Schools Done! Which means that Updates can now come faster and faster! Enjoy and read the A/N at the end!

Chapter 11 Buried Secrets and Fears

October 12, 11:45 A.M.

Nina's P.O.V.

Time was flying by these days as we all progressed deeper and deeper into our junior year of High School. The course work got a lot heavier and our free time was diminished as well. Since I was taking the majority of honors and a few AP classes, I had a ton of work to do each night. The good news was that Fabian was in most of those classes, so I was able to always count on him to help me out. I might have used some of my seductive charm just a couple of times to get him to do some of my work. I think he knows but he just smiles and does it anyways.

For the past month, Fabian and I had decided to put what happened at dinner behind us and move on in our relationship. Everybody at Anubis was thrilled about that, except for Joy of course. The funny thing is that she wasn't really doing much to harm me or Fabian. Amber even said she had stopped taunting Fabian from a distance or even trying to seduce him. She had become… sedated almost.

Unfortunately, Charlotte, her lackey, was not. Dinner were awkward before with trying to decided who would try Debbie's mystery food first, but now with Charlotte starring at me with daggers coming out of her eyes it had become even worse. I'm getting the feeling that's she's not doing it so much for Joy but more for herself. Her relationship with Michael is shrouded in mystery to me still, and while I wasn't too eager to start another detective mystery, I was intrigued at what their past was.

Nobody in Odin wanted to talk about it, and when I asked Amber who knew almost everything that was happening in the school socially, she was at a completely loss.

"They just weren't that great for gossip." Amber said to me one afternoon. "They're both not exactly the most popular people at this school, and compared to like Tony and Tori they don't even match up. Speaking of those two, do you have any news on them?"

"What's there to tell?" I asked curiously. "They don't really seem to spend too much time together." Amber scoffed me like I had just told her the sun was purple, and set about correcting me.

"Tony and Tori are on and off boyfriend and girlfriend. They've been doing it since the 7th grade. Tony just used Tori for a warm body, but I think that Tori might like him."

"Really?" I asked surprised. "Tori doesn't seem to like anybody really."

"Oh Nina, if only you realized the complexities of being rich." I raised an eyebrow to that statement.

"Yes Amber, because you are complex." Amber looked at bit offended, and I felt kind of bad. "Just kidding!" I added lamely. She hit me in the face with a bit of the makeup she was adding to herself and we both began to laugh.

While I've forgiven everybody at Anubis for what they did to Michael and me, I'm still a little confused on Amber. She was the first one to accuse Michael and she seemed to have no ground for doing so. Why she did is beyond me, and Fabian himself doesn't know. He just told me how she'd look embarrassed whenever somebody brought it up. I didn't want to cause another week long scene so I decided not to ask her about it.

Michael on the other hand was still as great as ever. He also seemed to put what happened at dinner behind him and was eager to move forward with whomever he could in Anubis house. So far only Mara and Alfie seem to accept him without question. Alan and Alfie have even become friends because of Michael, and it's not to uncommon to see my old housemate in Odin House some nights.

Mara and Michael also formed a bit of strong friendship as well. Both of them are smart and seem to balance each other out nicely. Michael's assured me however that their just friends, and that he's confident that Mara's got eyes for some jerk in Anubis.

Mick and Patricia seem to be ok with him, although Amber has warned Mick to stay away from him or face her wrath. Patricia even commented to me that she enjoys Michael's dry humor and humble demeanor.

The only people from the house that can't stand him are Fabian and Jerome. While Fabian's is just because I'm his girlfriend and he thinks we spend too much time together, Jerome's would be borderline insane. I've never seen Jerome hate someone so much; even mentioning the first syllable of his name sends him into a dark rage. Only Mara can calm him down, it's almost like the Hulk being calmed down by his true love. I wish those two would get together, this what it must have been like for everybody when it was me and Fabian in that seat.

Now it's October, and the climate was changing rapidly in England. The air was becoming colder and colder each day, although not too cold to the point where we had to cover every part of our body. Today was pretty cold so Fabian had leant me his jacket to keep me warm. I wore it as a symbol of pride as I walked through the hallways to my next class. Michael and I had just gotten out of Art History AP and were walking by the theater department when Mr. Winkler stopped us.

"Michael! I hope that you'll be coming out for our Fall performance! We could use your talent again!" Mr. Winkler said smiling with pride, before turning towards me. "You too Nina. You were great last year with the Egyptian playwright. Maybe you'd like to continue your acting career for our Fall play!"

I turned to Michael who looked a little red in the face. "I didn't know that you acted!" I said astounded. I can totally see his face up on stage, proudly declaring the lines to some old Shakespearian play.

"I act a little bit." He said modestly. Mr. Winkler laughed heartily.

"Just a bit? Your too modest! He's a naturally up on the stage! You need to try out!"

"When are the auditions?" I asked for Michael.

"This Friday, after school at four. You should both come out! We'd be honored to have both of you!" Mr. Winkler did a mock bow and then walked away, humming the tune to some unknown song. I turned to Michael again smiling.

"I can't wait to try out!" I said excitedly, jumping up and down a little bit. Michael didn't smile back in return, instead walking right past me. "I'm not trying out." He said sternly and walked away. I was stunned and chased after him as he moved to his locker.

"What do you mean you're not trying out? Mr. Winkler seemed to think highly of you! You should definitely do it!" I said. "I'll do it with you!"

"Thanks Nina, but it's just… I… I just don't want to do it." Michael said wavering a bit in his conviction. He pulled open his locker as I leaned against some lockers next to him.

"Why not? Come on Michael! We're friends! You can tell me anything!" I said. 'Including anything about you and Charlotte!' I thought to myself. Michael sighed, and looked around him to see if anybody was listening in. After seeing that nobody was, he leaned in and whispered.

"I… I get some stage fright alright." He pulled away quickly and distracted himself with putting stuff into his locker. After about five seconds I began to laugh. I was laughing so loud that people began to stare. Michael's face was red with embarrassment. "Can you please stop!" He begged.

"You get stage fright!" I whispered back to him, still chuckling. He tried to shush me again, but I began laughing again. How could Michael get stage fright? This is the last thing I imagined from him!

After a couple more seconds, Michael looked at me annoyed. "Are you done?" He asked. I took at couple of deep breaths, trying to control my laughter again. I was finally calm enough to make some encouraging remarks.

"Look, we all have some fears alright. But if you're a good actor you shouldn't be afraid of them! I mean, how'd you do such a good job last year if you were afraid?"

"I had somebody supporting me." Michael said softly, closing his locker and leaning against it.

"Charlotte?" I asked cautiously, in fear that Michael would shut me out again. He looked at me, and turned away not making any comment or motion. "Please Michael! You don't have to keep stuff from me!"

Michael looked at me; he's eyes showing that he wanted to trust me but wasn't allowing himself to. He opened his mouth to speak when suddenly a hand came up behind me and grabbed me by the waist.

"Hey, what's up gorgeous?" Fabian asked me softly. I smiled politely although instead I was screaming at Fabian. We kissed and Michael took that as his cue to leave, and so he did without saying a word.

"What we're you guys talking about?" Fabian asked, a little defensively.

"Something that can't wait any longer." I said mysteriously. The bell rang and Fabian and I walked to our next class together.

5:42 P.M.

Nina's P.O.V.

I opened the door to Michael and Alan's room, starring down Michael as he lay on his bed alone in the room reading some book for school. I closed the door behind me, locking it as well.

"I was wondering when you would come by." He said hesitantly. "You won't change my mind about the play."

"I don't care about the play. If you don't want to do it, that's fine." Michael looked at me confused as I sat down on Alan's bed, which was in desperate need for new springs.

"Really? Why the change in heart Nina?" Michael asked.

"Because you're a good friend Michael. And if you don't want to do something then that's ok! It's all up to you! And I'll support that!" Michael nodded his head appreciatively. But I wasn't finished. "What I don't support is this crap that you have going on about you and Charlotte. I'm your friend Michael! Not some reporter looking to make your life hell! I care about what happens to you and I know that Charlotte is hurting or hurt you badly! I can't help you if you won't confide and trust me!"

"You can't help me Nina." Michael said glumly, "It's just one of those things that nobody can."

"Don't give me that!" I said annoyed, "You don't even know what I can do! I want to help and I promise you that I will try everything I can to help!"

"You know, dinner's going to be ready soon." Michael said as a way to distract me.

"You're really in a rush?" I fired back. The air was tense for a little bit as we both starred at each other on opposite sides of the room. Finally, Michael threw his book off of him and sat upright off the bed.

"You want to hear what happened? Fine, but don't expect yourself to wave a magic wand and everything will be find. Here it is, the ugly truth that nobody wants to talk about!" He nearly shouted, "You think you had it bad with Joy, well get ready for this!"

Hope you enjoyed this filler chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I felt it was good for the story.

Schools done so I'll have more time to update than before, hopefully it will be two new chapters a week. I'll be gone for most of July so there won't be anyupdates, but I'll continue writing during that time. I want to have this story finished by the end of Summer in August before school starts because next year I'm going to have a ton of work.

Sorry for the large time gap, but I have a lot of ground to cover and I can really only write so many chapters.

I wrote another short one shot called 'How was I to know?'. It's a story about Joy's thoughts after prom and at the end it also gives you my thoughts on Joy's character in the show. Please read and review that one too if you have time. it's a short story and I would love to hear your guy's thoughts on Joy.

Now please Review this story. Also don't forget to check out A Reviewing Readers story 'Only a Dream?'which features characters from this story. It's really good so I encourage all of you to check it out!