Two is Company (House of Anubis)

Chapter 89: The Dog Days Are Over

"Okay, now she's definitely hanging up on me. Went straight to voicemail this time," Kira muttered as she walked into the classroom where Fabian and Eddie were sitting, staring at the latter's laptop with slack jaws. "What is it?"

Eddie sat there mutely, ash-white in the face, so Fabian wordlessly turned the computer around so she could see the screen. It was open to her brother's ChumChatter profile, and in the tab for private messaging, there were a series of PMs time stamped across a couple of days.

She skimmed them, the anger rising in her chest on Patricia's behalf as she went along. Without missing a beat she reached over the desk and smacked him across the face. "Dickhead!" she barked at him, while he clutched his cheek and stared at her with a startled expression. "Christ, no wonder she was so upset! You're just as bad as Ben! And Jerome! What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," he spluttered, but at least he didn't look on the brink of disassociation anymore. "I didn't write these!"

"Then what're they doing on your profile?" she demanded.

"It's not his profile," Fabian interjected, half-slouched in his seat like he was hoping to avoid a slap too. "Someone made a fake account that looks it, though." Sure enough, he pointed to the username, then switched the tab on his computer to a nearly identical profile. The real profile. "The account that 'Eddie' was supposedly responding to is basically spam."

"Oh, shit," she breathed, pulling up a chair and sitting down heavily. "I'm sorry, Eddie..."

He rubbed his face. "Don't be," he remarked wryly. "Clearly it's an easy mistake to make."

"But I still don't get why someone would impersonate you and then write these," said Fabian, clicking back onto the fake profile.

Kira pursed her lips, examining the page a little closer. It was detailed; clearly whoever had made it wanted it to look as realistic as possible. "A prank?" she suggested.

Fabian hummed sourly. "It feels too mean to be a prank."

"Well, whatever it is, it's not real," Eddie said shortly, grabbing back his laptop. "I just have to get Patricia to believe that."

"She will!" Kira said immediately. As shitty as the situation was, there was an easy solution. "You just have to show her that the profile's a fake."

"It's too late," he lamented, shutting the computer and laying his head down on it. "She hates me."

"Stop being so melodramatic," she retorted. "She doesn't hate you."

"She told me she does!" he fired back, voice cracking. "I'm sorry, I'm just... upset. Why would anyone think this was funny?"

Her expression softened sympathetically and she took her brother's hands. "Because some people are assholes," she said simply. "Back me up, Fabian."

"She's right. This is obviously someone who took a joke too far. Maybe the same person who sent you that love letter," said Fabian. "Once Patricia resurfaces, show her these. You can't blame her for being upset... if you didn't know any better, it looks really real. But she's not unreasonable. She'll understand."

"And she wouldn't have responded like that if she didn't care," added Kira, giving Eddie's hand a tight squeeze; he gave her a dubious look. "Toxic, but true. Dude, when you get a chance, show her the fake profile. We'll back you up."

"You'll be laughing about this by tomorrow," promised Fabian. "This really sucks, but it's not the end of the world, and certainly not the end of your relationship. Back me up, Kira."