Chapter 30 Casualties of War
December 4, 10:30 A.M.
Alfie's P.O.V.
"You could find more cheer in a graveyard." I said to Amber as we walked up towards Odin House.
"They certainly are not in the holiday spirit." Amber remarked dryly. I nodded in agreement as I looked at Odin House.
Compared to all the other houses on campus, and this block alone, Odin house had no holiday cheer going for it. This weekend was suppose to be the weekend that students decorated their houses for the upcoming holidays, the idea being that it was suppose to be one final house activity before exams and the winter break. Usually there were competitions among the houses to see who could decorate the best or who could make the best holiday themed cookies or treats. Some houses even bought a Christmas tree or pulled out a menorah to display proudly. We started decorating Anubis House yesterday, but since Fabian, Mick, and Joy wanted no part in the decorating, the rest of us have to finish up today to make up for the loss of helping hands.
Now standing in front of Odin House it seemed like nobody had wanted or bothered to decorate. I thought that at first it was because everybody was depressed being around Nina and Michael, but later thought the idea was silly. 'The world doesn't revolve around them.' I thought to myself.
Yet here I was, still about to play a role in the twisted love rectangle that was Nina's and Fabian's relationship. Rectangle, not triangle, due to Joy and Michael. My role in it today was to deliver Joy's envelope to Nina and then report back to Joy to be done with her forever. It was simple enough, but I didn't expect Amber to tag along after I told her I was going to Odin House.
"Oh don't worry," Amber said, "I won't get in the way of your and Alan. In fact, I'd love to have a word with Sophia. I've never met her before so this will be a great opportunity to get to know her."
As much as I loved spending time with Amber I didn't want her around when I dealt with Nina. So I told her that I was actually meeting with Nina, not Alan, in hopes that she would decide not to come. It had the opposite effect and now she felt even more inclined to come with to Odin.
"I won't say anything I promise!" Amber stated, "I just want to be there for you Alfie." I tried to make up excuses and reasons why she didn't need to be there but in typical Amber fashion there was no stopping her once she made up her mind.
I was concerned she was going to be asking a million questions about why I had to see Nina but she kept her mouth shut, instead talking about other stuff during our walk to Odin House. We haven't had an official first date yet so Amber was busy thinking of times during exam week that we could sneak away and have it. She was also trying to plan seeing each other during the holiday break. "As much as I want to date you Alfie we've really picked an inconvenient time to start." Amber remarked. We both laughed at the truth of it
Now we were in front of Odin House, this dreary place, and I felt better about having Amber around. Maybe having her here will show to Joy that Amber really cares about me and isn't going to leave me because Joy tells her something bad about me. With that positive thought in mind we walked up to the door, hand in hand, and knocked hard.
"I hope somebody answers quickly, it's freezing out her." Amber said. I nodded my head as I wished I wore something thicker. Winter officially started in two weeks but you couldn't really tell that since it felt like winter.
After about a minute nobody came to the door so I knocked again. There was some shouting inside the house and I heard somebody come up to the door huffing and puffing. The door opened and Debbie stood there, not looking her best.
"Alfie! So good to see you again! And look! You brought a friend!" Debbie exclaimed, her face filled with happiness and anxiety it seemed.
"Hi, I'm Amber Millington." Amber said politely. Debbie laughed and grabbed Amber's hand, shaking it fiercely.
"Amber! What a lovely name for a lovely person!"
"Aw, thank you so much! You must be Debbie right?" Amber asked.
"I am!" Debbie exclaimed, "Come in, come in! You two must be freezing outside." Debbie opened the door wider and beckoned us inside. We both entered, glad to get out of the cold and into the warmth of the house. The house however didn't seem very welcoming once we were inside.
"I know the place is a little dirty, but everybody has been so busy with their studies that chores haven't been taken care of like they usually are!" Debbie said, still holding onto a deranged smile. It was only now that I realized that she was dressed in a bunch of holiday themed clothing, the most prominent piece being a highly stylized sweater jacket that had in big red letter 'Happy Holidays!' stitched onto the front of it. Amber continued to give a polite smile but I could tell she was slightly freaked out by Debbie's extremely friendly personality.
"It's no problem Debbie," I said, "We're just going to say hi to some people."
"Ok! I'll be in the kitchen making my notoriously famous holiday cake!" Debbie said, laughing as she finished. Her happy spirit with the dark and un-celebratory atmosphere of Odin house really made this place seem like a haunted house. I expected something to pop out and scare me any second now.
As Debbie exited the room Amber turned to me, "She is so creepy! Does she not know that every in Odin house pretty much hates each other right now?"
"I think she does but she's choosing to ignore it," I replied, "Just like she ignores everybody telling her that her cooking sucks. Alan told me that she doesn't really do much and is more of an annoyance then an actual housemother."
Amber sighed, "Our school really sucks at hiring people."
"They sure do." I agreed with Amber. Trudy wasn't even in Odin house and I bet she knows more about what's happening here than Debbie does.
"So should we go find Nina?" Amber said.
"Let's take a look around first," I said, "I want to see how everybody's doing. I nodded her head, eager to see the rest of the house. This was her first time actually stepping foot in Odin and I can already tell she's not impressed. While the house itself isn't old like Anubis is it certainly is lacking in the same homely atmosphere that Anubis has.
We first checked downstairs and saw that nobody was in the dining room. We next checked the living room and say that Tori was sleeping on the couch, her face really red and her wrapped up in a thick jacket. We left before we could wake her up and I led Amber to the back of the house past the stair case and down the hallway towards the library. Amber was pretty shocked by the lay out of Odin house at this point.
"This place is so much bigger than Anubis! They even have a library! Why don't we have a library?" Amber asked, "Though I probably wouldn't use it." I smiled as Amber answered her own question and opened the doors to the library. I was surprised when I saw Alan lying on the couch in front of us. Judging by the looks of the couch and library I'd say he was living here.
"Yo." Alan said in his best American accent. "Can't say I was expecting to see you here this weekend."
"Why?" I asked.
"Well besides exam week I thought you'd be a little busy with something else." Alan said, winking at me and nodding his head towards Amber.
"Why are you living in the library?" Amber asked, getting straight to the point.
"Ya I was wondering the same thing." I said. The couch that Alan was lounging on had bed sheets covering it with two pillows at the end of it. Surrounding the bed were a bunch of Alan's class books and notes with some trays of eaten food and empty soda cans. His computer was also on as was the gas fireplace.
"Oh, Michael and I had a little bit of a falling out." Alan said casually. "Though if I said it was nothing major I would be lying."
"We can tell." Amber said dryly.
"What happened?" I asked, ignoring the bad smell that Alan was giving off. I don't think he's showered in a while or changed his clothes often enough.
"I don't even know where to start." Alan sighed, "Just know that Michael and I aren't really best friends anymore."
"Seriously?" I asked surprised.
"Ya, and if I were you I would avoid him. He isn't exactly happy with you either." Alan said.
"Wait, what? Why?" I said shocked. "We barely even talk."
"It's complicated and I can tell you more later. For now I'd like to know why you guys came."
"We came to see Nina." I said, not even bothering to lie and make up some other excuse like Joy asked me too. "Is she here?"
"Yep, upstairs in her room. She hasn't left it all weekend. Debbie thinks it is just because of the play being cancelled but everybody else knows better." Alan said, rolling his eyes at his housemother's stupidity.
"Is Sophia here?" Amber asked. Alan raised his eyebrows in curiosity.
"Ya she holed up in her room like Nina and Michael. Not talking to anybody and only coming out to get some snacks." Alan confessed.
"And what about Tori?" I asked, curious about why she was sleeping on the living room couch.
Alan shook his head, "I don't even know where to begin with her."
"Why? What's her problem?" Amber asked.
"Well it started off awesome but now it's kind of sad." Alan said, "After the play got rained out by the fire alarm, Tony went to 'comfort' Tori. Tori instead of getting it on with him pushed him off and called him out on all his crap. She said he was using her, that he never cared for her, that he was cheating on her, and she was done with him."
"Good for her." Amber said, no doubt understanding completely what Tori was going through.
"Ya it was until the next day, or yesterday." Alan said. "Tori and Nina are now kind of friends I guess so she went to talk to Nina, probably about Tony. She was in there for about ten minutes when the yelling started. I couldn't really hear what they were saying because I was in the library and they had the door shut but when I got out to the foyer Tori was a wreck and preparing to leave."
"For where?" I asked.
"To town." Alan said, "But before she left she looked up at Nina who was at the top of the stairs and yelled at her 'you don't care about me! Nobody cares about me!' and then left. Nina looked pretty bad and only gave me a death glare before returning to her room."
"What a jerk." Amber mumbled. If Alan heard that he didn't say anything and instead continued with his story.
"So we didn't see Tori for the rest of the afternoon. Nobody was really worried though and Tony went out himself around nine or so. Anyways by the time I went to sleep last night neither of them had returned, thought that wasn't unusually for them since they usually stay out late on weekend anyways. The only difference this time was the time that they returned and how they returned."
"What do you mean?"
"Well I heard them come home last night because they were both screaming at each other really, really loudly. And judging by the way they sounded I'm sure they were both really drunk." Alan explained, "This was around two in the morning and I was just tired of drama so I didn't bother listening in. I plugged in some earphones and went back to sleep."
"Debbie has to know about that." I said.
"She does but she won't report them being drunk or anything. This isn't the first time they've come home drunk, and Debbie's never reported them because she likes for people to think we live in a perfect house." Alan said, sarcasm dripping from every word as he spoke about Debbie. "So now Tori and Tony are sleeping it off now, and probably going to fail their exams."
"Charlotte and Mitch, what about them?" I asked.
"Well Mitch I have no idea what he's up too. I've lived with him for three years now and I can honestly say I know almost nothing about him." Alan confessed, "As for Charlotte she's been out of the house for most of the weekend, just trying to avoid Nina and Michael. I've assumed she's been hanging with Joy."
Amber and I were speechless, which Alan could tell because he gave a sad smile. "It's ok though, only another week and we get to go home for the break. And this house really needs a break."
"We should probably go find Nina." I said, also realizing that Alan didn't want to talk anymore.
"Ok," Alan said, "I'll see you around then."
We said goodbye and exited the room, closing the double doors behind us. As we walked towards the stairs Amber whispered to me "This place is awful."
"I know." I whispered back.
"Though I am surprised," Amber said, "I expected Alan to be geekier from your descriptions about him. He actually seems to be kind of normal."
"The sad and tired Alan is normal, but the real Alan is much different." I said as we walked up the stairs.
"I hope so. God, this place is so dreary." Amber said as we reached the top of the stairs. We turned towards Nina's door and I began to lead us there until Amber stopped. "Alfie, I think Nina might be happier to only talk to you right now. Why don't you talk to her alone?"
"Are you sure?" I asked, though mentally I was extremely happy.
"Yes. And besides, I need to have a word with Sophia." Amber said.
"Ok but just be gentle with her. I don't think this place can take anymore trauma." I said seriously. Amber nodded, kissed me, and then went the opposite direction towards Sophia's door. I saw her knock and then enter before anybody had a chance to respond. I smiled at Amber's bluntness and prayed that Sophia wouldn't hurt Amber.
Now it was my turn to deal with something terrible. I sighed and continued walking towards Nina's door. 'Just give her the envelope Alfie and you're done. You never have to deal with Joy or any of this nonsense ever again and you can live happily ever after with Amber.'
With that nice thought in mind I raised my hand and knocked on Nina's door.
10:37 A.M.
Nina's P.O.V.
My Gran once told me that whenever I made a mistake, no matter how big, there would always be a way for me to fix it. She had confidence in me that I could always find a solution to something, that I could always come out on top no matter the odds. Now I was lying on my bed, defeated, and crying over the fact that I had let another person in my life now.
'I failed Gran, I can't fix this.' I confessed to myself, 'I screwed up and there is no way I can come out on top!'
Fabian hates me as he should. What the hell was I thinking? How could I not tell Fabian about that kiss? Looking back now my excuse for not telling him was stupid. How could I possibly believe that I was attracted to Michael? After thinking about it for two days straight I realized something, I never truly liked Michael. I only saw Michael as Fabian's replacement, somebody who could be my new Fabian! I still cared for Fabian; he just appeared as Michael to fill that gap which appeared when I moved to Odin house.
However I couldn't tell Fabian this, that would be too hard and I doubt he'd believe me. He made it perfectly clear Friday that he had no interest in being around me and was probably hooking up with Joy right now. Joy… I hate to think it but I can't see how any of this could possibly be her fault. I wanted so badly to believe that this was all her doing, that Fabina had been destroyed by that monster, but I couldn't think of anything that proved it was her fault. Everything that happened was because of me, because I was such an idiot.
I started to tear up again at the thought of Joy but was interrupted by a knock at me door. People knocking at my door was pretty common yesterday, but after my failure with Tori I stopped letting people in. I didn't respond to the knock and when the person knocked again I shouted out "Go away!"
"Nina? It's Alfie; I need to talk to you."
"Alfie?" I said shocked. Out of all the people who would knock on my door I never thought Alfie would be one of them. Curiosity and the thought of an old friend from Anubis house motivated me to leap from my bed to open the door. I opened the door and saw Alfie standing there, a goofy smile on his face. "Alfie!" I said happily. I surprised myself and Alfie when I jumped forward and embraced him. Alfie was shocked but hugged me back.
"It's good to see you too Nina." He said, laughing lightly. "Can I come in?"
"Oh ya sure!" I said, opening the door wider for him to come in. Alfie entered and I shut the door behind him, locking it for good measure. I thought about apologizing for the mess of a room but decided against it. Alfie was used to messy rooms I remembered.
"So," Alfie said, standing in the center of the room awkwardly, "How's life?" I gave Alfie a look and he held up his hands in apology, "Sorry, that just how some conversations start."
"That's fine," I said, "and to answer your question life is not going well. Though I'm sure you already knew that."
"I did." Alfie said sheepishly.
"Probably heard a lot from Amber right?" I said, trying to not have an edge in my voice.
"Some." Alfie said neutrally, "I'm guessing you know we're dating then."
"Ya I saw it online." I said, "Congratulations."
"Thanks. There's been a lot of relationship drama recently." Alfie remarked casually.
"Yep." I replied, once again thinking about Tori, Fabian, Amber, and a bunch of other people I didn't want to think about. "You said you had something you wanted to talk about Alfie?"
"Well not so much talk about but rather show you." Alfie said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a white envelope. "This is for you."
"What is it?" I asked, moving forward to take the envelope from Alfie's outreached hand.
"I think it's better if you just read it over." Alfie said glumly. I grabbed the envelope and opened it quickly, pulling out three separate sheets of paper. Each of them had the schools emblem stamped on the back and had finely printed letters on each of them.
I unfolded the papers and gazed over the first one, not really noticing anything important. It was the schools waiver policy on the dorm arrangements, listing a set of rules that all students had to follow, the purpose of a housemother, and a bunch of other stuff that I already knew. I moved onto the next page which listed the final disclosure agreements on injuries and stuff like that. What caught my eye was at the end of the list my name was there with Odin House listed next to it. The thing though that Odin House was printed on some finely placed white out. Whatever had been underneath it originally was gone. I looked farther down the paper and saw that the bottom of the paper where the students name and signature went was cut piece of paper that covered whatever was originally put there.
The cut paper had its own lines on it with oddly enough Fabian's signature on it. I noticed in the corner there was a line that read 'Allowable under the Terms of Agreement with Student whom this affects.'
"What the hell?" I muttered to myself turning to the final page. On it was the Terms of Agreement stated on the previous paper. I noticed at that Fabian had signed his name at several points on the sheet of paper, specifically at parts that read 'I, Fabian Rutter, have received permission from student Nina Martin to act on his/her behalf'.
Suddenly it hit me and I knew what I was looking at. "Where did you get this?" I asked Alfie slowly and in my best attempt at a controlled voice.
"Jerome and I were messing with Mr. Sweet's office and I found it. Jerome didn't see it though and I thought you should have it." Alfie responded.
The rage was building up inside of me and I began to laugh at how Fabian, the person I supposedly loved, was the only person in the world that could constantly keep me this angry. "That ass." I said quietly. I looked at Alfie directly, trying to focus all my anger, "THAT ASS!" I shouted, moving quickly out the door.
"Wait! Stop Nina!" Alfie was calling, but I wasn't listening. I rushed down the stairs, put on my coat and boots and rushed out the door. I had only person in my mind right now, and he was going to answer for everything.
10:40 A.M.
Fabian's P.O.V.
I was sitting out on the couch near the kitchen, unable to deal with Mick's whining anymore. How could he be so upset? He was consciously cheating on Amber and he expected her to be ok with it once she found out. I knew Mick wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but this was an all time low for him.
Not that I was in much of a position to judge people on their relationships. I overreacted, I overreacted so much. I have every right to be mad, something Patricia has constantly been telling me, but I got way to mad. Calling Nina a slut, physically attacking Michael and even Alan, and being so unresponsive to Nina? What the hell was I thinking?
All of this always went back to the end of last year when I signed Nina up for Odin house just so I could keep her at school instead of never seeing her again. It seemed like the worst that could come from it was that I wouldn't be able to sneak around with Nina at night and make out like I dreamed about, but now it's become something that is so much worse then what I could have imagined.
I had to tell her that I still loved her, that Michael wasn't the one for her, and that I honestly cared for her with all my being. But I doubt she'd listen, she was probably in Michael's arms right now, crying her soul out to him while he eagerly waits to start kissing her.
Suddenly the TV went on in front of me and somebody sat down next to me. I looked and saw it was Joy. "Hey." She said casually.
"Hi." I said just as casually. The aggression and annoyance that I felt towards Joy during the first half of the semester had kind of disappeared over the course of this year. She had been kind to me, seemingly moving past our failed relationship. She didn't try to start conversations anymore, she would be polite whenever we had to work together on chores, and had ceased to insult Nina anymore. Part of me still blamed her for all the bad things that had happened to Nina and me this year, but the logical side told me to ignore the blameful side. 'Joy didn't cause all this bad luck, Nina and I did.' I thought.
"Mind if I watch something." Joy asked. I shook my head and gazed absently mindedly at the TV as Joy tried to find a good show.
"Not much happening on a Sunday afternoon with the TV." Joy remarked.
"Guess not." I said, "There might be a movie on or something."
"Maybe." Joy said, pulling up the TV guide and checking to see if there were any movies on. There was one that she was apparently interested in and she turned the channel to that. "Did Trudy leave for town?" Joy asked.
"Ya she had to pick up some stuff to finish decorating the house." I said.
"I think I'm going to help her finish." Joy said, "I feel bad about not really doing much this year around the house. Might as well finish out the semester with a good deed for the house."
"Don't you have to study?" I asked, realizing how that could sound mean after I said it.
Joy raised an eyebrow, "Don't you? Oh wait I forgot! Your Fabian Rutter! You'll get a 100 without even lifting a book."
"Not true." I muttered. "I need for like five or so minutes of study time."
Joy laughed lightly and I joined in. We both just sat there watching the TV for a few minutes. I heard Joy get a text and she checked it quickly before returning her attention to the TV again. It was silent a little longer before Joy spoke up. "I'm sorry about you and Nina."
I looked at Joy judgmentally, "We're not broken up."
"I know I was sorry to hear about all that drama though." Joy said kindly.
"We'll get through it." I said in an ending tone. I did not want to discuss my relationship with anybody, especially Joy.
"I know you guys will, you're a great guy Fabian and she knows it. She's too lucky in my opinion."Joy said.
I wasn't sure what to say and it was silent again, but Joy broke it. "You know that I still like you right?"
I turned to Joy, uncomfortable with where this was going. "I thought you might." Joy laughed.
"Don't say it like that Fabian, I know you know that and just haven't said anything." She said, "I know that you like Nina a lot, and I know she likes you a lot. I wish that our relationship could work out, and I bet it could if we tried again, but you have Nina so I've backed off."
"Thank you." I said, not sure how to answer that confession. Joy got another text and looked at it quickly. She put away her phone after reading the text and focused her attention back on me.
"Don't worry Fabian, Nina's a reasonable person. No matter what you and her will be back together and you guys can be happy." Joy said.
I was about to respond when suddenly the door to Anubis House was thrust open and slammed against the wall, sending a loud shockwave throughout the house. I heard Alfie and Amber calling out 'Nina' and then seeing Nina appeared inside the house, rage overflowing from her face.
"What the hell?" I heard Jerome shout from down the hallway, emerging from his room with Mara probably. Another door opened and I'm guessing either Patricia or Mick emerged from their respective rooms, if not both of them. Nina paid them no attention and instead started looking around the house with her eyes, finally coming into contact with mine. She looked at both Joy and I and then began to laugh. Amber and Alfie appeared behind her, out of breath and looking concerned.
"You… haha… you are a real piece of work Rutter!" Nina shouted, laughing hysterically. I stared at Nina in shocked but she continued anyways, now mocking my tone "Oh Nina! How could you possibly spend so much time with Michael? I'm such a saint I never spend any time with Joy! I'm so frickin loyal to you it hurts!"
"Nina-" I began, trying to calm her down.
"DON'T!" She shouted, moving closer to us. "Don't even start with me! You get mad at me because I spend time with Michael, but when I walk in on you and Joy inches away from each other it's ok?"
I didn't even realize how close Joy and I had gotten on the couch, we were practically touching. "Of course it is for you Fabian!" Nina continued, "GOD your such an ass Rutter!"
"Nina it isn't like that!" Joy said. Nina turned to Joy and gave her the most terrifying death stare I've ever seen. Joy actually shrank away from Nina's gaze. By now all of the Anubis House mates had gathered around, watching the scene unfold. It was only now that Nina was close that I noticed she was holding something tightly in her hands.
"You know what Fabian you were absolutely right!" Nina shouted, "I should have told you I had to kiss Michael! It was a major mistake not to and I shouldn't have lied to you about it! But you… OH MY GOD! You really went all out when it came to lying didn't you?" Nina threw up the papers, showing them off like they were cursed. My the mood Nina was in I could only guess that they actually were.
"READ THESE!" Nina shouted, "And tell me they are not what I think they are!"
Nina shoved the papers in my face and I grabbed them before they could fall to the ground. I organized them and looked over them, but I didn't have to go past the first page to realize what I was looking at. I skimmed through them all but I didn't really have to. I knew what was on them.
"Well?" Nina demanded.
"I need to explain." I began.
"I don't want you to!" Nina said mockingly, "All I need to know is that you lied to me. You're the reason I'm in Odin House! You agreed to that without even talking it over with me! You could have told me over the summer, you could have told me when we first started school! But you didn't! You didn't because you're a coward and a fake Fabian! All your self-righteous talk about doing what's proper and right no matter what the consequences is such bull! You lie all the time Fabian! You lied about me being in Anubis this year, you lied about your feelings for Joy, and you lied about your hatred for Michael! Our relationship was built off a lie, just like yours with Joy was!"
"I did this so that you could come back next year because I love you Nina!" I shouted, jumping off the couch and moving to stand right in front of Nina. She didn't back down when I stood next to her, in fact her eyes only darken with rage. "And I never lied to you about having feelings for Joy because I DON'T! If there's anybody who should be getting mad about the person they love and care for having feelings for somebody else it should be me! You're the one who's interested in Michael and lied to me about it!"
Nina laughed again, "You know I thought I only had feelings for Michael because I felt lonely without you around as much, but know I know the truth!"
"What truth?" I demanded. Nina smiled at me, "WHAT TRUTH?" I shouted.
"You said you needed some time to think about our relationship, but let me make it easy for you." Nina said, "We are done Fabian Rutter. I never want to deal with you ever again."
There was a collective gasp from everybody in Anubis house and everything seemed to stop for me. Nina however didn't seem fazed by anything she just said; in fact she appeared to be happier.
"All the pain that I've felt this year, all the trouble and nonsense I've had to put up with this year in that goddamn Odin house is because of you. You and this relationship have brought me nothing but grief and I was a fool to think that I ever loved you with all my being." Nina stated calmly.
I stood there like an idiot, not sure what to do. Nina looked at everybody in the house and then slowly walked out the door, closing it calmly behind her.
12:15 P.M.
Alfie's P.O.V.
After Nina left nobody was quite sure what to say or do. Joy was the first to offer her sorrows to Fabian. Fabian didn't even get mad at her; in fact he told her that she was wrong about something they were talking about earlier. Fabian went to his room and has been in there ever since. Patricia went to check on him but he shouted her out of the room. Mick went in there, but only to grab some exercise clothes for the school's gym. Some friend.
Now it was quiet in the house. Nobody felt like studying or doing much after what just happened so we all just kind of sat in our rooms or left the house to do something else. Jerome and Mara were out as was Mick, Amber was up in her room with Patricia, Fabian was in his room, and Joy sat across from me at the table in the kitchen. Trudy hadn't returned from town yet, which was unusual since she said she would only be gone for an hour around 10 in the morning.
Joy was looking at me, smug in her posture and facial expression. "Good job Alfie," she said after a minute of silence, "I now pronounce you free from my service."
I was too angry at Joy to respond immediately. I never imagined a break up like that; I never imagined that Joy could succeed as well as she did! "This was your plan all along, to show Fabian as a liar."
"And Nina too." Joy said. "In the end they were both liars, and all lies have to come up to the surface at sometime. They did for Fabian and I and it ended; now it's happened to Fabina and their over."
"You destroyed them Joy, do you realize that?" I said, my voice getting higher in tone. "You broke two kind and caring people, turning them against each other and destroying their lives!"
"I didn't do it alone." Joy said.
"Don't you dare blame me for this!" I nearly shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Joy, "I didn't cause this!"
"Your right, you didn't plan, you just helped." Joy said. "And you've been really good at helping."
I wanted to shout some more but I couldn't because I knew Joy was right. I was also to blame for this, she had me trapped again and I knew I couldn't win. "Don't ever come to me again Joy! I'm done helping you."
"Oh Alfie, I don't need your help anymore." Joy said, looking sorry. Her phone buzzed from a text and she gazed at it quickly before putting it away. "You've out lived your use. I figured I get one last deed out off you before the law caught up with you."
I looked at Joy confused. "What are you talking about?"
Joy smiled, "Don't take anything that happens in the next few minutes personally Alfie. Actually… you should. You betrayed me Alfie, and nobody betrays me with impunity. Luckily your betrayal at during the play wasn't damaging to my plan but still, traitors have to be punished."
I was starting to get scared, "What did you do Joy?"
"Well Mr. Winkler, my favorite teacher in this school, has been furiously looking for punishment on whoever destroyed his set. It turns out a friend of mine might know who that was I was compelled to testify on her behalf."
I didn't need to hear anything else; I had already figured it out. I heard the door to Anubis house open and Joy jumped for her seat, her face morphing into one of disgust and horror. "How could you do it Alfie? You know how much it meant to Mr. Winkler and everybody in that production!"
"Ms. Mercer!" Mr. Sweet called out, entering the room followed by Mr. Winkler, Ms. Andrews, Mr. Daniels, and Trudy. "Please keep yourself in composure!"
"I'm sorry!" Joy said, looking near tears. "I just can't believe that Alfie would go this far!"
"Neither can we." Ms. Andrews said, looking skeptically at Joy. "I would never imagine Alfie would do something like this."
"It's despicable and must be punished." Mr. Daniels said, stepping forward with his slick hair and greasy smile. "Mr. Lewis if you would please come with us."
"Why?" I said stunned.
"You damn well why!" Mr. Winkler shouted, "You ruined my set with one of your stupid pranks!"
"Don't speak to him that way!" Trudy said anger in her voice. "Alfie did not do this! Tell them Alfie!"
"I… I didn't do it!" I declared, but after saying it I could tell I wasn't convincing in the slightest.
"We have a witness regardless." Mr. Daniels said. "Would you please come here dear?"
From around the corner came a girl who I recognized immediately. Elizabeth, one of Joy's friends and the girl I had offended the night of the play. "He did it, I saw him do it! He was laughing as he did it as well!"
Amber appeared next, followed by a concerned Patricia. "What's going on?" Amber demanded.
"She was there too!" Elizabeth said, pointing an accusing finger at Amber. "She was there when he pulled the fire alarm!"
It was when Elizabeth accused Amber that I realized why Joy was sure her plan would succeed. She knew that I wouldn't let Amber get blamed for pulling the alarm; she had Elizabeth set her up, counting on me taking the fall and all the blame. And it worked.
"NO! She wasn't a part of it!" I said, "I did it, I pulled that alarm all by myself."
"Alfie!" Amber cried out.
"It was all me!" I repeated again. Amber looked hurt but I shook my head quickly at her to tell her not to say anything.
"Why?" Mr. Sweet demanded.
"For the fun of it." I said, saying the first thing that came into my head. Unfortunately that was the really wrong thing to say.
"Then please come with us Alfie, we are having an emergency session of Student Court." Mr. Sweet said.
"Where you'll be suspended and thrown out of here!" Mr. Winkler shouted like a deranged man.
"You can't do that!" Amber said, "I'll call my father! He'll stop you!"
"Doubt that." Mr. Daniels smiled.
Mr. Sweet stepped forward and motioned for me to follow him, which I did glumly. Amber was shouting protests and begging that I not be expelled, but only Ms. Andrews and Trudy seemed to be listening to her. Trudy actually had to hold Amber back so she wouldn't follow us out the door. I turned back to Anubis house and looked once more at the hysterical Amber and then noticed Joy behind her.
Joy smiled at me and blew me a farewell kiss. She then helped Trudy get Amber inside and they were gone. Now I walked with a bunch of adults and a snitch student towards my no doubt rigged hearing to get expelled.
I heard a phone buzz and Elizabeth checked her phone. She came up next to me and showed me the phone which displayed a text from Joy.
'Nothing Personal Alfie,' it read, 'Just remember that all's fair in love and war.'
Elizabeth then deleted the text after I read it.
Thank you all for being patient. I had to finish up the school year and now I have. Happy Summer!
One more chapter people, and it's going to be a bit of an epilouge chapter.
To answer an anonymous review I'd like to say that I don't see myself reflected in any of the characters entirely. I'd have to say of all the characters I'm a combination of Michael and Alan though.
Please REVIEW! I loved all your reviews for last chapter and I'm sorry I didn't respond to a lot of your reviews for that last chapter! I promise I will for this one and I know you guys probably have a lot to say!