Two is Company (House of Anubis)

Chapter 15: Dates and Exposés

Joy had just gone off on her date with Fabian, and Kira was currently feeling very sorry for herself, tucked away in her corner of the room and staring at the same page of Geometry homework for the last ten minutes.

It was ridiculous, really, how Fabian tucked his tail between his legs and went along the path of least resistance. Asking Joy out on a date he wasn't keen on going on might appease her in the short term, but in the long term, it would hurt that much worse when the other shoe finally dropped. Kira tried to ignore the little worm in the back of her head that reminded her she might be going a bit too harsh on Fabian. After all, Joy wasn't an easy person to say no to, which, while a largely attractive quality, could also have disastrous consequences if you absolutely needed to tell her no.

It seemed she wasn't alone in her pity party. A loud sigh drew her attention to Nina's bed, where Nina and Amber sat also trying to focus on homework but clearly failing. The movie date really was the elephant in the room.

"We could still make the start of the movie if we hurry," Amber said, breaking the pregnant silence.

"Amber," Nina said, as though she couldn't believe their roommate had actually suggested crashing their date, "the last thing I want to do is sit there while Fabian and Joy hold hands in the dark." And oh, shit, they probably would be holding hands... "I just wish we could— keep practicing for hockey tryouts."

"What?" Amber asked, confused, then looked over her shoulder at Kira. "Oh, right. Yeah... I really was going to tell you guys, honestly, and it really was kind of an accident. You know Fabian."

"Yeah, I do," said Nina bitterly, "and if he really didn't want to go, he wouldn't have."

Kira could hold back a snort at that. "Yeah," she muttered, scribbling a right triangle onto her notebook, "sure."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nina's voice was sharp, and Kira winced.

"Just that I was there when they made their plans," she explained. "He really didn't look too thrilled. I know you guys are close, but he's a bit of a doormat. He just needs to let her down gently before anyone else gets hurt." She tossed her pencil down, defeated once again by Pythagoras and his stupid theorem, not that she was all that focused anyway. "Forget I said anything," she muttered. "I'm going next door to hang with Mara."

She didn't wait for a response, just got up and left, cursing herself internally for having opened her stupid mouth anyway. She'd probably just pissed off her roommates and then ran away.

Whatever, that was a problem for future Kira; now she could just try and take her mind off everything. Seriously, there were other things she could be doing on a Friday night besides homework and wallowing. Not that Mara was a fan of doing much else besides schoolwork.

She knocked. "Mara, you in there?" No reply, but there was a mad scrambling sound coming from behind the door. "Mara? Patricia?"

The door opened a crack and Mara stuck her face out, eyes wide. "Oh, thank goodness, it's only you," she said, relieved, and practically hauled Kira inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

"Um, yeah?" Kira laughed, plopping down on Mara's bed. "Who else would I be?"

"Vera," Mara muttered, already back on whatever project she'd thrown herself into.

Kira grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to herself, cocking her head curiously. "Why Vera?"

"Oh, you should have seen her, Kira," Mara replied, looking at her with an expression both frightened and determined. "I've never heard her so angry before."

"I think I missed a few chapters," she said. "Why is Vera angry?"

"I really shouldn't say... basically, I'm doing a bit of private journalism, and one thing led to another, and I maybe was looking around Vera's room while she wasn't there, and—"