━ DENOUEMENT ( jerome clarke. )

35 ⊳ HOUSE OF TUNNELS.

"What's the bad news?" Alfie quizzed, already having an idea as to what the punishment could have been due to him (and his friends) having it numerous times beforehand, and that's what led him to asking, "And, does it involve a toothbrush?"

"On any other day, yes, but luckily for you, today is a great, great day for me," Victor revealed, a hint of a smile on his lips (which was most definitely surprising, probably even more surprising than them winning the bid despite everything going wrong), before he glanced around to everyone else and soon added gleefully, "and today is a great day for us all!"

"Your attention, everyone!" Mr Sweet exclaimed cheerfully as he ran back into the library, pausing for a second before he announced, "We've signed on the dotted line, and the exhibition is officially ours!"

Instantly, the room fell into cheers and applause once more at the brilliant news - Jerome Clarke was one of those people clapping and cheering, but that soon came to a halt when he noticed Damian Cyrus approaching him, and the blonde-haired prankster couldn't help but to roll his eyes as he groaned out frustratedly, "What do you want?"

"Great to see you too." Damian commented sarcastically, putting his hands into his pockets as he glanced around the library for a few seconds before looking back at the male prankster, "Where's your little girlfriend? It appears that she's left you."

Yet again, Jerome rolled his eyes - he really despised the rebellious boy, and it didn't exactly help his case when he made comments like that, thus the male prankster corrected, "She's not my girlfriend."

Grinning mischievously, the rebel made a thoughtful humming noise for a second, before his grin managed to get even wider, almost like it was mocking Jerome, "Perfect - that means I can ask her out."

"She'll say no." Jerome quickly responded, already fully much aware of the answer that his childhood best friend would give to the rebel if he did ask her out, especially since Sydney had told him before that she didn't like Damian, and since she knew of his reputation and how he flirted with numerous girls - Jerome was also very much aware of Damian's flirtatious reputation, having seen him in action, and that's what led him to say roughly, "Don't you have other girls to flirt with and stick your tongue down?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping to do that with Sydney." Damian answered, seemingly with no shame (Jerome didn't exactly think that the rebel was capable of feeling such emotion as shame) as he let out a small chuckle through his words - yeah... it was safe to say that Jerome Clarke loathed that boy.

Though, that time, it was Jerome Clarke who let out a chuckle, laced with malice and frustration as he stated bluntly, "Take your hopes elsewhere, dude. You're not coming near Sydney."

"Why not?" Damian asked, shrugging nonchalantly - it was like he was challenging Jerome and wanted to rile him up, and that seemed even more evident as he continued, reminding the blonde boy of his prior words, "You just said that you're not her boyfriend."

However, the reminder didn't really phase the prankster in the slightest, and it only caused Jerome Clarke to step threateningly closer to the rebel as he pointed out to him with a low tone, words clearly laced in frustration, bitterness, and anger, "I'm her best friend, and she deserves better than you."

Then, Damian Cyrus laughed - it wasn't a chuckle like he had previously let out, it was a laugh - a laugh filled with pure amusement at the words, as though it was hilarious and all just a joke to him, before he asked, "Oh, who does she deserve then? You?"