The quiet was really starting to aggravate him. Of course, Jerome reflected, if you had made plans with Alfie you could be in Spain right now. Snow started swirling in the wind outside, freezing the windows. How he hated the winter and the snow. It wasn't even really snow, it was the sludgy remains of what used to be snow mixed in with mud, or slosh. The sounds of thumping came from above, probably Nina. The cold leaked through the windows outside, the familiar sense of goose bumps following that. He gritted his teeth and tried to focus on his work.

It was pitiful that he has resolved to do homework out of boredom, what was worse was that he didn't get anything he had to do. Any equations splattered on the paper seemed to melt into a jumble of letters and words. Stupid math, he thought, with its dumb letters that make no sense.

He flung his pen across the room out of pent up boredom, satisfied to hear the crack of plastic. Hunger seemed to take over leading him to the kitchen. Trudy was nowhere in sight and Jerome groaned. Opening a cupboard, he grabbed a packet of ramen and cooked it. The whole Hollywood, mystified perception of boarding school was bullshit. Well, not in the holidays at least. No one in the house really made contact these days. Nina always stayed out of sight in her room as did Victor, and Trudy? She was always out with Uncle Ade, something that brought her home giggling like a school girl.

Alfie, the lucky idiot, was in Spain enjoying the weather, Patricia was somewhere with her family, Mara, well, she had made up with Mick. Their relationship was always doomed to fail. Jerome hated to admit it but Mara and Mick were actually perfect for each other. They may've been opposites but they understood that. It was only the distance that put strain on the relationship. If he had stayed she wouldn't have ever been able to fathom going out with Jerome. It was really all his fault for convincing himself he had a shot at her.

"Uh, Jerome? You just gonna stand there all day?" Nina's voice shocked him out of his reverie. She looked just as bored as he did. "Here, give me that, I'll make us ramen. You bored?" He stupidly realized that he had been gripping the packet of ramen, doing nothing with it. Smooth Jerome, very smooth. Dumbly, he gave it to her. She strode over to the cupboard and grabbed a packet for herself and started cooking.

"Take it Ramen's your specialty?" He teased. She flashed him an indignant smile and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "You know Jerome, if you're gonna tease I might just eat all this ramen for myself." And he didn't say anything as a retort. He was hungry and she was offering free food. He didn't want to ruin that. Now that he realized it, he felt comfortable talking to Nina, well, alone that is.

She had a pleasant personality and a backbone, one grudgingly grown from her constant little arguments with Joy. Good for her. And she was easy on the eyes, something that really creeped him out. To look at her in that way just seemed weird. Stop it Jerome, she belongs to Fabian. She did, but a little part of him wondered, did she really want to belong to Fabian? "…What do you think?"

"Huh?" The response was dumb sounding, and he prayed that she hadn't noticed. "I was saying, what do you think of the math homework?"

He rolled his eyes and gave her his signature look," I think he's a horrible person for giving us holiday homework, and even you, Nina Martin, know that it is an act of cruelty."

"I was just asking what you think of it, not your political views," she chided, a hint of humor in her voice. Their teasing verged dangerously on flirting, something that Jerome hoped on he noticed. It was fascinating to watch her cook, and it was just ramen. She treated the ramen as if it were a gourmet meal, for crying out loud. She was wearing a tank-top that seemed ridiculous in the cold and pajama pants. Somehow she seemed gangly, something he only noticed now, but she managed to pull it off. You're the one to talk Jerome, you practically scream gangly.

"Ramen's ready!" She exclaimed cheerily, unaware of his inner monologue.

"Wanna eat it at the table, I need to regain some sense of humanity," she nodded and mumbled a 'sure' before joining him. Their closeness felt a bit strange to him. He never really sat beside her, only Mara, and even with Mara it never was this uncomfortable. The steam from the noodles did something to calm his nerves, and the hunger helped him forget all about it.

"So," he asked between a mouthful of food," why'd you have to stay?"

"Oh," she started, dropping her fork," well, there were some complications with money and I was supposed to visit her but it just, I don't really know so I have to stay here for the holidays. How about you? Patricia told me that you always stay for the holidays, why?" He blanked. He wanted to tell her but he would be so much more of a freak if he did. Something about telling her felt right, like how he used to feel around Mara.

"I never go anywhere with my parents. Really, my dad and my mom work a lot and I can't really come with them so that's why I stay here." His emotions were building up, all of which he tried to clamp down. He couldn't let her see him weak, never. That would be horrible. He saw something sympathy flicker across her face and immediately knew something was coming for him, but she simply shoved more ramen in her mouth.

For a while they talked about mundane things, waiting for the ramen to finish. Once it did, he felt a reluctant to leave, mostly because he found talking to her genuinely enjoyable. He would never tell her that though. And so he set off doing his homework again, somewhat uplifted, the ramen still bubbling in him.

Ring, Ring

Jerome cursed himself for leaving his laptop open. It was Alfie, obviously calling him out of smugness, disguised as pity. "Hello?" He asked towards the screen. Skype always made him feel awkward, like he was talking to himself.

"How're you going?" Jerome rolled his eyes at Alfie's attempt of conversation.

"Bored, doing homework." Alfie's laugh echoed throughout the room. Really, there were times Alfie was an awesome person, but this was not one of those times. Honestly, Jerome wished he could punch Alfie, but he managed to restrain himself.

"Why don't you just pull a prank on Nina?"

"Patricia!"

"I'm sorry if my idea of fun doesn't coincide with yours, Piper!"

"Wait, why are the Williamson twins with you?"

"We're still here you know."

"Yeah, yeah, well?" Jerome waved his hand, dismissing them.

"Our families met up in Spain, we're hanging out." Patricia came into view and so did Piper. Jerome never wanted to admit it but those two were so eerily similar that sometimes he found it hard to distinguish the two.

"So you really think I should prank Nina?" Jerome asked, somewhat intrigued. Pranking Nina sounded fun, plus it would get all his feelings for her out of his system and he could resume being, well, Jerome.

"Blackmail Jerome, she does a lot of embarrassing things. Get some dirt on her and she'll practically become your personal slave." Piper slapped Patricia and gave her a,' Why-did-you-tell-him-that?' kind of look, to which Patricia rolled her eyes.

"Just don't be too mean Jerome!" Piper exclaimed," Nina's nice. I don't want her scarred permanently!" Jerome laughed at her meager attempts to stop him. It's not like he was heartless. He knew her limits and as well as his own.

"Ok, better go, we're going out to a fancy restaurant. Bye Jerome," After parting ways, Jerome felt strangely reluctant to prank her, but knew that if he didn't Patricia and Alfie would conspire against him. Yes, he had to assert his pranking expertise.

Thump,

There it was again. Nina was always making noise upstairs. Doing what? Jerome knew he had to investigate. Anything she did in there was bound to be somewhat embarrassing. He stealthily walked upstairs, ignoring the glare he receive from Victor who sat behind his desk like always, scowling. He wondered when the school would actually fire him. The thoughts dispersed when he neared her room. Music was pumping from inside the room.

Cha cha real smooth, turn it up!

He peaked his head in the door and saw her dancing, quite poorly, to the Cha Cha slide. She was so into it she barely noticed him. Jerome on the other hand was fighting the urge to laugh. He grabbed his phone and started recording her precious dance, still struggling not to laugh. After the song had finished, he waltzed into the room, finally free to laugh. "You are so precious," he commented, the laugh skewing his voice.

"What? Jerome! What are you doing here?" There was hysteria in her voice, and her face was distorted in fear.

"Oh, nothing, just checking out local entertainment. I just can't wait to share your talent with everyone," he shook the phone in front of her face and watched her gulp hard.

"Jerome!" She cried," Please don't do this!"

"Maybe Nina, maybe there's something you could do for me?"

There was a slight wince on her part, the words paining her. Jerome wanting something was bad, bad beyond belief. "What?" She asked in her angriest voice. He leaned down and whispered into her ear," Kiss me." His voice made her flush. Part of her wanted to tell him no. She was with Fabian and nothing could change that. Part of her wanted to kiss him though, and not just because of the video, but because her social life depended on this…

Her insides churned in her nervousness. "Aw, you're blushing," and that did it. She kissed him. He longed to pull her closer; he loved the taste of her lips, the taste of raspberry jam, something that was just so trademark Nina. The kiss was rough, and neither of them seemed to remember that the kiss didn't have to last. The lack of oxygen broke the kiss and they stared at each other, her arms still around his neck. Then there was the uncomfortable feeling of guilt.

"I-I think you should go Jerome," practically shoving him out of the room, he still couldn't get over the fact that he had gotten away with kissing her. The taste of raspberry jam lingered on his lips, a constant reminder of the passion. He wanted more but would never actually tell her that. And likewise, she would never tell him that she wanted more.

The days that passed afterwards were colder and the house sprung leaks almost everywhere. Rain battered the worn windows. Jerome and Nina didn't talk. None of them would give up the dignity to talk to each other and so they stayed suspended in that state of awkwardness.

All until the day he had to take the garbage out. It had been raining that day and he wasn't particularly thrilled with the chore but he did it anyway, finding Nina on the porch in the process. She looked like she had been crying. "Nina, you ok?"

She avoided his gaze by looking behind him. "It's nothing," she whispered.

Jerome sat down beside her and said," I may be a chav sometimes, but I know you've been crying."

She let out a dry laugh before starting," I told Fabian what he thinks of our relationship and he got all sensitive and… and he said it was best if we broke up." Fabian dumped Nina? For questioning their relationship? And people say I'm mean.

"Nina, it's ok." He stroked her back awkwardly, still remembering their kiss from a few nights ago. She looked up at him and smiled at how nice he was being.

"It's my fault though, I-"

"Nina, it was not your fault, Fabian was being… unreasonable. You deserve someone better." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"Thank you Jerome," She brushed her lips against his, smiling into the kiss when she noticed him frozen, "Thank you."

~0o0o0o0~

I know the ending was a bit crappy but I wanted it to be I guess? Eh, more like I was lazy.

Jara soon to come!

Kthxbai,

z3stygurl97