House of Anubis: Reunion

Close Call

Later in the afternoon when only Amber, Jerome, Joy, and Mick were still in the house, Amber took her duties seriously as she paced back and forth in front of the stairs where she could clearly see the boys' hallway and had easy access to Joy.

Mick came out of his room and instantly saw Amber. He was headed towards the kitchen but stopped to talk to her a bit first.

"It's awfully quiet in here," he acknowledged.

"Yeah, well some of them are out so...yeah," Amber said back.

"Where'd they go? And why are you...guarding the stairs?"

"They're just out, and the stairs-the stairs, um...the stairs have just been polished, so I don't want people walking on them," she lied.

Mick gave a confusing look. He went into the kitchen at the same time Jerome was coming out of his room, causing Amber to make a huge sigh.

"Problems?" Jerome asked as he went over to Amber.

"Oh no," Amber replied. "These stairs have still just been polished, and I'm still just keeping you and Mick from walking on them."

Jerome eyed her a bit, noticing her nervous expression. "You're lying."

"What? No."

Mick came out the kitchen, stopping at the scene with an apple in one hand and a banana in the other.

"Is there something upstairs?" Jerome questioned.

"No! There's nothing upstairs," Amber said abnormally loud so Joy may hear her upstairs. But Joy had fallen asleep from boredom in the room, and she wasn't aware of a thing.

Jerome went past Amber, ignoring her attempts to hold him back. She scurried up the stairs after him, in her heels. Jerome opened the closest door on the girls' hallway, which was Joy's room, but Joy was still in Nina's room. Then Jerome slowly approached the next closest door right across the hall, which was Patricia's room. He then went to the next room, which was Willow's room. The next door he would have to approach would be Nina's, and once he'd noticed it was locked, he'd think something about it.

Amber was standing nervously right at the top of the stairs with a good view of Jerome's search as well as the front door on the first floor, and Mick looking up the stairs. Jerome was approaching Nina's room this time, and Amber couldn't think of anything to do. If she made to much of a risk, Jerome would know for sure that something was up.

His hand approached the knob, inching closer and closer until-

The front door to the house swung open with many sharp breaths and gasps, most likely because the people were running. It was Nina, Patricia, Mara, KT, Willow, Fabian, Eddie, and Alfie, and they had distracted Jerome's attention. They all looked at Mick and then up the stairs at Amber's relieved expression, and Jerome coming downstairs from around the corner. This stopped the loud breathing. Jerome stopped at the bottom of the stairs, viewing all of them.

"What's with the scared looks? Do I appear that scary?" He said that and then closed his door as he went into his room.

"Did he find her?" KT asked Amber who was coming down the stairs.

Amber shook her head.

They'd forgotten Mick was still there, right by the edge of the stairwell.

"Find who?" Mick asked.

"Oh, uh..." Nina trailed.

"Ok, suddenly I feel like the only one not in on something. Tell me."

The Sibuna gang eyed eachother.

"What's going on? And that reminds me, Joy hasn't been here. Did she ever show up?"

Patricia stepped forward. "Actually, she's here now," she lied in a low tone. "Since she and Jerome are dating, we're keeping it a surprise that she's here until the time is right."

"Oh. Well, why wasn't I included in this?"

"Because in case all of us slipped up, we still needed someone who didn't know a thing so that it didn't seem everyone was in on it. Basically, under all the gray matter, you truly were the biggest part of this operation."

Mick nodded. "Ok, then...Then I guess I'll be going to my room, and trust me, my lips are sealed." He went to his room and Sibuna hurried upstairs to Nina's room.

They knocked on the door, waking Joy up so she could open it. They all scrambled inside and shut the door.

"What's up? What's going on?" Joy asked.

"Set almost found you," Nina told her.

"It was really close," Amber added.

"What?" Joy breathed. "How much longer can we keep this up?"

"As long as it lasts," Willow responded.

Joy swallowed the huge lump in her throat.

~~~~~

Oh yeah, I'm updating this chapter again for the discussion question. Also, I'd like to ask if you guys are interested in these discussion questions, or if you feel it's pointless or a waste...

But anyway, do you think Joy will be able to hide much longer?