riddle me this. ― ʜᴏᴜꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴᴜʙɪꜱ

twelve.

dinner that night was depressing. bella could understand how the students felt as they struggled to accept that such a close friend of theirs was leaving. however, they didn't let it completely ruin the night as they laughed about memories that had been made, and excitedly talked about what the future held for mick. they all knew that he was going on to do better and greater things, and they couldn't let his sudden last night become a bad memory too.

the next morning, bella skipped breakfast again. she had picked up frobisher's book reluctantly and this time, it seemed like there was something actually worth reading. although there was nothing about amulets or secret passageways, and sadly nothing about this mask that they were being forced to find ― she did find a little passage about his friends. or rather, a family that they used to be close with, and bella couldn't help but think that the little girl who was best friends with sarah, may also be the old lady from her dreams.

"what have you got there?"

"huh? nothing!" bella panicked, shutting the book quickly as she turned to find alfie staring at her weirdly, wondering why she was being so jumpy. 

"okay...?" he brushed it off, deciding to drop the topic. "where were you at breakfast this morning? actually, where are you at breakfast, like, everyday?" he questioned curiously, noticing how his new friend seemed to have a hatred for the most important meal of the day.

"homework." she lied, terribly too since both her and alfie knew that waking up early in the morning to do homework wasn't believable for any of the students of anubis house. even mara couldn't miss breakfast. "let's go to class." she changed the subject, standing up a little too enthusiastically and smiling at the boy as he gave her a weirded out look before following her out of the student lounge.

however, they didn't get far and it didn't take long for bella's fake smile to disappear as they both accidentally witnessed jerome and mara's conversation.

"is it just coincidence, that you broke up with mick at exactly the right moment to make him follow his dreams?" it was obvious to bella that mara had become his topic of interest now, and she hated to admit it, but she felt like she had been tossed to the side. she didn't know why she was feeling this way, especially when she was the one who had said she didn't have any feelings for the boy except platonic, but she didn't think that it cause distance within their friendship. 

"bella," alfie placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, as he was just as confused about jerome's feelings as hers. 

"there you are!" luckily for bella, amber millington was enough of a distraction to get her mind off of her silly feelings. "i have so much to catch you up on, come on." the blonde girl looped her arm through bella's before dragging her away ― bella grateful for once that amber was dragging her away.