Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis or any of the characters related to it.

Two weeks earlier

"So you're not mad at me anymore?" Eddie mumbled against her lips before moving in to kiss her again. Patricia ignored his question. Instead, she kissed him back and backed him against the wall, tangling her hands in his hair. She didn't feel like talking.

His hands were on her waist as she kissed him, and he wrapped them around her waist to bring her closer. They were kissing fast and rushed, almost as if they weren't even concentrating on what they were doing anymore. They were just kissing; just passing time. But it was still fun, and Eddie still couldn't help but feel like it meant something. He hadn't brought it up with Patricia yet, but they'd been sneaking around like this for two months now, and he figured they'd have worked something out by now. Maybe they'd have realised their feelings for each other, or maybe they'd have stopped all together. But still, here they were, in the cluttered supply closet in the school basement, kissing like there was no tomorrow; like it was all they wanted to do forever.

And, if Eddie was honest with himself, he wouldn't mind doing this forever.
But he didn't know where he stood with Patricia…ever since the beginning, they'd both just assumed that this was a no-strings-attached thing. But now he was thinking it might be more…and he didn't know what to do about it.

"Mm…" Eddie mumbled as her hands sat at the back of his neck and she kissed his jaw line lightly a few times. Wherever her lips went, they seemed to leave a burning trail of sparks; something that hadn't been felt when they'd first started doing this. He wondered if it felt the same for Patricia now, too. When she stopped, he reciprocated and kissed her neck just twice before returning to her lips.

A while later, Patricia pulled away slightly. "We should get back to class soon," she said before kissing him again, and then managing to pull herself away. She looked at him. "Sweetie won't want us to be late again, and I think people are starting to suspect something's going on." She fixed her tie and grabbed her bag and her jacket, about to leave the room, when Eddie put his hand on her arm.

He seemed hesitant and his eyes darted around a bit before he finally looked at her. "Would…uh...would that be so bad?"

"Would what be so bad?"

"You know, if…if people found out about this…"

"This?" Patricia narrowed her eyes at him, moving her arm so he let her go. "This isn't anything. There's nothing for them to know."

Eddie frowned. "But…"

"But nothing," she snapped. "They're not suspicious, because there's nothing to be suspicious about."

"But Patricia, we're sneaking off, together, to make out every single lunchtime. And then we come back…together. Aren't people bound to get suspicious about that?"

She pondered this for a moment, staring at him blankly, and then she pushed the door handle down aggressively. "Fine then, Weasel," she said pointedly, "I'll go, and you wait here for ten minutes to think about how this isn't anything. Deal?" She didn't give him time to answer. Before he could even process what had just happened, she'd stormed out of the room and up the stairs in to the main school.

He shook his head, incredulous.

He didn't know what was going on anymore.

Patricia walked down the school hallway, completely conscious of the fact that her hair was now a little messed up. Her shirt was a bit off-centre and she tugged on it nervously. As she walked to her next class, she screwed her eyes shut for a second, because she was so frustrated with herself; frustrated with Eddie. They were nothing more than just make-out buddies; they weren't even friends. In fact, they were practically enemies, and that's how people knew them.

People at the school knew them as Patricia and Eddie: the two students who constantly threw insults at each other and had the occasional heated argument. But, little did those people know, Patricia and Eddie had this big secret that was becoming more and more heated as time went on. It wasn't just heated arguments between them now; it was heated kisses. Sneaking off at every opportunity. Getting carried away with each other when they knew they should be elsewhere.

A few times, Patricia had tried to bury that flame in the sand and let it go, but something inside of both of them kept digging it up again. They'd manage a few days without kissing each other but, after that, they collided again.

She didn't understand what was going on.

She didn't understand how they'd even ended up here; she hated him and he hated her—that's what made them work. But somehow, kissing him worked too. She'd forgotten how they'd gotten themselves in to this situation of needing to kiss each other to feel alive.

After every single secret rendezvous at lunchtime, of course they'd go back to glaring at each other and hating each other. Of course they would. Because that's just what they were used to; that's how it always went. She didn't intend on that changing.

They were just kissing; he was an insanely good kisser, and it was all just a physical thing. She didn't feel that way about him. In fact, the very thought of that just made her feel weird.
They were just kissing. And no one needed to find out about it, because it wasn't anything. It wasn't even anything worth the others knowing.

And when Eddie started bringing it up about telling people, it freaked Patricia out. It scared her.

But when Eddie walked in to the classroom fifteen minutes late, and Mr. Sweet asked him where he'd been and why his shirt was un-tucked, he glanced at Patricia and she suddenly felt weird. His eyes came to her for just a split second before he made up some excuse and tucked his shirt in; and she felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Uneasy about everyone knowing, and uneasy about the way he'd looked at her. Like it was their first glance ever.

A/N: So, here it is - the first official chapter of Before I Fall! I appreciate that it is a little shorter than most of my work usually is, but like I said in the prologue, the chapters will gradually get longer and longer as the story progresses. Also, please let me know if you feel this is hard to understand. There's not much back-story to it, so if you're not following, please don't hesitate to tell me :)

I really hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you so much for your reviews on the prologue. Do let me know what you thought about this chapter - what you liked and even what you didn't like. Criticism is always welcome, as long as it's useful and you tell me how I can improve it!

Love :* xxx