First and foremost, I would like to do something I did not do last chapter, which was apologizing. I am very sorry for the inconvenience with my delay of the posting of the second chapter. It is just that it was difficult for me to upload. I have created a new method when posting chapters so I pray it works.
Next, I understand the last chapter did not appeal to you as much. So this chapter will be the BOMB.
I hope.
~IfWritersCouldSpeak~
Mara was my roommate.
I know. But if I had decided I wouldn't surprise myself with my roommate placement and had read the
paper, I would not have been as shocked or petrified.
Obviously, she had known.
She was sitting in her room, cross-legged, wearing silk pajamas and a sleep mask on her forehead. "Hi, Roomie."
I just stood at the door.
She waved me in, "Come on in. Don't be scared."
I stepped towards my bed, where my night clothes were laid out neatly.
"Yet."
I froze, inches from my bed. I turned towards her, taking her in. She brown eyes and hair stood out in her dark colored clothing. Her olive skin was revealed from her sleeveless top, and her muscles tensed every time I felt she was ready to pounce on me like a kitten.
Which was a lot.
"Sit, sit," she commanded.
I fell against my bed, sitting straight.
"Nina," she purred sweetly, "you're new so you don't understand things just yet." She tossed her phone to me, and I flipped through pictures of the Anubis residents. "I want to help you out.
"Mick and Amber are together," Mara began. "Amber is in love with him, and he just likes her. She is a fellow member of the squad who loves to shop, and hates learning. Mick is the star of practically every sports team. He hates learning as well. The second power couple of the school is always the dumbest." She stopped letting me soak it all in. "You ready for couple number two?"
I couldn't respond before she started again, "Joy and Jerome. J and J. My ex-" she snarled, "-but he made her happy, and so, I stopped plotting revenge." She tapped the phone, showing pictures of them on a beach, watching the sunset. "Amber and Patricia are great spies.
"Jerome Beatrice Clarke is an arrogant, selfish, 'comical,'" she put air quotes around "comical", "boy who comes from a very troubling past. Don't ask, don't tell.
"Joy Claudia Mercer comes from a wealthy family in central London. She is a cheerleader, my Beta, who dates the prankster. She used to love Fabian, but she got over it-"
"How?" I interrupted. I regretted it. She narrowed her brown eyes at me.
"Because she had to." Her muscles relaxed. "Besides, Fabian didn't even like her anyway, he had his eyes on someone else."
I was smart enough not to ask.
"And, finally," she stated, "Fabian and I. We've been together for seven months, twenty-three days, and nineteen hours. He is a shy, geeky, nerd who I love. He loves history- mainly Egypt and Greek- and music. He can play the guitar-"
"Does he sing?" Strike one.
"No," she replied.
"Not even to you?" Strike two. Her muscles began to tense, and showed no signs of relaxing. But before I could get my strike three, Victor stopped me.
"It's ten o'clock, you have five minutes, precisely, and then, I want to be able to hear a pin… drop."
"Does he do that every night?" I questioned.
Mara turned to me, "Yeah, anyone up after light's out, is our breakfast."
I hope I don't sleepwalk tonight.
Breakfast the next morning was uneventful.
Cricket. Cricket.
I didn't think so. But, hey, at least I wasn't served.
Patricia greeted me sweetly, as usual, while the others gave me grunts. Amber, Joy and Mara were never there for breakfast since cheerleading practice was held in the mornings.
"'Morning," I called, grabbing my usual of an apple, a piece of toast and peanut butter, and a glass of orange juice.
I sat down at the head of the table, beside Patricia, and devoured my breakfast. At first, everyone was shocked at my appetite, but now, my American way of eating has no affect on him or her.
Fabian trudged in, grabbing his forehead, as he headed for an ice pack.
"What's wrong, Rutter? Trying to find ways to torture yourself?" Jerome teased. Fabian tensed before Jerome clapped him on the back. "Chill man. Dang, you need to step anyway from those textbooks, you can't take a nerd joke."
"Ha-ha," Fabian mused, before exiting with his ice pack.
I was the kind of person who would stay out of people's lives. I wouldn't go near then if I knew they were going through something rough. But the way he was acting way too familiar, and I couldn't stand by and let it happen.
"Patricia."
"Hm?"
"What does Fabian do in the morning?" I asked.
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I mean, obviously he wakes up, eats, showers, changes, and goes to school but, ever since about four weeks ago, he has been acting different."
"You, mean since the beginning of the year?" I questioned, bewildered. Yeah, I had come late to school, missing the first three weeks.
She nodded, "I think it was because of Mara." She took a deep breath, "I think…" she inhaled, "I think she broke him."
I took in her words. "What do you mean, 'broke'?"
She inhaled deeply again, "I mean, she, she broke him on the inside. She took a light-spirited, young, jolly, sweet boy, and turned him bitter. He doesn't talk much anymore; he's more reserved than he used to be. But that changed last week."
"What happened last week?"
She smiled, "You showed up."
I gaped, no words forming.
"You dropped out of the sky like a raindrop, and fell on him. I heard Joy talking to Mara, reassuring her that the way Fabian acted towards you was nothing more than friendliness. But, see, Fabian started treating even his best friend, differently. Mick was terrified, running to us, screaming, begging, us to bring back his friend. We all tried, desperately. We all thought Joy could crack him, bring him back to himself. But even she failed."
"I thought Joy and Fabian didn't go out," I countered.
"They didn't, they were best friends. Family friends, they lived down the street. Fabian is just as rich as her, and everyone else in Anubis minus Jerome."
"And me," I silently added.
"Fabian acted more as a friend to you than he has to any of us in the past month, and I've known him since when we were twelve." Patricia explained. "I think, you're… you're his only hope Nina."
I was stunned, and I was about to respond when a cry broke through. I turned around, to see Fabian leaning against the wall.
"Fabian!" I screamed, running towards him. I gripped his arm, with intentions to drag him to his bed and call Trudy, but his brain wasn't thinking like mine. He grabbed me, and he leaned onto me. I wrapped an arm around his waist, to guide him, and his was around me. I pulled him towards his room, and Patricia had finally caught up, and opened the door for us.
I gently slid him into bed, and tucked him in. I pushed some hair away from his forehead, that I felt was burning up.
"Fabian?" I asked. He grunted, signaling he heard me. "Fabian, I'm going to get Trudy."
"No," he begged, gripping my arm. "Don't go. I won't let you." My eyes sprouted tears at that moment, I had said the same thing to my mom the last time I saw her.
"I promise, I'll be back," I whispered. "Just count to ne hundred, and I'll be back with help."
He wouldn't start counting; he wouldn't listen, so I started.
"One… two… three…."
"F-Four…." he stammered. "Five… Six…."
He closed his eyes around ten, so I silently left, and turned around, about to call Trudy.
But before I could yell her name, I was met with a surprise.
Mara Jaffary.
And she saw all she needed to.
That I just walked out of her boyfriend's bedroom.
Dun. Dun. DUHHHHHHH. So I hope that shocker at the end was sufficient enough for you. Also, I make a promise.
I hereby promise to update by or before the specific posted at the end of each chapter, unless I have a majorly important reason why I could not complete my task.
Next Chapter: December 20th 2013.
Also, I have a new story I Am Not Perfect for fashion's challenge. I will update that as soon as tomorrow I hope.
I hope you like it, and still like me, through my awful updateness.
See you on the 20th!
~IfWritersCouldSpeak~