DENOUEMENT
v. house of discovery
❝IT WAS ME.❞

UPON FEELING WHATEVER was around her slowly shuffling away from her, a shiver overcame Sydney, waking her up, and she felt a groan wanting to escape her lips, her arms reaching out and quickly grabbing whatever was leaving her side and pulling it back unconsciously, feeling the warmth quickly come back to her and letting out a small sigh of relief, a very faint smile on her lips as she did so. Whatever, or should it be said: whomever, she dragged back let out a soft chuckle, one that she instantly recognised, making her realise that it had been Jerome's arm wrapped around her, which was providing her warmth, and he had been trying to get out of bed. After figuring that out, Sydney simply wrapped the arm back around her, hearing Jerome let out a small chuckle as his head buried itself in her neck.

"You are so whipped, dude." Alfie's voice sounded out from the other end of the room, sounding rather tired and like he had just woken up – presumably, that was the case.

"Zip it." Jerome instructed his friend, sending him a small glare before he realised that all of them had to wake up soon, considering that they had to attend school soon, thus causing him to gently shake the girl with his free arm (considering she held the other one hostage), "Syd, you awake?"

"No." Sydney mumbled, burying her head further into the bed as she really did not want to wake up and/or attend school, knowing that the day would be rather boring – then again, she did have an idea in mind to prank a few people.

"Yeah, you sound very asleep." Jerome stated sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he tried to pull his arm out of her grip, but she refused to let him go, which made him laugh as he shook his head, "You know, Sleeping Beauty, for somebody who's so asleep, you have a very tight grip – can I please have my arm back?"

"No." Sydney grumbled, tightening her grip on the boy as she snuggled into his bed covers more – honestly, if it wasn't for the boy constantly shaking her, she would have definitely fallen asleep again already; it was just too comfy.

With raised eyebrows as he watched the pair (who most certainly looked like a couple at that moment in time), Alfie shook his head as he picked up his uniform and everything that he needed to get ready for the day, and commented before he went to the bathroom, "Looks like you're stuck there, dude."

"Alfie, no-!" Jerome tried to call out, hoping that his friend would help him out of the grip of Sydney Anderson, although he had already shut the door, leaving the pair of blondes alone in the room and causing the male between the two to sigh, "Syd, I will not get you back for throwing water balloons on me if you get up."

Quickly turning around so she could look at the boy, opening one of her eyes, she suspiciously asked, "Wait, really?"

A second after Jerome nodded, the girl had instantly loosened her grip on the prankster and practically leapt out of his bed, rushing to her bedroom to get ready – she knew that his pranks could be bad, and she did not want to be the target for any of them, especially if they were happening for him to get revenge.

Soon enough, she was descending the stairs one again, throwing the tie on around her collar and attempting to tie it before she gave up with a huff, letting it stay undone until Jerome did it. As she huffed, she entered the dining room and noticed that the only other people in the room were Trudy and Nina, whom were both setting up breakfast before the rest of the Anubis House residents came down.

"Oh, let me help!" Sydney quickly exclaimed, rushing over to the American who was attempting to carry way too many plates for her small arms and taking a few away from her.

"Thanks, for this and-," Nina began, glancing around her to check that Trudy wasn't in hearing range (which she wasn't, being quite a distance away and not exactly paying attention as she checked on the food) before the American continued, "-last night."

"It's no problem." Sydney answered, the pair of them placing down the food on the table before she turned to the new-ish girl fully, sending her a smile, "Like I said, I'm a bit of a master at sneaking around this place – if you need anymore tips, you know where to find me."

"I'll keep that in mind." Nina responded, seeming to actually consider the offer for a moment or two before she vaguely shook her head and started a new conversation, wanting to make more friends at the place where she was going to live, "So, how was your movie night?"

"Same as always – Alfie watches it intently and screams out about how aliens are going to invade the Earth every now and again; Jerome pretends like he's interested until he gets so bored that he ends up falling asleep, and then the film finishes and I have to make sure that Alfie gets into bed instead of starting a new alien film and staying up all night." Sydney explained, knowing that she wouldn't exactly be aware of what happened normally considering that she was new, and the pair of them laughed slightly at the story.

"Sounds great." Nina commented sarcastically, giggling slightly as she took another plate of food from Trudy and brought it over to the table, placing it in the middle.

"Oh, it truly is." Sydney joked, grabbing the fruit bowl and bringing it over to the table as well, knowing that Mick would most likely take some and that fruit was always very useful if the blonde needed to throw something at Jerome or Alfie, which was what typically happened, "How was your date last night?"

"My what?!"

"Your date?" Sydney repeated, although the American still seemed confused which made her elaborate, "With Fabian? Oh, come on, I saw him peeking out of his bedroom door as I went past – he's really bad at sneaking around, by the way."

"That- That wasn't a date!" Nina defended herself, a blush coating her cheeks as she stuttered, which made Sydney suspicious; even if it wasn't a date, something was happening between the pair.

"What wasn't a date?" Alfie questioned as he entered the room, having overheard the last part of the girl's conversation – he wasn't exactly sure when Sydney had become friends with Nina (he'd seen them talk briefly when they had been next to, or near, one another in classes and had worked together) but he didn't particularly care as long as the new girl wasn't an alien.

Hastily, Nina went to stutter out something, but Sydney had already beaten her to the chase and covered it up, sending a small smirk to the American as she did so, "My day with Jerome that you told everyone was a date, when it wasn't."

"It so was!" Alfie cried out, making Sydney shake her head at the boy as the three of them sat down, quickly grabbing food onto their plates as the rest of the Anubis House residents began to pile into the dining room.

"So, I say that we pull a prank today – any ideas?" Jerome asked once he reached his seat, his voice being somewhat quiet as he spoke to the blonde girl beside him (they didn't want anyone else to hear their prank ideas; though they probably wouldn't as everyone seemed to be in their own little discussions), turning to her and doing her tie for her as he did so.

"Well, I know I said that Alfie and Mick were at the top of my list, but I think that they both went through enough – we can get them some other time, I guess." Sydney told the boy, knowing that she would feel guilty for pranking Alfie when he was already upset over Amber and Mick getting back together, "However, I'm not exactly happy with Rutter after blackmailing us yesterday, we could pull something on him?"

"I like it." Jerome agreed with a nod, whilst digging into his breakfast and reminding the girl, "We also haven't pranked Nina yet, which we planned on."

"Good point – double prank?" Sydney suggested, a smirk on her lips at the idea – she knew that they could easily get Nina and Fabian in one go, considering that they had been constantly with each other the past few days.

"Depends what the prank is – are we jumping out at them?" Jerome questioned with narrowed eyes as the pair of them began to formulate a plan with one another, one that they would probably let the other member of the trio join in with.

"Probably the easiest thing to do that gets both of them, and we have a few masks that we haven't used yet." Sydney pointed out to the boy, remembering the box of masks that they had in the boy's wardrobe and how many they had in there that they had yet to use.

"Oh yeah, or maybe we could get a werewolf involved." Jerome said, glancing over at Alfie as he did so, considering that he loved to take his werewolf mask to school anyways, "I'm pretty sure he's bringing his mask to school anyways."

"Sounds like a plan." Sydney smirked, giving the boy a high five as she did so, who said that he would inform Alfie of the plan just before they left to school.

"More eggs anyone?" Trudy asked, causing everyone to glance up at her and away from the people whom they were speaking to as she continued to serve up breakfast for the Anubis House residents, making sure that they were all filled with great food before they left for the day.

"Yes, me, please." Fabian responded, and the woman cheerfully delivered, putting some more beautiful eggs on his plate – Sydney did not blame him for wanting more, as all of Trudy's cooking was delicious.

"Did you hear about Victor?" Patricia asked the group, leaning forward in her seat as she did so, whilst Sydney's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she hadn't heard anything about their housekeeper, "He fell down the stairs last night and broke his leg!"

At that, Sydney could not help but burst out laughing, with the rest of the Anubis House residents joining in. Afterall, they found it funny to imagine somebody so strict, powerful, and scary getting wiped out by some stairs that were typically easy to walk down. He'd also probably be limping, and the thought of him limping whilst trying to be strict with the students simply made the female prankster laugh even more.

"I guess instead of the pin dropping, he did." Sydney managed to say through her laughter, tears coming to her eyes as she couldn't stop herself from being in absolute hysterics at the news.

"Don't exaggerate." Trudy spoke up, scolding them slightly, though the smile on her face and her kind aura made them not take it seriously whatsoever – their housemother was simply delightful, and she seemed like she couldn't even harm a fly,

"Egg-aggerate!" Alfie pointed out the pun, laughing as he did so whilst pointing towards their housemother, complimenting her, "Nice one, Trudes."

"Terrible yolk, Alfie." Jerome responded, before taking a sip of his drink whilst everyone let out a small giggle at the jokes being thrown around the room.

"Says you, Jerome, omlettin' that bad joke slide this time." Sydney added with a devious smirk on her lips, causing the boy to nudge her playfully whilst everyone laughed even more at the jokes, wondering how the trio managed to think of egg-related puns so quickly.

"It's a sprained ankle, that's all." Trudy corrected them, referring back to Victor's sprained ankle and taking them away from the conversation filled with egg puns, which they all still had a smile on their lips over.

However, the smiles all vanished from their faces soon enough, with the light and positive mood vanishing as Victor's voice was suddenly heard from the hallway, making a few people flinch as the man boomed, "A very painful sprained ankle."

"Uh-oh." Jerome mumbled, quickly putting his head down and focusing on his meal, whilst Sydney tried to hide the smile that had been on her lips.

"Victor! How do you do that?" Trudy asked, referring to how he appeared seemingly out of nowhere and scared everyone, "And with a limp too!"

"Someone sabotaged that floorboard on purpose." Victor declared, walking further into the room (with a limp, which Sydney had to avoid looking at to stop her from laughing), but his accusation made Sydney's eyes narrow in confusion, clouding over with the exact same emotion as she wondered who would purposely sabotage a floorboard to make their housekeeper fall.

Nevermind – that was something she would have definitely done.

However, she was almost certain that she hadn't been the one to sabotage the floorboard, unless she managed to do it in her sleep, and that left her to wonder who else had done it. Jerome and Alfie had been in the same room as her, presumably all night, and if they had done a prank like that then she would have most likely been involved with it and would have known.

So, if it wasn't any of the three pranksters, then who was it?

Although, Sydney's eyes then widened for a split second before returning to normal, as she remembered that Nina and Fabian had been out in the hallway last night, and could have been the ones to sabotage the floorboard to make their housekeeper fall, but that felt a bit over the top, especially for Fabian, who was known to be a top student who followed all the rules.

However, before she could think about it anymore, Trudy shook her head at the housekeeper, speaking up and snapping Sydney out of her thoughts, "Oh, no, that floorboard's been like that for ages. I remember telling you about it last year!"

"Yeah, that's right! I-I've tripped over it myself a few times." Fabian stuttered out, with the American beside him also nodding in agreement and mumbling something about also having tripped.

However, the pair of them seemed extremely suspicious and nervous, which made Sydney's eyes narrow as she glanced over at Nina, watching her carefully as she fiddled with her food and kept her gaze down, avoiding looking at Victor.

"Someone is up to something, and I intend to find out what it is, and who." Victor stated, sending a sharp glare to all the residents of Anubis House, before he turned and limped out of the room – despite him now being out of the room, Sydney noticed the anxious look shared between Fabian and Nina, and the blonde was left to wonder what happened last night, and whether they were truly the ones who sabotaged the floorboard.

"Well, trust Victor to get rid of a positive atmosphere." Jerome mumbled, sipping his orange juice as he did so, whilst the girl beside him nodded in agreement, sensing that everything was now awkward and silent at the table.

However, her eyes flickered up having seen Alfie's hand suddenly begin moving, and she sent him a warning glare as she spoke up, "Don't you dare take that as your cue to begin throwing eggs – we only have a few minutes before we need to leave for school."

At that, he retracted his hand back with a frown falling onto his lips, disappointed that he couldn't start a food fight to cheer everyone up.

However, Alfie did manage to make a smile appear on Jerome and Sydney's face once he took the werewolf mask out of his backpack as they were on the way to school, with the former of the two having informed him of their plans to prank Nina and Fabian that day using it. Although, the pair of blondes did not plan for their friend to cover his face with the mask and begin chasing them to the school, causing them to laugh and shake their heads at the boy, who continued this until Sydney's eyes fell onto the pair they were meant to be pranking – they were down the hallway, walking next to one another to their next class.

"There they are." Sydney mumbled, pointing to them to show Alfie, who nodded before sneaking up behind them, whilst the blonde-haired girl rested her head on Jerome's shoulder, "You know, I hope this actually works."

Just as she said that, Sydney lifted her head just in time to see Alfie place his hand atop the pair's shoulders, roaring furiously in their faces and causing Fabian Rutter to release a very small shriek, whilst Nina Martin flinched slightly, putting her hand on her chest as she panted heavily, trying to get her breath back after behind scared. With mild annoyance on their faces, the poor victims of the prank turned to face the boy, who ripped off his mask and revealed a large grin on his face, pointing towards Sydney and Jerome to tell them that it was their idea, causing the prankster duo to wave at them.

"Seems like it worked." Sydney mumbled, a smile on lips as she gave the chuckling boy beside her a high-five, glad that they had managed to finally prank the new girl (ignoring the initiation ceremony).

Considering that they did the only prank that they had planned before classes even started, the rest of the school day was rather boring and Sydney found herself begging and pleading for time to class quicker, despite the party that was happening that afternoon – Mick and Amber's "getting back together" party, which apparently, they weren't lying about hosting. Sydney wasn't particularly aware of who was attending, but she knew that all of Anubis House were being forced to go by Amber, and that people from the other houses (namely, Mick's friends and the people he played sports with) were also invited.

The clock ticked and ticked, and it seemed like one minute was suddenly as long as a year, with the blonde zoning in and out of class occasionally and almost falling asleep numerous times. No matter what she did to stay awake (throwing paper balls at Jerome and Alfie, poking them numerous times to annoy them, and also talking throughout all of the classes) she constantly found herself being bored once again, her eyes locked on the clock – especially in her last lesson, and as soon as the bell rung, she shot out of that classroom.

Her boredom that she had experienced for the past few hours was exactly how she had somehow found herself enjoying getting ready for Mick and Amber's party, even agreeing to let her perky roommate/the other half of the 'it' couple to pick out an outfit for her and do her makeup and hair, which she promptly agreed to.

Then again, did Sydney do that due to her boredom or because she was too lazy to style herself?

Of course, Amber Millington – an expert in fashion – delivered and went past expectations, pulling out a white long-sleeved top for Sydney to wear underneath a casual blue, denim dress. The prankster was then pushed into the bathroom and rushed to put on the outfit, before she was dragged back out (now, with the outfit on) and thrown into a chair in front of Amber's mirror, where the girl promptly took out her makeup and did a natural look on Sydney, before beginning to style her hair, and of course, gossip had to come with that.

"Why isn't Mara in here?" Sydney questioned, glancing around the room to see that her other roommate was nowhere to be seen and had probably gone to get ready with Patricia.

"Who cares?" Amber asked in response, an irritated look appearing on her face at the mention of the nerd, which made Sydney's eyebrows furrow in confusion, wondering what had happened, "I heard her in the toilets today with Patricia, and she said that she likes Mick and that we're not right for each other."

At that, Sydney's eyes widened with shock; the mathlete and the athlete, were they joking?

"I don't care either way – Mick likes me, not her, and he is just so sweet!" Amber began to ramble about her boyfriend, leaving the conversation about Mick/Mara behind, but Sydney was just glad to see her happy, even if it meant her eardrums being hammered with the same conversation about Mick over and over again, "He's asked Trudy to make a cake for us for tonight, and-!"

"Wait, there's going to be cake?" Sydney questioned, her eyebrow quirked up as she asked, causing Amber to nod in response, "Why didn't you tell me that earlier? I would have been so much more willing to come if I knew that cake was involved!"

"What party doesn't have cake?" Amber asked in response, finishing yet another curl before she pulled back from the prankster, admiring her work before she nodded, "And, I'm all done!"

Turning to look at herself in the mirror, Sydney's eyes widened slightly as she saw herself, before she gave a small nod to Amber, "I always forget how good you are at this until you do it again – you really need to make me over more."

"Well, what did you expect? I am Amber Millington." The fashionista responded, flicking her hair over her shoulders as she put away the curlers, before she let out a gasp and hurried to her wardrobe, "I have some wedges that would look absolutely perfect with that outfit!"

"As long as they're not heels, we're good." Sydney joked, before she was presented with a pair of white wedges that, as Amber stated, went perfectly with Sydney's outfit, causing her to slide them on her feet effortlessly.

Considering that she was now ready for the night, the prankster stood up out of the "beauty chair" as she had called it, and did a small spin to humour the girl who had styled her for the night, causing them both to giggle whilst Amber clapped, proud of her own work with a smile beaming on her face.

"I really should make you over more – you look so much better, no offence." Amber blurted out, very impressed at the job she had done, whilst Sydney let out a chuckle at her words and shook her head, not taking any offence because she expected those words to come out of her roommate by now.

"None taken, I agree." Sydney responded, before slinging her arm over the fashionista with a smile adorning their lips, "Now, come on, I have two idiots to get to before they do something dumb, and you have a boyfriend to get to and host a party with – you best save me a slice of the cake though."

"I'll try - Trudy's cake is to die for, afterall. But, if Alfie gets his hands on it whilst you're too preoccupied with your boyfriend, then you might not have a chance." Amber teased whilst the pair left their room, going down the staircase and entering the entrance hall.

"What boyfriend?" Sydney questioned; her eyes narrowed in confusion as she turned to her roommate, who rolled her eyes and looked at her as though the answer was obvious

"You know who." Amber exclaimed, before pushing the prankster into the corridor for the bedrooms for the boys in Anubis House and calling out, "And you're going to him right now!"

"Not dating!" Sydney responded to the fashionista over her shoulder, watching as she entered the living room, where the main party was, before shaking her head as she knocked onto Jerome and Alfie's room, "Open up, dorks."

Within seconds, the door swung open to reveal Jerome, who was wearing a rather simple outfit – a white t-shirt, paired with black jeans with a white belt, and the smell of his cologne overcame her, with him clearly just having put it on. Peering into his room, Sydney caught sight of Alfie, who was sat glumly on his bed, clearly not ready for a party that he probably didn't want to go to.

"For someone who wasn't particularly fond of this party, you've made quite an effort." Jerome commented, motioning for the girl to come further into the room before he shut the door, and keeping his eyes on her as she walked in.

"I look good, don't I?" Sydney said, completed with a small spin to show off her outfit, feeling confident in her own looks and her roommate's impeccable taste in fashion and skill in makeup, "I asked Amber for help, and she delivered quite well, I'd say."

"Did she talk your ear off in the process?" Jerome questioned, considering that Sydney had sent him many messages and had told him of numerous times when the fashionista would not stop talking, and the female nodded in response, "You seem quite cheery, considering."

"When you're bored, Amber can provide some great gossip." Sydney told him, which all of them knew was true – Amber was popular and tended to hear everything and anything, which led to her being able to spill lots of gossip about everyone – however, Sydney's smile faded as she turned and saw Alfie, his head lowered, "What's wrong, Alfs?"

"Yeah, dude, why the long face?" Jerome questioned, opening up his wardrobe and taking out a grey vest, putting it on over the white t-shirt that he was wearing whilst their friend lifted his head up to answer them.

"Well, let me see, I'm going to Amber and Mick's "getting-back-together" party, and you promised me that you would have Mick out of her life by the end of this week."

"I've told you: patience. I will deliver; I just need a little bit longer, that's all." Jerome told the boy, defending himself and giving his roommate some hope that he could fix things up with Amber and make it work.

"More like a lot longer." Sydney mumbled under her breath, causing the boy to quickly nudge her so that she'd be quiet, and that Alfie didn't hear her.

"But, in the meantime, look, there are girls in there, so get your best party gear on – get ready to dazzle." Jerome encouraged his friend, which promptly brought a smile to his face whilst Sydney rolled her eyes in annoyance – was all they cared about girls?

"I know exactly what to wear!" Alfie responded, practically beaming as he jumped up to his feet and went to his wardrobe, pulling out a Dracula costume and rushing to the boy's bathroom to change into it before anyone even had the time to protest.

"You have got to be kidding me." Sydney groaned, falling back onto Jerome's bed whilst the boy burst out into laughter at the whole situation; of course, Alfie Lewis would believe that the best way to attract a girl is by wearing a Dracula costume.

"This will be hilarious to watch!" Jerome cried out, tears springing to his eyes at the thought of his friend trying to seduce girls whilst wearing a Dracula costume, "Come on, we have to go and see this."

"I think the second-hand embarrassment might cause me to crawl into a hole." Sydney whined, feeling her arm being tugged until she finally stood up, with Jerome dragging her out of their bedroom and into the living room – there weren't too many people in it yet, but still a few faces that Sydney couldn't recognise.

"You'll love it." Jerome assured her, causing her to make a face as she shook her head, the pair of blondes finding a place near a window to stand and wait for their friend to return in his costume.

And soon enough, he did.

Alfie Lewis had a black cape covering most of his body, and had completed his Dracula outfit with some fake vampire teeth, and as soon as the pair of pranksters saw their friend walk into the room, they burst into laughter and had to hold one another for support whilst tears came to their eyes from giggling so hard. Alfie Lewis truly was a hilarious man, who brought a lot of comedy into their lives, and this became even more evident once the boy attempted dancing.

The key word there: attempted.

"You know, I don't know what is making what worse. Is the Dracula costume making his dancing worse, or is the dancing making the Dracula costume worse?" Sydney questioned her friend, briefly glancing over to him before her gaze turned to watching Alfie, who had somehow roped Trudy, their lovely and innocent housemother, into dancing with him.

"I think it's a mix of both." Jerome answered, before his eyes narrowed in curiosity, "Is he trying to teach Trudy how to pop and lock it?"

"No clue." Sydney sighed, shaking her head before she noticed that drinks had been put out in the kitchen, courtesy of Mick, and nodded towards them with her head as she told the boy, "I'll go get us a drink."

Giving the girl a hum to acknowledge what she said, Sydney took that as an "Okay" before she left to the kitchen, grabbing two plastic cups and pouring some orange juice into them as she continued to watch Alfie, a faint smile on her lips at the sight.

"He's a weird one, right?" Nina spoke, having entered the room and now being at the side of the prankster, whilst pointing over towards Alfie to reference who she was talking about.

"Yeah, but we love him for it... sometimes." Sydney replied, the pair of them giggling at what she said, before she lifted up the orange juice to the American girl, asking, "You want some?"

"If you don't mind." Nina answered, still smiling – Sydney noticed that she had been doing that a lot ever since everything had been fine at Anubis House, which was normal considering that she now wasn't being accused of kidnapping a girl she didn't know.

Pouring a drink and quickly passing it to her, Sydney then leaned against the counter and asked the question that had been on her mind, "So, the stairs being sabotaged – did you have anything to do with that?"

"N-No!" Nina quickly stuttered out, having almost spat out her drink at the question.

Note: Nina Martin was a really bad liar.

"Relax!" Sydney instructed the girl, her eyes wide as she patted the girl's back to make sure she didn't choke, "I'm not going to snitch – it's something I'd do, honestly. With pranks like that, Neens, you may become part of the trio, although... I don't know what they'd make us? A quartet? That doesn't sound as good."

Letting out a nervous laugh, Nina sipped her drink before responding, "Well, I don't think I'm going to be making a regular thing out of it, so I guess you'll remain as the trio."

"Ah, you're not a prankster-kinda' girl, then?" Sydney asked, causing the American to shake her head in response to the question, "Was the floorboard-thing a mistake then?"

"Sort of." Nina answered suspiciously, not knowing how much she should give away about it without making the girl more interested – especially considering that she seemed to love adventure and mystery, "It kind of came off under me when I tried to go back up; guess I didn't put it back right."

"Well, Trudy did say that it's been weird for a while – suppose that I never noticed it." Sydney hummed, deciding to let the American off and presuming that there wasn't much suspicious about it, "Don't worry; I won't speak of it to anyone – it's our little secret, remember?"

"Thanks; I just don't want Victor to kill me – he seems rather scary." Nina pointed out, making the prankster chuckle as she nodded in agreement, taking a sip out of her drink and remembering that she still had to return to Jerome.

Upon thinking about Jerome Clarke, her eyes drifted over to him, seeing that he was already looking over at the two girls whilst he remained in the same spot that he had been in before Sydney left him. With a bright smile on her lips, Sydney sent him a cheerful wave, which he chuckled at before lowering his head to the ground.

"So, you and Jerome, huh?" Nina teasingly spoke up, a smirk on her lips as she noticed the interaction between the two blondes.

Within the first few seconds of meeting the pranksters, Nina took note of how close they were; Sydney was on Jerome's lap when she walked into the room – physically, how much closer could one get? Due to that, she had presumed they were together, but had soon been told by Amber that they weren't officially a couple, but that it was obvious they both liked one another – the American couldn't exactly disagree with that; they seemed so much like a couple, it was hard to see anything different.

"Oh God, Amber's gotten to you, huh?" Sydney groaned, rolling her eyes at the teasing tone in the girl's voice, before turning to face her, "Okay, what did they tell you?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" Nina exclaimed hastily, laughing slightly as she did so, before motioning to the boy who had looked back at the pair of girls, "You seem really close, though."

"We are – he's been my best friend for years." Sydney informed the girl, a fond smile on her face as she thought about how her and Jerome had practically grown up with one another, seeing each other mature and grow into the people they were today, before deciding to change the topic.

If Nina could tease Sydney about her relationship, then Sydney could tease Nina about her relationship.

"Speaking of people seeming closer, what's going on with you and Fabian?" Sydney questioned, motioning over to the nerd who had just entered the party, seeming rather lost as he wasn't exactly a party type of guys.

"We're friends." Nina quickly responded, although Sydney took a mental note of the warmth that had spread across her cheeks and how nervous she had become within the past few seconds.

"Okay." Sydney nodded, humming slightly as she picked up her and Jerome's drinks, beginning to walk over to the boy before she called over her shoulder, "He's single!"

"Sydney!"

Letting out a laugh, Sydney shook her head at the whole situation as she approached Jerome, who had been watching the conversation from afar with a curious look in his eyes, and passed him his drink, which he quickly thanked her for before motioning to the new girl with his head.

"You and Nina seemed to be having a good time; thought you'd forgotten about me for a second there." Jerome commented, taking a sip out of his drink which he had been waiting for a few minutes to get.

"Ah, I wish." Sydney joked, glancing up to her friend with a smirk on her lips before he nudged her, causing her to let out a small giggle before shaking her head, "I'm joking – most of the conversation was actually about you."

"All good things, I hope." Jerome responded, his eyebrow quirked up as he wondered what had been said about him and why the two girls would have a conversation about him.

However, Sydney decided to mess with him some more, which resulted in her shaking her head in response to him, despite the large smile that was present on her lips as she told him, "No, we just insulted you the entire time – she hates your guts."

"Oh, really?" Jerome chuckled, easily being able to tell that the girl was lying, and she could easily tell that he didn't believe her whatsoever – despite this, she continued.

"Yeah, totally." Sydney supported her claims, before she couldn't keep the act up anymore and let out some laughter, shaking her head before becoming serious, telling the boy, "Nina just asked about what we are – Amber clearly got to her."

"When will they ever stop with that rumour?" Jerome questioned, rolling his eyes upon hearing about it, whilst Sydney shrugged, knowing that their housemates would most likely never stop presuming that the pair of blondes were in a relationship.

"Either way, I got my own back, I suppose." Sydney informed him, a small smile on her lips as she glanced back to the kitchen and saw that Nina had left, but Fabian was still in the room, alone as he ate the food in the peace, "I asked what her and Fabian were, and told her that he was single."

"Since when did you become a matchmaker?" Jerome inquired, seeming amused with the girl as he finished his drink, seeing that Sydney's was also emptied and getting rid of the cups, before turning back to the girl, "Didn't know you were into love."

"I'm not into love; I'm into karma and revenge. If people ask me what my relationship status is, I'm going to ask them about theirs." Sydney shrugged, whilst the boy laughed until he paused, something seeming to have caught his attention.

"Speaking of relationships, it looks like Dracula has his eye on someone." Jerome announced, causing the girl to turn and see that Alfie was standing to the side, watching two girls who she didn't recognise dancing together – they were definitely pretty, and Sydney couldn't blame Alfie for having his eyes fixated on them.

"Looks like he does." Sydney agreed with a nod, watching as Alfie's eyes refused to leave the two girls, like he was entranced by their beauty.

He surely got over his sadness about his unrequited love for Amber quickly.

And, of course, to help Alfie Lewis on his quest to find love, Jerome Clarke had to get involved, dragging a somewhat unwilling Sydney Anderson behind him until they got to the boy, questioning, "Which one do you like?"

"Both of them." Alfie answered after a few seconds, seemingly with no shame whatsoever, causing Sydney to let out a small chuckle whilst she shook her head, "Shall we ask them to dance?"

Confused, Jerome looked over at his best friend with narrowed eyes and repeated his suggestion, "To dance?"

To elaborate further, Alfie decided that he would show what he meant, instead of explaining, and thus he began to "dance" – if that's what it could even be called, considering how weird it looked. Sydney truly did try to restrain her laughter, but couldn't help a small giggle escaping past her lips at how horrific his dance moves were, which then turned into full blown laughter as Jerome tried to get his best friend to stop dancing before anybody noticed and looked at them, as nobody would want to date Alfie if they saw what he considered dancing.

"Alfie, stop it! Stop dancing! No! No, no, no, no! Alfie!" Jerome called out, and after a few seconds, it eventually made the boy come to a halt and look at his friend, confused at why he had been told to stop his 'sick' moves, "We are not going to ask them to dance."

"Okay, no sweet moves." Alfie said with a nod, showing that he understood what Jerome was saying, but clearly that left him out of ideas/options, causing him to ask the boy, "So, what do I do?"

"Oh, this should be good." Sydney mumbled, releasing a sigh as she leant against the closest wall to her, knowing that Jerome's advice to Alfie had a 99.9% chance of failing – the slim chance of it actually working meant that a miracle had to happen.

Honestly, Sydney did not understand why Alfie constantly, without hesitation, turned to Jerome for advice, despite how many times that advice had failed and the lack of girlfriends that Jerome had managed to keep – he didn't exactly have a track record of making his own, nevermind other's, relationships work, yet Alfie kept turning to him.

"I want you to come up with an irresistible pick up line." Jerome instructed him, which was... decent... advice, but it made Sydney wonder whether either of her friends, especially Alfie, knew any pickup lines.

"Such as?" Alfie asked, wanting an example, considering that he wasn't the best at pickup lines and didn't know any great ones.

A smirk on his lips, Jerome coughed before he turned to the female prankster beside him, causing her eyebrow to quirk up at him as she wondered what he was doing, however her question was soon answered as the boy put on his "most attractive" voice and said, "Babe, if I could re-arrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together."

"Hey man, you are good – that's like poetry!" Alfie complimented the boy, impressed with his abilities in the art of pickup lines, before he turned to his female friend with a small grin on his lips, "So, Sydney, what do you say to that?"

With that, Jerome turned his attention back to the girl, who now had a smile on her lips as she lifted herself away from the wall, resuming their fake conversation, "Really? Cause I don't even need to re-arrange the alphabet to tell you my answer to that, N and O are already next to one another."

"Nevermind. She's better." Alfie told the blonde boy, the two of them mildly shocked that Sydney had managed to make up a great comeback on the spot, whilst the girl in question plastered a sarcastic smile on her lips.

"I don't know what hurts me more: Sydney rejecting me, or Alfie saying Sydney's better than me." Jerome overdramatically cried, putting his hands over his chest as he pretended that the comeback hurt him a lot, resulting in Sydney shaking her head and letting out a small giggle at the boy.

Reaching up, Sydney flicked his forehead to stop his dramatic antics, and the three of them let out chuckles as she muttered the word, "Idiot."

"So, do I go or what?" Alfie asked, reminding them that they had been giving advice to the boy to enable him to chat up the two girls that he liked – they had gotten too carried away in their own little bubble that they had forgotten.

"Go!" Jerome encouraged him, patting his back as he gave him a reassuring smile, whilst Sydney simply sent him a small nod, having a feeling that this would go rather badly.

For a starter, it was Alfie. Secondly, he got his advice from Jerome. Thirdly, he had a cape covering his body.

"I've got it!" Alfie exclaimed, grabbing his false vampire teeth and putting them in, and then walking away to the two girls, approaching them with confidence that Sydney didn't even dare to have despite her not having vampire teeth, which was another thing to add to the list:

Fourthly, he had vampire teeth.

There was no way that was going to go well.

Watching from the side lines, the pair of blondes had small smiles of amusement on their faces as Alfie sent them a small thumbs up whilst getting closer to the girls he was attracted to, and Sydney turned to the prankster beside her, asking "So, how likely is this to go badly?"

"Hey! Let's have some faith." He told her, but instantly let down the façade as soon as Sydney gave him a small look, resulting in him letting out a chuckle as he mumbled, "Oh, it's going to go badly."

As soon as those words left Jerome's lips, the two of them lifted their eyes just in time to witness one of the girl's hands come into harsh contact with Alfie's cheek, slapping him across the face and causing his false vampire teeth to escape his mouth, being thrown across the room until they landed beside Patricia, who was sat alone on the chair, whilst everyone in the room began to laugh, having witnessed the incident.

A few seconds later, Alfie had managed to get his false teeth back from Patricia and came over to his best friends, who were hysterically laughing, with Jerome managing to get enough breath to ask through his laughter, "What was your line?"

In response, Alfie lifted up the set of false vampire teeth, and with a smirk across his lips, as though he was proud of the line he had come up with, he repeated his line: "Fancy a bite?"

At that, with giggles falling out of her mouth with no sign of stopping soon, Sydney slammed her head on Jerome's shoulder, which was shaking from the boy also chuckling, all of them finding Alfie's situation and his line absolutely hilarious – he was ridiculously bad at flirting with girls, and Jerome only encouraged it.

How did she get there with those two idiots?

However, she soon found herself having the time of her life with one of those idiots, more specifically: Jerome Clarke. For a few minutes, she had entertained Alfie and danced with him (aka, her standing beside the boy as she laughed at his horrible dancing), but then he had soon went off to get some food and Sydney returned to the side of Jerome, the pair of them entering a conversation filled with jokes, as per usual – that was, until a hand fell upon her shoulder, causing her to snap her head around and see Patricia.

"What's going on in there?" The purple-haired girl questioned, pointing towards the kitchen and making the blonde spin to see that Mara and Amber were alone in there, dealing with food whilst also seeming to have an awkward and potentially heated conversation.

"Oh, that cannot be good." Sydney mumbled, sending a small glance over to the prankster she had been talking to, before she grabbed Patricia's arm, practically dragging the girl over to the kitchen in order to help break out any fight that could occur between the two roommates.

"Hey, what's going on?" Patricia asked as they entered the kitchen, leaning against the counter as she did so, whilst Sydney observed the tears that were threatening to spill out of Mara's slightly widened eyes – something had definitely happened.

"Patricia, do you want to swap rooms with me? I know you don't like sharing with Nina, and I certainly don't want to share with Mara anymore." Amber asked, not even waiting for the answer before she left the kitchen, causing Sydney to glance over at Patricia and Mara before she rushed out to the fashionista, wondering what had happened.

"Hey, Amber, you okay?" Sydney questioned once she had caught up to the fashionista – it was odd to think that she wouldn't be her roommate anymore, and Sydney mildly wished that she could also move alongside Amber.

Of course, she loved Mara and Patricia and had nothing against either of them, but it'd be hard to see their room without as much pink. Furthermore, gossiping with Amber almost every morning made Sydney feel more awake when she needed it – it was truly going to be weird not having the blonde in her room anymore.

"I'm fine; I just can't believe she could flirt with my boyfriend at our "getting-back-together" party! Who would do that?" Amber ranted, clearly irritated at what had just happened, before she flicked her hair over her shoulder, "What does it matter anyways? Mick is with me, and we're going to cut our cake and be happy together."

"That's the spirit!" Sydney encouraged her, a smile on her face as the pair of blondes entered the living room once again, with Amber splitting off to find Mick whilst Sydney found Jerome once again, releasing a sigh as she did so, "I'm living in your room from now on."

"I mean, you already sort of do." Jerome pointed out with a chuckle, before his eyes turned curious and he asked, "Why? Something happened?"

"Mara likes Mick, Mick and Amber are dating, Mara keeps flirting with Mick, Amber and Mara hate each other, Amber's swapped rooms with Patricia." Sydney summed it up with as few words as possible, before she sighed once again, "Moving Amber's shoes alone is going to take forever, hence why I'm moving in with you and Alfie for the weekend; I'm not dealing with that."

"What if I said no?" Jerome asked, a smirk on his lips whilst the girl rolled her eyes at him – both of them knew that he wouldn't say no to her, but he just liked to tease her.

"Are you going to?" Sydney questioned, raising her eyebrows up at him.

As expected, Jerome shook his head with a chuckle leaving his lips as he answered, "No."

"Then I guess I don't have to wonder about what if you said no." Sydney responded, a smile on her lips before she grabbed the boy's arm, waving it around weirdly which caused a look of confusion to fall on his face.

"What's this?" He asked, although the girl didn't stop and simply kept waving his arm around, before grabbing his other arm and doing the exact same.

"Dancing – it's almost as good as Alfie's." Sydney joked, causing the boy to roll his eyes at the girl, "Seriously, though, I don't know how you dance to this sort of music without looking like a fool."

"That's the point – you're meant to." Jerome told her, before beginning to bounce around in his spot and grabbing the girl's arms so that she followed his lead, the pair of them bouncing around and laughing at one another.

However, their laughter came to a halt once they noticed that everyone was looking towards the doorway and that the chatter was slowly beginning to fade, and thus the pair of blondes turned their heads and their eyes widened upon seeing Victor. Hastily, Jerome stopped the music, realising that the pair of pranksters were closest to the radio, and turned back to their housekeeper, seeing a mean and pointed look on his face as he glared at everyone in the room, silence falling over them all.

With nothing being said, he slowly limped out with help from his cane, and only a few seconds later did Jerome press play on the music once again, the party continuing like nothing had happened as everyone continued to bounce around, Jerome and Sydney included, and they only stopped once Mick and Amber cut the cake, eagerly taking a slice and biting into it.

"Trudy's cakes never disappoint." Sydney murmured after having bitten into a piece, with Jerome quickly agreeing with the girl as he hummed in delight – Trudy's cakes were a gift to the world, and nobody could beat them.

However, as he lifted his eyes up, he let out some laughter and shook his head at the girl, "You have some on the corner of your lip, Syd."

"Does it add to my beauty?" Sydney questioned, deciding to embrace the typically embarrassing moment as she began to pose for the boy, the pair of them soon bursting out into laughter.

"You are so messy." Jerome mumbled, leaning forward and quickly swiping away the crumbs, before they continued to eat the cake whilst making silly jokes and playfully hitting one another.

And, soon enough, everyone was back to dancing once again, with Sydney and Jerome being towards the side as they watched all the couples dancing with one another, whilst everyone who was single sat on the couches or to the side, alone. With a smirk on her lips, Sydney noticed that Fabian and Nina had made an appearance, and that the former seemed to be approaching the American whilst she was on the sofa.

"Is he asking her to dance?" Sydney questioned Jerome, motioning over to them with her head whilst an excited smile on her lips, "He's actually gained some courage! I feel like a proud mother!"

"He could just be speaking to her." Jerome pointed out, chuckling as he did so, with a smile on his face as he saw how excited the girl was at the idea of Fabian Rutter actually gaining some courage to ask a girl to dance.

"That is not the point, Clarke!" Sydney responded, the pair of them falling into laughter with one another until a loud voice broke them out of their laughter, snapping their head over to the door where the voice had been heard from.

"Hey! Guess what I am? A party animal!"

Of course, it was Alfie Lewis. He had ran into the room whilst wearing a deer head, which Sydney presumed that he could hardly see out of – she wondered if that had been where he was the entire time, as she hadn't seen him ever since he left to get food; instead, he had been getting a deer head to make a poor joke. Now, he was running around the living room with the head on, everyone gasping and laughing at him as he began to scream, pretending to attack people. Of course, the pair of blonde pranksters were hysterically laughing, with Sydney instantly getting her phone out of her pocket to record the moment, her laughter only seeming to get worse as the boy continued to torment people, them screaming in response to him.

"Alfie!"

"You're so dumb, Alfie!"

Despite the positive and funny atmosphere in the room, there was always one person who could instantly make it all dissipate within a single word, making everyone uncomfortable and scared with his mere presence.

That one person was Victor Rodenmaar.

"Enough!"

At that, Sydney's eyes widened with shock, ending her recording and putting her phone away whilst the chatter in the room instantly died down, everyone's eyes snapping to the housekeeper and smiles fading away – Victor knew how to kill a positive mood, and seemed to be very experienced in that field.

"Turn that racket off." He demanded, and Fabian, being the closest to the music, looked behind him and switched it off, following the instructions that he was given before the housekeeper continued, "Anyone who doesn't live here, out! The party is over!"

Not having a clue what could have irritated their housekeeper so much to make him so angry, Sydney and Jerome exchanged confused looks. Victor was typically a very strict man who yelled at the Anubis House residents quite a lot when they were out of bed past lights out, but this seemed unprovoked and he was infuriated.

"And, you..." Victor began, pointing his cane at Alfie, who then pointed at himself in turn, "How dare you mess about with that? Take it off your head immediately!"

Attempting to follow through with the demands, Alfie quickly put his hands on the mask as he tried to get it off his head, though it seemed not to budge.

After two seconds, and the mask still not being off, Victor limped forward with the help of his cane, questioning him, "Did you hear what I said?"

"I can't! It's stuck!" Alfie informed the housekeeper, causing all the Anubis House students to begin giggling at the hilarious situation - it wasn't exactly everyday that someone got a deer head stuck on them.

However, someone clearly did not find it hilarious.

"Stop laughing!" Victor yelled in a raucous, demanding the room to fall silent, which it soon did with all of the students becoming petrified at their housekeeper's demeanour, wondering why he was so angry, "I have had enough of you vermin!"

At that, Sydney had to restrain the scoff she wanted to make. The Anubis House students weren't even that bad, especially compared to the stories she'd heard about some of the other houses - Isis House was filled with odd people, and there was a story about some kid from there having almost blown up numerous departments within the school and Isis House itself (he was a big fan of chemistry); Hathor House was home to some of the worst playboys and girls, with them throwing parties constantly and music always blasting from their house - none of them had a good reputation, being known for their rowdiness. That wasn't even all of the houses - all that the Anubis House students did was throw a few pranks every now and again, and their housekeeper was screeching at them.

Honestly, Sydney just thought that Victor despised kids, and if that was the case then he was most certainly in the wrong job.

"Who has got the spare key to the attic?" Victor asked, turning and walking around to glare at each student - obviously, all of them were aware of the last incident with the attic key: the initiation ceremony, and that caused people to glance over at Nina when their housekeeper wasn't looking at thempeople looked at Nina when Victor wasn't looking at them, "I know somebody's been up there – tonight, as a matter of fact. Oh, yes!"

That was odd - Sydney recalled that Patricia said that she'd thrown the key out of the window and into the bushes, and she wasn't aware of anyone getting it back, so she wondered how whoever had gone up there had managed to do it without the key.

"You think you're all so clever, but you are not as clever as me." Victor declared, before slamming his cane on the ground angrily, "Who has it?!"

At the sudden noise, everyone flinched.

Sydney found herself pressed against Jerome, finding comfort in one another whilst everyone, including them, fidgeted nervously, staying quiet as they didn't have an answer for the housekeeper. As far as the Anubis House residents were aware, Patricia was the last person to have the key, and she threw it into the bushes. Sydney didn't think that Victor would be pleased if one of them told him that the bushes had his key.

"It's really hot in here. I can't breathe." Alfie complained, his voice mildly muffled due to the deer head he had over him, and his complaint caused both of the blonde pranksters that he was friends with to facepalm, knowing that it was the completely wrong time to complain about heat.

"Well then, we shall just have to saw it off, shan't we?!" Victor responded, using the hook of his cane to grab Alfie's neck, pulling the boy forward and beginning to drag him out of the room.

Instantly, Sydney went to rush after her best friend and their housekeeper to make sure that he was okay, but Jerome instantly reached out and gripped onto her arm, pulling her back to beside him as he knew that she'd only get yelled at if she tried to stop Victor from taking Alfie.

In fairness, it wasn't like the housekeeper could actually harm the boy, or else there would be many legal issues involved with that. However, that did not stop Sydney from worrying about her best friend, especially as she heard his worried voice.

"Saw?!" Alfie cried out, clearly beginning to panic at the idea of something on his head being taken off with a saw, which could easily take off his own head and kill him.

"Oh, yes! The rest of you, wait there!" Victor instructed them, pulling the boy out of the room and going up to his office, whilst the rest of the Anubis House students stood there, not knowing how to get out of the situation.

"What do we do now?" Fabian asked, his voice quiet, yet filled with worry, as they spoke about the situation.

"Who has the key?" Mara questioned, before turning to face her purple-haired friend – the last person known to have the key, "Patricia? What did you do with it?"

"I threw it into the bushes." The girl revealed, making them all groan in annoyance - however, Sydney noticed Fabian and Nina share a look with one another.

Just as she was about to ask why, the American female spoke up herself, "I have it."

"I got it back the next day." Fabian elaborated, explaining how they had managed to get the key from the bushes as everyone looked at the pair in confusion.

"Okay, so we have the key, but what do we do now?" Sydney questioned, knowing that they'd probably all get killed if they found out that they had the key and why they had the key.

"I have an idea." Nina quickly said, not bothering to explain her plan to anybody or listen to anybody else's suggestions before she raced out of the room, leaving them all with many questions whilst Fabian watched her leave, worried.

In support of Nina rushing off, they did have limited time until Victor returned and continued to ask for the key - she couldn't exactly sit around and wait for people to come up with ideas and debate whether or not they were good.

However, Sydney's mind was still running wild as she thought about Victor's anger and whether or not Alfie was okay, absentmindedly drumming her fingers on her legs as she ran away in her own thoughts, only snapping out of it once Jerome put his hand on her shoulder.

"He'll be okay." Jerome assured the girl, being able to read her like an open book and knowing exactly what she was worrying about, "It's just a deer head - it won't be that bad."

At that, Sydney managed to let a soft small fall on her lips, nodding in agreement with the boy, before her eyes snapped upwards as the Anubis House students began a group conversation.

"You know, I'm glad I never went to this initiation ceremony - it's only seemed to cause bad things." Mick pointed out, releasing a sigh before he stuffed his face with crisps from the snack bowls - of course, he was always hungry, it seemed.

"Yeah, it was a bad night, and it messed up my beauty sleep." Amber agreed with her boyfriend, shaking her head at the memory of losing a few extra hours sleep due to the ceremony.

"Why did she keep the key?!" Patricia questioned in a frustrated and annoyed tone, not wanting them all to get punished.

"If we get in trouble for this, I swear-." Jerome began, slightly irritated as he thought about receiving a punishment for something he didn't do - he didn't even like punishments when he deserved them.

"Nina probably never had the chance to get it back without Victor noticing." Mara defended the American, which was a pretty good suggestion – she almost got caught when she had to steal it, so why would she risk putting it back?

Speaking of the girl, she hastily entered the room once again, all of them turning to face her as she announced, "I left it on the floor by the office door."

"You left it on the floor?" Jerome repeated, wanting clarification if that was truly what she did, as he found her plan beyond idiotic and stupid, and it made him rather irritated that she had been so careless and hadn't returned the key.

"I know it's not the best idea in the world, but if he has it, then he can't search us for it." Nina explained, and that was a good point – there was no other way to do it, "Trust me, guys."

"And why should we take the rap for you?" Jerome inquired, not wanting to get into trouble to protect Nina, who was seeming to be getting involved in a whole lot of trouble ever since she arrived.

At that, Fabian scoffed, the anger he was feeling becoming more apparent to everyone as he stuck up for the girl, "Why? Because it was you guys who made Nina steal the key in the first place!"

"He's right." Sydney agreed, her voice a small murmur and mainly directed towards Jerome, but she still sent a reassuring smile to Nina, which told the American that she had her back.

After helping her to sneak down the stairs, it seemed like Sydney was beginning to become a big part in Nina's secrets - first, she helped her to sneak down the stairs, and then she hid that Nina sabotaged the stairs, and now she was protecting the girl and hiding that she was the one who stole the key. Whilst hiding all these secrets, it seemed that the pair were getting closer to one another, and perhaps it was the start of a good friendship.

"Oh yes, very clever!" They heard Victor roar, seconds before he entered the room once again - instead of having Alfie in his hands, he now had the attic key, which he held up as he continued to speak, "Very clever indeed. Who put this on the floor outside my office? Who?"

He pointed at Jerome with his cane, and within seconds, Sydney's hand was intertwined with his and she squeezed it, giving him reassurance. Under pressure and when he felt a threat to himself, Jerome easily broke like a piece of fragile glass dropping against the floor - if something scared him or he felt it would affect him, he would do anything to get rid of that, even if it meant selling out his friends.

"Was it you?" The seconds seemed to tick by agonisingly slow, with Sydney's heart thumping against her chest as she prayed that the blonde prankster beside her would cover up for Nina, and not give away who it was.

Thankfully, he gave nothing away, and Sydney's heart rate slowed slightly as she heard him answer, "No."

And that caused the cane to be pointed towards the next person, who just so happened to be Sydney, with Victor simply saying, "You?"

"No." Sydney answered within seconds, not even hesitating for a moment once the question was asked - she did not steal the key, so it wasn't a lie, so she had no problem whatsoever giving the man an answer.

Of course, that answer didn't satisfy the housekeeper, who was waiting for somebody to admit to taking the key, and thus turned the cane so it was pointed to Fabian Rutter, "You?"

"No."

It seemed like clockwork, like history repeating itself every few seconds, and if Sydney wasn't so anxious and scared, she'd probably be ridiculously bored of watching the same conversation happen again and again - Victor pointed his cane at someone and asked if it was then, and they'd deny it, like clockwork.

His next victim was Amber Millington, one of the easiest members of Anubis House to break, pointing the cane at her with a stern and angered look on his face, "You?"

"No."

"I'm losing patience." Victor grumbled, considering he had asked the same question numerous times and hadn't received the answer that he wanted or a confession, which resulted in him asking the question again as he turned to face the jock of Anubis House, "Mick?"

"No."

The jock answered, causing the housekeeper to snarl slightly before the cane moved away from him, ready to get pointed to its next victims and make them squirm in their places until they answered the question that Victor so desperately wanted an answer to, needing to know who had stole his attic key and who had been into the only forbidden place in the house.

The next victims: Mara Jaffray and Patricia Williamson, who flinched as the cane was pointed towards the two of them, resting between them and taunting them to tell the housekeeper the truth as he asked, "You two?"

"No." The two girls answered simultaneously, sending a glance to one another before they returned their gaze to Victor and his antagonising cane.

However, that answer only left one more person – Nina Martin, who was standing beside the housekeeper with a petrified look on her face, which only got worse as the man placed his cane on the floor, pulling out the key and turning towards her with it in his hands, "You?"

"No." Nina denied, about to get away with it until she shook her head, retracing what she had said as she spoke up once again, "Yes!"

"Aha!"

"No." Fabian interjected quickly, not wanting the American to get punished and wanting to protect her, and thus causing him to elaborate as he told Victor, "She's covering for me. I did it."

"You?" Victor questioned for clarification, considering that everyone knew that Fabian Rutter was a goody-two-shoes; it was completely out of character for him to break any rule, especially one that would have such severe consequences.

However, Fabian stood by what he said and nodded, confirming that it was him who took the key as she said, "Yes, guilty as charged."

"No. He's lying – it was me." Nina exclaimed, protesting against the boy and causing the housekeeper to turn to the girl, glancing between the pair with confusion evident on his face.

"Make up your minds. Who was it?" Victor asked, wanting to get to the bottom of who stole his key so that he could punish them severely.

However, the housekeeper did not expect for someone else to speak up and admit to taking the key - yet, that was exactly what happened as Mick answered his question, "Me. I did it."

"What?!"

"Me. I did it." The jock repeated once again, sticking to his word and not backing down as he added, "Total key thief."

"Actually, he's lying. It was me, Victor." Mara confessed nervously from beside the boy, which made Sydney's eyes narrow - she was glad that the nerd was supporting the Anubis House, but was also very much aware it was probably so that she could support her new crush, Mick, and get into his good books.

"Oh yeah!" Amber began, also chiming in with a huge smiling beaming on her lips, before she shook her head and the smile fell, turning into a frown, "I mean no. It wasn't her – it was me. I love to steal keys so much!"

"Actually, it was me." Patricia piped up, glancing over at Nina in the corner of her eye and sending her a small smile - Sydney never thought she'd have seen that when the girl first arrived, yet here they were.

"It was me - another one of my pranks, I suppose." Sydney lied, shrugging in the process and pretending as though it wasn't a big deal, yet her grip on Jerome's hand was extremely tight as she lied to the housekeeper, mildly scared of what his reaction would be - both the housekeeper's and Jerome's, noticing that the latter's head had snapped over at the girl and his eyes were wide as he wondered what she was doing.

"Stop playing me for a fool." Victor began with a deep tone fogging his voice over, sending a glare to all of them before he turned to the one person who was yet to speak up - Jerome Clarke, "Jerome, I know I can rely on you - who was it?"

Out of all the students at Anubis House, Victor surprisingly trusted Jerome Clarke the most to tell him the truth. Afterall, Jerome Clarke liked to sell people out and get others into trouble, especially if that meant protecting himself from getting a punishment - it was normal for him to give people away and to snitch on people to the teachers, hence why Victor expected it from him.

However, everyone's eyes were locked on the prankster, pleading him to join in and support Anubis House as desperation covered all of their faces. He noticed that Nina, who was behind the housekeeper, was mouthing something to him, begging for him to stick to the lie, and he also noticed that Sydney's grip on his hand had managed to get even tighter - he was sure that his hand would eventually turn white soon from how hard she was gripping, and he knew exactly what that meant.

And thus, with gritted teeth and seeming very much reluctant to speak up, Jerome looked at Victor as he managed to mumble out, "It was me."

Thank God.

"That... is... it." Victor began slowly, agitation slowly building up inside of him with each word until he slammed his cane against the ground, turning to face the rest of the Anubis House students, "That is it! You are all grounded for the entire weekend!"

With that being said, the housekeeper limped out of the room as quickly as he could, and all the students watched him leave before smiles grew on all of their lips, with the exception of Jerome, who was clearly unhappy about receiving a punishment and being roped into the whole situation. Irritated, the prankster clapped Fabian's shoulder, before walking over to the corner of the room whilst all of the Anubis House residents began to laugh at what had just happened.

They didn't exactly get away with having the key, but Victor didn't know who had it still - so surely, that was a win.

Sydney glanced over towards Nina, sending her a wide smile that spoke more than words could - it told the American that she was there for her, and that she was glad they didn't get into trouble; it truly was a good friendship starting between them.

However, deciding that she could party and laugh with the Anubis House residents anytime, Sydney let the smile fall from her lips as she spun around, quickly catching sight of Jerome, stood glumly in the side of the room as he stuffed food into his mouth.

Charming.

With a chuckle falling out of her lips, the blonde girl made her way towards him and shook her head, laughing as she noticed the crumbs on his face, "And you said that I was messy - looks like the tables have turned, Clarke."

Evidently agitated, the boy simply hummed, but he still seemed happier than he had done moments ago as Sydney reached, brushing the crumbs off his face with a small giggle.

"Looks like you're stuck grounded with me." Sydney told him, leaning against the wall as she crossed her arms over her chest, a smirk on her lips as she continued, "Aren't you lucky?"

"I would say cursed." He responded, the pair of them sharing a small look before they burst out laughing, knowing that he had been joking.

His anger was soon forgotten about as his arm wrapped around Sydney's shoulder, bringing her closer to him as they laughed - each other's presence was intoxicating to the other, and they always had to be close to one another - they had to be touching, whether it was their fingers or legs brushing against each other, or their arms holding each other.

"You love it really, Clarke." Sydney told him, knowing exactly what he was feeling and knowing that, even though he didn't say it, he loved the girl's presence and whenever they hung out with one another, "I'm so going to throw things at you whilst you're sleeping - we can have a pillow fight!"

"You're so annoying." Jerome mumbled, though a humongous smile was evident on his lips - one that only Sydney could manage to get him to show, and fortunately had many photos of her phone of it (though she'd promised to not show anyone).

It was a genuine smile, one that he hid behind his mask most of the time and thus truly was a sight to see – a full smile, with crinkles near the eyes and smile lines appearing due to it, and it was rather adorable.

"Am I interrupting something here?" Alfie's voice broke them out of their own bubble, with the boy appearing in front of them (this time without a deer head) with a humongous grin on his lips as he saw how happy his two blonde best friends were, "Shall I just leave?"

"Alfie!" Sydney exclaimed, quickly reaching forward and embracing the boy in a tight hug upon seeing him still with his head and not harmed in any way, "You okay?"

"Yeah, although Victor said I'm grounded and that I have the toothbrush punishment." The boy revealed, lifting up the toothbrush that he had been handed by their housekeeper and causing the two blonde pranksters to burst into laughter whilst the poor boy grimaced.

Yeah, they were going to be just fine.

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[01.05.2020]

NOTE: and that is the last update for today! i'll probably be posting one chapter every day, depending on how that goes? or maybe one every other day considering how long the chapters are. we'll see and when i figure out an update schedule i'll make sure you guys know about it.

anyways, i love sydney and her friendships with all the character so much, and they develop so much further within the next few chapters and throughout the entire show/story, obviously. i'm most excited for her friendships with amber, nina, and alfie, and i also think her friendship with fabian is good because they're complete opposites. i've been working on sydney and her character for so long  and she is my literal baby and i adore her - she is probably my favourite oc that i've ever done and her and jerome perhaps might be my favourite ship, so i suppose that says a lot if you know how much i love my other ships and ocs.