Hey!

He didn't know how it happened in all fairness. He had been on his way up to talk to Victor, when he heard music from Mara's room, strange considering all the girls were out. Jerome instantly camouflaged and slid through the door, closing it quickly behind him. His eyes went wide with shock, and amusement.

It was Mara, dressed in shorts and a tank top, dancing- no, it wasn't dancing, it was jumping around with her eyes shut, holding a hairbrush as her microphone. Hair scruffy, and it was an unusual site. Mara, who was always dressed perfectly, never caught doing anything stupid or weird or…this. Was now…having fun, with 'Don't wake me up by Chris Brown' on. And for some strange reason, it made Jerome smile. He stood undetected for a few moments, watching her. When he realised, she could sing. The girl could sing, she could sing really quite well. And it was surprising, Jerome thought. Blinking once. Mara, the quiet little book worm who kept mostly to herself, or helping her friends, or never going out of her comfort zone… could sing.

He laughed quietly, but it was drowned out by the music. Once the song ended, he didn't leave, instead making his way over to Joy's made bed, sitting down, watching what she did next. It was somehow entertaining watching her. Seeing a side to her that no one else saw. He felt quite privileged. She turned the music down, but let it change to the next song, and she sighed, running her hands through her hair, moving it out of her face. She set about on tidying up, picking up all the clothes off the floor, most of which appeared to be Patricia's. Did Mara tidy up for them?

He frowned, looking away, on Amber's make up stand, all the lipsticks were together, all the foundation together, and the table looked polished, a gleam coming from it. The floor was hovered and cleaned, something Trudy normally did once a week, but it looked like Mara did extra. He watched Mara move to clean her bed, and was intrigued at the way she did it. He never tidied his bed, he failed to see the point of it.

She threw her pillows to the floor and placed the blanket on the bed, tucking in all the sides, apart from the top right corner, where she folded it over, then she placed the pillows onto it neatly. Straightening the 'M' where her name hung on the head stand.

She collected her clothes for the day quickly, and Jerome realised she didn't really mind what she wore. Everything in her wardrobe was decent, no incredibly short shorts or skirts, or tight tops, or lot cut neck lines. Everything was perfect, in proportion.

Mara placed her hands on her hips, looking around the room, for some unknown object. She looked right at him, right into his eyes. And Jerome worried for a moment that she was looking at him, that he was visible. He checked, but no, he was invisible. He watched her back, an unconscious part of him glad that he got to look into her eyes, but eventually her eyes drifted upwards a bit, and she cocked her head, frowning.

Jerome breathed out at her expression, she looked…beautiful. He hit himself sharply for thinking such thoughts, was he out of his mind? Mara stepped closer, and Jerome realised she was going to reach for someone on Joy's head board, just above his bed. Jerome reacted quickly, lying flat on the bed, for even though he was invisible, Mara would be able to feel him. Mara went to the side of the bed, and reached for the board, eyes trained on something. She just couldn't reach.

She placed her knee onto the bed, and leaned forward. Jerome's eyes widened, her knee was beside his stomach, her face above his, looking up at the wall. She placed her hand on the bed for support, only just missing Jerome's arm. Jerome tried not to breathe. One wrong move, one wrong sound, he was in trouble.

She reached her other arm up and pulled something out from behind the board, it was a book. She held it her hand for a moment, looking at it. It was Joy's diary, she frowned, not understanding. She knew Joy wrote in an online diary, all password protected. Joy had once told her that 'only losers write down all their secrets into an ordinary book'

So why was she looking at Joy's diary? Loose?

Jerome watched up wide eyed, eager to see what Mara would do. Would she open it? Would she do what he would do? Or would she place it back and pretend it never happened. Mara stared at the book, not opening in it, before standing. Only she stumbled and fell back on to the bed, coming into contact with Jerome's stomach.

They both froze, and this was the moment everyone hated. The moment you'd been caught, yet no one would say anything. The moment that you chose exactly how you were going to react, would you yell, scream, cry? How you would defend yourself?

Jerome became visible as Mara turned, and she cried out loudly, jumping off the bed, dropping the diary. Her hands covering her mouth

"Jerome!" she cried in shock, breathing deeply. Jerome sat up, hands up in innocence.

"Calm down Mara-"

"You were in our room?" she cried, eyes wide with fear.

"Well yeah, but I'm not some sort of per-"

"That's sick! Jerome that is sick!" she cried, outraged. Looking around for some out of place object that might have been Alfie in disguise.

"I wasn't doing any-"

"How long have you been in here?" she asked loudly, still reeling from the shock.

"Calm down!" Jerome tried "Mara it was an acci-" But Mara didn't listen, trying to flee from the scene. She ran for the door but Jerome acted quickly, standing in front of the door, arms out, blocking it. "Calm down!" he yelled at her, holding her shoulders, shaking her slightly "Blimey Mara! Calm down!"

Mara shook her head, trying to push against him in horror "It's against the rules Jerome! You creep! Are all boys like that? It's disgusting!"

"Hey!" Jerome cried, gripping her shoulders harshly and pushing her back so she would look up at him "I may be a snoop Mara, but I am not sleazy. And I would never, never, spy on girls like that." He shook his head at her, telling her the truth. "Read my aura if you don't believe me," he shrugged. Eyes piercing into hers, yet not hypnotising her, the thought didn't even occur to him. He wanted her to believe him, without the use of force. Strange.

Mara eyed him warily, still unsure "No…" she said slowly "I believe you."

Jerome sighed, nodding "There, I'm sorry, alright?"

Mara nodded, stepping away from him slightly, back into their room "It's alright, if it was an accident," she nodded, bringing her hand up to brush some hair out of her face, sighing. Jerome's eyes followed the action, and he noticed the bruises on her wrists.

"What are those?" he asked, pointing at her hand. Mara frowned, looking down. Jerome watched her face, as her eyes brightened with realisation

"Just a bruise, I have sensitive skin." She shrugged. Jerome watched in disgust

"I did that to you?" he asked

Mara nodded, unsure what he wanted her to say. Jerome shook his head, at himself. It was disgusting, if his home life had taught him anything, anything, it was that you never hurt a woman, never. At least not physically anyway. Goodness knows how many girls hearts he'd broken. "It doesn't matter, though," she added "It'll clear up,"

"Why not heal it?"

"Because it's only a bruise, it'll clear up on its own," Mara nodded. Moving back to gather her clothes from her bed. Jerome watched her, confused

"But what's the point of having your power if you aren't going to use it when you need it?"

"I don't need it right now, Jerome. I'm not going to become lazy and heal everything immediately. I like to try and pretend I don't have them sometimes. Pretend to be an ordinary non-super person."

"Sounds lame." Jerome stated, but he understood vaguely where she was coming from. He was understanding her now. But still, the bruises bugged him "Fine, but could you wear long sleeves? I don't want to see them." Mara nodded at him, heading into the bathroom, obviously trusting him enough to leave him in their room. "Rookie mistake," Jerome muttered to himself, shaking his head.

He went over to Joy's bed and picked up her diary, stuffing it under his shirt, and walking out the door.

Line Break

"Hey man," Alfie grinned, walking outside. Jerome nodded at his friend. Alfie sat opposite him in the garden, just outside Anubis House "What are you doing out here? I thought you were like a vampire, you hate the sun."

"Hilarious Alfie." Jerome stated, looking up at his friend, only to realise his eyes were already focused on him "Are you alright, Lewis?" Jerome asked, watching his friend. Seeing an unusual amount of…worry? That wasn't very Alfie like. One of the reasons Jerome liked Alfie was because he was fearless. Okay, he wasn't fearless, but he was only scared of ridiculous things, like Aliens, and Doctor Who turning evil and taking vengeance on the world.

"This is a messed up, house," Alfie shook his head. Thoughts of the things they had discovered in the attic with Nina and Fabian and Patricia and Amber running through his mind.

"What do you mean?"Jerome turned slightly from his position on the grass, so he was sitting beside Alfie. He stuck one long leg out, and brought the other one up, swinging his arms casually around his knee. Alfie turned to look at him, and for the millionth time, wished he was like Jerome.

Jerome, his idol, his brother, his best friend. His motivation. How many times Alfie had wished to possess Jerome's quality with girls, with pranks, and manage to be good at school at the same time? Endless times.

"Nothing," Alfie sighed, looking down "D-do you wanna, I dunno," he shrugged, before starting up again, knowing that Jerome would force it out of him "Wanna go play football on the field later? With Mick and Eddie?"

Jerome looked at Alfie carefully, before shaking his head "Sorry mate, you know me. Football isn't my scene,"

"But you're not that bad-"

"Not my scene, Alfie." Jerome cut him off. Alfie nodded, looking back at the freshly cut slightly spiky grass beneath them, hating the rejection. His life was falling apart, nothing made sense anymore. "Ugh, don't cry about it, Alfie." Jerome sighed, running his hands through his hair "I'll be there on the sidelines, cheering you on, if I have too,"

"Thanks!" Alfie squealed, nudging him. At least Jerome would always be there for him. Jerome nodded and smiled "What's up with you and Mara, now?" Alfie asked, picking at the bottom of his shoes.

"Nothing's 'up' Alfie, I'm just exploiting one of my friends, as per usual," he and Alfie sniggered slightly, like nine year old bullies who thought they had it all.

"Wait. Friend? Since when is Mara your friend?" Alfie asked, jealously tingling slightly.

"My bad," Jerome corrected, rubbing his eyes "Exploiting one of my house mates,"

"Nice," and they high-fived.

It was a simple relationship, and for Eddie, who watched from behind the bushes. It looked as if Alfie gave everything to it. That is was always Alfie who arranged the meetings, Alfie who took the fall for Jerome's few, but bad, mistakes. But Eddie would be wrong. Because it was Jerome who made them roommates, Jerome who came up with the schemes and plans that they enjoyed together. It was Jerome who gave Alfie his popularity, Jerome who spent endless hours trying to get multiplication through Alfie's mind so that he would get a high enough grade in maths to get to the next year. It was a fair friendship 50-50 all the way. And they both wanted and craved the friendship as much as each other. Neither knew just how much the other meant to them.

So as Eddie shook his head, partly from jealously, partly from loneliness. He was judging their friendship.

But his judgements were wrong.

I know that this chapter was a little different, but I needed to grab the basis of Jerome's character!

More JARA next time!

REVIEW!

X