Sorry for the long wait! This is definitely my longest chapter so far, so that's why. It picks up where the last left off. Thanks to to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, gave ideas and all that good stuff.
This chapter is dedicated to Jill, Precious, Maria, Nelson and Jenc0449. (Please go read Opposites Attract, it's AWESOME!) Here's the chart:
Nina plays Mick/Fabian plays Mara/Patricia plays Jerome/Amber plays Fabian/Mick plays Patricia/Mara plays Alfie/Jerome plays Amber/Alfie plays Nina
I do not own House of Anubis
Jerome and Alfie sat down at the table with Fabian and Mick. "Good morning." Jerome said.
Fabian and Mick looked at each other, before responding in unison. "Good morning." It wasn't so strange that he acknowledged them, but the cheerfulness in his tone made them wonder what he was up to, knowing it could be no good.
"So Mick," Jerome began, causing him to look up slowly.
"Yeah?" Mick's words came out almost uneasily, as if he knew what was coming.
"How's Patricia doing?"
While Jerome smiled, Mick froze up, wide-eyed.
Fabian narrowed his eyes. "Don't be like that, Jerome."
In response, he got defensive. "It's not like it's my fault he has commitment issues."
The sound of clicking heels -Patricia's poetic license- signaled her arrival once again. Mick's eyes darted in the direction of the table.
"It takes me, like, three hours to get ready looking like you." Patricia exaggerated while complaining to Jerome. "How do you manage such style in so little time?" Although she didn't have an answer for her own question, she told Jerome: "I will find out. Just watch me."
At that moment, Nina came in, looking slightly annoyed. "Who's keeping the schedule here?"
Instead of responding to her teasing, he looked at Mick. "You've created a monster." He chuckled in reply, just barely.
"I wanna train." Nina practically whined, making Fabian turn his attention back to her.
He teased back: "I can tell."
"You know, even I need to breathe sometimes." Mick told Nina. Fabian wasn't sure he was talking about training when he said that.
"Yeah? Well, I bet with all the time you've spent breathing lately, your hamstrings are really tight." Nina said. "How do you expect to play today?"
To everyone's surprise, Mick shrugged that off. "Maybe I won't."
As the others were talking, Patricia realized something. She mumbled: "You're in my seat, Slimeball."
"Sorry, Trixie." Jerome said, as he got up and moved to his own seat, spinning her chair around a full 360 degrees -in a very suave manner- before doing so.
From where she was standing then, Nina leaned over in Alfie's direction and whispered: "Am I the only one who noticed he rolled his R's?"
"No, you're not." Mick answered for him, making Fabian and Patricia look at each other, as confused as Alfie and Nina were. They hadn't heard a thing.
Mick knew Jerome had only done that to get under his skin. He couldn't imagine what Patricia thought of it. She didn't even react, positively or negatively. Mick couldn't figure out if that meant she was speechless or unimpressed.
The first thing Joy saw when she got downstairs was the confused expression on her best friend's face. It was caught on tape, with the cherry red video camera she decided to carry around when she and her housemates weren't in school.
"What's with her?" Amber asked, being the only person to see Patricia trying not to blush.
Joy shrugged as the two girls took their seats. Mara was the last person to come down, trailing slowly behind Joy and Amber.
Patricia's puzzled look changed to a sneaky one that Mara returned. It was time for everyone else to be confused.
"What's that look about?" Alfie asked. He got his answer when the group heard a short scream coming from the laundry room.
Seconds later, Trudy shuffled into the room, holding Corbierre awkwardly. At the same time, Victor came stomping downstairs holding a yellow duck stuffed animal.
Patricia laughed and looked over at Mara, who sheepishly admitted: "It was the closest thing I had." She followed that admission up with a giggle.
"You two did this?" Trudy asked, while she and Victor traded animals. She was on the brink of laughter herself.
No one in the house thought Victor was even capable of laughter.
While the girls smirked proudly and the others laughed, they were almost positive they saw smoke leaking from his ears.
"Oh, don't be mad, Victor. The girls are only playing their part." Trudy told him.
"Yeah, you're not seriously gonna punish us for a harmless prank." Patricia agreed.
"What would you make us do?" Mara asked. Then, sarcasm snuck into her speech. "Scrub the toilet, that's original."
In response, Victor mumbled angrily as he walked away, but everyone else -even Fabian, who was still mad at her- was hysterical then. Alfie gave Mara a proud high-five.
"Quit that!" Jerome ordered, after Alfie let out another very Nina-like scream while they were standing by their lockers.
"Sorry, just a little paranoid." Alfie's answer made Jerome raise his eyebrows.
He chuckled. "You are Nina."
"I have a good reason." Alfie insisted, as he flipped through the pages of the packet in his hand.
"Yeah? I can't wait to hear this."
Alfie lowered his eyebrows. "How would you react if some stranger put a twenty-seven page love letter in your locker?"
"Twenty-seven?" Jerome repeated.
Alfie nodded. "If I ever figure out who wrote me this, I have to ask them what kind of stapler they use."
Jerome shook his head, laughing. "I don't see why you're paranoid." He joked: "Someone loves you. Must be terrifying."
"You're terrified of love." Alfie said.
"Shut up. Oh, and did you ever consider that that could be from Amber? Does Fabian write Nina love notes?" Jerome asked, making Alfie shrug.
"How should I know?"
Another thought crossed Jerome's mind. "Well, this could be another one of Mara and Patricia's pranks. What reason do you have to be terrified of them?"
Alfie didn't have to think about that. "Well, Patricia's pretty-"
"Yes she is." Jerome interrupted.
"What?" Alfie and Patricia asked at the same time.
The boys turned to find her standing behind them. For a second, she felt like her shoes were stuck to the floor.
"What?" Jerome asked, innocently. "You are." Patricia did her best to hide her smile.
Not all that far -but out of earshot- behind Jerome, Alfie, and Patricia, Fabian and Mick were walking and talking. "Amber asked me to give her guitar lessons." Fabian said to Mick. As he said this, the two had a perfect view of Jerome holding a door open for Patricia, who eyed him strangely but mirrored his flirtatious smile.
Fabian went to hold that same door for Mick, whose eyes lost their shine. That kind action proved pointless when Mick walked right into the door next to the one Fabian was holding open.
Fabian winced. He helped his best friend to his feet while telling him: "You skipped a step. Either that, or you thought you gained superpowers and could phase through solid objects."
Mick shook his aching head at the comment, but laughed anyway. The laugh sounded forced.
When the five reached the end of the hallway, the others were waiting for them. They had to stop short. "Guess what?" Nina asked.
Knowing no one would actually give a guess, Amber filled them in. "We've spotted the enemy."
"What?" All five said this in unison.
"Ms. Robinson's fiancè came to visit her today." Joy explained. Mara motioned for them all to peek around the corner.
When they did, they found a tall blonde, listening intently to whatever Ms. Robinson was saying. Neither of them seemed to notice the world around them.
"So, does our enemy have a name?" Fabian asked.
"Stan Hollis." Amber spat in reply. "Those without souls don't deserve names. Not even boring ones."
The others couldn't help but laugh at her comment. "That ever-present smile is so creepy." Jerome thought aloud.
"Yeah." Amber agreed. "It's only cute when I do it."
"Honestly, Ms. Robinson, we don't know what you see in him." Amber said.
"Probably because you don't know him." The woman was trying to figure out how she managed to get herself stuck in this conversation, sitting outside with the girls of Anubis house during lunch. She went on anyway. "Most people get congratulations for an engagement. Instead, I get criticism?"
"We can't help it." Patricia answered.
"We know it's a little childish-"
"A little?" Ms. Robinson interrupted Mara. Joy and Nina looked at each other, wondering who should voice the thought they were all thinking. They reached the conclusion that it would be more effective coming from both of them.
"We just don't trust him."
"Based on what?" Ms. Robinson asked, trying to stay calm about the situation.
"Bad vibes." Amber told her. "Plus, if you marry him, your initials will spell 'EH'."
"You mean when I marry him." Ms. Robinson corrected. "And what does that mean?"
Nina seemed to be the only one on Amber's wavelength, being that they were best friends. Together, they explained: "You know, eh…" They moved their hands up and down at the wrists while making disgruntled faces, signifying that Stan wasn't too great, and she wouldn't be either if she were to marry him.
Spotting Mr. Winkler a good distance away, she motioned to him. "Going by that logic, if I married him like you all want me to, my initials would spell 'EW'."
Mara was actually the first to lower her eyebrows at that statement. "Ms. Robinson..." Her voice lowered as she continued: "There is absolutely nothing 'ew' about that."
Nina chuckled dreamily in agreement. "Definitely not."
Fabian and Mick cleared their throats simultaneously, making the girls realize that they were standing virtually right next to them. Nina seemed embarrassed. "Oh, sorry guys, didn't see you there."
"Uh-huh." Their chorus of voices was flat.
"Hey, Patricia!" Jerome called out from where he and Alfie were standing.
"What?" She asked this seeing that he had no intention of coming over to where she was to say whatever was on his mind.
In answer, he just winked.
She looked around at everyone else awkwardly, while Alfie just laughed. He warned: "You're pushin' it."
Fabian was the only one to notice Mick clench his fists and bite his tongue.
When the school day was over, Mick suited up and headed out to the field.
By some miracle -even with him neglecting his training to stay in character- he was still able to play. Once the game was underway, he caught sight of a familiar face.
"Fancy meeting you here." Nina greeted, making him laugh.
It didn't take long for Nina to become the star player, and she didn't even look like she was trying. The offense knew to just stay out of her way, and the defense couldn't even touch her. This was her game.
Mick's initial shock was over the fact that when Nina said she made the team, she meant the boys' team, but that didn't really surprise him once he gave it some thought.
Neither did the fact that she went for the winning goal and made it. The way she went about doing that surprised him, though. Being who she was, Nina couldn't help but do everything with style.
She made the crowd go insane with a perfectly executed bicycle kick.
With the way Fabian and Amber cheered, it seemed they were trying to out-scream each other. The goalie looked like he didn't know whether to punch her in the face or ask her out.
Mick looked toward the stands to see that they were packed -and had to admit to himself he was jealous since he never got that much attention- but that wasn't the only thing he saw.
Even with all the excitement, Jerome managed to hand Patricia a small teddy bear, wordlessly. By the look of it, it definitely fit her personality: black with red devil horns, but angel wings as well. To both Jerome and Mick's surprise, the first thing she did was grab it and hug it. Then she gave Jerome a playful but strong shove and rolled her eyes.
It only took about five seconds for Mick to see that happen. The same five seconds it took for his teammates to run across the field and lift Nina onto their shoulders, knocking him over in the process.
He wished he hadn't gotten in Joy's shot. When they watched the game on tape, all Mick wanted to see was Nina demolishing the other team. He didn't want to suffer through the humiliation he felt all over again.
Class was in session for Amber when everyone got back to the house. Fabian didn't have to tell her twice to get 'her' guitar.
She hadn't been expecting an audience, but the others gathered in the living room. They all thought of this as the perfect way to wind down after the game.
Everyone watched as Amber slowly caught on to what Fabian taught her. Every time she hit a wrong note, she wouldn't whine, finding that very unfitting for Fabian-like behavior. She just kept at it, like it was her passion.
Her performance turned Patricia into her number one fan. Although, she doubted she'd ever say that out loud. Instead, she whispered to Nina: "She actually sounds… decent. Amber!"
Amber had a pop star face, and the pop stars Patricia was thinking of would never even bother to pick up a guitar.
She didn't know why Nina glanced at Mick before answering: "You'd be surprised."
Patricia would have asked Nina to elaborate on that, if it weren't for Jerome getting up from his seat and walking over to her. She probably wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't gotten down on one knee.
"What is this, a proposal?" Patricia joked flatly, scoffing. Since she had mixed feelings over all of this, she figured she might as well show them. Maybe that would get Jerome too confused to carry on with whatever game he was playing.
"No." He told her: "I just thought you could use something to go with the other one." As he said this, he took her hand and slid a ring onto her finger. Then, he took his seat again, before she could express her gratitude. Or laugh in his face.
She looked at Nina incredulously. She could only shrug, just as confused.
Mick swallowed a sigh and let himself get lost in the music.
"Can I ask you something?" Amber looked up from the spot in the living room where she was still sitting.
She was supposed to be setting the table by that point, but playing Fabian let her get away with not doing that, so Jerome was taking care of it for her.
She nodded and -seeing the look on Alfie's face- actually stopped strumming and set the guitar aside.
Alfie did the opposite of what she expected, not bothering to sit down.
"What are we?"
Amber blinked, absolutely stumped by the question. She gave a shot at answering, regardless. "Um, human?" She honestly didn't know what he meant. He tried to clear that up for her.
"I mean, what are we to each other?" Alfie explained. "What's our label?"
"I didn't know we had a label." She said so slowly, and he seemed almost annoyed by that.
"Don't you think we should have one by now?"
Amber didn't see his point. "Not really, why?"
Alfie answered as if he'd been holding back for a long time: "I'm tired of the chase."
Amber had never heard Alfie talk that way. It was hard for her to come up with a reply. For a few seconds, it was as if she forgot how to speak.
"Are you saying… you're over me?" She said this in the same tone she used when she told Jerome her secret.
"No." Alife replied urgently, putting his hands up in front of him in an almost defensive manner. Then, as something dawned on him, he slowly brought his hands down.
When he spoke next, he used words he thought he'd never hear himself say: "But… maybe I ought to be."
Out of shock, Amber didn't answer. Alfie took her silence in another connotation, though. As far as he was concerned, she didn't care enough to argue. In reaction, he blurted out what he had really been holding back. Every repressed emotion he had poured into his tone of voice as he spoke.
"I am nothing to you! Why should you be anything to me?"
He walked away after that. At first, Amber just sat there, speechless and unable to move. Alfie went to his room, having lost his appetite.
Either that, or he was already full from all the disillusionment he'd been fed.
Amber never saw him the way he saw her, and he would just have to live with that. Just like she would have to deal with him forgetting about her. Though he thought that wouldn't be a challenge for Amber.
He stood perfectly still with his back leaning up against his bedroom door. Amber headed up to her room, having lost the drive to play. She tried to act as if nothing had happened.
What Alfie had just done was unheard of. He had defied the impossible. He had done something he had never even begun to consider: He gave her up.
He tried his best to smile about it. Amber did the same, but she found herself on the floor before she even made it to her room.
It was hard for them to smile through their tears.
By suppertime, both Alfie and Amber had mastered the art of pushing food around on their plates. They kept their heads down. Patricia was doing the same thing, trying to avoid looking at Jerome. She wasn't sure what he would do next, and wasn't sure if she wanted to know.
It wasn't pin-drop silent around the table though.
Fabian and Nina were whispering to each other. Their whispers started out sweet, but suddenly turned sharp. Joy was the first to notice, being that she was bored out of her mind and had nothing interesting to film besides them. Or at least, that's the reason she told herself.
The couple left the table in a huff.
Joy looked at Mara, who looked at Mick, and before they knew it, they were out of their seats and headed toward the hallway with the rest of their housemates to see what was going on.
They kept quiet, and tried to go undetected by the quarrelling couple. Joy kept her camera rolling.
"…I'm not saying you get on my nerves." That was the first thing they heard Nina say. "The situation does."
"Right." Fabian nodded. "That's convincing." His sarcasm was apparent.
"Look, I'm tired of this back-and-forth." In saying this, she made the others look at each other questioningly. How long had this fighting been going on? Nina sighed heavily. "What are we doing?"
"I know exactly what we're doing." Fabian replied, meeting her eyes. "We're breaking up."
Nina didn't show any sign of weakness. She didn't show anything but a strangely proud anger, while the others held in gasps. She said: "Fine!"
"Fine!" Fabian echoed.
And then they kissed.
Not the typically expected Fabian and Nina kiss, either. One filled with such passion it was obvious that they didn't care who saw.
"Is anybody else as lost as I am?" Mick asked, knowing that even with their audience being obvious by that point, Nina and Fabian wouldn't break apart.
Joy nodded slowly in agreement, so speechless from shock she had almost dropped her video camera.
"What kind of a break-up is this?" Jerome asked.
"They're definitely doing it wrong." Amber said.
Mara gave a slightly sideways nod in reply, pondering that statement. "Unless they're aliens and that's normal where they come from."
Alfie had something to say about it, and it wasn't something the others expected him to say. "Or maybe they're just playing their part." Mick and Mara sent death stares his direction. He didn't seem bothered by it, and said to Mick: "It would be your turn now anyway, wouldn't it?"
"Turn?" The two repeated this in unison. Then Mick walked off to have a talk with his roommate, who had only broken apart from the kiss he shared with Nina just then.
"What?" Fabian asked, seeing the look on his roommate's face.
Mick hesitated a bit before he asked: "Were you making fun of us?"
"Would you feel better if I said it was Nina's idea?"
"Fabian!" Nina scolded, although she was giggling.
He laughed too. "Well, it was."
To their surprise, someone else laughed along with them. "He's laughing." Nina said, seeing that Mick's face was practically red.
"He's laughing." Fabian agreed, just as confused.
Mick's laughter stopped when he turned around to see Jerome holding a necklace out to Patricia. "In celebration of their… extremely awkward romance." As he put the necklace on for her, she mustered up the nerve to ask the question that had been rolling around in her head all day.
"Seriously, what are you trying to pull?"
"Nothing." Jerome replied, kissing Patricia's cheek.
Before she had a chance to react, Mick said: "Can I, uh, borrow him for one second?" He managed to keep calm.
Seeing the look on his face -although she didn't know what the reason behind it was- Patricia replied with: "As long as you don't damage him."
"No promises." Mick joked. Though he sounded quite serious to Jerome.
"Really?" Jerome asked Patricia, knowing he was about to be dragged away against his will. And having no clue what would happen afterward.
"I trust him." Patricia said, giving Mick a smile.
Mick couldn't smile. In fact, he didn't even feel that smile was for him.
He was standing in the living room with Jerome, fighting off the part of him that felt faint while he tried not to yell. For once. He didn't want an audience for what he had to say.
"I know this is fun for you, but you have to realize that I'm not the only one you're torturing here." Mick told Jerome. His next sentence was said as a sharp whisper. "Patricia's not even the one you like!"
Jerome froze. "What do you mean?" He asked this slowly, delaying the answer he was afraid to hear.
"I'm not as stupid as you think I am."
Without anything left to say, Mick walked away. Jerome just stared after him for a few seconds. Suddenly, his game wasn't fun anymore. He thought about apologizing, but didn't know who to go to first.
He surprised himself when -hours later- he was standing outside of Patricia, Joy and Mara's bedroom door.
But Patricia wasn't there. Just Mara, and Mick.
They both heaved frustrated sighs over the rough day they were having. Mara had been having rough days since her fight with Fabian. She didn't want to talk about that with Mick, though. She didn't want to talk about it with anybody. Mick couldn't talk about what was going on with him. Not if Fabian -the smartest person he knew, besides Mara- couldn't help him with his problem.
They looked at each other for a few long seconds, and then hugged. Relieved smiles spread across their faces as they held each other, and a thought crossed their minds.
Their smiles failed to falter as they spoke in unison: "I think we should break up."
They didn't know if they were making things easier on each other by doing that. They didn't know if they were even making sense. They both knew they hadn't lost a friend, though. They didn't even have to ask.
Jerome's mouth was hanging open as Mick walked out the door.
Mick and Mara's break-ups had never been mutual, it was pretty shocking. As was what Mick said next -before brushing past Jerome- with a sarcastic smirk on his face.
"Beat you to the punch line…"
Original A/N: Thanks for reading, please review! Favorite part? What did you find most shocking? Anything you wanna see happen? Let me know, I'll update ASAP!
Updated A/N: I'm kinda amazed by the juxtaposition of Mara and Patricia's prank with what Jerome puts Mick and Patricia through this chapter. One is totally harmless, and just gets some laughs while ruffling Victor's feathers. The other is - well, the first word that came to my mind as I reread this- vicious. I don't remember doing that purposely. Sometimes the story writes itself.