Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nina wiped the sweat from her brow as she pulled her luggage up the path. She’s been doing this for ten minutes and was already thinking about shedding her jacket even though she had been chilly before. When she realized she had no idea where she should put her stuff, she had decided to take it with her to the auditorium where they would be doing first day announcements, but she was regretting her decision based on how exhausted she was alone.

“Hey!”

Nina ignored this, people had been greeting their friends and ignoring her struggle since it had begun.

“Hey, you with the suitcase!”

Nina paused, even without the specific acknowledgment towards the current bane of her existence, she would have turned around at this second voice on the fact that the speaker was American, alone. She turned around and looked for who might have called her and soon found two girls watching her. They started walking towards her and Nina was both happy to meet new people and bitter that it had to be when she felt haggard and annoyed.

“Hi, sorry we don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Said the shorter one with long red hair. “We saw you struggling to take all of your things up, why didn’t you drop it off at the load off and pick up spot?”

Nina, breathing deeply, looked at both of them. “The what?”

“It’s where students drop off their luggage. And then during the announcements they’re taken to our houses.” Said the black girl with curly hair, she was the American.

“Did you walk all the way here or something?” the first girl asked.

“But even if she did, she’s on the wrong path to get there,” the American girl said.

“I didn’t know there was a drop off and pick up spot.” Nina admitted.

“Oh hey!” the American girl grinned. “A fellow American! I thought I heard an accent... or lack there of, but I wasn't sure. Eddie will be happy, there’s only two of us here. Three now!”

“That’s fun!” said the other one, clapping her hands. “Oh, but back to the issue. How come you didn’t know?”

“I’m new,” Nina began to explain but the fellow American shook her head.

“It says it in your package. You read it, right?”

Nina had, although she was so excited she might have missed something. “I must not have seen it.”

“Shame.” said the first girl, a sad sort of frown on her face. “Could have had whoever drove you drop you off there. You did drive, right?”

“Yeah, from the train.” Nina felt the urge to kick her stuff, wishing she had noticed that line. “Um, so where is the drop off spot? Is it far?”

“Oh no, it’s just behind the school. We could tell something was up when you were headed to the front.” The first girl said.

“We can give you a hand, come on, Willow.” The American girl said.

“Oh sure, oh you brought three bags!”

“That’s not too much is it? One of these carries my bedding and stuff,” Nina asked as they each took hold of one of her bags.

“Oh no, I brought five, I was acknowledging that it was the perfect amount for us, must have been fate. I’m Willow, as you heard.”

“KT,” said the American. “That’s KT like two letters, short for my real name. Lots of people think I’m saying Katie.”

“Nice to meet you, and thanks. I’m Nina.”

“Well come on!” Willow started to walk back the way Nina came. “We don’t want to be late for reveal day!”

“Um... reveal day?” said Nina. “I really should have read my package better.”

“Oh no, this isn’t in your package.” KT explained. “It’s just what the students here call the first day of school.”

“Reveal Day is a big deal here,” Willow said. “I’ll explain. You got assigned the house that you’re going to live in, you know your house right?”

“It wouldn’t really matter if she didn’t,” KT shrugged. “Since it will be revealed soon anyway.”

“I do know it, though.” Nina cut in.

“Oh good, well,” Willow began, “The way things work here is every year, the houses change, they put people together randomly, only criteria being that they’re in the same grade. So whatever house you end up living in this year, you won’t live in it next year, and you won’t live with the same people either.”

“I won’t be here next year.” Nina explained. “I’m a senior.”

“You are?” KT asked. “And you’re new?”

“Not ideal, I know." Nina said. “So let me guess, reveal day is a big deal because you learn who you’re going to be living with for the next year.”

“Precisely. Of course, if you know someone well, you’ll probably text them before school and find out. KT and I already know we’ll be together.” Willow smiled.

They just rounded to the back of the school where hundreds of luggage were. On the back were big shiny crafted letters that went from A to Z, each letter had a section. Cars were on the drive with parents and whomever else helping to unload.

“You put your stuff in the section of the beginning letter of your last name.” KT explained. She started looking at the bag she was holding. “Did you put a label on your bags?”

“Label?”

“You should put your first and last name on the bag so your resident house caretaker knows to take it, otherwise your things get left behind and you’ll have to drag it all the way to your house.” Willow looked over. “I see my bag, I’ll get some labels for you.”

“Thank you,” Nina sighed. “You guys are like angels.”

Willow and KT smiled at her as Willow went to the “J” section and dug about halfway through to find a blue luggage. She opened the first pocket on one of them. “Ah, here they are. And... here is a marker!”

She gave Nina the objects and Nina hurriedly put her name on the labels and slapped it on her three bags. Then she put the one she was rolling in the “M” section and the others followed suit.

“There! All done!” Willow grinned. “Oh look, there’s Joy’s things!”

She was pointing to more luggage in the “M” section. “She’s probably already inside, then.” KT said. “Come on Nina!”

Nina followed the girls as they walked around front to the school. “Joy is another friend of yours?”

“Yeah, I roomed with her last year. We’re actually cousins too!” Willow said.

“I didn’t room with either of them.” KT said. “But Willow was still very friendly to me, she seems to have a radar for new students. She always included me in classes, so I met Joy and also Patricia last year.”

“We won’t be living with either of them this year.” Willow said. “KT and I are in Isis house, they’re going to be in Anubis.”

“Oh, that’s my house!” Nina said.

“Great, we’ll have to introduce you guys, then!” Willow cheered.

They turned into the much louder and much more packed room where students were finding their seats in front of the stage. Willow pointed to a row where two girls were and lead KT and Nina to them.

“Joy!” Willow squealed. The girl jumped and turned, but gave Willow a warm smile. Willow went to hug them, which Joy returned. The girl next to Joy, with the dark red hair, smiled at Willow but looked a little uncomfortable at the hug she received. KT just waved as Joy motioned for them to sit.

“Hey, this is Nina!” KT pointed to Nina. “She’s new, she’ll be in your house!”

“Hi, Nina!” Joy waved. The other girl, probably Patricia, acknowledged her with a head wave.

“She’s American, like KT and Eddie!” Willow grinned. Probably Patricia rolled her eyes and Nina felt the need to sink in her seat.

“Don’t be rude, Patricia.” Joy said sternly to Definitely Patricia. Joy turned to Nina. “She’s not as icy as she comes across, but she’s not particularly fond of meeting new people.”

“Thanks for the analysis, Joy.” Patricia said bitingly. Joy didn’t seem to be bothered by Patricia’s cruel tone.

“We’ve got to tell you something!” Joy said to Willow. “An idea I had, but it’s kind of noisy in here, so I’ll tell you later!”

Willow nodded just as the man on the stage began to tap the microphone for attention.

“Hello! Hello! Can you all hear me, hello! Find your seats! Find your seats!” the man said as slowly the noise level decreased. “Welcome to another year at Amun Boarding School!”

The students cheered and clapped. Nina turned behind when she heard the sound of boys making ‘woof’ sounds. Two tall boys in the back had stood up and put their hands around their mouths to make the sounds. People started laughing and when Nina turned back to the girls she was sitting with, she saw Joy and Patricia roll their eyes with small smiles.

“Thank you Lewis, Clarke.” The man acknowledged.

“Lewis and Clarke?” Nina asked. “Like the Lewis and Clark Expedition?”

“Their first names are Alfie and Jerome, Lewis and Clarke are their last names.” Patricia explained, talking to her for the first time.

“That’s probably even weirder.” Nina muttered to herself.

“I am your principal, Mr. Sweet. I hope that we have a year even better than the last!” Mr. Sweet said. “Now I have a couple of announcements. Number one, as we’ve said we will be a little bit more relaxed about uniform. You may wear whatever you want, so long as it visits dress code standards, but in class students should wear the correct attire. This also goes for any days we have school functions for parents.”

“So much better than before.” Joy said, explaining to Nina. “Before, we practically only wore our uniform and our jammies.”

“Number two, as always you must abide by the rules given to you by your house mother and caretaker. I do not care if one house’s curfew is nine, if your house curfew is eight, you should be in by eight. Number three, tryouts for any and all sports teams will happen next week and while we will provide equipment and uniform, you must get your own cleats and or shin guards, or whatever else is needed for your sport. Finally, we said goodbye to Mr. Coneval last year who had been here for even longer than I have, but we welcome a new history professor, Mr. Winkler!”

The man stood up to the applause of the students, he was young, likely fresh out of University.

“He’s cute!” Willow giggled. Joy smiled and nodded.

“He will also double as the head of the theater department, he was willing to take on the task. Be sure to make him feel welcome!” Mr. Sweet announced. “And that is the end of my announcements.”

“Oh good, we’ll be getting to the reveal now!” Joy smiled.

“You’ll go first,” Willow said to Nina. “They go by name so Anubis is always first.”

“Now, let’s get you to your houses.” Mr. Sweet began. “First house, Anubis. House Mother, Trudy Rehmann.”

A short but kind-looking woman stood and waved, walking quickly to the back door.

“Okay, time to find out who we’ll spend the rest of the year with,” Joy said.

“For Anubis House I need these students to follow Miss Rehmann to the back doors and wait for the rest of your housemates. Mick Campbell.”

“Oh, I’ve never roomed with Mick,” Joy said. Nina could tell instantly this guy was popular because when he stood and did a quick jog to the back, people started clapping and whistling.

“I have, he’s alright,” Patricia said, watching Mick go. “He does a lot of training so he’s out of the house a lot. Just make sure you get your food quickly because he’ll eat it all.”

“But he’s really nice!” Willow grinned.

“You think everyone’s nice.” Joy said.

“You think I’m nice.” Patricia scoffed.

Mr. Sweet cleared his throat and spoke again. “Jerome Clark.”

“Oh no!” Patricia and Joy both said, both turning around. Nina turned too and saw one of the boys from before walk to the back.

“I’m guessing both of you have roomed with him before,” Nina said.

“I haven’t,” Patricia admitted. “But I still know I never wanted to be in the same house as him.”

“I have and he spent most of the time pranking everyone in the house,” Joy grumbled.

“Mara Jaffray.”

“Oh Mara!” Joy grinned. “I love Mara, we even shared a room two years ago!”

“I did too, last year,” Patricia said. “I like her too.”

“Alfred Lewis.”

“What?!” Joy exclaimed. “That’s got to be a joke, there’s no way they’d allow Jerome and Alfie to be under one roof again!”

Nina turned back again just in time to see the other boy clap hands with Jerome, grinning. There was a shorter girl there with wavy black hair shaking her head at them. She must have been Mara.

“Nina Martin.” 

“Oh!” Nina jumped a bit at the sound of her name but quickly got up and went down to where the others were. Miss Rehmann grinned at her.

“Hello Nina, welcome to the school! I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time!” she said.

“You’re new?” Jerome asked her. Nina just nodded. She wish she was still with Joy and Patricia, they gave good insight into who she was rooming with. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit nervous around Jerome and Alfie and took a step closer to Mara.

“Joy Mercer.”

Nina stopped herself from breathing a sigh of relief as the girl stood up. Nina hadn’t realized she was short until then.

“No way, Joyless Mercer is with us?” Jerome groaned.

“Don’t be rude,” Miss Rehmann admonished.

“I like Joy, I’m glad she’s with us,” Mara said. When Joy came up she and Mara gave each other tight hugs.

“Eddison Miller-Sweet.”

“Mr. Sweet’s son?” Mick asked.

“Eh, don't worry. Eddie’s cool,” Alfie said.

“I heard you eat a lot,” Joy said to Mick. “And I know these two and Eddie eat a lot. Between the four of you, we won’t have any food left for the rest of us!”

“Good thing I like to cook. Hello Eddie!” Trudy said to the boy as he approached. He nodded at her and then greeted Jerome and Alfie like friends.

“Amber Millington.”

“Oh damn.” nearly everyone muttered this or some version of this, the only exception being Mick and Miss Rehmann.

“Hey watch it,” Mick warned. “That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about.”

“Girlfriend?” Miss Rehmann asked, for sure not aware of this.

Nina watched as the beautiful blonde waved at her admirers and gracefully walked to them, right to Mick. She hugged him tightly and when Nina looked at Miss Rehmann the woman looked like she wanted to say ‘oh damn’.

“Fabian Rutter.”

“Fabian’s with us?” Joy whispered, Nina didn’t miss the excitement in her tone.

“I've never roomed with him. You?” Alfie asked Jerome.

“Yeah, quiet and has a permanent stick up his arse.”

“Jerome!” Miss Rehmann scolded, Eddie and Alfie were laughing. Fabian approached them and Nina’s stomach did a flip. He smiled at everyone nervously and went to Joy and Mara who each hugged him.

“And Patricia Williamson.”

“Ooh Trixie!” Alfie smiled.

“Yacker’s with us?” Eddie asked.

“Oh great, I get to room with the witch.” Jerome muttered.

“A woman with many names,” Nina muttered to herself. “Who sparks many different reactions?”

“Okay, that’s everyone. Come on now!” Miss Rehmann started walking. “We’re a bit farther from everyone else.”

Amber groaned. “I’m wearing heels, I’d really rather not walk too much.”

“Well that’s no one’s fault but your own, is it princess?” Jerome said.

“Lay off, Clarke.” Mick threatened, tightening his hold around Amber’s waist. Jerome rolled his eyes and walked towards the front of the group along with Alfie and Eddie.

“How long have you two been going out?” Mara asked the pair, looking a little bitter.

Amber leaned towards the group with an excited face as they stepped outside and walked down the path to their house. “Since the end of last year! We kept it quiet because we knew we’d want to be in the same house and the school would never have allowed it if they knew we were going out.”

“We asked our parents to be in Anubis, they, of course, had no idea about us.” Mick said.

“Wait, but the way they put people together is completely random.” Patricia said.

“Uh, no way.” Amber shook her head. “Maybe random for most of you, but I have always chosen what house I wanted to live in. Let’s not forget the amount of influence Mick’s parents and my parents have on the school.”

“Then why’d you choose a house so far away from the school, if you don’t like walking?” Mara asked.

“It’s not the walking that’s the problem, it’s the walking in these particular shoes. They’re extremely painful, but they go great with my dress.” Amber said. “And I went to a party last year at Anubis House, it was amazing, I knew it would be the perfect house for when I throw a party.”

“Hey,” Fabian finally spoke up. “No parties, please.”

Amber snorted and blatantly ignored him.

“If you can choose wherever you go and whoever you room with, why don’t you choose rooming with a friend?” Joy asked. “I mean, Patricia and I have gone here five years and only now did we get put in the same house.”

“With friends? Are you kidding?” Amber scoffed. “No effing way, rooming with friends ruins friendships. And no, having a long sleepover doesn’t count as a practice run. Think about it, you’re sharing a space, you’ll see a side of your friend you’ve never seen no matter how well you know each other. Nope, no way. It’s just not safe.”

Patricia and Joy glanced at each other, clearly a bit nervous.

“Jerome and Alfie don’t count. They met each other by being in the same room, they already know each other's quirks.” Amber said.

“How did they end up being put in the same house?” Mick asked. “It’s not like their parents are like our parents.”

“Are you kidding? Have you ever seen Jerome blast his full charm at someone? He probably just asked.” Amber rolled her eyes.

“Oh is that the house there?” Mara pointed. Nina looked up to the beautiful brick house with tons of windows and ivy that hung down.

“Finally.” Amber sighed. “It’s cute. I’ve never seen it during the day.”

“Hey look,” Mick pointed to an older man carrying a few bags to the door. One of them was Nina’s.

“Ugh look at how he’s flinging the bags around, I hope he was a lot nicer with my things,” Amber said. Victor walked inside the house, the doors open, and Miss Rehmann was just paces behind him but she paused and turned to everyone.

“I want to get a picture, everyone line up! I’ll put it in the sitting room, I do it every year,” she said.

“Mirror! Mirror!” Amber started digging in her bag and pulled out a compact mirror and checked herself. “Okay, I’m good.”

Slowly they all stood in front of the brick wall opposite to the door, Nina was between Joy and Fabian.

“Big smiles everyone!” Miss Rehmann said. She took the picture and grinned. “Perfect, okay let’s go inside everyone!”

They followed her inside the house, she made an immediate turn to the room on the left that apparently was the sitting room.

“Welcome to Anubis House! Victor is just finishing taking your things in, he’ll be here to give you the rules of the house soon. You may have heard I’m Trudy Rehmann, you can all just call me Trudy. I’ll be here for anything you need, please don’t be afraid to ask me.” As Trudy spoke, people began to sit down so Nina did as well. “This is the sitting room, the dining room is behind me and behind there is the kitchen. There’s a laundry room on the side of the kitchen as well, I’ll do your laundry for you if you want but it would be a big help if you did it yourself as well. The boys are on the bottom floor, girls on the top, and there’s a bathroom for each of you on each floor. Victor’s office is also on the top floor, needless to say that you shouldn’t go in there. But I’ll let Victor handle where you can’t go. You can decorate your room however you want but no candles and anything like irons and microwaves will be on the bottom floor in its designated location.”

“Trudy?” Amber asked raising her hand. “How many rooms are there?”

“There are four rooms, dear, two for boys and two for girls. In the smaller rooms, it will be two to a room. In the bigger ones, three to a room. The beds are already set up, but I will say this, for the boys room we had to get bunk beds.”

“Oh when I was a kid I wanted a bunk bed.” Mick said.

“Oh good, you can take that room then.” Trudy smiled.

Mick frowned. “I didn’t say I still wanted one.”

“I refuse to be in the room with three people,” Amber said assertively. “I’ll take the smaller one. You three look like you’ll be comfortable together.”

Amber looked at Joy, Patricia, and Mara. Then she turned to Nina with a swing of her head. “So I suppose you’re my roommate. What was your name again?”

“Oh, um. Nina.”

“Nina? Nice to meet you.” Amber smiled.

“Nice to meet you, too.” Nina said.

“Sorry, was that an American accent?” Jerome asked.

“Oh yes,” Trudy cut in. “Nina’s traveled all the way here from America. So that’s already something you have in common with Eddie!”

Nina turned to Eddie who smiled and nodded at her.

“Unlike you all, Nina’s new. I hope you’ll be very welcoming to her.” Trudy said, a bit of sterness in her voice. “Victor will be finished very soon, I’m going to get some things together, call me if you need me.”

While she exited,  Amber glared at the alligator that sat on the table in front of them. “I don’t remember all of these weird animals around last time I was here.”

“I guess Victor’s into taxidermy.” Mara said.

“What?” Amber asked.

“Taxidermy. Where you stuff dead animals.”

Amber gasped but whatever she was going to say got cut off by Victor himself walking into the room. He glared at all of them as if they had already done something bad. Everyone kind of leaned away from him in the first bit of house solidarity Nina had seen in the group.

“Up. Get up everyone!” Victor barked at all of them. Everyone looked at each other, a little unsure, but started to stand up anyway. “Line up. Right there, line up. I don’t care what order, I just want to see you all in front of me!”

Again, looking at each other, they got in a line in front of Victor as he began to walk in front of them like a general. Eddie must have thought similarly because he said, “I didn’t know I enlisted for the army.”

Victor paused in front of him and gave him a mean look before continuing to walk. “I’ll have no funny business this year. I’m going to state the rules once and only once. This was my home far before it belonged to the school, I want it respected. Anything you break, you’ll pay for. You break my rules, I’ll make you clean the toilets with a toothbrush. Curfew is nine o’clock, sharp, no later unless explicitly give permission. Everyone should be in their rooms asleep by ten, at that point I shall want to hear a pin drop. The cellar, the attic, and my office are all strictly out of bounds. Girls are not to be in boys rooms and boys are not to be in girls rooms past nine o'clock, I want no funny business. You follow these rules and there should be no problems. Understood?”

“Yes,” everyone said. Victor glared at them all again, as if he thought they were lying.

“The girls’ bags are on the second floor, the boys’ bags are on the first floor, you may choose your own rooms.” He gave them one final glare before walking away.

“What a grump.” Amber said. “Anyway, come on Nina. Let’s decorate our room!”

She took hold of Nina’s hand and practically dragged her up the stairs.

It was much later in the day by the time they were fully unpacked and the rooms were decorated. Nina didn’t do much decorating, she put her bedding on and her pictures up but that was about it. Amber, however, put up all little nick nacks and pictures of her fashion designs, a poster of Victoria Beckham, and lots of other things. She set up her desk like a vanity and hung purple curtains around. When she was finished she kicked off her shoes and sat cross legged on the bed in front of Nina.

“I like you Nina.” Amber said. “You didn’t have to help me with my stuff but you did. I hope we can be good friends.”

“I thought rooming with friends was a bad idea.”

“No, that’s if you start off as friends and then room together. But friends who started off as roommates are the closest!” Amber gushed. “Hmm. I think I’ll go see how Mick is now.”

And with that she found her slippers and practically skipped out of the room. Nina looked around the room before deciding to try and find company for herself as well. She walked to the second girls’ bedroom where Joy, Patricia, and Mara were. Their door was open, Mara was on her own bed while Patricia and Joy sat together on the same bed, Joy’s from the looks of it, she had a pillow in the shape of a J.

“I feel like that isn’t safe.” Mara said.

“What isn’t safe?” Nina asked before she could stop herself. All three girls looked at her. “Sorry... the door was open.”

Joy quickly got up and pulled her in, closing the door behind her. “Shouldn’t have left it open, I don’t want everyone to know.”

“So are you telling new girl?” Patricia asked. “I thought this was just a you and me thing.”

“It doesn’t have to be.” Joy shrugged. “And maybe Nina doesn’t even want to do it, Mara certainly doesn’t sound interested.”

“Well, I mean it is interesting, don’t get me wrong.” Mara said. “But I just feel like it might lead to some very bad decisions.”

“Or a very interesting year.” Joy smirked.

“Um, what’s this about?” Nina asked.

Mara leaned back and motioned for Joy to tell. Nina hesitantly sat down on Mara’s bed and looked at her, waiting for her to object, but she didn’t. Joy grinned at Nina.

“I’ve proposed to Patricia that we have a Year of Yes.”

Nina stared at her and searched her mind for any sort of context and found none. “What’s a year of yes?”

“Basically, it’s saying yes to anything and everything. Nothing’s off limits.” Patricia explained.

“Doesn’t that sound mildly dangerous?” Mara asked Nina. “And a little dirty?”

Joy sighed. “It’s supposed to be, it’s about taking risks. Think about this, we are in our last year of school, our last year of childhood. Some of us are even going to be turning 18 this year! We’ll have to be more responsible next year, we won’t be able to afford to go a little bit crazy. That means it’s the perfect time to do it. We’re young, we should experience life!”

“Beautiful speech. I still think you’re crazy.” Mara said. “And I can’t believe Patricia would agree to this, she says no to everything.”

“She blackmailed me.” Patricia said. “But I do think it could be fun.”

“Nina, don’t you think they’re being a little bit insane?” Mara asked.

But Nina didn’t. Nina thought they were a little bit brilliant. She had been wanting to get out of her comfort zone, start fresh and start new in new place. It would give her more experience before she went to college, half the reason she wanted to be out here. Plus, wouldn’t she be sort of in their group if she did this? Amber was nice but she talked a lot and seemed to be focused on Mick. She really wanted these two girls to like her.

“I actually think it’s an amazing idea,” Nina said. Mara’s jaw dropped, Patricia’s eyebrows rose up, and Joy grinned. “Everything she said is right, and it would force us to look at life in another light.”

“See?” Joy said. “Nina gets it!”

“Wait, you’re serious? You would do it?” Mara asked Nina.

“Not only would I do it, if it’s okay with them, I’m going to!” Nina said smiling.

Patricia smiled slowly. “You’re not what I expected Newby.”

Mara bit her lip. “But... it’s insane! We couldn’t possibly... we just can’t!”

“Mara,” Joy said a large smile on her face. “You’ve already committed to it and you haven’t even realized. You just said ‘we’, meaning you’re already with us.”

“She’s right,” Patricia said. “Otherwise you probably would have just asked for no parts to begin with, instead you sat there asking for more information.”

“I did not!”

“Maybe not with your mouth but, trust me, you asked.” Patricia folded her arms.

Nina turned to her. “I don’t know you very well, I don’t know you at all actually. But I do know that everyone could use a little adventure.”

Mara looked at all three of them and then closed her eyes shaking her head. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but fine. I’m in.”

“Then it’s official.” Joy grinned. “The Year of Yes begins now!”

Chapter Text

So it turns out ‘Year of Yes’ wasn’t as epic as they thought. So far there were no opportunities to do anything other than go to school. Nina was equal parts disappointed as she was relieved. Sure she wanted to venture out of her comfort zone, but she was still scared of what exactly that could mean.

Nina also found out fairly quickly that being in the same house did not automatically mean that you hang out with everyone there. For the most part, people were friendly or familiar with the people in the house. A lot of them roomed with each other in different years of their schooling and knew each other well. But when school started, she watched as everyone seemed to break away. Mick and Amber went with their equally popular and beautiful friends, neither sparing a glance back at who they walked away from. But the people they walked away from didn’t seem to mind either. Jerome and Alfie pretty much just hung out, the two of them, with Eddie occasionally. Mara went off on her own and then every once and awhile found equally studious friends. Even Joy, Patricia, and Fabian grouped together and left Nina alone.

But then there were Willow and KT, who Nina expected not to see much of, but they found her nearly as soon as she was about to start feeling sorry for herself. They went on either side of her, each with kind smiles and making her feel like she wasn’t alone, like she was apart of something.

“So, how are you liking the school so far?” Willow asked her during her first lunch period of the school. They were outside sitting on the grass while it was still warm enough to do so. Apparently it would get very cold very quickly and they wouldn’t be able to soon.

“It’s nice. I haven’t seen much of it, I’ll admit, and the uniform is something to get used to.” Nina looked down at herself, feeling a little juvenile in the clothes she wore.

“We get to accessorize a lot more than we used to.” KT said, pulling at her blaser.

“Amber’s taken that to heart. Look at her.” Willow said pointing to the blonde who was the standout of all of her friends. She wore her hair in curls and had a little flower in her hair that she used to pull back the side, and red bows on either side of her knee socks. “Amber’s so cool.”

KT rolled her eyes a bit but looked like she was amused by Willow. “So what’s this Year of Yes business I’m hearing about, huh?”

Nina’s head whipped to the side and looked at KT with wide eyes. She wasn’t sure who was to know about this thing she had decided to participate in. She knew these two were friends, or at least friendly, with Joy and Patricia, but it hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours. KT snickered and took pity on her. “Joy told us.”

“When?” Nina asked.

“When we were sitting in the back of history class.” Willow said. “She said you and Mara agreed to do it as well. I don’t know Mara very well, is she nice?”

“I think so.” Nina shrugged. “Are you two doing it?”

KT shook her head and Willow shrugged. When KT noticed, she looked amused. “Willow, you’re already doing a Life of Yes.” 

Nina laughed. “Well what about you KT?”

“I don’t think so. I’ll watch. What have you done so far?”

“Nothing,” Nina admitted. “I feel silly for being nervous, I’m starting to think a Year of Yes isn’t actually going to be nearly as exciting as it sounds.”

Willow shrugged. “Give it some time. What will probably happen is that you’ll be so used to saying yes, saying no won’t even cross your mind.”

Somehow that thought did nothing to ease Nina’s nerves about the entire thing.

The school day ended much quicker than Nina thought it would. Soon she was saying goodbye to Willow and KT and walking home alone on the path. Or at least she was, once again, right when she was about to feel sorry for herself, she was approached by Joy, Patricia, Mara and Fabian.

“Hey Nina! How’d you like your first day?” Joy asked jubilantly as they all fell into step with her. She felt warmed but stopped herself from smiling largely so she didn’t end up scaring them off.

“Good. I hung out with KT and Willow.” Nina said. Joy nodded.

“They’re nice but sometimes it can feel like they’re too nice.” Patricia said. “I swear, neither of them ever get angry, it’s unnatural. If you need a break from that, come find us.”

“Really?” Nina asked, unable to help herself.

“Of course,” Patricia said, either not hearing the pathetically excited tone of Nina’s words or not acknowledging it and embarrassing Nina further. “So what are we going to do about Amber and Mick?”

“What do you mean?” Mara asked immediately taking interest in the topic of conversation.

“I mean, I doubt they asked to be put into the same house so they can argue over the breakfast table. Eventually, I predict some sneaking around to each other’s rooms and I don’t know about you but I do not want to deal with that.”

“You think it’s bad, I’m living with Mick in the same room. I’d be subjected to it worst of all.” Fabian grimaced.

“Eddie’s the one stuck on the bunk bed with him.” Mara pointed out.

“I doubt they’d want to do anything on a bunk bed anyway. Odds are they’ll be in Amber’s bed.” Joy said.

“Great.” Nina muttered, causing the others to laugh.

“Victor the dictator will probably not let that happen though.” Fabian pointed out. “He meant serious business yesterday.”

“I bet it was all a front, just to scare us out of not following his rules.” Patricia said.

“It worked.” Mara frowned. “I’m not stepping a toe out of line.”

“You say that now,” Joy smirked evilly. “I bet I could push you to break a rule or two.”

Mara shook her head with wide eyes, Nina bit her cheek to keep from laughing at the horrified look she gave. Patricia and Joy laughed openly, splotches of color emerged on Mara’s cheeks and she tried to steer the conversation elsewhere as they approached the house. “I still say we should probably do something about Mick and Amber.”

“So long as they keep their PDA elsewhere, I don’t really care.” Patricia shrugged.

“But I bet it’s really annoying.” Mara insisted and Nina got a hint of something else in her tone. Joy seemed to as well because she narrowed her eyes at Mara, who didn’t notice. “We should probably just strike the thing all together.”

“I’ve been in houses with couples before.” Fabian said. “It can be annoying if they’re not mindful of other people but for the most part it’s harmless.”

“And they’ll probably be so busy looking at each other they won’t bother any of us.” Patricia snickered. Mara looked disappointed.

“Why do you want to break them up so bad?” Joy asked finally. “Do you like Mick?”

“What? Like Mick? I- No!” Mara stuttered. Joy smirked.

“Don’t worry, we won’t tell Amber.”

Mara went a shade paler at Amber’s name and to try and stop her from panicking, Joy wrapped a friendly arm around her and they all went inside. All of them paused though when they got to the sitting room. Alfie and Jerome were standing there, both wearing amused expressions as Victor circled them like a vulture.

“What’s happening here?” Nina asked.

“I’m not sure, but I get the feeling I don’t want to be anywhere near this.” Fabian said, slowly backing away. Mara seemed to agree, quickly following Fabian out of the room. Patricia and Joy stayed, likely curious, so Nina stayed as well.

“Victor,” Jerome started, an easy smile on his face. “You’ve got no proof.”

“You both think I’m a fool, don’t you?” said Victor menacingly. “Don’t think I don’t know about the two of you. I know of everyone who comes into my house.”

“And what did you find out?” Alfie asked in a sing song curiousity.

Victor gave him a mean look. “Enough to know to keep my eye on the two of you. But for now, you may go.”

Jerome smiled as if he knew this would happen and it was just a matter of when. Alfie gave Victor a mocking bow, the little aliens that sat on the shoulders of his shirt made an appearance, and they walked away from the scowling man. Jerome winked at the girls as he and Alfie walked past and they all looked at each other quickly before following them out. “What did you do?”

“Nothing anyone can prove.” Jerome said. He motioned for them to follow them and Nina, being curious, didn’t hesitate. Joy and Patricia must have though, because they entered Jerome and Alfie’s room a bit after her.

“Didn’t want to say anything in the hall, Victor could overhear.” Alfie said.

“So what did you do?” Nina pushed. The boys smirked at each other.

“Practically nothing.” Alfie said. “When Victor said we weren’t allowed in the cellar or in the attic, we knew right away we had to figure out why.”

“But we figured the first thing we should do is to figure out if it’s worth our time.” Jerome relaxed on his bed, arms behind his head. “So we just messed with things a little. Disturbed the dust by the attic door, fiddled with the locks and left things by the door. Make it look like we attempted to do something we didn’t. Victor reacted like... well, you saw.”

“So now you know it matters enough for Victor to want to stuff you and prop you somewhere like the rest of his trophies,” Joy said and Nina shuddered. “What are you going to do now?”

“Find out what he’s got hiding up and down there, of course.” Alfie said as though it were the most obvious thing.

“You lot gonna keep your mouths shut about this?” Jerome asked, staring at them warningly and causing Nina to gulp.

“Of course.” Patricia rolled her eyes. “Who would we tell? Besides, maybe if you get dirt on him, he’ll go easy on all of us.”

“Precisely, Trixie.” Jerome winked. She frowned.

“Don’t call me that.”

“You let Alfie call you that.” Jerome said with a slight pout. Patricia shrugged.

“He’s not quite as much of a slimeball as you are.”

Joy was disappointed. She wasn’t sure what she expected when she came up with Year of Yes, maybe that she’d be doing something crazy that would make her dad call her worried and she’d laugh in his face. Maybe she thought she’d be living like the people in her tv shows like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars where their lives were crazy and adventurous. She was seventeen and she felt like she had no story, this was supposed to be her way of getting one. Only, nothing’s happened.

She admittedly should have known. She wasn’t some glamourous teenager in a small town in America, or in New York City with bouts of money to spend. She was in England, going to a boarding school, there just weren’t many opportunities for her to say ‘yes’. She hoped that maybe Jerome and Alfie would ask her to be included in their mission, it was the most interesting thing she’d seen so far, but they didn’t. And she shouldn’t be surprised, they worked alone.

Joy sat on her bed, her legs crossed. She wasn’t sure where Patricia was but Mara was in there too, looking over everything they were given for their classes. They hardly had homework, Joy wasn’t sure why Mara was already stressing about it. Nina was in there too, Joy got the feeling she just didn’t want to be alone, because they weren’t doing anything together. She was reading a book while Joy texted her mum and told her about her first day of classes.

It was, of course, the moment Joy gave up waiting for something to test her boundaries and give her a reason to say “yes” that something finally came up. It stomped in the room in high heels with blonde curls.

“Mick is being annoying.” Amber said, crossing her arms and sitting on Mara’s bed. Mara had to move her papers so Amber wouldn’t crinkle them. “He won’t do anything with me because he’s trying to get a training schedule together. I have no issue with him training, it keeps his arms looking great of course, but I hope the rest of the year won’t be like this.”

Amber pouted as Nina, Mara, and Joy all stared at the girl who interrupted their relaxing time. Nina was the first to react, “Sorry, Amber.”

“It’s fine, I just need to take my mind off of it.” Amber turned to Nina and cocked her head to the side. The next bit came out of her mouth at lightning speed. “You have really pretty hair, it’s just a little frizzy. I have this conditioner that would do you wonders. I was gonna send it back because I accidentally got raspberry scented one and I thought it was strawberry and I cannot have raspberry in my hair. I’m terribly allergic, I wouldn’t be surprised if all my hair fell out, unacceptable. But I could give it to you and you could use it! You aren’t allergic to raspberries are you?”

Nina could only shake her head, amused and amazed that one person could speak so quickly.

“Perfect. I promise you, it will give you an entirely new look!” Amber gushed and then turned to Mara and Joy. “You two, however, might need more work.”

While Mara frowned, feeling hurt, Joy scoffed. “Okay, Amber, that’s it. Out of my room.”

“What? Why? I’m bored I need something to do until Mick’s through being sweaty and gross.” Amber crossed her legs as if to say she was staying right where she was. “Oh! I should give you makeovers! Oh that would be so much fun!”

“Pass.” Joy grunted. Amber looked at Mara who shook her head, so Amber began to pout again. Joy was about to go on her phone, maybe suggest Amber find something to do with herself, when Nina cleared her throat. Joy looked up.

Nina had written something in one of her notebook papers, ripped it out of the book, balled it up and tossed it to Joy like a paper snowball. It fell right in front of her lap and Joy unrolled it while Mara and Amber looked at her and it curiously. When Joy unfolded it, only three letters were on it in all caps. Y.O.Y . Year of Yes.

Joy immediately began to stutter out ways to get out of this. “But- I didn’t mean this-”

“What exactly did you mean then?” Nina challenged. Joy stared at the paper and at Amber, who was watching her like she was a hard equation. Joy thought she’d be trying new foods, maybe get in a little trouble, not giving in to Amber’s makeover fantasies. But technically, this was supposed to count. She was supposed to be out of her comfort zone. She bitterly balled up the paper, keeping an eye on Nina the whole time. Nina was amused.

“Fine, Amber.” Joy said through gritted teeth. “You can give us a makeover.”

“Us? What do you mean us? I never agreed to that!” Mara tried to protest but Amber was already squealing over her.

“Yes! This is so exciting! Oh, follow me in my room, I have too much stuff to take in here.” Amber jumped up and bounced out of the room. Mara turned to Joy like Joy had lost her mind.

“Year of Yes, Mara.” Joy said simply, then she got up and went to Amber, and Nina’s, room. She was unsurprised to see Nina and Mara follow her there just seconds later (Mara looked pretty grumpy).

Ten minutes later when Joy and Mara stood while Amber circled the two of them, inspecting different parts of them, she felt vulnerable. It also reminded her of when Alfie and Jerome were being circled by Victor and wondered how they stayed so calm and sure of themselves. Amber was far less intimidating than Victor and Joy felt like she wanted to run and hide.

“You keep your hair straight,” Amber said to Joy. “And it makes it look lifeless.”

Joy turned to glare at Nina for pointing out how she had prematurely put herself in this position when Amber inspected Mara.

“And you keep your hair curly, and it ages you down and makes you look like you’re five years younger than you are.” Amber crossed her arms. “Maybe you could switch styles. Oh, I see it already! We haven’t even done anything and you two already look better than ever! Nina, do you know how to work a straightener?”

Nina jumped at being called upon, like she would be put under Amber’s scrutiny soon as well. When she realized she was in the clear, she nodded.

“Good. Two people means I’m going to need help.” Amber said.

Nina primarily worked on Mara while Amber primarily worked on Joy. Nina didn’t get any say on what actually happened to Mara, she was just told what to do. They finished at about the same time and both looked at the two girls. Mara’s hair was now sleek and straight, making her black hair seem shinier and fuller. Joy’s hair, meanwhile, had been curled, giving her hair a bounce that made the girl seem perkier than she actually was, giving her name credit to her looks for probably the first time since Nina met her.

“I am amazing.” Amber said looking at the girls. Joy rolled her eyes.

“Are we done now?”

“Of course not, I didn’t say a hair-makeover. We’re doing everything. Sit back girls, we’re going to be here for a while.” Amber grinned. Joy and Mara looked at each other, genuine terror in their eyes. But they also each acknowledged that maybe Amber knew what she was doing, they each thought the other looked great.

The rest of the evening was spent under Amber’s orders. Sometimes it wasn’t as bad as Joy thought it would be. She actually really liked the guacamole face masks they wore for a bit. Then, sometimes it was worse. Like when Amber decided to pluck and wax their eyebrows. Then sometimes it was just so boring , like when Amber was choosing clothes for them. Neither Joy nor Mara were the same shoe size as Amber, and yet they were still made to wear the shoes that were an entire size (and a half in Mara’s case) larger than their actual size to get a good impression on the best style for either of them would be, or something.

By the end of the night, though, they stood on wobbly heels in their new outfits. Joy was surprised by how comfortable she was in hers. Joy originally thought she would be walking around like an Amber wanna-be but Amber made it her mission to find clothes comfortable for the both of them. “It’s about enhancing your look,” she would say. “Not changing it.”

Mara was in stockings and a red polka dot skirt with a thin purple belt, along with a fitting soft grey blouse that shimmered enough that it could even be considered silver. It was very similar to what she would normally wear, only a little more form fitting and maybe a little shorter than she would normally do. She looked mature and as smart as her brain was. Joy, likewise, wore dark blue jeans, a hot pink silk blouse and a dark denim jacket over it. She twisted around in the mirror, pausing to look at how her butt looked pretty good in the jeans.

“You guys look great, just like I knew you would!” Amber clapped up and down, and suddenly turned to a very sleepy Nina. It was actually more work being a helper than she anticipated, although she didn’t mind that she also got a face mask. “Maybe we could work on you a bit more as well.”

Nina’s eyes widened but she was saved by Trudy calling for supper. Joy’s stomach growled and all the girls laughed. “Thank God we finished in time for dinner.” Joy said.

The four girls were the last to walk in and all eyes went to the madeover Joy and Mara. Jerome and Alfie’s jaws actually dropped, causing Mara to blush. Alfie stupidly spoke up.

“You two look different!”

This snapped everyone out of the initial shock as they all laughed at Alfie’s comment. “Be glad he even noticed,” Amber said assertively. “Boys can be so clueless.”

As if to prove her point, Alfie turned his head to the side and said, “You guys are hot now.”

Mara and Joy glared at him while Jerome laughed openly. “Smooth, Alfie.”

Alfie quickly realized his mistake because he went to clarify himself. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like your faces have changed or something. It’s just now you’re not, I don’t know, hiding or anything. You’ve got new clothes that show you off, makes you look even more beautiful than you were.” He smiled at them as he began to reach for the serving spoons. “Whole new look comes off hotter.”

Mara and Joy’s glares quickly turned to smiles and Amber, Nina and even Patricia all gave him soft looks for that. The other boys looked shocked at how Alfie had pulled that off.

And then he ruined it by trying to stuff his mouth with a ridiculous amount of food. All of the fond looks turned to disgust.

Patricia leaned in close to Joy. “How did this happen?”

Joy sighed. “Year of Yes, Patricia. Amber asked to make me over, I accepted.”

Patricia scrunched up her face and shook her head. “I draw the line at a makeover.”

Joy turned to her, sticking a newly manicured finger in Patricia’s face authoritatively. “You won’t draw the line at anything short of murder!”

Patricia reeled back a bit, bumping Amber who yelped. “Patricia!”

“Sorry.” Patricia said, sounding more annoyed than apologetic. Then she saw Amber fix her with a thoughtful look. “You will not touch me, Amber, don’t even think about it.”

Amber’s eyes widened. “I like your look, it’s cute and tough, like a biker chick. It works for you, I wouldn’t want to change it.”

“Oh,” Patricia said, surprised but smiled at the complement she was paid. “Okay then.”

Amber cocked her head to the side again. “Although I’d think about maybe curling your hair too.”

Nina had gotten some sort of a routine going over the next couple of days. She went to school and went to her classes, sometimes she hung out with Willow and KT and sometimes she hung out with Joy, Patricia, and Fabian. Joy and Mara decided to keep up with Amber’s makeover, and Nina was glad if for no other reason than that it meant the work she put into it didn’t go to waste. But despite both girl’s reservations about the entire thing, they seemed more confident with their new styles.

Nina was realizing she was starting to enjoy Fabian’s company best of all. He was quiet and shy, so he didn’t always speak up, but he was actually pretty funny. He knew a lot about Ancient Egypt and hieroglyphics, which was an odd thing to be fascinated by but made him all the more interesting.

Nina’s routine continued after school and consisted of her sitting in her room or in the other girl’s room, doing homework or something like that. The atmosphere of the Anubis House was often very calm, everyone did their own things while still enjoying each other’s company. Even when Eddie or Jerome played loud video games or Alfie told everyone who he thought aliens were in the school, it was still a pretty relaxed environment. That’s why it felt like a literal bubble had been popped when Amber marched in the house with music playing several of her very loud friends.

It seemed like no one really knew what to do as they watched the teenagers storm in chatting and laughing and dancing. Amber ignored everyone’s shocked and even annoyed expressions and did her very bouncy and light walk to the kitchen to get snacks and drinks. Nina remembered Amber saying something about parties on the first day but she didn’t expect it to happen so soon, or at four in the afternoon.

“Amber, what are you doing?” Fabian was surprisingly the first to ask, and Nina remembered one of the first times she heard him speak was when he requested Amber throw no parties.

Amber turned, her hair sleek and long instead of curly and bouncy like it usually was. A tiara sat atop her head but it was not nearly as shiny as her smile. “Celebrating!”

“Celebrating?” Came Patricia’s sort of nasty voice. “Celebrating what?”

Amber shook her head like Patricia was being stupid. “My birthday of course! I’m eighteen!”

Nina felt her eyebrows go up, they hadn’t even been at school for a full week. Nina looked at everyone else as who looked just as stunned and didn’t really know what to do about all of this. It didn’t matter though, Victor was drawn in by the noise and he stood in the doorway, Trudy by his side. She looked a bit lost at the amount of teenagers in the house.

“Somebody explain!” Victor yelled over the chatter, which ceased at once.

Amber turned, her hands on her hips. “I’ve turned eighteen today, I want to celebrate with my friends.”

Trudy’s face lit up immediately. “Oh, Amber, happy birthday! Why didn’t you say something this morning, I could have made something special for you!”

“Did no one see my tiara?” Amber pointed to her head.

“We all just thought you were being your normal self.” Jerome said, with a bit of a smirk as his eyes raked over the girls that now stood in front of him.

“This is unacceptable. I will not have all of these children stomping around my floor!” Victor looked like he was about to begin pushing them out himself when Trudy came in front of him, hands up.

“Victor, now I do think Amber should have warned us,” She gave Amber a stern look and Amber had the good grace to look ashamed. “ But it is her birthday, and she wants to celebrate with her friends. Let’s be reasonable here, they’re not doing anything too bad.”

Victor glared at all of the silent teenagers and then at Trudy. “I want them out before it gets too late.”

“Totally, we won’t disturb your strict rules.” Amber said at once. Trudy smiled a bit and Victor turned, a mean glare still present on his features, and went up likely to hide in his office. Amber turned to her friends, her face lit up in a bright smile.

“You were right, Amber,” said one of her friends as the noise level slowly began to rise again. “He’s a huge grump.”

Not even twenty minutes later, Nina was positioned in the kitchen, looking through the window at all of the dancing teenagers. Music had been put on, snacks had been put out, and most of the actual residents had been driven out of the living room. The majority of them were with Nina looking through the window. Amber, of course, was at the center of it all. Alfie and Jerome attempted to hit on the pretty girls Amber brought, most of them laughed at them. Mick was nowhere to be seen but Amber didn’t look upset at this in the slightest. They found out why quickly.

“Just got it!” Mick said coming in with a box that likely held a cake and the teenagers cheered for him. Amber quickly ran to him and gave him a big kiss. Nina saw out of the corner of her eye, Mara made a face.

“Are you excited to be eighteen?” another of Amber’s friends asked her as she adjusted the tiara on her head.

“Totally! I’m an adult now!” Amber gushed. She looked around conspiratorially and leaned in, but Nina could still hear her. “I could buy alcohol if I wanted!”

“I know, that’s certainly something to keep in mind.” Amber’s friend said and the two girls giggled. Amber turned to Mick and gave him a big hug.

“We’re just waiting on you now, Mick!”

“When do you turn eighteen?” Asked a male friend of theirs.

“Not for a while. My seventeenth birthday was a couple of weeks ago.” Mick said.

Jerome approached with an unreadable look on his face. “In August? You’re hardly out of diapers!”

“We’re the same age, Clarke.” Mick rolled his eyes, as though Jerome were exhausting him.

“I think not, my birthday’s in November. I’m practically eighteen already, and you’re practically still sixteen.” Jerome looked between the blonde couple and pointed between them. “Is this even a legal relationship anymore?”

“Of course it is,” Mick said, missing the unsure look on Amber’s face. “Butt out, will you?”

Jerome ignored him and turned to Amber. “Maybe you need a mature adult to be in a relationship with.”

“You can’t mean yourself!” Mick scoffed.

Jerome made a face. “No, of course not. Alfie, though, his birthday is in a couple of weeks. He’ll be the only other adult here soon, I’m sure a relationship with him sounds much more grown up.”

Everyone turned to look at Alfie, who wore a bright blue top with space aliens looking pixelated like old video games. He looked around at everyone, surprised to have been brought up and that he was suddenly where everyone’s attention was. He smiled nervously, his plastic vampire teeth on display for everyone. Jerome looked like he wanted to smack a palm to his own forehead while everyone laughed and turned away, back to dancing.

“Would you look at that.” Joy said from beside Nina. “The two most immature are the oldest in the house.”

Patricia snorted. “This blows. When do we get to kick them out?”

“Probably not for a while,” said the usually quiet Eddie. Or at least, he hadn’t talked much to Nina. “Maybe we can have a good time while they’re here though.”

“How?” Patricia asked.

“Dance with me.” Eddie said simply. Shocked, Nina turned to look behind her and she wasn’t the only one. Fabian, Mara, and Joy all stared at the pair in shock. So far since she had been there, Eddie and Patricia hardly interacted. When they did, it was always arguing and Eddie called her “Yacker”. Patricia looked like Eddie had grown a head out of his ear before she shook her head.

“I don’t dance.”

Eddie was about to say something but he was interrupted by Joy coughing in her arm. Patricia looked at her and Joy gave her a look and mouthed Year of Yes.

Patricia glared at her for a moment before she turned to Eddie. “One dance.”

Eddie smirked as he followed Patricia out into the living room. Patricia swayed a bit and glared any time Eddie danced too close to her.

“Young love.” Fabian said dryly, and Nina giggled into her hand.

Chapter Text

One dance turned quickly to several dances between Eddie and Patricia. Then it led to laughing and talking on the couch. Nina hadn’t seen Patricia smile so much in the five days she’d known her. Eddie and Patricia were in a world of their own, each looking brighter and happier than Nina had ever seen them. Mara sighed and came up next to Nina, she leaned her head on her hands.

“That’s actually really cute.” Mara said and then wistfully looked at the alpha couple in the middle of the floor. “I feel bad not getting Amber a present for her birthday.”

Joy snorted. “Why? You’re not even friends.”

“Well... We could be!” Mara said defensively. “She doesn’t seem all bad. And we’ve talked in classes and stuff.” Joy raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I just don’t want to be on her bad side, okay?”

Joy nodded in understanding. “Overcorrecting because of your big fat Mick crush, are we?” Mara’s cheeks got redder and she looked away. “That’s fine and all but it’ll just make it even more awkward when she realizes you’re trying to steal him from her.”

“I’m not!” Mara rushed out.

“You know there are plenty of single guys on that floor.” Joy said. “You could go talk to one of them.”

Mara shook her head. “No, I think not. Actually, I’m going to retire to my room and work on the homework we have due Monday.”

With that, she made a semi swift exit. Joy watched her go, looking a little torn. “I wonder if it’s my duty as a friend to try to talk her out of this whole crush she’s got on Mick. I don’t even know if they’d be good together, I wish she’d set her sights on someone else.”

Fabian looked at his watch, which he had frequently been doing. “Okay, it’s near sunset. Hopefully Victor will come out and shut this down.”

“What’s your thing against parties anyway?” Nina questioned. “You have some deep unsettling backstory that has to do with something bad happening at a party?”

Fabian gave her a really sweet smile signaling his amusement. Nina couldn’t help smiling herself. She saw Joy look between them out of the corner of her eye, but the girl didn’t say anything. “Nothing quite so dramatic. I don’t know if either of you have noticed, but I’m sort of awkward. I don’t particularly know how to act in parties, I tend to just stay away from them.”

“Is that why you’re in the kitchen watching the party from the outside?” Joy asked, moving closer.

“Precisely. And why are you two?” Fabian asked.

Joy and Nina looked at each other. Joy shrugged. “I guess I’m not in the mood. I’m tired and the music is much too loud for me to get any sort of relaxation. Besides,” and this time she looked right at Fabian. “No one’s asked me to dance yet.”

Fabian’s neck and cheeks got colored rose as his eyes swiveled from Joy to Nina and then back to Joy. Nina’s palms were suddenly sweaty and she tried to wipe them on her jeans.

Joy smiled mischievously and turned back to the party before gasping.

“Look!” she whisper shouted, catching their attention and directing it to the leather clad pair. They’d made their way to the couch, and they’d just locked lips.

It was kind of hilarious for a moment, as Patricia’s eyes were wide when Eddie had leaned down and she sat like a frozen sculpture. A terrified frozen sculpture. But eventually her eyes fluttered closed and she tentatively reached a hand up and held Eddie’s face, pulling him closer.

“Oh that’s just adorable.” Joy gushed. She turned to Nina grinning. “See what the Year of Yes can do for you?”

Her excitement had made her forget that they weren’t alone. “The what of what?” Fabian asked. Joy’s face dropped and she looked pale.

“It was nothing. Nothing.” Joy mumbled. “Girl stuff. I’m going to go check on Mara.”

Joy practically ran out of the room abandoning Nina. Fabian turned to Nina. She bit her lip and looked around for some excuse, cursing Joy for leaving her in this mess. Luckily, one of the most distracting people Nina had ever met soon came by.

“Okay, I’m officially over this.” Jerome said, leaning on the window from the dining room side. “How is it I’ve been here this long and I haven’t gotten one of those girls' numbers?”

“Maybe you come across too strongly.” Fabian said, though he was still looking questioningly at Nina. To get away, Nina turned to Jerome.

“I’ll dance with you.” She quickly walked to the kitchen door, but caught Fabian and Jerome’s shocked expressions. Fabian seemed confused while Jerome looked genuinely surprised. By the time she had circled into what was technically the dining room, Jerome looked smug. Nina realized once the two of them had reached the other dancing teenagers that she had gone from one awkward situation that she wanted to escape to another. But now she was pretty much stuck, and so she started moving to the beat of the song. She wondered if this counted as her first experience of the Year of Yes, but she didn’t think so. She had initiated this, afterall.

Whenever she looked up at Jerome, who danced in front of her, he was giving Alfie smug looks. It made her feel kind of used.

“Could you stop that?” Nina finally snapped after the fourth time. Jerome looked startled. “Did you want to dance with a girl for the experience, or to prove to Alfie that you could?”

Jerome paused, his mouth opening and closing a few times. Then he looked sheepish, which was kind of surprising to Nina. She had never seen him look anything but sure of himself. “Both I guess, but I was so consumed with the latter, I forgot to actually experience it.”

He held out his hand and Nina only hesitated for a second before taking it. They began to dance together a bit more, and Nina allowed herself to relax. Jerome’s attention was now solely on her and it caused goosebumps to break out on her arms. She had only then realized just how blue his eyes were. He was also much taller than her, making her feel smaller but not in an insignificant way. When the song transitioned, she kept dancing. She realized if this was what Patricia felt with Eddie, she could see how it led to so many dances. She glanced at them briefly, still kissing and a lot more fervently than before, and then back to Jerome. The thought of doing that with him was both intriguing and terrifying to her.

She was snapped out of her reverie when the music was suddenly cut off. When everyone looked over, Victor stood there, his finger on the power button of the stereo. “That’s enough. It’s nearing supper time, Trudy has got to get to the kitchen and you all have to leave. Now!”

No one needed to be told twice. The people who didn’t live in Anubis filed out of the room so quickly they might have flown. Amber rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, her tiara askew. Nina looked in the kitchen to see if Fabian was happy about the party being over, but he wasn’t there anymore.

Victor turned to the people who were still in the room. “Clean up.”

With that he left. Nina sighed and started walking to the table to put up the chips and wash the bowls they were poured in before Jerome caught her arm and she turned back.

“Thanks for dancing with me,” he said. He gave her a quick smile before letting her go and finding something to clean up. Nina didn’t move until she saw Amber’s knowing smirk, and then she went back to her task.

“So,” Amber came into her and Nina’s shared bedroom like business that night. “You and Jerome.”

“There is no ‘me and Jerome’, we shared a dance and that’s it.” Nina dismissed her.

“So you say. But listen, Jerome’s all charm. It’s very hard to resist, and you weren’t prepared for it.” Amber sat down next to her. “My friends knew to because they’ve all been here so long, but you’re new.”

“It wasn’t like that, Amber.” Nina groaned. She wondered why Joy wanted to keep the Y.O.Y thing a secret. If she just told other people, Nina would be able to tell Amber she only danced with Jerome to avoid Fabian. And not only that, she wouldn’t have had to avoid Fabian in the first place.

“Sure. Just watch out. He gets bored pretty easily.” Amber looked unimpressed.

Nina frowned as a thought came to her mind. She hoped she didn’t give Jerome the wrong impression, she didn’t want him thinking she wanted things going further. She glanced at Amber, who was getting out her pajamas for bed. Nina glanced at the time, it was nearing ten which meant it would be lights out soon. She wanted to talk to Jerome, make sure the whole thing was straightened out so there were no confusions, but it seemed she’d have to wait until morning.

Nearly an hour later, after Victor had done his ‘I want to hear a pin drop’ speech, Amber had fallen asleep after being on her phone for several minutes, and Nina was wide awake. She couldn’t make herself fall asleep with her mind running like it was, and knew the only way she’d get sleep is if she talked to Jerome. She glanced at Amber again before slipping out of bed. Since she’d been in the house, no one had broken any of the rules that Victor explained to them their first day. Jerome and Alfie came close, making him think they were trying to get into the attic, but they hadn’t actually done it yet, as far as she knew. She couldn’t believe she was about to be the first one stupid enough to break a rule.

She opened her door and looked down the dark hall, Anubis was a lot creepier when it was dark. Her steps creaked and she winced every time, wondering if the floor was always so loud. It was when she got to the door that lead to the stairs that she paused. If Victor was in his office, he’d see her. She crept to the ground and inched out the door, glancing up a bit to see that Victor was, in fact, in his office. She did not, however, see any indication that he thought a student was crawling on the floor under his nose.

The rest of the trip to the boys part of the house went easily and she tiptoed down the hall to the last door where Jerome and Alfie slept. Her heart thumped both from nerves of what she was about to talk to Jerome about, and the adrenaline she felt from the possibility of being caught at any moment. She took a deep breath and raised her fist just when she heard a door open and close and the sound of footsteps going down stairs. Panicking, she nixed knocking and simply flew open the door, slipping inside the room, and closing it behind her as quietly as she could.

“Nina?”

Nina turned around, expecting to see the beds occupied but they weren’t. She looked over to the side where the window was and saw Jerome and Alfie standing by it, their heads practically outside. They looked at her with wide eyes, confused and maybe a little annoyed. She knew right away they were doing something they weren’t supposed to. She had no room to judge though. Not only was she not asleep by ten, but she was also in one of the boys’ rooms with the door closed.

“What are you doing?” Alfie asked her. “You nearly gave me heart failure.”

“Sorry, I meant to knock but I heard Victor coming and didn’t want to get caught.”

“Why are you here?” Jerome asked. Nina bit her lip and started walking to them, pausing when she saw their positions. They were leaning on the window, their heads outside, and something was in each of their hands.

“What are you doing?” Nina asked.

“Swear not to snitch?” Jerome asked.

“I won’t if you don’t.” She answered.

Jerome motioned for her to get closer and she walked to the window, cool air making her shiver. Jerome made it easier for her to see what was in his hand.

 Nina looked at Jerome’s hand that was holding a cigarette with a line of gray smoke lifting to the sky. Then she looked to Alfie’s, who was also holding one. “You’re smoking ?”

“We don’t buy packs of them.” Jerome said putting it to his lips. She watched the end glow orange and he moved it from his lips just to blow smoke out a few seconds later.

“I get anxiety sometimes.” Alfie said. “This is just a way to calm my nerves at night.”

“You do this every night?” Nina asked. Alfie shrugged.

“Not every night, just whenever I need to calm down.” Alfie sighed and Nina watched his foggy breath come out.

“I did it to give him a smoking buddy,” Jerome said with a bit of a laugh. “Now I just like the smell and the taste of ‘em.”

Alfie turned to her.

“Wanna bum one?”

Nina was beginning to say no, she didn’t smoke, she never wanted to, and maybe they should find a new way to relieve stress when she realized something. She was a current participate in the Year of Yes. Nina struggled with herself for a moment, trying to decide if this was a good idea. Joy’s words echoed in her mind. It’s supposed to be a risk! But couldn’t this start an addiction? Well she supposed she didn’t have to do it all the time, she could just try it this one time.

Great , she thought. Joy and Mara get makeovers, Patricia gets a potential boyfriend, and I get this.

Unable to believe she had talked herself into it, she gave a curt nod. Jerome wordlessly held his little cigarette out and with a shaky hand, Nina took it.

“Lean out the window.” Alfie instructed. Nina noted the smoking must really work with calming down because she had never heard him sound so relaxed and at ease, not to mention steady and mature. “Go ‘head, lean outside. No need to set off any alarms and if the ashes drop, they drop outside.”

Nina listened to him and leaned outside, shivering more from the cool breeze.

“Ever smoke anything before?” Jerome asked.

Nina shook her head.

“You don’t have to breathe it in, like into your lungs, just sort of... take it into you mouth a little,” Jerome instructed.

“And do what with it?” Nina asked. Jerome and Alfie looked at each other, amused smiles on their faces. Nina decided to just go for it and quickly put the thing to her mouth, the thing, she realized just as she put her lips on it, that Jerome had on his mouth as well. Not really wanting to think about that, she sucked on the thing. Her first thought was how she could hear it burning, it sounded like a crackling fire. Hot, dirty smoke invaded her mouth, expanding her face like a balloon and making her cheeks burn . It was bitter and nasty and seemed to dry her tongue, it was overwhelming and somehow she seemed to lose track of the smoke as it filtered in through her nose. She felt like a dragon or a bull as smoke rushed out her nostrils. It burnt and tears came streaming from her eyes, her mouth opened and she saw a cloud of smoke fly from her and it was all around her as she scrunched up her nose, trying to get the fire out of it. She wiped her eyes and looked up at the boys.

“Wow.” Alfie said staring at her. “I can’t believe you blew it out your nose.”

“I didn’t try to,” Nina said, voice scratchy. “But you told me not to swallow or let it into my lungs and I didn’t know if I should blow it out yet but there was nowhere else for it to go!” Nina sniffed, rubbing at her nose.

“Well yeah, maybe don’t inhale so much. Look at how much you took!” Jerome pointed to the cigarette still in her hand. She admitted it was much shorter than it had been before. She watched the grey ash fall to the ground. “Try again. Here, I’ll relight it, it’s nearly gone out.”

He motioned for her to lift it up and she did as Alfie tossed Jerome a lighter. He flicked it on and protected the flame from the wind. Once it was lit, Nina once again put it to her mouth and took in a much smaller breath. It didn’t fill her face up and it didn’t burn her cheeks as much, but it still made her tongue feel dry and make her eyes stream. She blew it out like she used to with her fake cigarettes in cold weather as a child. It was much more satisfying to watch the smoke billow out in this way though, she watched the wind carry it until it was unseeable. It was bitter, it tasted nasty, and she could basically feel the unhealthiness enter her body. But what was possibly most annoying was that she could see how this could be calming.

“What do you think?” Alfie asked.

“It tastes like shit.” Nina answered. Both boys softly laughed and Jerome went to his desk, digging in his drawer for something. She saw a tan and gold box with the words ‘Benson & Hedges 100s’ on them. He opened it and pulled out a new one.

“You have a whole pack of them?” Nina asked.

“Two.” Jerome answered.

“I thought you said you don’t smoke whole packs.” Nina said.

“We don’t, it’s just to last us a couple of weeks. My older cousin got them for us so we have them until I turn eighteen and can get them myself.” Alfie explained. “If I wanted to get more, that is.”

“You can have that one.” Jerome said as he came back to the window. “Seem like you need to loosen up.”

Nina watched him light his new cigarette and put it to his mouth, the same mouth that her own had been just recently. Somehow this seemed intimate to her.

“But if you’re not going to smoke that you should put it out, you’re wasting it.” Jerome motioned to the one that she held in her hand. She looked down at it and took it to her mouth again. Funny, it didn’t taste as bad that time. But it still tasted pretty much like shit to her.

For a little while the three stood at the window and watched the smoke come out in streams, pools, clouds, and other things. Sometimes the smoke would swirl, some of it would disappear quickly and some would linger a little longer. Nina felt serene. She could understand how this was relazing, there was a certain excitement threshold the environment was set in with the smoke curling around them. Like a vacuum of tranquility.

“I’m guessing you didn’t come down here to share a smoke, so what are you here for?” Jerome finally asked Nina. Nina took her time with her next smoke in order to delay answering, but once she watched the smoke fade away, she knew she had to say something.

“I don’t want any... confusion.” Nina said quietly, aware Alfie was listening. “The dance we shared, it was just that. A dance.”

Jerome didn’t say anything for a while and to fill the silence, Nina took another bit of smoke in. “Okay.”

Nina glanced at him. “Okay?”

Jerome shrugged. “Honestly, I figured it was a pity dance. You felt bad that poor Jerome had been rejected so many times.”

“I didn’t get a pity dance.” Alfie mumbled.

Nina didn’t acknowledge Alfie. “It wasn’t a pity dance, I just wanted to get away and... to loosen up a bit I guess. You wanted someone to dance with, seemed the opportunity.”

Jerome nodded. “Did it work to loosen you up?”

“Not as well as this.” Nina held out the cigarette that she realized didn’t feel so strange in her hand anymore. Jerome smirked a bit. “We can think of it like a dance between friends. We’re friends right?”

Jerome glanced at her and smiled a little bigger. “I only smoke with friends.”

Nina smiled, welcoming the cigarette to her lips again. After a little while Alfie spoke up.

“I didn’t even get a dance with a friend.”

He didn’t sound completely serious, but still like he wished he got the opportunity. Nina and Jerome let out similarly breathy laughs.

“Hey, how about this. Next party, I’ll dance with you.” Nina said.

Alfie held out his pinky. “Pinky swear?”

Nina glanced at it incredulously, she hadn’t done a pinky swear in so long. She looked down at Alfie’s bright alien pajama pants and remembered her thinking he was like a big kid sometimes, and then at his grey sweatshirt and serious face with the cigarette hanging out and thought she didn’t know what he was exactly. He was in a classification all on his own. Still, she hooked her pinky to his. He nodded, satisfied.

After a while, the taste in her mouth got very strong, she moved her fingers as close to the other end as possible to get away from the heat. There was a spot on her tongue where the heat would hit every time she took more smoke in, it felt sort of numb and she knew she wouldn’t be able to remove the taste for a while. The thing was even more bitter and her eyes burned with tears again. Her chest kind of hurt, too. Jerome looked over at her and took the cigarette out of her hands.

“That’s dead.” She watched him put it out on the wall and drop it into the trash bin.

“Aren’t you afraid Victor will find the scorch marks? Or the cigarette butts?” Nina asked. Jerome shrugged.

“Forgot the ashtray at home, we haven’t gotten a new yet. Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.” Jerome said.

As Alfie flicked ashes onto the ground, Nina let out a heavy sigh and was surprised for a moment when no smoke cloud came out of her lips. She shook her head and glanced at the clock. It was nearing eleven thirty.

“I should probably go.” Nina said.

“Don’t let Victor catch you.” Alfie warned. Nina nodded and walked to the door. She looked out and when she saw the coast was clear, she began her trek up to her room.

Nina was very thankful it was the weekend, she had the luxury of sleeping in. She had stayed up much later in the past than she had last night, but for some reason she was even more tired than she had been at those times. Unfortunately the fact that she had no obligations that forced her to be up early did not stop Amber from waking her.

“Trudy told me to get you so you wouldn’t miss breakfast.” Amber said as she moved from Nina’s bed and began brushing her hair. “Fabian’s the only boy down there that doesn’t eat like his last meal was a week ago, if you miss it, there is no hope of you getting any food.”

Nina groaned and slowly peeled herself from her bed. She moved like a zombie to her slippers. Her mouth still tasted like cigarettes, she’d passed out before she could brush her teeth and she looked forward to doing that now.

When she came back into the room after scrubbing her mouth clean, Amber was finishing up with her hair and got up to join her. Right before Nina was about to reach for the door, Amber asked, “Where were you last night?”

Nina stopped so quickly, Amber bumped into her. “What?” Nina asked.

“Where’d you go last night? You woke me when you came back in.”

“I...” Nina searched her mind for some answer to give her. “I went on a late night walk.”

“What? Why?” Amber asked.

“I just needed the fresh air. To clear my head.” Nina answered.

Amber looked at her like she couldn’t understand such a thing, but then shrugged and walked past Nina. Nina let out a heavy breath and followed her.

Nina could sense a change in Jerome and Alfie’s behavior towards her immediately. Jerome and Alfie were hardly rude to anyone, save a couple of exceptions, but there was a difference in how they treated certain people. Both boys kept people at a distance most times, the one person they seemed closer to was Eddie. They’d include him in the jokes they told to each other and nudge him in a way so they could all laugh at things together. Nina now got this same treatment and wondered if Eddie ever smoked with Jerome and Alfie.

They were still just the two of them, it wasn’t like she was now apart of the Lewis and Clarke duo. But they were certainly more receptive to her than they had been before, and more than they were to nearly everyone else. It was obvious from the looks she got from others that she wasn’t the only one who noticed, but Amber was the one who squinted at her like she was trying to read a book. She wasn’t the one to bring it up to her though.

“So, you’ve managed to get pretty close with Jerome and Alfie,” Joy said to her later that day. She sat down next to her in the sitting room. “Not many people accomplish that. For showboaters and crowd pleasers they’re pretty private.”

Nina shrugged. “They’re nicer than I thought they’d be.”

Nina kind of got this idea that everything they were best known for was a facade. Sure they liked to mess with people and be trouble makers, but she knew Jerome seemed to be a little more self-conscious than he let on. As for Alfie, she would have never thought the boy had a calm moment, but maybe he was just jittery because he was anxious.

Joy nodded. “They’re not bad, usually.”

“You and Patricia made it seem like they were awful,” Nina said.

Joy shrugged. “They can be.”

Nina noticed she seemed to be distracted and she looked at where her attention was and saw Fabian sending glances their way every so often. Nina’s stomach churned. Nina couldn’t tell for the life of her who Fabian was looking at.

Both girls were distracted when Mick plopped down in the armchair beside them. He looked stressed out. “Hey Mick,” Joy said, sounding almost worried. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “Got off the phone with my dad.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well,” Nina said.

He let out a sigh. “He said if my grades are how they were last year, I’ll be in serious trouble. He doesn’t get it, I try, I just don’t understand all that school stuff.”

“Maybe you could get someone to tutor you.” Joy suggested, her eyes finding Fabian again.

“Maybe,” Mick said, his eyes unfocused like he was thinking. “Mara Jaffray is pretty smart, right? Maybe I’ll ask her.”

“What?” Joy snapped, her voice sort of high. She was finally not focused on Fabian and looking directly at Mick. “No, no! I mean, yes she’s smart but wouldn’t you rather work with Fabian? You guys seem to be pretty good friends.”

Mick shrugged. “I like Fabian, but we don’t seem to really work together. We tried a couple of years ago. Mara’s probably in her room, I’ll ask her.”

Joy bit her lip as she watched him go. Nina eyed her. “What’s the big deal?”

“Don't you see? Mara likes him!” Joy said like she wasn’t getting how Nina didn’t catch on right away. She brought her voice down, afraid of someone overhearing. “She likes him a lot, being so close to him while studying isn’t going to help that crush go away at all. It’s just trouble, the whole thing.”

“Maybe she’ll say no.” Nina suggested.

“She can’t,” Joy said, looking sad. “Year of Yes.”

Mick knocked on the door to Mara’s room and Patricia was the one to open the door. “Hey, is Mara in there?”

Patricia looked a little surprised but nodded and opened it wider. Mara was sitting on her bed, legs crossed, as she focused on the work in front of her. “I’ll be downstairs.” Patricia said.

Mara looked up and a little confused when she saw Mick. “Er, hello.”

“Hi,” Mick gave her a smile. “I was wondering if I could ask you to do me a favor.”

“Me?” Mara asked, her voice high and nervous. “I suppose.”

“Oh, good.” Mick smiled. “I know you’re like, the school babe,” Mara’s eyebrows rose at the title. “And I’m not that great, so I was just wondering if, you know, you’d like to tutor me.”

“Tutor you?” Mara asked. She bit her lip and looked at her hands.

“It would be a real help.” Mick stepped closer, making Mara want to step back but she didn’t. “You won’t make me beg will you?”

“I-no. I won’t make you beg. I-I’ll tutor you.” Mara said not looking at him. “Amber’s okay with it, right?”

Mick shrugged. “I’m not sure why she wouldn’t be. But thank you, I owe you one I really do.”

Mara gave him a small smile before the door opened wider and Amber herself walked in. “Patricia said you were up here, Mick.” She looked from Mick to Mara. “What’s going on?”

“Mara’s agreed to tutor me for different classes. I reckon I’ll need the most help in maths.” Mick said grinning at the two girls he was in front of. He didn’t seem to notice how unhappy Amber looked at the idea.

“Mara’s tutoring you?” Amber asked and looked at Mara, who hadn’t looked up in a while. “How generous of her. Unnecessary though. I’d love to tutor you, Mick.”

Mick’s smile dropped a bit as he looked to Mara like he was hoping for help, but Mara still wasn’t looking at them. “Ahh... don’t take this the wrong way babe, but we kind of get the same grades in our classes.”

“So?” Amber crossed her arms.

“Well...” Mick floundered a little. “Well I’d like to get... better grades.”

Amber looked to be thinking about it before shrugging and smiling. “Okay, well I hope Mara can help you then!”

Mick smiled again too and turned to Mara. “Seriously, thank you so much. I won’t let you down!”

Mara nodded but still looked down. Mick left the room and Amber watched him go before turning to Mara. She walked to her and sat on Mara’s bed in front of her. Mara hesitantly looked up at the girl.

“I don’t have anything to worry about with this tutoring business do I?” Amber asked.

Mara bit her lip and shook her head.

“Good.” Amber said. “I’d hate to think you’d do anything wrong, Mara. But just to be sure, how about some rules?”

“Rules?” Mara asked.

“Sure. Just to make sure there’s no confusion.” Amber said in a sweet voice. “You can study wherever you want, even one of the bedrooms, so long as the door isn’t closed. That shouldn’t be a problem since you’ll have nothing to hide. If I even see the two of you on the same bed, I’ll have a major issue and you don’t wanna see that. And if Mick ends up spending more time with you than he does with me, his girlfriend, the arrangement is off. Finally, if I get any reason to suspect there’s more than studying here, what I’ll do to you will make you want to change schools. Got it?”

Mara nodded, eyes wide.

“Good.” Amber smiled. She brushed Mara’s hair out of her face with her hand. Mara shivered at the touch. “Glad we have an understanding then.”

Chapter Text

“Hello boys.” Nina approached Jerome and Alfie in their room.

She reflected on how when she first met them, she wanted to stay as far away from them as possible. Suddenly, they were some of her favorite people to hang out with. She smoked with them a couple of times throughout the week. They asked if she wanted to, and her answer, of course, had to be yes. Smoking didn't make her feel like her chest was on fire the other times either. In fact, it was almost pleasant. Almost . She was still doing this assuring herself she wouldn’t get addicted or anything.

Currently, it was evening and they were on their beds hunched over what she assumed to be their homework. Nina asked, “What rules are you breaking tonight?”

“None yet,” Jerome said with a bit of a smirk in her direction. “But perhaps some soon.”

Nina raised an eyebrow. “Oh so you’re planning on doing something you aren’t supposed to?”

Jerome shrugged and looked back at his papers. Nina looked at Alfie just in time to see him put something in his mouth. Then she watched him place the top on an orange pill container and looked at him questioningly.

“Adderall.” Alfie explained. She looked back at Alfie, eyes wide.

“What?!” She practically yelled.

“Relax, Nina. I swear you’re always ten seconds away from having some kind of breakdown.” Jerome snorted.

“Seriously. Were you always this terranoid?” Alfie asked. Nina didn’t care to know what that meant.

“At least I’m not doing speed!” Nina accused.

“When it’s prescribed, it’s just called taking your meds.” Alfie told her. “I have ADHD.”

Nina’s freak out faded rapidly, she was no doctor but even she could have diagnosed that if she tried.

“Aren’t you supposed to do that in the morning or something?” Nina asked. “Like vitamins? And not when Victor’s twenty minutes from dropping his pin?”

“I don’t actually take these every day, though my parents would be quite upset to learn that fact.” Alfie twisted the little orange bottle container around in his hand. “I take them when I want.”

Nina frowned and Jerome looked up at her. “You finished freaking out?”

Annoyed, Nina nodded.

“Good,” Alfie said. “Because it’s only wrong once I do this.”

She watched as he tossed the orange pill bottle to Jerome who caught it easily. In nearly one fluid motion, he twisted the cap off, put a pill in his hand and lifted it to his mouth to swallow.

“You could get expelled.” Nina crossed her arms.

“Are you gonna nark on us?” Jerome asked.

“Of course not,” Nina huffed. “I thought you’d know me better than that by now.”

Jerome looked at the bottle and then held it in his pointer finger and thumb like something to be inspected. Then he lifted it to Nina slightly.

“Do you...”

“Don’t even ask that question because I don’t want to have to say yes.” Nina interrupted him. Jerome and Alfie exchanged a glance. “I don’t even have a reason to be that ‘focused’ and I’ll probably end up doing something stupid.”

Jerome shrugged and tossed it back to Alfie.

“So you apparently don’t have anything against medically prescribed drugs, why don’t you take some kind of anxiety pill instead of smoking?” Nina asked Alfie.

He snorted. “Well I’m not officially diagnosed with anxiety like I am with the ADHD.”

Nina made a face. “You just assumed or something?”

Alfie shrugged again, neglecting to answer. Jerome and Alfie went back to their homework.

“What assignment are you working on?” Nina asked.

“The Victor Blackmail.” Jerome said casually. “We’ve gotten closer to figuring that out. We may need a third person though. Are you willing to help?”

“Um, yeah ,” Nina said, realizing she had been asked a pretty direct question and would have to say yes regardless. But she was pretty interested in the whole thing to begin with.

“We’ll let you know if we need you then.” Jerome nodded business like. “In the meantime, you should probably get out of here.”

“Are you kicking me out?” Nina asked, a bit of a smirk.

“It’s just if you keep coming in here like this, we may have to get you a bed.” Jerome joked.

“Or you could just sleep in Jerome’s bed with him.” Alfie said and Nina felt an immediate blush on her cheeks. Jerome reached onto his bed for a pillow and chucked it at Alfie, who ducked and started laughing.

“Um, okay well bye.” Nina ducked her head and quickly left the room. She couldn’t make out the words but she could hear Jerome begin to berate Alfie.

“Oh, hello Nina,” Nina jumped and looked up at Amber. She looked as though she had caught Nina doing something naughty, and suddenly Nina felt as though she had been. “What were you doing in Jerome and Alfie’s room?”

“I was only talking.” Nina mumbled.

Amber approached her slowly and Nina had to struggle not to try to bleed into the wall. “Is this where you were last week as well? When you just needed some ‘fresh air’?”

Nina nearly bit her lip, but suddenly got a bit of confidence. “Why does it matter to you?”

Amber raised an eyebrow. “Can’t I be curious?”

“Maybe find something more interesting to do with your time.” Nina hissed and stepped around the blonde.

She didn’t dare look back at Amber for fear of losing whatever assertiveness came over her.

She hadn’t talked to Amber again that night. By the time Amber came up, Nina was in bed, not exactly faking sleep but if Amber made that assumption Nina would do nothing to correct her.

Nina wondered if she would get questioned again about her newfound closeness with Jerome and Alfie but Amber didn’t ask her about it anymore. She was glad because it was the weekend and if Amber wanted to get to her, Nina didn’t really have any escape. At least with school she could run off to the next classroom. However she found that Amber didn’t want to talk to her much at all. She hoped her boldness didn’t come across as too cold, she really didn’t want to lose any friends. She didn’t want to push things, though, and have Amber start asking questions again.

After a while, though, she realized Amber wasn’t really concerned with her. At all. She was more concerned with Mara and Mick and what they were doing. They started their tutoring right away, and Mara had been so quiet and passive for so long, Nina couldn’t have expected the way the girl would be when it came to her studies. As soon as she got to it, it was all business.

Speaking of, Mara came downstairs and into the living room where a lot of them were, a notebook in hand, and instructed Mick to follow her as if he were an intern and she was managing him. She did spare a nervous glance back at Amber, who was watching the pair like a hawk.

Then Amber really surprised Nina by coming over to her with a direct command, “Nina, keep an eye on them for me.”

Nina was surprised, as she had no conversation with the girl, and suddenly she was giving her demands. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t trust,” she narrowed her eyes in the direction they went. “That.”

“So why is it Nina’s job to watch them?” Joy said, coming to her rescue and sitting beside her.

“This doesn’t really concern you, Joy.” Amber retorted without sparing a look at Joy. She got closer to Nina’s ear. “Can’t you do this for me Nina? Or maybe I’ll share where you like going on your ‘long walks’.”

“So what if you do.” Nina asked, not nearly as confidently as she’d hoped.

“Right. Doesn’t matter. Only, what are people going to think?” Amber quirked up an eyebrow. “I mean, I know what it looks like to me .”

Nina sighed as Joy eyed the pair, wondering what Amber could be saying. “Alright, Amber.”

“Nina-” Joy began.

“Year of, you know.” Nina said with a shrug. She noticed Jerome in the corner, watching her with interest, but ignored him. As she made her way to the stairs she heard Amber.

“Year of what?”

So she went outside of Mara’s room, hoping neither of them would see her, feeling like an idiot. It was a waste of time, like she knew it would be. The door was open so she didn’t have to worry about putting her ear against it, but even if she did, she would have given up on that effort quickly. All they were doing was studying. Sure they were laughing every once and a while, but Mara was very serious about what she was doing and it was clear in the way she snapped Mick into focus every few minutes. After a while, she got up and walked back downstairs.

Amber laid eyes on her and went to her immediately. “Why have you stopped? Have they done anything you need to report?”

“ No , Amber, they’re just studying.” Nina said, sort of sick of the girl. It was strange because for the most part, Amber was perfectly nice. But there was something about Mick that seemed to make her... slightly crazy. “And Mara’s extremely focused on what she’s doing for Mick. Which is correcting his study techniques.” Nina made sure to add at the look on Amber’s face. She took her seat next to Joy, which hadn’t been occupied. “In fact, she seems so tense and stressed out, I just want to tell her to take a break and maybe have some ice cream.”

“Mara’s always been that way from what I’ve seen.” Joy sighed. “It’s like she thinks the world will implode if she doesn’t do everything perfectly. Wish she could, I don’t know, just take a while and realize that school’s important but it doesn’t have to be her whole life.”

She got a strange look on her face and Nina would have asked a question about it but she didn’t have to. Patricia came into the room at that moment and looked up from her phone and immediately pounced on the expression. “Joy, what are you planning?”

“I’m not planning anything.” Joy said and even to Nina it didn’t sound convincing. She heard Jerome snort, who, for some reason, had spent most of the day so far standing in the corner on his phone and occasionally giving looks or sounds that showed he was very much paying attention to the conversations going on around him. Alfie wasn’t anywhere to be found, and while rare, the two did separate at times.

“I’ve known you for a third of my life, you can’t fool me.” Patricia crossed her arms. “So, what are you about to do? And better question, who are you about to do it to?”

“Well I know you too, Trish, and I know there’s something on your mind, likely whatever it was on your phone you were looking at before you came in, that you don’t want to think about. So what is it?”

“Mind your damn business will you?” Patricia mumbled without any real heat.

“You mind mine, I mind yours.” Joy countered. It was like a tennis match and Nina’s head kept going back and forth wondering who would break first. Turns out it was none of them because all attention went to Mick and Mara, who were descending the stairs.

“All of that was really helpful, thanks Mara.” Mick could be heard as he gave the small girl a hug. Mara looked over at Amber with wide eyes, Amber did not look amused but schooled her features to a wide, bubbly smile as soon as Mick looked at her. Though, Nina realized, she might have just been really excited to have Mick to herself again.

“Was it a good study session boo?” Amber asked approaching Mick.

“It...” he trailed off a bit as he looked over to the side. “Was. Hey, I gotta talk to Fabian a minute, I’ll be back.”

He quickly grabbed Fabian, who had been out of Nina’s line of vision, and dragged him outside. This left Amber looking disappointed at the spot where her boyfriend had been, and then incredulously, she began glaring at Mara.

“Rule number three, Mara.” Amber growled at her.

“It-it’s not my fault what he does when we finish studying. Or when he decides not to hang out with you.” Mara defended herself.

Amber gave her a predatory stare before turning with a swing of her blonde hair and going up the stairs.

“That’s going to implode eventually,” Jerome spoke up. Everyone turned to him and he looked up at the eyes on him. “What? It is.”

“What is?” Patricia questioned him.

“That whole relationship with Amber and meathead.” Jerome said motioning to where both were previously.

“What makes you so sure?” Mara asked with interest. Jerome must have caught it because he chuckled a bit.

“Amber’s self-conscious, though she’ll have you think otherwise, and has been deprived of affection while growing up.” Jerome said analytically. Nina turned her head a bit, looking right at him. Nina wondered if he could say this with certainty because he knew the signs for himself. “You can tell because of all the useless shit her dad gives her to shut her up about wanting more of him.”

“Well that’s dark.” Joy said. “What does that have to do with Mick?”

“He’s too busy and has too many obligations. He can’t really give her the attention she’s craving, and it’s making her act like a psycho.” Jerome shrugged. “It's not his fault. Even though I’d love to say it is, because I just genuinely don’t like the guy. Amber needs someone who makes it clear how he feels about her. So even when he’s not around, she has no doubts and doesn’t get all crazy and nearly make Mara cry.”

“I wouldn’t have cried.” Mara frowned. “And who even asked you?”

Jerome opened his mouth but once again, Mick interrupted where things were going to go. For some reason he looked excited while Fabian looked nervous. Mick gave Fabian a slight shove in the direction of Nina and Joy. Fabian walked in front of them and Nina and Joy looked at each other, confusion written on both of their faces. He stood directly in the middle of them and closed his eyes.

“I-I was w-w-wondering,” he began, eyes still closed. “If y-you would l-like to m-maybe g-go out s-sometime. With me.”

Fabian was shaking so hard and stuttering so much, Nina could hardly understand him. But when she translated it in her mind, her heart went double time and she thought she might stutter too. Only, she didn’t exactly know who he was talking to. He was positioned pretty much right between them and his eyes were closed so she couldn’t see who he was looking at. Nina looked at Joy, who looked just as stuck, and then at Jerome, who looked greatly amused, and at some of the other residents in the room. Only Mick seemed to know who Fabian was talking to and hadn’t seemed to grasp that who Fabian was asking wasn’t exactly clear. Joy bit her lip and glanced at Nina.

One thing was clear to Nina in that moment. While neither of them acknowledged it at all, both were obviously aware that they were competing for Fabian in some sense. The moment it became clear who Fabian was asking, the competition was over. Nina glanced at Mick again who met her eyes and raised his eyebrows. Her heart beat even faster as she looked back at Fabian. Finally, Jerome seemed to have enough.

“For God’s sake Fabian, why don’t you open your eyes and actually look at the girl.” he said. “Doesn’t she at least deserve that?”

And slowly he opened his eyes and was looking at...

“Joy?” Fabian asked, his eyes solely on her. Something inside Nina seemed to fall and crash and implode, while Nina could practically see the explosion of happiness on Joy’s face.

“Yes, I’d love to go out with you sometime, Fabian!”

Nina leaned back on the arm of the couch as Fabian grinned at Joy and she grinned back and they sat and stood there stupidly grinning at each other before the pair left to make plans for their date. Mick sat down in the armchair laughing a bit.

“Finally, I’ve been waiting for him to ask her out for what feels like years! I wondered if he’d ever get around to it.”

Feeling something kind of nasty, Nina turned to him. “You might want to go find your girlfriend before she cuts your face out of pictures and sticks your head on some voodoo dolls. And stabs you with pins.”

Mick’s smile slowly slid off of his face, which was exactly what Nina was going for and was satisfied to see it happen. “Why would she do that?”

Patricia snorted from the side, looking at her phone again. “Do you even know who you’re dating?”

Mick’s frown deepened and he went upstairs to find Amber.

“Aw. Poor Nina.” Nina’s head whipped around to Jerome, who was approaching Nina and sat down where Joy previously was. Patricia and Mara, the only other two left in the room, looked at the two of them. Patricia, who went back to frowning at her phone again, left and Mara didn’t seem to want to be there either because she made a swift exit as well.

“What, Jerome?” Nina snapped.

“You think I haven’t been watching you three? You think I didn’t know what was going on?” Jerome divulged. “I wondered how the whole thing was gonna play out. Though if it’s any consolation, I thought it’d be you.”

“Why?” Nina forgot her annoyance for a moment.

“Because you’re the better choice,” Jerome said as though it were obvious. “Though I’ll admit, I didn’t expect it all to play out so soon. Unrequited love’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

“What do you know about it?.” Nina looked away from him.

“Are you joking? I live with it.” Jerome laughed. Nina looked at him questioningly. “Alfie.”

“Alfie? Who does he ‘love’?” Nina asked.

“You’re kidding, you don’t know? He’s not exactly subtle about it, though he’s not exactly subtle about anything.”

Nina raised her eyebrows as to say how in the dark she was about this.

“Come on, Nina. Alfie likes Amber !” Jerome said.

“ Amber ?”

“Yeah, don’t ask me why.” Jerome shook his head like a disappointed father. “I keep wondering when he and Mara are gonna get together as a team and split Amber and Mick up themselves. Though that would soon turn into a conflict of interest. You know what though? The insane thing is, Amber and Alfie would actually be kind of good together.”

“You think? Wait...” Nina realized something. “Is he who you were thinking of when you said what Amber would need in a boyfriend.”

“Right-o. But Amber’s blind, and despite what she’ll tell you, she’s terrible at being a ‘love guru’ as she would call it. She can’t even sort out her own love life.”

“What about you?” Nina challenged. “Who caught your eye?”

Jerome chuckled a bit and glanced at her before shaking his head. “No one here.”

“Oh come on, no one?” Nina pushed.

Jerome shrugged. “I suppose I liked Mara for a bit. But I quickly realized she had other interests.”

Nina groaned. “You’re no fun to mess with.”

“Really? Because I think you're loads of fun to mess with.” Jerome countered. It was at that moment that Alfie stumbled out rubbing his eyes and looking around. “Hey buddy, just waking up?”

A lazy smirk was put on Alfie’s face as he yawned and reminded Nina of a child. Jerome and Nina laughed together.

Nina could tell very quickly that hanging out with Joy and Patricia would be something she wouldn’t be doing as often as before. Currently, she was in Patricia and Joy’s room and the latter was talking nonstop about her and Fabian and their upcoming date and it made Nina want to scream. She couldn’t fault the girl for being excited, but that didn’t mean she wanted to hear about it. Nina also was beginning to see it as a little insensitive. Sure, Joy got the guy, and yeah they never talked about it, but Nina was sure Joy knew how she felt about Fabian. Worst of all, Patricia wasn’t contributing to the conversation at all so Nina was forced to pick up the slack. She must not have been doing a good job because eventually Joy turned to Patricia.

“Can’t you pretend to care?” Joy complained.

“No,” Patricia said distractedly.

“What are you even thinking about? Your new boyfriend?” Joy teased.

“Eddie is not my boyfriend.” Patricia said with the most passion in her voice Nina had heard from her all day. “We danced, we kissed, and we’ve hung out some since then, but that’s it.”

“Oh please, answer this question. If Eddie asked a girl out, would you not be pissed?” Joy challenged.

“Eddie can do whatever he pleases.”

“You better make it official, Patricia, because soon enough, someone’s going to.” Joy said.

Nina wanted to take the topic of boys and dates and kill it for good. “If you weren’t thinking about Eddie, what were you thinking about?”

Patricia frowned. “My parents have invited me next weekend to go back home. My sister Piper is visiting, apparently, and they want to get the whole family together. I keep telling them no, but they keep not listening.”

“What’s that Patricia? You keep telling them no ?” Joy raised an eyebrow.

“Forget it, Joy, I’m not having dinner with my family.” Patricia said stubbornly. “Year of Yes doesn’t bleed into life outside of school.”

“Why not?!” Joy burst out. “It’s not just about school, it’s not even really just about answering yes or no questions with yes! It’s about learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable ! And who knows Patricia, maybe you’ll really enjoy dinner, or work out some of the issues you have with them.”

“Joy-”

“Say yes.” Joy commanded. “Say yes. Say yes, say yes, say yes Patricia say-”

“OKAY!” Patricia said, snatching her phone up. “I’ll say yes!”

As Patricia left the room to call her parents in private, Nina looked at Joy. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re making Year of Yes more than it needs to be.”

“No way.” Joy shook her head. “Everything I said was absolutely true. Besides, this dinner thing is probably something Patricia really needs.”

“And what if this gets us into doing something that we really don’t need?” Nina asked.

Joy shrugged. “I think every experience is worth experiencing. Because every experience, even the bad ones, shape who we are.”

Tell that to my medical bills . Nina thought many hours later when she found herself in the window of Jerome and Alfie’s room sucking on a cigarette. When I eventually get lung cancer.

Nina thought the distraction of school would be welcome when Fabian and Joy came to breakfast that morning hand and hand. She wondered inwardly if Joy maybe wouldn’t have agreed to a date with Fabian if Nina asked that of her, or if she made her blooming feelings for the boy known. But then again, though Nina and Joy were friendly, they were just about two weeks into the year. They couldn’t really be considered friend friends, Joy really didn’t owe her anything. Not to mention Joy and Fabian seemed to have known each other longer, and, of course, she couldn’t say no anyway. Year of Yes and all of that.

Nina realized once again that the other four participants seemed to be getting off a lot better than she was. So badly did she want something more to come from her new ability to be open to everything. She truly did enjoy her new friendship with Jerome and Alfie, strangely. It was something about how they were so removed from everyone else. Aware of what was going on around them, sure, especially for Jerome, but not involved. It was like when she hung out with them, she was in another world entirely. She briefly considered the idea of actually pursuing something with Jerome, if he were interested, but quickly took the idea out of her mind. Sure he was cute, but she thought something about it would be... weird.

Perhaps she was paying attention to them even more than usual but she noticed when Jerome whispered something to Alfie and he nodded, and suddenly she felt like she should take cover or something. Though at first nothing happened, she soon saw Alfie set his sights on Mara, who was busy reading a book. She kept getting lost in the text as her spoon would hover in the air for so long that all of the milk would drip out by the time she finally put it to her mouth.

“You ever take a break from school shit, Jaffray?” Alfie said and it was such a Jerome type of sentence Nina wondered if the taller boy fed it to him. Mara looked up suddenly, as though she just realized where she was.

“Why should I?”

“Because it’s breakfast and somehow you’re sucking the joy out of eating.” Alfie debated.

“Please don’t use that word in that way.” Joy mumbled but other then a snort from Jerome she was ignored.

“Why are you so worried about me and what I’m doing?” Mara frowned.

“You ever do something crazy?” Alfie asked, Nina couldn’t for the life of her tell where any of this was going. “Like punch someone or flash someone?”

“Why would I do that?” Mara looked extremely horrified. Everyone at the table watched in bemusement but curiosity.

Alfie shrugged and leaned back, and once again Nina felt like he was acting very Jerome like. But of course, they were best friends and around each other constantly, that might have something to do with it. Still, she looked at Jerome to see him watching Mara intensely.

“Just to do it. You don’t always have to have a reason to do things so much as having no reason not to.” Alfie said.

“That-” Fabian cut in. “That doesn’t make sense. There’s lots of reasons not to flash or punch someone.”

“Pipe down Rutter, maybe we’ll get to you later but we’re on Mars Bar right now.” Alfie said authoritatively and several people watching let out some sound of amusement at the nickname. “So how about it Mara, feel like doing something crazy?”

“You want me to punch somebody?” Mara asked, shock covering her voice.

Alfie made a pensive face but shook his head. “Nah, but you could lift your shirt up and show us all what you’ve got under there.”

“Alfie!” Mara covered her chest as if it were already exposed.

Patricia looked the smallest bit of amused but still thought to stand up for her friend, “Leave her alone, Alfie, before she has an aneurysm.”

“This could probably help her. Once you’ve exposed yourself once it’s not so bad.” Alfie said.

“I’m sorry, but I feel like I’d feel even more uncomfortable if I did that!” Mara said, her arms not dropped yet.

“Never know unless you try. So, go on, are you gonna let those girls free?” Alfie asked.

“Shouldn’t be too bad,” Jerome seemed unable to help himself from saying. “It’d be like wearing a swimsuit.”

Mara spluttered but then she glanced at Joy for a second and Nina saw why. Discreetly Joy was doing hand movements that Nina knew was sign language for Y.O.Y, only because Joy told her and the others the previous day they could use it if ever they were around people but needed a gentle reminder. Mara looked horrified, and Nina was sure she was going to decide not to participate in it anymore.

So Nina was surprised when Mara slowly stood up and reached her hands to the bottom of her shirt.

“No effing way,” Eddie could be heard.

“Mara you’re not really going to do it are you?” Amber asked looking shocked and yet still intrigued.

“You don’t have to listen to Alfie, he’s an idiot.” Fabian said.

“Thanks, mate.” Alfie said sarcastically without moving his eyes from Mara, who seemed to be preparing herself. He did nudge Jerome, though, when he said, “I see what you mean about that stick up his arse.”

Perhaps Fabian would have retorted, but everyone’s eyes soon went to Mara as she lifted her blouse above her head and showed off what was likely B cup breast covered by a nude bra. She was met with applause and sounds of approval, especially from Jerome and Alfie. Amber looked annoyed and moved Mick’s head so he was looking at her and then kissed him. When Mara lowered her arms her face was bright red and she quickly ran from the table, book and meal forgotten. Joy quickly ran after her and Fabian turned to Alfie.

“Why’d you have her do that?” Fabian growled.

“What you didn’t enjoy that?” Alfie smirked.

“And anyway, she had full control over her functions.” Jerome cut in. “Alfie just suggested it.”

Knowing Mara felt pressure from the ‘Year of Yes’ thing, Nina felt bad and got up from the table to see if Mara was alright as well. When she got to the room Joy was talking comforting words to her.

“I can’t believe I did that. I’m so ashamed and embarrassed.” Mara was saying.

“Well, I don’t know if this would make you feel better, but you really don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. You have a great body.”

Mara glared at her for a moment before giving her a small smile. Nina hesitantly came further in the room and Mara looked at her.

“Are you alright?” Nina asked.

Mara nodded. “I’m fine. I’d like to be mad at Joy-”

“What did I do?” Joy protested.

“But this is what I signed up for.” Mara shrugged, not acknowledging Joy.

“Maybe they’re right, though.” Joy said. “Not about everything, but you can loosen up a bit. We’re not far into the school year. Your mind doesn’t have to be focused on your studies all of the time.”

“Why is everyone acting like I’m the one in the wrong because I prioritize school and homework?” Mara asked, a bit of a stomp of her foot.

“No one is saying that, we just want you to loosen up a bit.” Joy insisted. Mara looked to Nina as if asking if she thought the same.

“I see both sides.” Nina answered and thought of Switzerland during World War II. Joy didn’t look impressed at her.

“How about this, do you think maybe you could go two days without doing any homework?” Joy asked. Mara stood up at once.

“You’re using Year of Yes against me, that’s why you asked me a yes or no question.” Nina thought Mara looked pretty angry.

“I just want to show you nothing will happen if you just let loose a little.” Joy said, standing as well. “It’s just two days, Mara.”

“It’s the beginning of the year,” she said, somehow grinding her teeth as she did it.

“Which means it won’t have any lasting damage.” Joy said. Nina decided to step in.

“Joy, I think you might be pushing this a little too far. It shouldn’t affect school.” Nina objected.

“It’s supposed to affect life !” Joy said sounding exasperated. “And it doesn’t matter, I asked you a question and you have to say yes to it. Those are the rules.”

Mara frowned. “What if I quit?”

“I already know you won’t.” Joy said. “Because somewhere in you is a deep rooted curiosity, it’s what got you to do it in the first place.”

Mara stared at her for a long time before she looked away. “Okay, whatever fine I'll do it.”