Joy sat in the cinema with Jerome, she then suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her hand, so flipped it over to see that Fabian was calling her. She knew that he wouldn't call her unless it was urgent, so quickly told Jerome that she was going to the toilet, then ran out of the cinema and answered Fabian's call.
"Hey, Fabian."
"Joy, thank God," Fabian breathed out, "You need to help us," He then followed up.
"Why? What's happened?" Joy began to panic.
"Someone set traps in the forest, now all 4 of us are... yeah - trapped," Fabian explained.
Joy glanced her eyes towards the cinema, thinking about Jerome. She paused and thought for a moment. She shared a regretful, guilty and saddened smile with herself, before answering, "I'll be there in 5," She mumbled, before hanging up the phone, then shoving it into her pocket. She then sprinted off.
****
"Looks good," Mrs. Miller, spoke, looking around the Release Room and examining every small detail.
Miss Chase ran her hand across the frame of the gong, "It's perfect," She whispered, "Who'd have know kids could make it perfect."
"Now all that's left to do is get our hands on the watch," Mrs. Miller dropped the mood a little, "Did you have any luck with Edison, Rutter and Jaffray?"
"They told me that Vincent confiscated it from them. I don't know whether to believe them or not, but regardless, I will visit the old hag anyway," Miss Chase explained to her.
"We have 5 days, that gives us enough time to get it back."
****
"Oh... My... God!" Joy covered her mouth with her hands, as she walked to the Sepulchre area to see both pairs in the nets. She covered her mouth mainly from shock, but also to stop a laugh from escaping her mouth.
"I should have told you to bring a knife or something," Fabian mumbled, realising his mistake.
"I'll go grab one from the house," Joy began to run off, "I'll be right back."
"Great," Patricia spoke sarcastically, as she watched Joy run off, "Even more time I have to spend here stuck with you," She laughed, turning to face Eddie.
Eddie laughed, before joining in, "And you think that I'm happy about this?"
"Why wouldn't you be?" Patricia smirked.
****
Joy sprinted up to Anubis House, then swung the door open and ran into the kitchen. She stopped dead in her tracks after seeing Fleur, Nina and Lavender all decorating a Christmas tree. Reality then hit her; it was 18 days until Christmas.
"Joy, finally someone else is home," Fleur smiled over to her, "Come and help decorate the tree. We need some help here."
"Uh..." Joy muttered, as she stepped back to the cutlery draw and opened it slowly and discretely, "I can't help, sorry, Fleur."
"Nonsense," Fleur spoke, "Everyone likes decorating Christmas trees. Now come and help."
Reluctantly and regretfully, Joy shut the draw and walked into the living room to help with the tree.
****
Jerome constantly looked down and checked his phone, hoping that a message from Joy would come through, but it didn't. It had been 20 minutes since she'd left him, and he'd started to get suspicious.
He then, with around half an hour still left of the movie, gathered up his coat, Joy's coat and the half eaten box of popcorn. He then awkwardly left the cinema, his hands overloaded with luggage.
****
"Where is Joy?" Fabian huffed loud enough for Patricia and Eddie to hear, after checking his watch for the time.
"I will have to bite through this rope if she isn't here soon," Patricia spoke, sounding scarily genuine.
"Not if I have anything to do with it," Eddie rested his hand on Patricia's shoulder and turned her away, so that she was facing him instead of the rope.
"And how are you gonna stop me?" Patricia smirked, raising her eyebrows.
Eddie laughed and gazed down to Patricia's lips, "Oh... I don't know..."
"Can you guys stop being cute, or be quieter when you're being cute?" Fabian called over.
"Can you stop being jealous, or be quieter when you're being jealous?" Patricia mocked, laughing. Eddie laughed too. Fabian just scoffed.
"I'll call Joy," Fabian changed the subject, before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He then, butter fingers, dropped his phone. Not only did it fall out of his hands, but it fell through the holes in the net and onto the floor; out of reach.
"Genius, Fabian," Patricia sarcastically clapped.
"I haven't got my phone on me," Mara informed them.
"I have my phone, but it's out of battery," Patricia told them.
"Mine's at the house..." Eddie muttered, not wanting to add to this disappointment of no-one being able to contact Joy. "Wait! I have an idea!" He then added enthusiastically.
"And that idea is...?" Fabian impatiently asked, even though Eddie had literally just said it.
"Patricia, give me your phone," Eddie demanded. Fabian, for some reason, just rolled his eyes at Eddie's comment.
Patricia reached inside her pocket and pulled out her phone. She hesitated before handing it over to Eddie, "What are you going to do? My phones out of charge, we can't call Joy."
"We're not calling Joy, we're getting out of this net," Eddie told her.
A puzzled and slightly scared expression covered Patricia's face, before she hesitantly handed her phone to Eddie, "Okay... Now I'm confused."
"Well..." Eddie began, not taking his eyes off Patricia's phone that lay in his hand, "The screen of the phone is sharp, so can act as a knife. So, all we need to do is smash you're phone, peel the screen off, then we're as good as out," He then half looked up at Patricia, wanting to see her expression.
"Eddie, there's no way you're smashing my phone!" Patricia told him, urgency in her voice. She then reached out, trying to grab her phone off Eddie. Eddie teased her by snatching the phone out of her reach. "Eddie!" Patricia yelled, as she stumbled, having to grab hold of the net to stop her from falling.
"Steady there, Yacker," Eddie chuckled.
"Seriously, Eddie," Patricia tried to grab her phone again, "Give me my phone, or I'll break up with you."
"Fine," Eddie spoke, flimsily handing Patricia's phone back to her. Patricia snatched it out of his hand and shoved it in her pocket.
****
Vincent held the phone towards his ear, "And you are sure that the watch will bleed Ra's blood?" He asked.
"I'm positive," The voice came from the other end. It was Mrs. Miller.
"And Miss Chase doesn't know that we're using it as an ingredient for the elixir?" He confirmed.
"She has no idea," Mrs. Miller answered, in a sneaky, devious voice.
"Good," Vincent nodded.
****
Patricia scratched her nails across the rope out of boredom. The conversation between the 4 of them had simmered down to practically nothing.
"Joy needs to be coming soon, right?" Mara spoke.
"She better be, I'm bored out of my skin," Patricia huffed.
Eddie slowly and subtly reached inside his pocket, "Oh... Wow... Look at this..." He pulled his phone out.
Patricia glared at him, "You've had your phone this whole time!?" She hissed.
"Um... Maybe..." Eddie muttered in response. "I guess I'll contact Joy now," He added quickly, before anyone could shout at him.
****
Jerome opened the door to Anubis House. He walked in to hear Christmas music loudly playing and he saw Fleur, Lavender, Nina and Joy decorating a Christmas tree.
"Joy?" He questioned, looking at her. Joy gulped, before hanging the decoration, that was in her hand, then stepping away from the tree.
"Where did you go? Why did you go?" Jerome walked over to her and handed her coat to her.
"I..." Joy stuttered. Her phone then vibrated in her hand, she flipped it over to see a message from Eddie, 'Joy, where are you? Please hurry up. Eddie'. "Jerome, I'm sorry, b- but I really need to go..." She muttered, before rushing into the kitchen, grabbing out the knife, then putting her coat on and leaving the house.
"Joy!" Jerome called after her.
"Sorry," She mouthed, shutting the door.
****
"I'm sorry," Joy rushed towards the others. She had run fast and was now out of breath.
"Finally," Fabian exaggerated, "What took you so long?"
Joy walked up to the net in which Fabian and Mara were in. She then reached up, standing on her tip-toes, and slit the rope, creating enough of a hole for them both to get out, "Fleur forced me to help decorate the Christmas tree," She informed them. After they had both climbed out and jumped down.
"Right..." Fabian muttered.
Joy then moved over to Patricia and Eddie's net, and did the she thing.
Eddie jumped down first. "Are you okay?" He questioned, looking to Patricia, after she had climbed down.
"Yeah," Patricia nodded, looking at him and smiling.
Eddie smiled back, before wrapping his arm around Patricia.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Joy exclaimed, "You two-?" She pointed finger between Eddie and Patricia.
"Yeah, it's wonderful, a Christmas miracle," Fabian groaned unenthusiastically, barging into their conversation, "Now let's go," He then began to walk off in the direction of the Sepulchre. The others hung back.
"What's up with Fabian?" Joy whispered.
Mara shrugged, "Probably just the fact we were all stuck in the nets."
"Or the fact you took so long," Patricia whistled, drawing her eyesight up to the sky, in order to make no eye contact with Joy.
"Thanks, Patricia," Joy muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Are you guys coming?" Fabian impatiently asked, looking back to them.
"I'll find out what's up with him," Joy whispered, before turning her attention to Fabian, "Yeah," Joy called, before rushing over to join him. The others trailed behind.
****
Miss Chase sat in Vincent's office. She had gone to see him, to find out whether he had the watch, but wasn't sure how to approach asking him about it. She didn't want to be straight up with him, but knew of no other way in which to find out.
"What did you need, Janet?" Vincent asked.
"I was wondering if you had the time," She spoke.
"You came all the way to me, to see if I had the time?" Vincent question unsurely.
"There are a few other things too," Miss Chase lied on the spot, "But I really do need the time."
Vincent reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a silver pocket watch. It was exactly the same as Victor's, but silver. "It's 8:14," He informed her.
"Right..." Miss Chase muttered, disappointed by the out come of that question, "Nice fob," She decided to comment, to keep on the topic of watches.
"My father gave one to me and one to my brother," Vincent told her, his voice stern and impatient. "Now, Janet. Why are you here?"
Miss Chase thought for a moment, before an idea came to her head. It wasn't very developed, but she'd have to add to it as she progressed the lie, "I'm training to be a caretaker instead of a teacher. Mr. Sweet told me to come to you to find out rules. So, lets start with basics; do you confiscate anything from the students?"
Vincent gave her an unsure look, before answering, "I'm not sure why you would've been summoned to me, Janet. Now, tell me the real reason of your visit, or leave my office."
"I'm looking for a watch," Miss Chase decided to be straight up with him, "Apparently you confiscated it from Edison Miller, Fabian Rutter, or Mara Jaffray, and I need it now."
"No watch has been confiscated from the students," He told her, "Now if that's it, you can leave now," He hurriedly tried to get her out.
Reluctantly, Miss Chase stood up and left Vincent's office. As soon as Vincent saw her exit the main house, he hurried to the phone and called Mrs. Miller.
"Yes, Vincent?" She asked, answering the call.
"You don't have the watch?" Vincent spat down the phone line in anger.
Mrs. Miller paused for a second, "No... Well not at the moment..." She stuttered.
"You are aware that the 12th is in 5 days, right?"
"Yes, Vincent, I am. I will get my hands on the watch," She spoke timidly.
"You better," He hissed, before handing up the call.
****
Sibuna walked near the Sepulchre, looking for Charlie. They had split into two groups; Fabian with Joy, and Patricia, Eddie and Mara together.
"Are you okay, Fabian," Joy asked, breaking the silence between them. Fabian just nodded, an unconvincing nod.
"No you're not," Joy was quick to respond, "Tell me what's wrong."
Fabian subtly turned his head to the others, to see that they were a fair distance away. He then turned back to Joy, before spilling everything, "After seeing Patricia and Eddie back together, it's made me miss Nina more. Nina is right by me, but at the same time... She's not. I like Mara, but I'm not sure I like her in that way... I guess I'm just getting somewhat jealous of Patricia and Eddie," He explained, pausing a lot.
"Fabian, you need to tell Mara this," Joy told him.
"I know, and I will," Fabian spoke, "But that won't make Nina normal again."
"Fabian, we're talking about your girlfriend's feeling here, not your ex-girlfriends normality."
"Yeah, sorry, I'm selfish," Fabian apologised feebly.
"You're not selfish," Joy told him, "You're just in love," She added in a jokey voice, teasing him.
****
[Oi, oi! Hello! Look at me updating loads, this is my 4th update in December!
No entirely sure why I have Obama clapping me, but we'll roll with it. El questionès next, right?
Man, they still haven't found Charlie. Will they?
Will at least one of the teachers get the watch?
Should Joy have left Jerome?
What will happen between Jerome and Joy?
Will Fabian tell Mara?
That's it. I'm going to go and do some maths revision now, before my mum stabs me for choosing Wattpad over revision. Byeee ^_^]