riddle me this. ― ʜᴏᴜꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴᴜʙɪꜱ

seven.

"good," jerome began, taking a seat next to the girl. "you should definitely cherish your family more now that you're so far away." he advised, which made the girl raise her eyebrow at him as she turned to look at him.

"coming from the guy who kept his sister a secret?" she fired at the boy, causing him to blush in embarrassment as he cleared his throat and avoided her gaze. "maybe i'm not the only one who needs to take that advice." she pointed out, crossing her arms and giving him a knowing look.

"maybe," jerome began, trying to think of a comeback. "you should learn how to tie a tie." he fell short and opted to changing the subject again, reaching up and grabbing the piece of fabric hanging around bella's neck, taking the said girl by surprise as her arms slowly fell back to her sides ― her eyes never leaving jerome as she watched him focus on the tie. there was a comfortable silence between them, jerome feeling the girl's burning gaze on him as he did his best to avoid her eyes. 

"thanks." the girl mumbled once he was finished, pushing it up so it sat tight against her neck. "we― we should go." she stuttered, standing up from his bed as she headed out the door first, looking as if she was lost as she looked around the hallway before walking towards the foyer. jerome snorted at her antics before standing up and following suite, the two of them walking to school together.

neither of them said anything as they approached the school, bella too busy racking her brain to think of anything to say to break the weird atmosphere, but the longer she thought, the longer it made the awkward silence run. lucky for them, jerome's best friend appeared just in time ― grabbing his shoulder and scaring the living daylights out of him as the two turned around in surprise.

"here." alfie handed jerome a camera, bella and him exchanging confused looks as they wondered what the dark-skinned boy was up to. "i need you to take some photos." he demanded before suddenly starting to pose, causing bella to laugh as jerome just stared at his best friend as if he had grown a second head.

"okay ― because this isn't weird at all." jerome rolled his eyes before walking off, alfie hurrying to catch up and stopping him in his tracks again.

"if i'm gonna be amber's boyfriend, i need to get my face on a news stand." alfie declared, reminding the boy of amber's list of demands that he had been forced to tick to become a love interest for the girl. bella sighed, shaking her head at the pair as she began following the two when something suddenly held her back ― or rather, someone.

bella turned around, confused as to who had grabbed her blazer, when she realised that it was jerome's sister. "hey," poppy released bella's blazer as the girl faced her. "poppy, right?" she questioned, acting as if she didn't know who the girl was, even though she had heard more than enough from jerome. 

"yeah," bella was surprised at how shy the younger girl seemed, not expecting her to be so... sweet? especially when she had heard how brazen she was with jerome, but then again, he was her brother. "you and jerome are friends, right?" she questioned, looking up at bella.