Disclaimer: I have arrived in England and met up with Amber. She's got a cat-burglar scheme to get the papers from the courthouse. I still don't own House of Anubis, but until I do enjoy Chapter two: My Mental State.

Chapter two: My Mental State

"Come on, Nina," Aria whined pathetically, standing at the foot of my bed. "Talk to me. We haven't talked in forever! It's been what, three years since we've actually had a conversation? Please say something!"

I ignored her, drowning her out with music. It was the only thing that kept her out, though it didn't work half the time. As she continued to speak, I thought back to when I had first known she was a nuisance.

"Come on, Nina, play with me," a six-year-old Aria begged me.

I ignored her. I had a cold and I wasn't allowed outside my room. She knew that, but she chose to ignore the rules. Mommy had made me promise not to leave my bedroom and I didn't. I kept every promise I ever made.

All but one.

I wondered briefly what would happen if anyone ever found out the truth about Aria and me. What would the Anubis gang do if they found out there were two new American students instead of just one? I sighed, going over the facts in my mind.

My name is Nina Martin, and I am mentally unstable.

When I was around five or six, though I could never remember which, I had invented an imaginary friend named Aria. We did everything together. I had no need for other friends, because there was always one to play with in my own little world. We would play dress-up, tea party, we danced and sang. We had so much fun. Then the accident happened.

Mom and Dad died in a car crash when I was seven years old. The crash scared me so bad that I became dependant on Aria. Since she was the only one I had ever talked to, she was the only one who would talk to me. When I was ten and she still wasn't gone, I became a little worried, but I down-played it. Just weeks after my eleventh birthday, Gran caught me talking to myself and sent me to a shrink.

They told me I had schizophrenia, PTSD, mild depression, and anti-social-personality disorder. Add all this up and it did not make for a good high school experience. When people at my old school found out I visited a shrink once a week, they started with their insults. It started out as whispers as I passed them in the hallway, but it soon turned to shouts called across the cafeteria. That's why I was glad I could leave.

When I started going to school in England, I did my best to keep my secret. I wrote down every lie I told to keep myself safe so I could remember what I was telling people, I never mentioned Aria to anyone. Everyone was convinced I went to go see my Aunt Lily once a week instead of Dr. Jenks, the local therapist. No one knew I was crazy. No one knew that I saw a figment on my imagination.

No one knew.

With my headphones in and a book in my hands, I was able to drown out the world for a few hours. I dove head-first into the world that existed only between the pages of a book, my whole being concentrating on the story.

An hour or two passed before a hand touched my shoulder, shocking me out of my trance-like state. I looked up while simultaneously taking out my headphones. When I saw it was just Amber, I calmed down. She had a slightly worried look on her face, but I was just grateful that it wasn't Aria.

"Nina?" Amber said, frowning slightly.

"Hey, Amber," I greeted, forcing a smile onto my face. "What's up?"

"Well," she began, "I'm just a little worried about you. You've been . . . distant ever since you came here."

I frowned. Had I really been that distant? I mean, sure, I didn't hang out with Amber every day, but I did talk to her every once in a while. Didn't I?

"Sorry," I apologized. "I haven't meant to be distant. I'm sure you're all really great people, it's just–"

"You don't know us and you're worried we won't like you," Amber said. I didn't mind her words, though I felt as though I should have. They were the truth, if not the whole truth.

"Yeah, you're right. Tell you what," I said, forcing another smile onto my face, "after I get back from visiting my aunt tomorrow, we can hang out. Okay?"

Amber agreed that it would be fine, and left, probably wanting to give me some space. Once she was gone, I threw on my pajamas and slipped into bed, a full hour before Victor gave his 'pin-drop' speech. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up and looked at the clock. Shoot, I only had one hour until I had to be at Dr. Jenks' office, and it took me half an hour to get there. I quickly got dressed and rushed down the stairs, almost running into Alfie on my way to the kitchen.

After I apologized for almost running into him, I found Trudy making breakfast. She aimed a smile at me as she told me that she already called a cab for me and it would be here any minute. I thanked her just as I heard the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house. When I had ran out of the house and hopped in the cab, I finally let myself calm down.

No one knew where I was going, unless you counted Trudy. She was the only one who knew where I went once a week. Not even Victor knew my secret. I had been forced to let Trudy know, but now that she did, it didn't seem so bad. She had proven to me that she could be trusted with my secret. And besides, she hadn't even mentioned telling the other residents of Anubis House, which I genuinely appreciated.

When the cab pulled up to building where Dr. Jenks' office was, the cabbie gave me an odd look, but didn't say anything. He probably thought I was crazy, which would've been the truth, but I was glad he accepted his payment without talking. I got out of the cab and watched it pull away, letting out a small sigh. Here it goes.

I walked into the office and sat down in the waiting room. They knew I was here. Ten minutes passed, during which I flipped through an out-dated magazine to amuse me. Finally, the door on the other side of the room opened and an older woman with long brown hair and a kind smile called my name.

I got up and followed her into a small room with three chairs. I sat in one of them on one side of the desk, and she sat in the one on the other side. After a few seconds, Dr. Jenks spoke up.

"So, how are you, Nina?"

I twirled a strand of hair around my finger. "I'm good. You?"

"I'm fine, thank you. Has Aria shown up at all over the last week?"

I scoffed at her question. "About three times a day. Just the same as every other week."

Dr. Jenks smiled, though even I knew she wasn't happy. "Well, how are your friends doing?"

I looked at her, confusion plain on my face. "What friends?"

Dr. Jenks looked taken aback. "What?"

I repeated my question, making her frown. Had I said something wrong? Did I upset her?

"Nina, you have friends, don't you?" she asked after a few more seconds of silence.

I thought about it. "Not really. I don't talk to people much, so I don't have a chance to make friends. Amber seems to want to hang out with me, though. It's probably because she doesn't know the truth."

"And what is the truth, Nina?"

I sighed. This was where we had stopped every week. Dr. Jenks had my diagnostics, but she wanted me to talk about my problem. I had tried for years to keep my issues to myself, so three therapy sessions weren't going to make me open up.

An hour or so passed before my session was up. I could tell Dr. Jenks was upset that I wouldn't talk to her. I guessed that by week three most patients told her at least something, but I was too afraid to tell anyone anything. It had taken me two and a half years to open up to my last therapist, so Dr. Jenks wasn't going to crack me that easy.

I took a cab back to Anubis House, ready to face whatever was thrown my way. Amber was expecting me to hang out with her, so as soon as I stepped foot in the house I unwillingly shoved my iPod into my pocket. I was going to hate this, but Amber might get suspicious if I listened to my music while we were hanging out.

"Nina!" Amber called cheerfully, seeing me walk inside. "Come on, we were just about to play Truth-or-Dare."

I internally winced at the name. Dare I could handle, but the truth part? What if they asked a question I couldn't answer? Though I hated it, I had promised I would hang out with her, so Truth-or-Dare it was. Everyone was sitting around the common room, so I took the only seat left: beside Fabian.

"Okay, I'll go first," Patricia said. She looked at each of us before settling on her target. "Mara, truth or dare?"

Mara considered it. "Truth."

Patricia rolled her eyes, but asked the question all the same. "Mara, who do you like least here in this room?"

Mara blushed, but answered Patricia, looking at the person guiltily. "Jerome. Sorry, but you can be a bit annoying at times."

Jerome just chuckled. "No offense taken, Jaffrey."

And so that's how the game went. Alfie was dared to eat a whole jalapeño pepper without a drink and keep it down, which he did. Amber had to tell all about of her first crush (I found it interesting that her first crush was Mick). Patricia had to kiss Jerome, both of them complaining. Mick had to pretend to propose to Joy, who ended up having to tell everyone who she liked (Fabian). Fabian had to tell us his deepest, darkest secret –a dare that shocked me –which happened to be he had never been on a date. Then it was my turn.

"Nina," Jerome said with a smirk on his face. "Truth or dare?"

I thought about it. If I chose dare, then I was almost certainly be embarrassed, but if I chose truth, then there was a good chance they'd ask a question that would lead to Aria. Hating myself as I did so, I chose dare.

"First, a question," Jerome said, slightly startling me. "Do you have an iPod?"

I nodded, pulling it out of my pocket.

"I dare you to play your most-played soundtrack for us. Every single song," he added, earning a groan from the rest of the Anubis residents. I sighed as I scrolled through the music until I came to my soundtrack.

Everyone but Patricia looked like their ears were about to start bleeding by the time the first song was over. By the end of the seventh and final song, Jerome was seriously regretting his decision.

"You actually listen to that rubbish?" he asked after the song ended.

"Hey!" Patricia said, startling me. "It's not rubbish! It's great music. I have that same soundtrack. Nina, I had no idea you had such a great taste in music."

I blushed as I thanked her, sticking my iPod back in my pocket. Everyone looked at me funny, but I ignored them. Maybe they just thought I was odd. It wasn't like they asked if I was crazy or not.

Maybe they thought I was almost normal.

I'm so sorry for falling off the face of the earth for the last three weeks! We were going to go to the library (since I have no internet at my house I have to use theirs) but so much was going on that we didn't. On a different note, did anyone guess that Aria wasn't real? I'm assuming most of you did if you read the summary, but still. Next chapter Nina gets some advice from a certain source. Thanks for reading!

~C