"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Mrs. Daphne Andrews asked her colleague of twenty years nervously. "How are we going to know who's really chosen?"

Mr. Eric Sweet took off his reading glasses and placed them down on his desk. "You don't have to worry about it, Daphne. By the time the chosen hour comes around, we'll know. You have to trust Victor a little more."

"That's exactly why I'm worrying. I don't think he knows what he's doing. Bringing in an American girl just because of her birthday when we know already that it must be Joy?"

"The Chosen One was born on the seventh hour, but we don't know which." Mr. Sweet responded. "It's either in the morning or the afternoon, no one knows for sure. That's why we need them both here. If it turns out we're wrong, we can have the other girl assemble the cup instead."

Mrs. Andrews sighed. "I suppose you're right. I just don't like the idea of involving another child's life."

"It's not like they will be in any grave danger," Mr. Sweet did his best to reassure the agitated woman. "Both girls will be safe, unless you-know-who comes around. But even that isn't likely to happen. Victor has it all taken care of."

"Of course." Mrs. Andrews agreed. "I hope it all goes to plan. And what was the American girl's name again?"

Mr. Sweet put his glasses back on and looked down at the paper. "Nina Martin."

Fabian was confused by the new girl, to say the least. One minute she was smiling and accepting his offer of being walked over, but then the next she was bolting out the door without him. Did she always change her mind so quickly, he wondered? Either way, it was nice to be walking with her. He wanted to do everything he could to make her feel included after Joy's insensitive question last night.

When he turned his head to look at her, he saw her taking a bite out of the bagel he had given her. It made him slightly smile. "Is it okay that it's plain? I wasn't sure what you liked on it." He tried making conversation.

"It's completely fine. Thanks again," she sent him a smile back. "I'm sorry for almost leaving without you earlier. It's just that I don't want to cause any problems between you and Joy." She sighed. "I feel like I'm already causing enough drama."

Fabian stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you two together?" Nina turned around and stopped walking as well.

"What?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. No one had ever suspected him and Joy of dating, not that he knew of at least.

"Well you guys always seem to be near each other, like really close so I just figured that you must be. Unless, am I wrong?"

"Yes. I mean, no, no we're not dating. We're just friends." He quickly clarified.

"Oh." She said quietly.

"Hey, Nina!" A voice came from behind them. Nina didn't recognize it yet, so she had to turn around to see who was calling her name.

"Jerome? What are you doing here? I've never seen you up on time." Fabian said as Jerome came closer to them.

"Yeah, normally I wouldn't be, but we've got a new special guest today." Jerome smiled teasingly at Nina. "And a package for her. It was in the kitchen, oddly enough. Trudy told me to run it over to her."

Nina was handed a small box that had her name written on it in cursive. She hadn't ever seen it before, and she was sure she didn't know anyone well enough here to be receiving gifts so soon. "What could this be?"

"This isn't one of your pranks, is it?" Fabian questioned, looking skeptical of the whole situation.

"No, it isn't, Rutter. Why would I give up breakfast to come all the way here if it wasn't something important?"

While the two boys argued back and forth, Nina opened the box to see for herself what it was. She gasped when she saw it was a necklace. The pendant was in the shape of an eye, with the iris a bright red color. Nina swore she saw it glowing. She looked up and shut it before either of them could see.

She saw them both looking at her expectantly. Desperate to keep it hidden for now, she said the first thing that came to her mind. "It was nothing. Just a note from my grandmother. I guess I forgot it in the kitchen this morning."

"Anticlimactic, if you ask me. I'll leave you two to your date now." Jerome slapped Fabian's shoulder a couple of times before winking at Nina. He left without another word.

"Wow, he's very, um…"

"I know." Fabian understood what she meant, shaking his head incredulously. "Sometimes I wonder about him."

They laughed and continued on their way to the school. Once they arrived, Nina could spot everyone from her house in the hallways. They all stood near their lockers, which reminded her that she needed to speak to a man named Mr. Sweet about getting one for herself. Since she didn't have one yet, she followed Fabian to his.

"Our first class is that door over there." He pointed to it as he shut his locker and locked it with his key. "Actually, do you need to put anything in here too? You can share mine for now if you like."

Nina didn't have any textbooks yet, but she didn't want to turn him down. It might feel like a bigger rejection. She opened her bag and dug through it, searching for anything she could. Her bag was empty though, save for a few notebooks she needed for classes. "Actually, do you mind if I leave this here with you?" She was referring to the box she had received from Jerome.

Fabian nodded and opened his locker back up. She placed it inside and the two waited for the first bell to ring.

After a few minutes it did, and Nina was starting to feel as nervous as she was the previous day. She'd be introduced to new teachers today when she was still exhausted from learning everyone else's names and faces. Or she might even be forced to introduce herself in front of everyone, which was the last thing she wanted to do. She did her best to walk in the classroom as fast as possible to avoid any attention being put on her. Unfortunately for her, Fabian took the seat closest to the teacher's desk and she wanted to sit next to him.

Nina didn't look up from her desk once she saw an older woman walk into the room, figuring that she must be the teacher.

"I know you all know about the exam on Friday, which is two days from now, so I trust you're all studying."

"That's Mrs. Andrews, she teaches English and French." Fabian whispered to Nina, who nodded in response.

"Ah, that reminds me. We do have a new student staying at Anubis house. Nina, why don't you stand up and tell us a little bit about yourself?"

Nina did as she was asked and walked to the front of the room, ignoring all the doubts in her head. She only hoped that she didn't embarrass herself like she thought she would. She put on a smile the whole time, not paying any attention to some of the cold stares she was getting. She was looking past the tears she could feel forming in her eyes for no apparent reason other than she felt so alone up there.

She finished with a smile and went back to her seat, letting her frown finally appear.

Fabian had taken a noticing to those small details, while everyone else clapped when she was done.

Well, the new American girl had certainly made a lasting impression on everyone, with her seemingly bubbly personality and pretty face, but there was something off. Fabian could tell.

A/n: Hi everyone, I hope this chapter's good. I rewrote it like three times because I felt so insecure about it. But I'm happy with it, and I hope you are too! And I'm so sorry for the slow updates, I have more time now that school is done. Thank you for reading and reviewing as always, your reviews make me smile