It came as no surprise to find Joy Mercer flashing a big ole smile at me when I came downstairs for breakfast this morning. I hoped to God she would spill her milk over her bowl since she wasn't even looking as she poured it down just throw me that smile.
Mara, who was sitting at her usual spot, happened to look up from her oatmeal and of course noticed the tensed looks between Joy and I. "What's going on?" she asked slowly, her head going from me to Joy.
"Nothing," Joy gave a light shrug of her shoulders. She put down the pitcher of milk and reached for her spoon. "So, Camille, for Christmas, would like you a bottle of whip cream? Or two?"
My jaw tightened and at that moment I swear to God I had never hated someone as much as I did Joy Mercer. Perhaps it was because I was already out of my element - out of my country - that I had very little tolerance against mean girls. I myself wasn't a perfect dove but I felt this was getting to be too much.
"If you treated your roommates like you are with me it's no wonder they left you," I managed to say calmly. I thought that food perhaps would be a better alternative than having a go at Joy.
Joy's smile faded but it wasn't the end of the story. "I wouldn't mind helping Jerome for another prank, you know."
Mara groaned lightly from her seat and put her spoon down. "Was that your scream last night?" she asked me, already looking weary. "Did Jerome play another prank on you?"
Before I could answer, Alfie strode in and answered for me. "He sure did! So no cool!" he plonked down on his chair.
"Thank you," I barely managed to say when Alfie added in an 'I wanted to be there too!'. Joy laughed of course.
"Good morning, good morning to everyone!" Jerome came striding in with arms flapping to everyone at the table. He flashed a smirk my way and even a wink, to which I returned with a glare. "It's such a lovely morning, isn't it Camille?"
"Jerome-" Mara began with a scolding tone, "-you can't keep doing these things. Camille can talk to Victor about this and you can be in serious trouble then."
This made no effect on Jerome. He merely shrugged and started gathering food on his plate.
Soon the others arrived for breakfast, with Eddie being a little late, and we all had a relatively nice time. I had to admit my spirits raised when Eddie came in because oh we had something planned. After breakfast, we each went back to our rooms to retrieve our things for the school day. As I came back down the stairs, I spotted Nina, Amber and Fabian once again emerging from the door besides the staircase.
"What are you doing?" I didn't fail to startle them. I wasn't going to hide, not when I wasn't doing something wrong...like they probably were. "Victor says that door doesn't open."
Nina's hair flipped with her as she glanced at the door. "Oh, it doesn't? Silly us!"
I raised an eyebrow at her which, I guess, made her a little nervous because she kept chuckling. At least Amber knew how to lie better than her. The blonde's eyes were the only thing to move.
"Fabian, this is the second time I see you by this door," I remarked curiously. "What's so interesting down there?"
"It's n-nothing," Fabian replied quietly.
"It's just dust," Amber added.
"So then you admit the door actually opens?"
This made the three freeze in their spots. Nina threw them both looks that clearly said to stop talking.
"I, uh...I lost my necklace down there, alright?" Amber sighed and pushed back her long hair. "We were messing around and I lost it there so we obviously had to get it back." And as she gave this explanation I gazed at her vintage necklace around her neck. It was still creepy.
"Fine..." I said, and only because I saw Jerome coming out of his room.
This was like a green light for the three to go. Of course they threw me a 'don't tell Victor anything' before they were really gone. I watched after them with even more suspicion than before.
"What's going on with them?" Jerome had actually stopped beside me to ask.
I sighed and turned back to the door. "Something about this door..."
"Don't," went Jerome in an instant. I looked at him, yet again confused on this sudden change of demeanor that the door had on him. It was like the last time I had asked him about the door - he appeared worried, and I couldn't understand why. "Camille, I may not be serious about a lot of things but this-" he pointed a finger at the door, "-is one of the few things that I am. It's just a door, let it be."
"But if it's just a 'door' then I don't see the big deal-"
"Camille, please!" Jerome exclaimed, startling me for a moment. "Leave it alone. Forget about it." We heard a door from the hallway opening up and when we saw Eddie walking out, Jerome took that as an opportunity to leave. "Just leave it, okay, Camille?" he said as parting words.
I felt something strange, then, because up until now Jerome had shown nothing but playfullness and, well...nothing serious. It must be a pretty big thing to make him go serious and concerned like that.
"Hey, ready?" Eddie bopped me on the side. Now he didn't even seem to notice the door behind us. "I got everything set up outside. Patricia was more than willing to help."
"There's a shocker," I found in myself to say. I suppose things returned to normal right there because I could not wait for us to go outside and see how my little revenge plot would play out.
When we stepped out of the house, we saw Patricia casually waiting just outside the gates of the house and Jerome midway towards them. On cue, the almost transparent rope attached from one end of the gate's hinge to the other made Jerome trip easily. He fell face first onto the ground and garnered some patches of grass and probably - hopefully - some mud too. Patricia then pulled out a gun-like device which was really just a drama club glitter gun.
"I love glitter..." I sighed with joy as pink glitter flew in the air and over the blonde on the ground. I moved on over to the sight and tried my best to ignore Patricia's laughter on the side. "Oh, look at you..." I pouted at Jerome. He turned so that his back was to the ground but he used his elbows to support himself. "All mud and...glitter."
"This...was all you?" Jerome raised an eyebrow sprinkled with pink glitter. He used one hand to wipe off some mud and grass off the side of his face.
"Some of us don't have to go so big and loud to pull off a good prank," I smiled. "And some of us have resources. Thanks, Patricia and Eddie!"
"Anytime," Patricia said, quite proud of her work.
"You mad?" I asked Jerome, awaiting for him to off or something like I had previously. But instead, he laughed and let himself drop flat on the ground. "What the hell are you doing?" I demanded to know.
"You finally got me back! Me and Alfie had a bet, you know, to see how long it would take for you to snap back."
"I would've liked to join," Eddie said rather glumly.
"Hey!" I frowned.
"Sorry..."
I rolled my eyes and looked back to Jerome. "So...you're not even the least bit annoyed?"
"Nah, if I play I prank I expect one back."
"You're an idiot," I didn't hesitate to spat. I straightened to my feet and held a hand for him to take.
Jerome eyed my hand suspiciously. "Seriously?"
"It's sort of a truce, Jerome. I'm new in this country and I would really just like to go to school and not be pranked at every corner," I was being honest and that hadn't really happened since I arrived here. I suppose Jerome could see that I was serious, a kind of serious that left no room for playfulness. He gave a small nod and took my hand. I helped him back to his feet and smiled. "Truce?"
"Truce," he agreed but then turned to Patricia and Eddie. "But you two are on my list."
Patricia smirked and blew at her glitter gun. "Bring it, Clarke."
Jerome laughed and finally started back for the house.
"What are you smiling about?" Eddie suddenly asked when we were alone.
"Hm?" I blinked and noticed he and Patricia giving me a sort of...look. "What?"
"You were smiling...like...one of those dreamy smiles..." Patricia raised her eyebrows, apparently ready to tease.
"I was not," I immediately shot the idea down. "But I suppose you would know considering that's what you do when Eddie's not looking."
Patricia went red in the face and I laughed. I hurried away before she could throw anything my way for that, or worse - pink glitter!
Author's Note:
How long we think Camille's gonna let that door thing keep sliding? ;)
For the review:
I hope that 'interesting' is a good interesting xD
