed to be her friend! So what if she doesn't tell you everything? You don't tell me everything that happens in your life, do you?"
Jerome opened his mouth to answer but she didn't give him the chance. "No, you don't so you have no reason whatsoever to be blaming her for how she behaves when you do the exact same thing."
She paused (for dramatic effect of course; she'd seen it done in countless movies.) Jerome looked stunned. Who would have thought little Joy Mercer, the girl who still carried her stuffed rabbit to school, had such a loud mouth? Jerome sure didn't, and he sure didn't think that everything she was saying would be one hundred percent right.
The crowd started to disappear, thinking that Joy had given Jerome the worst of it. When they were all gone, she opened her mouth again. Her eyes locked with his and she practically challenged him to even try to look away from her.
"Listen," she said quietly, taking a step closer to him. "She wouldn't like me telling you this, but I think you should know. You were right: her parents struggle with buying her things that she needs like new clothes, new school supplies—sometimes they've had nights where they haven't had a decent dinner. Her dad's been unemployed for a few years and neither he nor her mom has found a job. Her twin sister got accepted to this fancy music academy and it's practically sucking their bank account dry. So yes, Patricia is left in the dust practically. So now you know why she wears that outfit a lot. I hope you feel a billion times worse than you already did."
And with that, little Joy Mercer left Jerome Clarke alone in the middle of the courtyard, his eyes wide in shock and his mouth hanging open. She thought what kind of girl would ever possibly like him? He was so pig-headed and so arrogant! Then she hoped he wouldn't tell Patricia what she told him, but the only reason she did was to make him feel bad.
Joy couldn't help but feel proud of herself when she walked away in search of Patricia: she stuck to The Best Friend Code. She followed rule number one, just like Patricia had done for her countless times.
(It was about time too.)
;;
"So Mick told me all about what happened after I left," Patricia said. She was back to her own Patricia-self, or at least that was what she sounded like over the telephone. Joy was lying on her bed, listening to her friend. She could have just walked three houses down to talk face to face, but she knew if Patricia was calling then she wanted to be alone. "And I have to say, Mercer, that I am beyond impressed."
"Aw, I think that's one of the nicest things you've ever said to me, Williamson." She replied with a giggle.
"Hey now, don't get used to it." She warned but Joy couldn't stop her laughter. "But seriously…thanks Joy."
"Eh, don't mention it." Joy said, waving her hand at her words. "What are friends for?"
Freshmen year of high school was when the friends started to worry and think about the future.
(Something that they hadn't ever done before; both preferred to just live in the moment.)
Towards the end of eighth grade, Joy and Patricia were worrying that they might not attend the same high school. Joy had been accepted to the Frobisher-Smythe Academy on The Candy Foundation scholarship (which was weird because she never applied for that scholarship) and that was where her parents said she would be going. They were very adamant about it too; Joy was surprised at how badly they wanted her to go to boarding school. Didn't they want her to go to a regular public school and continue living with them?
(Would she be alone if she went to Frobisher-Smythe Academy?)
Where Patricia would be attending was still up in the air. They both thought there would be no way Patricia's parents could afford private boarding school and Piper's private music academy. Her sister's music school was pretty expensive and her family was already getting benefits that allowed Piper to go there since she was the brightest musical genius in the state. They still didn't have enough money to think about Frobisher-Academy for Patricia. The music school taught grades six through twelfth and Piper had been enrolled there for three years now. Patricia knew it'd be hard if she was pulled out just to be make the school situation fair for her, but she was still very jealous that her sister was getting to go to her perfect school. It looked like Patricia would be attending the regular public school where none of her nine friends were going. They were going to Frobisher-Academy. She tried not to show her parents her immense disappointment, but there were night where she couldn't hold back the snippy comments that expressed her feelings.
A week before Joy was about to move to the boarding school, Patricia got a letter that read:
"On behalf of Frobisher-Academy, we would like to grant Patricia Anne Williamson, The Candy Foundation scholarship which would give her complete acceptance, no payment required. We hope to see you there."
Sincerely: Eric E. Sweet, Headmaster
Her parents thanked their stars and cried out with joy that their eldest daughter (by three minutes) was going to one of the best schools in the state. They didn't question how she got that scholarship since they didn't know about it—they applied for everything other scholarship, but had never heard of The Candy Foundation. But heck, they sure didn't care; they felt so incredibly blessed. They hugged their daughter and watched her run up the road, three houses up from theirs and burst through Joy's front door to deliver the news.
They were going to high school together. They would stick together, like rule four of The Best Friend Code stated.
(But not for long.)
;;
The first day of sophomore year, Patricia dressed in her new uniform clothes the school had provided for her and was walking to class.
("Do I really have to wear this Harry Potter tie? This isn't Hogwarts!")
She stumbled upon Joy sitting with Fabian Rutter in front of the school building. They were laughing to themselves and Patricia couldn't help but smile. Joy had been crushing on Fabian since she laid eyes on him in the first grade. There was something about his brown hair that fell on his forehead, his cute brown eyes, his round face and nerdy personality that made her turn to mush. Patricia had been telling her best friend to tell him she liked him more than friends for years, but Joy had always chickened out at the last minute. She didn't want to ruin their friendship; Patricia would always be her best friend in the whole world, but Fabian was a close second.
The three met up and they went to class. Mrs. Andrews welcomed them to French I and they barely sat down when a man came in and asked for Joy Mercer.
"That's me," she raised her hand shyly. Patricia eyed the guy: she'd never seen him before and that made her nervous.
"Would you come with me, please?" He asked her in a nice voice. For some reason, Patricia wasn't buying it.
"Why do you need her?" She asked sharply, eyes narrowing.
"I just need to speak to her for a moment, miss." The man said, narrowing his eyes back. Now she definitely didn't like him.
"I'll be right back," Joy said, putting her bag on her shoulder. "You won't even know I'm gone, I promise."
Patricia Williamson didn't know that that would be the last time she'd see her friend until the end of the year. If she had, she would have followed rule one of The Best Friend Code: always have each other's back, not matter what.
Class ended and Joy hadn't returned. That worried her to no end, and she really wanted to go back to Anubis House and check to see if she was there but the opportunity to ditch never came. At the end of the first day, she ran back to the House, ignoring all the stares she got. Joy was her best friend, she knew she didn't like to be alone and she'd never leave her to be alone ever.
But when she got there, Patricia was the one all alone.
There wasn't a trace of Joy at all.
"Where's Joy?" "Have you seen Joy Mercer?" "Where did she go?" "Where is my best friend?" "I need to find her!" Was all Ms. Williamson could say for a good week. She couldn't sleep at night knowing that Joy wasn't sleeping in the bed adjacent from her. She had a hard time eating meals, wondering if Joy was eating at all. She had a hard time focusing on her schoolwork and Mr. Sweet sent her parents a letter stating she was failing most of her classes and was running the risk of expulsion. She was a wreck and she took her anger out on the new American girl, Nina Martin, whose arrival to Anubis House seemed too suspicious to Patricia. No one wanted to help her find Joy—it seemed like Amber didn't care since she had taken a liking to Nina. It seemed that Fabian was developing a crush on the American. It seemed like the pranksters, Alfie and Jerome, didn't prank her too often because she was nice to them. It seemed like Mara was sweeter to her than ever was to Joy. It seemed like Mick liked talking sports with her. It finally pushed Patricia to her limit. Didn't they care at all?
She slammed her fork down on her full dinner plate and ran up the stairs, once again ignoring the murmurs about her behavior and how she was obsessing over Joy's absence far too much. She was going to her room, but stopped in front of Victor's office. She smelt smoke. Was something burning? She approached his door cautiously and peeked through the glass: no sign of Victor. However, there was a small fire burning away in a tub. Weird, Patricia thought. She went in to see what was burning and her heart stopped.
Bunsie Buns was burning to a crisp.
She reacted without thinking and put her hand in the fire and pulled out Joy's littlest friend. She let out a small yelp of disgust and pain at the smell of her burning flesh, but focused on putting out the little bunny. Then her eyes saw a piece of paper that read:
Signed by: Joy Magnolia Mercer, age nine
Signed by: Patricia Anne Williamson, age nine and one half.
Oh no. Not that, anything but that. She stuck her hand back into the fire and pulled out whatever was left of Joy's copy of The Best Friend Code. It hadn't burned too much, the edges were sizzling still, but most of the words Joy had written nine years ago were still visible and somewhat clear to read.
Patricia felt so relived yet defeated at the same time. She sunk to the ground, leaning against Victor's desk. She hugged the little rabbit and the Code to her chest.
Where could Joy be?
;;
Patricia suddenly found herself caught up in an ancient Egyptian scam with Nina, Fabian, Alfie, Amber and Jerome. They were rushing to find the missing pieces of the Cup of Ankh because Victor and the rest of Team Evil were looking for it too. They were going to have the Chosen One assemble it and they would all drink from it, giving them all immortality forever. They would no longer have to keep creating the Elixir of Life. Why was Patricia wrapped up in this crazy mess when she really should have been focusing on bringing her grades up?
Victor thought the Chosen One was Joy.
("Of course," she muttered to herself, "of course it would be Joy Magnolia Mercer. Great.")
Then Sibuna cracked the code: Joy wasn't the Chosen One—she was born at the wrong time of day. Nina Martin was the Chosen One, not Joy. Patricia was freaked out: what if they hurt her when they found out she wasn't the one they needed? Thankfully it never got to that point. Sibuna stopped Rufus from drinking from the Cup, Nina assembled it and embraced her Chosen One powers and everything went back to being semi-normal.
But most importantly, Patricia Williamson got her best friend back. Patricia was the one to hug Joy, and that had never happened before. Joy was always the one wanting to hug Patricia. She held her friend close and Joy whispered, "I was scared, Trixie."
"But you're okay now, yeah?" Patricia said, letting go of her friend.
"Yeah," Joy said with a smile. Patricia smiled back. She looped her arm through Joy's and walked over to the school where the prom was being held.
"Good because let me tell you what I went through to get you back," Patricia said and Joy listened to Patricia's tale of being kidnapped by Rufus, making deals with Jerome, and almost getting killed by Egyptian flies.
"That all happened because of me?" Joy asked incredulously. They walked into the prom together and everyone was so glad to see the dynamic duo back together again. Even though what she had put Patricia through was awful, she couldn't contain her large smile. Patricia did all that for her, her best friend. "Thanks Trixie."
"Eh, don't mention it." Patricia said, waving her hand at her words. "What are friends for?"
(Patricia had followed rule three of The Best Friend Code: always help each other out, even if the other gets in trouble too. And for that, Joy was grateful.)
Junior year was when everything changed.
(It seemed like Life hadn't touched these two girls. Life hadn't changed them…until now.)
Junior year was the year they had planned to spend every moment they could together, since they were separated in Sophomore year. Their plan had gone quite flawlessly so far, they thought. They shared a new room with Mara, they were partners in all the classes they had together, they still made their own PB&J sandwiches at lunchtime, and they stayed up past curfew. It was like they were nine again: in the process of making The Best Friend Code (which both were still loyal too.)
Well, that was until a certain blonde, cocky American rolled into town.
"Stick your feet in will you!" Patricia commanded, her voice dripping with bitterness. She had run into some dirty shoes, which had interrupted her and Joy's conversation.
"You woke me," said a sleepy, arrogant voice. Wait…that was an American voice. Instantly Patricia asked herself, "another one?" but then focused her attention to the situation at hand. He didn't apologize for hurting her or interrupting—he was one of those Americans.
Joy watched the new boy and Patricia battle it out through insults and she couldn't help but think this was too cute and too unusual. This boy wasn't scared like all the other boys were of her best friend. Jerome had been the only one to ever mess with her, but after the incident in the eighth grade, he had been the bigger person and apologized. That was unheard of for Jerome, and though Patricia never outright said she forgave him, Joy knew they were okay friends again. However this boy's teasing and arguing was different. He wasn't intimidated by her or scared or nervous. He seemed just as fearsome as Patricia. Maybe this is what her friend needed, she thought. After all, Patricia had never had a real relationship before. Maybe these two meeting was a sign of something to come.
Next thing she knew, Patricia was turning away from him. Joy trotted after her. Should she get inside her friend's head? Well, The Best Friend Code did say to always help each other out—this was a form of helping right?
"He's pretty cute." Joy whispered—the boy was still in hearing range. Patricia had to have noticed that he definitely was attractive. But then again, this was Patricia: she needed a little help noticing these things. Patricia scoffed loudly, not trying to be subtle.
"He likes to think he is," She said back and she dropped the subject.
Joy sighed. This would definitely take a while.
;;
A few weeks went by and Joy noticed how the American boy, Eddie Miller to be correct, and Patricia seemed to somehow always meet up with each other, whether they wanted to or not. It was like everyone was pushing them together. Jerome made them partners during Donkey Day, Mr. Sweet made them clean up their carrot fight mess and help Joy organize the ball, and Joy herself had even paired them to hire the band. How could Joy be in on this? Yes she thought they were perfect for each other (although they hadn't known each other for too long, but Joy just knew) but wasn't her and Patricia's original plan to stick together this year? Do whatever they could this year together? She was unknowingly messing up their plan by assigning her best friend to spend more time with this boy.
But Patricia wouldn't leave her for some boy, right? It was a rule in the Best Friend Code. Rule two to be exact: always put each other first, over any other friend, over any boy, over anyone. Surely she wouldn't turn her back on the Code.
Joy started to doubt herself just a little bit when she saw Patricia accept Eddie's invitation to dance at the Masquerade Ball. Patricia had never, and Joy meant never, accepted any boy's request to do anything sweet or romantic together. Actually, not many boys actually asked her to do sweet or romantic things with them. The only time Patricia had danced with anyone in public was last year at prom when Joy asked her to dance when they were the only two girls that didn't have a date to sway with. That was a fun night because they couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous they looked, but they had fun nevertheless. Seriously though, Patricia Williamson was just never into boys like Joy or Mara or Nina was and she didn't seem to mind that.
Until now.
Joy couldn't deny the slight red that crept into Patricia's cheeks when they were dancing. Was she blushing? Oh gosh. This was more serious than she anticipated.
Patricia was crushing. For the first time. Ever.
("Oh my goodness!")
;;
The year kept moving on and Joy wanted it to stop, stop, stop. She hadn't won the Editor position to the school newspaper (Mara won,) her crush was still totally head-over-heels for his best friend (which was once Joy,) and Patricia finally did the unthinkable: she kissed Eddie, admitting that she did have feelings for him (since Eddie had expressed his own feelings multiple times.) Ever since, it seemed like they had been doing anything and everything together.
And that meant no time for Joy.
This year was so sucky and she just wanted it to stop.
Don't get her wrong, she was super happy for Patricia's first relationship and it seemed to be going well (sorta kinda—they did still argue a lot and still weren't completely open with each other) but they really liked each other. That was what mattered, because Joy knew that if you really love someone, then you fight for the relationship. Patricia did that last year when she became bent on getting Joy back from Team Evil. That's what friends were for: they were there for each other.
Right now, it didn't seem like that at all. Joy felt so, so alone.
(And we all know how she hated being alone.)
Patricia opened their bedroom door, looking concerned and holding a marshmallow sandwich.
(She knew her too well.)
"Hey," she said, walking over to her. "Brought you your favorite: marshmallow sandwich." She said, gesturing to the plate as if Joy couldn't see it. Joy rolled her eyes. She was in such a bad mood.
"Oh stop," she scoffed. "Stop trying to be nice to be. Everyone already hates me and you probably do to."
"I could never hate you Joy," Patricia told her, sitting on the bed. She put down the plate. "I just think that maybe your actions weren't the—"
"I said stop it." Joy cut her off. "You're not on my side. When I went to go speak to Nina about the article, Amber was sure quick to shut me up. I didn't see you standing up for me…like rule two of the Code says: always put each other first, over any other friend, over any boy, over anyone."
It hurt Patricia to hear Joy accusing her of breaking their code. She didn't think she had done anything wrong…well, she didn't speak up for Joy when Amber was insulting her and calling her names. Why didn't she? Joy was her best friend, not Amber or Nina. Yeah she cared about her fellow Sibuna members a whole lot, but neither of them were Joy. They didn't have as many memories, or inside jokes, or even a Best Friend Code.
So why didn't Patricia feel bad for not sticking up for Joy?
"You chose Nina, like everyone else in this house did," Joy continued on, holding her knees to herself tightly. "It's like they forgot about me all over again."
Okay, that stung too. Really badly, Patricia thought. After everything she had done for Joy: for inviting her to swing with her, to sticking up for her in the fourth grade, to getting kidnapped and almost dying last year only to figure out where she was and this one little thing was where Joy drew the line?
"I don't need you anymore."
...What? Did Patricia hear that correctly? She looked up to see if Joy was joking, because she just had to be pulling her leg. This was Joy, her best friend, the one who knew more about Patricia than it seemed even she knew...she just had to be joking...
...but she wasn't. Joy's eyes were narrowed in disgust and her frown was undeniably large. She clutched her knees even tighter than before, trying to not lash out or act crazier than her emotions were making her feel. She didn't seem to care how Patricia's eyes grew twice their normal size in surprise or how she wasn't talking at all. Joy watched her Patricia rebuild her walls again, narrowing her eyes to match her own. If that was how Joy was going to be, Patricia could be just as nasty-if she didn't want to throw away their friendship like this than so be it. Patricia was in no mood to try and stop her.
Patricia practically lept up from her seat on the bed, feeling more upset now than at any other moment in her life all because of her supposed "best friend."
She walked to the door and was about to leave until she thought that if Joy got to make her crumble, than it was only fair to do the same to her. Fair was fair and when games were played like this, Patricia would follow the rules.
"Don't act like I'm the only one who has changed. You've changed too, Joy." She thought that was the right amount of sass and slammed the door shut. Right as the door clicked shut, Joy start to bawl. What had she done? She had lost all her friends in the House. Even the one who meant more to her than the rest combined. She clutched her knees and wished she were holding Bunsie Buns instead.
(Or rather she wished she were laughing and being with her best friend…)
Senior year came and the two girls never went back to who they were before junior year—they learned to accept the women they were becoming. After Joy's near death experience when Nina got the Mask, she and Patricia had made ammends. It made them realize that life was short and they wanted to have each other in their lives. Yet, there were moments when they flashed back to their argument last year and it left them both feeling slightly empty. Yes they were friends again, but their relationship hadn't really gone back to how it completely was before that bad day. It was sad, they both thought, but they nevertheless enjoyed the time they did spend with each other. Sometimes it did feel like nothing had changed and Patricia and Joy were those little girls playing on the swings again. They liked when they felt like that.
Out of everyone, Joy of course went to comfort her best friend when she found out she and her American boyfriend had broken up over summer.
(Joy saw right through the whole, "mutual decision," façade.)
Out of everyone, Patricia of course was the one who followed Joy back to the House to ask what was wrong when she suddenly left the Gatehouse with tears in her eyes. She was the one to hug her when Joy explained how Fabian still rejected her, even with Nina gone. She was the one who was most upset when Joy decided she didn't want to deal with Sibuna anymore this year.
(Now when were they going to spend time together? One of the big reasons Joy joined the club was to stick with her very best friend.)
Over the next few months, they felt like they were finally acting like they once did, back before that day when Joy and Patricia said those unspeakable words. They felt like their friendship had totally fixed itself and they were ever so glad.
Well, that was until they were stuck at the Gatehouse with Denby, the night before the ritual to wake Frobisher up. Patricia tried to make Joy understand that their scholarships weren't in jeopardy, but rather the whole world would be if Frobisher woke up evil.
But Joy didn't believe her.
(That was a first.)
"You know sometimes I think you're little club has messed with your head," she whispered to her bitterly. Patricia narrowed her eyes. There went those feelings that they were okay again...
"I'm just trying to follow our Code, doofus," Patricia hissed back. "I want us to both get out of here and go back to the House where it's safe. I've got your back and I'm trying to put you first, but clearly you're not doing the same for me."
Neither girl spoke to each other for the rest of the night.
(More like rest of the term, actually.)
Eddie and Patricia got back together and Joy found solace in Mara and Willow. Both stuck to the people who they thought cared about them the most that year. For Patricia, that was Eddie, Alfie, KT and Fabian. For Joy that was Mara and Willow (and Jerome she soon discovered, he cared for her a lot.)
(How could they ever think their friend stopped caring for them? Silly, silly girls…)
Graduation came. Mara, the Valedictorian, finished up her speech and the class of 2013 threw their red caps up in the air, smiles glued to their faces.
Joy and Patricia were the first to hug each other—before Eddie, before Jerome, before Alfie, Mara, Willow, KT, Fabian, even before their own parents. It felt like the natural thing to do. Joy looked up at her best friend with happy tears in her eyes and saw Patricia's wide smile beaming at her.
That's when they realized that neither of them had stopped caring. They were best friends, through thick and thin, no matter what. Rule four of the code stated so and how right it was indeed.
("Best friends stick together, forever!" Joy squealed happily. "Promise?" She asked, holding out her pinky to Patricia.)
("Yeah. Forever." She wrapped her pinky around Joy's ever so tightly.)
"Time to go, Joy!" Jerome shouted. He was putting her suitcase in the back of his car. He looked over at his lovely girlfriend, who stood on the porch to her house with her very best friend. They were saying good-bye.
"I'll text you every day," Joy said, sniffing loudly. She was going back to London today, with Jerome. They both were going to college together. Patricia had applied to that college too, but unfortunately wasn't accepted like Joy had been.
(Plus, her parents wouldn't have been able to pay for it, so the rejection wasn't so bad.)
"No I take it back. We can Skype every day. That way I can see your face!" She said, still blinking away tears. She and Patricia had never gone to separate schools before. They had actually never been away from each other period. Heck, they lived three houses away from each other! This was completely new for the both of them and Joy didn't want to be alone.
(Fun fact: Patricia hated being alone too.)
They had always been there and now…now everything was changing.
"A-and then we can meet up over break," Joy said. "And we can sleepover and eat marshmallow sandwiches together, yeah? It won't be so bad, right?"
Patricia didn't say much. She was never very good at expressing her feelings, even if it was to Joy, the girl that was always there. She just gave a small smile.
"You're acting like we're going to be on opposite sides of the planet, Mercer." Patricia joked. Joy didn't smile. "Hey, now," Patricia said again, a little more gently. "Don't forget about rule four of our Code. I'm holding you to it, girl."
Rule four: always stick together, forever.
Joy smiled.
(How could she ever forget? She pinky promised.)
Joy and Patricia did Skype, text and meet up over break—for the first year of college. Then, however, they started to not meet up as often, or pick up the phone. Life got in the way.
(Stupid Life!)
They both graduated from their colleges with honors and took separate jobs. Patricia became a lawyer—it was a good outlet for her to argue and release her feisty, sassy attitude and not get in trouble for it. Joy first was a professional event planner, since she was the one to arrange every event that took place during high school and college. She then decided to go back to school and get her masters degree in teaching. She became an English teacher and soon took over as Headmaster when Mr. Sweet retired.
Both women married their high school sweethearts three years after graduating college. Eddie and Patricia said, "I do," four months before Jerome and Joy tied the knot. Joy stood proudly behind Patricia as her Maid of Honor and Patricia did the same at Joy's wedding. It was the first time since college that they had seen each other.
(And man, did they miss each other.)
They vowed to try and make more time for each other and it worked until Jerome and Joy decided to officially settle in London six months after their wedding. Patricia and Eddie stayed behind in Liverpool, since that was where Eddie and Patricia's jobs were. They called each other on the phone more, tried to keep each other updated but even that was still pretty infrequent.
That soon changed when they both became pregnant.
They both found it ironic that they went into labor on the same day. Joy and Jerome had come back to Liverpool a few nights before to see Poppy, not expecting the baby to start knocking at the door. Joy wasn't due for another month, but apparently her baby was ready to be born. She called Patricia at seven in the morning to tell her that her water broke and Jerome was taking her to the hospital. Patricia sat straight up in her bed, now fully awake at this early hour. Right as she was sitting up completely, she felt a sudden pain in her lower abdomen and she felt something wet run between her legs.
Her water had broken as well.
"Look's like I'll be seeing you there, Mercer," Patricia said with clenched teeth. Even though Joy was a Clarke and Patricia a Miller, they were never able to break their habit of calling each other by their maiden names. "My water just broke too."
"Are you serious?!" Joy shouted frantically through the phone. Now she began worrying about her best friend and her own baby. She didn't need the stress right now. "Oh my gosh, just stay calm Trixie. Take deep breaths and stay relaxed!"
"Take your own advice, Joy." Patricia said calmly, her first contraction over with. "I'm fine. Worry about yourself, okay?"
"You know I can't do that," Joy said. "Stick to the Code, right?"
"…Right." Patricia answered. She felt another shot of pain run up her body. "I'll call you later, Joy. I need to wake up Eddie and scream at him to take me to the hospital. The Slimeball is sleeping through our conversation as we speak!"
Joy giggled. Patricia always did make her feel better.
"Pinky promise?" Joy asked. Patricia smiled.
"Pinky Promise."
A little girl ran over to the elementary school's very old apple tree. She had a beautiful olive complexion, long, dark hair and deep blue eyes—a true beauty. She wore a light washed jean dress and white sandals. She swung a piece of paper in the air. Her friend was already sitting underneath the tree, eating her lunch. She had light skin, dark red-hair and green eyes—another true beauty. She sat criss-crossed in her red jeans and black T-shirt. She waved over at her friend as she came closer to her.
"I finished it, Lilly!" the darker girl said. She plopped down across from her best friend. "It's all ready to go! I just need your signature here, here, and…here."
Lilly sighed. "You know Jane, I knew you were crazy when I first met you. But now I'm seriously questioning our friendship."
"Oh hush," said Jane, giving her best friend a shove. "I saw this in my Mum's jewelry box and I thought it would be cool if we had one too!"
"Whatever," Lilly said, shaking her head. However, she smiled and took the piece of paper and pen. "I can't believe my Mum agreed to this when she was younger."
"I can't either," Jane teased, sticking out her tongue. "But I'm glad you're agreeing to it, best friend of mine!"
"You're so girly, sometimes," Lilly said, putting the cap back on the pen. "There. Now let me eat my lunch in peace, please."
Jane moved to sit right beside Lilly and held out the piece of paper so they both could admire it. Jane put her arm around Lilly's shoulders and felt so very, very happy to be with her very best friend.
(Lilly felt the same, but was just too proud to admit it.)
The Best Friend Code
By: Jane Clarke and Lilly Miller, Two Very Best Friends.
We solemnly swear to follow these rules for as long as we are best friends, (which will be for all time!):
1. Always have each other's back, no matter what.
2. Always put each other first, over any other friend, over any boy, over anyone
3. Always help each other out, even if the other gets in trouble too
4. Always stick together, forever
Signed by: Jane Patricia Clarke, age nine
Signed by: Lillian Joy Miller, age nine
Let me know what you thought, pretty please :)