A/N - If I don't finish this chapter before Thursday, May 2nd, I give you all full permission to hit me.

...I realize that I made a mistake last chapter. I said it was Sunday, September 16th - just pretend I said Monday, September 17th. Hey; I'm human. I make mistakes. So, um, just pretend that it wasn't a Sunday and that Julianna made a stupid mistake. c: (Spell Check is saying I spelt my name wrong. Sorry, honey, I think I spelt it right.)

Well, the couples in this story include: Fabian/Nina (obviously), Jerome/Mara, and some slight Alfie/Amber, Patricia/Eddie, and even less Joy/Mick. How, you are wondering, are the people on Team Fabian going to meet the others on Team Nina? Well, you'll have to wait a few chapters to see... ;) I have this whole story planned out, from chapter 1 to the final chapter, 26. I decided that there won't be an epilogue, so the final finishing date is going to be Friday, September 6th, 2013 - but there might be a two week break in the summer, since I'm going to a sleepaway camp, but I'm going to try to prewrite those chapters and I'll try to update from my phone - anyhow, so far, the date I have for the last chapter is 9/6/13.

After Lost & Found, however, I'm going to be publishing a new Peddie multichap that should be up by September 22nd, 2013. That will have 19 chapters (I'm big on planning), and that will end in late January 2014. Just some extra info, so if you like Peddie, it's going to be another AU, but this time all Peddie centric. c:

DISCLAIMER: Well, I changed my name to Nickelodeon, but I still don't own House of Anubis. I haven't heard from Jerome in two weeks, so I presume he's either dead, taken captive by a band of gypsies, or under arrest and is in trial right now. Hopefully, he's got the papers.

Nina
Chapter 8: "The Bully"

"Wake up..."

"Shut up, Eddie, I'm trying to sleep."

"Uncle Eddie's not here, mommy..."

I opened my eyes to find my two-year-old daughter shaking my side at the foot of my bed. I smiled, reached over to pick her small body up and placed her on the other side of my twin bed. "No, Emma, Uncle Eddie isn't here," I told her, leaning back against the headboard. I muttered to myself, "Thank God."

"Grandma sent me!" Emma exclaimed, throwing her small hands up into the air. My Gran was actually Emma's great-grandmother, but Gran didn't want a reminder of how old she was getting, so Emma calls her "Gran" along with me.

I sighed, already knowing what time it was. It seemed like an eternity ago when school started, but it was only thirteen days ago. It hasn't even been two weeks. I sucked in a deep breath of air, placed Emma back on the carpeted floor, and held her hand as we descended the stairs. Our house wasn't huge, considering only three people lived in it.

Gran came out of the kitchen holding two bowls filled with milk. She gave one to the cat, Luna, who I swear was a robot sent from the future to ruin my life, and set one down on the table, in my seat. I usually made myself breakfast, but since I was a late riser today, Gran had the opportunity to make breakfast for the first time in months.

I sent Emma into the den to play with the cat, and started to quickly suck down the cereal. I would have to catch the bus in a few minutes, and my hair still wasn't brushed, my clothes weren't on, and my teeth still smelled like I'd been chewing on horse dung.

After the milk was all sucked down, I bounded up the stairs to pick out a t-shirt and jeans. I brushed my teeth for two minutes precisely, gathered my school bags, and ran out for the bus stop, the school bag bouncing along behind me.

Panting, I arrived at the bus stop, and Mara steadied me. She scolded me for running that far, but I ignored her and looked around the corner for the bus, which was about to arrive at its destination. Mara pulled a book out of her bag, and I saw that it was Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone.

"Mara, I think you've read that book about a bajillion times," I laughed, carefully removing the book from her grasp. Mara gasped, trying to reach for it, but I stuffed it into my own bag.

She frowned, faced me, and announced, "I've only read it thirteen times, for your information."

I stiffled a laugh, but found I could ask her, "How many times have you read the entire series?"

I heard her mutter, "Nine..." But before she could say anymore, Eddie ran up from his house to the group. Other than Eddie, Mara, and myself, there were only two other people: Melanie and Kyle, who were twins who lived down the block. I didn't talk to them all that much, since I spend most of my time with Mara and Eddie. I told the blonde about how Mara was reading Harry Potter again, and he commented with, "God, Mara, isn't this like the bazillionth time you've read it?"

"Ninth!"

xXx

We had to say our farewells once the bus pulled up to Callina Academy, but we saw each other again at lunchtime. Mara, being the perfectionist she is, showed up early; I walked into the cafeteria fifteen seconds before the bell rang; but Eddie was nowhere to be seen, even two minutes after the period started.

Mara sucked in a long breath of air before taking her sandwich out of the bag and taking a large bite of peanut butter. She looked at me before she said, "Have you done anything about Fabian?"

I shook my head no, but Mara tilted her head to the side. She was smarter than me; she could see right through my lies. Instead of saying the truth, I shrugged and indulged myself in the soup sitting in the soup sitting in front of me.

"Nina..." Mara muttered, but I ignored her. I didn't want to talk about my situation with Fabian to her; she wouldn't understand. It was all so complicated; I knew that my relationship with Fabian would never be anything more than parents who were separated. He was a famous singer, living out his dream without a care in the world for relationships, and I was a struggling high school student. I would ruin his image and reputation.

When I saw Mara turn back to the first Harry Potter book, I sighed and grabbed my MP3 player out of my bag. My soup was taking an eternity to cool down, so I decided to leave it be while I listened to some music - Eddie was still hesitant to show his face for reasons unknown. The first song that came up on Shuffle was Taylor Swift's song, Untouchable.

"Untouchable like a distant diamond sky; I'm reaching out and I just can't tell you why; I'm caught up in you...I'm caught up in you."

I couldn't tell you how many times I listened to that song throughout my pregnancy and Emma's life. It explained my life so well; wanting to have someone I could never, ever have. No one in the world would believe me if I said that Emma was the daughter of a famous singer. They'd tell me I was just looking for attention, while in reality it would be the truth.

Mara and Eddie still believed that I hadn't done anything about Fabian since I figured out he was the father of my child. I always wanted to do something; like approach him at a signing or something, and when he saw my face, he would know who I was; but I could never gain the courage to do so. I let Fabian slip through my fingertips countless times, until one day I had to let him know what he did, and what the effects were. He couldn't live without knowing he had a daughter forever.

"Untouchable, burning brighter than the sun; and when you're close, I feel like coming undone.

"In the middle of the night, when I'm in this dream, it's like a million little stars spelling out your name. You gotta, come on, come on...say that we'll be together. Come on, come on, little taste of heaven.

"It's half full, and I won't wait here all day. I know you're saying that you'd be here anyway. But you're untouchable, burning brighter than the sun; now that you're close, I feel like coming undone."

"Damn," Mara muttered, closing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and placing it down on the lunch table.

I laughed, cocking an eyebrow at her surprise. "What?" I questioned, "Were you not expecting Snape to be such a douchebag to Harry?"

She narrowed her eyes in resentment towards me, but she brushed it off quickly and responded with, "No. Our lunch break is almost over and Eddie hasn't shown his face once. He loves food. You know his attraction towards hogies..." Mara released a shiver, probably remembering the name Eddie was eating his hogie over Mara's lap and got meat all over her dress. "Unless he's playing a game of hide and seek, I don't know where he could be."

"Dunno," was my response, shoving another spoonful of soup into my mouth and trying to ignore how my tongue felt like it was being sent to the depths of hell. I scanned the cafeteria quickly, and Mara was right: Eddie was nowhere to be found. I pushed myself out of my chair and asked for a pass - he might have been stuck in class or something.

I turned the corner, only to find Eddie sitting on the ground, liplocked with someone. I couldn't see their face correctly, but once I asked, "Eddie?" I saw who it really was.

Eddie was snogging Patricia Williamson, the girl who didn't care about anyone in the world except for Joy Mercer. She was cruel, not only to me, but to Mara and Eddie, and everyone else in the school. She was cruel and selfish, not caring that I took offense to the "Sophomore Slut" jokes she'd been making for three years straight.

Patricia had been cruel to Eddie as well. What was this bullshit - why was he kissing her in secret? I would've bet that Patricia pressured him into it. Eddie and Patricia never had any contact at all, apart from when she targeted someone out in the hallway. In fact, I distinctly remembered Eddie telling me that he despised Patricia Williamson from the first day he met her.

I was too shocked to say anything. Eddie removed his mouth from Patricia's, and gaped when he saw me standing there. His hazel eyes stared into my green ones, and I saw an apology lurking in them. He had an explanation, but I didn't want to stick around to hear it. He started to stand up, much to Patricia's annoyance, but he stood up and held his hands up in surrender.

I didn't know what to feel. I felt like my emotions were seated on a roller coaster that had multiple loops - at first I was shocked, then I was upset, then angry, confused, annoyed, and betrayed. It was always Mara, Eddie, and Nina. Just the three of us, living the high school life together. We depended on each other for multiple things, like how he was Emma's babysitter, or how I helped him clean his room whenever he was too lazy to do it.

I walked back into the cafeteria, hearing Patricia talk to him, and sat back in my seat across from Mara.

She must have asked me what was wrong, but I ignored her as I focused my attention on a crack in the wall. I was trying to think of anything other than what I just saw. I refused to believe that Eddie was in a secret relationship with Patricia Williamson - it just didn't add up. He didn't speak of her at all when we were alone; and we were alone a lot. After all, he was basically Emma's uncle.

I took in a deep breath of air and tried to forget. Even if he was - I shuddered at the thought of it - dating Patricia, he was still my best friend. I still would have to depend on him for everything. He was my anchor, and I still needed him.

"Earth to Nina?" Mara cried, waving her hand in front of my face. She had obviously tried to catch my attention multiple times, but I was so caught up in the thought of Eddie snogging Patricia that I had completely ignored my other best friend. I apologized, and promptly started to tell her about what I just saw.

Mara's emotional range changed the same way mine did - like we were seated in the front row of a roller coaster, ready to approach the loop. Mara wore an expression of confusion when Patricia walked back into the cafeteria. I tried to ignore her as she sent me a glare, before sitting down in the table behind me, where Joy was already seated. Eddie never came back in.

"I don't understand," I finished, setting my hands on the table. Mara shrugged, obviously having no idea how to comfort me. Eddie always claimed that 'my emotional range during pregnancy never wore off' and I was still the emotional bitch I was from August 2009 to May 2010.

With Eddie still M.I.A, Mara and I struck up a conversation about music. Surprisingly, Mara brought up Fabian Rutter; she knew that I didn't like thinking about him most of the time. But what a lot of people didn't know is that Mara had actually always been a fan of Fabian's music from the start; she tries to play it down every time I remind her, but I knew she still had a crush on him. I didn't really care; Eddie's little sister had a better chance of getting Fabian for themselves than Mara or I did.

Our conversation about Fabian continued, and I had to resist the urge to tell Mara that I had been IMing the famous singer since August 7th. Mara would either think I was lying or aching for attention. I kept the subject quiet, but I couldn't do so when none other than Joy Mercer and Patricia Williamson walked over to our table.

"Joy dragged me over here," Patricia commented nonchalantly, like she was dreading being in the presence of the one and only Nina Martin.

I cocked an eyebrow at Joy, and her response was, "Look, I heard you two talking about Fabian Rutter. I know a lot of people think I'm 'obsessed' with him just because he's 'good looking', but I'm not. He's my role model, and I look up to him. He himself and his music means everything to me. And I just wanted to say that I'm sorry if I ever offended you because of how much I love him."

"I understand," I sympathized. Joy wasn't the only one who looked up to him; though I did so in a slightly different way. "He's a great person inside and out, right?"

Joy nodded, then left to go to her table. I thought that was a nice thing to do; apologizing for something stupid. Taking the blame that she was responsible. Unfortunately, Patricia stayed behind to have a little chat with me.

"I'm not saying I like him," Patricia denied, still on the topic of Fabian. "But what Joy said was true. I've never seen a person so affected by Fabian's music than her. You are an American git who thinks she has the right to like everything British, just because we have cool accents and attractive men. God, why did you even come to the UK in the first place? How about you just skeedadle on home to the United States and eat something."

I took a deep breath, trying to stop myself from strangling the redhead. Patricia had a nerve to pick with me ever since I moved here, and I wasn't sure why. Patricia would never tell me.

"I'm pretty sure Joy doesn't know anything about him," I stated simply, turning back to Mara. I didn't want to fight anymore than she did, and Mara covered her eyes when the teacher raised their voice to be heard over the loudspeakers.

Unfortunately for me and everyone else sitting around her, Patricia wasn't done talking with me. "Oh, and you do? How about you go back home to your daughter, you whore."

xXx

That was only the middle of the day when it happened.

I'd been holding myself back from doing anything rash all day. There were eight periods in the school day, and our lunch period was in the sixth. What Patricia said was lingering in my mind all day, and I couldn't get it out of my mind, even when I ran home and opened my laptop.

Hey, it's me. Are you there?

I sent the message to Fabian. Usually, he responded rather quickly, but this time there was no written reply. I waited a few minutes, but with no response back, I sent another message.

Fabian, I really need to talk to you.

I set the laptop down on my bed and walked over to Emma's crib, where she was taking an afternoon nap. Patricia called me a whore for having a daughter at sixteen - I'd been called many things, but the school had never resorted to "Whore". It hit me harder than I'd have thought. Was Emma going to have to grow up in shame, knowing that her mother gave birth to her when she was sixteen?

I was shaking as I walked back to the laptop. I felt like crying, but I knew that tears wouldn't help anything. My eyes were stinging as I listened to Emma's short breathing and waited for her father to reply. It must have been a good fifteen minutes with no response when I typed another message.

Are you out there? Look, I need someone to talk to. I don't know if you're there or not, but I need to talk to you.

Another ten minutes = no reply.

Someone called me a whore in school. Do you think I'm a whore? Did I make a mistake with you in the first place? Is that what I am to you: a mistake?

With no response from Fabian, knowing that he had emails sent to his phone as well, the tears started to fall. He was either ignoring me, or dead. Neither of the options were good. I was openly crying in my bedroom when I sent him the fifth message.

Fabian, please answer! I don't know where you are, but I need you to answer me. I need to talk to you. Please!

A tear slid down my face when the text underneath said "Unread". I needed to talk to the father of my child, and Fabian apparently fell off the face of the Earth. I covered my face with my hands in shame, trying not to think of the fact that I was actually crying.

I never cried. Not once. At least, not until Emma was born. During the pregnancy, I was in shock from the fact that I had actually gotten pregnant form that boy. I didn't even know his name; I had no way of finding him. I was too in shock to do anything; it wasn't until after May 25th, 2010, that I actually started crying.

Neither Gran, Mara, or Eddie knew how to comfort me. That boy, with the gorgeous blue eyes, wasn't there to support me and his child. I was left alone with the burden of a newborn daughter, with no other side to support her. I was alone, and I knew that. I wasn't open to anyone in school, except for Mara or Eddie, but even though they were in my house pretty much 24/7 after Emma was born, I still felt alone.

I felt the same way I did two years ago right now. Fabian always carried his phone around with him ("For safety reasons", he explained), so why wasn't he responding? The messages were sent, but he wasn't replying.

Please, Fabian.

No response.

I need you right now. Please talk to me.

Still no response.

Please respond.

I was already crying, but by now I could be compared with a water park. I was pretty sure my face was completely drenched in tears, because talking to someone who wouldn't talk back was so emotionally exhausting.

In the past month and a half, I had talked to Fabian everyday. We related on so many things, and grew closer than anyone could have ever imagined. He begged me for my phone number every day, but I was still reluctant to give it to him. I didn't want to feel like we were moving too fast; I had spent three years without Fabian at my side. If we were tore away from me, I'd feel like I gave in too quickly.

I was still suspicious, if I was being honest. Fabian was a famous and well-known singer around Liverpool and the rest of the UK. So many people knew who he was. After all, he could go on tour for a new album and leave Emma and I alone for more than a year. I didn't want to give him my phone number, because we'd be more attached. And I didn't want to grow attached.

I honestly did want to work everything out; just in a period of time. Taking baby steps. Fabian and I were friends as of September 17th, 2012, but nothing more. No one would believe me if I even claimed it was something more than friends. If we were "best friends" I'd probably get trashed by the media.

That was another thing I was worried about: the media. Those old men with cameras were so ridiculous and pathetic is was unbelievable. If I was seen in public with Fabian, even having the smallest hint of a smile on my face, media would take that the wrong way and make it out so it was something it wasn't. It would look bad on Fabian, and I would have to live with knowing I messed up his life.

I felt so lonely in the nine months I was pregnant with Emma. With no way to contact the boy I had met in the coffee shop, and Gran trying to work to support me and the upcoming infant, I was alone most of the time. Gran pulled me out of school after the delivery for a while, and rumors spread like wildfire. When I returned to the Academy, I was unwelcomed. Called names. Disrespected. All because I'd met an amazing boy in a coffee shop one night.

It was only when Mara told me about a new singer when I learned who Emma's father was. I looked him up, and sure enough: he was him, the boy whom I had sex with when I was fifteen. I hadn't seen his face in a year, heard his voice in a year, or talked to him in a year, just because he'd lived up to his name as "Mystery Boy" and never bothered to tell me his first name. Even the first name would have made my pregnancy bearable.

I had finally worked up the courage to send him a photo of Emma on August 6th. Fabian received the letter on August 7th, and that was the day we reunited and started our new relationship. I wasn't even sure where we were going, but according to Fabian in his latest interview, "it was a positive climb."

It felt so good to be around him again. To know that I was talking to the mother of his child...I felt whole. It killed me every time I had to look into Emma's eyes and see the same color I saw when I met him in the coffee shop . . . they were the same exact color.

"What are you writing?" I inquired, attempting to keep the conversation going.

"Song lyrics."

I realized that the boy sitting across from me definitely wasn't a people-person like me. He liked to keep to himself, so I knew he wouldn't give me more detail about the song lyrics he just told me about. "Tell me about them," I said. "What's the song about?"

He licked his lips, hesitating about telling me. "I'm not sure myself yet. I'm just trying to write a song."

His blue eyes were so beautiful. They weren't like the ocean, or the sky, but they were a shade of blue that only belonged to him. It was the Mystery Boy's blue, and it was the most beautiful shade of blue I had ever seen.

My phone rang in my pocket, bringing me back to Earth; I held it up, and the Caller ID read Eddie. I wanted to talk to him, to explain and work things out, but now wasn't the time. The person I wanted to talk to right now was Fabian, but he wasn't answering.

I presumed Eddie took the declination of his call the wrong way, because two minutes after that, he came slamming into my house, running up the stairs and enveloping me in a hug. As confused, shocked, and hurt as I was, I hugged back.

I wanted to have a real family hug, with my daughter of the father of said daughter, but if Eddie was the closest thing I had to father, he would have to do.

A/N - Yeah, kind of a filler chapter, so it was kind of boring. But next week, things will heat up, I promise! The story will reach its climax at the end of chapter 13, so that's coming up...

As you can obviously tell, I begin every chapter with "The". Since I have everything about this story planned out, I figured I'd release the names of every upcoming chapter; you'll have to figure out what they mean for yourself!

So, starting from 9) The Extension, 10) The Surprise, 11) The Concert, 12) The Account, 13) The Park, 14) The Denial, 15) The Threat, 16) The Note, 17) The Playdate, 18) The Outing, 19) The Rumor, 20) The Dinner, 21) The Reveal, 22) The Kiss, 23) The Confession, 24) The Flashback, 25) The Beginning, & 26) The Goodbye. How about telling me which chapter you're most looking forward to?

...I also published my first original work on FictionPress and I'm crying. I got a review (No, not a flame), but I'm literally too scared to see what it says. Like, oh my god, if I'm too scared to see a review from my own work, I need to get a life.

Okaaay! Next chapter will be up on May 10th, and the title is a little above this sentence! I hope you enjoyed this boring filler chapter, and I hope you have a sparkling day~

~Julianna