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Leah was awoken halfway through the night by two hands on her shoulders, shaking her. She opened her heavy, tired eyes to see a wide awake Jerome standing at the side of her bed, she sat up and saw Nina and Fabian awake

"What's going on?" Leah asked, rubbing her tired eyes

"Alfie's missing.. Jerome thinks he's still down in the cellar" Fabian spoke. Leah jumped out of bed, pulling on one of Jerome's hoodies along with her phone and a torch. They all quietly went down to the cellar

"Alfie?" Jerome whispered as they split up to search for him

"Alf?" Leah whispered

"Is he here?" Jerome questioned as they all gathered together

"If you're messing us around─" Fabian began

"─he's not! I know he's not" Leah interrupted, snapping at Fabian. They all heard a bang which came from the closet they were standing near

"What was that?" Nina asked. Leah and Fabian stepped closer to the closet

"Open the cupboard" Jerome told Fabian

"You open it" Fabian spoke back

"I'll open the cupboard!" Leah spoke. She knelt down and pulled the cupboard doors open to reveal a terrified Alfie

"Alfie!" Jerome exclaimed. He rushed over and knelt next to Leah

"Help.. Me.." Alfie whispered to Leah, holding her hand in his sweaty ones

"Alfie.. take it easy," Jerome spoke, placing his hands on Alfie's face, "It's Jerome and Leah"

"We need to get him out of here" Fabian spoke

"Agreed" Leah and Jerome carefully helped Alfie out of the cupboard. Leah wrapped her arm around Alfie's back, with Jerome doing the same as they helped him out of the cellar and into his room. Leah sat on the edge of Alfie's bed as he was still terrified and shaking

"We should get back to our rooms before Victor suspects something" Fabian spoke. Nina and Fabian began to leave when they turned around

"Leah?.." Nina questioned, noticing Leah had not moved from her seat on the Alfie's bed and was not following the pair

"I'm staying.. Alfie's like my brother, I cant leave him" Leah spoke as her eyes started to fill with tears

"Be careful?" Fabian spoke

"I'll look after them both" Jerome spoke, moving over to Leah. Everyone left and Leah and Jerome curled up on his bed as they kept an eye on Alfie all night, however Leah must've fallen asleep on Jerome's chest. He didn't mind, since it was a known thing if the trio were having a movie night and Leah crashed in their room to avoid Victor. Jerome looked down at the sleeping girl on his chest and a smile appeared across his face. Was he falling in love with her? He looked over to Alfie's bed, as he had now managed to fall asleep and the shaking calmed down slightly.

As the morning sunlight crept through the window, Jerome's alarm began to beep, drawing Leah and Jerome out of their slumber. Jerome turned over to switch the alarm off and Leah stirred awake

"Hey," Jerome whispered as Leah looked at him. His hand brushing some stray pieces of hair out of her face that had fallen out of the ponytail she shoved her hair into.

"I fell asleep" Leah spoke, sitting up, under Jerome's blanket that he covered himself and Leah in last night

"Yeah, which is fine.. I did too" Jerome spoke

"We said we look after Alfie" Leah spoke, with guilt creeping into her voice

"He wouldn't mind us falling asleep. He fell asleep too, eventually" Jerome spoke. Leah looked over at Alfie. She climbed off Jerome's bed and grabbed her spare uniform, which she kept on the bottom shelf of Jerome's wardrobe and went to change in the bathroom. She filled the sink basin with cold water and washed her face in it before brushing her teeth and pulling her uniform on

"Jerome? Can I borrow a jumper? I forgot to keep a spare in here"

"Yeah," Jerome turned to his wardrobe and picked up one of his many red jumpers and passed it to the girl who had joined him

"Thanks" Leah smiled. Jerome excused himself to the bathroom to brush his teeth to avoid the fact he was slightly blushing at the girl. His feelings were definitely becoming more noticeable as the hour went by. Leah pulled the jumper over her head and tucked it into her skirt as Alfie stirred from his sleep and made eye contact with her

"Hey, it's Leah" She spoke softly. Alfie quickly gripped her hand as his breathing became worse. Leah glanced between Jerome, who had returned from the bathroom. Jerome rushed to Fabian and the others for some help.

"And how is he now?" Patricia asked after Fabian had informed her of last night's events

"I don't know. I haven't seen Alfie or Jerome or Leah all morning" Fabian responded

"Feet off the table, please Mara" Trudy asked. Mara sat with her headphones on, unable to hear Trudy. Trudy let out a deep sigh before pulling the headphones out of Mara's ears, "Feet off the table, please Mara!?" Trudy repeated

Mick walked into the dining room, "Trudy, did you manage to-"

"-Yes, it's in the machine" Trudy responded, knowing what his question would be

"You're a star" Mick smiled before heading to the laundry room to check on his sports kit. Fabian, Nina, Amber and Patricia plated some breakfast up when Jerome walked into the doorway, "Fabian? We could do with some help..." Was the only words Jerome could get out, from the shock he was in. The 4 looked between each other before rushing off to Jerome's bedroom

"Is he alright?" Patricia asked, looking at a sweaty, panicked Alfie who was still gripping onto Leah's hand

"Obviously not" Leah snapped

"Lee.." Fabian muttered

"Sorry Trix" Leah spoke. Patricia gave her a reassuring smile

"He hasn't said anything still" Jerome spoke

"He's catatonic... what do you think he saw down there?" Nina asked, looking at the group for answers

"Victor stuffing cats?" Amber suggested

"Not helping, Amber" Fabian spoke before moving to Alfie's side, "Hey Alfie" Alfie jumped at the sound of Fabian's voice, "Cut it out mate. You really need to snap out of this, it's time for school"

"He won't wake up that way" Patricia spoke

"Alfie, there's pancakes in the kitchen" Fabian spoke, thinking that would wake Alfie up but it didn't.

"Alfie" Nina spoke, taking Fabian's spot next to Alfie, "What scared you? What did you see down there?"

Alfie started to talk through some major deep breaths, "I saw... I saw..."

"Go on.. You're doing really well" Nina reassured Alfie

"I... I..." Alfie began to hyperventilate and panic

"Alfie?! Alfie?!" Leah screamed.

"Someone get him some water!" Fabian shouted

"And a paper bag!" Nina shouted, "They always do that in the movies"

"This isn't the movies, Nina! Whatever he saw down there, is haunting him!" Leah screamed

"Alfie, calm down" Jerome spoke, rushing next to Leah and Alfie. Nina rummaged through Patricia's bag for a water bottle and handing it to Alfie. He took it and gulped down some of the contents before coughing and choking

"Alfie! Are you alright?!" Jerome spoke

"What's happening?" Amber asked. Alfie passed out and his hand relaxed in Leah's, "Alfie!" Leah began to cry but she didn't show it to the others. Patricia entered with a glass of water and saw Alfie's state and the orange bottle which had the elixir they found in it

"Did you give him that?!" Patricia questioned Nina

"Why was it still in your bag?!" Nina asked. Patricia didn't answer, "I'll get help!" Nina ran out of the room and a few moments later, Trudy arrived. She had called an ambulance and for Victor

"Leah, love.. You need to let go of Alfie's hand so the paramedics can take him to hospital." Trudy spoke as Victor joined her in the room

"No... I want to be with him" Leah spoke, through tears

Victor gave Jerome a nod and he wrapped his arms around her, picking her up as she sobbed into his chest. They took Alfie off as everyone stood in the entryway. Leah was still holding onto Jerome and he didn't even mind.

"I'm going to go with him" Trudy told Victor who was holding the door

"I'll contact his parents" Victor spoke

"Is he going to be okay?" Amber asked

"They think so, sweetie, but they did ask if he had taken anything before his collapse" Trudy spoke, looking at all the housemates who were shocked and saddened by the event

"Like what?" Victor questioned

"He..." Leah moved from Jerome's side, taking the bottle out of Nina's hand and giving it to Trudy, "He took a drink of this" Trudy took one smell of the bottle and pulled a disgusted look. Leah turned and went back to Jerome who held his arm out for her.

"That doesn't smell too good, I'll take this with me" Trudy left and Victor closed and locked the door behind her, turning to the housemates

"No one is leaving this house until I find out what exactly happened" Victor stared at the teenagers

Everyone sat in the living room as they took in turns going into Victor's office for questioning into Alfie's collapse

"You won't leave me today? Will you?" Leah looked at Jerome

"Never" Jerome spoke. Leah gave him a small smile before a voice boomed from upstairs as Mick walked down, "Leah Jones!" Leah took a deep breath before she stood up. Jerome stood with her, intertwining their hands and going with her upstairs

"I requested Miss Jones, Mr Clarke" Victor spoke, noticing the blonde walking beside Leah

"Wait here?" Leah asked, turning to Jerome

"Yeah" Jerome spoke. Leah let go of his hand and walked into Victor's office and sat down on the chair in front of his desk

"Okay, Leah, tell what happened with Alfie" Victor asked, closing the door and walking around to sit on his chair, looking at the girl

"I don't know.. Honest! I don't know where that bottle came from or what was in it or why he was in that state" Leah spoke, tearing up in her statement.

"Okay, you can go" Victor spoke. Leah stood up and left the office. That was one of the first times she saw Victor being sympathetic and not angry or annoyed. It was Jerome's turn next so she took his place on the steps. She pulled her phone out and messaged her mum. Not only did she need her best friends but she needed her mum and her dad, if he was alive or around the family.

Jerome had came out of the office within 5 minutes and they headed off to school, still hand in hand and practically glued to each other's side. They sat down in the student lounge as Leah's phone constantly buzzed, she glanced down to see Amber, Nina and Fabian messaging her constantly

"You can answer if you want to"

"No it's alright" Leah swung her legs over Jerome's as she tried to take her mind off Alfie. She sat with her headphones in, listening to music and drawing in her sketchpad as Jerome was on his phone

Leah and Jerome left each others side when he had to do something. Leah decided to find the Sibuna gang. She had been thinking a lot and she had to do the right thing

"Hey" Nina spoke as Leah walked into the room. She didn't respond to Nina's greeting

"So I've been thinking─" Fabian started

"─So have I..." Leah interrupted, causing the Sibuna gang to look at her, "Last night and this morning has put everything into perspective for me... and I want out"

"What?" Nina questioned

"I can't do this anymore.. it's put my best friend into hospital... I'm out... Sibuna" Leah spoke, placing her hand over her eye before leaving the room and the Sibuna gang shocked by her sudden departure.

THE NEXT MORNING, Leah and the rest of her housemates sat around the table, eating their breakfast as Victor entered the room and announced the results from Alfie's toxicology report

"Cleaning fluid? Alfie drank cleaning fluid?" Amber questioned, sitting herself down after pouring a glass of orange juice

"That is what the hospital said" Victor responded

"Yeah, right" Patricia muttered, placing her glass down on the table

"Perhaps, you would care to enlighten us on exactly what you think was in that bottle, Miss Williamson?" Victor spoke, leaning forward on the table, glaring at Patricia

"Pass" Patricia simply responded. Victor moved away and left the room, leaving the four housemates alone with their housemother.

"Trudykins! How are you today?" Jerome spoke, as he turned to look at his housemother

"Old enough and wise enough to know when you want something, Jerome" Trudy chuckled, "Out with it"

"Well, you know how Alfie and me are best mates," Jerome started, "and now he's in a hospital bed. Probably bored to death with no one to talk to, except old men with hacking coughs and bad breath. I want the day off to go and visit him" Jerome spoke

"Fine" Trudy spoke

"Come on, Trudy! It's not like I've been-- Fine?" Jerome spoke

"But not the whole day, though" Trudy mentioned, "You can have a couple of hours this afternoon"

"Trudy, could I go with Jerome too?" Leah asked

"Of course, Leah. I'll see what I can sort with Mr Sweet"

"Um, Trudy, can I do that as well, please? I feel a bit bad that he's not got something nice to look at whilst he's in there" Amber asked, in her most sweet and innocent voice

"Leah will be there" Jerome spoke up, interrupting Amber and causing Leah to blush slightly

"I'll see what I can clear with Mr Sweet for the three of you" Trudy spoke

"Um, Trudy─" Patricia started

"─No! I can only get permission for three to go, you'll have to fight it out amongst yourselves" Trudy interrupted, causing Patricia to huff.

The four finished their breakfast and Leah headed up to her room to top up her eyeliner and grab her things as Amber and Patricia fought over the space to go to the hospital to see Alfie

"Of course I should be the one to go. Alfie loves me!"

"Amber, watch my lips. I am going to the hospital, not you and besides its not like we can both go because Leah's going and he is her best friend" Patricia spoke

"The only place where yesterday always follows tomorrow" Fabian recited, "What is it?" He questioned, "I mean what if its not a book?"

"Leah, Nina, who do you think should go to the hospital?" Amber questioned

"You guys, I quit, remember... Besides, I have a lot of work to do... Like... Studying for a Chem test" Leah spoke, picking up her chem textbook

"Alfie needs someone to cheer him up, not to shout at him and thats why I wore this lip gloss" Amber protested

"That's why Leah and Jerome are going. They can cheer Alfie up and who's going to be shouting?!" Patricia spoke, as Amber pulled a seriously face, "I won't be shouting, Amber. I'll be interrogating him, that's all"

"Don't try to confuse me with your fancy words" Amber spoke

"Uh, its in the dictionary, Amber. It's not fancy" Patricia spoke, which gave Leanna a light bulb moment as she placed her eyeliner back into her makeup bag, "A dictionary!" Leah rummaged through her bookcase and pulled out an old dictionary and flicked through some pages as Fabian joined her side, handing it to Fabian once she found the page

"The only place where yesterday always follows tomorrow!" Fabian spoke, looking at the page and then back at the brunette/pink girl, "A dictionary! You genius, genius girl!" Fabian embraced the girl in a hug as he lifted her up from the floor before placing her back down again as she smiled

"Okay, that happened... but I'm still out, guys" Leah spoke. She collected her bag and left the gang. She headed down the stairs to Jerome waiting for her at the bottom

"Hey, ready to go?" Jerome asked

"Yeah" Leah spoke.

They headed off to the hospital with Patricia to see Alfie. They peered through the door as they saw Alfie sat up in bed, playing on his phone. As Patricia walked around the curtain, Alfie was quick to hide his phone away

"Yo, dude, what's up?" Jerome spoke

"You know..." Alfie whimpered, "Been better"

"Quit play acting, you doofus! We saw you obliterating aliens" Leah chuckled

"We brought you some grapes" Patricia spoke, dumping the paper bag onto Alfie's lap

"Ooh!" Alfie opened the bag and pulled out the empty stork. Leah sat down on the edge of Alfie's bed and Jerome stood behind her

"Jerome ate them all" Patricia spoke

"You did, you mean!" Jerome exclaimed

"Here. You and Leah go buy him some chocolate" Patricia spoke, handing Jerome some coins

"Chocolate! Yum-yum!" Alfie spoke. Leah rolled her eyes and followed Jerome out. Patricia waited for them to leave before turning back to Alfie

"So, come on. Tell me what you saw down in the cellar" Patricia interrogated.

"I can't remember" Alfie spoke

"Don't give me that!" Patricia retorted

"It's true. It's like a total blank" Alfie spoke.

Jerome and Leah headed back into the room, "Hang on, why are we buying the chocolate? You go!" Jerome spoke as he turned the corner, with his hand holding Leah's.

"Uh, because I'm paying for it" Patricia spoke

"So?" Jerome questioned. Patricia rolled her eyes before taking the money from Jerome. A nurse walked into Alfie's room to check up on him and Jerome soon let go of Leah's hand

"And no matter what, I'll take care of you forever and ever" Jerome spoke, changing his tune once he saw the nurse, "Because I am your best friend"

"Looking good, Alfie" The nurse spoke

"Always do, Nurse Delia" Alfie spoke before as Nurse Delia put the thermometer into Alfie's mouth to check his temperature

"Hm, I think it's safe to say we'll soon be saying goodbye to you" Nurse Delia spoke

Alfie did a few fake coughs after she said that sentence, "Feel sick!" Alfie exaggerated.

"So, what was the official diagnosis? We never heard at school?" Patricia queried

"Doctors still aren't sure. Some sort of allergic reaction to something he drank?" Nurse Delia spoke as she wrote on Alfie's charts

"I thought he drank cleaning fluid" Patricia spoke

"The tests are still with toxicology," Nurse Delia spoke before turning to Alfie, "Leave the thermometer in. I'll be back in a sec" She placed his chart down and left the room, leaving the four alone again.

Jerome watched as the nurse left, "You know, Nurse Delia, makes getting sick kind of appealing" Jerome spoke

"Keep your eyes off my nurse" Alfie spoke, with the thermometer still in his mouth

"Your nurse? Alfie, you are way too unversed in the laws of flirtation, unlike moi" Jerome spoke

"What? Are you some expert in the flirtation field now?" Leah asked, chuckling at his sentence

"I am, as a matter of fact, Leah" Jerome said, rather proudly, "Don't worry. I'll show you both how it's done"

"I'm going to the coffee shop, losers! And Leah" Patricia spoke before leaving the room

"Ooh!" Jerome exclaimed, "I think I might be coming down with a case of Delia fever" Jerome spoke as Leah rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"Oh, mum says that she hopes you feel better soon and she can't wait to see you in a few days. She's coming down for my birthday" Leah spoke, turning to Alfie

"Your birthday... is in a few days?" Alfie mumbled through the thermometer

"Yeah... Don't tell you've forgotten! Mum's planning to take us for a meal" Leah exclaimed

"Sorry, Lee..." Alfie mumbled. Leah looked down at her lap until the two started to laugh

"Of course we didn't forget! You're so gullible, Lee" Jerome spoke, nudging the girl's shoulder

A few minutes later, Nurse Delia had arrived back and was checking the rest of Alfie's vitals as Jerome hatched a plan to feel 'ill' so he could be treated by Nurse Delia.

"Phew! Is it me if is it hot in here?" Jerome spoke, as he fanned himself, "Oh, my heart is pounding! You know I think it might be palpitations" Jerome spoke, "Feel how fast my pulse is racing" He held out his arm.

Nurse Delia checked Jerome's pulse, "My word. That is exceptionally fast"

"Is it?" Jerome questioned

"Yeah, dangerously, so I'd say" Nurse Delia spoke

"In what way, dangerous?" Jerome asked

"I think you need an injection of beta blockers straight away" Those words from Nurse Delia caused Jerome to tense up. He hated injections or needles and he soon began to panic as he watched Nurse Delia grab a needle from the trolley

"Beta blockers?" Jerome questioned

"Don't worry. Just because the needle is gigantic doesn't mean it hurts more" Nurse Delia spoke, preparing the injection, "Although, in this case, it does"

"No, nurse. I haven't really─ I mean, I was only─" Jerome stuttered

"What? Joking?" Nurse Delia spoke as she turned around to face the trio. Jerome shared a worried look between his two best friends, "Gotcha" Nurse Delia spoke

"Nice one, Nurse Delia" Alfie chuckled.

BACK AT SCHOOL, everyone was gathered in the drama studio for a run through of the completed play that Leanna had finally managed to finish in the last few weeks. Amber was stood in front of Jason, dressed in a canary costume as she expressed her concerns about the costume and her role

"This colour doesn't really suit my complexion. Can't I be a blue budgie instead?" Amber spoke

"Howard Carter took his canary to Tutankhamen's tomb, not a budgerigar" Jason informed the blonde

"Dramatic license?" Amber asked

"No," Jason spoke. He looked behind Amber to see Nina and Fabian arrive, "About time, guys. Rehearsals were meant to start ten minutes ago!" Jason spoke.

Amber walked over to Nina and Fabian as they took in her costume, "Well?"

"Why are you dressed as a duck?" Fabian asked

"I'm a canary" Amber spoke

"A canary dressed as a duck?"

Amber rolled her eyes before turning to Nina, who was holding a bag in her hands, "Did you find anything?" Amber asked

"Well, we were looking for an old English dictionary but then mastermind here, thought we should look for an Arabic dictionary, and..." Nina opened the bag, showing the large leather book they found. Amber squealed in happiness, that they were one step closer to figuring out the clue

"Uh, what's with all the squealing? Can we set out for a run of act one, please?" Jason asked

"I don't think we can. I mean..." Fabian spoke

"I know we don't have Alfie." Jason spoke

"Or Jerome" Fabian mentioned

"Or Leah or Patricia" Nina also mentioned

"Or Mara" Mick added his input

"Fantastic!" Jason spoke, frustrated

"We can always do my scene again?" Amber suggested

"I suppose we'll have to" Jason spoke. He was simply wanting to avoid Amber's scene rehearsal for some reason

"Mara's here! We can do our scene as well, if you like" Mick spoke as Mara walked into the studio

"What's with the stupid chicken outfit?" Mara questioned

"Okay, Mr Winkler, I really do need to talk to you about this costume!" Amber huffed as she walked back over to Jason who was stood by the stage.