I would just like to say that all the feedback I get from this story is fantastic and wonderful and I love it and it really is fantastic. I am so grateful.

I'm not too sure if I'm entirely satisfied with this chapter, but, how or never, here it is. I might replace it next week if I still hate it, we'll see.

On another note, they had a lovely moment in the new episode. I thought it was nice to see them interact again without biting one another's heads off. Although, I am starting to think that perhaps Patricia could be a little easier on him. She's kind of harsh. :P

Hope you enjoy :)

"And now that I can't put this down, if I had known what I know now, I wouldn't have played so nonchalant." –Taylor Swift

"Is there something up between the two of you?" Piper's whisper is low as she approaches her sister from behind, startling Patricia as they make their way down to the school. Between their similar appearance and the large crowd of Anubis students, they get lost. Piper's hand is on Patricia's arm, who scowls fiercely at her twin.

"What?" she snaps, pulling away from her sister, "No. I told you, there is nothing going on between us. He's vile." Piper, for her part, raises a trimmed eyebrow at Patricia and scoffs daintily.

"Yes, there is," she corrects, that indignantly factual voice that Mara sometimes dons when talking to Jerome and raises her hand to gesture in a not so subtle manner at Eddie, "and normally around this time you too would be arguing loudly about something ridiculous."

Patricia glances away from Piper and towards Eddie. It's true, she hasn't said anything to him since he stood her up yesterday at lunch, but it's not like they had a written contract. If he couldn't make it, she was totally cool with it. She'll get over it. What's bothering her is his silence. He's walking ahead of everyone else, his hands stuffed into his trouser pockets, headphones on, just in case anyone would dare to try and chat with him. He combs his hair with his fingers intermittingly, scowling to himself.

Piper's right, ordinarily they would be fighting on their way to school, probably over something to do with his bad taste in sports or her incessant need to pour liquids over his head at breakfast. However, she couldn't really bring herself to ignite an argument this morning as they all occupied the dining room, even when he insisted on pouring half the bottle of maple syrup over his pancakes.

"Even Joy's noticed," Piper continues, widening her eyes in feigned dramatics, "Joy!"

Patricia can't help but crack a smile at her sister, who playfully nudges her with her elbow, giggling. Even prior to Piper's Anubis House, they'd always agreed she was obscenely gullible. It's one of few things they never disputed.

"No, but seriously," Piper resumes, slowly down so that they fall behind the group a little, out of earshot of the other girls who trail at the back, "what is going on between the two of you?"

Regarding her sister for a moment, Patricia sighs in defeat.

"It's nothing, okay?" she huffs, "We needed people to take out our frustrations on. It was just a perfect solution. No strings attached. We got what we needed without getting hurt."

If Piper is disgusted she does an excellent job suppressing it as she returns Patricia's gaze steadily. Patricia can hardly believe she's told someone and her whiny, perfection seeking sister at that. But as Piper smiles at her, she can't say she's not relieved.

"Don't judge me," she says slowly after a moment of silence, pushing her way through the swinging doors and into the warmth of the school.

"Patricia, I'm not going to judge you," they're sharing a locker so as Patricia pulls hers open Piper begins to throw her books, the weight of them landing heavily on the metal, "all I know is that, before now, every boy you've ever been with lasted about a week. You and Eddie have been at this now for what, a year? Two?"

Patricia would've laughed if her day had been going well, it's so absurd.

"More like two months," she says incredulously, grabbing her English book, "or three. Whatever. Not years."

Piper regards her sister for a moment, solemnly.

"Two years or two months... Either way," Patricia grabs hold of the locker, closing it over gently as Piper moves towards their history lesson, still speaking, "it's worth thinking about."

He's with Jerome, Alfie and Fabian during their lunch break when she sneaks up behind him, shoving him into the nearest classroom. If the other notice, they don't say anything, she near no shouts of protest or musings about her incomprehensible actions. Although, generally, they do know better than to ask when it comes to Patricia.

She slams the door behind her before turning to Eddie, who, she must admit, is looking a little off today. His hair is messy and not in the kind of way it usually ends up after they've spent some alone time together, but rather, in the kind of way that he never ran a brush over it after he got up and his shirt is ridiculously wrinkled.

"What happened to you yesterday?" she hisses at him and to her infuriation he shrugs noncommittally, lowering himself into the teacher's chair. He swings back and forth, his eyes never resting on anything for more than a second

"I was busy," he says, continuing to glance around the room, tapping his fingers off the desktop and sighing, "you know. Things to do. People to see. Food to eat."

She just stares as he smiles to himself and for one awful moment she sees the horrible arrogance again, the kind he used to walk around wearing, especially during his first year, before Fabian let it slip about Mr Sweet being Eddie's Dad and he got really close with his fellow residents. It was the kind of attitude that had disgusted Patricia, despite the uneasy fact that she probably dished it back to him in spades. The kind that meant chip up, eyes first, I'm-too-good-for-anybody-here.

When they returned after the following summer things had been different. Still a year prior to any of this snogging business starting, things settled down. They still argued all the time; she stole his food and he once replaced her shampoo with hair dye in what was possibly his most immature and unoriginal prank to date. They still aggravated each other, much to the chagrin of their house mates, especially when they'd march downstairs early in the morning screaming something about missing pancakes. They stopped being cruel though. There were no bitingly honest remarks about the current state of her face or about how his absolute inability to procure a girlfriend was probably related to his Daddy issues. She'd continued to hate him, but they stopped being cruel.

There is something vaguely cruel tingeing the way he is acting now.

She can feel it rising, the find of inexplicable frustration that he always seems to evoke, that builds in her throat and causes her mouth to go dry.

"I waited," she protests, loudly, taking an angry step towards him. He lifts his shoulder again, dropping them heavily as he roots through the utensils lying on Ms Pike's desk. It's odd, the way the feeling of wanting to grab him and kiss him has disappeared, vanished along with the air of mutual indifference they've only recently adopted. She finds more than she wants to push him up against the wall and rip his shirt off, she wishes he would look at her or kiss her or even just acknowledge her presence. It is simply the most bizarre feeling she's had about this how debacle since it started. But perhaps, she briefly thinks, it's possibility the most sincere.

"Why won't you look at me?" she asks, her voice low and husky. She is surprised by quite how delicate it sounds. He raises his eyes to look at her squarely in the eyes. She's never seen them so hard and dark and scary, not even when she used to insult his parentage or his hair. She shifts gently under his gaze but holds it.

For a split second the atmosphere is as tangible as it was that first day in the empty detention classroom as she shouted at him about being such a bloody idiot or something equally unimportant. Except this time he does not storm towards and take her face in his hands and kiss her wildly. Instead he pulls away from their standoff and strides to the door. He pauses for a moment, sparing her one more glance as he opens the door.

"I'm just trying not to be so pressingly annoying anymore, Patricia."

She can only watch, dumbstruck, as he leaves.

They sit in silence in the library, Patricia surreptitiously doing her homework when she's supposed to be copying more recipes and searching for new ones. Eddie sits across from her, eyes trained to his phone again. Today, however, they do not tease each other about one another's music tastes or the fact that Patricia's sister is such an odd musical paradox of a person.

For the first time in a long time, she feels awkward around a boy who has seen her half naked, all because he's not staring at her intently. She's sure that's ironic somehow but all she can concentrate on is the fact that he still won't engage with her and how his voice sound as he spat her words back at her earlier that afternoon. He sounded upset.

He didn't even laugh at Willow's incessant perkiness this afternoon when they arrived, didn't shake her off when she clung to his arm. There is some part of her that thinks this is ridiculous her unwavering worry, they way she keeps trying to goad him into speaking to her. It's a little pathetic.

But then she remembers the way his brow furrowed and his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed at what she said and she decides to be brave for one solitary moment.

"Eddie, look, I'm sorry," she murmurs, desperate for Willow and Piper not to hear them speaking.

"What?" Eddie's head shoots up and Patricia's sure she's never seen him look so surprised.

"I said I'm sorry," she repeats in a whisper, "I didn't mean what I said to come out the way it did."

"You're sorry?" she almost laughs at how deep his American accent sounds in his disbelief, but she doesn't because he's back looking at her again and she's not about to risk that for anything, "you, Patricia Williamson, are sorry?"

It's there again, the sound of her full name on his voice, and she smiles a little, tentatively, as he regards her with the oddest expressions she's ever seen, the kind even she can't read.

"Krueger?" she questions, leaning forward onto the table, up and out of her chair, to the point where she can get the hint of that familiar smell that winds its way onto her belongings as they snog, "are you alright?"

He just stares blankly back, astounded.

"What?!" Patricia tears her eyes from Eddie and looks over to her sister, who's mouth is hanging open, her eyes wide as she watches Willow skip over to the table, doing that annoyingly frequent rapid clapping.

"Did you hear the good news, Patricia?" Willow cries happily, leaning in to hug Patricia before the taller girl pushes her away pointedly. On the fringes of her attention, she hears Eddie curse loudly and hears the push of hard wood off the floor, "Eddie's asked me to the dance! Isn't it wonderful!"

What?! :O

Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyed it.

Reviews are appreciated.

I feel you probably all think you know why Eddie asked Willow to the dance, but have no fear, I have a trick card up my sleeve ;)

Much love

-D.