"Nina, I'm kind of scared to be walking on campus at night," Mara stated. After a lot protests and begging, Nina had finally persuaded Mara to come with her to the hotel. She even helped Mara sneak in and out of her room and pack a suitcase without waking up her roommates.
"Relax, Mara. We're only walking to the front of the school," Nina replied. They rounded a corner where a gray SUV was parked in front of the main school building. A man, whom was sitting in the driver's seat, stepped out of the vehicle when the two girls were in sight.
"Miss Martin," he greeted with a thick Britsh accent.
"Sebastian, please. You know I liked to be called Nina." Nina gave the old man a quick hug.
"Sebastian, this is Mara. Mara this is my chauffeur and a close family friend of mine, Sebastian," Nina introduced.
"Hi," Mara stuck her hand out. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too," Sebastian returned the hand shake. "Okay, well we better get going. We have a long drive to the hotel." Sebastian grabbed each of the girls' suitcases and walked to the back of the car. Not wanting to be standing on the dark, empty campus much longer, Mara and Nina got in the car.
After Sebastian packed the suitcases in the trunk of the SUV, he made his way to the driver's seat and drove off.
Nina stared out her window, admiring the beautiful countryside. She watched as multiple buildings disappeared from her sight as the car passed. She noticed that the grass was still wet from the rain they had recieved earlier that evening and calmly listened as the tires drove across the slick roads, with the occasional splash as the car drove over puddles or small bodies of water on the sides of the road.
Mara, whom herself was staring out her own window broke the peaceful, unawkward, silence .
"So are you going to tell me why you needed me to come with you? Or why you're leaving?" She questioned.
Nina sighed. "It's a long story." Nina averted her eyes from the window and looked at Mara.
"We've got plenty of time," Mara told Nina.
"Alright, well," Nina sighed again. "Where do I begin?" Nina asked herself.
"Okay, when I was about fourteen years old, I was very different than I am now. I mean not too different, but very different. I used to be shy and awkward and I didn't necessarily look the best with my braces, zits, fizzy hair, and these ridiculous glasses. I was always picked on.
Well one day, I had gotten detention my first week of high school. It was in the middle of the school year, right after my parents had passed, and I had to transfer schools when I moved in with my gran. Well this of kids were picking on me, knocking books out of my hands, calling me names, and by the time the tardy bell rang, I had barely picked up any of my stuff.
Well, anyway, one of the twelfth grade teachers caught me, and didn't know I was a new student nor did she care, and had given me detention.
At detention, I met four other girls and two guys. They were all very different, but looked like good people never-the-less. Well the teacher, that was suppose to watch us, left early because his wife was in labor and he just kinda left us. And, I don't know, we just started talking and soon we all became friends.
Well a couple months later, after I gotten my braces off, discovered makeup, and hair product, we discovered that we all loved to sing. Well the boys preferred to rap, but still.
And we all started writing a few songs together and one day the girls and I were sitting at a park singing some of the songs we wrote, when this man showed up. Apparently he owned a record label. He talked to us and told us he wanted to sign us. And after a HUGE negotiation and begging with our parents and my gran, we became a band or girl group, whatever you want to call it. And before I came to Anubis, we put out an EP, did a few small performances and we were somewhat famous.
But at the time, the man who owned the recording company he wasn't very... expanded, for lack of a better word, when we started working with him. He had just started the label a few years before and the only countries that could legally buy our music was America, Canada, and Mexico. And Puerto Rico and some a couple other small islands and territories," Nina added.
"Anyway, because of that, I was able to live a normal life at Anubis." 'Well as far as she knows a normal life,' Nina thought.
"After we released the EP and our schedule's were starting to clear up, my friends and I put the group on hold so we could do different things. School, travel, etcetera. And last week a couple of them called me and informed me that another record label, here in England, wants to sign us and have us put out an album. So that's why I was leaving, well, part of the reason. And I needed you to come with so
a) you could keep me company and
b) so you wouldn't tell anyone that I was leaving. Seriously, Mara. You can't not tell anyone about any of this. Not until I'm ready."
"I promise," Mara replied. "But what are we going to tell everyone when they find out we're gone?"
"I called my gran and she's gonna tell the school that I had some family emergency and I took you with me. It's not the best lie and it's a little vague, but it should let them know we're safe." Mara nodded.
"We're here," Sebastian said as he pulled up in front of a fifteen story, five star hotel. Sebastian stepped out of the SUV and opened Nina's door. Mara and Nina exited the car. Sebastian walked to the back of the SUV to retrieve Nina and Mara's suitcases. When he returned, Nina gave him a thankful hug.
"Thanks, Sebastian," she said.
"No problem, Miss- Nina," Sebastain corrected himself. Nina smiled.
"Have a good night," Sebastian stated and got back into the car.
"You, too," Mara and Nina replied. Sebastian gave them one finally wave before driving off.
Mara and Nina walked to the hotel entrance where a polite doorman held the door open as they passed. They entered the lobby, where very few people were walking across the marble floors. The chandelier reflected light across the cream walls, drawing attention the fancy tan sofas and chairs in the center of the giant room. Beautiful bouquets of flowers were placed around the lobby, along with ferns and other indoor plants.
The night manager, a man with dark blonde hair, was asleep at his post as Nina and Mara made their way to him.
"Excuse me," Mara gentle shook the man, who suddenly jumped up in surprise, surprising the girls themselves.
"Um," a startled Nina began. "We'd like a room, please." Nina made a gesture between her and Mara. The, surprisingly very young, night manager looked weirdly at the two girls.
"O-okay," he said. Mara and Nina looked at each other confused before realizing something.
"NO! No no no," Nina and Mara repeated multiple times.
"Not like that," Nina informed. "Just two hetersexual friends. Who are both very into guys," Nina explained. The night manager looked somewhat relieved.
"Oh, alright then," he said and started typing on the computer. After a few moments, the man handed Mara a paper.
"Sign here," he instructed. Mara wrote her signature on the paper and handed it back to the employee, whom handed Nina two hotel room keys.
"Here you are. Third floor. Room 813. Single room, double suite."
"Thanks," Mara replied and started walking to the elevator. Nina was about to follow but the night manager stopped her.
"Uh. Sorry for the confusion," he apologized.
"No worries. When two attractive young women walked into a hotel together, you gotta wonder," Nina teased. The manager chuckled.
"You're funny," he said.
"Thanks," Nina smiled. "Uh, I'll see you around." Nina headed towards the elevator.
"Wait! What's your name?!" the night manager called after her.
"NINA MARTIN!" she yelled back before entering the elevator, Mara had kept from closing.
Jerome, Joy, Patricia, Alfie, Eddie, and Fabian, who were all dressed in their uniforms, were eating breakfast.
"Fabian, pass the milk," Patricia requested. Fabian handed the milk to Eddie, who handed it to Patricia. Amber walked into the dining room, looking distressed. She sat in her normal chair, next to Jerome, and looked to her right.
"Where's Nina?" she asked.
"Didn't you see her upstairs?" Patricia asked, spreading jam on her toast.
"No. I assumed that she came down to breakfast early to avoid me," Amber explained.
"Why would she avoid you?" Eddie questioned.
"We kind of got into a fight," Amber admitted.
"What about?" Alfie pondered.
"Nothing. I don't want to talk about it," Amber dismissed the conversation and grabbed a slice of toast from the middle of the table.
"You know," Patricia set her toast and knife down. "Now that I think about it. I haven't seen Mara either."
"Maybe she went to school early," Joy suggested. "You know to work on an article or something."
"Maybe," Patricia said. Trudy walked into the dining room on her way into the kitchen.
"Trudy," Patricia called. Trudy stopped in her tracks. "Have you seen Nina or Mara?"
"Oh! Nina's gran just called. She said that there was some kind of family emergency and Nina left in the middle of the night and took Mara with her."
"What kind of family emergency?" Fabian asked.
"I don't know. She said it very important and that Nina will be gone for about a month maybe two. Mara may return early, but nothing's for sure," Trudy explained then entered the kitchen.
"Wow. I hope everything's okay," Joy commented.
"What confuses me is why Nina took Mara," Jerome mentioned.
"What do you mean?" Alfie questioned.
"Well Mara and Nina have never been close. In fact they've rarely ever spoken to each other. So why would Nina take Mara of all people?"
"Well she was in a fight with Amber," Eddie pointed out.
"Yeah, but she could've taken Fabian, or Patricia, or Joy. Heck, she could've even taken me," Jerome replied. "Point is Mara is probably the last person that Nina would've taken."
"Maybe Nina wanted to get to know Mara better," Alfie guessed.
"During a crisis?" Joy questioned Alfie.
"My aunt got to know a guy during sex," Alfie said.
"Ugh. TMI, dude," Eddie dropped the bacon that was in his hand.
"Come on, let's get to school," Patricia stated, standing up. She and Joy walked out of the dining and soon everyone else followed.