DENOUEMENT
ii. house of initiations
❝LOOKS LIKE OUR BOY'S GOT GAME.❞
THE NEXT MORNING, Sydney let out a small yawn as she woke up – for once, she hadn't had a nightmare, and she felt more refreshed than ever as her eyes slowly adjusting to the natural light that had flooded the room as she noticed the lack of noise and warmth around her, causing her to glance around and notice the lack of Jerome and Alfie's presence, so the blonde hastily stood up to her feet and changed into her uniform before they returned, and just as the girl placed the tie around her neck, leaving it untied, she heard familiar voices get very close to the door, managing to hear the end of Jerome and Alfie's conversation as the former opened the door, looking exasperated, and Sydney soon found out why.
"Why won't you just admit that you like her, dude?!" Alfie questioned as he trailed behind Jerome, who was shaking his head whilst Sydney sat back down on Jerome's bed, grabbing her hairbrush out of her bag and brushing her hair with it.
At that, Sydney tilted her head in confusion and spoke up, asking, "Who likes who?"
At her sudden voice interrupting their conversation, the two of them jumped as they hadn't expected her to be awake yet, but then let out a sigh of relief at seeing it was her, with Jerome putting his hand on his chest, "You scared me."
"Aw, didums." Sydney responded with a smirk on her lips, causing Jerome to roll his eyes at the girl, but with a grin on his lips, before she continued, "So, what were you talking about?"
At the reminder of the topic, Jerome let out a groan, shaking his head once again as he revealed, "Alfie is talking about the rumour again."
Like her fellow blonde, Sydney also let out a groan, putting her hairbrush into her bag as she did so, "Let it go, Alfie. How many times do we have to tell you that it's just a rumour, and that's all?"
Alfie shook his head, not believing that his two blonde best friends were just friends and didn't have a crush on one another, but decided to drop the topic as he knew they wouldn't reveal anything – after all, he'd been trying for a few years now.
And with the conversation dropped, Sydney decided to continue getting ready, applying a little bit of concealer and mascara whilst Jerome and Alfie watched her in confusion as they had never understood makeup – however, it was rather distracting, with Alfie almost screeching as she brought the mascara wand close to her eye, thinking that she was going to poke herself in the eye with it.
Knowing that she would actually poke herself in the eye if they continued to distract her, Sydney shook her head at her friends as she told them, "You two can go along to breakfast if you want, I'll just go brush my teeth."
Instantly, Alfie rushed out of the room and left for Trudy's cooking, whilst Jerome shook his head, deciding to stay in his room until Sydney came back, which Sydney shrugged at, before she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth quickly, before returning back to Jerome's things, releasing a sigh, "Honestly, I should keep a spare set of things here."
Jerome let out a laugh, although he also agreed – Sydney spent way too much time in his bedroom, though he wasn't complaining but then he noticed that her tie was undone and chuckled once again, "I thought I taught you how to tie your tie yesterday... and the day before that, and also last week."
"I thought you knew by now that I don't listen, and that you've tried to teach me numerous times in the past ten years we've known each other, but constantly failed." Sydney retorted whilst giggling, causing Jerome to shake his head at the blonde, despite knowing she was entirety correct, and stepped towards her, tying it for her.
"Come on, before Alfie eats all the food." Jerome instructed her, and they quickly left his room and went to the dining room to see that they were just in time for Trudy serving out breakfast – Alfie wasn't going to eat it all afterall.
"So, who's ready for a day of boring, boring, boring, detention, boring, and pranks?" Sydney questioned the other members of Anubis House as she sat down in her seat, grabbing some food as she did so from Trudy, sending the woman a grateful smile.
"Sydney, that's just your day." Mara pointed out, knowing that not all of the Anubis House residents got detentions, and it was mainly the prankster trio, sometimes with the addition of Patricia, and on a rare day – Mick.
"And I hate it." Sydney added, them all laughing at the blonde as they were well-aware of how much she hated classes, with her tending to sleep through a lot of them or just not do the work; it was a miracle she was passing her classes.
"Any news on Joy?" Fabian asked as he glanced over at Patricia, who was helping Trudy with setting out breakfast, whilst Sydney (subtly) hit her head on Jerome's shoulder, the boy quietly chuckling at her actions.
However, Sydney noticed that as soon as Joy was mentioned, Alfie quickly scoffed down his food and left the room, making the blonde narrow her eyes at his behaviour, but eventually shrug – he had his reasons, probably the biology assignment.
"No." Patricia answered the boy, her worried tone evident in her speech as she continued to pass out the plates of food, "Joy definitely would have called me by now. I'm telling you; something has happened to her."
"Patricia, give it a break. You're driving me crazy." Jerome groaned out, annoyed at the whole conversation – it had been the main topic of conversation whenever Patricia was around, and everyone was beginning to get sick of hearing about it, since there was nothing they could do and they had no reason not to believe the teachers – despite that, Sydney still nudged Jerome, warning him to be kinder as his language made it seem like he didn't care, which was his whole mask, but Sydney didn't like it.
Mildly annoyed at his bluntness, Mara turned to face Jerome and lectured him, "Jerome! Some of us are worried about Joy, even if you're not."
"In his defence, it is kind of annoying." Sydney defended the blonde boy beside her, trying to phrase her sentence so that it sounded a lot more sympathetic than Jerome, but she presumed that it didn't work out as she was instantly glared at by Patricia, which made the blonde raise her hands in defence, "Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm just telling the truth. I'm concerned for Joy, don't get me wrong, but it's just frustrating hearing you whine about it when there's nothing we can do – the teachers have told you that she's gone home, and they have no reason to lie."
"Did you get any response to that email you sent her last night?" Amber questioned, luckily pulling the attention away from Sydney (who was almost certain that Patricia was ready to kill her if nobody took the attention away from her, so she made a mental note to thank Amber for that later), but Patricia shook her head in response to the question.
"It's difficult to know what else we can do." Fabian responded with a small shrug, as it seemed that they had tried most options to get in contact with Joy – speak to the teachers, call her, text her, email her.
"Question the newbie, that's what." Patricia insisted, adamant that the new girl had something to do with Joy's disappearance, even though she probably didn't, and Patricia had just watched way too many mystery and horror films.
Also not believing the theory, Fabian shook his head in denial to Patricia, defending the new girl who wasn't at the table, although Sydney wasn't exactly sure where she had gone to, "She has nothing to do with this, Patricia. She just has... really bad timing."
"What about last night – that business with the mirror?" Patricia asked, reminding everyone about how she claimed to see 'Help me -Joy' written on the mirror before Nina wiped it off, which honestly seemed ridiculous.
Apparently, Jerome also found the entire situation ridiculous, as he instantly began laughing at the reminder of the incident, whilst the rest of the students looked around sceptically, none of them believing Patricia's story, but not wanting to tell her that in fear that she'd get mad at them for "not being on her side".
At their silence, Patricia's eyes scanned everyone at the table, confused as she waited for a response, but then became even more confused as she saw the glances that they were sending one another, "What? You don't believe I saw anything, do you?"
"Yes, we do! It's just... Mick saw Alfie hanging out on our corridor last night." Amber told the girl, trying to show that she believed her so that she wouldn't get glared at with a look that everyone believed could kill.
"Not even Alfie would have the nerve to sneak into the bathroom and do something like that." Patricia announced, which made everyone look at her as though she had grown a second head, knowing that her statement was ludicrous, and that Alfie definitely had the nerve to sneak into the bathroom and do something exactly like that.
Stating what everyone else was thinking, Jerome leaned forward, looking over at the purple-haired girl in confusion as she asked, "Are we talking about the same Alfie?"
"Jerome's right. You're speaking about Alfie Lewis there, Patricia – a prankster, just like me and Jerome." Sydney reminded the girl, pointing between herself and her fellow blonde prankster as she continued, "I think I can speak on behalf of both of us that we would definitely do that prank if we had thought of it – honestly, kind of sad that I didn't."
"It wasn't Alfie." Patricia declared, although Sydney and Jerome shared a look with one another, having a feeling that it had been their best friend who had pulled the prank last night.
"So, who do you think did write it then? Joy?" Fabian questioned, and this time, Sydney didn't even bother to hide her annoyance as she let out a groan, knowing that the question would send Patricia on another rant about how the new girl was involved in Joy's disappearance.
"I don't know. Maybe- maybe Nina wrote it to drive me crazy!" Patricia suggested, confirming Sydney's suggestions within mere seconds and making the girl go to slam her head onto the table, Jerome putting his hand out to stop her as a chuckle fell out of his lips, "Where is she anyway?"
"Gone into school early, I think." Fabian told them, which was most likely true – where else would she go to? The old people's house down the road? Unlikely.
"Oh, so she's a geek as well as everything else, is she?" Patricia snarked, finding every little thing about the American annoying and worth teasing her about – she really wanted to make her life at Anubis House hell, and would stop at nothing until she found out what had happened to Joy.
"We already have enough of them in Anubis." Sydney chuckled, although the statement made Fabian and Mara send her a small glare, causing the girl to tilt her head at them and defend herself from their annoyed glares, "Hey, I never said who they were! You just labelled yourself geeks, not me!"
Knowing that she was right, Fabian simply shook his head at Sydney, not responding to her, before he turned back to Patricia, "I think it's probably more about getting away from us. I mean, we've hardly been very welcoming."
"I know, I was thinking that too. I feel a bit mean." Mara revealed, and it was quite evident that the happy mood that was in the room when Sydney had first walked in was beyond saving, so the blonde simply pursed her lips together, eating the rest of her food before she stood up from the table, going to grab her things with Amber and Mara following behind her, knowing that they had to attend school soon.
"So, Sydney, where were you last night?" Amber asked as she sat in front of the mirror, making sure that she looked absolutely perfect, despite the fact that she always looked fine and they were only going to school, but Sydney had learned not to question it over the years, "With Jerome and Alfie again?"
Before Sydney could even answer the question, Mara had nodded in agreement, peering at the girl from over the biology textbook she was reading, "Yeah, I wondered where you were. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw you had gone and thought you had just gone the toilet, until I woke up this morning and you weren't here."
Not understanding why the pair were making such a big deal over it, Sydney simply shrugged, not even turning back to face them as she made sure she had all the things that she needed for the day ahead of her, "I was watching a film in Jerome and Alfie's room, and we ended up falling asleep – the usual."
"You two are as cosy as ever." Amber stated with a suggesting look in her eyes as she turned around to face the girl, who literally could not care less about reading Amber's emotions right now, so didn't even notice the look she was being given.
Sydney, having not paid attention to the look and being completely oblivious, didn't realise what Amber was inferring, so simply responded with, "Yeah, we're best friends."
And with that, she walked out of the room, with Mara and Amber giving each other a look that said that they knew that was a lie, but Sydney had already left the room and was unable to catch it.
Unusually, Jerome and Alfie weren't waiting for the blonde in the hallway, so the blonde simply shrugged before she went to their bedroom, knocking on the door until she heard Jerome telling her to come in, an amused tone to his voice as he did so. Due to his amused tone, Sydney hesitantly opened the door, expecting something to fall on her, but simply narrowing her eyes as nothing happened and she saw Jerome sat on his bed, doing his tie and chuckling as his gaze remained on Alfie's bed.
Confused, the girl's eyes remained narrowed, before she turned and saw Patricia slamming a pillow against Alfie numerous times, and she burst out into laughter at the sight, not being able to help herself as she watched the boy struggle.
"You know, instead of laughing, you could help!" Alfie called out to the girl upon hearing her laughter, being very familiar with the sound after numerous years of hearing her laugh constantly, "Syd, please!"
"Sorry, Alfie, but this is entertaining." Sydney commented, leaning against the wardrobe and watching the sight with Jerome, neither of them wanting to interfere with the situation as it amused them – Sydney only wished she had some popcorn to go along with the entertainment.
"Stop it, Patricia. It hurts!" Alfie cried out, pleading for the merciless girl to stop her very brutal attack on him, although he definitely deserved it if he did write on the mirror.
"I need the truth! Did you or did you not sneak into the bathroom last night while I was showering and write on the mirror?" Patricia asked, hitting him again as she was desperate for the truth, so that she knew if she could or couldn't blame Nina again – although she most likely would anyways, even if he did admit to it.
"No!" Alfie yelled out desperately, seeming rather adamant, but Sydney didn't believe it.
"You swear?" Patricia quizzed, wanting to make sure and causing the pillow to make harsh contact with Alfie's body yet again to show that if he didn't tell the truth, then the attack would continue, but Sydney was confused at how she would know if she was telling the truth.
"Yes, I swear on Sprocket's life!" Alfie called out, and the name of the unfamiliar... thing... made the two blonde pranksters look over at one another with a mix of confusion and amusement on their faces, having no clue who Sprocket was.
Confused, Sydney mouthed the name to Jerome, who simply shrugged, revealing that he didn't know who it was either, before the pair turned their attention back to the fight – the desire for popcorn becoming stronger with every second that passes.
"Who?" Patricia asked, also appearing to not know who Sprocket was, which was inevitable - if Jerome and Sydney didn't know, then nobody at Anubis House did.
"Sprocket – my dog!" Alfie called out, "I swear on his life I didn't do it."
At that, Sydney managed to become even more confused and very suspicious, with her eyes narrowed as she watched the boy carefully. She had been Alfie's best friend for years now, and she had never heard Alfie mention that he had a dog, and also was pretty certain that he was allergic to them. Furthermore, Sydney had met Alfie's parents numerous times (though she was not fond of them in the slightest) and she knew that they would have never let Alfie have a dog called Sprocket.
"Patricia?" Jerome called out from where he sat, causing the female to look up, defeated, "Maybe, you just need to accept the inevitable."
"And what's the inevitable, genius?" Sydney questioned, rolling her eyes at him as she wondered what joke he was about to make, and whether or not Patricia would begin hitting him with a pillow due to it – that would be great content to send to Poppy.
"Something sinister has happened to Joy and she's trying to contact you!" Jerome laughed, whilst Alfie made a spooky sound effect, causing Patricia to hit him with the pillow again before she threw it on Alfie and left the room, shutting the door behind her, causing Jerome to turn to Alfie, "I did not know you had a dog."
"He doesn't." Sydney stated bluntly, turning to face Alfie with a knowing smirk on her lips, "Unless you've suddenly combatted your allergies, Alfie."
Alfie shook his head, a smirk falling upon his lips as he revealed, "Nope; still allergic."
Upon realising that Alfie was indeed the one who wrote on the mirror, Jerome and Alfie burst out laughing whilst Sydney rolled her eyes at their behaviour – she was always the more responsible one out of the three (although, that didn't really say much; none of them were responsible).
"You two really are children." Sydney muttered, before her eyes lit up, "Speaking of children, I am itching to pull a prank – any ideas?"
"Well, let's say that some glue spilt on Amber's hairbrush just before she brushed her hair with it, that would be rather tragic, wouldn't it?" Jerome questioned, a smirk on his lips as he suggested the idea, knowing that the girl's reaction would be hilarious.
Sydney raised her eyebrows at the boy, in surprise and also bewilderment at the idea, especially after how much Amber had screamed last time they pulled a prank which involved messing up her hair, "You want to mess with her hair again? The poor girl is going to scream until my ears bleed."
Jerome smirked, slinging his arm around Sydney's shoulders as they left to go to school, Alfie following behind them as the blonde boy simply replied, "A small price you'll have to pay for entertainment."
"There best be popcorn for compensation." Sydney grumbling, revealing that she was going to follow through with the prank idea, causing them all to chuckle slightly.
With Jerome, Sydney, and Alfie being the main pranksters in Anubis house, people were used to them teaming up and pulling pranks on everyone else, with them having swapped Mick's and Amber's clothing several times, also shrinking a lot of clothes in the washing machine, putting hair dye in Amber's shampoo, and super-glueing a lot of things.
Yeah, they created a lot of chaos in Anubis.
And it never seemed to end – honestly, the Anubis House residents had it a lot worse than the students in the school, as they could never get away from the pranks. Amber Millington seemed to realise that as she grabbed her hairbrush, not particularly paying too much attention to it until she went to brush through her hair with it, and it instantly became stuck – that was new; Amber's hair was silky smooth.
"SYDNEY!"
The screech had been heard even from the downstairs living room, where a lot of the Anubis Students were resting after a day of school, with Sydney being engaged in a conversation with Jerome and Alfie until the boisterous screech cut them off, everyone snapping their head to Sydney, wondering what she had done this time.
"I was never here." Sydney mumbled to all the students, before throwing herself over the chair and hiding behind it, landing with a loud thud that hurt a lot more than she expected it to, "Ow."
Thankfully, Sydney had managed to calm down Amber (and get the hairbrush out of her hand and hair without causing damage to either) and was able to sleep peacefully without worrying that the fashionista would attack her in her sleep.
Although, her sleep was still not peaceful.
She was at a very familiar location – one that she could now recognise within a second, due to seeing it so many times. Whilst she hadn't been back since the incident, not even daring to come close to that place, it still appeared in her nightmares every single night, reminding her that she can't run away from it or try to forget about it.
As soon as she recognised it, she felt her heart speed up rapidly.
This can't happen.
She can't see this again.
Not again.
Her eyes darted around, her breaths shallow as she tried to figure out how to stop this – to escape, to make this never happen, and then...
She shot up, the only sound being heard in the room was her heavy pants as she tried to calm herself down, taking in the environment around her and grounding herself, noticing that it had just began to turn light outside. Despite the early time, Sydney noticed that Mara wasn't in the room, her bed being made, but Amber was still asleep, seeming rather peaceful in her pink coven – God, if only Sydney could have a peaceful night sleep.
Knowing that there'd be no point in attempting to go back to sleep, the blonde reluctantly pulled herself out of bed and got ready for the day, before she made her way downstairs and entered the dining room, which was only occupied with a few Anubis House residents that were engaged in conversation – thankfully, the air was not filled with tension, unlike the last meal that the group had with one another, which was a somewhat good sign.
Sydney went to go to the kitchen to fetch some sort of food for the day, but as she did so, she noticed that Jerome had already poured her a bowl of cereal, it being sat in her place, so the blonde sent a smile to the boy before sitting down next to him, only just tuning into the conversation that he was having with Alfie and Patricia, them all seeming very amused.
"I wish I could have seen her face when she woke up just covered in feathers." Jerome told Patricia whilst he turned to Sydney, quickly doing her tie for her as he did every single day, neither of them noticing Alfie, who had his hands held out towards them as he shared a look with the purple-haired girl involved in their conversation, her smirking as she tried to hide her laughter.
"Thanks." Sydney smiled at the boy, who nodded at her as she turned to face Alfie and Patricia, who quickly hid the fact that they had a silent conversation about the two blondes, and engaging in the conversation, "So, what are we talking about?"
"Newbie had a nightmare last night. Don't really know what it was about, but it seemed pathetic – she woke me up, screeching "beware the black bird", so then I threw a bunch of black feathers over her until she woke up." Patricia explained, although Sydney, for once, was not amused by a prank – she was very much aware of how terrifying nightmares were, especially if aspects of them were reality, and thus, she rolled her eyes, but Patricia didn't notice – or if she did, she didn't comment on it, "Hey guys, I've got an idea that really will give her nightmares."
Intrigued, Jerome looked at the girl and put down his drink, eager to pull another prank, "Oh yeah, what's that?"
However, the girl didn't have time to suggest her idea, as the girl that they were talking about entered the room, causing Alfie to shush them all and the room to fall into one of awkward silence.
Of course, Patricia broke the silence and added more awkward tension into the room as she put on a sickly-sweet voice, "Sleep well, Nina? Caw!"
Jerome and Alfie began flapping their arms around like they're birds as they cried out repeatedly, "Caw!"
Reluctantly, Sydney managed to force out some fake laughter, knowing that she would have probably been called out if she didn't and that somebody would notice something was wrong with her. She really didn't like that they were making fun of people's nightmares, and planning to give her more – they didn't know how horrendous nightmares could be, and it was frustrating.
However, she let her laughter become more genuine as she watched her friends begin throwing small bits of food at each other, only stopping once Amber walked into the dining room, "Anyone seen Mara? She's got my hair straighteners."
Shaking her head, Sydney remembered that the girl had already been gone when the blonde had woken up, and was just about to begin worrying until Fabian spoke up, having an answer Amber, "Yeah, she's with Mick in our room."
"What?!"
"Uh-oh. Green-eyed monster alert!" Jerome called out, suggesting that the resident rich girl was jealous – which she most definitely was, with the expression being plastered all over her face.
Knowing that the situation would not end well, Sydney facepalmed, glaring at Fabian through the edge of her hand, "Fabian, sometimes in life you need to say a white lie – that, right there, was one of them times."
"I'm not jealous. Why would I be jealous? What's there to be jealous of?" Amber questioned, sitting down in the chair and acting as though she wasn't bothered, although it made her seem a lot more bothered than she was previously as her acting was far from good.
"She's helping him with homework, that's all." Fabian assured the girl, trying to make it better, but the damage had already been done.
"Yeah. I know all about that, and it's cool. I would help him, but I'm just so busy." Amber clarified, flicking her hair over her shoulder, causing Jerome to imitate it, which, of course, made Sydney laugh, her following in his footsteps and dramatically flicking her own hair, making it hit Jerome, who opened his mouth out of mock-shock and hit her playfully.
"Flirting..." Alfie muttered under his breath, the two sending him small glares, but before anybody else could comment on it, the attention was taken away from them.
"I see you haven't sneaked out at the crack of dawn today." Amber stated, directing her question at Nina, who looked rather awkward at the statement.
"Wow, everyone really does keep tabs on everyone else around here, don't they?" Nina responded, obviously not wanting the attention on her, probably in fear that Patricia would say something nasty.
"Fabian said you'd gone into school early, but then you didn't turn up at first class?" Amber responded, and Sydney nodded in agreement – she had noticed that the newbie hadn't appeared to the first few classes, and had wondered where she was, especially since nobody had seen her that morning.
Trudy, who had come to serve breakfast, spoke up, "Nina was helping an old lady across the road, literally. We had a surprise visitor from the old people's home."
Oh, so she did visit the old people's home.
"I'm not very good with old people. They're all so... old, aren't they?" Amber stated, causing Fabian to almost choke on his drink from laughter.
Sydney let out a laugh at Amber's ridiculous statement and imitated her voice, "But, you're good with young people, right? Because, they're all so... young?"
"Yeah!" Amber exclaimed, not noticing that the girl was making fun of her, before she turned back to face Nina, wanting their conversation to continue so they could find out more about the girl, "Still, you must be used to old people. Trudy said your gran brought you up."
Nina nodded in agreement, confirming that fact, "She did, yeah."
"What happened to your mum and dad?" Amber asked intrusively, and Sydney flinched, knowing that was a question that you shouldn't ask, and also knowing what the answer was likely to be.
The screech – that haunting screech – rang through her ears again.
"Oh, Amber, queen of tact." Jerome muttered, knowing that the answer wouldn't be good, but his eyes diverted to his best friend, noticing that she had flinched and now seemed downcast, her behaviour being odd.
"They died in a car accident." Nina answered, confirming Sydney's predictions and making the girl close her eyes as she attempted to calm herself down and supress the memories, but they only seemed to be getting worse.
The screech caused her eyes to dart up from her phone, tearing away from the text conversation that she was having, so that she could see what the commotion was, although the scene merely flickered before her eyes, happening so fast that she couldn't even comprehend it.
An arm reached out to grab the steering wheel to get them out of the way, but-.
But Jerome had gripped onto his friend's hand underneath the table, turning to look at her with concerned, blue eyes, which Sydney couldn't see and refused to look at, as she kept her eyes closed.
Amber's jaw became slack, feeling sympathy for the American girl, "Oh... that's awful."
"It was a long time ago. My gran and I are really close." Nina told the girl, trying to make Amber feel better about bringing up such a bad subject.
"So how come she's packed you off to a big, bad boarding school miles away from home then? Sounds to me like she wanted to get rid." Patricia taunted, and Sydney's eyes opened wide in shock, and rage filled her entire being – she felt like she was burning, and she couldn't help herself as she snapped.
"Patricia!" Fabian and Sydney yelled out simultaneously, though their tones differed massively, with Fabian's being filled with shock whilst Sydney's was filled with rage and devastation, although nobody from Anubis House picked up the emotion in her voice, being in shock at her outburst whilst Fabian continued for the pair, "Don't be such a witch! I know you're upset about Joy, but there's no need to be taking all of this out on Nina!"
Sydney managed to force herself to sit there for a few more seconds longer, but that was all that she could handle before she rolled her eyes, shoving the plate away from her before she stormed out of the room, the incident and the flashbacks putting her in too much of a bad mood to stay there for any longer.
She managed to make it to the hallway before she heard rushed footsteps behind her and felt a hand grip onto her arm, turning her around and allowing her to see Jerome's face, which was plastered with a concerned look – a look that nobody from Anubis House ever saw on him.
"Are you okay? Wait, stupid question – don't answer that." Jerome told her, his eyes remaining locked on hers so that he could see any emotion that clouded over her eyes, "I'm here for you."
In that moment, a huge amount of sadness and devastation clouded over Sydney's eyes, which Jerome instantly noticed as she whispered out, in a broken tone, "I'm sorry."
Then, Jerome saw his best friend look so vulnerable and sad – something he hadn't seen in a long time. Sydney was normally filled with happiness, always laughing and joking, and was part of the reason why he'd had such a fun time at Anubis House. To see her with tears stinging her eyes was a shock to him, and he felt himself in pain.
Within seconds, he had found himself hugging the blonde tightly, holding her head against his chest, letting her stay there for as long as she wanted as he continued to comfort her. He didn't particularly care that anyone could walk past at any moment and make a comment about the rumour, as long as she was okay.
After a few minutes of hugging tightly and gentle whispers, Sydney seemed to be okay once again, her eyes a lot less red and the frown on her lips being less prevalent, and thus, the pair pulled away from their hug, with Jerome watching her cautiously.
"Go grab your things, I'll wait here." Jerome instructed her, knowing that the pair couldn't stay in each other's embrace, despite how much they wanted to, due to the class that they had soon.
Not being dumb, Sydney was also aware of this, and nodded in agreement to the boy before she hastily went upstairs, grabbing her things as quick as she could as she hoped that everyone else was still eating and that Mara and Amber wouldn't come back to their room – she really didn't want to see anyone beside from Jerome in that moment.
So, within seconds, she had found herself back downstairs again, noticing that Jerome was in the exact same place he was before she left, but he now had an apple in his hands, throwing it to the girl (who fortunately caught it), as he noticed her descending the stairs.
"You need to eat; you pushed your plate away." Jerome informed her, explaining why he had tossed her the apple, and Sydney sent him a small smile as a thank you, before she began to eat it, the pair of them making their way to class.
And that's how it was – she had to go back to being happy and bubbly now, the jokester of the group. She couldn't be sad.
In all honesty, she felt like a hypocrite.
For many years she'd been telling Jerome to take off his mask and to show his true emotions, and telling him that he doesn't have to come across as cold and uncaring to everyone else, yet she'd now forged her own mask, and refused to let anyone see that she was suffering.
There were a few reasons for her suffering, one of which being a lot bigger than the rest of them, causing them to stay up at night in fear her dreams would be taunted with the memories.
However, Sydney also thought that biology was another thing that caused her suffering, and that became even more apparent as she sat in biology classroom, hardly listening to what Mr Sweet was talking about and almost falling asleep with each second that he continued to talk. Believe it or not, she had actually participated in some of the class today – just not when Mr Sweet had been teaching. When there was group work, she found herself wide awake as she spoke to Nina and Fabian, who were her lab partners, although it wasn't about the work.
Mr Sweet had partnered her up with the new girl and the geek, as when she had tried to sit by Alfie and Jerome, the teacher had hastily split them up as he claimed that they never did work and constantly spoke in class, which Sydney attempted to protest before realising there was no way she'd win the fight, and thus gave up, sitting by the two.
However, she had surprisingly found herself enjoying the class (whenever Mr Sweet wasn't talking), managing to get on with her partners well as they discussed the stereotypes that Americans have of British people, whilst actually getting some (although, very little) work done in the process and teasing Fabian and calling him a nerd, and she was somewhat happy that she now had a little friendship with Nina.
She thought that Fabian might have a little crush on the girl, and honestly, they seemed like they'd suit one another, but Sydney was still certain that Fabian had a crush on Joy, so she didn't try to push them together or tease them like she probably would have normally done.
Thankfully, before Mr Sweet continued his lesson, as it would have most certainly sent the blonde to sleep, the bell rang and Sydney shot up, the sudden noise scaring her slightly before she realised what it was.
"Your biology assignments please, and no excuses this time!"
As she packed away her things, she heard the sound of Alfie and Jerome laughing with Patricia, and considering that Nina was the only topic that Patricia seemed to talk about in the past few days, Sydney presumed it was because of that, and her prediction was proved right when Patricia approached the table, a smirk plastered on her lips, which screamed that something bad was about to happen.
"Hey, Nina! I just wanted to say, you know, sorry about breakfast." Patricia apologised, which made the situation even worse – Patricia never apologised, as she claimed she was never wrong about anything and was always right.
"It's fine. A little teasing helps the tea and toast go down." Nina assured the girl with a smile on her lips, about to walk away from her as she just wanted to get on with her day and not deal with anything else, however, it couldn't be that simple.
"Oh, and that I think it's time we welcomed you into school properly... the traditional way." She declared just as Jerome and Alfie popped up behind her, causing Sydney's eyes to narrow at them as she saw the huge grins on their faces.
That was another prank, wasn't it?
Sydney mentally sighed – she certainly did not intend on the next prank being tormenting the new girl.
However, she was a jokester, so she went along with it, moving away from Nina and standing next to Jerome to show that she was going to support them with whatever prank this was.
"What are you going on about?" Fabian questioned with a confused look plastered upon his face, knowing that there was no "traditional way" to welcome somebody into the school.
"Alfie, why don't you tell Nina about the initiation ceremony." Patricia urged the boy, knowing that if more people spoke about it, then it would convince Nina to do it as it seemed more reliable and less like a prank.
"The what?" Fabian quizzed again, not understanding what the purple-haired girl was going on about and finding the whole situation confusing and ridiculous.
"Yeah, every new person who comes to this school has to undergo like... an initiation ceremony." Alfie explained badly, not really knowing any other way to tell Nina about it was and causing Sydney to let out a small snicker at his rather bad explanation.
"Since when?" Fabian asked, knowing that he never had to do an initiation ceremony and beginning to realise that Patricia was just trying to torment Nina, and the three pranksters were simply going along with it as it was a prank – they needed no other information.
"Since forever, Fabian!" Patricia exclaimed, giving him a look to tell him to go along with it, whilst Jerome nudged Sydney to tell her to support the idea, so that Nina trusted it more.
"Oh yeah. Can't you remember ours, Fabian? Jerome, you, and I did it ages ago." Sydney lied, a smile on her lips as she did so, because she was a joker afterall – this wasn't new to her, especially since she had begun using a mask – lying had become second nature to her.
"No, we didn't! , and somewhat disappointed at Sydney for being so easily influenced and agreeing to do the prank, despite how well he and Nina just got on with her during class – then again, he knew how close she was to Jerome and Alfie.
However, Nina cut off Fabian's protests, "It's ok; sounds like fun. What do I have to do?"
"Go into the attic and bring something back to prove that you've been." Patricia informed the girl, the statement causing Sydney's eyes to widen slightly before she goes back to normal, knowing that nothing will probably go wrong unless Nina flaked out.
"Sure thing." Nina agreed, causing a smirk to fall upon Patricia's lips yet again, feeling as though she had succeeded.
"We'll tell you the details later. See you!" Patricia responded to the girl in a sickly sweet tone as she walked out of the classroom with Jerome, Alfie, and Sydney following her until they burst out laughing, with Patricia slinging her arm over Sydney, "It's nice to see that our little jokester is back in business!"
"When did I leave?" She asked, laughing, and it seemed like everything was back to normal.
At supper, they were all back at Anubis House and surrounding the table in the dining room, and talking about Nina's initiation ceremony, which she was still surprisingly going along with despite Fabian's many attempts to get her to disagree with it.
"So, Nina's initiation takes place tomorrow night, okay? At midnight." Patricia declared, Nina nodding in agreement.
"The witching hour." Alfie added, making a spooky laugh for effect, which made a few of them laugh.
"Alfie, cut it out." Fabian instructed the boy, obviously not finding the situation amusing and not wanting to laugh about it.
"Tell me, Fabian." Jerome began, turning to face the boy with a look of curiosity on his face, "Does it get boring always, always being the one who's like, "cut it out" or, "that's not right" or, "fun is bad"?"
"Do you not get bored when you don't join in on pranks?" Sydney added, genuinely curious as she knew that if she hadn't pulled a prank within a few weeks, she'd be immensely bored, but as far as she was aware, Fabian had never taken part in a prank during his entire time at Anubis House.
Fabian mock laughed, before his face dropped and he said, "No."
"You must be mad." Jerome muttered, shaking his head at the thought of not wanting to do pranks, before taking a bite out of his food.
Sydney nodded in agreement with Jerome, sending a small look of apology to the geek, "Sorry, Fabian, but I really don't know how you just... sit... and read... that's all you do, right?"
"That's not all I do!" Fabian defended himself, but Sydney gave him a look which told him to stop, as he couldn't win the argument, so he released a sigh and gave up.
"What does Nina have to do for her initiation?" Amber
"Go up to the spooky attic and bring something back to prove she's been." Alfie explained, causing Amber's eyes widen in shock and horror at the mere thought of the attic.
With horror upon her face, Amber snapped her head to face the new girl, "You're going up into the attic?!"
"Sure. Why not? I mean, it's not like it's-." Nina began, not seeing the big deal, but was cut off by Amber,
"Totally haunted!"
Wincing, Sydney realised that she wouldn't go that far to call it haunted, but it did seem to be super creepy. Nobody dared to go up there, as it was one of the only forbidden places in the house, but most attics were creepy, so they simply assumed that their attic was too, and thus many rumours were made about it, one of which being that it was haunted.
Instantly, Sydney saw the hesitance on Nina's face as she asked, "Really?"
"Yeah, she's right - by the ghosts of former students who went up there, never to return." Jerome lied, letting out a small laugh along with Sydney.
"We still don't know where they are – it's a shame, really. Ryan was such a good person." Sydney added, forcing a sad look to appear on her face as she did so.
Perplexed, Fabian glanced over at Sydney as he repeated the name of a student who didn't even exist, at least not in Anubis House, "Ryan?"
"Getting cold feet?" Patricia asked, glancing at Nina with an evil look on her face, as she wanted the American to be so scared that she backed out, so that she could tease her for being a coward.
"Not at all. Let's start tonight; can't wait." Nina told them, showing confidence which surprised Sydney and made her like the American even more.
"Oh, we've got something else planned for you tonight." Patricia informed the girl, eager to make her life absolute hell, and probably succeeding in the process.
At the news, Fabian facepalmed, although he should have expected it, and irritation and annoyance were laced upon his face as he muttered, "I can't wait to hear this."
The key - she can'tgo up into the attic without the key. She has to steal it from Victor." Patriciadeclared, which was true – there was no way into the attic without the key,unless the lock was picked, however the news still caught some of them bysurprise, and Sydney noticed that Nina's eyes had widened as her mouth wentslightly agar.
Suddenly, she regained her composure before Patricia could comment on her shock, and saidwith a smile on her lips, "You know what, let's do it now."
Everyone seemed surprised, with Jerome stammering out, "You're kidding?"
Nina stood up fromher seat, showing that she really wasn't kidding, so Patricia shrugged,standing up herself as she motioned for them to follow her, so Jerome, Alfie,Sydney, and Nina followed the girl up the stairs to the corridor
Soon enough, they were outside of Victor's office, standing upon the stairs as they looked into the room, which Sydney had grown quite accustomed to in the past few weeks, constantly being secretly called into meetings by their housekeeper to make sure that she was okay.
"See the bunch of keys on the desk next to Victor." Alfie began, causing Nina to look into Victor's office and to look for what Alfie was talking to her about.
Upon seeing them, she nodded, "Yeah."
"Those are the master keys. He carries them with him everywhere he goes, so you'll never get them." Alfie informed the girl, which caused Nina to snap her head to face him, confused at how she was meant to get the keys if Victor always carried them around with him.
"But there is a key box on the wall just beside him." Patricia added, with them looking in and seeing the box of keys.
"Yeah. He keeps a spare set of every single key in there." Jerome told the girl, pointing at it so that the American knew exactly where to go and how to get the key that she needed.
Sydney nodded in agreement, sending a small smile to the girl, "And, they're all labelled as well. Once you're in there, it should be a piece of cake finding which key it is and getting it out of the box."
"What are you lot looking at?" Victor asked from his office, causing Sydney to jump slightly, which made Jerome laugh as he put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her, whilst Alfie crouched on the floor as Victor emerged from his office and looked at them all suspiciously.
"Sir, we were just trying-." Jerome began slowly, trying to think of an excuse that Victor would accept.
However, Nina cut him off, "We were just admiring your coat. Is it vintage?"
"It sure looks that way, doesn't it, Nina?" Sydney agreed, supporting the girl and going along with her lie, so that Victor would believe it more.
"Yes, just as I thought." Alfie called out from the stairs, causing Victor to step towards him, confused, "This floor - it could use a polish."
Victor hummed, glancing at Jerome and Sydney who awkwardly smiled at him, before looking back at Alfie, "Yes. In that case, please feel free to polish it, Alfie."
With that being said, Victor picked up Alfie and dragged him down the stairs, making Alfie begin to protest, "No, er!"
"Come with me!"
"I didn't mean – I don't even know where the-!"
Sydney let out a small laugh at Alfie being forced into cleaning, but then her eyes widened when she saw Nina run into Victor's office and her mouth opened in shock at the courage the American had, "No way!"
She grabbed the key and unlocked the key box as fast as she could, when suddenly they heard a scream and crash from downstairs, causing Sydney to peer over the bannister, although she couldn't see anything from where she was stood.
"Ow, Alfie! You're such a pain!" Amber cried out, and Sydney presumed that Alfie had crashed into her, but if Alfie was returning, then that also meant Victor was going to be back here soon.
Snapping her head back to look at Nina, she saw Nina get the key and close the key box, locking it and leaving the office, before she noticed she still had the other keys in her hand and her mouth opened in shock, so she quickly ran back and placed them on the desk.
Sydney saw Victor coming back up the stairs and closed her eyes, preparing for him to yell at the girl as she fell over, and now definitely did not have enough time to get out and pretend as though she was not in his office.
"Nina Martin, what are you doing? This had better be good." Victor questioned, his voice low as he glared at the girl, taking Corbierre out of her hands whilst she remained silent, "What were you doing in here?"
Nina quickly stood up and stammered out another lie, "Um, I was, um, um, getting – getting a closer look at Corbierre! I'm sort of an amateur taxidermist."
"Get out! And don't let me catch you in my office ever again!" Victor yelled out, as she ran out of the office to the group whilst Victor closed the door.
Nina made sure that Victor wasn't paying attention, before a smile graced her lips and she reached into her pocket and pulled out the attic key, causing Sydney to smile and let out a small laugh.
Shocked that the girl had managed to do it, Jerome also let a small smile cross upon his own lips, stating, "Lucky - very lucky."
"Well, we'll see how lucky she is tomorrow night when she goes up into that attic." Patricia retorted, clearly not happy that Nina had succeeded and hadn't been given a punishment by Victor.
They were all just about to go downstairs to announce Nina's luck to everyone when Victor opened the door again, peering out from his office, "Miss Anderson, a word."
Everyone's eyes narrowed in confusion as the blonde walked into Victor's office, not sparing a glance at any one of them and just sitting in the chair – in all honesty, she'd grown used to being in the office since the term began, but Victor tended to pull her in secret, knowing that the residents didn't know.
"I heard about the incident this morning." He stated simply, and Sydney nodded at him, realising what the situation was about.
She should have expected thats honestly, considering that she had been on the verge of tears whilst hugging Jerome below his office, where he could have seen – he was bound to find out sooner or later.
"I'm fine, Victor." Sydney told him, not wanting a big deal to be made out of the situation, "I just got a little angry and yelled a little – actually, I only yelled her name, but all is fine."
"Your aunt has been in contact, and she said that if school becomes too much for you at any point, you are welcome to return there for a break at any given time. Likewise, you are always able to take a day off school and stay at the house, as long as you speak to either Trudy or me about it." He informed her, causing her to nod in understanding – especially since she'd already been made aware of that by her heart, "You may go."
With that, she nodded once again as she quickly grabbed her things and left the office, opening the door to see Jerome leaning against the wall, having waited for her.
"What's that about?" Jerome questioned, tilting his head towards the door of the office as he glanced at her in confusion, knowing that she hadn't done any pranks too bad to get called into Victor's office.
"My family contacted Victor to ask how I was doing." Sydney partially lied, not being able to completely lie to him but also not wanting to tell the truth, and she simply hoped that Jerome didn't notice that she wasn't telling him everything.
However, as he released a sigh, she knew that he'd noticed, "Syd, I'm here for you."
"I know."
The next day, Sydney and Jerome found themselves catching up to Patricia and Alfie, who were, of course, talking about Joy on the way to class – as soon as she heard the name, Sydney regretted catching up with the pair, but simply faked a smile and tried to block out the conversation as much as possible, hoping that it was over once she reached the classroom.
However, it seemed not to be over as Patricia spoke up, "The calls were going through to Joy's voicemail, but now I'm just getting an unobtainable signal. What does that mean?"
"It just means, Patricia, that she's got fed up of you bombarding her with messages and texts, and now she's changed her phone contract." Jerome responded, beyond frustrated with how much the girl talked about Joy, sitting in his seat as he did so.
Sydney didn't blame him – she was also frustrated at Patricia's non-stop whining about the girl, but she still turned around and flicked Jerome's forehead in a way to tell him to be kinder about it, especially since Sydney now sat next to Patricia and had to deal with her for an entire lesson, and didn't want her to be in a bad mood.
"Not funny, Jerome!" Patricia told the boy, rolling her eyes at him.
"All the world's a stage, and the men and women merely players." An unfamiliar voice suddenly bellowed out from behind them, causing everyone to turn around and see someone they certainly did not recognise, and somebody who certainly wasn't their history teacher.
Although, Sydney wasn't exactly complaining – Mr Fleming didn't exactly like Sydney due to her always talking and making jokes, and this new person was far more attractive and younger.
It definitely seemed like Sydney would enjoy history a lot more now, and a smirk graced her lips.
"Hey, my name is Jason Winkler, and I'm your new history teacher. I'll also be teaching drama." Mr Winkler stated, walking towards the front of the class as he did so.
Sydney was going to be blessed with this man for not just one, but two, lessons?
It was about time something good happened in her life.
"Yup, and my name is now Mrs Sydney Winkler." Sydney murmured, so that only Patricia, Jerome and Alfie heard her, causing the three of them to let out small laughs and roll their eyes at her statement.
"You're Mr Fleming's replacement?" Mara asked, a look of disbelief on her face – it seemed like everyone in the class was happy about this new teacher.
"Yeah, that's right." He answered, and Sydney almost let out a very loud cheer but had just managed to suppress it.
"Wow. I am so pleased he had a heart attack." Amber blurted out, and everyone burst out into laughter which made the girl realise that she had said her thoughts out loud, "Sorry. That didn't come out right."
Shrugging, Sydney supported her fellow blonde's statement, not even trying to stop the words flowing out of her mouth, "No, it seemed pretty right to me."
Unfortunately, Sydney couldn't stay in a class with Mr Winkler forever, and was soon sent to her science class with Mr Sweet, which was a huge downgrade that the blonde definitely did not enjoy – all good things must come to an end, but why so soon?
"Pressure is exerted on part of a confined fluid, that pressure will be transmitted undiminished and equally in all directions. Now this is the result if you apply Pascal's Law." Mr Sweet taught the class, with Sydney hardly listening until she heard the head teacher speak in a foreign language, one that she didn't bother nor care to try to figure out, meaning he was probably yelling at someone, and was surprised to hear it was Fabian, "Mr Rutter, fari argentums aurum tacere. Silence is golden."
"Mr Sweet?" Patricia called out, raising her hand in the air to grab his attention, which was new as she never paid attention or asked questions, especially in science.
"Yes, Patricia?" The head teacher asked, turning around to face her as he did so.
"I've been meaning to ask you about the school photo." Patricia told him, and Sydney's eyes narrowed in confusion, wondering why she would mention the school photo at all, especially in a science lesson – was the school photo on the curriculum now? Oh God, Sydney was so going to fail science.
"I fail to see how that applies to Pascal's Law." Mr Sweet answered the girl's peculiar question with a question himself, whilst Sydney became even more confused, not knowing what Pascal's Law was either.
"Why has Joy been erased from the photo?" Patricia inquired, and Sydney's eyes widened in shock at the ridiculous statement – why would they remove her from the school photo?
"Uh-oh, crazy conspiracy alert." Alfie called out, nobody believing Patricia as it was simply stupid and ridiculous – Patricia was going too far with this now, surely?
Mr Sweet simply shook his head at Patricia, "That is a ridiculous notion, Patricia."
The bell rang, causing everyone to quickly stand up out of their chairs and begin to pack their things away, wanting to get out of the dreadful class as quickly as possible, because who wanted to stay in lesson for longer than they had to?
Sydney didn't think she'd ever got to a class so quickly in her life, and even Jerome and Alfie were surprised at how fast she was walking to get to the drama studio, where soon enough everyone joined, including Mr Winkler, whilst they decided to do some acting exercises for class.
Of course, Alfie volunteered to go first, standing up from his seat as he took a deep breath, acting extremely serious, before making a high-pitched screaming noise and flapping his arms around whilst running around the room crazily, causing Sydney and Jerome to burst out laughing, as well as most other people.
He hit Amber, who hit him in return with her magazine as she yelled out, "Thanks, Alfie! Some of us are here to learn."
Ignoring the blonde, he made the high-pitched noise again, wailing around until Mr Winkler spoke up, "And what exactly are you supposed to be, Alfie?"
"A mosquito in a spin dryer. Isn't it obvious?" Alfie responded in a matter-of-fact tone, as though it was very easy to guess and he was somewhat surprised that he hadn't been able to do so, and everyone laughed.
"Next time, Alfie, spin around in a circle or maybe do some forwards rolls around the room." Sydney suggested, a bright smile on her lips as she did so.
Yeah, that was exactly why some teachers didn't partner her up with Jerome and Alfie.
Alfie pointed at her, his grin getting even wider at the suggestion as he stored it in his mind, remembering to use it at a later time, "Amazing idea!"
"Now, something alittle more serious: Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Timeless. Tragic." Mr Winkler called out, making the class' laughter die down as he handed out thescripts.
"Tedious." Alfie muttered, not wanting to read out the script or read an old piece of work as he moved to sit next to Jerome.
Ignoring the boy's comment, Mr Winkler continued handing out the scripts until seeing that Amber had a magazine in her hands, all her attention on it, causing him to say, "Swap please, Amber."
"Do I have to, sir?" Amber asked, not wanting to give up her magazine, but he nodded, causing them to swap texts, Amber doing so reluctantly.
"Okay, so let's have two people up on stage, performing act two, scene two of Romeo and Juliet – the most known scene without the entire play." Mr Winkler suggested, glancing around the room for volunteers, "Does anybody want to be Juliet? Okay, no? Amber, why don't you be Juliet?"
Rolling her eyes, the girl winced slightly, before reluctantly taking the script up on stage with her, and Alfie instantly put his hand up, volunteering to be Romeo, which made Sydney chuckle – it's the closest he'd ever get to being someone who Amber Millington had a crush on, so she thought that he should go for it.
And with no other volunteers, Mr Winkler chose Alfie and pushed him up to the stage, telling them where to begin the act as everyone watched the pair, slightly amused at the whole scene.
"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. If thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet." Amber recited the lines, neither of them looking like they have chemistry with one another and Amber looking like she didn't want to be there at all.
Meanwhile, Alfie was very happy about it as he read his lines enthusiastically, "Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"
"Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art-." Amber cut herself off, looking at Mick for a few seconds before she continued, although the next words were definitely not in the script, "Thou art truly the yummiest boy I've ever seen, Romeo!"
Confusion fell over Sydney and everyone else as they did not see those words in the script, and even Alfie was confused, causing him to break character as he said, "What?"
"That's not in the script, Amber!" Mr Winkler called out, confirming Sydney's suspicions of those lines not being written by William Shakespeare.
Although, Amber ignored the teacher and threw her script on the floor and grabbed Alfie's shoulders, kissing him on the lips as Sydney's eyes widened with shock but her and Jerome laughed.
Did Alfie Lewis get his kiss from Amber Millington before Sydney even had her first kiss with anybody?
"Wow." Jerome breathed out, not having much else to say at that, and honestly nobody else in the room did – the kiss being completely and utterly unexpected seeing that everyone thought Alfie's love for Amber was unrequited, and Amber had a boyfriend who was sat in the audience watching her kiss another man.
Sydney, however, simply looked at Jerome with a look of bewilderment on her face, before she shrugged, "Looks like our boy's got game."
Adding to the weird things that were going to happen that day, later that night, it was time for the initiation ceremony, with Sydney being dragged into Nina's and Patricia's bedroom as the latter shined a torch onto the American's face, whilst Sydney, Jerome, and Alfie simply watched what was happening.
"Are you Nina Martin?" Patricia questioned, trying to make the initiation seem professional and official, when she was just making it seem dumb.
"Yes." Nina breathed out, although Sydney wondered what would have happened if she had answered with "no" instead, finding herself amused at the way it could have turned out and how confused everyone would have been.
"Is there anyone here who can confirm this?" Patricia asked, causing everyone to look at her with confusion written on their faces at why she asked such a dumb question, and what the right answer would be to it.
Of course, Nina was also confused by the dumb question, causing her to look around the room, before she glanced back at Patricia and hesitantly answered, "Me?"
"Are you for real?" Alfie asked, breaking the "creepy" atmosphere with his laughter, as he couldn't hold it back anymore, and Sydney soon joined in with her friend.
"Come on, what's she meant to bring? A birth certificate?" The blonde added, finding the situation rather amusing rather than scary, and she tended to not take things seriously anyways, so this was a complete clown-fest for her.
Hastily, Patricia shushed them, obviously wanting this to remain serious, before she said, "Nina Martin, you are here to prove you are brave enough to live at Anubis House. Swear on the graves of all your ancestors that you will never ever tell a living soul about tonight."
"I swear."
With that being said, all of them turned their torches on and shone them on their faces, leaving the room and walking to the attic where they saw Fabian, Amber, and Mara waiting, as everyone in Anubis House had been made aware of the initiation, with Patricia demanding that they all came to it.
"Where's Mick?" Amber asked Fabian, wondering where her boyfriend was, although the sudden noise made Fabian jump a little before he turned to face the blonde.
"He didn't want to come - tired or something." Fabian answered quickly, although Sydney presumed that was a lie – after the kiss that Alfie and Amber shared, the boy would have probably been sad and decided to lock himself in his room so he wouldn't have to see Amber.
Patricia shushed them harshly causing them to jump yet again, before she said, "Oh spirits of Anubis House, guide the new girl on her initiation quest and keep her from harm in the haunted attic."
"Come on, this is ridiculous." Fabian moaned, not amused and very unhappy about the situation, although his complaints simply made him get shushed again by Patricia.
"Unlock the door." Patricia instructed the American, wanting to do this as fast as possible so that nobody else could interrupt her and protest against it, and so that Victor didn't catch all of them.
Following her orders, Nina stepped forward, putting in the key and unlocking it, before turning back round to face Patricia, "I just have to go up there and bring something back, and then I'm done?" Patricia nodded in agreement, "I mean, you guys didn't booby trap the place or anything, did you?"
"Course not. Go." Patricia assured the girl, although, if Sydney was Nina, Patricia's word wouldn't exactly mean much to her.
However, Sydney knew that Patricia wouldn't have been able to booby trap the place, as Nina had the key all day, so the purple-haired girl wouldn't have been able to get into the attic even if she wanted to, plus Patricia had not had the time and had been at school for most of the day, or in the living room with everyone else.
Nina turned back around, opening the door and walking in, briefly turning back around before Patricia ran forward and closed the door shut, everyone beingshocked by the sudden action as nobody had expected her to do that.
"What are you doing?!" Amber questioned, confused.
"What does it look like?" Patricia snapped, locking the door and taking out the key so that there was no way Nina could get out.
Eyes widening in shock and horror, Sydney couldn't help but to feel bad for Nina, who really did not deserve the treatment that she had been getting. Wanting an explanation, Sydney snapped her head around to face Jerome, though even he had a hint of concern on his face, despite the mask he had put up, allowing Sydney to know that they weren't made aware of this part of the plan.
"Hey, what's going on?" Nina's voice rang out from behind the door, confusion and worry evident in her tone as she began to bang on the door, "Let me out!"
"You heard her, let her out!" Fabian called out to Patricia, desperate for this all to be over as he had been against it from the first second that it was mentioned.
"Not until you tell us what you know about Joy's disappearance." Patricia responded, certain that Nina had something to do with her best friend's disappearance and determined to get even the slightest bit of information out of her, and Sydney let out a groan.
"I don't know anything!" Nina cried out, frustrated and upset at the situation.
"Then, you'll have to stay in there till morning." Patricia replied simply, causing everyone to look at the girl in shock, not believing she would actually do something so horrid to a new girl, although it seemed likely that she was actually going to go through with this and nobody could stop her.
"Alright, Patricia, you've had your fun, now please just unlock the door." Fabian begged – he had become the closest to the new girl, and this must have been extremely frustrating for him.
"Yeah, Patricia, this is getting silly." Mara told the girl, finding the whole situation ridiculous, especially since Mara was particularly a good student – she didn't want to get into trouble.
Patricia snapped her head to the girl, a look of betrayal prominent on her face as she spat out, "Whose side are you on?"
"This isn't about sides!" Sydney groaned, her irritation growing with every second that passed as this was all so ridiculous.
"Last chance, Newbie, what can you tell me about Joy?" Patricia questioned, ignoring Sydney and watching the door handle twist desperately and Nina tried to open it, a smile on her lips.
"Nothing. I know nothing!" Nina answered, sounding like she's crying from behind the door, and Sydney wished that she had gone against the initiation ceremony and not supported her entering, knowing this was partly her fault.
"You're not really going to leave her in there all night, are you?" Fabian questioned, knowing that was a ludicrous and horrible thing to do, although Patricia seemed like she was more than tempted to go through with it.
Nina banged against the door repeatedly, "Let me out!"
"Stop banging." Patricia instructed her, causing Sydney to roll her eyes, wondering if Patricia thought that Nina would just happily sit in there instead of fighting.
"Hey, let me out! There's something up there!" Nina screeched out, causing Sydney's eyes to widen at the fright laced in her voice.
"Okay, that's enough! Open the door, Patricia!" Sydney growled out, her frustration hitting its peak as she went to snatch the key out of the girl's hand, but Patricia moved so that the blonde couldn't get it.
"The zombies are coming!"
"Hurry!"
"Patricia, hurry up!"
Suddenly, Victor appeared behind them, shining a flashlight upon all of them as he had a suspicious and annoyed look plastered upon his face, having been awoken by all the banging and screaming, "What's all this noise?"
He flicked the corridor light on, looking at them all with a stern look.
"What's going on? Why are you all out of bed?" He questioned, everybody staying quiet as he walked over to the attic door, "Were you trying to break this door down?"
He flashed the light on Amber, expecting an answer from her, presumably because she scared easily and Victor was a rather scary man, but the blonde shook her head rapidly, not giving anything away about Nina or what they were doing so close to the attic door.
"No, we thought we heard mice, that's all." Patricia lied to the housekeeper, hoping that he believed it so that they didn't get in trouble.
Victor shone the light on all of them, staying silent for a moment or two, before he spoke up once again, "Get to bed now, before I put you all on detention."
Instantly, all the students ran to their rooms, not wanting a detention from Victor, but Sydney remained outside her bedroom, causing Jerome to glance at her in confusion, wondering what she was doing.
"Do you want detention? Go into your room." Jerome told her, his voice quiet so that Victor didn't hear the two of them, whilst he attempted to push her into her room whilst remaining gentle with her.
"I feel bad if I just leave Nina up there; it's our fault in the first place." Sydney responded, refusing to simply go to sleep – she did genuinely feel bad, but it also gave her an excuse to stay awake for longer.
"You have too much of a heart." Jerome sighed, not wanting her to get in trouble for helping the new girl and shaking his head at the blonde.
"No, you just hide yours too much." Sydney corrected him, sticking her tongue out at him before she turned serious, "You should go back to your room before Victor comes back."
Knowing that she was right, the boy nodded in agreement, though he remained in place, it being silent for a few seconds before he spoke up, "Don't let Victor catch you – I'll be bored without you in my breaks, and text me before you go to sleep."
"Okay." Sydney mumbled, agreeing to his terms and allowing the boy to leave, sending her a glance over his shoulder before he rushed to his bedroom, with Sydney staying and peering around the corner for Victor.
"Is he gone yet?" A voice questioned from behind her, making the blonde jump as she snapped her head back, seeing Amber peering through their bedroom door.
Glancing back to her roommate, Sydney shrugged, pushing the door open wider so that Amber actually came out into the hallway, "Don't think so, but I can't see anyone."
At that, Amber went further out into the hallway, sneaking down the hallway until they saw Fabian, who had obviously snuck out as well to make sure that Nina was okay.
"That was a great initiation plan you had there, Sydney!" Fabian whisper-yelled as he noticed the female, a look of anger and frustration plastered upon both of their faces.
Sydney rolled her eyes at the boy, not being bothered to deal with him, "Spare me the lecture, Fabian. You know that Jerome, Alfie, and I had no clue about that part of the ceremony. We thought it was a stupid prank."
"Yeah, well, your pranks go too far!" Fabian yelled out angrily, trying to make the blonde see where she had gone wrong, although she was already well-aware.
"Maybe we should discuss this another time when Victor isn't about to find Nina in one of the only forbidden places in the house." Sydney muttered out, equally as frustrated and angry, and honestly ready for this whole night to be over with.
"Which she wouldn't be in, in the first place, if you didn't continue with the prank!" Fabian argued, not ready to let go of the topic.
"Rutter, I will hit you." Sydney threatened, giving him a warning look as she shook her head, forcing him to drop the topic.
"Is he still up there?" Fabian questioned, looking towards the attic, but Amber shushed him as the door began to open, causing the three of them to run into the girl's bathroom so that Victor wouldn't catch them.
They peeked past, and saw that he didn't have Nina with him, so she had to still be up there.
"He hasn't got her." Amber stated the obvious, and Sydney released a sigh, but also became curious at how Nina had managed to escape the wrath of Victor.
"Great. We'll get the key from Patricia." Fabian declared, before they entered Patricia's room, the sound of the door opening waking the girl up from her slumber, "Patricia, give me the key!"
Although, Sydney became worried when the purple-haired girl glanced up at the three, a guilty look on her face as she announced, "I haven't got it."
"Liar." Amber accused the girl, considering that she had taken the key out of the door after she had locked Nina in the attic.
"Seriously, I haven't!" Patricia defended herself, and Sydney could tell that she was telling the truth from the expression on her face.
"Well, where is it then?" Fabian questioned, wanting to get the key and rescue Nina from the creepy attic as fast as possible, but every obstacle possible seemed to be getting in their way.
Patricia hesitated before she managed to stutter out, "I-I threw it out of the window."
At that, Sydney snapped her head to the girl in annoyance, "You did what?!"
"Which window? This one?" Fabian questioned, rushing to one of the windows and looking out of it to try and find the key, although it was hopeless – it was dark, and there's no way they'd be able to see it.
"I think it went in the bushes." Patricia told them, causing Sydney to release a sigh of annoyance – of course, she had to make this situation even worse, as if it wasn't bad enough.
"We won't be able to look for it till morning." Amber stated, knowing that they wouldn't be able to leave the house, especially having already awoken Victor, and it was dark – they wouldn't be able to see the key anyways.
Concerned, Sydney remembered what Nina was saying before Victor came and turned to face Fabian and Amber, shaking her head at that statement, "Nina said that something was up there with her. We need to help now."
"What a mess." Fabian breathed out, seeming stressed as he didn't know what to do or how to help the new girl, who was actually rather sweet.
"I think we should go and tell Victor everything." Amber stated, pulling Fabian and Sydney to go and tell Victor everything, with that being the only solution that they could think of.
In an attempt to stop the three, Patricia stood up to her feet quickly, rushing after them so that they halted in their tracks, "No, we can't do that!"
"Well, we can't just leave Nina in there!" Fabian protested, turning to face the two blondes beside him as he motioned for them to leave, "Come on."
Ignoring Patricia and leaving her in her room, the three of them left her room and approached the attic in a final attempt to help Nina before they went to Victor and told him everything about the situation, not knowing how else they could get the girl out of the attic with the key in the bushes.
"Nina?" Fabian whispered, hoping that she could hear despite his whisper being so quiet that Sydney didn't think that anyone down the hallway would be able to hear him, nevermind someone behind a door, "Nina?" He continued, his voice getting louder each time, though cautiously in order to not wake Victor once again, "Nina?"
Suddenly, the door unlocked, flying open as Nina came running out of it, the three people waiting in the hallway jumping, as all of them became scared upon seeing one another, each of them having wide eyes and a racing heartbeat.
"Hi." Nina greeted them, as though it was a very casual situation, though nobody replied to her, still in shock, "What's the matter? You guys look like you've seen a ghost."
"H-How did you?" Amber asked, asking how she managed to get out of the attic without a key, considering that the door had been locked.
To answer the question, Nina lifted up a hairclip which had been manipulated, showing that she had used it to pick the lock, making them all let out small laughter, realising her clever trick.
Not wanting them to be too loud, Fabian shushed them to make sure that they didn't wake up Victor yet again, before asking, "Are you okay?"
Nina shut the attic door, locking it with her manipulated hairclip, before she turned back around and nodded in response to Fabian's question, assuring them that she was fine.
"So, what was it like up there? See any ghosts?" Amber asked, as she had never once dared to go into the attic – the thought was ridiculous to her.
Nina shook her head, "No. Just mice, and some spiders, possibly a rat."
"You are so brave!" Amber exclaimed, before she motioned to Sydney that they should go back to their bedroom, causing her to turn to Fabian and Nina, who would be left behind, "Night, you two. See you in the morning."
"Night." Fabian responded, before Amber pulled on Sydney's arm, dragging her to their bedroom and closing the door behind them, thankful that they had managed to make sure Nina was okay without getting caught by Victor again.
Glad that the dilemma was over, the pair of blondes quickly and quietly slipped into their beds, not wanting to wake Mara, who was deep in sleep. As soon as she got into her bed, Sydney remembered what Jerome had told her and grabbed her phone, sending a text to Jerome to assure him that she was fine and that Nina was out of the attic, before she fell asleep,, nightmares plaguing her dreams yet again.
She couldn't have one moment of peace.
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[01.05.2020]
NOTE: wattpad really is messing with my book. i've spent ages trying to make sure each paragraph is in here and then it started getting rid of my spaces?? im so confused can it please work normally