I am so sorry that it took me this long to update! After writing chapter 2 I decided I needed to outline the rest of the season to figure out how to best incorporate Eddie in moving forward. I started on the outline right away but then I lost my job, when I finally got settled into a new job I was not motivated to work on this even though the ideas still really excited me. But now I have a completed outline and I hope this will make it much easier for me to be consistent with updates.

Eddie supposed that breakfast went as well as could've been expected. Patricia was pissed off at Nina for actually completing her fake initiation into the house. Eddie had to admit Patrica's behavior from the night before had definitely shocked him, but he supposed he owed it to her to question his father about Joy. Joy was cool so he at least wanted to make sure she was safe. He shoved one more pancake into his mouth and took his bag, heading over to the school early. Eddie carefully scanned the hallway, making sure there weren't any students around before quietly slipping into his dad's office.

"Hey, I just have a quick question for you,"

"Oh! Edison!" The headmaster put a hand to his chest, startled. "Please, knock before entering."

"It's just Eddie," He flashed a smile.

"Right," Mr Sweet settled back into his chair. "What is it you wanted to ask then, Eddie? Do you need help with your homework after all?"

"Oh, no I got Fabian to help me," He patted his bag awkwardly. "It's actually about Joy."

"Joy?" He sputtered. "What about Joy?"

"Well, about her leaving all of the sudden. I mean, you have to admit that was weird."

"Well, I suppose it was a bit surprising," He paused to take a sip of tea. "But Joy's family had to relocate, and her parents wanted to have her closer to them, that's all I was told." He put the cup down.

"Hmm," Eddie pondered.

"Listen, Eddie," His father stood to approach the teen. "It would be best to focus on your studies, no need to get caught up in the wild imaginations of… certain students."

"Right," Eddie felt his lip twitch. He quickly turned around and made his way to the student lounge, plopping down on one of the chairs. Eddie felt better after speaking with his father. He just wished he could figure out a way to convince Patricia that Joy was safe without risking losing what little trust she had in him.

Eddie spent the rest of the day trying to avoid his father, but as he passed him speaking with Mara and got a load of the conversation they were having he had to stop in his tracks. "Just because they're not sweet and furry, hedgehogs demand our respect Mr Sweet, and our sympathy." Mr Sweet turned away from Mara and began walking back toward the door to his office. Eddie smirked. "Hundreds of them get killed in our roads every year, and we need to do something!" The headmaster reluctantly turned back around to face the girl. Eddie approached, inviting himself into the conversation.

"Teach them road safety." He laughed, nodding at Eddie before turning to retreat back toward the door. Eddie noticed the panic on Mara's face and realized she must be trying to stop Mr Sweet from going into this office. Jerome and Alfie had to be pulling an epic prank. Although, he did not picture Mara being the type to cover for someone like that. Especially not Jerome or Alfie.

"We should do a bake sale," Eddie suggested, making Mr Sweet turn back around.

"A bake sale?" He raised an eyebrow questioning the boy.

"I mean, who doesn't love pastries?"

"I thought you liked animals," Mara said with a frown.

"Alright, Mara, Eddie, perhaps you're right, perhaps I haven't been entirely fair to the hedgehogs. Please, tell me more." Behind Mr Sweet, Eddie saw Patricia slip quietly out of the office. He should've known.

"Nah, you're right, it's pretty boring." Mara waved him off as Patricia joined them. "See you later, Mr Sweet." She turned to her friend. "Hi, Patricia."

"Hi, Mara!" Patricia said too sweetly. "Eddie," She scowled at him.

"Better hurry we'll be late for history." Mara looped her arm under Patricia's pausing a moment before promptly looping the other arm under Eddie's and pulling the trio swiftly down the hall away from Mr Sweet. Eddie felt stupid for how happy being included in their getaway made him. Eddie turned toward his father and gave him a shrug before facing forward once more. He had to know the story behind this one.

"What was that about?" Eddie questioned Patricia when they were far enough away from Mr Sweet.

"They won't give me Joy's contact information so I had to take it for myself." Patricia sighed. Eddie hoped that Patricia would get the information she needed and drop it. This whole conspiracy was getting old, putting Eddie on edge for some reason.

Victor had other plans, initiating a bag search as soon as the students arrived back at Anubis House, Patricia had no choice but to give up her bag, and her hopes of being able to contact Joy. Eddie had to admit, it was crazy how fast Victor had been alerted it was missing, his father had to have known Patricia took it from his office.

The next morning Patricia was already agitated watching Fabian and Nina talk under their breath, as she helped Trudy dry the dishes. When the two stood up to walk over to school Patricia decided she'd had it with them. "Whisper, whisper, whisper, very cozy." She looked at Fabian. "Since when did you become her friend instead of mine, Fabian?"

"Since you became such a witch Patricia." He put his bag over his shoulder and left the room, leaving Nina with Patricia.

"He can be both of our friends." Nina offered.

"Not likely," Patricia looked away from Nina, who got the message and left too. Patricia grimaced, Fabian's words hurting. Trudy was back at Patricia's side in a flash. "Hey, Trudy,"

"Before you ask, Alfie's had the last of the hashbrowns. I can make you a Trudy pancake surprise if you like." She said sweetly.

"No I've been meaning to ask," Patricia reminded herself that she didn't have time to worry about the others if it didn't affect finding Joy. "Was it Joy's parents that came and cleared her room out last week?"

"Umm. It was a man." Trudy thought for a moment. "I'm not sure if it was her father. I've never seen her parents."

"And when were you told she was leaving?"

"The same morning she left."

"Didn't you think that was weird?" Patricia certainly thought it was weird. Even for Joy's parents.

"Well, Joy always was a walking soap opera," Trudy admitted. "I thought it was a bit sudden, I'm not sure about weird."

"And what about Nina coming to replace her the same day?" Patricia knew that Nina had to be involved in Joy's disappearance somehow. It was too much of a coincidence for her not to have been. And since Nina's been here she's started acting all secretive. "Now that was weird right?"

"Not really. Nina was always meant to start at the beginning of term." Patricia froze. This was new information for her. "She's on a scholarship and there was a bureaucratic mixup which meant her money was delayed, that's all." Patricia hated to admit it but Trudy's reasoning made sense. Maybe Nina really just had unlucky timing. Possibly Patricia was totally wrong and had done some really awful things to her for no reason. She had to get in contact with Joy and sort this out once and for all.

Patricia spent all of Mr Winkler's class thinking about what Trudy had said. So maybe Nina wasn't in on the conspiracy but if Trudy couldn't tell her for certain that Joy's father had cleared out her room, then Patricia wasn't going to let go of it. Joy could be in serious danger. She had to go to the police. After some serious begging the police officer caved and agreed to check into the situation. The next morning, the officer called Patricia back to tell her that he'd spoken to Joy's parents and that she was safe and at home. Patricia tried to get Joy's contact information but he couldn't give it to her. Patricia understood why but she was really getting tired of hearing the same thing from everyone. She just wanted to speak with her best friend, figure out why she had to leave the school and make sure she was okay. The police officer suggested that Joy might be in touch soon, but Patricia wasn't sure.

Just before super Patricia sat on the sofa doing homework on her laptop when she got the notification for an email she froze. It was from a new address but it was something. "Yes! I have an email from Joy!

"That is great!" Fabian said as he, Jerome, Alfie, Eddie, and Mara gathered around the computer.

"What did she say?" Jerome asked.

"Hi Patricia," Alfie joked in the higher tone he used to impersonate Joy (It wasn't great).

"Hang on, I'll read it." Patricia tried not to shake as she read the words. "'Hi Patricia,'"

"That settles it, I'm psychic." Alfie laughed.

"'Sorry I haven't been in touch, it's been hectic since I left.'" Patricia continued. "'Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I'm fine. I know it probably seemed a bit odd of me disappearing like that, but dad's business went under and he needed to get me out of there ASAP. I was a bit shocked myself. Hope you're all okay and not missing me too much. Love Joy.'" Patricia was probably crazy but something was off. The email didn't sound like Joy. "There's no smiley face at the end. Joy always puts a smiley face and there's no text speak, it's all written out like properly."

"Joy's learned to spell at last! Hurray!" Jerome waved a pillow in the air. Patricia could feel herself spiraling again, sick to her stomach as she went through examining each piece of the email. Jerome, Alfie, and Eddie ditched her to sit at the table. Fabian and Mara, aka the voices of reason, rationalized Patricia's worries until she finally took a few deep breaths and closed her laptop. "Yeah, you're right, sorry I bet I've been driving you crazy."

"No." Her housemates lied.

"Yes." Said, Alfie.

"Specially you Nina." Patricia looked toward her American roommate. Patricia did not like admitting when she was wrong but the girl certainly deserved it.

"Nothing a few years of counseling won't fix." Nina joked, at least Patricia hoped she was joking, although she couldn't blame her if she wasn't.

"I guess I might have taken things a little too far." Patricia was aware of her ability to get carried away but was pretty embarrassed about this time.

"It's really okay Patricia, you were just worried about your friend, I'm just glad she's safe."

"Can somebody help me take this food to the table please?" Trudy said from the kitchen. Patricia supposed now was her chance to make things up to her housemates.

"Coming," Patricia stood and hurried into the kitchen.

That night Patricia awoke to the sound of somebody sneaking into her room, she opened her eyes but didn't move, it was Nina. What was she doing out after curfew? Nina crouched down by her bed and slid something underneath before climbing back into bed. Patricia supposed she could've had a perfectly normal reason for this behavior, but she'd been living in a constant state of paranoia lately, and she couldn't help but think that Nina was up to something.

Patricia noticed the girl smiling the next morning as they got ready for school. "What are you grinning about?"

"Nothing," Nina faltered. "It's just… last night I saw Victor slip on the stairs… seems like he hurt himself pretty badly."

"He did!?" Patricia laughed, caught off guard by the American's answer. "I would've given anything to see it!"

"It was too funny," She agreed. Patricia was impressed with the new girl. Although she still wondered what Nina had put under her bed after coming back. In the hallway, Patricia barely contained her laughter as Victor passed her with a limp. Sure, it wasn't very respectful to laugh at the guy for getting hurt but she was still angry with Victor for how he handled Joy leaving the school, and she hadn't been terribly fond of the man before that either.

As Trudy served eggs for breakfast, Patricia felt she just had to jump at the opportunity to mock the caretaker of the house. "Did you hear about Victor? He fell down the stairs last night and broke his leg!" She couldn't help but giggle as the others laughed.

"Don't exaggerate, Patricia," Trudy said heaping more eggs onto Fabian's plate.

"Eggs-aggerate," Alfie pointed out the unintended pun. "Nice one Truds,"

"Terrible yoke, Alfie," Jerome said.

"It's a sprained ankle, that's all." Trudy clarified.

"A very painful sprained ankle," Victor appeared out of nowhere making Eddie burst out into laughter. The caretaker glared at the boy, while Patricia did her best to hold in her own laughter.

"Victor, how do you do that?" Trudy marveled. "And with a limp too."

"Someone sabotaged that floorboard on purpose." He accused. Patricia raised an eyebrow, at least she wasn't the only paranoid one in the house.

"Oh no," Trudy said. "That floorboards been like that for ages. I remember telling you about it last year."

"Yeah, that's right I've tripped over it myself a few times," Fabian said.

"I haven't." Nina awkwardly said.

"Someone is up to something," Victor said. "And I intend to find out what it is. And who."

Patricia spent the day with Mara, finally getting her to admit she had feelings for Mick and that she wasn't happy Mick and Amber were getting back together. And now they were all invited to go to Mick and Amber's party. It was tough luck for Mara, but Patricia wasn't sure Mick was a good match for her anyway. After school, Patricia did her eyeliner as Mara sat on Patricia's bed watching her.

"I noticed you've been a bit nicer to Nina recently," Mara prodded.

"Yeah," Patricia stopped to face her friend. "Well, I suppose I realize now, it was just a coincidence after all. You know, her turning up the day Joy left." Mara nodded her head with a big smile. "But I don't totally trust her though."

"Why? Because she's American?"

Had she really been so rude to the two Americans that Mara thought she had a vendetta against all Americans? Yes. She really had been that rude, but Nina was suspicious as hell and Eddie was… annoying. "She's very secretive. She sneaked out the other night, I don't know where she went but she brought something back and hid it under her bed. In fact, I've been waiting for a chance to have a look." Patricia stood up and walked over to Nina's side of the room. "No time like the present, guard the door, Mara."

"Don't go through her stuff, Patricia," Mara said in exasperation.

"Just guard the door will you?" She pulled a box out from under her roommate's bed and sat down.

"Fine but someday you have to give me a job other than guarding." Mara stood up and went to the door.

"Hmmm, two keys. This one's the one from the attic the other night. I don't know what that one is." There was a baseball and a few journals. Patricia picked one up and opened it to a random page, getting excited about the contents of the journal. "Oooh look, she keeps her diary in here as well."

"Don't read it!"

"Just a little peak," She had to. "Hey listen to this, 'Fabian is kind of geek chic. He's really sweet to me.'" She read in an American accent.

"Fabian, sweet!" Mara laughed. "What else did she say?"

Patricia flipped the page and saw her name. "'Patricia is possibly the meanest person I have ever met.'" She looked up at her friend. "What a cow." She closed the book and threw it back in the box. She was right to say so, of course, but it still hurt.

"I did warn you not to read it," Mara winced.

"And after I was nice to her that one time, as well." The door jiggled, Mara held it back as Patricia put the lid back on the box and slid it back under the bed, standing up. Mara let go of the door and joined Patricia.

"Hi?" Nina entered the room.

"Hi!" Mara said a bit too cheerfully.

"The party started." She gestured out the door. "Alfie's teaching Trudy how to pop and lock it."

"Yeah, we were just going down, weren't we Patricia?" Patricia said nothing to her roommate but followed Mara out to the party.

Eddie watched Patrica sit as partygoers chatted or danced in the living room. She looked bored out of her mind and Eddie couldn't resist so he approached her. "You just gonna sit there?"
"Why aren't you dancing?" She looked up at him. "Waiting for the right girl to ask?"

"Waiting for the right pig to fly. What's your excuse?" He took a drink from his cup.

"If you knew me, you'd know I don't dance, ever. On any occasion, under any circumstance. Including if my life depended on it." But there was something else to it.

"Well, no one's asked you have they?"

Her look hardened. "Everyone in here knows that if they did they'd be crushed like a tin can under a tank."

"I'm gonna take that as an I'll think about it." Patricia shook her head at him with a glare. He was gonna do it, he decided as he walked away. Lost in thought, Eddie almost ran into Jerome and Alfie.

"Does someone have a little bitty crush?" Jerome asked. Oh no, this wasn't good. "You have been hanging around with her rather a lot lately."

Eddie scoffed. "Her hanging around with me, Jerry." He smacked Jerome's shoulder. "Her hanging around with me."

"Ahh, no way," Alfie shook his head. "She hates you man, I'm willing to bet there is no way you could get malacia Patricia to dance with you."

"What are we in Kindergarten now?" Jerome and Alfie bumped fists. Eddie would never hear the end of this, and then Jerome and Aflie would start letting word of his crush on Patricia get out to the rest of the house, and then he'd be done for. He had to get the situation back into his hands. "Okay, okay! You're asking for it. What are the terms?"

"If you win, Jerome will sing she'll be coming around the mountain on stage in the style of a rap artist." Alfie grinned like a madman.

"What?" Jerome asked. This made Eddie excited. He now had an opportunity to embarrass Jerome and an excuse to ask Patricia to dance.

"But if you lose, you have to give Jerome the rest of your money for the rest of the month," Alfie added.

"Yeah that works!" Jerome agreed.

"Deal. Nothing to spend it on around here anyway." He shook Jerome's hand. This oughta give him the courage he needed to go through with asking her.

A few songs later, Eddie supposed he'd waited long enough and danced towards her.

"No." She said before he could even say anything.

"Come on, I saw your head swinging."

"No."

He stepped closer to her, wiping the playful expression off his face. "Hey, I'm just a tin can, standing in front of a tank, asking her to dance with me." Her expression changed a bit, and Eddie saw that as a sign to move forward. "Come on, I don't dance either, it'll just look alternative." He could see her walls slowly fall down. He took her hand gently. "Just gonna peel you off the sofa here," He helped her stand up.

She turned away for a second but when she turned back she was smiling. "Okay, one dance, no more than a minute, no funny stuff, and this still doesn't make us friends, okay?"

"Cool," And they started dancing, Eddie briefly saw Jerome and Alfie gawking at them and made sure to send them a quick look, but he was really just excited to be dancing with her. He knew that Patricia would probably still take a while to convince her to date him but this was a huge step. And this way he could skip right past the tedious prank war he'd been planning on continuing.

Minutes later when the next song ended, Patricia pulled away from him, but she was still smiling. "See that didn't hurt," Eddie said.

"Yeah it did, you stepped on my toes like four times,"

"I told you I never dance."

"No, but sometimes, just sometimes, you know how to be a good guy." Eddie would probably be doing cartwheels right then if he hadn't spotted Alfie behind him giving him a thumbs up in congratulations. Suddenly Eddie felt awful. He hadn't meant for it to happen like this, he wasn't thinking. He had to get out of there before Alfie let Patricia know that there had ever been a bet in the first place.

"Well, I've broken enough personal rules for one night, I better leave before I end up writing you a poem or something." The two laughed and he prayed that he hadn't screwed everything up before it had even started.

Eddie slipped through the boy's hallway and into his room, climbing onto his bunk. He could hear Jerome call the attention of everyone at the party and could faintly hear the rap, and it was exquisite, but Eddie frowned. He knew Patricia would find out the truth. And he did not want to be there to see her face when she did.

Not too long after he climbed into bed Victor was shouting at everyone and Eddie had one more reason he was glad he went to his room early. "Eddison Miller!" Victor shouted from outside the door. "Come out here at once!" Eddie rolled off of the bunk bed, landing flat on the floor, stood up, and joined the others once again in the living room. "Who has been in the attic!" Victor shouted once again.

"It's really hot in here!" Alfie complained. Eddie looked at him to find he had a deer head over the top of his own head. "I can't breath."

"Well then we shall just have to saw it off, shant we!" Victor grabbed Alfie.

"Saw it?!" Alfie cried in horror. Eddie hadn't seen Victor this mad before.

"Oh, yes! The rest of you wait there." He pulled the trapped boy along with him.

"What's all that about?" Eddie questioned.

"Victor knows the key to the attic is missing," Nina said, her voice spilling over with panic.

"Well, you can't let him catch you with it." Eddie crossed his arms, feeling protective of the girl.

"Hang on, I have an idea," Nina winced before rushing out of the living room. She was gone just a few minutes before returning.

"Well?" Eddie asked.

"I put it on the floor by the door to his office."

"You left it on the floor?" Jerome questioned.

"I know it's not the best idea in the world, but if he has it he can't search us for it. Trust me guys."

"And why should we take the rap for you?" Said, Jerome.

"Why?" Fabian said angrily. "Because you guys are the ones who made Nina steal the key in the first place."

"Oh yes, very clever," Victor said from outside the room. "Very clever indeed." He held the key up. "Who put this on the floor outside my office? Hmmm? Who?" He asked each of the students, who all said no until he reached Nina.

"No." She hesitated, then changed her mind. "Yes."

"Aha!"

"No!" Fabian said. "She's covering for me. I did it."

"You?"

"Yeah, guilty as charged."

"No, he's lying it was me." Nina insisted.

"Me," Mick looked at Amber and Mara. "I did it."

"What?" Victor was shocked by that.

"I did it. Total key thief."

"Actually, he's lying," Mara said. "It was me, Victor," Eddie smirked at the chaos they were causing.

"Oh yeah!" Amber nodded her head. "I mean no, it wasn't her. It was me. I love to steal keys so much."

"Actually it was me," Patricia added.

"No, you guys don't have to cover for me." Eddie shook his head and then faced Victor. "I stole the key."

"Stop playing me for a fool," Victor growled. "Jerome. I know I can rely on you. Who was it?"

"It was me," Jerome said through clenched teeth.

"That is it! That is it! You are all grounded for the entire weekend!" He said before stomping off. The students all smiled and Eddie hurried back to bed.

Eddie couldn't even stop the grin that was plastered on his face all throughout breakfast. He had definitely gotten somewhere with Patricia the night before. They kept sharing looks from opposite sides of the table.

"Oh, you're good." Alfie, who was sitting right next to Eddie said, nudging him. Eddie panicked. No! This was not good at all. He silently begged Alfie to stop talking. Then to Eddie's horror, Jerome made it worse by chuckling.

"Good at what?" Patricia questioned. But then nobody said anything and Eddie could feel it all crumbling before him. "Good at what?"

Jerome leaned toward her. "Eddie bet us he could get you to dance. I really thought you'd hold out longer." Eddie didn't miss the flash of regret on her face.

"Good at ruining things." He said under his breath.

"That's why you were singing she'll be coming around the mountain?" Mick asked Jerome.

"Ah, murdering she'll be coming around the mountain." Alfie corrected him.

"You cockroach," Patricia said, making everyone at the table wince. Patricia suddenly stood up and walked around the table toward Eddie. Eddie couldn't even move, he deserved whatever was coming for him. She picked up the pitcher of milk from the table. Yep, he definitely deserved it. The cold liquid ran down his face, soaking him before she stormed off.

"Better you than me," Nina said.

Eddie gave Nina a look before turning to Mara. "Mara, would you be a sweetheart and pass me the cereal." She obliged. "Thanks." Eddie sighed taking a handful of the cereal and wiping it on his forehead, before shoving it into his mouth.

Patricia had to go back to Anubis House to grab her French textbook before class started for the day. The voices coming from the dining room piqued her interest and she crept closer. "Oh yes, yes we haven't heard a peep out of any of them for days." She could hear Victor say. "Your phone call did the trick." Patricia peeked into the room and was surprised to see Victor sitting with the cop that she'd reported Joy's disappearance to.

"Are you seriously still worried the betrayer might return?"

"We can take no risks." Patricia thought she should probably move to hide better, she was now standing right in the doorway where either could see her, but she was too frozen in shock to do anything. "Anyway, it's over now. Finished. Joy is buried. End of story. So let us get onto the business at hand brother. The organization of the next gathering."

Patricia went up to her new room she'd just finished moving into with Mara and called her mom, begging her to remove her from the school. The teachers had killed Joy and the cops were in on it. She knew she wasn't safe there. Her mother, however, thought it was just a cry for attention and hung up on her. Patricia cried most of the walk back to school, composed herself, and then entered the classroom like she hadn't discovered her best friend was dead.

It totally wasn't bothering Eddie that Patricia had been giving him the cold shoulder ever since she dumped milk over his head the day before. But he sat in the living room willing her to look at him even for a second. She didn't. Eddie gave up and watched Jerome and Alfie wrestle on the floor. He was still kind of pissed at both of them for exposing the bet, but mostly he was mad at himself. Jerome beat Alfie, or at least Eddie thought Jerome did, the rules of their version of wrestling weren't clear. Anyway, Jerome ditched Alfie and plopped down right next to Patricia. Eddie glanced away, nope, that definitely didn't bother him. Jerome totally wasn't Patricia's type, and if he was, it would be Eddie's fault if she went for it. He never should've made that stupid bet. He looked back up, Jerome was leaning in rather close. Maybe Jerome and Alfie set Eddie up so Jerome could swoop in and take Patricia's attention for himself. Patricia nodded her head to whatever he said, and Jerome left. Eddie clenched his fists.

"Tough luck, buddy." Alfie winced beside him. "Looks like Trixie's moved on to the next weasel."

"Yeah, whatever," Eddie said under his breath before turning and walking away.

Eddie was trying to fall asleep but between the drama with his father, Patricia, and all this talk of conspiracy, he couldn't shut his mind off. A screeching sound in the night made Eddie jump out of his skin. He sat up wildly looking around the room, Mick was dead asleep somehow and Fabian was gone. What was going on? Eddie wondered. He ran out the door to their room, bumping right into someone, he grabbed their forearms to balance himself.

"Ahh, watch it slimeball!" Patricia hissed. He looked up at her in confusion. What was Patricia doing in the boy's hallway at this time of the night? His gaze was drawn to Jerome and Alfie's door. That had to be where she'd come from. Jealousy flared in Eddie once again, but then he noticed how shaken Patricia was.

"Patricia?" He asked. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea." She said angrily and stomped off. Eddie stood frozen in confusion before deciding it was too late to worry about any of that and climbed back into his bed. Forgetting about the screech that drew him out of the room in the first place. He could worry about it all in the morning.

Eddie figured that drama class the next morning was as good of an opportunity as any to apologize to Patricia but she was talking with Jerome and Alfie, taking up all the free time before Mr Winkler inevitably decided to start teaching. And Eddie certainly couldn't apologize in front of Jerome and Alfie, they would make everything worse somehow. Or at least remind Patricia about the betrayal.

"Alright everyone, pair up please." Mr Winkler started. Eddie slapped his forehead against the palm of his hand. So much for apologizing. Or maybe… He looked back toward the girl, she was pulling Alfie to the side already, but what if he just?– He ran for Alfie and shoved him aside.

"Umm, I already picked my partner," Patricia whined.

"Umm, well I already picked mine." Eddie countered, giving her a smug look.

"Mr Winkler," She started.

"I'd like to start this exercise now if you don't mind, Patricia." The teacher said and Alfie slunk off to partner up with the redhead from Isis House. Eddie smirked at Patricia once again. "Three little words, I love you. See It's not what you say, it's how you say it." If looks could kill, Eddie would be a goner from the glare Patricia was sending his way. "In your pairs I want you to tell a story but you can only do it having a conversation using those three words. I love you."

"Listen, Patricia," Eddie said under his breath so Mr Winkler wouldn't hear him. "I'm sorry about the bet. I really am. And if you're still mad at me, I get it…" Patricia turned her head away from him to look out the window. "But you know I would've asked you anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, great whatever." Patricia waved him off, taking a step closer to the window. He had really ruined things, hadn't he?

Eddie put his forcefield down before saying. "I love you." For the exercise, of course.

"Did, did anyone see that?" Patricia questioned.

"What?" Mr Winkler said.

"Did you even hear anything I said Yacker?"

"That man! He was staring at me!" Eddie moved to stand at her side and scanned the foliage outside but couldn't see anyone. "I saw him." Patricia turned to face the Anubis students who had all gathered around, giving Eddie a look he didn't understand, before turning back toward the window. "I did."

In between classes, Mr Winkler pulled Patricia aside to speak to her in the classroom. Patricia told the teacher all about Joy's disappearance, and why she thought Joy might even be dead, and the other teachers were behind it. "I swear Mr Winkler, I swear to you I'm telling the truth."

"I believe you." Mr Winkler earnestly told her. It felt like a small weight was lifted. Somebody actually believed her. Mr Winkler wasn't just listening to her talk like Mara or even Eddie, he actually believed her. But it wouldn't last…

Commotion erupted throughout the house and startled Eddie awake. Fabian rushed to their door. "What's going on?" Eddie questioned, feeling quite groggy, and rubbed his eyes.

"I don't know," Fabian breathed out. "But it doesn't sound good."

"Stop talking!" Mick whined half asleep. Eddie jumped off the top bunk and joined Fabian. Victor's voice echoed from the floor above. They peered down the hallway, Jerome and Alfie were doing the same.

"What's all that about?" Jerome asked.

A knock at the door rang through the house and Victor appeared at the other side of the hallway, finally noticing the boys. "Some of the girls think there is an intruder in the house," Victor stated before going to let a police officer inside the house. The four boys rushed upstairs, Mick slowly trailing behind peeling a banana he must've grabbed from the kitchen.

More voices floated from Mara and Patricia's shared room as the boys rushed down the hallway until they cautiously stood in the doorway. Patricia sat on her bed in between Mara and Trudy, trying to comfort her, and Nina and Amber were watching close by. "What's going on?" Fabian approached them.

"Patricia thinks she saw someone in the house," Trudy rubbed the girl's arm. "The police should be here to search,"

"Yeah, one just showed up." Eddie felt awkward. He wanted to help comfort her but Patricia still hadn't forgiven him for the bet and he didn't want to accidentally make her feel worse.

"Well, what did they look like?" Alfie questioned.

"It was the man from earlier, he was right outside my door," Patricia said. "You guys believe me right?" The others gave a noncommittal yes, not sure if they believed her or not. But the whole thing made Eddie anxious. Sure, Patricia could have just had a nightmare but a lot more harm could come out of not believing her if someone had actually been in the house. And she seemed like she didn't scare easily, even if Joy's disappearance had put her on high alert.

Twenty minutes or so went by, trying to calm Patricia down before the cop confirmed that there wasn't an intruder in the house, and Victor sent the students back to bed. Even if Patricia only had a nightmare Eddie was starting to get very concerned for Patricia's mental health. Back in his bunk, Eddie didn't get any sleep, instead, he stared up at the ceiling and listened to the house.

I was really excited when I realized I could translate Eddie and Patricia's dance into season 1! I liked writing about Eddie being concerned for Patricia because somebody besides Mr Winlker needed to be, honestly. I'm really excited about how that will play into things later on. And again, even though I have everything outlined I'm totally open to ideas and can see if I can fit them into what I have planned out. Thanks for reading, I am so sorry about the wait.