Two is Company (House of Anubis)

Chapter 11: The Boy Sandwich

Kira blinked open her eyes on a new day and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Nina and Amber were murmuring together about long socks, and outside the window, she could hear birds chirping. In spite of Amber's night terror, it seemed like an all in all relatively peaceful morning.

Well, it was peaceful, until Patricia came barreling through the door like a bull in a china closet. "What do you call this?" she seethed, sticking her wrist under a startled Nina's nose.

"Membership?" Amber suggested and pointed to her foot.

Kira was still in the process of waking up, but she didn't miss how Nina made an abortive gesture in her direction. Patricia only just seemed to realize she was there, and immediately covered her wrist with her other hand. She still looked monumentally ticked off, though. "I didn't realize you also got one," she said through gritted teeth. "Does anyone else?"

Kira heaved a sigh and threw back the covers. "I'm going to take a shower," she announced, grabbing her towel and shower shoes. "You've got twenty minutes to sort out whatever you guys need to sort out."

The other three girls exchanged unsubtly guilty glances and Kira sighed again as she left the room. She'd no sooner opened the door when she collided with Alfie charging down the hall at top speed. He didn't even make an attempt at apology before he sprinted into her shared room, shouting about tattoos being illegal.

Fabian was hot on his heels, though, and winced sheepishly at her as he passed. "Um, good morning, Kira," he said quickly before he, too, ran into her room.

She was left there, standing stupidly in the hallway all by herself, and it took about thirty seconds for her to process the entire thing. "Party in my own room and I wasn't invited," she muttered, shuffling down the hall to the bathroom.

It wasn't like she wasn't used to being sidelined, she mused under the lukewarm shower water. Back in New Jersey, she hadn't been particularly popular, not like Eddie was. And call her selfish, part of the reason for that was she couldn't be arsed enough to care about things that were happening to other people unless they were directly affecting her or her circle—her circle being her mother, brother, a handful of friends, and boyfriend. But since that last one had taken such a spectacular nosedive, there weren't too many people she actually cared about knowing their business.

Frankly, the same went for this. It wasn't her place to interfere, and so she wouldn't. Cut and dry really, and yet something about this seemed so bizarre she couldn't help but be a little curious. Even so, she wouldn't overstep any boundaries unless she was asked. Whatever was going on didn't involve her or her brother, and so really, what reason would she have for butting in where she wasn't wanted?

Besides, she thought as she turned off the water and grabbed her towel, I have my own stuff to deal with.

—

"Mara," Kira greeted her friend warmly when she bumped into her in the hallway but paused as she took in the expression on her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Mara bit her lip and looked down at her hands. "Oh, I really shouldn't say," she fretted.

Kira rubbed her arm gently. "Well, you don't have to—"

"But it's going to eat me alive if I don't!" Mara exclaimed, burying her face in her hands. "I'm just worried about Jerome. And Poppy, too."

"Is this about that thing you said about our dads?" Kira asked, and as if on cue, Mr. Sweet walked down the hallway.

"Good morning, Mara," the headmaster greeted, and his warm smile grew a touch wider as he address her. "Good morning, Kira."

Mara smiled distractedly. "Morning, Mr. Sweet."