Hey sorry for the late update! I've had a lot going on and I'll explain it all in the A/N at the end of the chapter. For now enjoy this chapter! And Please make sure that you read the A/N at the end, as it's important.

For now, enjoy!

Chapter 8 Tending the Wounds

September 2, 6:22 P.M.

Nina's P.O.V.

I slammed the door behind me as I entered Odin House, still furious with everybody at Anubis. I make one new friend and everybody blows up! Don't they have any trust? Don't they realize what I went through to get Fabian, and that I would never cheat on him in a million years?

My phone began to buzz again as somebody from Anubis was no doubt calling me, trying to get my forgiveness. I grabbed my phone, ready to throw it angrily across the foyer when I noticed Alan, Sophia, and Charlotte all standing in front of me. Charlotte stepped forward first, concern all over her face.

"What the hell did you do to Michael?" She yelled, her voice filled with concern. I was shocked to say the least, and when I didn't answer she pressed on. "What did you do slut!"

That got my attention. I jumped up and went face to face with Charlotte, "I didn't do anything! It was my idiot former housemates!"

"Oh! Of course it was!" Charlotte shouted, holding up her arms in mock defeat "That entire house is cursed, isn't it? It's brought this house nothing but misery all year!"

"Well you can blame your crocked boss Joy for that!" I shouted, "That miserable witch is the real curse here!" My temper was already at a dangerous high, and the last thing I needed was Joy's lackey telling me how bad things were. Obviously Charlotte wasn't to open to my criticism of Joy and she stepped forward about to attack me when Sophia popped up behind her, holding her back.

"Let's stop this little cat fight before it starts alright!" Alan said, jumping in between us. He turned to me, his face serious. "Nina, tell us what happened."

I stopped shaking and took a couple of deep breaths. I then told the three of them everything, how evening started off well and then how Joy poisoned everything as usual. Charlotte seemed to have heard enough of my story and decided to defend Joy. "Have you ever thought that maybe Joy didn't actually do anything? Maybe it was just your housemates. I heard anyways that a couple of them, especially Fabian, were extremely angry at Michael. So when you left him alone, they could have just ganged up on him."

I laughed cruelly at Charlotte's suggestion. "You obviously haven't spent enough time around Joy. She did something! I just don't know what yet."

"Even if that were true, it was still your stupid housemates that hurt Michael!" Charlotte mumbled, her eyes softening at the mention of Michael's name.

"Why do you care so much about Michael, Charlotte?" I asked, "I figured you were a kind of 'all about me' person." Charlotte turned towards me, her face hiding her real emotions again.

"I care about my real housemates! You're not one of them, but Michael sure is."

"Oh please Charlotte!" Sophia said, her face squinting, "You have no right to care about Michael! Not after what you did!"

"I don't remember anybody actually caring for what the tomboy thought!" Charlotte spat back with venom in every word. Some of my anger was replaced by curiosity as I sensed another side to Charlotte. Well, actually not a different 'side' per say, but just a back story to this rigid and shallow girl.

"Sophia's right Charlotte!" Alan interjected, "And I have to agree with Nina, Joy was the real poison! What you did to Michael was beyond disgraceful! Not even the Klingons are as evil as you were!" Both girls looked at Alan with confusion at his Star Trek reference, but my curiosity was peaked. I needed answers.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked as casually as my voice would allow me. "Charlotte and Michael have some sort of history?"

"Great! Now you got her involved!" Charlotte shouted at Alan and Sophia.

"I was already involved!" I shot back. Charlotte clenched her fists in rage and then sighed.

"It's not important, let's go check on Michael. Make sure your 'friends' didn't damage him to much." Charlotte said dismissively. She marched down the corridor towards Michael and Alan's room as Sophia and Alan stared at each other, communicating on an almost telepathic level. I wish I could have read minds at that moment as I probably wasn't going to get any real answers for awhile. We then began to move towards Charlotte when we heard yelling and pounding.

"Michael!" Charlotte shouted, banging on the room door, "Come out! We just need to talk alright!" No response, "Michael! Open this Door Now!" Charlotte began to shake the door knob violently and I rushed forward to stop her from destroying the knob. I leaned down and pulled out one of my hair clip and inserted it into the lock. Sophia looked at me curiously.

"What are you doin?" She asked confused.

"Picking the lock." I answered nonchalantly, trying to focus on the task in front of me.

"How are you going to-" Sophia began, only to be interrupted by a loud click as the door opened up. "Oh, like that." As the door opened I rushed in, quickly closing it behind me before Charlotte could dash inside too.

"Hey! Stop you-" I slammed the door, drowning out her flurry of curses that followed. I relocked the door and turned to face Michael, who was sitting on his bed, staring out the window next to him.

"Thanks for not letting her in." Michael said, not taking his eyes away from the window. "I don't think I could deal with her just yet."

I smiled and began walking towards Michael. I sat down next to him, looking out the window at the maze in the backyard. Maybe I could convince him to take me through it, but that was something for another time. "It seems as though there's a bit of a story behind you and Charlotte. Care to share?" Michael just started to laugh mockingly.

"Why? So you can tell your crazy Anubis 'friends' and spread more lies and gossip?" He spat angrily. Guilt welled up inside of me as I finally realized that Michael was definitely affected more than I thought by my friend's comments. I should of anticipated this, he was to sweet and caring not to be.

"They were just trying to protect me. From what, I don't know. But they were out of line Michael, and I promise you that they won't get off easily." Michael looked up at me, his gaze still tense and weary.

"How can you be friends with them? They have no trust in you! You bring a friend who just happens to be a guy and then they either assume we're secretly dating or decide to show off their friends as prizes to take home!" I winced at the reference to Amber. I had to talk to her about showing off people. She really did make Patricia and Mara look bad.

"She was just excited to meet a new guy." I said, trying to defend my British Best Friend "She has this crazy dream that everybody in the house will get into pairings and we will all have those weird name combos. Like Fabian and I are Fabina, and her and Mick are Mickber or Mamber… something like that! She changes hers every other week."

"She's kind of light headed." Michael said.

"Hey!" I shouted, jumping off the bed. "I didn't just defend you in front of all my friends just so I could return here and listen to you insult them!" Michael's eyes widened a little bit. He clearly wasn't ready for me to start yelling him, I have to admit I wasn't planning on it either. "Speaking of insults, don't you ever call any of my friends whores again! If you have a problem, talk to me! Got it?" Michael just nodded his head, and I let out a sigh. A few minutes passed before Michael decided to say something.

"So Amber's your best friend I take it?" Michael asked cautiously, just waiting for another explosion from me.

"My British best friend." I stated, I thought for a couple more seconds and turned to Michael smiling. "You are my American best friend." Michael raised his eyebrows at that, a slight smile creeping to his face.

"We've known each other for about a week and half and your ready to call me your best, sorry, American best friend?" I nodded my head and Michael smiled. It was a really nice smile and I couldn't help but see a little bit of Fabian in him. More guilt began to form inside of me and I quickly turned away, unable to face my friend. "Would you like me to apologize to them?" Michael asked.

"I don't know. I need time to think about everything." I replied. "I'm just glad that you aren't too hurt by everything that happened tonight."

"Takes more than that to bring me down!" Michael said slyly, thumping his chest jokingly. I laughed and we sat there for another couple of minutes, just enjoying the silence. Finally I turned towards the door, ready to leave.

"See you later than." I said awkwardly. Michael and smiled and waved his hand goodbye. I closed the door and moved upstairs. Charlotte and the other two were nowhere nearby, so I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes. Relief was still washing over me, I was beyond happy that Michael was still my friend.

But what worried me the most was my Anubis friends. And Fabian above all else. I have to admit to myself, I made a scene and maybe overreacted with slapping him. My phone continued to buzz and finally I picked it up and threw it across the room. I buried my face into my pillow, groaning at the conundrum that I had created.

"This is going to be a long week." I said to myself, dreading the school gossip and questioning looks that were sure to come Monday.

I know that this chapter was short, but I feel as though I owe you guys something. And this was all I could write in the time I had. So real quickly, two A/N.

1.) Right now I'm going through some AP exams, which (for people who don't know) are pretty big in High School! These exams are considered part of a college level grade and can really help me on my college resume. So that's what I've been doin, studying instead of writting. I love writing, but I would like to go to a good college too! For that reason, don't expect an update at all next week. I'm sorry, but I really have to focus on the exam which is this Friday. Expect an update in about two weeks.

2.) A loyal reader and reviewer, A Reviewing Reader (that's her pen name), has wirtten a story of her own called Only a Dream?. What makes this story unique is that it features charaters from this story. I encourage all of you to check this story out and leave your reviews to help her out. I would post a link to the page but Fanfiction won't let me. So for now go to my profile and check out my favorite stories, where I have Only a Dream?listed.

Thanks again for your patience and REVIEW PLEASE!