Touch of Fear ▸ House of Anubis [2]

chapter forty-two. house of names

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            Alfie seems to have recovered well after the hallucination ordeal. We didn't go back and put the baby spiders on the hooks, instead got Alfie out so he could rest after what happened, planning to go back down another night. Which might be tonight assuming Fabian doesn't have any other plans. He better not, we have to get past that task.

            Well, anyway, I think I've figured out what's going on with Patricia and Eddie. I think they're competing to see who can get detention the fastest or something. Can't be sure. All I know is that they've both been acting even more chaotic than usual. We're in biology right now and she's just called him an epic fail.

            "Strange way of flirting," I note, head on my hands as I watch them.

            "What do you mean?" Alfie questions as both he and Jerome look at me.

            "Patricia and Eddie," I tell them, lifting my head. "Look at them. They're obviously putting on an act of hating each other and this weird rivalry thing they've got, but if you look really close and read the subtext behind every 'I hate you,' it's really 'I love you' and they're both just too stubborn to admit it."

            "Now, why does that sound familiar?" Alfie remarks. I look back to Peddie, eyebrows knit together. They have to see it, right? I mean, it's so obvious. "What, nothing? From either of you? Did I miss something?"

            Jerome replies, "You miss a lot of things, Alfie."

            I nod, informing, "A lot of things. You haven't even noticed I took that little Dalek figurine I gave you out of your room and stuck it in the kitchen next to the soap. Actually, no one's noticed that. It's been, like, two days. How has Vera not found it yet?"

            Alfie straightens. "Wait, you took my Dalek and put it next to the soap? Why?"

            "He dared me to," I answer, pointing toward Jerome. "Got money out of it."

            "She bought a chocolate bar," Jerome adds.

            "Good chocolate bar."

            "Okay, now I definitely know I missed something," Alfie states, looking astounded as he gestures between us. I glance at Jerome, briefly remembering the other night with the gem, how fun and easy it was. Easy is something I don't get much anymore. Jerome looks at me and smiles, which I return, and which also apparently causes Alfie to become even more confused. "What did I miss?"

            Changing the subject, I question aloud as Eddie takes the eye from the model of the musculature of the human body, "What's Eddie doing?"

            The others in Anubis House, as well as the three of us, watch as he drops the fake eye in Mr. Sweet's tea while he's not looking. Oh, that's not going to go so well for Eddie when Sweet sees an eye floating in his tea.