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LEAH HAD MET UP with Alfie and Jerome in the corridor the next morning. Alfie seemed down in the dumps slightly and Jerome had a smirk across his face the entire time

"Good morning!" Leah spoke, strolling up to them both. They turned to look at her, "How did the date with Amber go last night?"

"Horrible" Alfie huffed

"I just can't believe that Amber was expecting Mick instead of you" Jerome spoke as Alfie continued to collect stuff from his locker, "Do you reckon someone messed with your message?"

"Duh, what do you think!" Alfie exclaimed

"But who would do that?" Jerome asked. Leah looked at him. She knew fine well who it was but she kept quiet to see how Jerome would play this out and of course, Alfie's answer to the question

"Mick obviously!" Alfie spoke, causing Jerome to giggle

"Ah yes Mick, of course!" Alfie slammed his locker shut, "I should've thought of that" Jerome chuckled

"Wheedle his way back in with Amber.. It looks like he's succeeded"

"No no no no. Amber's still got the hots for you, man. Without a doubt" Jerome spoke, placing his hand on Alfie's shoulder.

Leah shook her head, "As much as I would love to stay and talk Amber/Mick/Alfie business. I have somewhere to be" Leah left the boys at the lockers.

Alfie turned to his best friend, "What about you and Leah, dude?"

"What do you mean?" Jerome questioned

"Come on dude. Last night, she was asleep on you! You didn't care, you didn't shove her off"

"Alf, she likes that Ethan dude who plays football and anyway, Leah's like my little sister" Jerome retorted

"I could totally see you two together." Alfie spoke

"It's not about me and Leah. There is no me and Leah, there never will be. This is about you and Amber.. Look, £20 says that I can get Mick totally out of Amber's life by the end of the week and pave the way for you and her" Jerome spoke. He held his hand out and Alfie smacked it, "No, I need payment in advance"

School was boring as usual. Leah headed over to the art room, which luckily for her, it was empty and the teacher allowed her to work. She gathered her equipment and sat down when a figure appeared at the door

"I was told you'd be in here" The voice spoke. Leah looked up to see Ethan leaning against the door frame

"Oh yeah, uh I thought I'd get a start on some work"

"So you're an artist?" He asked, moving into the classroom, admiring some of the work with Leah's name on it

"Yeah, artist and photographer"

"Cool" He turned to look at her. They kept their gaze before he looked away, "I should be going, I'll see you later?"

"Yeah" Ethan left and Leah was alone once again. She started on her artwork for the remainder of that afternoon

THE FINAL BELL rang for the end of school and Leah packed away her equipment when two figures appeared at the door

"You coming Lee?" Alfie asked as he stepped into the art room

"Yeah, coming!" She grabbed her bag and raced over to them, taking their arms in hers. They headed off to the house together and they were the first ones back, only to be greeted by Victor at the top of the stairs

"Coats! Bags! Now!" He demanded, walking down the stairs to the 3 pranksters

"What? Why?" Leah questioned

"I need to search them" Victor spoke

"But we haven't got anything in them" Jerome protested

"No buts!" Victor retorted, "Give them to me. You can have them back in half an hour" He took their bags off them as Mara and Patricia joined them in the hallway

"What's going on?" Mara asked

"We have to have our bags searched" Jerome responded

"Why?" Patricia questioned. Victor reached for Patricia's bag but she pulled away, refusing to give him it

"Something to hid, Patricia?" He asked, moving towards her

"What's gone missing?" She asked, rather guilty in Leah's eyes

"Something very valuable indeed and whoever has taken it is in deep trouble now give" Patricia looked at Victor before giving in and handing him her bag. He retreated back upstairs to his office as they all scattered to change out of their uniform. Leah changed into some jeans and a black vest before heading back downstairs while she waited out the long half hour until she could get her bag back from Victor

LEAH HEADED DOWNSTAIRS with her sketchbook and flopped on the sofa next to Jerome with Mick behind the sofa in front of them, kicking a football

"So how are you and Amber since the whole kissing incident?" Jerome asked.

"I'm not going to talk to you about Amber, dude"

"Only asking," Jerome spoke, placing his hands in the air for a brief second, "but I do have my ear to the ground if you need any information"

"No thanks. I think I've got it covered" Mick spoke, concentrating on his football skills rather than what was going on around him

"Of course, you're Mick"

"Yup!"

"As if you wouldn't know about your own girlfriend and Alfie. What was I thinking?" Jerome spoke, tapping away at his laptop keys. Leah slapped him on his arm, glaring at him

"What?" Mick questioned, catching the glare that Leah gave Jerome

"Alfie and Amber, in the laundry room last night" Jerome spoke

"The laundry room?" Mick stopped what he was doing, holding his football and moving towards where Leah and Jerome were sitting. Leah slid down the sofa a bit, hiding herself behind her sketchbook, just waiting to see how Jerome talks his way out of this one

"Oh! You didn't know. Uh, sorry mate, I hate to be the bearer of bad news" Jerome spoke, closing his laptop and placing it behind his back as he sat forward on the sofa, "but it does look like Alfie is a little bit more of a Romeo than we thought"

"Right!" Mick slammed his football down and started to head towards the door to Alfie's room

"Where are you going?" Leah asked

"To get Alfie" Mick spoke

"No no no no no. You don't want to do that" Jerome protested, jumping out of his seat and rushing over to Mick, to stop him

"I do, I really really do!"

"No you don't, Mick. You're better than that" Jerome spoke, pushing Mick back to the sofa across from Leah. He took a seat next to Mick, "Alfie's a joke. He's not worth the effort"

"Yeah─"

"─and Amber, she's just a two timing flirt. You're better off without her"

"Amber is gone, history! I don't need that" Mick spoke. Jerome turned and looked rather pleased with himself as though he had accomplished something. Leah looked up when she heard footsteps enter the living room

"I'm waiting for an apology, Mick" Amber spoke, crossing her arms over her chest

"Well you'll be waiting a long time" Mick responded to her, leaving the room

"Wait a minute! I'm the mad one!" She shouted, turning as he left the room before turning back to Leah and Jerome, "He's the one who stood me up!" She spoke. She walked over and flopped down in Jerome's old seat. Patricia and Mara soon joined them

"What are you grinning at?" Patricia questioned, looking at Jerome who was really pleased with himself. He knew he had won his bet with Alfie

"Just happy to be alive"

"Any sign of Victor with our bags?" Patricia questioned

"No! It's great isn't it. The perfect excuse not to do French homework" Leah looked over to the door and pointed as Victor walked in, carrying their bags in his hands, "Ah... Spoke too soon"

"Here we are! All checked" Victor spoke, placing them down on the coffee table

"Find anything?" Patricia questioned

"Nothing that shouldn't be there, no" Victor left. Jerome collected his and Alfie's bags and took them to their room

"Weird he didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't find it" Patricia spoke, leaning in to talk to Mara. She reached for her bag and started to rifle through it

"Is it there?" Mara asked

"No" Patricia snapped, placing her bag down on her lap

"He did find it then?"

"Obviously"

"But didn't say anything?"

"Think about it, they don't want to get into any kind of discussion so it's just easier to steal the file back and pretend it never happened" Patricia theorised.

"Do you think Mick is playing hard to get? Because if he is, I think that's so childish. You just have to ask yourself WWVBD... What would Victoria Beckham do?" Amber spoke, interrupting Patricia and Mara's conversation. Leah rolled her eyes at Amber before resuming her work

THE NEXT MORNING, Leah sat at the table with Fabian and Nina and joined their conversation

"So are we still sneaking away this lunchtime?" Fabian whispered

"You're getting very good at this sneaking around" Nina spoke, pulling on her blazer

"Learnt from the best" Fabian smiled

"Where are you guys off too?" Leah asked

"We're going to see the lady that Nina met and got the necklace from" Fabian responded. Leah looked confused, raising her eyebrow

"Don't worry. We'll explain everything tonight" Nina spoke, standing up, followed by Fabian and Leah

"Whisper whisper whisper, very cosy" Patricia spoke, entering the dining room as they all stood and grabbed their things for school, "Since when did you both become her friend instead of mine"

"Since you became such a witch, Patricia" Fabian spoke before leaving with Leah on his trail

"You know, they can be both of our friends" Nina said, trying to reason with Patricia,who was having none of it

"Not likely" Patricia snarled, "Nina, come on" Leah shouted from the hallway. Nina retreated from the room and followed Leah and Fabian out to school.

"Hey Trudy─" Patricia started

"─before you ask, Alfie had the last of the hash browns. I can make you a Trudy pancake surprise if you fancy" Trudy interrupted

"No, I've been meaning to ask, was it Joy's parents who came and cleared her room out last week?"

"Well it was a man. I'm not sure if it was her father. I've never met her parents"

"And when were you told she was leaving?"

"The same morning she left"

"Didn't you think that was weird?" Patricia questioned. She was destined to know what had happened

"Well, Joy always was a walking soap opera. I thought it was a bit sudden.. I'm not sure about weird"

"And what about Nina coming to replace her the same day, now that was weird, right?" Patricia spoke

"Not really. Nina was always meant to start at beginning of term. She's on a scholarship and there was a mix up which meant her money didn't come through on time" Trudy spoke. Patricia fell silent after that. Maybe she thought Nina wasn't behind it all and everyone was right... for once

History... Leah's now favourite subject... well, third favourite. Art was always top of the list with drama underneath. She sat next to Amber, in front of Jerome and Alfie, yet again, big mistake for Leah

"So, have we given any thought to your ancient history projects?" Mr Winkler asked, sitting at the front of class. Leah slid down her chair, she had completely forgotten all about that with everything that had gone on with Alfie and Amber, "Mick?"

"Yeah. History of the Roman gladiatorial games─"

"─excellent!" Mr Winkler interrupted

"With a practical demonstration of me, as a Roman gladiator, humiliating and destroying Alfie in a very public arena" He spoke, looking at Alfie, dead in his eyes. Leah couldn't help but shake her head at that idea. Yeah the subject was a good idea but humiliating Alfie? Yeah, Leah wasn't so sure but she shrugged it out of her mind.

"Right... Fabian? Any more thoughts on your project yet?" Mr Winkler asked, sidetracking away from Mick's project once the explanation got rather violent

"Yeah uh.. Me and Nina thought we might do something on Egyptian Mythology"

"Yeah, especially with Anubis House being named after an Egyptian god"

"Yeah.. Nice one! I'm a particular fan in Egyptian Mythology. All that interest in life after death and living forever"

Amber groaned in disgust, "Who would want to live forever? Imagine how wrinkled you'd get?" Amber's comment caused Mick to scoff, she turned around and questioned him. The bell rang, signalling the end of class for lunch. Leah and Amber stood up as Alfie did too

"Hey Amber? Can I uh... carry your books for you?" Alfie asked

Amber waved her one book in the air, "Thanks Alfie" Amber turned back to Leah, "Coming onto the playing field?. We need to talk" She linked arms with Leah. She had gotten a sinking feeling in her stomach.. what if Amber was going to question her knowledge on Alfie turning up in the laundry that night instead of Mick and why she disappeared so suddenly upon reading the note.

AMBER AND LEAH made it out onto the playing field where the boys were starting to play a game of football. Amber found a spot right next to the pitch and patted on the ground, signalling Leah to sit

"What's up?" Leah asked, placing her bag down

"I know you like someone and I want to help you"

"What─ Who─ I.." Leah started to stutter. She had feelings for a boy but she wasn't sure who Amber was going on about

"Ethan of course!" Amber spoke. Leah snapped out of her small panic stage when she saw Ethan walking out with Mick, with Jerome and Alfie not far behind. Leah looked over but her eyes weren't on Ethan... they were on Jerome

"Oh right! Yeah.. Ethan..."

"You should totally date him! You're perfect for each other" Amber spoke. The boys and Alfie began a game of football and Jerome stood on side lines with Mick

"Hey Amber... Catch" Alfie spoke, running up to Amber and Leah, throwing the ball off Amber's head

"Ow Alfie!"

"Sorry!" He picked up the ball and returned to the game, "What about you and Alfie in the laundry room? Do you fancy him?" Leah turned to her blonde friend as the game continued

"As if I would ever fancy Alfie" Amber spoke to Leah who was paying more attention to the football game and the blonde standing on side lines

"What on earth does Amber see in him?" Mick asked Jerome who were looking at Amber and Leah talking on the grass

"Well they say love is blind, mate" Jerome spoke

"Yeah it would have to be blind and have no sense of smell" Mick retorted

"Why don't you go speak to Mick?" Leah asked

"You saw the note he left on my bed, wishing to meet in the laundry room and he didn't turn up, except Alfie did. Why would he do something like that?" Amber spoke. Leah was getting fed up of the Amber/Alfie/Mick triangle and she was ready for them to kiss and make up and for Alfie to find someone else

"I have no idea.. Who can get inside the brains of boys?" Leah spoke

"No one, because it isn't big enough" Amber spoke. Her comment caused them both to burst out laughing and Mick assumed they were laughing at him

"What are those two laughing at?! Are they laughing at me?!" Mick questioned. Jerome looked over, a small smile crept across his face seeing his best friend smile and laugh. That was one of his favourite things about Leah but he only shrugged in response

"Gary, put me on, yeah?!" Mick demanded, throwing his blazer down and joining the game. Alfie skipped forward as though he was to try to tackle the ball from Mick

"I'd wipe that smile off your face if I were you" Mick snapped at Alfie. Alfie mimicked a kiss causing Mick to lose his frustrations and push him over. Alfie yelped out in pain

"What was that for?" Amber shouted. She and Leah stood up and ran over to Alfie who was whimpering and holding his ankle

"What was that, Mick?" Jerome asked, running across the field

"Are you okay?" Amber asked. Alfie nodded, still gripping his ankle. Jerome and Leah knelt down at either side

"I think I've broken my ankle" Alfie spoke. Mick looked at him, "What?! He's faking it! I barely touched him!" Mick stormed off

"Alfie, try and stand up" Jerome spoke. Alfie went to stand but couldn't, still whimpering in pain...