Hey, y'all! I'm not dead! Check that out! So, it's taken me like all eternity to update this and I am so beyond sorry! I'm back though! This is 2,010 words! It's a little boring in some parts in my opinion but it's an update!
"Mick, it's lovely!" Joy grinned at the sight before her.
"You like it?" the blonde asked hesitantly.
"I love it!"
The garden behind the house was filled with candles, glowing throughout the many plants. A table with warm dinner sat in the middle of it all. The two sat down and dug into Trudy's infamous Italian chicken. Joy looked up when she felt someone's eyes on her.
"What?" she asked. She tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear self-consciously.
"You're beautiful." He replied.
A blush formed on Joy's cheeks and she looked down at her apparel. An off white waterfall skirt; paired with a green lace tank top and a brown and green leaf belt. Brown buckle ankle heels and her gold locket hung around her neck.
"What's in that locket?" he asked.
The brunette opened the necklace and showed him the picture of the small orange and white puppy. "Pumpkin, I got her on Halloween last year."
"Cute," he smiled.
The two continued to talk about home, their families and sports. Mara never came up and they had a wonderful time. Joy looked up from her almost empty plate after a short eye roll. She had felt Mick's eyes on her again. He had been staring at her all night. But when she looked at him he was finishing up his dinner. She frowned and looked around warily. And there, hidden by the blackness of the woods, she saw him, his glowing blue eyes staring at her through the brush. She looked away and shoved the last bite of food into her mouth.
"Come on," Joy got up and proceeded to blow the candles out quickly.
"What's your hurry?" Mick asked confusedly.
"I'm just cold." She lied, picking up their clear plates.
"Well, here," he shrugged off his jacket and set it on her tense shoulders.
"Thank you," she stole another quick nervous glance where she'd seen him but didn't catch his cold eyes. "But let's go inside, you don't want to catch a cold do you?"
"Nah, I'm fine, I never get cold." He brushed it off with a careless wave of his hand.
"But I do, come on," she pulled him into the house through the back door in a flash and slammed the door shut.
"Are you okay? You're a little shaky," he asked hesitantly, taking a step toward her.
"I'm fine; I'm just going to change." She replied, handing him his jacket and setting the dirty dishes on the counter before dashing up the stairs. When she got to the top she nearly ran into Alfie and Jerome.
"Woah, Killjoy, calm down." Jerome chuckled, moving to step past her.
"Come on," she pinched their ears and dragged them into Nina, Amber and Stevie's room.
"Ow," Alfie rubbed his ear, glaring at Joy.
She shut the door and turned to Sibuna. "Rufus is in the woods behind the house.
"He's watching the house?" Nina groaned. "No one is allowed to leave the house without at least two people with them."
"Agreed," Stevie nodded.
"How'd your date with Mick go, Joy?" Amber asked slyly, changing the subject quickly.
Joy rolled her eyes smiling and left the room.
"Hey," Charlie greeted falling into step with Stevie, Jerome and Mara. "Stevie, can I talk to you?"
"Um…" she glanced at Jerome and Mara, who small nods and continued to walk when she stopped. "Sure."
"Okay, so, do you want to go out again tonight?" he asked.
"Um, I can't," the punk replied.
"Oh, what are you doing that's so important you can't spend time with me?" Charlie joked, running a hand through his jet black hair.
"Uh…video chatting with my friends," Stevie lied.
"Can I come?"
"Sorry, they still think you're the lying, cheating, bad boy, skunkbag I told 'em about. They don't know you and I are dating."
"You told them I was a skunk—wait, dating?" he stepped toward her.
"Um…" Stevie swallowed hard.
"See ya later, girlfriend." Charlie winked and kissed her cheek, leaving her there with wide eyes.
"Stevie, are you okay?" Mara asked running up next to her.
Stevie opened her mouth, and then shut it, starting to walk again, shaking her head.
"Did he ask you out?" Mara smiled, catching up to her, Jerome right behind them who rose an eyebrow at the brunette.
"Yes," Stevie said slowly as the three neared the steps to the school.
"Did you say yes?"
"Yes, why," Stevie rolled her eyes after a moment of silence.
"No reason..." Mara shrugged, gripping Jerome's hand, pulling him up the steps, and in through the double doors.
Stevie rolled her eyes again and hopped up the steps two at a time.
"How am I supposed to get them away from each other?" the blonde murmured, staring at the house.
"I don't know, mortal, figure it out." The spirit sneered in his brain.
Rufus reached for his pocket but his hand retracted at Senkhara's demand. Rufus reached for his phone again, and once more Senkhara kept his hand from reaching his pocket.
"Why are you doing that?" Rufus growled, shooting his hand into his pocket quickly. It came back up empty.
"I know what you are trying to do; it's not a good idea. That girl knows who we are; she'll find a way to block us from her life from good. We need her alone, and then we can talk to her." Senkhara replied.
"Fine, then what do you suggest we do to get her alone?" Rufus asked, giving up on his mission to reach for his phone.
"It will happen on its own; just be patient." The spirit answered calmly with a quick, dark chuckle.
"Good morning," Vera smiled at the teens.
Jerome and Alfie ignored her while Mara kept her distance. Patricia and Eddie scoffed and made their way to their seats. Stevie grunted a response and Nina, Amber, Fabian and Joy replied with small polite smiles. The classroom was empty and silent with only Vera and Sibuna. Vera's blue eyes wandered to the ten every few minutes while she graded papers. The others paid her no attention and talked amongst themselves about nothing in particular. Mara looked at Vera and her eyes darted to another part of the room when the woman turned to her. Jerome put a comforting hand on his girlfriend's shoulder and rubbed it gently. She smiled at him, opened her history notebook, and began doodling.
Vera sighed and stood, clearing her throat. The teens didn't look up and continued what they were doing. She cleared her throat again, more loudly this time. A few eyes roamed across the room to look at her but didn't turn. "Excuse me."
"You're excused," Stevie replied, flipping through her magazine.
"I would like to apologize to all of you." Vera moved to the front of her desk and took a seat on the edge of it, smoothing the wrinkles out of her light pink cardigan. "Especially to you, Mara, I must have given you quite a fright. I honestly did not want to work with Rufus after what he'd said to me."
She stopped talking when the class room door opened and students piled in.
"Good morning, class," she smiled.
The others mumbled greetings and took their seats. After all of the teens were seated, Vera wrote the day's lesson and began teaching.
"What do you guys think about what Vera said?" Joy asked Sibuna as the crossed campus to Anubis House.
"I don't think we should trust her," Jerome stated. "She worked for Rufus."
"You and Stevie did too." Amber pointed out.
"And we trust you two," Nina said.
Jerome shrugged.
"Are we going down to the tunnels tonight?" Mara asked as they neared the House.
"Yes, Fabian and I think either Eddie or I can use the mks staff." Nina replied.
"Speaking of Eddie, where is he?" Alfie looked around, but didn't see the blonde punk.
"Williamson ain't here either," Stevie spoke up.
"Where are they?" Fabian wandered.
"I hope they're alright." Amber said worriedly.
"So, you might be able to see the future? That's so cool!" Patricia grinned.
She and Eddie took a quick turn around the corner of the building and continued down the path around the campus. The two had decided to stray from the group and talk, back by the school.
"Yeah, or read Nina's mind," Eddie said, pulling a Ziploc baggy from his back pack. He opened it and pulled a strip of bacon from it, popping it into his mouth. He held the bag out to his girlfriend with a grunt. The auburn haired girl shrugged and took a piece out for herself.
"That's interesting; have you ever tried?" Patricia asked after a second.
"Tried what?" the blonde started munching on another piece.
"Reading Nina's mind; what's she thinking?"
"I have no idea."
"You should try," Patricia smiled.
"Yeah, I think I'll do that…" Eddie drifted off.
Half way down the path to the third boarding house, Thoth, Eddie stopped short. Patricia looked back at him and gave him a questioning look. He didn't explain why he froze; he grabbed her hand and dragged her across the yard to Anubis.
"What is it?" Patricia gasped, trying to keep up with her boyfriend as he ran as fast he could.
"Nina's in danger," Was all he said.
Realization dawned on Patricia as the two crossed the yard. Just ahead Nina and the other members of Sibuna were walking down the path to the house. Eddie let go of Patricia's hand and grabbed Nina by the shoulders, stopping her. The others looked at them in surprise as Eddie pressed his lips to the brunette's ear and whispered something to her. When he pulled back Nina nodded and started walking up to the house again. Her friends followed closely behind confusedly.
"What was that about?" Jerome asked.
"Rufus was in the woods, less than fifteen feet from you guys. He's keeping a real close eye on all of us. We've got to watch our backs." Eddie replied.
"We'll be careful," Amber stated.
"We should go down to the tunnels right after supper." Fabian suggested.
"I agree with that; the faster we get to the crown, the faster we find a way to get Rufus off our backs." Mara piped in.
They all nodded and headed off to their rooms to study and talk with their friends.
"Good evening, Mick." Joy smiled, walking into the kitchen.
"Hi, Joy."
"How are you?" the brunette asked, taking an apple from the bowl on the counter.
"Did I do something?" Mick looked at her seriously, raising an eyebrow in question.
"Excuse me?" Joy stared at him in shock.
"Last night, I thought everything was going so great, and then you get up and walk away before the night was over. Did I say something? Do you not like me? What happened?" Mick groaned, running a hand over his face in frustration.
"No, Mick, it's nothing like that. I was just tired and cold; and I needed to talk to Patricia about something. I'm sorry if I made it seem like I didn't want to be around you." Joy explained, forgetting her fruit and moved to stand next to Mick, leaning against the island.
Mick let out a long sigh.
"Mick," Joy said hesitantly. "I really do like you."
"Then…do you want to go out again? Maybe we'll do it in the morning so it's not as dark and cold?" he smiled.
"I'd love that." Joy smiled back at him shyly.
Mick swallowed and put a hand on her shoulder, bringing her upper body forward. His lips met hers in a short kiss and they pulled away a second later. A light blush rose on Joy's cheeks.
"Good night, Mick." She whispered, a face splitting grin growing on her face.
"Night, Joy," Mick sighed.
When she left the room he ran a hand threw his hair and breathed out a long breath.
"Yes." He fist pumped the air triumphantly.
Alright, quick (not really) author's note:
First, I updated today instead of last night (because last night I had finished this chapter) because today is my birthday! I'm fifteen! Yeah! I don't know when I'll update again though...
Second, I'm really blocked on House of H2O at the moment. So, I don't know when I'll update that. For those who read that story can you review the story and let me know what you'd like me to do with it?
Third, for this story, what would y'all like to see? Would you like me to hurry up and finish it, or do a few more chapters before I wrap it up? What couples would you like to see more of? What do you want Eddie's power to be, any powers you think he should have? What should the crown do, or should that just be valuable and the mks have all the power? WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN?!
Fourth, I'm planning on updating 10 Years Later tonight (the keyword is planning there, people!). Since they had the new episode of iCarly I've had some insperation.
Fifth, POLL GOES DOWN TONIGHT!
Sixth, check out the songs Love Isn't Always Fair and Fallen Angels by Black Veil Brides! Awesome songs! (Don't like hardcore goth screamos, don't listen to 'em.)
Seventh (*This one is crucial!*), ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! PLLLLEEEAAASSSEEEE!
#14: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. -Proverbs 3:5-6
God bless! Love, y'all!
-Rachel