Patricia XXXIV

Summary: Patricia has a revelation about her friendship with Eddie.

Note: There is underage drinking mentioned briefly

Patricia was not happy about having her voice stolen. She found herself sympathizing with Ariel for the first time in her life, but if there was one thing that Patricia Williamson was not it was a damsel in distress. She didn't do well with sitting around and waiting for someone else to solve her problems. Patricia was at her core, a woman of action, to not be able to make noise was slowly driving her insane. Luckily it was Saturday so she wouldn't have to explain why she couldn't speak to her professors.

Unfortunately the consequences of being unable to speak had already begun to take hold. As she got ready for the day, Patricia reflected on her conversation, or lack of one, with Eddie last night at the party.

*Flashback to Previous Night*

After the ping-pong match and getting hexed mute Patricia really didn't want to deal with anybody, so she grabbed some food and hid away from the main party on one of the love seats. Looking around moodily she couldn't help but think about who she really wanted to be spending time with. Despite her best attempts, Edison Miller had fought his way into her heart and carved out a place for himself for the foreseeable future, reflected Patricia glaring into her cup of spiked punch. It wasn't like she would be able to say anything embarrassing tonight so why not try and make her suffering a little more bearable.

"Are you back to ignoring me now? I thought we were passed this!" asked an upset Eddie taking the seat beside her.

"They were! But she was still having trouble allowing herself to trust him" Patricia wanted to say, but she was rudely reminded of her hex as no sound occurred.

Luckily, it appeared that Eddie had more to say, "Just hear me out please" he begged reaching for her hand.

Nodding permission she interlocked her fingers with his and waited for Eddie to say his piece.

"I am so sorry for not telling you about…" he looked around frantically to check for eavesdroppers, seeing none he continued "you know… my dad". And Patricia wanted to scream, she wanted to shake him and let him know that that wasn't what she was really upset about. It should be his own choice to decide whether or not tell anybody, even her, about his father.

"You were right. I could have trusted you with my secret, but I didn't. And I really care what you think..." he whispered. Patricia looked into his eyes, searching for the lie and found only love and admiration so strong that it scared her. Despite her fear though, she wanted to push it aside and return that blazing love to the goofy American boy.

Patricia tried to mouth her response to the boy, but he clearly wasn't getting it. As she tried sign language, he just became more and more nervous "Ok, permission granted to Yack…".

Given that all other routes had failed, Patricia reached for her i-phone only to remember that she had left it upstairs!

Eddie dropped his head in defeat and Patricia's heart broke. She had no way to communicate with him though! "I get it" she could see the tears shining in his eyes, but he pushed them away in favor of anger. "You're ignoring me now. Real mature" he shouted before storming out of the party. Patricia dropped her head back against the couch in frustration, that couldn't have gone any worse if she tried!

*End of Flashback*

Snagging her messenger bag she dropped her journal, sketchbook and sketching supplies inside before sneaking out of her room trying not to wake up Joy or Mara. Making her way downstairs she noticed that most of the Anubis house residents had opted for a lazy Saturday lie in, filling up her thermos she grabbed an apple & croissant before heading out the back door.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

It was a five-minute hike from Anubis house to Patricia's favorite place on campus. In the back corner of the Frobisher-Smythe property lay the family's abandoned stone chapel. The building was technically off limits but was rarely policed by the campus security team. Patricia had found it during her first week on campus years ago while looking to escape the chaos of Anubis.

Hitting the door quickly in the right three areas caused it to swing open easily granting her entrance. Closing it firmly behind her as to not give away her location, she surveyed to the main room. The floor was covered in dead leaves and the marble pews coated in a thick layer of dust. The once beautiful stained-glass window above the raised altar was cracked in several areas allowing the inclement weather into the room. Pushing past all of this, Patricia made her way to the far wall where stairs used to be located. The passage of time, and the lack of focused care, had caused the original spiral staircase to fall into disrepair. With long practiced ease, Patricia grabbed the rope she had hung from the choir loft and used it to scale the stone wall.

Reaching the top of the rope, she rolled onto the choir loft and laid flat on her back for a moment trying to catch her breath. The D.I.Y rock climbing experience was always a workout, but it was well worth it.

Sitting up she smiled at her little piece of paradise. The space had at one time been a choir loft but had been regulated to storage after the property was converted to a school and later abandoned for newer building projects. Over the years she had shaped the loft into the perfect get away, the mix-matched furniture and knickknacks reminded her of the Room of Requirement from Hogwarts (not that any of the Americans could know she made a Harry Potter reference).

Dropping her bag on the vanity, which doubled as her writing desk, she hung her coat on the ostentatious gold coat tree. Flopping down on the overstuffed velvet couch with her stolen breakfast she turned on the batterie powered heater before planning out her morning. Patricia knew that she would have to make an appearance at the house that afternoon, if only to appease the other Sibunas, so she would have to appreciate all of the alone time she could get. Munching on her breakfast she got to work on her latest sketch. She threw all of her hurt, confusion, fear and love into her work, pouring her thoughts onto the page bringing all of her frustrations to light.

The growling of her stomach pulled her out of her writing haze a couple hours later. Checking her phone she found missed messages from the Sibunas asking where she was and Joy asking for movie recommendations. Deciding to call it quits for the day, Patricia quickly cleaned up her various supplies, packed her bag and headed back down the rope.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

Back at the house, Patricia passed Liliana and Jerome bundled up as they headed out for a turn around the school grounds. She waved hello to Amber and Alfie who were playing Mario on the TV as she passed the sitting room. Seeing as the Sibunas were otherwise occupied, Patricia decided to find Joy.

Opening the door to her shared bedroom she was knocked back by Joy's loud frantic movie suggestions. "Should we see a rom-com? Or would that be too forward? This is my Fabes Mara! I don't want to mess this up! What about a historical bio pic? I would be bored out of my mind, but he would love it! What about Sci-Fi?"

Oh boy! Joy clearly wasn't letting 'jabian' go anytime soon, and honestly if Nina didn't get her act together soon Patricia could see it actually happening. Patricia had mixed feelings on the love triangle as a whole. Joy and Fabian had been the best of friends and for quite some time Patricia had thought that their resident 'it' girl and geeky boy were destined for each other, but Joy's disappearance brought about a lot of changes. Patricia saw how happy Nina and Fabian made each other, at least when on the same page. Her loyalty to Joy had Patricia holding out hope for one of their impossible crushes to come true, as hers definitely hadn't!

Hell, Mick had dated both Amber and Mara, never sparing a thought to the fact that his favorite football partner was hopelessly in love with him. Mick moving halfway across the world had helped her overcome her long-term crush on the handsome boy. And that wasn't even touching on the torch which she still held for Joy. Patricia had just gotten her head on straight as Eddie walked through the door sending her for a spin this year.

"Peppermint what do you think?" asked Joy spinning her laptop around so that Patricia could see the film options.

Glancing over the options, she decided to recommend the local theatre's screening of Star Trek. "Perfect Pep! I'll go show him now! Love you!" called the girl as she flew out of the room.

Trying to calm her rapidly beating heart she focused on Mara who asked "Where were you? You've been gone all day".

"I had my phone off while I was working in my studio this morning, how long was she stressing over this?" wrote Patricia on the white board she had found in her studio that morning.
"I've been in here for about an hour or so, but she was stressing before I came in. What's with the white board?"

"I'm on vocal rest since my throat is a mess".

"Well I hope you feel better soon. When my Auntie Sophia lost her voice she swore by hot tea with honey, maybe that'll help!". Sending the girl a forced smile, Patricia set up her laptop planning to do a bit of homework before dinner. Putting in her headphones she started her Sick Puppies playlist and began to balance her assigned chemistry equations.

Next Week: Liliana has an important conversation with her friends and the Anubis residents scramble to find gifts.

Question of the week: Do you ship Fabina or Jabian in this universe? Vote in the comments or the post on Tumblr.

I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Xo Evie