Sorry for the wait! Wrote this over twice. I'll try to make the next chapter comedy and drama-packed to make up for it. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, gave ideas and all that good stuff! Here's the 'chart'-
Nina plays Mick/Fabian plays Mara/Patricia plays Jerome/Amber plays Fabian/Mick plays Patricia/Mara plays Alfie/Jerome plays Amber/Alfie plays Nina
I do not own House of Anubis. Same goes for the companies that make the shoes and clothing mentioned.
"Will you smile already? You haven't cracked a single joke all day long, and the school day's almost over. This is starting to scare me. And tell me why I had to find out from everyone else that you went to school early this morning? On a Friday, the day when we wanna get away from this place the most." Jerome ordered, not believing what he was saying despite the fact that it was happening.
Alfie blinked. "Because you weren't up yet?" It was the only answer he could think to give, and it didn't even sound like one.
"What's wrong with you?" One thing Alfie knew was to never stop acting his normally weird self around his best friend. It only made room for concern.
Regardless of what he knew, he insisted: "Nothing." He hadn't said a word about what happened with Amber. He didn't want to drag Jerome into his problems.
What he didn't realize was that actually made things worse. With the scenarios that were spinning around in Jerome's head, he was actually better off just telling him the truth. He kept quiet about it, though, leaving Jerome to have no clue what really happened.
Which caused him to groan in frustration and walk away from Alfie.
"Him too, huh?" Fabian asked, when the two boys met up at the end of the hallway. He felt his pain, but Jerome hadn't caught his drift.
"What?"
"Didn't you notice someone was missing at breakfast today?"
Jerome thought about that for a moment. "Mick didn't eat?" That was more difficult to believe than Alfie going to school early.
Fabian shook his head. He'd tried to wake Mick up -and prevent the fabric of the universe from tearing- but then he remembered that Mick was playing the role of Patricia. Everyone knew better than to wake up Patricia.
"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" Fabian said the word 'you' accusingly, since Jerome had pretty much tortured Mick the previous day.
"There's plenty wrong with him." Jerome answered.
Fabian narrowed his eyes. "Be serious here."
"I am." Jerome laughed. Then, nonchalantly, he added: "He and Mara broke up last night."
Fabian was a little caught off guard, but Jerome was the one surprised when he heard a satisfied "Yes!" in response.
He barely knew how to carry on the conversation afterward, confused. "Yeah… anyway, it was mutual. For the first time ever." That part still amazed him. It had Fabian confused. Jerome said what he had been thinking: "Why is he so upset if it was mutual?"
"I don't think it had anything to do with Mara." Fabian hesitated before asking: "Was that even real?" Referring to the way the other boy had acted around Patricia. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh.
Feeling sorry for both Mick and Patricia -as well as himself- Jerome could only shrug. "I wish I knew." After a pause, Jerome told Fabian: "We can't stand for this." Fabian gave him a questioning look. "It's what Amber would say." He explained: "She'd also tell us to throw a party for no reason and just have fun all day."
Fabian nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan." Anything to get Alfie and Mick out of their funk.
"Good," Jerome replied. "'cause I can't take being around the walking rain cloud much longer."
"Don't you get enough of this on a daily basis? I don't see why you have the energy to drag us into it." Patricia spoke her true feelings -even though she was in character- as she stood out on the soccer field with her housemates.
Most of them, anyway. Mick must have intercepted her brain waves because he was standing on the sidelines, looking like he wanted nothing to do with the game. He was only focused on the poetry he was trying to write. Trying being the operative word, since he felt his poetry was nowhere near as good as Patricia's. Joy stood by him, ready to film the game.
In regard to Patricia's comment, Nina said: "So, basically, what you're telling me is you don't know how to play."
"Just kick the ball this way." Patricia ordered.
Nina laughed. "This is the last time you're gonna see it this close."
Even though she was a natural at the sport, Nina couldn't help but feel like she was at a disadvantage. Regardless of the fact that her team had Patricia's outnumbered by one.
With Mick not playing, and Joy too busy with filming to be able to play, that left Jerome and Alfie to be on Patricia's team. Nina guessed that she would have to rely on Amber -of all people- for teamwork, since Fabian was in character and Mara couldn't fake athleticism. For Nina, it was like playing with two Maras.
Keeping her camera steady was a challenge for Joy, since -as Amber- Jerome was surprisingly on his game, but would scream every time the ball came near him. Keeping up his act had its drawbacks though, because all the screaming got him distracted. The ball got away from him.
Nina went to steal the show again -going for a goal- but Patricia pushed her. Caught off guard, Nina couldn't get the ball back, but there was really nothing she could do. Being that the move was perfectly legal.
Mick looked up from his poetry book just in time to see Patricia score a goal. The kick was so powerful Amber didn't even have time to scream in reaction -which would've proved Jerome's impression of her dead on- and she expected to see a hole in the net.
Mick's reaction went unnoticed to everyone but Joy, who shuffled over to hand him a pen to replace his broken pencil with.
"It's really tough for the rest of us to stay in character when someone decides to take a detour on the way back to the house." Jerome complained. Aggravated, he yelled: "WHERE'S ALFIE?!"
Fabian laughed off a startled jump and jokingly asked: "Who are you playing now, Mick?"
"I don't sound like that!" Mick insisted. This time, Fabian couldn't help but jump a little.
"Every time." He mumbled to himself, not able to understand how he was always caught off guard by his roommate's outbursts.
Nina let the others go on ahead of her, and she continued the search for Alfie on her own. She figured if he was still playing his role, she should know where to find him.
She tried to picture herself in the place she would venture off to on such a calm, peaceful, slow-moving day. Somehow, that lead her to the cemetery.
Although the whole point of going there was to find Alfie, Nina was surprised when she actually did.
He was standing in front of Sarah's grave -which was still tragically mislabeled for Emily- holding a bouquet of yellow lilies while he talked to her softly.
Nina watched from a distance, amazed. He'd never known Sarah, but to witness him standing there, it seemed as if he shared the same special connection with her that Nina did.
After he ran out of things to say, he left the flowers for Sarah and turned around to head home with his hands in his pockets. He stopped short when he saw Nina in front of him.
He looked more than shocked. He looked almost guilty.
"I hope that's not taking the project too far." Alfie began. "It's just, I know how much she means to you and-" Before he could finish his sentence, Alfie found himself wrapped up in an unexpected hug. He didn't feel the need to apologize anymore.
Returning to the house, Alfie and Nina instantly felt out of place.
Nina was greeted at her bedroom door by Amber, who was making her way downstairs. This was normal, except that Nina wasn't used to seeing Amber dressed in layers with a makeshift guitar pick necklace hanging around her neck.
This inspired her. Nina decided she would change into shorts; ones that suited Mick more, of course. She figured she wouldn't go with a sleeveless shirt though, because she didn't have the muscles for that. She nearly fell down laughing when that thought crossed her mind.
Alfie decided he would follow the crowd and style swap as well when he saw Jerome wearing a pink button-down shirt. At least, that's what he told himself. The real reason was he needed an excuse to get away from anything that reminded him of Amber. So, he went to change into something with stripes.
Patricia was apparently feeling the same vibe. That was the pattern she chose for the vest of her ensemble, which was black and white -and pressed, like the long-sleeved collared shirt and pants that matched it- to go along with her patent leather shoes.
She seemed to be keeping her look a secret, almost hiding in her room, and Joy came in to question why. "You're gonna miss the party. What are you doing in here?"
Patricia barely heard her best friend addressing her, she was lost in La La Land, lying down with her head at the foot of her bed and looking at her teddy bear. "I can't believe he found my soft spot." She said this in a mumble, still baffled by Jerome's gift.
"One of them." Joy corrected, playfully snatching the bear from Patricia's grasp. Patricia went to take it back -looking almost damaged when she did- but stopped herself when she registered what Joy said.
"Don't say that too loud." She looked up at Joy, and went on: "Speaking of loud, what are you wearing?"
Joy turned a foot in her silver heels nervously, and eyed her sparkly magenta mini-dress with ruffles on the bottom and a matching belt sadly. She looked like she was about ready to drop the metallic clutch bag that went along with the outfit right there and go change. "I felt left out," she explained. "everyone else gets to play dress up. Is it bad?"
Patricia raised her eyebrows. "Well, you'll be the life of the party."
Joy laughed that off, and asked: "So, does this bear have a name yet?" She tossed it back to its rightful owner, adding: "Is it Jerome Junior?"
"Watch it." Patricia warned, talking through her teeth.
"Sorry for teasing you." Joy said as Patricia sat up, glaring a bit. "It's just, you've never really been interested in anyone before now, so I've never had anyone to tease you about before now."
Patricia rolled her eyes, groaning. "Shut up." It was one thing to have somebody constantly ask her who she liked, but when someone assumed they already knew the answer to that question? That was a completely different story. "Who said I was interested in him anyway?" Patricia practically demanded to know, sounding like she was ready to strangle the person who suggested that.
"You said it yourself," Joy answered. "when you accepted all those gifts from him, and didn't beat him to a pulp when he kissed you."
Ironically, Patricia felt herself choke up when she heard those words, but she didn't let it show on the surface. Instead, she argued "Who wouldn't accept jewelry from a decent guy?" as they both headed down to the living room. "Besides," Patricia went on when they reached the bottom of the stairs, "It was a cheek kiss. It means practically nothing."
"BLASPHEMY!"
Patricia jumped back a bit when she heard that, not knowing Fabian was capable of reaching such a high level of volume. (Alfie would have yelled along with him, had it not been for what happened between him and Amber.)
Afterward, Fabian coughed and regained his composure. "Sorry." He told her: "It's just… I don't agree with that." There was no need to ask why, Nina's smile said it all. After a few seconds, she remembered to lose that smile. An ex-couple wouldn't share smiles over things like that. In that moment, Fabian and Nina despised the roles they played.
One thing Nina did like was Fabian's style change, proud he could pull off polka-dots. It made her stop so short as she was walking by him that one of her Nike sneakers nearly fell off. She was pleasantly surprised, but couldn't speak her mind, thinking ex-couples didn't talk about things like that either.
"Besides, he may have been flirting with me practically all yesterday," Patricia continued on in a whisper. "but he's barely even acknowledged me today." Right as she said that, Jerome noticed her outfit. He couldn't help but smile, and gave it a nod of approval. Which made Joy give Patricia a look. Only once he walked by did she reply: "That doesn't count."
"You can't blame him." Joy said. "He's just worried about Alfie."
Jerome walked into the kitchen to show Amber his bracelet. Even seeing 'WWVBD' engraved on it, she could barely manage a smile. She hardly looked at him, keeping her focus on her guitar playing as she sat atop the counter.
"That's not his whole life, you know." Jerome told her.
"Yeah, well, right now it's mine."
"You okay?" It was hard for him to resist asking. Amber's smile had basically been erased from her face.
Still, she said: "Fine." While ignoring the urge to glare at him for bothering her.
He didn't need a glare from her to question that statement. "Really? You don't sound it."
Her aggravation nearly made her snap a string, so she stopped playing abruptly, startled. "Since when do you care?" When she asked this, she sounded more sad than angry.
"What, I can't care?" Jerome asked, confused. If she thought he 'rocked' so much, why would she ask something like that?
"I didn't think you could care less." Amber admitted. She took 'her' guitar and walked away before she could allow herself to get into an argument.
But just like when she told him her secret, Amber was back in the kitchen with Jerome just seconds afterward. "Sorry." She said this barely above a whisper. "I don't mean to take it out on you. I just don't know what to do with myself lately." She didn't sound like Amber when she said that, and Jerome could see why.
He told her: "I can relate. I've been thinking about apologizing to Mick and Patricia since yesterday." Amber was glad Jerome was making her forget about her own problems for awhile and talk about his. So glad, she missed the fact that he'd said 'apologize' and 'Mick' in the same sentence.
"Why?"
Jerome debated whether he should tell Amber the reason, and then remembered how surprisingly good she was at keeping secrets. "Mick likes Patricia and there's a possibility that I was only flirting with her yesterday to drive him crazy."
"That's harsh." Amber said, her tone still pretty much emotionless. As if she hadn't heard Jerome say she was wrong about Mick liking Patricia.
He groaned. "I know."
"But I hope you sort things out. Don't we get enough drama in class?"
Jerome laughed. "My thoughts exactly."
"Speaking of drama, who invited him?" Amber asked, as she and Jerome walked into the living room and spotted Jason.
"Oh, that was me." Jerome replied. She gave him a weird look, so he reasoned: "It's what you would do."
"Yeah, good point." Amber answered. Her tone changed almost directly after. "Yuck, you invited him too?" Stan was sitting and talking with Jason. (As well as Esther, of course.)
"Ms. Robinson must have thought her invitation was plus one." Jerome murmured.
Amber looked utterly disgusted. "The three of them are having, like, a civilized conversation. That's not how it's supposed to be! This is almost worse than Alfie giving me the silent treatment." That last part was a mumble, though Jerome could make it out.
"What?" Jerome asked, shocked. That wasn't something he heard any day, and he had to wonder why that was the case.
"You heard nothing." Amber replied, as she tried to think of a good place to hide from Jerome while she walked off.
Except he didn't go looking for Amber after that. He went looking for Alfie, who had disappeared from the living room.
"Am I the only one who's noticed that the one thing people aren't doing at this party is… partying?" Joy asked her best friend.
Patricia shook her head. "I've noticed." After a slight pause, she reluctantly asked: "Do you think if Jerome wasn't worrying about Alfie all day today he'd still be flirting with me?"
"It's Jerome." Mara answered, practically showing up out of nowhere, wearing a shirt with a picture of an alien on it. The word 'Earthlien' was underneath. That was about the only thing she was doing to stay in character at that moment. She went on: "Who's to say?" Mara swallowed a sigh, making Patricia give an annoyed nod.
"You're right." As far as Patricia knew, Jerome still liked Mara, and Mara could possibly like him back. She decided this project saved her from a whole lot of awkwardness. It was better to be playing him, as opposed to having to deal with him. If nothing else, it was a distraction.
At the moment, Patricia felt she needed another distraction. Something to get her out of the conversation. She left it open-ended, and went to find Mick.
He was in his room, still writing poetry, but this time he was dressed in blue plaid to try to imitate Patricia's style.
She still found it fascinating -she thought she'd never be able to get over the eyeliner- but she didn't say so.
She placed a box of chocolate next to him. Which she considered practically the only thing Jerome had 'forgotten' yesterday besides roses, although those were more Alfie's style.
It took awhile for Mick to notice, and when he did, all he saw was cruel irony. She was the one rubbing the fact that Jerome's new hobby was constantly flirting with her in his face, and she didn't even know it.
Mick didn't even look up at her. Patricia wasn't offended by that, she wouldn't have known what to do in that situation either. She'd proven that to herself with all her mixed reactions caused by Jerome.
"What are you writing?" Patricia asked, genuinely intrigued. She could bet if Jerome caught her writing her poetry, he would be too.
"None of your business." Mick told her attitudinally. She smirked. On the inside, she was proud. That was the answer she would have given.
Soon, curiosity got too tempting for Patricia to be satisfied with that answer, though. She had to drop her act and ask about it. "Seriously, can I see?"
"When I finish." Mick decided, although he flinched when she asked.
"When are you gonna be finished?"
"Never." His joke was not well-received.
"Don't make me hit you with that book too." Patricia warned.
"You should." Mick answered, too quickly to realize he was speaking his mind. "Maybe it'd knock some sense into me."
At those words, a concerned frown formed on Patricia's face. "About what?"
Mick scoffed, upon realizing he'd actually said that out loud. "Everything." Giving that answer was easier than telling her the truth.
Mick wished he didn't like Patricia so much. He had this project to thank for her friendship, but he couldn't even enjoy it while she was busy -possibly- liking someone else. He thought he was being selfish.
She thought he was acting like a total idiot, and wasn't afraid to tell him.
"Hey, I don't need you moping around too. It's bad enough Alfie's all upset. And he doesn't even have a reason that I know of. We've spent this whole day trying to make you both happy." (Which was difficult to do while they were in hiding most of the time.) Patricia paused before she finished her thought. "So put a smile on your face before I put one on for you."
He laughed. "How're you gonna do that?" Mick quickly saw just what Patricia meant, because he couldn't help smiling when she looked at him. She had that effect on him.
"Mission accomplished…"
Original A/N: Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! Ideas would be AWESOME, thanks! I'll update ASAP! =]
Updated A/N: As a kid, I thought it'd be so cool to party at Anubis House. Then the least partying-party is the party I end up writing. I'll make up for that, in a way, later on.
