Midas Touch | House of Anubis

𝟏.𝟏 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬

It was almost the end of the school day, Daphne ended her solo volleyball practice earlier than usual so she had more time to cool off before French class with Mrs Andrews.

As she was keeping her textbooks in her locker, Daphne spotted a familiar tall, blonde boy talking to a lower year as their mutual friend approached him.

"So, I've got the perfect plan for making Amber notice me, yeah?" Daphne chuckled at the excited grin on Alfie's face, shaking her head with a soft sigh at his perseverance.

"Hang on, Alfie," Daphne heard Jerome shush him in a slight annoyed tone. The brunette watched the interaction in amusement, her lips twitching in to a slight smirk as she leaned against her locker.

"I told you this would cost you tenner," Jerome looked pointedly at the lower year, gesturing to the paper he had in his hand. "Now, do you want this homework or not?"

Not wanting to argue, the lower year gave in, handing Jerome a 10 pound note before walking away with the homework. The blonde boy mumbled a 'thank you', watching the boy walk away before calling him a sucker.

"Conning the lower years again, Clarke?" Daphne raised a brow at him teasingly as the pair of best friends walked towards her.

"I'll have you know that was one of the many assignments you've helped me with," Jerome quipped back, knowing the girl prided herself in her academics.

Before Daphne had a chance to respond, Alfie stuck his hand out between the two, "Shake hands."

Jerome and Daphne shared a look before the blonde obliged with their friend's request. It was obvious why Alfie had asked either of them to shake hands with him – he had a fake hand that was a drastically different skin tone to his which he tried to make up for it with paint.

Jerome laughed at his friend to humour him, "Subtle." He took the fake hand with him, walking away from the boy with his arm around Daphne's shoulders.

"Why would anyone want to be subtle?" Alfie smiled at his friends, watching as they walked away from him.

The Devi girl shook her head at the badly painted hand Jerome was holding. "It's more grey than brown," she picked at the bad paint job, revealing the original peach tone. "He could've asked me for help," Daphne chuckled, looking up at the boy.

"Jerome?" Alfie called out to his friend from his spot. He shook his head, watching how Jerome and Daphne were in their own little bubble.

"Not dating my arse." He mumbled under his breath, tired of how his two friends act around each other for years.

"Yeah," Jerome nodded his head, "He could've, but you were busy." He tapped her nose with the fake hand. Daphne scrunched her nose, grabbing the hand out of his grasp, "Busy? With what?"

"Me," The girl gasped, placing her hands over his mouth. "You can't say that!" She exclaimed softly, looking around hoping none of their housemates were nearby to have heard him.

"Why not?" Jerome furrowed his brows, gently pulling her hands off his mouth, "You were helping me with French."

"So annoying," Daphne huffed out with an eye roll, making Jerome chuckle at her. She knew he had done it on purpose as he enjoyed riling her up.

They headed to their last class, with Alfie dragging his feet after them; not looking forward to the practise exam.

Daphne took her seat between Amber and Mara. There were usually two tables together for each column, but her original table partner had transferred schools right before the current school year had started and Mrs Andrews was just slightly biased to her.