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Victor shifted uncomfortably in his large coat. Was it hot in here? Hotter than usual? "Trudy!" he called, Trudy came up the steps quickly, opening the door to his office, that usual cheerful smile on her face

"Hello! What can I do for you Victor?"

"Will you check the thermometers?" he asked, not caring to use a please. Trudy nodded, stepping out of the room. Victor waited a few minutes, shifting uncomfortably in his soft chair, bother, it wasn't getting any cooler. He got up himself, and opened the door, heading along the landing and down the stairs, towards the cellar.

The girls bathroom door opened a crack, and Alfie and Jerome's head popped out, as they watched with wide eyes as Victor went downstairs. "Um…" came a voice. Both boys stood quickly, to see Amber on the landing.

"Hey, Amber," Jerome smiled, stuffing his hands in his pocket "What's up?"

"I need to use the bathroom." Amber stated. Alfie nodded at her dreamily

"I bet you do," he nodded, trying to sound cool. Jerome rolled his eyes.

"Well this was fun, Barbie. We should do it again sometimes," and Jerome placed his hand on Alfie's back, wheeling him out of the bathroom towards Victor's now empty office.

Amber stared after them…Barbie? She liked that.

Jerome and Alfie shuffled around the room, looking through papers, until Jerome slid open the bottom draw and saw their game boys, he picked them out, smiling greedily, when he saw something else. He slid the draw out further, and saw eight little plaks, all faced down, shaped like Hexagons. He picked one up, it was cold and smooth in his fingers, he turned it, and in black writing a name was scrawled Nina.

Jerome frowned at the gold piece of metal. Before chucking it back in the draw, he didn't know whether it was Victors girlfriend or something, but he certainly didn't want to know anything about Victor's love life. He closed the door

"Alf!" he called, Alfie turned, and grinned. Jerome threw it to him over the desk.

"We did it!" Alfie breathed, raising his arms into the air, unfortunately knocking the black bird off the desk. Both boys looked at each other, realisation on their faces when they heard Victors footsteps at the bottom of the stair case. Jerome picked up the bird placing it back on the desk quickly, before noticing something wasn't quite right.

"The head Alfie!" Jerome cried "You broke off his stuffed birds head!"

Alfie looked at the ground, picking it up, stuffing it back onto the bird, turning it slightly so it stuck. Both boys watched each other again, then down at the bird. As long as Victor wasn't harsh with it, it would be fine. Jerome and Alfie raced out of the office, down the stairs past Victor.

"Walk! Don't run!" he called after them sighing.

Line Break

"Hey Jerome," Mara smiled, rolling up the sleeves of her white shirt as she sat down in the drama room. Jerome looked up frowning, and then seeing her filled him with tingles, mind flying back to when she had hugged him last night. The memory made him feel warm, and his face almost flushed, he looked away.

"Hey Mara," he said, taking a bite of his green apple.

"Where's Alfie?" He shrugged, refusing to look at her. Mara watched him, trying to make eyes contact, but he kept looking away. Mara nodded, sighing and brushing some hair out of her face. "I see." She stated. Jerome turned his head towards her slightly, so he could watch her from the corner of his eyes, but he never faced her directly. "I thought that maybe we could start again, and be friends. But if you're just going to be a child about this-"

"I'm being a child?" Jerome snapped, turning to her. Mara raised her dark eye brows at him. And Jerome closed his mouth, realising he didn't have an actual point.

"Jerome, I'm sorry," Mara sighed, wringing her hands in her lap. "I just wonder about you sometimes, Jerome. You have these mood swings…they kinda freak me out,"

"You wouldn't be the first," Jerome nodded, not at all fazed.

"Maybe…we can get to know each other a little better? Become friends?"

"Sure, Mara," he said, trying to contain his glee.

"Alfie! Parents evening form! You haven't returned it!" the drama teacher yelled, chasing Alfie as the dark boy sprinted out of the room. Everyone laughed, watching them leave.

"Looking forward to parents evening?" Mara asked, Jerome looked up at her through his fringe. She was sitting on the higher purple chair, knees together, hands clasped, all very posh. Jerome was leaning forward on the sofa, eating.

"Same old," he shrugged. Truth was, his parents weren't coming, his mother had made arrangements to have the whole thing happen over the phone so she wouldn't have to fly over.

"You're not nervous? I always get nervous when my parents come!"

"Yeah well, my parents don't visit all that often, Mara." He froze after he said it, but you wouldn't notice. He was horrified, had he just…opened up?

"Really? Why?" Mara asked, eyes shining with curiosity. And that's when it got too much for Jerome, he placed his black satchel over his shoulder and stood. Leaving. "Jerome!" Mara stood, he looked down at her, a sad look on his face. One she had never seen before, one she found herself never wanting to see again "I…"

"It's fine, Mara," he shrugged "I have to see what happened to Alfie anyway,"

Line Break

"Joy?" Mrs Andrews asked confused "But it couldn't be! No offence to her, but she's never shown any exceptional graces!"

"Be that as it may!" Victor yelled at Mr Sweet and Mrs Andrews "The birth certificate does not lie."

"Now what?" Eric asked, sweeping his grey hair out of his disturbed eyes.

"Well…we can't make any moves until we have the ankh pieces, and right now, we are at a total loss! Daphne, did you order the books?"

"Yes I have Victor." She snapped at him "So until then, we keep an eye on her, I can do that."

"Hmm…" Victor sneered down at her "Very well," and Mrs Andrews walked out of the office, clicking the door shut behind her. Victor turned to Eric "I don't like a woman part of our group Eric. We can't trust her loyalty."

"Don't worry about it, Victor. I'm sure in the end, Daphne will prove herself to us-"

"I don't like it!" Victor yelled.

"Well it's too late now!" Eric cried

"Maybe if you'd been more subtle with your experiments," Victor glared at him "I'll be keeping close watch of Miss Mercer, don't make any more mistakes!"

Eric watched as Victor left, and someone's eyes widened through the peep hole in the girls bathroom…someone who already had a major dislike of the teachers.

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