Nina & Liliana LI
Summary: Nina has a difficult day and Liliana walks in one some strange encounters.
Evie's Notes: Hope you enjoy the new chapter! Let me know your favorite part in the comments!
Nina could see the pitying glances that Amber kept sending her way. The last thing that she wanted to deal with today was people's pity. Ever since the accident Nina had always spent this day with her Gran each year, even skipping school to zoom call her grandmother. But with Gran in the hospital, Nina was left alone with her thoughts and the proverbial ghosts of her parents and the family she had lost.
After Amber's fifth aborted attempt to start a conversation Nina slammed closed her journal stating, "Well it's worth a shot, right?" gesturing to the dollhouse.
Amber, always quick to back her up, even when she knew Nina was avoiding a topic, joined her at the doll house.
"Come on Sarah" begged Nina, "You've got to have something for us!".
Miraculously, the doll house windows glowed and when she opened the walls, they found the figurines gathered upstairs. "The figurines are in Sarah's room" noted Amber.
"But that's our room! Where are they then?"
"You have all of Sarah's things" suggested Amber. "Maybe she snuck one into the box. That way Victor or Rufus couldn't get their hands on it".
"Of course," exclaimed Nina "the music box".
"Music box" asked Amber confused.
"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" explained Nina "It was Sarah's favorite nursery rhyme. And what are constellations made of, stars!"
Pulling out her beloved music box Nina saw that the mirror inside had the falcon symbol from the tunnels on it. "Amber I think we just found our first reflector" celebrated Nina.
Closing the box Nina put it back in her safe locking the door and put the key around her neck. Snagging her bag she followed Amber out the door. Nina had to admit that even though she was sad today at least it had begun with a major Sibuna win!
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Liliana POV:
"So, prove to me I'm your American Queen and you move to me like I'm a Motown beat, and we rule the kingdom inside my room. 'Cause all the boys and their expensive cars, with their Range Rovers and their Jaguars, never took me quite where you do. And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for. King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa. And all at once, you are all I want, I'll never let you go King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa" sang Lili off key while dancing around her room.
"Code Red Liliana! Code Red! There is a gem thief on the loose! Release the hounds!" shrieked Jerome hysterically as he burst into Lili's room.
Lili, startled by her boyfriend's sudden appearance tripped and tumbled backwards onto the floor. "OW! Jerome!" she yelled back, but the tall boy gave no sign of having heard her.
"How to catch a gem thief… who on earth would have taken it?" muttered Jerome as he paced back and forth wearing a hole in Lili's carpet.
Rising grumpily to her feet Lili stood up on her bed and waited till he got near enough to her to grab his shoulders and gave him a little shake. "Jerome Anthony Clarke! What on earth has gotten into you?".
"Lili! Somebody took my gem! We need to get it back! Do you think Victor has hounds? That seems like a culty thing to have, right?"
"We don't have hounds Jerome. Victor's no pet rule? The only animals in this house are dead and stuffed. And I don't think that Corbierre or Delores would be particularly helpful in whatever it is you are trying to do".
"I need to find it Lili!" shouted the boy getting more and more worked up.
Seeing that he was just going to continue to spin out unless she did something, Lili pulled him in for a kiss, successfully cutting off his rambling.
"Jerome, I can't help you when you are so upset. So please, take a breath and tell me what happened from the beginning" ordered Lili once she pulled away. Locking eyes with Jerome, she forced him to match her deep breaths and he slowly began to calm down.
Dropping into a sitting position on her bed, Lili pulled her dramatic boyfriend down beside her and waited patiently for him to tell her his story.
It only took a few more shuddering breaths before Jerome began to explain what had him so upset. "You remember how Mr. Sweet gave me detention for switching out the orchestra's sheet music with a dubstep mashup?"
"Oh yeah! That was hilarious. Ten out of ten, best welcome back assembly ever!" laughed Lili.
"Yeah, well I had just finished cleaning up the music room and had stopped by the student lounge to grab my bag when I overheard Jasper talking on the phone to somebody".
"Ok… Kinda weird that Jasper was in the student lounge so late, but it's a free country".
"That wasn't even the strangest part. I was curious as to why he was there, so I hid behind the curtain and listened for a bit. He was talking to this mystery person about MY GEM!"
"Huh, well he is an antiquarian so I'm sure he would have plenty of friends interested in hearing about how you recovered such a valuable artifact…"
"I guess… but when I confronted him about it, he tried to play it off like he didn't have a clue what I was talking about! To make matters worse, when I returned from the bathroom, I found the case for the shield open and the gem missing from it's spot!"
"Oh no!"
"Yeah! So, I ran to Mr. Sweet's office yelling about the gem and got him to come look at the case with me. But when I got back, the case was closed and there was a new gem in it's place".
"Well how do you know that the gem burglar didn't just put it back?"
"Come on Liliana. You're not stupid, if someone went to all the trouble of attempting to steal it in the first place, they wouldn't just put it back and would most likely have a spare to throw us off track! I mean it's what I would do!".
"So, what happened next Roe?".
"Well, I obviously told Mr. Sweet it was a fake, but he didn't believe me. He just relocked the case and told me to go home!"
"Which is when you rudely barged in here and scared the living daylights out of me?" inquired Lili with her signature bitch face.
"That isn't what matters Lili!" waved off Jerome. "There is a gem rustler on the loose and I need to catch him! I didn't go through all of that shit, physically and metaphorically for someone else to steal it!" complained Jerome.
"Well, what do you want us to do about it then?" sighed Lili accepting that her window of self-care time was firmly closed for the night.
"We need to stake out the trophy case tonight!" declared Jerome. "Maybe the thief will return to the scene of the crime or accidentally left behind a clue".
"All right" agreed Liliana, pushing herself onto her feet and heading to her closet to find some appropriate stakeout clothes. "You go get Alfie and whatever supplies you can find. I will meet you in the atrium in ten minutes". Ushering the tall boy out of her room Lili watched as he disappeared before turning back to gather her own supplies.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
The next morning arrived far too early for Lili's liking. The annoying beeping of Alfie's watch woke the trio up from their blanket nest guarding the trophy cabinet. Jasper, or whoever the gem thief was, had not returned to the scene of the crime. It took both of Lili and Alfie's urging to get Jerome to go back to the house to change clothes and have some breakfast before their Friday classes began.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
A shower and a change of clothes made a world of difference after sleeping on the floor of their school, Lili reflected as she made her way downstairs to grab a croissant before rushing off to class. She stopped short on the landing in the atrium though when she saw an unlikely duo chatting on the stairs. Amber had mentioned that Alfie was acting kind of off recently, so Lili felt no guilt for listening in on his and Patricia's conversation.
"Wow that looks so good" commented Patricia.
"Yeah, you should know. You just had like four of them" teased Alfie, shaking his croissant in the punk girl's face.
"I know… Delicious!" Cheered the girl awkwardly. The pair fell into an uncomfortable silence, during which Lili debated sneaking down the stairs past them to the kitchen. Before she could move though Alfie began to speak.
"You're still hungry, aren't you?"
"Little bit" admitted Patricia. Even from her spot at top of the stairs, Lili could see the laser focus which Patricia was eying the croissant in the boy's hand.
"Here, take it" offered Alfie passing the breakfast pastry over to their friend. Aww, that's the Alfie that Lili knew and loved. Always willing to sacrifice whatever he had, even his beloved croissant, for his friends.
"You sure?" Patricia asked shocked.
Lili watched as a two playfully bantered back-and-forth before the girl took the croissant declaring "Alfie you are genuinely the nicest guy I have ever met. Thank you!" before placing a kiss on his cheek.
Lili's jaw dropped, what the hell! Since when had those two been a thing? She had literally just talked to Patricia about Eddie yesterday! And Amber and Alfie, while on a break, were still totally in love. At least Lili had thought so…
Patricia rushed past the stupefied Lili bringing her back into awareness. She would have to contemplate this latest change at a later time. Breakfast was calling her name and then she had Mr. Sweet's chemistry class first period.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Her Friday lunch break was definitely Lili's favorite break every week. It was the unofficial Liliana and Poppy lunch. Lili had gotten out of advanced Latin early, so she had headed back to the student lounge and snagged one of the couches for her and Poppy before they were gone. She spread out her lunch and grabbed a book while she waited for her little sister to show up for their lunch date.
Only a couple of minutes later people started to filter into the lounge, and a Lili finally saw the two little blonde braids that she was looking for.
"Over here Pen!" called Lili getting the girl's attention.
Poppy quickly did her best friend handshake with her roommate Missy before dashing over to where Lili was curled up on the couch.
"Hey Lils, how was your morning" asked the girl.
"The usual. Though I did have to put up with your brother's whining for most of it".
"Hey, you're the one who chose to date him" laughed Poppy "I'm just stuck with him by blood" she teased.
"Yeah… I guess he's cute enough to keep" teased Lili. "Plus, he's a really good kisser".
"UGH!" gagged Poppy "TMI Lils! I really don't need to hear about what you and my brother get up to".
The two girls chatted for a bit more, but Lili's attention was dragged away at a certain point as Eddie flopped down on the couch opposite them staring grumpily at Fabian.
"Are you ok?" Asked the dark-haired boy.
"I kissed Patricia…" muttered the American.
"OHHH! And now you're a zombie!" gasped Fabian teasingly.
"No" scoffed Eddie "She's changed. She seems to be turning into someone else. It's like she's trying to impress me".
"That doesn't sound like Patricia…" agreed Fabian.
"Exactly! I liked her more before. The last time we kissed there was NO backchat…" walking out of the room he asked, "She's still the one… right?"
Huh… Patricia and Eddie were having problems. That might explain Alfie and Patricia's earlier actions. Lili didn't have much time to contemplate this latest development in the evolving Eddie, Patricia, Alfie love triangle drama, since Alfie blew into the room heading straight for Fabian.
Alfie threw himself down on the couch beside the Sibuna researcher exclaiming: "Fabian, help me! I think that Patricia is the one!"
"What!" sputtered Fabian.
"Or at least she's decided that I am the one? I don't know it's all very confusing. I mean what would we even be called! Alfricia? Patralfie? Something like that?"
Alfie that should not be your main concern! screamed Lili silently.
"Fabian you figure it out. You're good at riddles! When you figure it out let me know" ordered Alfie as Fabian hurried to try and escape the room.
Lili giggled quietly as Fabian unfortunately bumped into Patricia while trying to escape Alfie. The poor boy froze like a deer in the headlights.
Snapping out of his fear Fabian demanded that Patricia "Stay away!", before running out of the lounge.
Patricia just shrugged off the strange behavior before heading up on the stage in search of the shortcut to the art room.
Luckily Poppy seem to have missed the whole crazy exchange. The poor girl had already gone through enough of her older sibling's craziness when it came to relationships, Lili really hoped that this one would pass by without her noticing. Putting the strange moment out of her mind Lili turned back to her lunch with Poppy, there will be plenty of time for theories and interrogations later.
Evie's Notes 2: Hope you all are enjoyed the Poppy and Liliana bonding time.
Next Week: Parent Trap Date Night!
Question of the week: How is everyone doing?
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! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie