DISCLAIMER: I don't own House of Anubis.

Maybe she could walk faster and pretend she hadn't heard him. Maybe she could catch up to Fabian and KT and look like she was having an interesting conversation and he would just leave her alone. Eddie probably didn't associate with nerds like Fabian, and KT had recently been kicked out of his popular club, so Patricia doubted they were on speaking terms.

"Hey, wait up!" She pushed the front door open, letting the cool wind caress her face as he caught up. Okay, so there was no pretending he wasn't there now.

"What do you want?" she said quietly, looking up at him. Her little conversation with KT and Fabian had somehow fueled her, and she knew that running away now wouldn't help.

"Why were you talking to them?" Eddie raised an eyebrow, readjusting his backpack. Their shoulders brushed and Patricia scowled before moving as far away as she could while still remaining on the sidewalk.

"Why does it matter?" she retorted, and Eddie raised an eyebrow. Patricia was probably the strangest person he had ever known- she was a shy girl in school who did anything to stay out of the spotlight, but here, with him, she was a sassy, snarky, get-away-from-me kind of person. It was like she was battling between two personalities, and Eddie wasn't getting any closer to figuring her out. He didn't know who she really was- her sarcastic side seemed like a cover up while her quiet side seemed like a barrier.

"It doesn't," he shrugged, avoiding a fight. Fights always ended up with her running away. An uncomfortable silence fell over them both, but considering Patricia hadn't ditched him yet, he figured he was doing pretty well. "So…what's your favorite color?"

"My favorite color?" Patricia blinked, and he could tell she was obviously surprised at the random question. But the way Eddie saw it, anything was better than the silence. "I don't know, purple, gray, red, black, something like that."

"Not one for pink?" he teased, and she shot him a distasteful look. Okay, maybe that was a little too far for now. Teasing each other implied they were friends, which Eddie knew she disagreed with.

"Okay," Patricia said uneasily. "What's your favorite food?"

Eddie looked surprised that she had taken their little question game further, but answered anyway. "Hmm…pancakes. No, hoagies! No, pizza! Ugh, I can't pick." He shot her a smile that he hoped was charming, but she just scowled.

"Okay, my turn," Eddie hummed. "Um, what's your favorite song?"

She glanced at him warily for a moment, as if contemplating whether to tell him. "Odd One by Sick Puppies."

Eddie's eyes widened, about to say that he liked Sick Puppies too. Maybe this could be it, maybe they could bond over the love of the same band, and then maybe somehow, he could get to the point where she was sort of starting to open up to him, and then he could ask her out and she would say yes and they would have a date and then be done with it all.

"Okay, my turn," she said firmly before he could talk about Sick Puppies. "Why do you insist on hanging out with me?"

He gulped, "You're new, and I'm just helping you feel comfortable."

Patricia narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, well I don't see why you should be concerned. None of your friends are, especially not that girlfriend of yours." It was rude and harsh and nobody would expect it from her at school, but Eddie had grown accustomed to it. And he didn't object either- he didn't feel like standing up for Amber because she had stepped out of line today. The unspoken words lingered: Amber was the one that chased KT away.

"You didn't go after her," he said, tired of always being the bad guy between the two. "I never saw you go after KT, even though she was clearly defending you."

"KT and I already talked," Patricia seethed. "And we're both completely fine. And besides, haven't you known her longer? Why didn't you go after her?"

Because if I had I would've been kicked out too. Because I didn't want Amber to yell at me. Because I don't like seeing girls cry. Eddie could list so many reasons in his head, but each one sounded self-centered and he knew Patricia wouldn't appreciate it. So he remained silent as they reached their respective houses.

"Thought so," she chuckled lowly. "So, if you could just back off, yeah, Krueger?"

And with that, she stormed up to the door of her house.

Any other day, it would've been funny, being compared to a villain. Any other day, he would've corrected her about how it was Freddie Krueger andnot Eddie Krueger and then laugh at her stupidity.

But today, he just felt hurt.

"Eddie! Eddie! I need you to- oh, what happened?" Ms. Miller took in the look that graced her son's face. It was often hard to tell when Eddie was upset simply because he masked his feelings, but over time, Ms. Miller had grown to know his tells.

"Nothing happened," Eddie mumbled lowly, not wanting to tell his mother about his day. Unlike most guys, Eddie didn't have a problem with confiding in her- his dad was never there, so he had learned to go to his mom. But if he told her what happened today, he'd have to tell her the whole thing- his behavior and status in school, how people treated Patricia, why they treated her like that…and besides, it wasn't even one thing that had made his day bad. It was a collection of things that had slowly torn him down.

And Eddie just wasn't in the mood, so he just shook his head at his mom's questions before heading upstairs.

Music. Music always helped. He hoped his playlist would pick some accurate songs today. Eddie plugged his headphones in and sprawled on his bed, closing his eyes, ready for whatever started blasting from his phone.

"Odd one, you're never alone. I'm here and I will reflect you."

Ready for anything except Patricia's favorite song.