I'm back! Thanks a lot SibunaMockingjay and Guest. Here's my next update.

Amber

I'm grateful that Eddie was here to comfort me. I was still a bit scared, but thanks to Eddie, I'm feeling better. I did not notice, but I leaned to his shoulder while we were sitting. Joy was still visibly shaken up, as Nina was accompanying her. Alfie, Jerome and Mick were still on the other side of the room, talking about something I couldn't hear. Not that I cared, really. The important thing was that Eddie was here holding my hand.

Hmm, about Eddie. He was a really nice guy, and I think I'm falling for him. He would be perfect boyfriend material. And he seemed to like me too. A blush escaped my cheeks, and Eddie noticed.

"Are you okay, Amber? Your cheeks are turning red." He looked a bit concerned.

"I'm okay now, Eddie. Thank you."

"For what?", he looks to me.

"For making me feel better…", I admit.

"That's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah." I sigh contentedly.

The door opens. I think for a second that it might be the caretaker, but it was just Trudy and Mara. I look toward Mara, who had her head down. I subconsciously tighten my grip on Eddie's hand, in which he assures me, "It's going to be okay, Amber. Don't worry."

Mara clears her throat, which gets our attention. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Joy… I hope you forgive me. And you too, Amber. I'm sorry." Her voice sounded sincere and full of regret.

Then I hear Joy answer, "It's okay, Mara. I forgive you. Even though my head still hurts a lot."

"I forgive you too, Mara.", I hesitantly add.

"Thanks guys, that really means a lot to me." Mara then proceeds to give me and Joy a hug.

When we settled down a bit, Mara asks, "Where's Patricia? I need to apologize to her." The guys point to the door of the paintball place. Mara stands up and heads toward the door, presumably to apologize to Patricia, but Jerome stops her.

"Are you sure you want to go there, Mara? Patricia is still mad, you know.", Jerome tells her. He was right. Who knows what will happen in there if Patricia was mad at her. What if Mara has an outburst again? What will happen then?

"I'll be fine.", Mara assures Jerome, but Jerome was not convinced, so he suggests, "It would be better if someone accompanies you, just to be sure that nothing happens there."

"I'll go with her.", Joy volunteers as she stands up. Nina stands up too. "I'll also go, to make sure Joy will be okay." Joy and Nina both look towards me. I sigh, and say, "I'll be going too."

I reluctantly let go of Eddie's hand as I stand up to accompany the girls to see Patricia. I knew it will be girls' talk. I also knew that Patricia would not like this, but she had no choice anyway. And who knows? Maybe this will make things better for all of us.

We find Patricia sitting on the 3rd floor of the building, staring out a window. She must have seen us coming, because she turned around to look at us.

"What do you want?", she muttered, narrowing her eyes at us before concentrating at Mara.

"Trish, Mara wants to apologize to you. We're here to talk about it.", Joy replies to her bestfriend.

"Whatever…", Patricia turns her back at us and stares out the window again.

Before we could stop Joy, she walks to Patricia and sits beside her. We stand up somewhere behind them. They start to talk for a while. I can't really hear what they were talking about. Mara looked a little scared, so we chit-chat to make her feel better as Joy tried to make Patricia feel better.

It took some time before Joy managed to make Patricia feel a bit better. I hear Patricia clear her throat, then she spoke, "Fine, Mara. I suppose you can apologize. Give it your best shot, because I'm not ready to forgive you."

Mara then tells her how sorry she was, trying to make Patricia forgive her for damaging her face and she even promised to do anything, so that Patricia may forgive her.

"All right, I suppose I can forgive you. Not completely, but you're willing to do anything, so…" Patricia smiles a bit. At least I thought it was a smile. Or a smirk.

"Thank you, Patricia.", Mara sighs in relief.

"Don't thank me yet. So you're willing to do anything, right?", Patricia asks her, and she nods. Patricia thinks for a while, then her face brightens up.

"Carry out a prank on both Jerome and Alfie. It needs to be a good one, and I have to be there to see it happen. It should be real funny to make me laugh. I'll forgive you then."

"B-but…", Mara starts to protest, but Patricia stops her.

"No buts, Mara. Remember? You said anything… This is what I want you to do. Besides, you're not as good a girl as I thought.

Mara sighs, defeated. "Fine, Trish. If that's what you want."

We talk about some girls' talk. It was one of those rare times that Patricia was in the mood to talk about anything, and I was not about to waste the opportunity.

e talkH

Could any of you guys suggest as to what prank Mara will do to get Jerome and Alfie good? The one with the best suggestion will get a mention next chapter.

It has been a week since I updated. And it's not the longest of chapters, but it's all I have in store for today. Please review.