*Edited Version*

Nina's P.O.V.

We all stood in the living area with confused expressions.

"I wonder what happened," Mara frowned.

"Go talk to her." Patricia nudged me.

"Why? She locked the door," I said.

"You're the one she trusts the most," Fabian pointed out.

I sighed before nodding. "Ok, but it might not work."

"Just go," Patricia said as she gave me a little shove towards the stairs.

I walked to the second floor and quietly glanced at Victor's office. Ever since the mystery had ended his office was always silent.

I walked past the rest of the girls' rooms and stood in front of the one I shared with Amber. I knocked and waited to hear Amber's voice.

I waited for a while and as I turned to leave the door opened slightly. I opened the door the rest of the way and entered the room. I spotted Amber in front of her mirror.

"Amber, are you alright?" I asked.

I heard her sigh.

"I think," she replied. She remained with her back to me as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Hesitantly, I walked further into the room. "What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about if that's ok."

"I understand," I said as I pushed my curiosity to the back of my mind.

"I think I'll just catch up on some sleep," she declared as she stood up and walked to her bed.

I nodded and walked out the room, turning the lights off on my way out.

I walked down the stairs and saw everyone else in the living area where Mick and Alfie were fighting for the remote.

"What'd she say?" Mara asked.

As soon as Mara asked that, Mick let go of the remote making Alfie flip and fall over the sofa.

"Nothing. She's sort of freaked out a bit and decided to take a nap," I answered.

"A nap? Really?" Mick scoffed and shook his head. "She probably snuck out her window."

"How do you know?" Mara asked with a raised eyebrow.

He cleared his throat and shrugged. "When we umm… dated she told me she likes to sneak out her window to get some alone time and says she's taking a nap to cover it up."

"Did you ever sneak out with her?" Mara asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well… we aren't talking about that. Basically, she isn't sleeping," Mick said, avoiding eye contact with Mara in the process.

"Go check on her," Patricia suggested.

I quickly ran up the stairs and headed to our room. As soon as I opened the door, I was met with the sight of an empty room and an opened window.

I ran back downstairs in a hurry.

"She's gone," I revealed.

"Don't worry. She'll be ok," Mick assured me.

"I wonder what freaked her out," Patricia frowned.

"She'll tell us eventually," Mara shrugged.

"Actually, she'll just tell Nina," Alfie corrected.

Fabian nodded in agreement before looking down at his watch and taking notice of the time.

"Well, I have to go," he declared as he rushed to the door.

"Where?" I asked.

"Nowhere," he cringed at the word as soon as it left his mouth, but he didn't have time to explain, so instead of turning back, he opened the door and left.

"That was weird," I frowned and turned back to the rest of the group.

"Lying. The first sign of him cheating," Patricia tsked.

"Cheating?" My eyes widened and I looked back at the door.

Patricia smirked and headed up to the room she now shared with Mara and Joy. I gulped and looked down at my hands before the sound of the front door opening pulled me away from my thoughts.

Joy walked into the room.

"Hey, what happened while I was gone?" she asked.

"Aliens and zombies came," Alfie answered.

Joy gave him a strange look, but she chose not to question him as she went up to her room.

Fabian's P.O.V.

As soon as I left the house, I ran to the nearest bus stop. My leg bounced slightly as I checked my watch every few seconds, silently praying that the bus driver would speed up.

It was another ten minutes before the bus finally reached my stop and I was able to hop off. I let out a deep breath and turned a corner toward a crowded restaurant at the end of the block.

I had recently been looking for a job to earn money to get Nina a gift for our anniversary. The restaurant at the end of the street had been hiring and I was supposed to come in for an interview. Unfortunately, with everything going on at Anubis house, it had slipped my mind.

I sighed and walked further down the block, my eyes scanning the area, when I suddenly took notice of a familiar blonde girl across the street at a bus stop.

I hesitantly approached her and was soon standing right next to her.

"Excuse me, but do you know what time it is?" I asked.

"Sorry, but I can't help you," she said before turning to face me.

She frowned upon meeting my gaze. "Oh."

"What are you doing here?" I asked Amber.

"I needed a breather."

"This is your breather?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes. "No. I take a bus to the country and lie down in a grassy field."

"Sounds peaceful." I smiled.

"Yeah," she nodded. "So what are you doing?"

"I was going to interview for a job, but I don't think I'll get it," I told her. "I don't think I should be trusted to balance plates."

The corners of Amber's lips twitched and she lightly shook her head. "Don't worry. There'll be more."

"You're right," I agreed. "Do you mind if I join you then?"

Amber smiled at the suggestion and she nodded. "Actually, I'd rather not be alone."

(***)

"How'd you find this place?" I asked as we walked down a long dirt road.

"I use to come here when I was a kid. I would run around and sometimes just lie on the ground and stare at the sky. I would identify shapes in the clouds," she smiled at the memory and looked up at the sky.

"Sounds like fun."

"Come on."

Amber took hold of my hand and dragged me to a spot in the field beside us. We both walked over and lay down on our backs.

"I see a…bear," she declared after a moment of searching.

"Hmm, a car."

"Unicorn."

"Umbrella."

She sat up then and looked down at me. "You think you can spot more things than me?"

"Of course," I grinned.

"Ok, you're on," she stated before lying back down.

After about two dozen cloud shapes later, we lay on the ground in silence, but it was the good kind of silence. The kind of silence that people always wished they could achieve with the people they were close to. The kind of silence that despite itself, never really felt empty.

"What happened?" I asked.

At my question, the smile on her face faded and she sat up. I did the same and waited for her to answer.

"Well, I walked in and-,"

Before she could continue, small drops of water started to fall from the sky. In a matter of seconds, the small drops turned into heavy rain and it was pouring all around us.

"We should go," I declared over the loud sound of splashing water.

She shook her head at my suggestion and backed away from me before she started twirling. I looked at her in awe as she ran around without her shoes in the rain.

She stopped and turned to me with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Let's walk home," she laughed.

"But we're hours away."

Amber gave me a look that ultimately made me say yes.

"I never would've guessed that you were this spontaneous," I smiled at her as we walked slowly in the rain.

She shrugged. "Me too."

(***)

After a long walk full of splashing in puddles and slipping in the mud, we reached the school.

We entered the house laughing and soaking wet. All eyes turned to us and by the way they were staring one would've thought that we each had two heads.

"Where were you?" Nina asked.

"Outside," Amber answered.

"I meant where outside?"

Amber looked over at me and then back at Nina.

"I think I'll be in my room," she stated as she made her way up the stairs.

I turned and looked at Nina and everyone else behind her who were suddenly very interested in our conversation.

"Umm, what she said," I managed to get out before I made my way to my room.

(***)

I knew for a fact Nina would ask where I was. I couldn't ruin the surprise, so I would have to lie to her. The only problem with my ingenious plan was that I was physically incapable of lying. Also, I didn't want to lie to her. And yet I told myself that I needed to lie because I wanted to make her happy. Yep, happy.

(That was my first mistake.)

Nina marched into my room pretty soon after I ran away from her.

She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at me

"Where were you?" she asked.

"I, uh, I went to my uncle's. I promised him I'd help him with something and on my way back I found Amber."

Nina raised an eyebrow at my answer, but she didn't bother protesting as she lowered her arms and nodded.

"Okay."

She leaned forward then and pressed her lips against mine, but I couldn't bring myself to kiss back.

(That was mistake number 2.)

I pulled away and offered her a smile. "Night."

She left my room without a second look at me and Mick entered immediately after.

He looked at me carefully before shaking his head. "You're a horrible liar."

"I know," I sighed as I sat at the edge of my bed.

"So where were you really?" Mick asked.

"I was trying to get a job to get money for a gift for our anniversary. Worried I wouldn't get it, I chickened out and walked down the sidewalk were I happened to spot Amber. I talked to her and then I went with her to this place with big fields where we just relaxed. It started to rain and Amber wanted to twirl around and as she did I got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. She suggested we walk home. We ended up walking for hours in the rain and as we did I got that same feeling."

"Feeling?"

"Like a clenching in my stomach every time I looked at her."

(That was the third mistake.)

Mick stared at me for a while without saying a thing.

I groaned, unable to take the silence, and I looked up at him. "Mick, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I need girl advice."

He shook his head. "What you need isn't girl advice. What you need is to tell your girlfriend the truth."

Alfie's P.O.V.

I stood outside my door, trying desperately to get Jerome to let me in.

"Come on, please let me in," I begged.

I kept banging on the door hoping Jerome would open it, but after a couple of minutes I gave up and walked to the dining room. I saw Amber in the kitchen trying to work the oven. She opened it up and pulled out a dish filled with something that didn't exactly look, or smell, normal.

"What'd you make?" I asked.

"Food," she answered.

"What type of food?" I asked.

She shrugged.

I was suddenly worried that this would be my last meal.

"Can you help me?" she asked.

"I thought you weren't allowed to get help?" I asked.

"Look, you're my boyfriend and if you want it to stay that way you'll help," she threatened.

At her words, I ran right into the kitchen.

"What do you need help with?" I asked.

"Well, do you use these green lemons for lemonade or the yellow ones?" She asked.

"Yellow," I answered.

She nodded and then handed me a pitcher full of water, yellow lemons, a knife, and a bag of sugar.

"Now get started," she demanded.

Amber's P.O.V.

I left Alfie in the kitchen and walked up the stairs and into my room.

"Hey," I greeted Nina.

"What happened?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

Nina stood up and headed for the door, but instead of leaving she closed it and then turned to face me.

"Jerome," she clarified.

"Oh," I frowned and looked down at my hands.

"So…" she waited for me to say something and yet there was something about the situation that made me want to keep my mouth shut. I knew Nina was my best friend, but there was just something so different about it and I still hadn't figured it out myself. I needed to make sense of everything on my own first. Or at least that's what I told myself so I wouldn't feel guilty for my next action.

"I have to go check on dinner," I blurted out as I ran out the room and down the stairs.

Upon stepping into the foyer, I ran right into Fabian.

"Sorry," I apologized as I rubbed my forehead.

"It's fine," He offered me a smile. "I have no bruises."

I nodded and proceeded to walk but was stopped by the sound of Fabian's voice.

"You never finished telling me what happened."

My eyes closed at the sentence and I let out a deep breath before stating, "He was scared and he said that they came."

"Who is they?" He asked.

"I don't know and I don't want to find out," I replied. "Promise me you won't tell."

"But,"

"Promise?" I interrupted.

Fabian nodded wordlessly. I turned before he could say anything else and headed straight to the kitchen where I caught Alfie with a fire extinguisher.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I've just always wanted to use one."

I shook my head and took the fire extinguisher away. "How about you help me set the table instead?"

He frowned, but did as I told him. After we finished setting everything up, I called everyone to the dining table.

"What is this?" Mara asked as she looked at the food on her plate.

"It looks like barf," Patricia gagged at the smell.

Everyone started to push their plates forward.

"Come on, I worked really hard," I insisted.

Everyone shook their heads and they all began to protest.

"What's for dinner? I'm starving."

At the sound of the familiar voice, all conversation ceased and everyone turned to the doorway.

Jerome stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a smile plastered on his face.

Something was definitely wrong.