House of Anubis: Sibuna Descending

3. House of Newbies

"Cassie!" the Asian girl shrieked, running over to Cassie as Cassie stood up. They both wrapped their arms around each other tightly, swaying in excitement.

"Why didn't you text me yesterday?" Cassie questioned her friend Erin.

"She didn't text me either," the boy — Dexter — joined in, walking over to hug Cassie. He then held out his hand to Ian, saying, "I'm Dexter."

"Ian," Ian replied.

"Raymond," Raymond said, getting to his feet and shaking hands with Dexter.

"I would have," Erin started, "but my parents were stingy with how many texts I can send."

"You should get unlimited," Dexter suggested. "I have unlimited texts, which is why I've been blowing up Cassie's phone with...you know. The gang." Ian wondered what Dexter was referring to, and Cassie and Erin's scolding looks towards Dexter only furthered Ian's curiosity. Raymond, however, took no notice. "Say, Cassie. How is your phone not on fire?" Dexter laughed.

"I really don't know," Cassie answered. "And no more texting now that we're in the same house. Got it? Good."

"Well, who can I text, now?" Dexter asked, throwing his hands into the air in defeat. "I didn't get unlimited last week just for nothing."

"Alright, everyone," Trudy called, walking into the sitting room. "Dinner's almost done. You can leave all your luggage here and take it into your new rooms later tonight. We're just waiting on the last three newbies — ooh, err, new students to arrive."

"Newbies?" Cassie asked, smirking. "You sound like Patricia."

"Patricia?" Ian asked. Ian's confusion had grown more and more as the three people who clearly knew each other conversed.

"One of the oldies," Trudy said, clearly finding her use of these terms funny.

"Wait, Trudy," Erin said. "Aren't there four more people coming?"

"Eh?" Trudy asked, perplexed.

"I overheard three people talking. One of them said that his twin sister was coming to stay, too."

"I had no idea," Trudy stated. She then shook her head as though a light bulb pinged alight in her mind. "I need to...an extra girl, did you say?" Erin nodded in response. "I need to set up a third bed!" And with that, Trudy whisked herself out the sitting room and up the stairs.

"Who else is coming, Erin?" Cassie immediately asked Erin, spinning on her two-inch heels and grabbing Erin's arm with both hands. "Are they cute? Hot? Spill it."

"Um..." Erin murmured, glancing at Dexter. Ian, through all of this, observed how much these three already knew each other. He was hoping that most people didn't know each other after being informed that the middle school had many different classes for each year group. Desperately, he prayed for these three to be the only ones to know each other. Maybe he could warm up to Raymond, although Raymond did seem odd.

Ding, dong. The doorbell rang through the house, causing nerves and excitement to jolt through the five already in the living room.

"Oh!" came Trudy's voice from upstairs. "Could someone...could someone get that?"

"Trudy, do you need help?" Cassie asked, edging towards the hallway.

"Blasted thing — it's all good, sweetie! Please, just open the door!"

Cassie shrugged and walked to the right. Ian followed quickly to get a glimpse of the people before they entered. Surely enough, and as Erin had said, there were four people entering through the door. One was tall, wore a cyan sweatshirt, had a slightly hooked nose and wavy hair in a bun. He had bronze skin, and he said to Cassie, "Hey."