Chapter 22 The Reality of Things
November 6, 10:25 A.M.
Nina's P.O.V.
Clean up from Mischief Night was pretty quick this year since the sprinklers had been able to wash away most of the trash and debris. The rest of it was cleaned up by students who were working for community service hours. I guess that Jerome's failed prank actually did more good than just setting him up with Mara.
The day after Halloween Jerome and Mara came out as a couple, where they expected that everybody would be happy for them. The reality was that this was an action that shocked a good amount of people. Jerome's fellow pranksters were shocked that he would fall for a goodie toe shoes and the geeks and nerds of the school were crying into their pillows that Mara was off the table as a prom date. Needless to say both cliques began to turn their backs on Jerome and Mara, but neither of them seemed to care. They were too lost in each other.
"How can they possibly be dating?" I overheard one girl saying to her friend in class. "They have nothing in common!"
"I figure it's like Ron and Hermione." The other girl said, "In their own way their perfect for each other."
I had to laugh at that statement, it was just too funny. Mara and Jerome could definitely be compared to Ron and Hermione personality wise, they didn't fight as much as Ron and Hermione did, but they had the same traits. The know it all and the lazy, aloof guy.
Mara and Jerome themselves were really happy. Every day I would see Mara smiling from cheek to cheek and every step she took was gracefully and light. I even noticed that Mara would smile deviously at Joy, which is no surprise since Joy tormented Mara so much in previous years. I kind of felt like doing the same thing to her with Fabian myself.
Jerome was also different, not in a bad way though. His interest in mischief had gone way down now that he had somebody to care about. I think he was just relieved to learn that somebody cared about him also. Mara confided in me last year that Jerome's parents were not exactly there for their son, and Jerome's statement on Mischief Night proved how terrible they were. With Mara at his side, Jerome can now have conversations with people which don't end in him insulting people in some way, intentionally or not.
The greatest change for Jerome was his treatment of Michael. Earlier this week they ran into each other in the hallway where I expected a fist fight to erupt. To my shock Jerome was civil enough, though it was a bit forced. Michael could tell and was equally as civil and told me later that he was happy.
"I don't expect him to apologize to me," Michael said, "But at least he's acting nice and everything."
"Jerome doesn't really like to apologize, he prefers to just move forward with things." I explained.
"Maybe Mara will change him?" Michael proposed, "She's done a great job so far."
I laughed, "I don't she can change him that much."
The Anubis residents all had different ideas to this new relationship. While everybody there, minus Joy of course, was happy when Fabian and I got together, Mara and Jerome were met with mixed reactions. Trudy and Amber were overjoyed of course, with Trudy making massive cake and Amber wanting to plan a party. Mara turned it down as did Jerome, but I don't think it will stop Amber because she's already figured out a cute slash name for them, Jara. Fabian was also happy, while Joy remained indifferent to the whole thing. Patricia, Alfie, and Mick were a different story. "What? Of course I'm happy for Mara!" Patricia protested.
"What about Jerome?" Amber asked.
"I… I'm also happy for him too." Patricia said slowly.
"But you're not really happy are you? Your just, 'happy'?" Amber said, her eyes analyzing everything Patricia said.
"You're not making any sense Amber. You need to get your brain checked. Again!" Patricia shouted, storming away from us flustered by Amber's questions. Amber turned to me with a victorious look on her face.
"I knew it!" She squealed, jumping up and down, "Patricia does like Jerome!"
"Are you serious?" I asked her, "She was all for them last year!"
Amber gave me a puzzled look, "Haven't you noticed Nina? Patricia's been giving Jerome glares all year! And not those you know 'Patricia's mad' glares, but 'Patricia wants' glares."
In fact I hadn't noticed since I hardly see Patricia anymore. I only really see her occasionally before the first bell and sometimes during lunch. Now that Joy is no longer her friend Patricia has been 'reinventing' herself as Fabian calls it. She started hanging out with Goth characters in the school, joined the poetry club, and started taking English, history, and foreign languages very seriously. The bottom line is that she isn't hanging out in the same circles as me, though maybe if I tried harder I could have gotten her into the play.
Mick was another head case. Amber says that Mick is perfectly happy for Mara and Jerome, but Fabian has told me otherwise. "Last night he asked me if his hair looked good gelled back. He even asked me what exercise clothes he looked best in." Fabian confided in me, "I think he's trying to get Mara to like him again."
That Mick still like Mara I could believe. Mick is that kind of guy that jumps around with girls a lot and doesn't really understand them at all. Last year alone he managed to date both Amber and Mara, and who knows what he did in those couple weeks he was gone in California. Mick would like Mara until he got with her, then he would run back to Amber or whoever else was on his radar. Maybe Sophia will pick him up? She's been asking a lot of questions about Mick that truthfully I don't know the answer too.
The last person really upset is Alfie, but it's not because of love, it's because he had lost his best friend. I felt bad for him, but I felt even worse when he lost Alan. Apparently Alfie had somehow caused Alan's phone to be destroyed, and Alan wasn't letting this go lightly.
"Unless you can pay for another one I don't ever want to talk to you again!" Alan shouted at Alfie, whose face looked guilty and depressed.
"Alan," Michael said, trying to calm his friend down. "It's not his fault."
"He convinced me to leave my phone and partake in that idiotic plan!" Alan shouted at his best friend, "It's a 350 phone that he's responsible for breaking! I don't have that money lying around! I'm not Tony either, I don't just get money whenever I call my daddy!"
"Alan… I'm so sorry-" Alfie began, apologizing for the eighth time, but Alan stopped him.
"Just get out!" He shouted, pointing to the door. Alfie didn't put up a fight, and left moving slowly out the door.
By the end of the week I was tired of all the drama and needed to get away from the school for awhile. Amber proposed that we should all go to town and pick out new clothes and hit some of the new restaurants that opened up down there. And when Amber said 'we' she meant both Anubis House and Odin house.
I don't know why Amber thought that inviting all the members of both houses to go to town for a day was a good idea. Maybe she chose to ignore the reality which included all the drama that both houses were having with each other or maybe she figured herself as some sort of peace maker, I don't know. When I tried to explain to her why that was a bad idea she laughed and told me 'I worry too much'.
I wasn't too surprised when people began to decline. Patricia was a flat out no since she thought it would be too 'social' and Mick claimed that he had to run drills for most of that day anyways. I didn't buy it for a second as I knew that they weren't going because Jerome and Mara would be going. They probably didn't want to watch the two of them cuddle together in the cold weather of later fall.
Tony and Mitch didn't even think about it at all, turning Amber down on the spot. Charlotte was also a no because Joy wasn't invited, and Sophia claimed that she too had to run drills. Alan was a no, but Michael managed to convince him to come by telling him that they could go check out the movie store and see if a movie called 'Sharktopus' had come out.
Fabian obviously said yes when I asked him to come, and I thought that was the end of it. I was surprised when Tori came up to me and asked if she could come.
"Of course you can come!" I said smiling.
"Are you sure?" Tori asked, uncharacteristically unsure of herself.
"Of course! This is an event for everybody in both houses!" I told her. "Plus you're my friend Tori. I would want you to come!"
"We're friends?" Tori said, using the word as if it was truly foreign, which I guess in a sense it is. I nodded my head and Tori smiled. "Bene, we are friends then!"
I was actually pretty excited that Tori was coming. Did I like Tori? I did actually; she could be a bit harsh and spoiled at times, but overall I like having her around. She's like Amber in a way, though I have to say better. She enjoys arts and academics and we've started having intelligent conversations as we work on the backdrops for the play. Tori wasn't a perfect friend, but I'm glad that I can call her that. A friend.
Now here we were, standing out in the quickly decreasing temperature of November while waiting for the trolley to appear and take us to town. Amber was bundled up in different assortment of furs coats, as was Tori. Mara and Jerome were wrapped up together in an embrace, as were Fabian and I. Alan jokingly began to hug Michael as well, who looked rather uncomfortable. Everybody was raising eyebrows at them.
"I would be willing to hug you Tori!" Alan said.
"You may continue with your love fest with Michael." Tori said briskly, turning away from Alan. I laughed, as did the other people as Michael pushed Alan away lightly.
10:29 A.M.
Alfie's P.O.V.
"Do you really think this image is going to help you that much?" I asked Joy, who was starring at the picture of Nina and Michael on her computer. It was just us in Anubis House since everybody else was busy with something, forming a strange silence that was uncomfortable for me.
"It will help." Joy said, "But just it won't be enough. We need something else that will already push Fabian enough that when he sees this picture he will get rid of that American."
I was getting sick of this 'we' talk that Joy was giving. "There is no 'we' Joy. It's just you and I'm helping you only because you promised to get me with Amber."
Joy laughed, "It is 'we' Alfie. You've already helped me out enough that you're practically endorsing my actions."
"I've had enough of these games Joy!" I shouted. "I've been helping you for almost month now and I haven't seen a single improvement with my relationship with Amber. Help me now or else!"
Joy grinned, as if amused by my threat. "Or else what?"
"I'll tell them!" I said, "I'll tell them all your plans!"
Joy was now laughing, "And how would you back up your claims? With this picture?" She asked, pointing towards her computer, "What would you say when they asked where I got it from? I know what I'm going to say, 'Alfie gave it me'." My eyes widened when I realized how stupid my threat sounded now.
"Or, when they ask how you know so much about my plans? I know that I'm going to tell them that Alfie had been spying for me, helping me gather info for the past month." Joy got up from her seat, looking me right in the eye. "Don't threaten me Alfie. Even if you do expose everything I've done you'll only be hurting yourself. Do you think your friends will trust you again after this? Do you think they'll just forget the part you played in all of this? I don't think so. You already lost two of your friends this week, I don't think you want to lose more of them."
I looked away, defeated. Joy had me trapped and I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe that I had any freedom or power left. She was right, I had done too much to be redeemable.
"However, you have been really helpful so I think I'll be generous." Joy said, her posture relaxing and her caring smile coming back.
"How?" I asked dumbly. I was already in her thrall, there was no point protesting or arguing about anything she said.
"I assume that you are familiar with Sophia in Odin House." Joy said. I thought back to Sophia with her solid build, cropped blond hair, and piercing gaze coming to mind. I nodded to Joy who continued, "I think you will find that her and Mick are spending a lot of time together. A LOT of time together."
My eyes light up with realization, "What should I do?" I asked.
"I believe that they are practicing together on one of the more remote fields here. I'm sure if you go out there with a camera you could find plenty of things interesting enough to photograph." Joy said.
"And do what Mara did!" I said smiling. Joy looked a bit surprised.
"Mara did something like this?" She asked. I nodded my head and Joy raised her eyebrows and huffed a little. "I might have just gained a little bit of respect for her."
"It was with Mick as well." I explained.
Joy laughed at that, "Mick isn't even a professional sports player yet and already he's being ruined by photographers. I suppose its good practice for him." Joy leaned over into her backpack and pulled out a camera case. "Use this and then bring it back. There's an empty memory card in it so you can take as many pictures as you like."
"Thanks." I said, hanging the camera case around my neck.
"There is also something I need you to do while you're out." Joy said, pulling a letter out of her backpack. "I need you to deliver this to somebody." She handed me the note and I noticed the name on the front.
"Jimmie Jim?" I asked confused. "Who would want to give him a letter?"
"I would. Find him and give it to him. Do not even think about opening it Alfie." Joy said coolly as I tried to open the envelope. I stopped and put the letter into my pocket. "Thank you. Now, I believe that you will find him at his house."
"Which is?" I asked.
"Loki House." Joy said, "It's in the same area as Odin House I believe. After your done come back here and we can look at the photos you've taken, but make sure to deliver that letter first. I'm counting on you."
"Don't worry, Jimmie Jim will have it in his hands soon enough." I said to comfort her.
"I would prefer that you didn't call him that." Joy said, clearly showing she didn't need comfort. I nodded and moved to the front door, grabbing my coat and running out the door.
It took me about ten or so minutes to make it to Loki House, which by then I was breathing heavily and probably red faced from the cold. It's a good thing it hasn't started snowing yet, or else running would have been really uncomfortable. I knocked a few times and soon there was an answer as Jimmie Jim opened the door.
"What do you want?" He said, speaking as if it was dirty for him to talk to me. I sucked it up and handed him Joy's letter.
"I have a note for you." I said. Jimmie Jim looked both ways outside before looking at me again.
"Is this some sort of joke?" He asked. I shook my head, "Who is it from?"
"Just read it. It will explain everything." I said. 'I think.' I thought.
Jimmie Jim looked at me hard before opening the envelope. He pulled out the letter inside and was surprised by the length of it. He read it over to himself and after about a minute reached the bottom. He reached back into the envelope and I was surprised to see him pulling out money.
"25?" Jimmie Jim said, spacing out a little bit as if in deep thought. After a few seconds he crumpled up Joy's letter and stuffed into his pocket. "Tell Joy I've agreed to meet with her." He said. Jimmie Jim then reentered the house and slammed the door in my face.
'So Joy wants to meet with this jerk?' I thought, 'What the hell about?' I didn't want to think about it too hard because next up was to go and spy on Mick. I ran to all the fields only to find them all empty. After about ten extra minutes of searching I was ready to give up until I heard somebody laughing. I turned towards the sound and found it was coming from one of the wash rooms designated for team captains and varsity players, which both Sophia and Mick were. I ran up to one of the windows, climbing up a tree outside it to see inside since I didn't have a key to get in. I was happily surprised at what I found.
"We really should close that window Mick. It's getting really cold in here." I heard Sophia say, hugging herself in what were definitely not athletic clothes. Mick smiled, not wearing exercise clothes either.
"I could warm you up." Mick said deviously, leaning in closer to Sophia. Sophia laughed and pushed Mick away a little bit.
"Not now, and certainly not in the wash room." Sophia said.
"Why not? We're having a picnic in here already." Mick said, gesturing to the food that was laid out on the table in front of them. There wasn't any food left of course but the trays and bowls were still there.
"Which was a bad idea." Sophia said smiling. Both of them were laughing and I struggled to pull out the camera. I finally got it out and I turned the flash off and prayed that this camera was relativity silent. I found that it was and began to take pictures of the scene.
"Come on… Kiss, hug, do something!" I muttered to myself. I felt myself getting mad at Mick, and sort of Amber as well. How could you possible fall for this cheating dope? And how could Mick show so little respect for Amber? Amber was a jewel that demand respect, something that Mick could never give. The reality was that Mick was a womanizer who didn't care a bit about which girls he hurt.
The two of them spent some time starring into each other's eyes when suddenly it began to happen. Both of them were leaning in closer to each other, ready to kiss. Involuntarily I began to lean in as well, getting ready to take the picture. But before I could do that or they could even kiss I heard a loud crack and I felt myself falling. There was a loud thud and I gasped out in shock as I hit the ground hard.
I heard people moving inside the washroom. "What was that?" Sophia said, concern in her voice.
"It looks like one of the branches fell down." Mick said nonchalantly. I wanted to run away, but waves of pain were shooting through my body. I couldn't move my left arm at all, and the rest of my body wasn't feeling so good.
"I… I'm going to leave Mick." Sophia said. "This was really sweet of you to do, but it was a mistake."
"What do you mean it was a mistake?" Mick said shocked. With my right arm I began to push myself off the ground. I groaned softly, not wanting to be too loud.
"You're with Amber! I'm not some sort of whore that you can just call whenever you want to be with another girl." I heard Sophia shout.
"You're not a whore!" I heard Mick protest. "We haven't even kissed!" I heard Sophia give a loud huff and I then I heard a crack follow.
"So- Sophia!" Mick called as I heard something bang. There was another bang and then silence inside the wash room. I was now barely standing up straight, wobbling as I began to walk away. I fell back down, groaning again as more pain went through my body. Mental pain went through my body as I thought about the camera.
Quickly I checked its condition and was relieved that it was undamaged mostly. There were a small dent and few scratches, but otherwise nothing was damaged too much. For the first time in a while I felt happy, even though my entire body was in pain. I now had a chance to get Amber away from Mick, a chance to get with the most beautiful girl in the world.
Slowly yet steadily I began to move away from the washroom and back towards Anubis, smiling to myself. 'Who's the best Alfie?' I thought to myself, 'You are!'
Can't even to begin to explain how sorry I am for how long it took to update. I hope I haven't lost most of you. I'm trying to write well, but school keeps screwing up things!
As you can probably tell I'm not much of a Mick fan. How could anybody be that stupid about people's feelings? He starts with Amber and then goes to Mara, not even realizing the impact that he's caused. If you saw the extra scene from that HoA game on then you probably noticed Mick smiling and checking Joy out while Mara is distracted by something. I tolerate him mostly just because he's Fabian's friend and important to Amber's plot line, but usually I skip over parts of the episode where he's involved.
I also read that for Season2 they are adding an American character to the series, and I can't wait to see him in action. Supposidly he's going to be a challenge for Fabina. I hope he's like Michael and not Tony, that would be a much more interesting plot line.
As always please REVIEW!