Another month or so went on and the kids of Anubis house were all treating Patricia pretty well about this whole thing. Well, all of them except Jerome, who continued to make snide comments and remarks. Patricia and the others ignored him of course, but that didn't stop him from continuing. One day when the Anubis kids were sitting at the table for breakfast-all of them minus Patricia who was still sleeping-when Trudy came in with an announcement. "We're getting a new student today everyone, and he will be boarding here at Anubis. When he comes, I want you to all give him your warmest welcome." Jerome quickly chimed in on that.
"Best not let him near Patricia then, eh?" He thought it was hilarious although the others thought not. Amber even piped up after him.
"Why do have to be such an evil person Jerome? What if Mara was in Patricia's place, hmm? I know you wouldn't be doing this then because I know you fancy her." All eyes were on Jerome now, who was taken aback by what Amber had said. Mara's deep brown eyes looked over at him.
"Jerome?" she said quietly. Jerome simply stood from the table and walked away, back to his room without another word. Amber was satisfied and took her seat while Trudy stood by watching.
"None of that please when he gets here. Now, I'll be around all day today cleanin' up a bit while you're all off at school. I don't know when he'll get here, but his name is Eddie Miller; please try and be nice." Trudy took off just before Patricia came downstairs for a semi late breakfast. She took the seat between Fabian and Joy and smiled slightly when the boy kissed her on the cheek.
"Dear God," Alfie said. "Now there's something you don't see every day; Patricia smiling." The redhead gave him a look.
"Oh cut it out, Alfie." She fixed herself a plate and began to eat. Nina looked across the table at Amber with a concerned yet curious expression. Her eyes traveled over to Patricia and watched the girl eat. Patricia had stopped skipping meals, but she showed no sign of eating as much as regular pregnant girls did. This made Nina curious.
"Hey Patricia, I thought girls usually ate more when they got pregnant? You haven't exactly been eating much at all lately. Something you want to say?" Patricia looked up and glared at the girl not owing her any explanation or wanting to answer, so Fabian answered for her.
"Patricia doesn't crave a lot of food and either way Annabel doesn't eat much." The others looked quite confused and it took them a second to think about that. Nina wanted to know more.
"Who's Annabel?" she insisted. Joy stared Nina down from the other side of the table, trying to see wear the American was taking this.
"Annabel is their daughter. Not that it's any of your concern," she spoke before the others could. Amber piped in at Nina's defense.
"I think they can answer for themselves Joy." Nina nodded in agreement and added on to what her blonde friend had said.
"Especially since they're the ones that got themselves into this in the first place, I don't see why not. So what's wrong with her then? Why isn't she eating much? I've never heard of a baby not needing a lot of food for proper growth development." Amber could tell this wasn't going to end well, and tried to stop it from going further.
"Nina… stop talking now…" but the girl didn't listen, and continued.
"I mean, Patricia isn't starving the poor thing is she?" Fabian and Patricia looked extremely insulted.
"That's enough Nina! I don't know what you think you're playing at but just knock it off!" Fabian yelled in Patricia's defense and his own. He was furious with her; and to think they had been getting along so well before they found out about Patricia. He may have even had slight feelings for her. Whatever was there was long gone by now though, and by the looks of it, it was never coming back; at least not for a while. Nina got up from the table, ready to say something else.
"Nina sit back down… please just sit," Amber pleaded. Sadly, Nina had to prove her silly point. She walked around the table, standing in front of Fabian and Patricia across the table.
"I'm just asking! It doesn't seem like that much of an unreasonable thing to do. I mean, this is Patricia we're talking about. I guess she would be the one to get pregnant after all…" Nina had done it this time. Joy practically jumped up from the table and went after Nina.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" the brunette screamed. The Anubis kids gasped in shock. Patricia cried out Joy's name. It was a wonder how neither Trudy nor Victor heard all of the commotion. Amber shrieked at watched Joy push Nina to the ground, practically on top of the girl. It soon turned into a cat fight. "You think you can say things like that about my best friend while she's sitting right there? You're a bitch!" Nina screamed from underneath the brunette and covered her face as the other girl continued to hit and scratch her, occasionally pulling on her hair.
"Somebody get her off of me!" the American cried. Fabian and Mick got up out of their chairs and went to pry Joy off. The two struggled to pry Joy's arms away from Nina. Mick took the girl by the waist, instructing her to let got. They finally managed to get her away, and Amber went to Nina's side helping her up as Joy was trapped in Mick's arms, trying to break free.
"Calm down, Joy," Mick whispered in the girl's ear. Nina stared at the scratch marks on her arms in disbelief. She looked up at Joy with fear in her eyes and ran to her room, slamming the door closed. Amber ran to the room after her to see if she was okay. Everyone else carried on their morning routine in silence. Joy headed out to school early dragging Mick out with her. Fabian went back to the table and helped Patricia up. It was only one month later, but there was a big difference in the showing of her stomach. She wasn't majorly heavier, but now she had a baby belly, and if the kids at school saw her they would probably be able to see that she was pregnant.
"Thanks," the redhead said. "Well, this morning was interesting, yeah?" Fabian rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe what Nina had said. "I suppose you think it's true, right?" she asked. "The last part about what she said; it would be me, wouldn't it?" Fabian wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her, folding his hands across her stomach.
"You want to know the truth?" She nodded her head. "I don't believe it at all. It could've happened to anyone, Patricia. Don't listen to what she said; she's probably just angry about something. I don't know… I think she thinks I abandoned her for you." Patricia put her hands over Fabian's.
"Well then she doesn't understand that I need you right now," the girl whispered. Fabian kissed her on the cheek again and paused for a minute.
"I know, I'll talk to her today and make sure she knows that. I have to go now," he sighed. "Be good today, yeah?" Patricia smirked and gave Fabian a quick hug before he left. They hadn't notice the others leave as well. She watched Fabian leave and went to find Trudy. Maybe there was something she could help her with around the house. Before she got very far, there was a knock at the Anubis doors. Patricia wondered if that was the new boy Trudy mentioned.
Speaking of Trudy, she came hustling downstairs with an eager expression on her face. "That must be him! Oh Patricia dear, try to be nice." The girl gave a weak smile and hovered in the background, trying to look like she had a purpose to be here. Trudy opened the doors and let the boy in. Patricia immediately heard his accent. Great, another American, she thought to herself. She busied herself cleaning up the breakfast mess while Trudy gave Eddie the grand intro. "And that's Patricia Williamson. She's one of the students here, only she's taking a break from school for a while. She takes classes online now, and since you'll be starting tomorrow, maybe you two can keep each other company?"
Patricia looked up at the two as Trudy gave them both a smile and went off upstairs again. Eddie made his way over to Patricia. She had to admit that he was kind of cute. "Hey," he said in his American accent. "I'm Eddie, and you're Patricia?" The redhead looked up at him.
"That's me," she simply said. "So, why'd you move here?" Eddie laughed for a brief second.
"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you," he answered while running a hand through his hair. Patricia put down the dish she was holding and crossed her arms.
"Try me." The blonde nodded, crossing his arms as well and studying the girl.
"Fair enough I suppose. But tell me first, are you always this way? Demanding, nosy, adorably bitter?" Patricia rose an eyebrow when he called her adorably bitter. Was he flirting with her on his first day at this school?
"Yes, and before you continue you're semi lame attempt at flirting you should know I have a boyfriend." The redhead went back to washing dishes as Eddie watched her do so, taking notice of her every move. Eddie shrugged, somewhat surprised and yet not really surprised at all.
"Oh, you thought that was flirting? Nah, that's just how I am," he said slyly. "Here, let me help you with those." She didn't object, and they actually made a little small talk while doing the dishes together. Eddie told her where he was from and talked a little bit about life in America before coming here. Patricia told him what Anubis was like, and how the school was. She even went as far as to tell him about each of their house mates' personalities.
"Jerome's an ass. That's all you need to know about him. Nina's a bitch after what she did today…" Eddie stopped her right there.
"Whoa, wait what happened today?" Patricia sighed, combing her fingers through her hair.
"There was a fight right before you got here. It was with Joy and Nina over something insulting Nina had said about me. No big deal, really…" the red haired girl didn't really want to talk about this anymore, but Eddie still had questions.
"What could she have possibly said?" It was now or never, right? He would find out soon anyways so why not just tell him now? The girl huffed and stepped away from the counter to show Eddie her stomach. She even lifted her shirt just a tad to show her belly. Eddie suddenly realized what Patricia meant. "You're pregnant?" She nodded. "That's what she did? She made fun of you for getting pregnant?"
"In a way, yeah." The two finished the dishes and walked into the living room and sat down. Eddie tapped his fingers on his leg thinking of what to say.
"Well then I'd say she is sort of a bitch after that. I mean seriously, that's not okay." Eddie was right. It wasn't okay for Nina to say that at all. Meanwhile as Patricia and Eddie talked, Fabian was determined to talk to Nina at school.
Nina was actually the one to walk up to Fabian and say hi. The brunette ignored her at first, still furious with her for this morning. "So you're ignoring me now?"
"Nina, what you said this morning was completely unacceptable! You went too far, and you know that. I don't think I can be friends with you anymore if you can't respect my girlfriend. She doesn't even want me talking to you because she feels like she can't trust you and after what you said, she certainly doesn't like you anymore than she did before." Nina sighed, leaning against the wall.
"I'm sorry Fabian, I really am." It was the boy's turn to sigh.
"You might want to tell that to Patricia instead." His locker door shut tightly when he closed it, picking up his bag. Before he could turn to leave Nina stopped him by grabbing his shoulders and kissing him right on the lips. Fabian was in total shock; so in shock that he didn't see the bright white flash from down the hall as he put his hands on Nina's arms to push her away. She took off down the hall without another word. "Nina!" Fabian yelled after her but she just kept running.