Amelia woke up to the sound of Nina's alarm clock. "Morning," Nina's gran smiled. "Do we have to get up," Amelia groaned, still wrapped up in all her blankets. "I just had the weirdest dream," Nina sighed, still distraught from her run in with the spirit last night. "Me too, I was a personal shopper for Lady Gaga and she tipped me in salami. What was yours," Amber asked Nina. "I can't remember," she lied before getting up and grabbing her stuff to get ready.
While the other girls got ready in their room, Nina met Fabian down in the lobby where she told him all about the dream she had the night before. "She mentioned a mask and someone with a connection to the house. Do you think it's Victor or someone else in the house?" Fabian stood there for a minute, trying to figure out who this mysterious person could be, but all his thoughts went back to Victor. "Surely it could be anyone, but if it is Victor I don't think that's very good. I mean he's not going to be very much help to us if he's after the same thing," Fabian sighed. Before either of them could say anything else, Nina heard Senkhara's voice all around her. "Let's go get breakfast, like right now," Nina hurriedly walked into the dining room, hoping that the voices would stop.
Once Amber and Amelia were ready, they walked down to breakfast together. Amelia grabbed an apple before sitting down at the table with Nina's gran, Joy and Patricia. Fabian sat down next to Amelia, wanting to make sure she felt better than she had the day before. "You sleep any better last night Amelia?" "Surprisingly I did! I woke up in the middle of the night because of my stomach again, but I was able to fall back asleep after a little while."
"Did anybody hear that terrible noise in the night? It sounded like a woolly mammoth with heartburn," Trudy rambled. Fabian turned around to try and get Trudy to stop talking, while Amelia on the other hand started to laugh. "A woolly mammoth with heartburn," she repeated not being able to contain her laughter. Nina quickly informed Trudy that it was her gran, which shut Trudy up real quick, but not before she let out a small laugh.
"You wanna head over together," Joy asked Fabian who was in the middle of eating. "Mhm, I mean no, maybe," Fabian fumbled his words. "Decisive as ever, come on Amelia," Patricia laughed as she grabbed Amelia by the arm and pulled her up. "Have fun Fabian," Amelia called out while linking arms with Patricia. "Oh wait, I forgot my phone upstairs. Wait for me yeah," she called out as she ran up the stairs. She grabbed her phone off her bed and headed out the door.
Before she could head back downstairs though, Mara stopped her. "Oh, hey Mara," "Hey Amelia, can I talk to you about something real quick?" Amelia motioned for her to go on and rested her body against the wall behind her. "Well it's about Mick. When I went into his room this morning he was in the middle of a really heated conversation with his father. And once he was done he didn't talk to me about any of it, he just told me he was going for a run. I'm really worried about him Amelia." "Aw Mara, I wouldn't be too worried. I'm sure that whatever is going on, Mick will tell you about when he's ready. He probably decided to go running instead of talk about it, because he himself still needs to think it all over. I'm sure he'll come find you after the run and talk with you." Mara smiled at her and gave her a small nod.
They both walked downstairs and met up with Patricia. Amelia linked arms with both girls, "Okay let's go learn something." "Do we have to," Patricia joked as they headed toward the school.
As soon as the girls reached Amun, Mick ran up to them. "See I told you," Amelia whispered before walking off with Patricia to give the two some alone time. As they were walking, Alfie and Jerome passed by them, Alfie holding a camera. "Aye, Lewis, what's with the camera," Amelia yelled out to them. She unhooked her arm from Patricia and walked over to the two boys who had stopped for her. "My next task is to get on the cover of a magazine, so I'm trying to convince Jerome to take pictures of me," Alfie told her.
He paused for a second, lost in thought, before he spoke up again. "Actually, you know what, you should take them Amelia. I mean you do still like photography, don't you?" "Yeah, of course! You want to do it during break? Like right after Ms. Andrews class in the lounge area, before everyone files in?" "Yes, okay cool and Jerome you my friend can help me with my poses and the outfits," Alfie smiled as he started to randomly pose. Amelia laughed, excited to finally hang out with the two of them again, just like old times.
They parted ways once they got inside. Amelia stopped by her locker and then headed for Ms. Andrews classroom. She walked in and sat down in her usual seat at the back. Once she sat down she turned to look at the boy who's name she still hadn't learned. "Hey, so I just realized we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Amelia Edwards, and you are?" He looked over at her and smiled, extending his hand for her to shake. "I'm Michael Peters." Amelia shook his hand and smiled back, "Well it's nice to officially meet you." Before either of them could say anything else, Ms. Andrews walked in, causing both of them to turn back to their notebooks.
****
The bell rang signaling that class was over. Alfie jumped up from his seat and walked over to Amelia's seat, shaking the camera in her face once he got there. Amelia grabbed the camera out of Alfie's hands and stood up. "Bye Michael. Alright let's go get you on a cover Alfred." The trio first stopped by the theater room, so they could pick out some outfits for Alfie to wear during the photo-shoot and then they set up on the stage.
*Cue the photo-shoot montage*
First Alfie put on a scientist outfit. "And work it, work it," Jerome shouted. Alfie turned to the camera with a pout and then he did a thinking face. After that he held up a clipboard and looked as if he was studying it. Next, he changed into a tennis uniform. "Now send out love to all your fans." Alfie held the racket as if he was about to hit a ball. In the next picture he blew a kiss to the 'crowd.' The next outfit was a fancy black and gold tuxedo. "Now give me a little hungry eyes. and pose, pose. Yes Alfie," Jerome cheered. Alfie turned his back to the camera and took off his sunglasses. Then he put the glasses on the bridge of his nose and gave the camera a smoldering look. Then he pointed out to his 'fans' again.
The last outfit he put on was a karate uniform. "Give me a little tiger growl. Yes, yes, that's it, that's it exactly." Alfie growled at the camera and put his hands out to look like claws. "Flex what you got." Alfie flexed his muscles and made a sort of duck face. Then he did a motion like he was asking the person looking at the photo to come closer, then he did a sort of meditation pose. "Now kick out," Jerome yelled. Alfie kicked his foot out twice, each time getting closer to Amelia and the camera. Amelia stumbled back a little bit, tripping over her feet in the process. Before she could fall to the ground, Jerome caught her.
He looked over her shoulder at the last picture she had taken. "That was the best pose ever," Jerome shouted. "Ow my ears," Amelia winced. She looked up at him, "Thanks for catching me before I busted my head open." Jerome nodded his head and then let go of her. "The gruesome threesome back together I see." The trio turned to see Patricia standing at the entrance. Amelia turned to Alfie and threw him the camera. "Here's your pictures Alfie. Tell me if you get any answers back."
She hopped off the stage and met up with Patricia at the bottom, the two of them heading off to their next class. They walked in and sat down at a lab table together. Amelia got out her notebook and started to doodle while waiting for Mr. Sweet. He walked in a few moments later with Victor. "What is Victor doing here," she whispered to Patricia. Patricia shrugged her shoulders as Mr. Sweet started to talk.
"Before we begin Biology, I have an important announcement. We have been asked to present an official bid to host the prestigious exhibition." Amelia rolled her eyes, slowly starting to lose interest. She continued to doodle while she listed to Victor start to speak. "Yes, the Touring Treasures of Egypt. It is absolutely imperative that we win." "So, I need volunteers to help us prepare the bid." Mara and Fabian raised their hands without hesitation. Joy raised her hand as soon as Fabian's name had been mentioned, causing Nina to quickly raise hers.
"Joy perfect; and that's my three," Mr. Sweet finished. "We make a good team don't we Fabes? Must be all that stuff we have in common," Joy flirted. "First meeting, five o'clock this afternoon, Frobisher library. Thank you," Victor called out before leaving the classroom. Amelia looked over at Nina and noticed she looked disappointed. "Hey Nina, maybe you can convince old Sweetie to let you join as an extra addition. I mean you are practically obsessed with Egyptian history, as I've been told." Nina smiled mumbling a maybe, before turning back to face the front of the room.
****
Jerome, Alfie, Mara and Amelia were all back at the house, hanging out in the living room. Amelia was sitting next to Alfie on one of the couches, reading a book. Mara was to the side also reading a book, while Jerome was on the other side of the room playing on his phone. "Yay, that's all my pics sent out. Now I just need to sit back and wait for the glossy offers to roll in," Alfie cheered. Amelia silently prayed that Alfie would get an answer from someone so that he would be one step closer to meeting Amber's conditions. "Robert Pattinson must be quaking in his boots," Jerome sneered.
"Enough already," Mara shrieked, snatching Jerome's phone out of his hands. "No, no, no, no Mara, ah no," Jerome groaned dropping his head down into his hands. "Yikes," Amelia mumbled averting her gaze back down to her book. Mick walked in and started to talk with Mara. Once Mick left, Jerome snuck around the chair Mara was sitting in and stole his phone back. "Enough already," he taunted.
"Mara don't you have the bid, I think it's almost five o'clock." Amelia looked down up at the clock to see that it was indeed five o'clock. Mara's eyes widened, "The bid," she gasped. She laid her book down on the table and ran out of the house. "I hope they haven't started yet," Amelia sighed.
"Next order of business, we need to plan a prank. I've been back at Anubis house and Amun for four days now and haven't done anything yet." "We actually haven't planned any pranks so far," Alfie told her. She looked at the both of them surprised, "Too wrapped up in this Amber stuff?" Alfie shook his head yes and looked back at his computer. "Well once you get all your check marks, we need to plan a 'welcome back' prank and it has to be good. I've been gone for two years and I'm ready to come back with a bang."