A/N: Thank you all for the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own House of Anubis or any of the characters.
Nina woke up, feeling quite refreshed and happy. She skipped to the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair. Then she walked quickly down the stairs when she saw Fabian waiting for her, but then out of nowhere, Joy shows up and leads Fabian to the table for breakfast, leaving Nina quite upset, and very confused.
"It's okay. He's Joy's friend. They can walk to breakfast together," Nina muttered, then walked into the living room to the table.
"Hey Jerome, could you move?" Nina asked, standing by Jerome, who was sitting in other seat next to Fabian, who didn't even notice that Nina was in the room, but was instead talking to Joy. Jerome shook his head and Nina rolled her eyes.
"Why can't you move?" she asked.
"Because I sat here first. Actually, you know what, I'll move so that way I can sit by Alfie," Jerome said, getting out of his seat and moving to the open one next to it, leaving a seat in between Jerome and Fabian open. Nina smiled and sat in the chair.
"Hey Fabian," Nina said. Joy just looked at Nina, then went on, and Fabian wanted to look at Nina, but Joy kept talking, and he didn't want to seem rude by turning around, even though he had no idea what Joy was going on about.
"Fabian," Nina said again. This time Joy stopped talking and asked,"What do you want?"
"I'd like to talk to my boyfriend if it means anything to you," Nina said, waiting for Joy let her talk to Fabian.
"No," Joy said, preparing to go back to talking to Fabian while he just sat there and listened.
"Joy, I'd like to talk to Nina. Please. We can talk later," he said, looking at Nina.
"No! You can't!" Joy yelled, a bit louder than she wanted to. Everyone looked at her, and Nina glared at her.
"Yes, he can. Now, who are you going to listen to?" Nina asked Fabian, hoping that he'd say that he wanted to talk to her, not Joy.
"I, I uh..." Fabian stuttered, not able to finish his sentence. This made Nina mad and Joy smile. You can't choose her over your girlfriend Fabian. Just break it off if you'd rather spend time with her. Nina thought.
"Fine. You can stay with Joy," Nina said, leaving the room and running up to her room. She jumped onto her bed and cried into her pillow until someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Nina asked, her voice muffled from the pillow. No one answered. Must be imagining things. Maybe it's Fabian. But the thought didn't make Nina feel any better, so she got up from the bed and opened the door. She jumped. It was...Jerome?
"What do you want?" Nina asked, looking at Jerome.
"I wanted to see if you were okay," Jerome said, actually sounding sincere. I'm surprised the whole thing didn't give you a laugh Nina thought, hoping that Jerome wasn't here to make fun of her.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because you looked really hurt. And I also wanted to say that Victor's back," Jerome said.
"Victor's back? I thought he was finally gone." I think everyone thought that Jerome thought.
"Yes. I know, everyone was hoping he wouldn't come back, but I'm guessing that no one else was up for the job of taking care of teens for a year." Nina laughed.
"Okay, so, I've got a question, why did you come up here? And be honest, because I'm pretty sure that it has nothing to do with Victor, or Joy and Fabian," Nina said, actually kinda hoping to talk about Fabian. How was she supposed to break up with him? Maybe Jerome could help she thought, looking up at Jerome, who, in Nina's opinion, had pretty blue eyes.
"Well, it has a bit to do about the last two. What are you going to do about Fabian?" Nina didn't understand why Jerome cared. Maybe it was because he liked her? No, he couldn't. Could he? Besides even if he did, she wouldn't date him.
"Well, he seems happy with Joy, so I'll let him be with her. That seems like the best thing to do." Wow, Joy's either pretty good at this, or Nina gets jealous easily. I'll tell Joy thank you later. Jerome thought, smiling.
"And what are you going to do when you're single?" Nina knew that this was the question that Jerome really wanted to know, nothing else. Well, except maybe when he asked what she was going to do about Fabian.
"Stay single. Who knows, maybe I'll get Fabian back someday," Nina said, then walked pass Jerome, and started to go downstairs when Jerome said,"Wait, what about going out with me?"
"Jerome, I'm not interested. Ask me when I'm single, so in about five to ten minutes ask me, and I might answer," she said, then walked down the staircase, and into the living room where Joy and Fabian were sitting on the couch.
"Joy, I would like to speak to Fabian about something. In fact, you can be in the room, just give me a bit of space to say it," Nina said, knowing that Joy knew what she was about to do.
"Have the couch," Joy said, getting off. Nina took her seat on the couch.
"So, what do want to say?" Fabian asked. Nina took his hands and held them.
"Look, Fabian. I know we've only been going out for a very, very short time, but it seems that you can't choose, so I'll leave you single. You seem happy with Joy, and I want you to be happy, so," Nina said, hoping that Fabian got the message.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked.
"Because you've spent all your time with Joy and can't even ask her for a minute with me. Maybe we'll be together again, but now isn't our time," Nina said, letting go of Fabian's hands. They both looked like they were about to cry, and even Joy, who was smiling while watching, felt kinda bad since this meant that she and Nina would probably never become friends, and Joy could never thank her for finding her.
Jerome, on the other hand, was just outside the and listened, and was silently celebrating. He'd feel bad later, but now was the time to talk to Nina, to console her, to make her feel better and have a bit more feelings for him. Nina walked out, looking on the verge of crying, but when she saw Jerome standing there, she asked,"Having fun there?"
"No. Will you go out with me?" Jerome asked, not in the mood to converse a bit first before asking. He just wanted to ask and here her say that three letter word that Jerome was so used to hearing.
"No," Nina said, smirking. She did NOT just say no to Jerome Clark. Jerome thought, amazed that she said that. He scoffed.
"Did you just say 'no' to Jerome Clark?" he asked, still not processing this. Girls never said said no to him, besides Mara, but she's with Mick so it doesn't matter.
"Yes. And if you want to know why, I don't feel like telling you why," she said.
"Why not? Why did you say no?"
"Because, you're such a player, you lie like all the time, you scheme, and you're just so immature sometimes. And, you never acted like you had any interest in me before today," Nina said, knowing that Jerome couldn't say anything to that, and that he would just move on and find another girl.
"What, if I changed? What if I acted like a human being? What if I said that I could be a better person," Jerome said.
"I don't believe you can. I don't even believe that you can keep your word."
"Please Nina, if I change, will you go out with me?" Nina looked at everything but Jerome so she could consider this.
"Okay. If you, Jerome Clark, can keep your word for a month, then yes, I will go out with you." Jerome had a huge grin on his face, and it seemed that nothing could wipe it off.
"But, if you can't, then I won't go out with you, ever," Nina said. That wiped it off just as fast as it was put on.
"Thank you. So, what's today's date? You know, so we know how long a month is," Jerome said, grabbing his phone out of his bag, but Nina already had it out.
"Today is...August 23rd. You've got until September 23rd," she said, looking at her phone the entire time. Now, what do I start changing? Well, maybe I'll ask Nina to give me a list. Jerome thought.
"So, Nina, what is it that you want me to change?" he asked, not entirely sure what Nina didn't find charming about him.
"Stop lying, scheming, and if you flirt with anyone, female or male, then the deal's off," she said. Okay, I have no interest with males. Ugh, why does this woman have to make me act...less Jerome. I'd rather just fake it the whole time. Like, when she's not around. Jerome thought, but as if Nina read them she said,"Oh, and I'm letting the rest of the house know."
"Know what?" Mara asked. She had been heading outside to take a walk with Mick, but had been stopped when she heard Nina say that the rest of house was going to know something.
"That-" Nina began, but Jerome cut her off by saying,"That me and Nina are having a bit of a deal. She can explain." Mara looked confused.
"What I was trying to say is that Jerome and I are having a deal. If he can manage to stop being so Jerome for a month, that I'll go out with him. He can be as Jerome as he wants when it's all over," Nina said, then whispered to Mara,"Honestly, he doesn't bother me that much, I just kinda want to see what it would be like to have him not so, Jerome for a month." Mara smiled.
"What did you just say to her?" Jerome asked, looking back and forth between the two girls.
"Nothing," the girls said in unison.
"Well, I'll tell Mick. See you guys later. Oh and Nina, I'd like to talk to you later," Mara said, then walked out the door. I hope Nina knows what she's getting herself into Mara thought.
"Well, I'll talk to you later Jerome. I think I might go find Amber outside," Nina said, then left Jerome there in the house, with only Joy and Fabian to talk to, but Jerome wasn't about to go talk to them. Instead, he was going to find ways to get around what Nina said that he couldn't do.
"Like I'd ever flirt with a male," Jerome muttered, then went to his room to plot.
By dinnertime, everyone in the house knew that about Jerome and Nina's bet, and that Fabian and Joy were together. It wasn't the worst Saturday in the world, it was just the weirdest. No one could have thought that Jerome would ever want to go out with Nina.
"So, Nina, why did you decide to make this deal with Jerome?" Amber asked from the seat left of Nina. Nina didn't sit by Fabian anymore, but instead sat next to Jerome and Amber. Because I want to try to mess with Jerome. And because I'm interested to see a new side of Jerome that no one's seen before. Nina thought.
"Because I don't think that I'd want to go out with Jerome. This will give me a chance to think about it," Nina said. Amber nodded in agreement.
"If I was to ever go out with Jerome, which I never will because that would be really gross, I'd definitely want to see him change a bit," Amber said.
"I know right?" Patricia said. All the girls nodded in agreement.
"Heck, even Mara couldn't get him to change," Joy said.
"Jerome is Jerome. It's not easy to get him to do that. I'm amazed that he'd do it for Nina," Mara said.
"You girls do know that I'm right here, right?" Jerome asked.
"Obviously. When else would we talk about this?" Amber asked.
"Hmm...maybe when I'm not in the room?" Jerome asked.
"No, I agree with Amber. Now is the best time to do it," Nina said. Jerome sighed in defeat and all the girls giggled.
"Oh, and I really don't care if you flirt with guys. It won't bother me a bit," Nina said. Then the guys laughed.
"I don't plan on flirting with guys Nina," Jerome said.
"Are you sure Jerome?" Patricia asked.
"Well, if I were you, accept that it's the only gender you can flirt with and get on with life," Nina said. Jerome didn't answer since if he wasn't going to be able to be his usual self, that maybe he should start right here, at least, to not act like himself.
"Hey Nina, if you're done eating, then I'd like to talk to you," Mara said when everyone had finished dinner.
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, I'm done," Nina said. The two girls walked up to Mara's room that she shared with Patricia and Joy.
"Look, I know that you're not going out with Jerome yet, but I'd like to warn you about something," Mara said, looking at Nina. Nina was listening carefully.
"What?" Nina asked, wondering what had been on Mara's mind today.
"That Jerome is going to end up lying to you. In the end he'll end up to have blackmailed a bunch of people, and have lied many times," Mara said.
"I know. And if he does, then I won't go out with him. Look, I know that Jerome is not easily trusted, but I want to be nice and try," Nina said.
"Okay. Just as long as you know what you're getting yourself into," Mara said.
"I do. Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow," Nina said, then left the room and walked to her room where she went to sleep.
Thank you for reading! Please review, but you don't have to. Hope you look forward to the next chapter! :D