Thanks to those who reviewed! Here is Chapter 2. Let me know what you think! I apologize for a very late update.
Disclaimer: I don't own House of Anubis.
When Grace woke up the next morning, she found Amber and Nina's beds both empty. Grace rolled her eyes and got up to get ready for school. It was only seven in the morning and they were already off super-sleuthing. Grace grabbed her towel and headed for the bathroom, where she found Patricia by the sink, brushing her teeth. The Brit's eyes were baggy from the lack of sleep. Grace couldn't blame her, considering the situation.
"Where is everybody?" Grace asked, hanging up her towel and turning the shower on to warm it up. "I woke up an Nina and Amber were gone. I figured there was some mystery thing going on again, but you're here so I guess that's not the case."
Patricia had spit into the sink before replying, "I think they're all saying goodbye to Mick. He's going to California to compete for some sports scholarship," Patricia dried her mouth with a towel, "I would be down there but I'm not all for sappy moments. Plus, I have other things to worry about."
"Joy, I'm guessing?" Patricia nodded.
"It's just weird how they suddenly replace her and cut her off from everyone. And then a few days ago, she asks to meet in the clearing after the play but then she runs off and is nowhere to be found. Like what's so secretive about her that she has to be hidden? The girl loves rom-coms for God's sake!"
Grace could only shrug.
Grace prided herself in the ability to walk and read at the same time. In between classes, she would walk down the hall and read on her way to the next class. She was good at dodging obstacles so she didn't trip or get hit with a ball. That, and many people tried to avoid her because they usually ended up hurting themselves one way or another. But Grace was very oblivious and indifferent to people getting injured. One time, a student walked into her and fell in front of her. Grace just stepped over him and continued walking. Another time, a student took down the whole marching band while trying to avoid the tall bookworm. Grace loved reading and hated it when people interrupted her, especially now.
"Ace!" Jerome caught up to the girl along with Alfie, who was out of breath from running. The girl rolled her eyes and kept on walking. "Wow, you walk fast! Alfie and I have been calling after you since you left the house."
"These legs aren't just made for show."
"But they are still nice to look at," Jerome smirked. Alfie giggled behind him. Grace sighed and tore her gaze away from her book, knowing that it was pointless to ignore them. They'd just pester her later.
"What do you want?"
Alfie and Jerome shivered, "Well, it just got colder here."
"England is chilly in general. What do you want?"
"We just wanted to walk to school with you."
Grace raised an eyebrow and pointed at the building before them, "We're already here." Alfie burst out laughing at Jerome's failed attempt at God knows what.
Grace took a seat next to Mara since Mick was no longer there. Mara was one of the smartest people Grace has met and she took the best notes. Grace needed someone like Mara in order to catch up on school work quickly and efficiently.
Next to them were Patricia and Amber who whispered to Nina and Fabian about last night's events. Mrs. Andrews walked into the classroom as soon as the bell rang.
"Okay, settle down quickly please," Mrs. Andrews sat down at her desk and looked at the students, "Thank you. Now, it has come to our attention that some of you are not as occupied as you might like outside of class,"
"You can say that again!" Jerome from the back of the class, "Bring on the new girls, Miss!" Grace gave Jerome an amused look and he winked at her in return.
Mrs. Andrews continued, unfazed, "So we've decided to run elections for a school representative. The school representative will be ambassador for the school and would represent the student body and their problems to the staff," Patricia raised her hand, making Mrs. Andrews tense "Yes, Patricia?"
Patricia lowered her arm, "I don't like the school rep idea, Mrs. Andrews, but I might be interested in starting a school paper. The gossip, the news, the scandal, the truth...Wouldn't you reckon?" Grace wanted to hit Patricia for being so blatant. Subtlety was not Sibuna's strong suit. Grace wondered how none of their other housemates caught on. Probably because they're busy with their own teenage angst.
"I think that you'll find that little matter has already been handled."
Patricia smirked, pleased with herself.
"Now about school representative..."
"Do you think Mick's feeling nervous?" Mara asked as she linked arms with Patricia and Grace as soon as class ended. Mara wasn't really asking Grace, but Patricia wasn't paying attention either. The goth pixie was more focused on Sibuna rather than her roommate's boy troubles.
"When do you think he'll land...Patricia?" Mara asked, bringing Patricia's attention back.
"Sorry, what?"
"I asked if you-"
"I'm sorry but I have to go..." Patricia unhooked her arm from Mara's and ran to catch up to Amber, Nina, and Fabian. Grace frowned at the girl's rudeness.
"Aw, Mick's gone and Mara's got no one to play with," Jerome popped up at their side along with Alfie. Seriously, those two are always together. "Don't worry, Mara, you can hang out with us, if you'd like."
Mara looked between the two, "No thanks that would be weird." Mara walked away, leaving Grace with the dynamic duo.
"Bring on the new girls, miss,"Alfie mimicked, "Looks like you're happy with the old ones,"
"What, Mara?" Jerome shivered, "Ugh, no she's the icy queen of ice!"
"I think Jerome's in love," Grace and Alfie high fived. The two opened the door, letting Victor storm in and stomp over to Patricia, Nina, Amber, and Fabian.
"You want to know the truth?" Victor grumbled, "Follow me." He turned with his trench coat flying like a cape and stormed out. The group gave each other looks of uncertainty before following Victor. Grace wondered if Victor was even allowed to pull students out of school this often.
Grace looked around and noticed someone missing.
She looked at Alfie, "Where did Blondie go?"
Grace used her study hall period as a time to do homework. She didn't have much to work on but her classes required more effort to be put into the homework. Grace would rather work on it now than later, when her housemates would cause distractions. Mara sat across from her reading the mail she received earlier that morning. She sighed at the card she got. Just in time for Jerome to walk in and hear.
"Problem?" Jerome asked, sitting down next to the girl. Grace smirked, tuning into the conversation. She positioned herself so she could watch the two without them noticing. It wasn't hard since the two ignored everyone else.
Mara shook her head, "Nothing. Just a card from my parents wishing me luck with the play. It's a bit late for it."
"Well, at least you got a card."
"I don't think I've ever met your parents, Jerome,"
The boy tensed, "Probably because they never actually visit." Grace frowned, realizing that his parents were probably a sore subject for him.
From the corner of her eye, Grace noticed Alfie moonwalking into the room. Or at least attempting to moonwalk. He had his headphones on and was oblivious to his surroundings."Ow!" Alfie sang out and spun around. The spin made him trip and fall. Jerome and a few other boys burst out laughing at Alfie, but he ignored them. "Jerome! You're supposed to be helping me with my b-boy moves! I almost got the caterpillar!" Alfie laid flat on his stomach and made an exaggerated rippling motion with his whole body. Grace sighed, feeling embarrassed for him.
Jerome laughed, "Almost being the operative word."
Mara furrowed her eyebrows, "Don't you see them in the holidays then?" Grace wanted to smack Mara for being dense.
Jerome's smiled disappeared, "Anyway, I've got to go." He picked up his things and stood up.
"Hey Jerome, hold my legs so I can spin on my head," Alfie called, attempting to do a handstand. Jerome ignored him.
Mara looked worried, "Sorry, Jerome. Did I say something?"
"No, just places to go, people to see," Jerome left the room, ignoring Alfie's call for help. Grace shook her head and went back to her work. Alfie, on the other hand, stood up and limped towards the girl.
"Can you help me with my b-boy moves?"
Grace had later walked into the drama room after her Chemistry class and spotted Jerome and Mara conversing on one of the couches. Immediately she walked out and hid behind a wall. Jerome ate out of a bag of jelly beans while listening to Mara. The tension had seemed to be resolved as the boy tossed jelly beans into the air, trying to catch it with his mouth. He was not very successful but he beamed at successfully making Mara laugh. Grace grinned at the interesting development between her housemates and decided to leave before they spotted her spying on them. Her presence would only make things more awkward than necessary.
As Grace spun around to leave, she ended up bumping into another student. That student happened to have coffee on hand, which now drenched Grace's uniform. Grace was glad that it was cold coffee or she would've been in so much pain.
"Oh I'm so sorry," a male spoke. "I didn't see you there!"
Grace shrugged, "It happens. It was my fault anyway."
"Can I get you something to dry your clothes? You know what, I'll get you some paper towels." The boy left before Grace could even respond. Grace sighed, removing her bag and setting it on a dry spot on the floor while she waited for the boy to come back.
Two minutes later the boy came back with an entire roll of paper towels and he hastily ripped a few sheets and threw it at Grace. He knelt down on the floor and placed the sheets over the spill to absorb it. Grace took a couple of sheets to dry her uniform. She had two more classes of the day so she would have to deal with the stain later. Maybe she'd borrow Nina's sweater to cover up the spill on her blouse.
"I'm so sorry about this again," the boy said. "Can I make it up to you?"
Grace shook her head, "I think I'll survive. I'll just head to class now."
"Oh I'm Luke, by the way," he extended his arm for her to shake it but retracted once he remembered all the scrunched up wet paper towels in his hand. "Are you new here? I've never seen you before. Plus your accent is American so you're definitely not from here." Grace smiled. She had to admit that the guy was cute with his dark hair and dark eyes. He had a kind smile as well. He was also tall, which was a bonus for Grace.
"Yeah, it's my second day here. I would've been here earlier but I had stuff to deal with back home."
"Well, welcome to Amun. I'm sorry it had to be in this fashion."
"Thanks. It could always be worse, so don't worry about it."
"Well maybe-"
The conversation was cut short as there was loud crash from the drama room, followed by a scream and laughter. Grace shot Luke a smile before running into the drama room to find Alfie sprawled out on stage, chess pieces on the floor by Mara and Jerome, and a skateboard rolling nearby. Alfie clutched his groin in pain as Grace made her way to the stage.
"Alfie, are you okay?" Grace asked extending an arm to help pull the boy up. Alfie took her hand and winced as he pulled himself up.
"Maybe skateboarding isn't for me," Alfie groaned.
"Probably not. You can barely walk without tripping over your own feet."
"Thanks, Ray." He smiled sadly at Jerome and Mara, who were busy resetting their chess game, before limping off to get to class. Grace glanced at the pair, shook her head, and exited stage left.
"Woah, what happened to your shirt, Ace?"
Grace rolled her eyes and continued walking to the drama room. Jeez, everything happens in that damn room, Grace thought. I guess that's why they call it a drama room. Grace smiled to herself at the stupid joke. Apparently, Mrs. Andrews had some important news to make, which was why everyone was heading over there. Grace had not been able to track down Nina so she had to sit through class with a visible coffee stain on her blouse. She cursed herself for leaving her sweater back at the house. Not only did it give people an excuse to stare at her chest, but it also smelled and cold coffee plus air conditioning equaled cold Grace. Grace loved coffee, but not on her clothes.
"Some guy accidentally spilled coffee on me. Nothing major. I haven't been able to track Nina down to borrow her sweater. And the air conditioning in this school isn't helping."
"Well, that sucks for you."
"I'm surprised you noticed, considering you're so focused on Mara."
"What? No!"
"Uh huh." Before Grace could add more, the two had reached the drama room. Jerome immediately spotted Mara and left Grace's side to sit with her, making Grace smirk. She walked over to where Nina and Amber. She looked upset about something so Grace hugged her and rested her head on Nina's shoulder. It was how they comforted each other if the other didn't feel like talking about it.
"Okay, settle down," Mrs. Andrews said from the top of the stage, "Now that everyone's here, I just wanted to announce that we are officially moving ahead with our idea of a school representative. That person would be chosen from this year group."
"Is that it?" Alfie called out, making a few students laugh. "Boring. I thought it would be some exciting mystery."
"Be careful what you wish for," Patricia commented. Grace felt Nina tense up a bit.
Mrs. Andrews ignored Alfie, "So do we have any nominations?"
Jerome raised his hand, "I nominate Mara Jaffray." Mara looked shocked but she nodded in agreement. Jerome lowered his arm and smiled at the girl.
"Good. Any other nominations?"
Alfie raised his hand, "I nominate Am-"
"Don't you dare!" Amber snapped.
"Am...melia Pinches!" Everyone raised an eyebrow at the pigtail wearing girl.
"Amelia? Excellent."
"What? Why?" Fabian whispered.
"She's qualified," Alfie defended, sending Amelia an awkward smile. Fabian glanced at Amber then Amelia and finally understood the situation
"Any other nominations? No. Nominations will close in five days time." Mrs. Andrews left the stage as everyone left the room.
Grace pulled her best friend aside, "Nina what's up? You look upset about something."
Nina sighed, "Everyone's given up on the mystery. We assumed the Victor we know was the same one in the picture but we found another picture that labeled him as current Victor's father. And the fluid that nearly killed Aflie turned out to be some herbal juice. But none of it adds up. The necklace, Sarah, Joy, everything. Oh and we had a video chat with Joy and she said that we should trust the teachers and that was even more suspicious. It's all just going to crap and everyone's giving up. Even Fabian!" Grace pulled her best friend into a tight hug as spilled all of her feelings. Grace sighed, wondering what the hell the school had done to her best friend.
Thank you for reading!
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