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the next morning followed quickly for the sibuna gang as their extravagant night had come to an end. bella covered her mouth as a yawn escaped her lips, surprised to find nina in her usual seat next to amber as fabian was seating himself down across them. she didn't question it and took nina's seat instead as vera approached the table, placing a big bowl of cereal in front of her.
"what happened to you four last night? you disappeared into thin air." she commented, catching their attention as they glanced at one another. it was obvious they were taken aback by her question, trying their best to not look suspicious.
"yeah, you guys do that a lot around here." eddie chimed in, taking a seat next to fabian. "were you sneaking off to play hopscotch?" he teased in a fake british accent, causing the table to burst in to laughter, luckily changing the subject as bella noticed that vera seemed to lose interest and walked back into the kitchen.
"actually, the reason i'm never in our room at night is because of the awful music you play and the volume you play it at." fabian scolded, glaring at the boy sat next to him.
"it's not that bad." bella commented as she reached over for a croissant. "its better than whatever preppy song amber sings in the shower."
"hey!"
fabian choked on his drink, amber took offense to her words and the rest of the table stared at bella in surprise, not expecting the girl to come to eddie's defence, of all people. they were very much aware of their ongoing feud since he had first arrived, so to hear those words come out of bella's mouth would make you think she was possessed.
"oh, you're good." alfie praised, giving the boy a knowing smile as he nodded his head in approval.
"good at what?" bella sent the boy a sharp stare, her interest piqued as he seemingly decided to stay quiet. she noticed eddie's face drop as he seemed to be unable to meet her gaze, causing her to grow frustrated at the sudden silence. "good at what?" she repeated, this time staring daggers at eddie as she waited for a response.
"eddie bet us he could get you to dance." jerome answered for him, chuffed that eddie was taking the heat and losing brownie points with bella. although he didn't realise he was only digging his own hole by telling her the truth.
"is that why you were singing she'll be coming round the mountains?" joy questioned. bella's eyebrows knitted together as she had missed that scenario since she had to rush off to the tunnels with the others.
"er, murdering she'll be coming round the mountain." alfie corrected.
"you were all in on it?" bella questioned, her voice small as her gaze was fixed on jerome. she expected it from eddie, but from jerome? she couldn't help but feel humiliated. the girl suddenly lost her appetite, standing up from her chair as she kept her gaze low. "i need to go." she grabbed her bag from the back of her seat before leaving the room.
"bella, wait―" but she had already left before they could stop her.
"you guys are trash, how could you do that to bella?" amber scolded, glaring at alfie for being involved with something like this. the three boys didn't have anything to say, and the blonde girl didn't even wait for a response as she left the table with nina. obviously fabian followed suite, not before shaking his head in disappointment at the three boys.
"yeah, well, bella may have let you off easy, but i'm not." patricia stated, standing up from the table. although she wasn't close with bella, she wasn't going to let someone get away with treating a fellow woman like trash. so she stood behind eddie, reached over and poured the full jug of milk over his head. the others gasped in surprise as patricia smirked, satisfied with the payback she had provided oh behalf of bella as she placed the jug back down, before leaving the room.
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bella laid her head on the arm of the sofa in the student lounge, completely drained from her first few lessons of the day. she hated to admit it, but she felt so disappointed in the two boys. eddie was obvious, but jerome still shocked her. she was beginning to think that they weren't friends like she thought they were, and it was affecting her more than she had anticipated. she had warned herself not to get involved with any romantic relationships considering her past, and now here she was, having things repeat again.
"there you are." amber approached the girl, taking a seat across from her as she stared at bella with pity.
"where were you looking?" bella questioned in confusion, having expected her to search here first for her of all places.
"that's not the point," amber brushed off her question. "we need to cheer you up." bella rolled her eyes, sitting up straight.
"there's nothing you need to cheer me up for," she assured her blonde best friend. "i'm fine, neither of them mean anything to me and i'm just going to pretend that they don't exist." she shrugged like it was no big deal.
"pretend they don't exist, or plan a revenge to get back at them?" the two girls looked up to find patricia taking a seat on the other sofa, staring at bella expectantly. bella and amber glanced at one another, wondering what patricia had to say. "come on, bella, you can't let them win. you need to get back at them and give them a taste of their own medicine."
bella nodded, debating the idea. she didn't hate it, but she wasn't a revenge type of person. "how do i get back at them?" she questioned. patricia smirked, standing up from her seat.
"leave that with me." she assured the girl before walking out of the lounge. bella and amber glanced at one another in confusion, wondering what had just happened. they were both equally surprised that patricia had even offered to help considering bella didn't interact with her much ― other than the ball when she was forced to help, and that was only interacting with patricia because of joy.
"that was weird." bella commented as amber took a seat next to the girl on the arm of the sofa. "what do you think she's planning?"
"who, patricia? it could be anything," amber sighed, shaking her head. "i heard she poured milk all over eddie after what happened this morning. clearly she is not a fan of him as much as you." amber shrugged. bella pursed her lips, nodding her head in agreement. "speaking of, me and fabian dropped off patricia and alfie's sibuna invites this morning. we're going to the clearing at six thirty after school to meet them, will you come too?"
bella stood up from the sofa, turning to face amber. "sibuna invites?" she questioned. "after nina told us she still needed to think about it?" she added, reminding the girl.
"i know," amber sheepishly agreed. "but we need them. she'll realise once we're together how much better it will be." amber shrugged as if it were no big deal. however, bella could only respond with a pointed look, knowing full well that nina wouldn't be happy with them going behind her back. "come on," the blonde girl looped her arm through bella's, pulling the girl to their next class.
however, unfortunately for bella, this class was one where she sat with jerome. she froze in the doorway, causing amber to be pulled back too, turning to the girl in confusion as she wondered why she had suddenly stopped. she followed her gaze, realisation washing over her features as her eyes landed on jerome and alfie laughing about who knows what.
it didn't take long for the two pranksters to notice bella at the door, their smiles immediately dropping as they remembered the events from this morning.
"i can get alfie to swap places so you can sit with me?" amber suggested, turning to the girl. bella smiled, shaking her head.
"it's okay," she reassured. "i can't run away forever." she shrugged. amber smiled, nodding her head as the two split ways to their seats. jerome didn't waste time in taking his seat as bella ignored him, taking out her things from her bag as he stared at her expectantly.
"bella, please let me explain―"
"there's nothing to explain, jerome." bella cut the boy off, glaring at him. "you made a bet with a sleazeball and decided to make me the poor idiot." she shrugged like it was no big deal, but her words were sharp like a knife.
"you're not an idiot, bella," jerome denied as the girl looked at him expectantly. "i'm sorry, we shouldn't have done that. i just―" he paused, unable to finish his sentence. he couldn't admit that he only agreed on the bet purely because he thought bella would say no to eddie and it would've made him feel smug watching the boisterous blondie get rejected.
"just?" bella pressed on, waiting for him to continue.
"settle down! sorry i'm late, let's begin." whether it was lucky or unlucky, jerome couldn't finish his sentence as mrs andrews finally entered the classroom, cutting their conversation short. with a sigh, bella turned back to the front, ignoring jerome for the rest of the lesson as the boy couldn't help but steal glances, praying that his apology would be enough.
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bella, amber and fabian had walked to the clearing together after school. they had changed out of their uniforms and managed to leave without nina catching them, however bella couldn't help but feel nervous doing things behind her back.
"this feels wrong," fabian commented, reading bella's mind as she was stood next to amber. "doing this behind her back."
"why? i thought that was your thing now?" amber jabbed at the boy, making him go quiet. luckily before the tension made bella feel anymore awkward, they noticed alfie approaching the three of them. "alfie!" amber excitedly called out, happy that the boy came.
"okay, so what's this all about? i mean, there can't be more cups of ankh, can there? what is it, part of a dinner set?" he questioned, holding up a piece of paper with amber's beautifully drawn egyptian hieroglyphic eye. his eyes landed on bella, his eyebrows knitting in confusion as he pointed at the girl. however, before he could comment on her presence, someone else's voice caught their attention.
"you know we have common rooms for these kinds of things? do we always have to meet out here?" patricia questioned as she walked up to the four of them.
"this is a secret meeting place of sibuna." amber argued.
"look, we'll tell you everything." fabian assured.
"firstly though, are you in?" amber cut in, glancing between the two sceptically. she raised her right hand to her right eye. "are. you. in?" she repeated. "sibuna."
"sibuna." everyone repeated, copying her actions with a knowing smile.
"right, let's head back to the house, we can explain everything there." amber smiled, as the four of them realised there was in fact no point in meeting at the clearing.
"wait, i'm still confused, when did bella join?" alfie questioned as they all began walking back to the house.
"bella's deep in this as much as nina." amber answered, taking the two by surprise. "we don't know why, or how, but she has the powers to the house too." amber shrugged, explaining the situation as if it were no big deal.
"so the house talks to her too?" patricia questioned.
"yeah, basically." bella nodded as they entered the house.
"does everyone who move to this house have some weird creepy connection to it? next thing you know, eddie will be hearing the voices too." patricia sighed as they made their way up the stairs. "speaking of, i've thought of an amazing way you can get back at him." she added, placing a hand on bella's shoulder as they entered the girl's quarters.
"guys, can we please focus?" fabian suggested as he was about to open the door to bella and amber's shared bedroom. once he had their attention, he opened the door and they all filed in, fabian grabbed the map from the dollhouse before they circled round and he began explaining the situation.
"now the mask is at the end of this final tunnel," he pointed at the end. "and this is how far we've got." he finished, showing them their current place on the map.
"the dollhouse helps us." amber added.
"the dollhouse helps you?" alfie repeated skeptically.
"the dollhouse." patricia finished, unable to hold back her laughter, however amber, fabian and bella's serious expression showed that they were unamused by her joke. "sorry."
"look, it used to belong to sarah, we think its her giving us the clues." fabian explained.
"so why don't you just tell the egyptian chick to go get the mask herself?" patricia suggested as if it were that easy.
"because she has no physical form." fabian answered.
"then tell her to bog off."
"you don't know what she's like." amber chimed in. "she fake pushed nina down a chasm just to make a point."
"guys!" fabian cut in. "look, you don't understand. it is simple, if we don't find that mask before anyone else, nina loses her life."
"it's simple?" bella's eyes widened as they turned around in surprise, finding nina walking into the room. "i told you not to tell them." she scolded fabian. "you know, for a guy who never betrayed anyone before, you're sure on a roll." she glared daggers at the boy before turning to amber and bella. "and you two too." she added, turning to amber and bella, snatching the map out of amber's hands and turning to put it back in the dollhouse.
"i think we all know what this is really about." fabian suddenly piped up.
"i don't know what this is really about." alfie commented, trying to add a little comic relief, but it only made it tenser than earlier.
"don't even," nina held her hand up, turning to face the boy.
"look, it was an accident." fabian continued. "i- i thought she was you." nina scoffed in disbelief, crossing her arms as she looked away from the boy.
"look, patricia and alfie are involved now, so there's no point in going over it." amber added.
"you guys know we're in the room, right?" patricia held her hand up, trying to release some of the awkward tension.
"and don't i get a say in this too?" bella held her hand up, showing the ring on her finger, reminding nina of her link to the house. there was a moment of silence as they all glanced at one another before alfie finally spoke up.
"so, do we get to see this puppy, or what?"
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