---
Alfie, Patricia and Scarlett made their way to the crypt. Patricia had walked ahead of them all, leaving Scarlett and Alfie to walk side by side. They got halfway there when Patricia realised she'd forgotten the key.
"You're fucking with me, right?" Scarlett asked, about to tackle the girl to the ground.
Patricia confirmed she was not messing with her and Scarlett took every ounce of restraint she had and used it to not scream into the night. She was really at her wit's end at that point. She instead, sent her a smile that made Patricia think she was going to get murdered in her sleep, and turned around, making her way back to the house, the other two staying a metre or two behind her.
Once there, they realised, they had to go back out, and there was no way to get there except the outside way, not after the cellar was padlocked shut.
They arrived to realise the adults had beaten them back to the crypt and were trying to break down the door.
"What are we meant to do now?" Scarlett muttered before Patricia grabbed her arm and dragged her away. They went all the way back to the house. Scarlett was about to ask why they had just done all that walking when Patricia asked for Alfie's phone. He gave it and Patricia hit it into the fire alarm.
Patricia shot down their questions with a quick explanation of how the adults had to come to the house now the alarm was going off.
Scarlett nodded, "That's a crime. I like."
They gathered downstairs near the door, waiting for the others. Willow came down freaking out and yelling. Victor came bounding in, pushing Trudy to the side and running upstairs. Scarlett watched in amusement, already knowing he was going straight to check on his precious bird.
Mara came down after this, having watched the grown man run for a stuffed animal. Jerome spotted her and ran into the kitchen. Scarlett frowned at this before she heard Trudy yell after him. She suddenly had an idea, turning to Trudy and offering to get him. There was a way out the back. Trudy had no time to respond because Scarlett had already run off, Alfie and Patricia behind her.
They stopped in their tracks as Miss Denby appeared, "Where do you think you're going?"
"Jesus, you're like a jump scare," Scarlett muttered.
"Well, I'm still waiting," Denby continued. "Where were you going?"
"My ears are very delicate, Miss, and the alarm could permanently deafen me," Alfie lied.
Scarlett held back an eye roll, as the lie continued before Victor stopped the alarm and yelled about someone being punished. Scarlett sighed, moving back into the hall with the others. Scarlett stood beside Jerome, who was extra jumpy that day, bumping straight into her and causing the key she had taken from Patricia (as she no longer trusted her to remember it) to fall to the floor. Her eyes flickered to it and then to Victor before she grabbed it.
Victor stepped forward, "What is this?"
"Ah, thanks, Victor. Wouldn't want to lose that."
"What? What is it?" Miss Denby asked.
"Nothing to worry about, Miss Denby," Victor replied.
"Hand it over, Garcia," he ordered.
"But it's mine."
He had grabbed one end of the key, "Give."
Scarlett pulled the key, "No. And Victor I wouldn't get so close to me right now. You all let a certain someone back into this school and now I tend to start swinging when I feel scared."
He grabbed the key from her.
"That's stealing," Scarlett exclaimed.
Trudy began the head count. Scarlett answered to her name, mind swirling with any solution to their current problem. So far, there were none. Apart from taking Victor out with his own bird, stealing the key and then moving to Canada to avoid being murdered by the man.
---
Scarlett and Patricia were trying to sneak back out. Scarlett was more than happy to leave the house after she found out she was rooming with Willow since she was taking Amber's bed after Mara took Nina's.
To the pair's luck, Victor was sitting by the front door. They decided to try and get the key first, only for Victor's door to creak loudly as they entered. The pair hid in his office, hoping he would take a look and miss them or not check his office. It wasn't like they had time to get back to the girl's corridor.
"For fuck-" Scarlett muttered when she glanced through the window to see Victor making his way up the stairs. She glanced down to see Alfie in the hall. She stared at him with wide eyes before hiding again. She really hoped he would do something.
There was a crash downstairs as Victor began to open the office door.
Scarlett let out a breath as Victor ran back downstairs. Scarlett and Patricia began looking for the key.
Little did Scarlett know, Eddie and Fabian were discussing the breakup as she was trying to save them. The latter reassured him that that was just Scarlett but that she would come to her senses sooner or later. He was right, everyone could see Scarlett still had feelings for Eddie, except for the boy himself. After spending years with the girl, they knew she wasn't the most reasonable and tended to think she was less than she actually was. Even KT could see that.
All the while, Patricia and Scarlett found nothing, glancing into the hall one last time to see Victor downstairs, key in hand.
---
Scarlett didn't know what Patricia did to get Jerome to help them but she was more than grateful when he grabbed the key from Victor's pocket after getting Willow to hug the grumpy man. Patricia threw the key to Scarlett who took off as soon as she had it, her school bag on her back.
Once she got to the crypt she had to hide, seeing Denby already there. She watched as Denby used her key to get in.
"Oh, God."
She waited, seeing Denby leave with Robert. She sighed, glad she hadn't gotten the others.
Scarlett rushed to the door once Denby left, making her way into the crypt. They had obviously hidden somewhere, she started looking around about to announce herself when Fabian walked out.
"Scarlett."
"Fuck off," she yelled. "Don't do that."
"Granger, am I glad to see you," Eddie spoke, kissing her cheek and pulling her into a hug. She stopped for a second, shocked at the action before she hugged back, enjoying it more than she would admit to anyone until KT grilled her about it later. She wouldn't admit though, that her cheek burned slightly from the kiss and that she kind of wished he'd do that more often.
KT was next in line, pulling her into a hug.
"I am so sorry for leaving you here overnight. It's a long story. Fire alarms, key confiscations, Willow moved in."
"Willow moved in?" Eddie asked.
"Into Amber's bed."
"Oh."
"Yeah, I can put up with a lot-"
"Uh," Eddie interrupted.
"Fine, I can put up with some things but she is not on that list. She's lovely. But she's cheery and loud and hugs a lot."
Eddie frowned, "You love hugs."
"No, I don't."
"But you used to hug me all the time," Eddie continued.
Scarlett sighed, turning to KT who was smiling, hiding a laugh, "Eddie. I don't hug a lot. I hugged you a lot because you hugged me. And you give good hugs. And you were my boyfriend and I lo- liked you."
"Wait-"
"We gotta go," Scarlett interrupted, not wanting to talk about her almost slip up or the fact she liked his hugs. She couldn't help it, he was just so warm.
The others walked ahead, leaving KT and Scarlett at the back. KT went to speak, a smirk on her face. She nudged her, getting her to shut up but not removing the knowing look she would not drop.
---
Scarlett was standing by her open locker with KT.
KT turned to the girl, "So, the hug? With Eddie?"
"What about it?" Scarlett sighed.
"You loved it, you went bright red and you almost said you-"
Scarlett coughed loudly, cutting the girl off.
"So what if I did? It was a hug, not a proposal," she brushed off.
KT scoffed, "Admit it. You love him and you want to kiss him and get back together with him."
Scarlett grabbed the book she needed, slamming her locker shut before she turned and stared at KT for a second, "You're not wrong."
KT squealed.
"Keep it down. I will tell him, in my own time, okay? This is big for me and I may not say the L word but I will tell him how I feel. Let me move as I feel comfortable and-"
She cut herself off when she saw Patricia and Fabian approaching.
"I can't work out why it didn't work. I mean we must have gone wrong somewhere, but where?" Fabian told the group, recalling the failed ritual from the night before.
Scarlett shrugged, "Maybe a special person has to say the words. Or like the Cup, it has to be a certain day or something?"
Fabian took a second before nodding, thinking over what she'd said.
"I can't believe you've lost the body," Patricia interrupted.
KT turned to Eddie as he and Alfie approached, "So, what are we gonna do now?"
Eddie scoffed, "Guys, come on. Look, we still got this baby right?" He pulled out the bracelet. "And we've got the descended. We stole Frobisher-Smythe once, we can do it again. This time, we'll do the ritual right. Right?"
"Hello, Jedward, that was before. Now that we've done it once you know there's gonna be extra eyes on us and probably better security," Scarlett pointed out.
"Stop being pessimistic."
"Oh, big word there, Freddie," she teased.
"Come on, Scar. Guys. Sibuna it." He nudged her with his free arm as he raised the other.
She rolled her eyes, following his lead. The others did too.
"There we go. That's better," Eddie whispered.
Their circle was broken as Jerome interrupted.
"Excuse me, everyone, Patricia," he grabbed her arm, pulling her away. Patricia said goodbye as they watched her go.
"He's acting weirder than usual," Scarlett muttered. "Come on, Jedward. We have English and you didn't do the reading."
She grabbed his hand without thinking. Fabian sent Eddie a knowing look. The girl was warming back up to him. She was opening up again, just like Fabian had told him she would and if he was right, they'd be back together before the end of term.
Neither of them knew how deep her feelings really went.
"Wait, how'd you know I didn't?" Eddie questioned.
"Because you're you and you hate Shakespeare."
"But you did the reading?"
"I read Othello in year seven, I've got you. I'll give you the Sparks Note version of the scenes," she assured. "Plus I was reading it last night while you had takeaway."
Eddie listened to her ramble about the play. He couldn't care less about Othello but he liked hearing her rambling and he liked the familiar weight of her hand in his and he wished she would just lower that wall she had. He just wanted to be able to call her his girlfriend again and to kiss her and hold her and watch the crappy movies she loved and he wouldn't admit he liked.
---
Their science class was starting late as Denby and Sweet were telling them about a group project they would be doing on the solar eclipse and the event they would be holding. Willow was the first to volunteer to help organise it and was in charge of the eclipse groups that they would be in. Once she found out she was only giving everyone the details of the groups and not choosing them, she was less excited.
As they spoke about the rare event, Scarlett couldn't help but think maybe that's what they needed for the ritual. She nudged Fabian as they spoke and he nodded, catching on to what she was implying.
"The entire sun going black, does that sound familiar to anyone? When the dark sun is born? Kinda like our clues," Scarlett whispered.
"You're a genius, Granger," Eddie complimented.
"I know."
"What?" KT asked.
"The ritual has to be done during the eclipse," Scarlett elaborated.
"But there's no way we can do everything before then," KT voiced.
Scarlett shrugged, "She's got a point. There is a lot to do."
Word Count:
[2085]
a/n what is that a second update in like two days? she's a new woman. probably not. i'm trying to pre-write a lot of this so when uni starts kicking my ass even more than it already is, i can just edit a chapter instead of write the entire thing and then edit. so, enjoy this update!! there's a lot more eddie and scarlett coming up as well. :)