Jerome XXV
Twenty-four hours later and Jerome still couldn't believe that Amber had lost. While Mara was a great friend, her had really expected either Amber or Tessa to crush the girl. The fact that she had 'won in a landslide' according to Mrs. Andrews was rather suspicious. The whole thing reeked of trickery and underhanded actions which was his bread and butter as a self-proclaimed conman. Mara mysteriously coming out on top was definitely something he would have done. So that begged the question of who rigged the vote?
Amber was rightly distraught over her loss. She had packed up her bag and headed out to the gym in hopes of letting her frustration on the dummies. Nina had volunteered to go with her and stop her from changing paths and attacking Mr. Sweet. This was more out of concern for the Headmaster's health since Amber's martial arts skills were nothing to scoff at.
After congratulating Mara on her win, Jerome headed to the café to meet up with Alfie Lili and Tessa's campaign crew to assemble a plan of attack. It was decided that Jerome and Jude Evans would take point on gathering any info in regard to the ballot box itself. Abby and Jason would gather their own data from students to back up the survey Eddie and Patricia took at the meeting earlier, hopefully having the survey conducted by both houses would shut down any claims of bias. The others would work to compile a list of suspects and begin to interrogate them. Having created a new group chat, the meeting dispersed, and everyone headed home for dinner.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Saturday had mostly consisted of knocking out his homework and planning how he could gain access to the voting slips. After talking with Jude, they had agreed that Mrs. Andrews was most likely holding onto the voting slips. The pair had to carefully plan when they could break into her classroom and check. A smile crossed his face as he felt another stakeout coming on. Stakeouts were always more fun with a friend and hopefully there wouldn't be any wild geese this time. Though he had to admit Alfie's plan had worked out even if it had been rather messy.
The slam of the front door drew his attention, looking up he saw Liliana blow into the room. "Hey Lili flower!" he greeted. The girl froze hearing his greeting. "Is something wrong love?".
"Huh?! Nothing's wrong! Everything is A-ok! Absolutely normal!" she squeaked. "I just came to grab a snack. So yeah!" grabbing a banana off the table the blonde tore out of the room like she was being chased.
So clearly, she wasn't ok. Jerome couldn't think of a reason as to why the blonde would be acting that way around him. She was perfectly fine this morning at breakfast, at least until he had walked in, at which point she had taken her muffin to go muttering something about waking Amber. There wasn't much he could do about it though when she wouldn't stay in the same room as him, hopefully whatever was going on with her would pass. If not, well Alfie had already played mediator for the pair before, if needed Jerome was sure the boy would gladly do so again. Putting Liliana's strange behavior out of his mind, Jerome turned his attention back to planning his latest scheme.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Unfortunately Liliana was still acting strange Monday morning, she had avoided him all weekend fleeing the room whenever he entered. Resolving to speak to Alfie about it after classes Jerome headed into Mr. Sweet's office.
"Mr. Clarke how wonderful of you to join us!" greeted the headmaster. Sitting in the chair beside Alfie Jerome focused on the computer screen. "As I was just telling Alfie here, this video should give you a sense of what you two will be up against in the ping pong tournament".
Jerome watched the clip with growing fascination and horror as the competing pair completed impossible shot after impossible shot. Jerome was a decent ping pong player but nowhere close to the skill level of their opponents.
"I do hope that you were expecting a challenge. Your opponents have set a match date for next Friday" explained Mr. Sweet.
"But that's next week!" exclaimed Alfie.
"Yes Mr. Lewis. I'm sure that I don't need to remind you that if you lose, the school's sporting tradition, already in tatters, will be destroyed forever! That said just try and enjoy it and try your best".
"Me and you working together, saving the honor of the school. It's going to be awesome!" cheered Alfie as he bounced a ping pong ball on his ever-present paddle.
"What have I done" worried Jerome as he gathered his bags and followed Alfie out of the office and to their next class of the day.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
The rest of the day flew by and before he knew it dinner was served and cleared, and he hadn't had a chance to speak to Liliana. The girl had sat in her normal space next to Jerome at dinner but had ignored his attempts at conversation. Jerome had decided to wait and talk to her in private, since he was sure whatever their issue was it shouldn't be aired in front of the whole house.
But when Liliana had ignored him all day Tuesday as well, Jerome took action. Grabbing his coat he headed upstairs to ask Lili to go on an evening stroll and clear up their issues. Passing Nina and Amber's cracked door he couldn't help but pause when he heard Amber say, "So when are you going to tell Jerome". Now Jerome wasn't normally one to eavesdrop, at least on matters that were not life or death, but really who would walk away when someone is talking about them.
"Amber I'm not telling him, and you aren't either. I don't think I'm going so he doesn't need to know".
"I just don't understand why you won't tell him. You guys tell each other everything else. Heck you wont even tell Alfie!".
"Well if I tell Alfie, he will tell Jerome. And I don't want Jerome to know".
"And are we still steadfastly ignoring why you don't want Jerome to know?" prodded Nina.
"Look Roe is my best friend and I just don't want anything to change".
"Well you running around like a crazy is def changing things sweetie" came Amber's sickeningly sweet reply.
"Whatever Ambs. I'm going to my room"
"You can't ignore him forever Lia! He will eventually catch on. Jerome may be a lot of things, but he is wicked smart". Amber's door flew open and Jerome froze as he locked eyes with his best friend.
"So I hear you have something to tell me" Jerome awkwardly joked.
"Uhhh" Liliana stood frozen in the doorway.
"How about you go grab your coat and we can go for a walk before the sun goes down". Seeing her nod of agreement Jerome headed downstairs to wait for her. He only had to wait of few minutes before she reappeared ready to go out. Offering her his arm the pair set off for their stroll around the campus.
They had been walking silently for a few minutes and Jerome felt like he was going to burst from all the unanswered question spiraling in his head. Luckily Liliana decided to get the ball rolling for the much-needed conversation, "So be honest. How much did you hear?".
"Strictly speaking, not a lot. And certainly nothing that made sense. All I know is that you are keeping something from me, and I don't know why. We don't keep secrets from each other Liliana. I know all your passwords, your dreams, the times you've tripped and fallen down the stairs. I know what makes you laugh or cry, and about your phobia of spiders! Amber seems to think that this is a big deal so why would you keep, whatever it is, from me?"
"Ok" blowing out a breath she watched as little clouds formed from the cold. Given that it was the first day of December Jerome wasn't surprised by the cold but hoped that they could get to the point and head back inside soon. "So I'm going to tell you something and I don't know how you are going to take it…".
"Lili whatever is going on we can get through it together".
"That's just the thing!" she yelled stopping suddenly to look at him.
"What?" Jerome rubbed his arm from where it had been yanked by Liliana stopping.
"If I agree to do this we are going to have to change. It wouldn't be fair to either of us otherwise."
"Lili please stop beating around the bush and just tell me what's going on already!"
"We just work so well together, and I don't know what would happen if I said yes".
Reaching out he grabbed her shoulders turning her to look at him, "Say yes to what?!".
"Promise you won't freak out?"
"You are freaking me out by not telling me Lils".
"Fine…" eyes fixed on the ground Liliana muttered "Hadrian Black asked me out".
what. Hadrian and his Lili?
"I don't even know if I'm going to say yes. So I didn't want to tell you till I made a decision" she tried to explain desperately. "I thought if I decided not to go, well I wouldn't have to tell you"
"So you decided to say no?" Jerome didn't know where the sudden feeling of relied had come from but he was thankful for it.
"Well… not exactly" ... and the anxiety was back!
"What do you mean not exactly?"
"If you would stop interrupting" she returned with a glare. "I don't know. We definitely had fun working with him during the election. And it's not like he isn't handsome and all. I tried to talk to Ambs about it…"
"And what did the great Miss Millington say"
"To talk to you. So talk".
"Well what do you want me to say Lils".
"Neither of us have dated so we've never had to deal with this. I care about you more than a possible date, so would you be ok if I went on a date? Would Poppy?".
"Liliana are you asking because you really care or are you looking for reasons not to go. I don't have a right to tell you who not to date" Jerome asked even though every atom of him was screaming that this was wrong. "Look Lils, if you want to go you should. One date doesn't mean you are in a relationship".
"You're right…" she agreed with a frown. "I guess I should text him back and see if he is still interested… I have left him on read since Friday".
With that decided the pair made their way back to the house. Liliana headed back to her room to text Hadrian, so Jerome took a seat into the living room and decided to try and catch up on his reading. He only got a couple pages in when Mara entered the room all bundled up. "Where are you off to Jaffray?".
"I'm headed over to the school" replied the girl having located the bag she had come in to find.
"It's 7:00 and getting dark out Mara. What could you possibly need to do at the school?"
"I'm bringing Mrs. Andrews that article she asked for. I think I've finally finished it".
"And this can't wait till morning because…?"
"Trust me. When I post it you will see how important it is" explained Mara.
"Well good luck" laughed Jerome turning back to his book. Taking this as a dismissal Mara left for her meeting with Mrs. Andrews. If Mara wanted to waste her evening chatting with their French teacher, then who was Jerome to stop her. Turning the page he put the discussion out of his mind and didn't think of it until a few days later.
Osiris House residents:
- Zendaya Coleman: Natasha Taylor
- Peyton Meyer: Matthew Wilson
- Olivia Holt: Marisa Davis
- Leo Howard: Jason McCreery
- Tom Holland: Jude Evans
- Jen Ruggiremo: Tessa Jones
- Bradley Steven Perry: Jacob Jones
- Holland Roden: Abbi Cowen
- Blake Michael: Hadrian Black
Next Update: Lead up to Mara's trial
I love hearing from y'all, let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far! Stay safe everyone! - Xo Evie