The next day at school was as uneventful as any other. She'd had to report to her gaggle of eager middle schoolers or whatever the British term for them was that the mystery of Anubis House's status as a haunted building would, unfortunately, remain unsolved, but other than their many vocal complaints, the rest of the day went by at the same slow but steady pace as they always did.
In drama, Ms. Valentine had had them reading Ibsen which was a nice change of pace from the litany of Shakespeare they'd been so keen on up till that point, and their teacher had already assigned them the play for the next unit, much to her delight.
"You really are an honest-to-god Russophile, aren't you?" Mara laughed. "Only you would get so excited about reading Chekov."
"Hey, if you weren't aware, he's a genius," Kira replied. "Like one of the greats."
"Didn't know you were into theatre," Joy interjected conversationally. "I thought your thing was novels thick enough to brain a man."
Kira flushed, well aware she had two such novels buried at the bottom of her backpack. "I mean, I like a good play. I'm not an actor though... I think I'd faint dead away if I got up on a stage and had to start, I dunno, singing of something."
"I would too," Eddie piped up cheekily from where he sat on the couch in the lounge. "You know, since you suck at singing."
"Yeah, yeah, you're so funny," she said with a roll of her eyes that got Mara giggling.
Ms. Valentine, who'd been bustling around the room, passed by them and patted Mara on the shoulder. "Give us a hand with these books, guys? Thanks," she prompted, gesturing at the pile of identical A Doll's House copies strewn across the room where their drama class had left them in their haste to leave. They all belonged to the school, and their teacher pointed at a cardboard box by the door for them to put the books in.
Kira sighed and set to work gathering up the plays, only Mara and Joy bothering to help. Eddie stayed sprawled out on the couch, unbothered, while the weird kids clique plus Jerome all huddled by the stage, whispering fervently about something. They probably hadn't even noticed Ms. Valentine's request.
Kira caught Joy staring at them miserably, and her heart went out to her. If even Kira was a bit put out by their exclusive behavior, then she couldn't imagine how Joy felt watching her best friends shut her out.
They all made a quick exit, leaving only the twins, Mara, Joy, and their teacher still left in the room. Figures they had more important things to do. Kira rolled her eyes again, and dropped the last book into the box.
Eddie was laughing about something on his tablet, and Joy tore her eyes off the retreating figures' backs and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "What's up? Daddy put skateboarding on the curriculum?" she teased.
He looked up at her with a snort. "No. Have any of you seen this new blog on the website? Jackal Anonymous, it's called."
Mara immediately perked up from where she'd been hunched over her backpack and spun around with an excited glint in her eye. "It's good, isn't it?" she exclaimed. Eddie nodded vigorously, and Mara coughed, suddenly awkward. "I mean, pssh, it's okay."
Kira shrugged since she hadn't read it yet, and Joy wrinkled her nose in agreement. Eddie, however, looked at her incredulously. "'Okay'? This thing is gold! It's like a mash up of all the best times I've been here. I mean, take a look at this! 'Bake-off Face-off', 'Donkey Diner', 'Sweetie's Moves'!" As he rattled off the articles, Kira noticed Mara fighting a grin, and immediately had a suspicion; if she was right, then honestly, good for her. "I mean, who is this Jackal guy?" Eddie continued.
Mara shrugged slightly. "Well, I'm guessing since he's writing under a blog called Jackal Anonymous, it's probably an alias?"
"Well, he's a kid at the school," said Joy. "He sends me a few articles anonymously; if his blog's doing that good, I don't need to know who he is."
"Joy?" Ms. Valentine called from the stage, effectively ending the conversation. Joy gave them a quick wave goodbye, and the girls waved back, gathering their belongings and starting out the door.
"Hey, we've got English in, like, five minutes," Kira reminded Eddie as they passed him. "You coming?"
"That's what she said," Eddie blurted out automatically, lifting his tablet to defend himself from Kira's equally automatic smack. "And nah, I'm just gonna keep browsing this blog for now. Smell ya later, Nug."
"Yeah, yeah, later," Kira drawled. "When you flunk out, don't come crying to me!" Leaving him to his truancy, she jogged a bit to catch up to Mara who loitered in the hallway for her. She wasn't going to ask about Jackal Anonymous yet, not before reading it to see if the writing styles matched up. She didn't want to spook her friend, after all.
They settled into their seats in English and chatted for a bit about nothing in particular while they waited for the period to begin. The bell rang and on cue, Mr. Sweet strode in, ushering Nina and Alfie along in front of him. Fabian, Amber, and Jerome, who also had this class, were nowhere in sight.
"I would expect Mr. Lewis here to take advantage of a pink-eye outbreak," and Kira involuntarily put a hand to her eye, shuddering at the thought, "but I expected more from you, Nina. If this truancy continues, there will be repercussions." Mr. Sweet caught his daughter's eye, glancing at the empty space beside Patricia where Eddie would normally be sitting. Kira shrugged apologetically; Eddie wasn't going to change overnight if he ever did. "Right, well, now, Ms. Valentine has set you a surprise Shakespeare test."
The class groaned and Kira nearly threw up her hands in defeat. "Just when I thought we'd moved on to some other topic," she muttered to Mara, who just laughed at her pain while Mr. Sweet passed out the packets.
"You have exactly one hour," he said, pointing to the clock. "You may begin."
Not even two minutes in, Nina and Alfie were whispering really loudly, and Mara shot Kira a look that clearly read as, Are you serious?
Clearly, Mr. Sweet wasn't pleased either. "Mr, Lewis!" he barked, and immediately Alfie and Nina's chattering ceased, and Nina hid something in her lap. "First you stage a walk-out, and now you're talking during a test... I do hope you're not cheating." He strode over to them and held out his hand expectantly. "Give me that." With extreme reluctance, Nina handed over the paper. "'Why aren't you at the barn?'" the headmaster read out loud, blinking at it stupidly for a moment before he came to a conclusion. "Oh, it's a date," he deduced, and it took everything in Kira to not burst out laughing at the thought of Alfie and Nina together on a farm rendezvous. From the seat behind her, Joy snickered. "Well," Mr. Sweet continued, "I'm afraid you're going to be very, very late for that. Detention after school today for Mr. Lewis."
"But Mr. Sweet—"
"No buts, or it's detention for Nina, too!"
They slumped back in their chairs with a sigh, and Kira cleared her throat, thankful for the relative quiet. She flipped to the first question: What is the main theme of Richard II? Explain it in paragraph form.
Kira groaned audibly. She couldn't wait for Chekov.
—
Kira, Mara, and Joy sat together in the living room that night doing homework. Fabian and Nina were there too, though they didn't seem to be doing any actual homework. Despite being totally over Shakespeare, Kira was confident she'd aced the test that afternoon and was more than happy to start in on The Seagull. She was distracted, though, by Nina on the phone.
"I just wanted to leave a message?" Nina said hesitantly, waiting for a beat while the person on the other end of the line spoke. "Evelyn Meridian Martin... Just let her know that her granddaughter called and that I'll come to visit really soon... Thanks." She hung up with a sigh and slid off the arm of the couch. "I haven't been to visit in forever," she lamented with a shake of her head. "I'm a terrible person."
Kira was about to reassure her of the opposite, but Fabian beat her to the punch. "No, Nina, you can't be in two places at once. You visit when you can, and she knows that." He paused for a moment, biting his lip hesitantly. "There's other news..." he said quietly, and for all Kira's insistance that she wasn't a busy-body, she couldn't help but strain her ears to get the gossip. "When Alfie broke down the barn door... the dollhouse..." He held up a single cracked chimney, and Nina gasped in horror. "It's beyond repair. I saved you that part."
Kira blinked at it, then shook her head. So that's what the barn thing had been about. They'd found the dollhouse and smashed it in the process... but how had it gotten in a barn? Whatever had happened, Nina looked on the verge of tears, and Kira thought it best to hold her tongue and get back to reading.
All the while, though, she could hear Joy typing furiously away on her laptop. It was distracting not even because it was Joy, who was always distracting, but because there was something in her expression that gave Kira pause.
Frowning, she shook her head again and went back to her book. She was nearly at the end, where Treplev tears up his manuscripts and shoots himself after Nina confesses she loves Trigorin more than him. It was a bit of a downer.
Imagine self-destructing like that after a rejection, Kira mused to herself. Thank goodness it's only a play.
—
Vera wasn't down for breakfast that morning, and when Kira arrived at the table, Trudy was in the kitchen making eggs. She blinked in surprise at the special guest appearance, but was glad to see that that brief scare they'd had with the letter truly wasn't anything serious.
"It smells wonderful, Trudy," Kira complimented, and the former housemother beamed.
"It's my pleasure, dearie. You still haven't tried my cooking yet!" She rubbed at her head absently. "Though, I do suppose I should take it easy. I apparently had a bit of an accident, but I can't for the life of me remember."
"I'm sorry to hear that," she said sympathetically. "If you need an icepack or anything like that, I'd be happy to help."
Trudy cooed appreciatively. "Now, why couldn't you have always been one of my kids? Remind me to get to know Eddie better, too."
Kira smiled at sat down across from Alfie and Joy, adjusting her tie so it wasn't so snug around her neck. Something about the day just felt oppressive, like a noose tightening slowly. It was probably nothing, though.
Victor lumbered into the living room with a tired gait, rubbing at his eyes. "Nina Martin," he said, "I have just had a phone call from Mr. Sweet; you are to go and see him directly before school, which is now." With the message, delivered, he walked away.
"Hey, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," said Fabian, putting a comforting hand on Nina's shoulder.
Nina chuckled, clearly a bit unnerved. "Yeah, I mean, what have I done wrong? I mean, unless you count... a lot of things, I guess." They laughed, and Nina shouldered her book bag, starting out the door.
"Wait, Nina!" Kira called, fishing into her own bag and pulling out a protein bar. "Want breakfast?"
Her roommate laughed and nodded, and Kira threw it to her. She caught it and wiggled it around in her fingers. "I owe you one," she said gratefully before making her exit. Despite the girls not being close, it was moments like these that kept Kira from actually requesting to swap rooms.
All of a sudden, Victor came back in, definitely more alert this time. "Where is Vera?" he asked, glare sweeping the occupants of the room as though they were responsible for her disappearance. They all shrugged, and Victor sniffed in irritation before blustering out of the room again.
As the rest of the residents filed in and Trudy laid out breakfast, it was shaping up to be an alright morning. Kira laughed at herself for the odd feeling— clearly, everything was fine.
Until it wasn't.
The front door slammed open, and Nina came running in with short breaths and her eyes puffy. She threw open her laptop and pressed a few keys frantically. The room stilled, unsure of what to do.
"What's wrong?" Fabian asked, standing up from the table and crossing over to her. "What did Sweetie want to talk to you about?"
Kira's first thought was perhaps something had happened with her grandmother, and she— along with the rest of the weird kids clique— rushed over as well. Nina said nothing, merely turned her computer so Fabian could read whatever was on her screen.
"'A certain American student may seem as wholesome as her granny's apple pie, but when she spends so much time cutting class, you have to ask is she worthy of her scholarship? If she spent as much time caring for her seriously ill gran in hospital as she did running around campus, why doesn't she fly the old lady home?'" he read out loud in mounting horror. "Nina, this is horrible!"
"Way harsh," Amber breathed in shock.
"Mr. Sweet had some questions about the whole cutting class part," Nina sniffled.
"Who would write that about you?" Alfie asked, flabbergasted.
"I can't imagine anyone writing something so cruel," said Kira, reaching out and squeezing her roommate's hand in what she hoped was a gesture of comfort.
Nina hesitated, gaze bouncing between Patricia, Fabian, and Kira, before settling in her lap. "I do have a hunch... maybe..."
Amber pursed her lips and cut right to the chase. "You mean Joy," she said bluntly, and immediately there were protests.
"This isn't Joy," Patricia said firmly in defense of her closest friend.
"No way," Fabian agreed. "Joy would never stoop this low."
"Joy would never... Look, I know you two don't see eye to eye, but I can't imagine her doing something as horrible as that," added Kira. Joy was too... amazing to write that article. There was no way.
"Oh, come on," Amber snapped. "Break it down, people. Who's jealous of Nina? Joy. Who'd like Nina out of the way? Joy."
"Uh, Senkhara," Patricia blurted out, and while Kira didn't know the name, she clearly wasn't a nice person.
Fabian smacked Patricia's arm, and she winced, giving Kira the side-eye. It was clear she was being asked to leave.
"Right... this is on the Jackal Anonymous blog?" she asked, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. Nina nodded miserably. "Right, okay... Nina, if you need anything, please don't hesitate to text me, okay? You know where I live."
She sniffled and nodded again. Kira's gaze swept the group one last time before she retreated out the door. Maybe she needed to talk to Mara about that blog after all.