.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

AMUN ACADEMY BOARDING SCHOOL had been home to Leah Penelope Jones for several years now, creating a second family with her housemates of Anubis House, where she had resided since she was eleven years old. Now, sixteen years old, she was graduating in two years time.

Leah sat on the grass, outside the school building, reading Pride and Prejudice for the fifth time, that was her favourite novel. She was so into that one chapter that she didn't realise her two best friends, Jerome and Alfie were sneaking up behind her

"BOO!" They both shouted simultaneously. Leah let out a small shriek, letting go of her book. She whipped her head around to see the two boys laughing at her reaction

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Leah exclaimed, brushing back her brown and pink hair from her face

"Nearly being the key word, Lee," Alfie spoke, "Let us know when you're actually scared. I think I could devise a plan to make you really scared"

"Oh, really?" said Leah

"Yeah" Alfie spoke, proudly as Jerome chuckled, picking up the book the girl had let go of

"Like that time you heard that ghost?" Jerome stated

"Oh, that?" she said, "I was only joking about that. I just wanted to see what you would do and you didn't disappoint. Running off like a little girl" Leah spoke, receiving a chuckle from Jerome. She stood up and adjusted her skirt as Jerome stepped forward, holding her book

"Pride and Prejudice, again?" Jerome asked

"What? It's a good book and I love the movie" Leah spoke

"Yeah, only 'cause you're a love-sick puppy to Mr Grump" Jerome spoke

"Mr Darcy, actually. And he's quite handsome" Leah corrected her blonde best friend as she linked arms with him, throwing her bag over her shoulder. They began to walk over to the school as it was almost lesson time when a taxi came screeching past, almost running over their feet

"Who is that?" Leah asked, after noticing a girl sat in the backseat, looking at her surroundings

Jerome and Alfie only responded in a shrug as they carried on their way into school. Jerome had parted from the pair and Leah headed to her locker, grabbing her folder for Mrs Andrews class when Patricia, Joy and Fabian stopped next to her

"Hey, Lee. Look what arrived this morning!" Patricia spoke, pulling out the box set which her, Patricia and Joy had been waiting for

"Finally!" Leah spoke

"Box set marathon tonight?" Joy asked

"You're on! See you later!" Leah spoke. She moved off from the trio and walked with Alfie around the corner when they spotted Jerome standing in front of another student. Alfie and Leah gave each other a knowing glance before heading over to him

"I've got the perfect plan to make Amber notice me more!" Alfie spoke as they joined Jerome

"Hang on, Alfie!" Jerome exclaimed, "I said this would cost you a tenner, now, do you want the homework or not?" Jerome asked. The student rolled his eyes, paying Jerome his money and hurrying off with the homework in his hand

"Sucker" Jerome smiled, shoving the money into his blazer pocket

"Homework business still going strong, huh? Only two weeks into a new term too" Leah spoke, folding her arms across her chest

"You have to find ways to survive, Lee" Jerome spoke, looking down at his brunette, beautiful best friend

"Well, I'm so lucky I have you two, then" Leah spoke, sarcastically. Jerome chuckled and gave her a small wink before being interrupted by Alfie, "Shake hands!" Jerome looked down and grabbed a hold of Alfie's fake hand, pulling it from his sleeve and letting out a laugh

"Subtle, very subtle" Jerome spoke. He held his arm out for Leah, before walking off to class

"Why would anyone need to be subtle? Jerome?! Leah?!" Alfie shouted down the corridor before chasing after his best friends.

THEY ARRIVED to Mrs Andrews's class and she was handing out papers. Amber, the fashionista of the boarding school, sat at her desk which she shared with Mara as she had a conversation with her father over the phone

"So this afternoon-" Mrs Andrews spoke as she gave the rest of the papers out, "-we're going to have a practice exam as promised" This caused the whole class to groan in annoyance, which was soon interrupted by Amber's conversation

"But daddy, you have to extend my credit limit-" Amber spoke

"-phone away please, Amber" Mrs Andrews interrupted

"But I've seen a pair of really important shoes!" Amber exclaimed, which was soon cut off as she spotted her boyfriend Mick, walk through the classroom door, looking all sweaty, still dressed in his sports kit and holding a slightly dirty football, "Dad, I have to go. I'm in school" Amber spoke, ending the phone call with her father

That seriously got her to hang up the phone? Leah thought in her head as she looked at the girl

"Mick, you're back!" Amber spoke. Mick threw his football, aiming for the trash can and successfully hitting it. He congratulated himself as Leah internally groaned in frustration of how much he was showing off

"Sorry I'm late" Mick spoke, looking at the disapproved teacher

"You might have changed first?" Mrs Andrews questioned, as Mick took a look at his current attire and innocently shrugged, "Just try not to perspire all over the paper" Mrs Andrews gave up, placing a paper on Mick's desk as he sat down.

"Could he be any hotter?" Amber asked, turning to Mara who simply rolled her eyes at the blonde, gushing over her athletic boyfriend

Mrs Andrews walked to the front of the room, checking the clock. Leah rifled through her bag, looking for a pen but unsuccessfully finding one. She turned to Jerome who was sat behind her and motioned a pen with her hand. He passed her one of his spare pens and she watched as Alfie coated a tissue with fake blood, planning his escape from the test

"Right, you have exactly one hour to complete the paper. The time is six minutes psst two" Mrs Andrews spoke, looking at the clock that sat on the wall above the whiteboard

"Mrs A?!" Alfie spoke up

"Yes, Alfie?" She responded

"Nosebleed... its a gusher" Alfie spoke as she looked at him

"To the infirmary, quickly!" Mrs Andrews ushered Alfie out. He raced off his seat, showing his classmates the bottle of fake blood, which caused everyone to laugh at his antics. He wasn't watching at what lay in his path when he almost bumped into Mr Sweet

"Festina Lente boy... More haste, less speed" Mr Sweet spoke before sending the boy back on his way.

"Apologies, Mrs Andrews but Joy, there's someone for you in my office" Mr Sweet spoke. Joy and Patricia shared a look before she stood up, collecting her bag and heading out. And little did anyone know was that was the last time they would see of Joy.

Everyone continued on with the practice exam and left the classroom. Joy hadn't returned and Patricia was becoming worried. Alfie jumped out from around the corner, wearing a mask and began to mess around with Leah and Jerome when the frantic Patricia walked up to them

"Have any of you seen Joy?" She asked as Alfie began to mutter a stray of gibberish from under his mask

Jerome chuckled, "Yeah, she's about this tall, dark hair?" Mimicking Alfie's hand gestures

"Ha ha. I've just been to Sweetie's office and she's not there" Patricia spoke

"Maybe she's gone to the house" Jerome spoke

"Yeah... Leah, come with me?" Patricia didn't give Leah much of a chance to respond before dragging her off towards Anubis House as Jerome's gaze lingered on his brunette best friend for a while before Alfie snapped him out of it.

LEAH AND PATRICIA eventually reached their boarding house and headed upstairs to their shared bedroom to find a new girl sitting on Joy's bed.

"Wha- Who are you?" Patricia questioned

"Hi! I'm Nina, I'm new... American, obviously" The girl spoke, standing up quickly

"Who cares! Where are Joy's things? What's going on?" Patricia asked, looking around at the girl's newly decorated half of the bedroom. Patricia noticed a crumpled piece of paper in the bin. She knelt down and picked it up, to find it was the photograph of Joy, Leah and Patricia which was once hung on the door, "Did you do this?!"

"No, I just arrived here" The girl spoke. Patricia, in frustration, grabbed the American's quilt and blankets, throwing them out onto the corridor

"Trix, what's going on?" Leah questioned, hearing the commotion

"Victor had told me Joy left!" The girl shouted

"Without this?!" Patricia held up Joy's mobile phone in her hand, "This is her phone! Did you steal it?"

"Not a great strategy for making friends... Show up and steal things" The girl spoke

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you're doing but you are not my roommate. Leah and Joy are! Now, where is she?!" Patricia shouted. The girl looked hurt by the accusations Patricia had thrown at her as Patricia stared her down, waiting for an answer. Victor, their caretaker, exited the attic door and noticed the girl, Patricia and Leah standing in the corridor with quite a mess being made

"Patricia Williamson and Leah Jones? What is going on here?" Victor spoke, locking the door and moving towards the three girls

"That's what I'd like to know! Where's Joy?" Patricia questioned

"Joy has left" Victor simply answered

"What do you mean, she's left?" Leah asked this time as Victor looked at her

"Her parents came to collect her and left"

"She would never leave without saying goodbye or without her phone or Bunsy Bun" Patricia spoke, with a sadness to her tone, which seemed rare for her at this moment

"Give them to me and I'll forward them on to her" Victor spoke, holding his hand out. Patricia moved her arms away, "Give!" Victor demanded, in annoyance and Patricia hesitantly handed him the items, "Now, clean this mess up"

"No way! I'm going to phone Joy and find out what's going on!" Patricia stormed off from the corridor, leaving the two girls with the caretaker. Victor let out a deep sigh before collecting the blankets in his hands and handing them over to the girl

"Supper will be ready in ten minutes" Victor spoke before leaving the corridor. The girl walked back into the bedroom and dumped the quilts on her bed as Leah followed.

"I'm sorry about Patricia... We were- are close with Joy" Leah spoke

"Its okay, but I swear I don't know anything about Joy leaving" The girl spoke

"Its okay, I believe you" Leah smiled, "I'm Leah, but most people call me by my nickname, Lee"

"I'm Nina"

"Nice to meet you, Nina. Just don't pay attention to what Patricia or the others have to say... Its going to take a while to adjust to not having Joy around" Leah spoke. She grabbed some clothes and hurried off to the bathroom across the hall to change before supper as everyone was beginning to arrive home from school. Leah headed back into the room, after changing as Nina was straightening out her quilts that Patricia had messed up

"How long have you attended boarding school?" Nina asked

"Since I was eleven. My mum worked away a lot and I don't have a father so she found it was easier to have me enrol at boarding school" Leah spoke, "How about you?"

"Its my first time at boarding school"

"Oh right... It gets easier... The homesickness. Anyway, I'll see you downstairs?" Leah spoke. Nina nodded and the girl left. She headed down the stairs as Jerome and Alfie were waiting for her

"Hey boys" Leah spoke as she reached the bottom step

"Hey!" Alfie spoke

"What's up?"

"Any sign of Joy?" Jerome asked

"None... There's a new girl.. Joy's just gone" Leah spoke. She headed into the living room, followed by Jerome and Alfie as everyone gathered before supper and Patricia was continuously going on about Joy, which made Leah even more upset. Jerome placed his arm behind Leah's back and pulled her close by his side.

Leah and Jerome were the closest out of the trio of pranksters. Jerome, denied it of course, but he had a slight crush on Leah but little did he know, she did too.

"I can't believe no one had Joy's phone number!" Patricia spoke

"That's because this is her home, just try her phone" Amber spoke, looking up from her phone for a brief second

"Amber, keep up. I told you, she left it behind" Patricia spoke

"So text her"

"Stupidity leak" Patricia tapped the side of Amber's head

"So, there's someone already in her place?" Fabian asked

"Yeah... Its the girl I saw in the taxi this afternoon" Leah spoke up

"She's American and she's like totally obsessed with it. She's said it like a hundred times" Patricia spoke

"And Joy's just gone?" Mara asked as Patricia nodded her head in response, "That's so weird"

"Maybe, Joy's been abducted by aliens and this new girl is one of them!" Alfie spoke his theory, which was simply stupid

"Yeah, maybe the new girl is an alien in a flesh suit" Jerome added, chuckling

"We were planning a rom-com box set marathon tonight, you know Joy's rom-com obsession... How could she be gone just like that?" Patricia spoke

"Patricia, you've disappeared more than enough times" Jerome stated

"But she would've called her, though!" Patricia whined, which caused a discussion to break out between the gang sat in the living room. Nina waltzed through the double doors, cutting off the discussion into an awkward silence

"Hi! I'm Nina, I'm from America!" Nina introduced herself as Patricia rolled her eyes

"Hey" Fabian spoke, softly, giving the girl a small wave

"Hello space girl or-" Alfie stood up, starting to speak nonsense, to mimic an alien's language, "-as they say in your language"

"Okay everybody! Supper's ready!" Trudy, their housemother, spoke as she carried in plates of food from the kitchen. Everyone stood up and headed over to the table as Patricia gave Nina sharp glares. Leah had settled into her seat, next to Jerome and across from Alfie and Mick, who wasn't there. Nina settled into Amber's vacant seat

"That's my seat" Amber spoke, placing her hand on her hip

"Oh, I'm sorry! Do you want me to-" Nina jumped up

"-where's Mick?" Amber questioned

"I don't know who you are" Nina spoke

"Ams, try his room" Leah spoke up. Amber headed out of the room and Nina settled back into the seat

"You heard what Amber said! That's her seat!" Patricia snapped

"She's not here right now" Nina spoke, innocently, looking down the table to Patricia

"That's your way, isn't it? Someone's gone for five seconds and you're already moved in" Patricia spoke

"Stop!" Leah snapped at Patricia, who just glared at her

"Patricia is head of the welcoming committee. Just take no notice and sit wherever you like" Fabian spoke as Nina gave him a smile.

EVERYONE began to eat as Alfie picked up two forks and shoved the spaghetti into his mouth

"Stop it, Alfie! That's disgusting, now you're gonna choke!" Mara exclaimed as Leah and Jerome broke out into a laugh

"But it's delicious this way!" Alfie spoke through a mouthful of food

"Alfie, don't play with your food" Leah spoke as she wrapped some spaghetti around her fork and threw it at Alfie's face

"Nice shot!" Jerome spoke

"Thanks, I was quite proud of that" Leah smiled. Alfie broke up their little conversation as he threw a handful of spaghetti at the two. Leah and Jerome looked at each other before both grabbing a handful of salad and throwing it over him, starting up a full food fight between the trio. Alfie started to throw food at the others at the table, catching Nina's chest, Fabian's face and striking Amber on her face as she tried to walk into the room

"Really, you three. Every meal?" Fabian questioned, cleaning the food off of his face

Patricia picked up a jug of water and poured it over Nina, "Oops!" Nina shrieked, causing the food fight to end as they looked at the new girl

"Classy, Patricia" Fabian spoke

"What? It was an accident!" Patricia spoke

"Are you okay?" Fabian asked as Nina attempted to clean up the water from her cardigan

"Yeah, except I think my sweater's shrinking to my body as we speak" Nina spoke. Fabian leapt from his seat to the kitchen to grab some towels for her

"So, Nina, when are you going to tell us what you know about Joy's disappearance?" Patricia spoke, bringing up the situation again

"I guess when I actually know something" Nina spoke as Fabian handed Nina the towels

"Oh come on! One minute, I'm sat next to her in class then, she's disappeared and you've taken her place!" Patricia spoke, standing from her seat

"Lay off her!" Leah shouted

"And who's side are you on, Leah?" Patricia retorted

"What makes you think I'm taking sides?! She's been here for five minutes and you're already jumping down her throat with your pathetic conspiracies!" Leah spoke as Victor walked in, upon hearing the commotion as well as the phone ringing in the hallway

"Nina, phone call for you- What's going on here?" Victor spoke, looking at the puddle of water on the floor and the odd stray of spaghetti

"Nothing! Just Nina spilling water everywhere" Patricia spoke, sitting down in her seat. Nina cleared away the spaghetti and followed Victor into the hallway to the phone as Jerome, Leah and Alfie continued to throw small pieces of spaghetti at one other.

AFTER SUPPER, everyone had either departed to their rooms or sat in the living room. Leah sat on the leather sofa, picking up her book and reading the chapter that she got to after this morning as Nina, dressed in some clean, dry clothes, set into the room and sat down on one of the leather armchairs.

Mick was sat at the dining table, eating his food since he had finished his jog as Fabian completed the daily chore. Amber was sat with Mara on the sofa opposite Leah as she constantly looked at Mick

"Mara? Do you think Mick is over me?" Amber asked

"No! I'm sure he's not. It's probably just your biological impulse triggering your insecurities" Mara responded, receiving a confused look from Amber but shrugging it off

"Okay, whatever that means" Amber spoke, looking back down at her magazine

"So, what do you think of the new chick then?" Mick asked Fabian as he picked up the place mats from the table

"I think the new girl looks nice" Fabian responded

"Oh really!" Mick spoke

"No, I mean she seems nice" Fabian attempted to justify his answer

"Yeah, course you did!" Mick chuckled. A pair of footsteps stomped down the stairs and into the living room, showing it to be Patricia, once again annoyed.

"I can't believe that creep won't give me Joy's home number! At least she should get her stuff back the day after tomorrow" Patricia huffed, flopping down on the armchair next to Nina

"That's good. You'll be able to ring her then" Mara spoke. Patricia moved her vision towards Nina as she continued to read her magazine

"I know you've got something to do with this, newbie and I'm going to find out what it is" Patricia spoke

"So you've mentioned... ten times" Nina spoke

"What did you say?!" Patricia snapped

"Oh for god sake! Leave it out, will you Patricia!" Leah retorted at her roommate before standing up and leaving the room. She headed over to Jerome and Alfie's room and tapped on the door

"Hey Lee!" Alfie spoke as he pulled the door open, allowing his brunette friend in. She stepped in and sat down on Jerome's bed

"Where's Jerome?" Leah asked. The door opened and Jerome stepped in, almost like on cue when he heard his name

"Oh hey Lee" Jerome spoke.

"Hey, Patricia's getting on my nerves with this whole blaming Nina for Joy leaving thing" Leah vented as she lay down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

LATER THAT NIGHT, Nina sat on her bed, waiting for the bathroom to become free from Patricia. Leah had returned from the boys bedroom and gathered up her pyjamas and changed behind the room divider she bought a while ago to put next to her wardrobe

"Are you okay?" Leah asked the rather quiet Nina

"Yeah, I'm fine" Nina spoke

"Pay no attention to Patricia. It'll get easier, I promise" Leah smiled before climbing under her duvet

"Its ten o'clock! You have five minutes precisely and then I want to hear a pin drop!" Victor's voice echoed from the bottom of the stairs as he called out his infamous bedtime warning

Patricia was stood in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, "Okay Captain Curfew! I'm going as fast as I can!" She spoke, through a mouthful of toothpaste. She looked up to the mirror to find writing on the steam, HELP ME --JOY

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆.. • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆