House of Friendships:
The next morning the residents were having breakfast. Victor entered the living room, he got news about Alfie.
"Cleaning fluid? Alfie drank cleaning fluid?" Asked Caitlin.
"That is what the hospital said", said Victor.
"Yeah right," said Patricia softly
"Perhaps you would care to enlighten us on exactly. What you think was in that bottle miss Williamson?" Said Victor
"Pass," said Patricia.
Trudy entered the living room with some tea.
"Trudykins. How are you today?" Asked Jerome.
"You look absolutely lovely today," said Otis.
"Old enough and wise enough to know when you two want something. Out with it," said Trudy.
"Well you know how me, Jerome and Alfie are best mates yeah?" Said Otis
"And now he's in a hospital bed. Probably bored to death with no-one to talk to," said Jerome
"Except old men with hacking coughs and bad breath," said Otis.
"So we want the day off to go and visit him," said Jerome
"Fine," said Trudy.
"Come on, Trudy! It's not like we've been Fine?" Said Jerome.
"But not the whole day though. You can have a couple of hours this afternoon," said Trudy.
"Erm, Trudy? Can I do that as well, please?" Asked Amber.
"Why you?" asked Otis.
"I feel a bit bad that he's not got something nice to look at whilst he's in there," said Amber.
"Oh okay. I'll see what I can clear with Mr. sweet," said Trudy.
"Erm, Trudy. How," said Patricia, but Trudy interrupted her
"No! I can only get permission for three of you to go. You'll have to fight it out amongst yourselves," said Trudy.
After breakfast, the club was in Nina and Amber's room. Amber and Patricia were arguing which of the two could go to Alfie. Nina was reading a magazine in her bed and Fabian and Aaron were trying figure out the riddle.
"Of course I should be the one to go. Alfie loves me," said Amber.
"Amber, watch my lips. I am going to the hospital, not you," said Patricia.
" 'the only place where yesterday always follows tomorrow' What is it, what is it, what is it?" Asked Fabian.
"Nina, who do you think should go?" Asked Amber.
"Guys, I'm out, remember. Besides, I'm busy reading 'pink pony parade'?" said Nina.
"Alfie needs someone to cheer him up, not to shout at him. And that's why I wore this lip-gloss," said Amber.
"Who's gonna be shouting?" Asked Patricia. "I won't be shouting Amber, I'll be interrogating him. That's all, "she said.
"Don't try to confuse you me with your fancy words," said Amber.
"Err, it's in the dictionary, Amber. It's not fancy," said Patricia
"In the dictionary. Of course," said Nina.
Nina got up and walked over to the book shelve and grabbed a dictionary.
" 'the only place where yesterday always follows tomorrow.' A dictionary. You genius, genius, genius, genius girl," said Fabian, as he picked Nina up and twirled her around
"Okay, that happened. But I'm still out guys," said Nina.
"So the clue means your dictionary?" Asked Amber.
"Not my dictionary, a leather-bound clasped dictionary," said Nina.
"Do you want to help me look for it Nina?" Asked Fabian.
" 'have to finish reading this article on winter pony grooming'," said Nina.
"Nina, Sarah gave this to you, not me," said Fabian.
Nina took the locket and put it back around her neck. The club was happy that Nina was back in.
A few hours later, Jerome, Otis, and Patricia had gone to the hospital to visit Alfie. Alfie was in a hospital bed playing some games. When Alfie heard the others coming, he quickly put his game away.
"Yo, dude, what's up?" Asked Otis.
"You know. Been better," said Alfie
"Quit play-acting you goof. We just saw you obliterating aliens. We bought you some grapes. But Otis ate them all," said Patricia.
"Sorry dude, you know grapes are my favorite fruit," said Otis.
"Here. You buy us some drinks and you buy him some chocolate," said Patricia, as she gave Otis and Jerome some money.
"Chocolate. Yum-yum!" Said Alfie.
Jerome and Otis left to get some chocolate and some drinks. Patricia wanted to take advantage of this moment to find out what Alfie remembered about the night in the cellar.
"So come on. Tell me what you saw down in the cellar," said Patricia.
"I can't remember," said Alfie.
"Don't give me that," said Patricia.
"It's true. It's like a total blank," said Alfie.
Suddenly Jerome and Otis came back.
"Hang on, why are we buying the chocolate and drinks?" Asked Otis.
"You go!" Said Jerome.
"Err, because I'm paying for it," said Patricia.
"So!" Said Jerome.
Suddenly one of the nurses entered the room and Jerome thought she was attractive and he had an idea to impress her.
"So no matter what, I'll take care of you for ever and ever. Because I am your best friend," said Jerome.
"Looking good, Alfie," said the nurse.
"Always do, nurse Delia," said Alfie
"I think it's safe to say we'll soon be saying goodbye to you," said nurse Delia, as she put a thermometer in Alfie's mouth.
"Argh! Um. Feel sick. Ow!" Said Alfie, pretending to be still sick.
"So what was the official diagnosis?" Asked Patricia. "We never heard at school," she said.
"The doctors still aren't sure. Some sort of allergic reaction to something he drank?" Said nurse Delia
"I thought he drank cleaning fluid?" Asked Patricia.
"The tests are still with toxicology," said nurse Delia. "Leave the thermometer in. I'll be back in a sec," she said.
Nurse Delia left the room.
"You know, nurse Delia makes getting sick kind of appealing," said Jerome.
"Keep your eyes off my nurse," said Alfie.
"Your nurse? Alfie, you are way too unversed in the laws of flirtation - unlike moi. Don't worry. I'll show you how it's done," said Jerome.
"I'm going to the coffee shop. Losers!" Said Patricia.
"Oh, think I might be coming down with a case of Delia fever," said Jerome.
Patricia left the room to go to the coffee shop.
In the meantime in school. Mick saw Miss Robinson walking and walked up to her to ask her something.
"Oh, miss Robinson, miss Robinson, I need help," said Mick.
"What with?" Asked Miss Robinson
"Preparing for my scholarship. My times are down. I'm behind with my project work," said Mick.
"I thought Mara was helping you," said Miss Robinson.
"She's abandoned me," said Mick
"Okay. Well, if you want a training partner, I'm happy to help. But it'll be my rules, my exercises. How does that sound?" Asked Miss Robinson
"Yeah. Right," said Mick.
"First training session this evening yeah?" Asked Miss Robinson. "Meet me outside school at 4:30," she said
"Thanks I really appreciate this," said Mick.
"We'll see if you still feel that way after you've done a few of my drills," said Miss Robinson.
Back in the hospital. Jerome thought of a way to get nurse Delia's attention.
"Phew. Is it me, or is it hot in here? My heart is pounding. You know, I think it might be palpitations. Feel how fast my pulse is racing," said Jerome.
"My word. That is exceptionally fast," said nurse Delia, as she felt Jerome pulse.
"Is it?" Asked Jerome.
"Dangerously so, I'd say," said nurse Delia.
"In what way dangerous?" Asked Jerome.
"I think you need an injection of beta blockers straight away," said Nurse Delia.
"Beta blockers?" Asked Jerome.
"Don't worry. Just because the needle is gigantic, doesn't always mean it hurts more. Although, in this case it does," said nurse Delia.
"No nurse, I haven't really, I mean, I was only," said Jerome.
"What? Joking? Gotcha," said nurse Delia.
"Nice one nurse Delia," said Alfie.
Otis and Alfie laughed at Jerome, because he believed nurse Delia's joke.
In the meantime. The remaining residents had now drama class form Mr. Winkler. During the class they were rehearsing the school play. Amber was dressed up in a yellow bird costume and she was not happy with it.
"This color doesn't really suit my complexion," said Amber. "Can't I be a blue budgie instead?" She asked.
"Howard Carter took his canary to Tutankhamen's tomb, not a budgerigar," said Mr. Winkler.
"Dramatic license?" Asked Amber.
"No!" said Mr. Winkler.
Nina, Fabian and Aaron entered the drama room.
"About time guys. Rehearsals were meant to start ten minutes ago," said Mr. Winkler
"Well?" Asked Amber.
"Why are you dressed as a duck?" Asked Aaron.
"I'm a canary," said Amber.
"A canary dressed as a duck?" Joked Aaron.
"Did you find anything?" Asked Amber.
"Well, we were looking for an old English dictionary, But then mastermind here thought we should look for an Arabic dictionary," said Nina, while she pointed to Fabian
Nina showed Amber the Arabic dictionary and Amber squealed of excitement.
"What's with all the squealing? Can we set up for a run of act one, please?" Asked Mr. Winkler.
"I don't think we can. I mean," said Caitlin.
"I know we don't have Alfie," said Mr. Winkler
"Or Jerome," said Fabian
"Or Otis," said Aaron.
"Or Patricia," said Nina.
"Or Mara," said Mick.
"Plus it doesn't feel right rehearsing the play while Alfie's in the hospital," said Fiona.
"I know that you guys are worried about Alfie. I can understand that," said Mr. Winkler.
"And I'm also getting a lot of negative vibes and that's not good," said Fiona.
"So what can we do now?" Asked Caitlin.
"We needed to cleanse to room of all negative energy and put nice and happy thoughts in this room, so this room can be filled with positive energy," said Fiona.
"We can always do my scene again," suggested Amber.
"I suppose we'll have to," said Mr. Winkler.
"Mara's here. We can do our scene as well if you like," said Mick, as he saw Mara entering the room.
"What's with the stupid chicken outfit?" Asked Mara rudely.
"Okay. Mr. Winkler. I really do need to talk to you about this costume," said Amber.
Mick walked over to Mara.
"Do you want to run some lines?" Asked Mick.
"No", said Mara.
"Mara I'm not sure what I'm supposed to have done," said Mick.
"Oh really?" Asked Mara.
"Yeah, we were getting on great, then we kissed," said Mick.
"And you regret it. Yes. You've said it all before Mick. No need to go over it again," said Mara.
"No, but now you've gone all weird and I've lost a training partner and a friend," said Mick.
"Thought you'd got a new training partner? Miss Robinson? So much for 'can't do it without you, Mara'," said Mara.
"Are you jealous?!" Asked Mick
"Why - is there anything to be jealous of?" Asked Mara.
"Oh Mara you are so funny," said Mick.
"Don't you laugh at me. Don't you dare laugh at me," said Mara, as she walked away angry.
"No, I'm not, I'm saying…," said Mick.
After school was the club in the room of Nina and Amber trying to open up the dictionary. Amber tried opening it with her nail file, but it broke in half.
"Wow! It's a superpower clasp," said Amber.
"It's really stuck. Try the locket! It's opened stuff before," said Nina.
Nina gave to locket to Amber and she held it against the dictionary, but it wouldn't open.
"Here let me try," said Nina.
Nina took her locket back and putted the locket against to two locks on the dictionary and the dictionary was unlocked. The club was surprised that the book only opened when Nina used the locket.
"It only works for you!" said Amber.
"Spooky," said Aaron.
"Okay, let's see what's inside this thing," said Nina.
Nina opened up the book and there was nothing in it, only a secret compartment.
"Nothing," said Fabian.
"Nothing," said Nina.
In the meantime, Mick was training with Miss Robinson. The two were doing some yoga moves. Mick had a hard time doing those yoga moves.
"Then bend your knees, like you're sitting in a chair. And then bring your right leg and wrap it around your left," said Miss Robinson.
"My body is not built to be this bendy," said Mick.
"It's all about focus," said Miss Robinson.
Mick could no longer keep his balance and fell to the ground. Miss Robinson laughed at him and Mick nudged her and she fell to the floor. Mick and Miss Robinson laugh. But what they didn't know was that Mara was watching and sneaking pictures of them.
In the meantime the hospital, Patricia had just returned from the coffee shop, when she suddenly saw a man in a wheelchair who looked a lot like Rufus.
"Rufus?" Said Patricia, to herself.
Patricia waited for the doctor to leave and went over to Rufus.
"Rufus? Rufus! Shh! It's me, Patricia. Rufus. What have they done to you?" asked Patricia.
But Rufus was totally passed out and couldn't talk at all. Patricia looked around to see if no one would see her. Patricia pushed the wheelchair with Rufus in it towards the exit. Patricia picked up her phone and called Nina.
"Nina, it's Patricia. I need your help," said Patricia.
Patricia hung up her phone and pushed the wheelchair with Rufus in it out of the hospital.
