"But Daddy, four million euros is so not enough!" Amber whined, giving her dad the puppy-dog-eyes. "It's Paris! There's going to be a lot of things to buy, and four million euros will not cover it! I need at least, like, six million euros!"
Mr. Millington ran a hand through his dirty-blonde hair. "Okay, Amber. I surrender. You can have six million euros, but don't go over, okay?"
Amber squealed in excitement and threw her arms around her dad. "Thank you, Daddy!"
"Anything for you, Princess." Mr. Millington grinned. "Now where's that young lad you go on and on about? Alfie, I believe?"
Patricia smiled as she leaned against the doorframe, watching Amber and her dad pack all her things. Amber looked up and noticed Patricia. "Oh, hey, Patricia. Did you need anything?"
"No, Amber, but Alfie told me to come look for you. He's in his room with his parents," Patricia replied. She gave a small wave to Mr. Millington and walked over to the stairs.
Downstairs, the Anubis students were running around, packing their things, or introducing their parents to their boyfriends (or girlfriend's, in the guys' case). It was the last day of school, so they only had half a day of school, and in five hours, they would be boarding the plane to Paris. Parents were coming to give their children extra clothing, money, and to say goodbye.
She went downstairs, and as she passed by the door, it opened. Nina's Gran came inside, struggling to keep the door open while dragging in a suitcase and her purse.
"Oh, let me help you with that," Patricia offered. She held the door open while Nina's Gran passed by.
"Thank you, dear. Do you know where Nina and Fabian are?" she asked, smiling as she looked around.
Patricia thought about it, then replied, "Oh, they're in Fabian's room. Nina already packed all her things, and now she's helping Fabian pack."
"Can you take me there?" Nina's Gran requested. "I don't have a very good memory on which room is who's."
Patricia led her over to Fabian's room. Inside, Fabian and Nina were piling Fabian's suitcase with clothes. Eddie sat on his bed, and his dad sat next to him; they were talking quietly. When Eric noticed Nina's Gran come in, he stopped.
Probably talking about Osirian stuff, Patricia concluded. Nina's face lit up, and she ran over to hug her Gran. Fabian followed, and that earned him a big bear hug from Nina's Gran.
Patricia sat down on the other side of Eddie. Mr. Sweet asked, "Are you parents coming, Miss Williamson?"
Patricia checked her phone. "My mom should be here in a few minutes."
At that moment, Jerome poke his head into the room. "Trixie, your mom's here."
"Okay." Patricia stood up and slowly approached the foyer. Eddie and Mr. Sweet followed suit. She hadn't seen her mother in five years, so she didn't know what to expect. During the summer, she would stay with Piper in their condo in London. As she entered the foyer, she stopped suddenly. A woman with mid-back red hair and jade-green eyes was standing there. Her mother. Next to her sat a red suitcase.
The two stood there for a few moments, staring at each other. Finally, Patricia's mom lunged forward and wrapped Patricia in a hug. She heard a sniffling sound, and deducted that her mom was crying.
"Oh, Patricia, I'm so happy to see you!" her mom cried into her shoulder.
Patrsmiles lied, even though her mother couldn't see her. "So am I, Mum."
Patricia's mom pulled her back and gave her an up-down. "You look so different since the last time I saw you! You look all grown-up now!"
"Of course I look different," Patricia muttered. "The last time you saw me was five years ago."
Mrs. Williamson's face fell. "I know, and I'm sorry I haven't been there for you, Penelope, or Piper. Ever since your father died, I had been slowly sinking into depression. I didn't want you and Piper to grow up with a depressed mother. Penelope knew things would never be the same, so she fled to Paris. She was twenty-one then, and free to do whatever she wanted. I tried to send both of you here, but there was only one spot left. I had no choice but to seperate you two. So you came here, and Piper went to her performing arts school."
Patricia stood still. She had never heard the story of why her mom had sent her here, so this was a surprise.
"Please," Mrs. Williamson begged. "Can you ever forgive me?"
Patricia sighed and jokingly replied, "Well, I guess I have no choice. You do, after all, have my clothes for the next month."
Mrs. Williamson smiled and hugged Patricia again. Noticing Eddie and Mr. Sweet, she pulled back and asked, "Is there anyone you would like to introduce me to, Patricia?"
A tint of red showed up on Patricia's face. She walked over to Eddie and took his hand. "Mom, this is Eddie Sweet, my boyfriend. This is his father, Eric Sweet."
"Nice to meet you," Mrs. Williamson said, shaking Mr. Sweet's hand. She then shook Eddie's hand that wasn't holding Patricia's.
"It's actually very nice to meet you, Miss. Williamson," Eddie replied.
"Oh, just call me Amy," her mom replied.
Eddie grinned. "Will do."
While Patricia went upstairs to get her packed suitcase, Eddie, Mr. Sweet, and Mrs. Williamson chatted for a while. She came back down and put her suitcase next to the matching red one. They were going to put all their suitcases in the corner. Eddie went to his room and brought back two dark green suitcases. He put them next to Patricia's.
"Hi, Mrs. Williamson," a voice greeted. Mr. Sweet stepped aside to reveal Nina.
"Hello, Nina," Mrs. Williamson replied. They hugged and pulled back after a second.
"They knew each other before Anubis House?" Fabian questioned, looking back and forth between Nina and Patricia. He seemed to be asking everyone in the foyer.
"Oh, yeah, we did," Patricia answered. "When my mom, Piper, and I went to Florida ten years ago, we met Nina and her Gran. When I first met Nina last term, I knew she looked familiar. We barely figured it out at the beginning of this term."
"Amy, it's so nice to see you!" Nina's Gran exclaimed.
Mrs. Williamson smiled and hugged her. "You as well."
"Why don't we go to the common room?" Mr. sweet suggested. "We're crowding up the foyer."
They all sat on the couches in the common room. Joy, Mick, and their fathers were sitting at the dining table. They were all talking and laughing. Jerome, Poppy, Mara, Mara's mom and dad, and Jerome's dad were in the kitchen. Alfie, Amber, and Amber's dad came down the stairs with Amber's many pink suitcases, just in time to meet Alfie's mom and dad who had just walked in.
"Are your parents coming, Fabian?" Nina asked.
Fabian nodded. "They should be here in three... two... one."
Coincidently, Fabian's mom and dad walked into the foyer. Eddie looked surprised, and offered his fist to Fabian. "Nice."
Fabian looked at Eddie's fist, confused. He turned to Nina. "Nina, why is he offering me his fist?"
Everyone in the room laughed. Nina smiled and took Fabian's hand; she arranged it into a fist, and bumped it against Eddie's. "There you go. You just learned how to fist bump."
Fabian's parents exchanged a few words with Amber and Alfie and then came into the common room.
"Mum, Dad," Fabian said, standing up. Fabian's dad gave him a pat on the back, and Fabian's mom hugged him tightly.
"Where's this Nina girl you've told me about so much?" Fabian's mom asked. Before Fabian could answer, her eyes locked on Nina.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Rutter," Nina greeted, standing up. "I'm Nina Mar-"
Before Nina could finish, Mrs. Rutter had already enveloped Nina into a bear hug. "Oh, it's so nice to meet you!"
Nina looked at Fabian and his dad. She mouthed, "Is she always so excited?"
They both nodded, and Fabian's dad chuckled. "So you're American? Interesting, I've never met an American before!"
Fabian's mom finally released Nina. Nina shook Mr. Rutter's hand. Fabian's parents sat on the two remaining spots on the love seat.
"Hello, Patricia!" Mrs. Rutter exclaimed, smiling at the redhead. She saw Eddie and asked politely, "Who's this?"
"Hey, I'm Eddie Sweet," he replied. "I'm, well, American, obviously, and I came here about a month after school started."
"Nice to meet you," Mrs. Rutter replied. Mr. Rutter grunted and they fist-bumped.
"Even my father knows how to fist bump?" Fabian exclaimed, "and I just learned how to a minute ago?"
Everyone laughed again, and Nina patted his back supportingly.
"Lunch is ready, dearies!" Trudy exclaimed, putting plates of food on the table. The Anubis students sat in their regular seats, and all the parents sat on the sofas in the common room.
From her spot at the table, Patricia could see ten different colored suitcases near the door. That meant everyone was packed and ready. Suddenly, Patricia's phone rang. All eyes at the table turned to her; the parent's were busy chatting among themselves. She looked at who it was, and her eyes widened slightly.
"Excuse me, I have to take this," Patricia murmured, getting up from her seat and rushing to Eddie's room. She got inside, quickly shut the door, and answered the phone.
"He-Hello?" Patricia stuttered, her voice shaking.
There was a crashing sound heard from the other line. "Patricia, don't do it!"
"Don't do what?" Patricia asked, reclaiming her voice.
"Don't get-" A scream was heard, then a gunshot.
"Don't do what, Nataliya?" Patricia asked again, her voice rising with panic.
"I love you, Patricia, never forget that!" Nataliya yelled through the phone.
"I love you, too, Nataliya! But what shouldn't I do?" Patricia exclaimed, tears starting to spill over.
"If you value your life, don't take-"
Nataliya never finished. She screamed a loud, blood-curling scream. There were two gunshots, and a thud as the phone hit the ground.
"Nataliya?" Patricia choked, trying to speak through her tears. She leaned against the wall and sunk down to the floor.
"Nataliya?" Patricia repeated.
She could hear people in the background yelling, "There she is!"
After a few moments, a grave voice said, "There's no pulse."
Patricia's words caught in her throat. Gathering up whatever she had left of her voice, she yelled, "Nataliya, please talk to me!"
When there was no reply, she hung up and put her head into her knees? Her best friend was dead, and there was nothing she could do. Through her tears, she texted Nina.
Come to Eddie's room. Alone.
Ten seconds later, the door opened, and Nina appeared. Seeing a sobbing Patricia, she shut the door and stood above Patricia. "What's wrong?"
"Nataliya-Nataliya is dead!" Patricia burst out, bringing a fresh round of tears. Upon hearing the news, Nina started to cry as well. She sank down to her knees beside Patricia, tears trailing down her cheeks.
The two just sat there for a moment, sobbing quietly and clinging onto each other. After five minutes, Eddie opened the door. "Patricia? Nina?"
Seeing the two girls in the corner, crying their eyes out, made his eyes widen to the size of softballs. "Fabian!"
Instantly, Fabian was in the room. He bent down next to Nina, and Eddie next to Patricia. "What's wrong?"
Fabian tried to pull Nina away from Patricia, but she held on tightly. Quite the opposite happened, actually; Nina just dug her fingers deeper into Patricia's leather jacket.
"Come on, Nina," Fabian coaxed. "Your Gran is back in the common room, worried about you."
Nina reluctantly pulled away from Patricia, still sniffling. Eddie helped Patricia up, then Nina. Looking downward, they went back into the dining room. Nina and Patricia sat in their seats and stared at nothing in particular. Fabian and Eddie sat back down, looking worried. It was really quiet, though; even the adults were silent.
"Patricia, Nina, are you all right?" Amber asked, breaking the silence. She put one hand on each of their shoulders.
Patricia and Nina sighed. Patricia finally thought of a convincing lie and said, "My aunt just called. My cousin was diagnosed with cancer one year ago. She died yesterday."
"They lived in America," Nina added. "I had been really good friends with Patricia's cousin... Her name was Nataliya."
"I'm so sorry!" Mara instantly exclaimed, looking at them with pity and sadness.
"I had a cousin diagnosed with cancer." Mick sighed. "It was just horrible."
"It's all right," Patricia assured everyone. She looked at the time on her phone. "Trudy, shouldn't the cabs be here by now?"
"I just called them," Trudy replied, walking into the room. "They should be here in a few minutes."
"Well, then I guess it's time we should be leaving, then," Mr. Lewis announced. The parents went over to their children. Tearful goodbyes were bidden, with promises of how they would all be careful in Paris. In one minute, there was a honking heard from outside. Everyone grabbed their suitcases and headed outside.
However, instead of two black taxi cabs, was a white, sleek limo.
"Trudy, you got us a limo!" Jerome exclaimed in surprise.
"Way to state the obvious, Jerome," Joy joked. Jerome rolled his eyes and playfully whacked Joy on the arm.
"Well, Victor and I wanted to treat you," Trudy explained, smiling. "So, along with Amber and her dad, we arranged for a limo to pick you all up."
"Victor wanted to treat us?" all of the Anubis students exclaimed in surprise, their eyes wide with doubt.
Trudy chuckled. "Yes, he wanted to treat you."
Everyone put their suitcases in the huge trunk, which, surprisingly, fit all 30 suitcases. They got into the limo, and the driver opened the top window for them. Everyone stood up and turned to look at their parents.
As the limo driver drove towards the airport, they all waved goodbye to their parents.
The airport wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty, either. Patricia had already stood in line and gotten their boarding passes, they had already checked in their luggage, so now they were waiting in line for security. They each had one carry-on bag.
"Ugh, I hate airports," Patricia complained to Eddie.
Eddie looked at her in surprise. "What is there to hate about an airport?"
Before Patricia could answer, a loud beeping noise caught her attention. They all turned to see Amber, who was at the front of the line, glaring at a security officer. They could hear the security officer telling her that she had to remove all of her jewelry. Patricia rolled her eyes. "For one, there's the security."
"Okay, that's true," Eddie admitted, shrugging. He looked at Amber again, who was still struggling to get through security. "Maybe we should go help her...?"
Suddenly, Amber stalked through the metal-detector-thingy, and it didn't beep.
"Looks like she got through," Patricia remarked, patting Eddie's cheek and moving ahead in the line. After ten minutes, they all got through security and were heading towards Gate 13.
"You know what they say about the number 13," Alfie suddenly said, gesturing towards the sign that said Gate 13. "It's an unlucky number."
"Alfie Lewis, are you suggesting that the plane is going to crash?" Amber demanded, crossing her arms.
Mara breathed in and out. "I've never been on a plane before. So, Alfie, please stop, because you're freaking me out."
Jerome put his arm around Mara comfortingly. The group of ten sat down together. The former passengers from the plane were already leaving, so they would be boarding soon.
"When do we board?" Fabian asked, looking around curiously.
"Well," Patricia began, looking at their boarding passes. "The plane is arranged in three groups: Group A, B, and C. We're in Group B. Does that answer your question?"
Fabian nodded and returned to people-watching. Joy raised her hand, as if they were still in class. "Who do we sit next to?"
Patricia held her hand out, and everyone gave her their boarding passes. "Well, how lucky are we? Fabian and Nina will sit in Row 11 AB, Eddie and I will sit in Row 11 CD, Alfie and Amber will sit in Row 12 AB, Jerome and Mara will sit in Row 12 CD, and Mick and Joy will sit in Row 13 AB. See, Alfie? Row 13 isn't so unlucky."
Just as Patricia gave everyone their boarding passes back, a voice over the intercom announced, "Flight 495 to Paris is ready to board."
"Group A, please come forward!" the woman at the front of the tunnel leading to the plane called. While Group A boarded, the Anubis students got up and went over to the long line.
"Group B, please start boarding."
They all handed over their boarding passes, and entered the tunnel. The pilot and the flight attendant were waiting at the end. They smiled. "Welcome aboard!"
After they found their seats and got situated, the rest of Group B and C boarded. Patricia leaned her against the window (she had convinced Eddie to give her the window seat) and looked out at the empty airfield. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to look into Eddie's dark green eyes.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Eddie asked, giving her a look of genuine concern.
Patricia sighed. "I'm fine, Slimeball."
"Were you, Nataliya, and Nina really... you know, close? You and Nina were really upset when you heard the news. We had to literally drag Nina away from you."
"We were really close. Ever since we first met, Nina and I always had this sisterly relationship, me as the big sister, her as the little one."
Patricia bit her lip, and decided to tell him a bit of her relationship with Nina and Nataliya. "It's just... Nina, Nataliya, and I had some secrets that could... hurt other people. But now, those secrets will die with Nataliya. And I don't mean that in a bad way."
Eddie simply said, "I won't ask what that means, and I'm just glad you're okay."
"Please put your seatbelts on!" the flight attendant announced. As she taught them about how to use the airbag, the only thing that clouded Patricia's mind was guilt. Even as the plane took off, the only thing she felt was guilt. When they were in the air, Patricia looked out the window and sighed deeply. Eddie comfortingly took Patricia's hand into his.
Patricia turned to him and kissed his cheek, meaning that she was glad he supported and cared about her. In her head, Patricia mentally screamed. She didn't want to lose him. She didn't want him to find out about her double (no, triple life; Sibuna was her double life). Because if he did, their relationship was certainly over.
I'm sick of crying.
She thought of how Nina had to be dragged off of her when they found out about Nataliya. Not even Fabian could comfort Nina right now. They had practically cried a waterfall.
Tired of trying.
She remembered how Mara had once come really close to finding out about her triple life. It had taken a lot of persuasion to convince her otherwise. If Mara, the geeky school nerd, had almost found out, what was the point of trying to keep it a secret any longer?
Yeah, I'm smiling.
Ever since she had met Eddie, people had told her she was smiling more often. She always smiled at her housemates, assuring them she was okay.
But inside, I'm dying.
The real thing she had wanted to tell Eddie, was how she, Nina, and Nataliya had some secrets that could kill.
A/N: Hello, fellow writers! :) I hope you liked this chapter; there's plenty more to come. By the way, the quote at the end of the chapter is a wallpaper. Well, not really a wallpaper. My friend showed me the wallpaper on her computer, and it said: Sick of crying, sick of trying. Yeah, I'm smiling, but inside, I'm dying. So, yeah. :)
