Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter six. house of accusations

            "Do you really expect the boys to do anything on that list?"

            "Good point," I concede, glancing back to the paper. "'Make sure he gets a healthy breakfast?' Does Trudy ever make breakfast anything less than healthy?"

            "That one's on all of our lists," she informs me. "Yours is pretty much the same as mine, except you've got 'keep going insane with heartbreak' and I don't. I do have 'make sure Fabian stays happy' on mine. You don't have that."

            "What's the difference?"

            "You keep him distracted, I keep him happy. It's simple."

            "You gave one of these to the other girls?"

            Joy nods. "Everyone except for KT. I figured since she's new here and doesn't know him well, it wouldn't be the best idea. Hey—actually, you've been close with her. Any idea why she would ask if Victor gives things he's confiscated from us back? Did he take something from her?"

            I shrug. "Don't know."

            She hums and grabs my arm. "Well, let's get started on the rotor, shall we? Down to breakfast before Fabes is." I quickly grab my bag before she drags me out of my bedroom, linking her arm with mine. "Oh, and did you know that Patricia dumped Eddie and not the other way around?"

            "Yeah. I mean, Eddie tried to act all cool about it like he was the one who broke it off, but it was really obvious it wasn't him. He was trying to act too cool."

            "Do you know why she dumped him?"

            "He didn't say, I didn't ask."

            By now we've entered the dining room for breakfast. We're about two seconds late to making it down here before Fabian because we actually saw him come in before us. Alfie and Amber are both here as well, both already seated. I take my seat at the end of the table, glancing to what used to be Nina's chair. Probably KT's now.

            Amber looks at Fabian with sympathetic eyes. "Are you feeling okay today, Fabian?"

            Patricia enters, and Joy instructs, "Amber, he'll have a warm croissant and some jam. Patricia, get him some juice."

            As the aforementioned pair do what they were told, Fabian protests, "No, Patricia, no, no, Joy, really. I'm okay."

            "Is he sick or something?" Alfie questions.

            "Alfie," Joy berates, giving him a look. "Don't be so insensitive."

            "What?" Alfie says again. Patricia mouths Nina's name to him and only now does he seem to finally understand what's going on. "Oh! Look, Fabian, I've got the perfect thing to take your mind off Nina." I physically face-palm while Joy tells him to stop mentioning Nina. "No, look, here it is." He take some paper out of his blazer pocket, offering it to Fabian. "It's, like, a coded message or something."

            If it piques my interest, then it definitely should pique Fabian's. But as Joy happily takes it and offers it to Fabian, he scrunches his nose up and declines, "Oh, Alfie, not now."

            Joy frowns, handing it back to Alfie as he asks, "You sure? It seems like the kind of thing Sibuna should be on the case for."

            She beams and takes the coded message back, turning back to our nerdy, heartbroken friend we seem to be failing to help. "Fabian!"