Ok, so this is the last, and longest, installation of The Prank King. I have no idea how it even got this long, I just… I really have no life, I just don't. Ok, quickly before you read I need to make a few shoutouts!

So here's to:

Jamber111

BTRandHOA

And Pufflehuff

You guys stuck with me till the end, you helped me finish. So here it is. WARNING: Mentions of drug use, underaged drinking and an awkward shower situation thingy-ma-bob

Oh, and I own House of Anubis

Hehehehe

Sadly, I don't… *crawls up in sock drawer and cries*

Ok, on with the story!

~0o0o0o0~

Jerome watched her gentle breathing, her chest moving up and down as she snuggled into his side. Suddenly, he felt glad for the late night study, and the fact that he was failing miserably at math. Nobly, she had volunteered to help him, noting that, he had so much potential and shouldn't squander it. Just a few minutes ago they had been studying when she had proclaimed that he was ready enough.

Obviously she had been tired, and when they had cuddled she knocked off almost immediately. And so here she lay, sleeping like an angel. Everyone so often, she would stir and whimper a bit, something that Jerome found was so adorable.

Way too soon, Victor started his pin speech, and grudgingly, he woke her up. "Whasat?" She mumbled sleepily, rubbing at her eyes.

"Time to go Mara." She smiled dumbly before placing a sloppy kiss on his lips and walking upstairs. Victor didn't bother yelling at her but managed to throw Jerome a glare. In his childishness, he almost stuck his tongue out but advised himself against it. Victor was hard enough to live with already, nobody wanted him to add to that. As Jerome was about to nod off, feeling tired himself, he noticed Mara's notebook on the ground.

It was green with polka-dots on it with spiral binding. Her name was clearly printed on the front of it, in her dainty cursive. Jerome leafed through it, amused to see it was a journal of all her musings, with doodles covering the margins and the occasional bout of homework. It felt wrong to invade her privacy. That was his plan until his name caught his attention. It was a page of doodles, a giant heart in the middle with his and her names in the middle. Other words were written across the page:

JC + MJ

Mrs. Clarke

Mara Dalia* Clarke

It went on, a page filled with doodles. Jerome knew he should have been disturbed, but if anything, he felt honored. Of course, he was tired and everything seemed honorable at this hour. He was just about to go to sleep, wanting to flop down onto his bed when Alfie walked in. He was followed by Victor's shouts telling him to go to bed. Jerome felt like shouting at him," I would if you would just shut up!" Alfie turned on the light and Jerome almost screamed.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shielding his eyes, Alfie was nothing more than a mere figure hanging over his bed.

"This is, like, the fifth time you've kicked me out of the room so that you could be with Mara! You're not even Jerome any more, you're… you're just some love sick puppy who does anything for his girl!"

Jerome retorted," Says the guy who stalks a girl who is, in fact, way out of his league." That shut him up for a while.

"You need to prank her," was his response.

"No, I'm not going to." He pulled the covers over his head only for them to be torn off by Alfie once more.

"Yes, you are!" The two had a small tug-of-war fight over his blankets until Jerome exclaimed," Fine! I'll do it! Just… give me some time. Now turn off the lights." Settling into the blankets, his stomach churned relentlessly. Having just gotten into a relationship with Mara, he really, really didn't want to ruin the honey-moon period. A prank would just ruin it, and he didn't want that. He didn't want to lose those games of footsie, their study/date sessions, their secret midnight strolls.

But this is who you are, he thought, she has to accept that. Even though he was tired, he found himself staring at the ceiling, trying to think of a relatively harmless prank that would have easy clean up. Alfie was obsessed with the disgusting pranks and that wouldn't really help him with her. Before he knew it, he was drifting through a dreamless sleep, his worries temporarily gone.

~0o0o0o0~

"Go on!" Alfie pushed Jerome towards the door, urging him to go through with the prank. It was a Saturday morning, and Jerome was up, too early for his tastes. The day was clear and sunny, a great day for a picnic or any outdoor activities. This was not that day. Alfie said the prank required the whole day to be free. Jerome had found himself asking, what're we gonna be doing?

Jerome hissed, still trying to keep himself rooted on the spot, "Alfie, I'm not sure if you get this: Mara's in the shower! I can't go in there!"

"What about that time with Trixie?" He asked, remembering the time they had written 'Help Me' on the mirror.

"That was ages ago!" And that had been the both of them, a quick operation, scared that at any moment she would finish and scream.

"And that other time?" Alfie quirked an eyebrow. Jerome groaned. Alfie only ever brought up the situation in desperate measures and threatened to tell everyone.

"Shut up! You were just as drunk as I was!" It was a wonder that Alfie recalled any of it. In a nutshell, at the previous year's prom, the pair of pranksters had taken it upon themselves to spike Trudy's famous punch as an experiment. The results had been disasterous.

"Yeah, but I didn't try to get into the shower with her." That was the worst part of it all, he had done the unthinkable. His mind had been a-whir with the taste of alcohol and the pumping music of the gym. A few of the house members, the couples, had left and went back to the house. He had accompanied them, and the festivities had continued.

Everyone was drunk, shots went around, everyone participated in the racous laughter. Victor had left the previous night and Trudy was at the gym, supervising the crowd. She probably hadn't even noticed that her whole house was missing.

At some point, Eddie had provided the house with joints. Almost everyone had lit their own, only excluding Fabian and Nina, as well as Mara. Amber had been the most surprising person to take the joint but she argued that anything from the ground should be good. They all sat casually in a circle on the ground now, their once neat prom outfits skewed and distorted. All of the guys had shed their jackets, ties had been loosened, (Alfie tied his around his head, proclaiming that he was Rambo), buttons were undone, Eddie unbuttoning all of his, revealing his chest.

No one had a problem with it though, especially Patricia, who was tracing the lines as if they were some complicated maze. The girls had simply flung their shoes haphazardly in a pile, and were sitting in the strangest ways possible, not caring if they flashed anyone. All of them started giggling over non-sensical things. Jerome and Amber had given their best go at accents, Alfie and Eddie almost made out for the girls amusement. Eventually, Patricia and Amber leaving Alfie, Eddie, and Jerome, now sprawled out on the ground.

He inhaled deeply, feeling the taste of weed taint his throat, and puffed out slowly, watching the grey, smoky tendrils rise higher and higher into the air, twisting and writhing, competing until they disappeared into the other smoke. It was then when an idea struck him, "I'm gonna go talk to Mara!"

"Dude, good luck!" Eddie laughed as he walked away, shortly afterward taking another puff. Alfie was barely able to ask if he really thought he would go through with it, to which he snorted, his answer clear. Jerome, as it seemed, was having trouble navigating his way through the halls. Smoke clouded the walkways, like fog dimly lit by the moon light. He flung Mara's door open and found she wasn't there.

Where is she? He asked himself. He paced the hall again, not sure if he should ask Nina. Nina probably was snogging Fabian or doing some mystery shit, he told himself, she won't be any help. Then he heard her voice, or what he thought was her voice. The song was lulling and familiar, but the words were not distinguishable, only the tune. His head was in a state of hazy disarray, telling him to go to the voice.

The door was unlocked, so he happily walked in. Mara had cranked the heat up so much that the fog and the smoke was hard to tell apart. It was humid, very uncomfortable for him. "Mara?" He asked quietly.

When he got no reply, he stupidly tried to yank the curtain open. Then she screamed, and Jerome realized that this wasn't Mara, but Trixie. "Jerome!" She shrieked," what are you doing?"

"M-Mara, where is she?" He sounded rather dumb.

"Well, she's not in here, is she? Now Jerome... Do me a favor and never bring this up again!" Nodding, he stumbled back into the hall and downstairs, where Eddie and Alfie still sat.

"How did it go?" Alfie asked. Jerome slumped down beside them and neglecting his promise to Trixie, told them everything.

"Jerome, you fucked up big time," Eddie said, not even mad. Obviously he knew that being indebted to Trixie would be way worse than being beat up by him.

As their joints dwindled into stubs, it was the sign for them to leave. Eddie took care of the temporary aftermath, flinging every window open to wait for the smoke to escape. Jerome and Alfie headed back for their rooms, and for the meantime, hadn't talked about it since.

After a final push from Alfie, he finally budged. Jerome casually strode across the hall, glad to see none of the other female occupants had found it in themselves to get up.

The door, just like the last fateful time he decided to waltz in, was unlocked. There was no singing this time, nothing but the sound of running water, and he decided to be extra careful. A hairdryer was plugged into the wall, thankfully, and he started as fast as he could.

He pulled out a bag of flour and poured some of the contents into it. The idea for the prank originated from his many days surfing the web during the holidays. The prank was intended originally for Amber, seeing as she had an obsession with it. Girl's obsession with their hair always confused him, mostly because he knew it was dead skin.

As carefully as he could, he placed it down and left the room, wincing slightly at the sound the door made when it closed. Alfie, who watched him, gave him an encouraging thumbs up. The pair left before the reaction and went downstairs to grab a quick breakfast.

They avoided the topic of the prank as they ate their cereal in giant spoonfuls. Then there was the scream. A meager scream, so instinctively Mara. Footsteps were heard from upstairs as they ran to her but Jerome and Alfie stayed. It probably wasn't the wisest decision seeing as since they weren't there, it immediately incriminated them. It did, and they found this out when Patricia and Joy came down the stairs and slapped them. They didn't stop at one, but pelted them, telling them how horrible they were.

"You're such an arsehole! I would blame Mara if she broke up with you!" Joy had such a way with words. When the two had enough, they ran back upstairs, possibly to comfort Mara. The guys were now streaming out of their rooms to see what was going on, Fabian leading the charge. Eddie looked back somewhat sympathetically to Jerome and Alfie at their red faces imprinted with distinguishable hand prints. And Jerome had thought that it would be a harmless prank.

~0o0o0o0~

"Come on Mara," Patricia whined," you need to do this!" Mara put down her hairbrush, still self-conscious from the incident and took in a deep breath. Ever since the whole pranking fiasco, Patricia had been trying to get Mara to strike back. But Mara wondered, why did she care? It wasn't like she had been pranked. She did get the sentimentality behind Patricia caring and everything but...

"Patricia, for the last time, its fine. I'm... Fine. It was just a harmless prank. Both of them, they always pull pranks, no big deal," and she resumed brushing her hair, so sure that there was still powder in it.

Patricia wasn't having any of it," Mara, are you just going to let him trample over you? Are you just going to let him rule the relationship? No Mara, you aren't, not on my watch at least. So stop brushing your hair, you need to show him that you aren't weak. Mara Jaffray has a will of her own." She was undoubtedly making sense. Didn't she deserve a chance to prove herself? Yes she did.

"O-ok. I'll do it," Patricia smiled before she added," but nothing too extreme! I don't want him to break up with me!" There was fear in that statement. No one ever really knew why she held her tongue, never lashed out, resisted saying or doing what she felt. Because she knew that if she did people would see her for who she was. She had a backbone, but everything she felt like saying went into her writing, her daily vents. Speaking of which...

"We should plan now, oh, we could do it tomorrow! I have the perfect idea. Why don't we..." Patricia went on for a great deal, Mara only half-listening, trying to find a way out of it.

~0o0o0o0~

Mara's hands fidgeted over the handle of the bucket. She felt... Dirty. Not in any sexual way, but dirty as in feeling like she was betraying Jerome by doing this. Patricia placed a hand on Mara's shoulder and gave her a look saying,' you're-just-beating-him-at-his-own-game-so-relax'. The whole prospect of it seemed wrong. Mara Jaffray was not a prankster. Jerome was, she wasn't. It was simple. There were no exceptions to that. And yet here she stood with a bucket of cream ready to get revenge on her boyfriend.

"Okay, he'll be down here in a few minutes, right? Don't worry Mara," Patricia gave her a sincere look. The contents of the bucket made her stomach churn as it rippled. Runny cream was horrible. But of course, all this was distracting her from the real problem. How was this really going to prove anything? What, would it prove that she could drive herself to be petty and stoop to his level.

"Now Mara, just remember, aim at him." Mara winced. She was never good at anything that involved aiming, or exercise. It was a wonder that she managed to stay so skinny. She could hear him coming and Patricia gave her a thumbs up. He sauntered into view, obviously smug about some male exploit.

SPLASH!

The contents splashed right on him. Cream ran down from his hair all down his face, staining his shirt as well as his pants. He didn't look angry, like she had expected but merely looked shocked. Mara snuck a glance at Patricia, wanting to ask," What do we do now?" Patricia was fighting off fits of giggles as she stared at Jerome, her face turning red from the strain. Her laughter was contagious and soon Mara found herself similarly trying to quell laughter.

"Doesn't feel so nice when it happens to you, does it?" Mara asked, quirking an eyebrow for added measure. It was at that moment that Jerome seemed to phase back into reality and register what was happening.

"The hell Mara!" He dabbed his finger on his shirt and tasted the cream.

"Well..." Mara looked for any justification," all's fair in love and war, right?"

Patricia laughed at loud when his face turned into that of confusion. "Oh God, this... Hahaha, I have to go get my phone!" She bolted from the room which left the two of them alone. Jerome stared at her with part curiosity and part slyness.

"So Jaffray, finally growing a backbone are we?" He wiped some of the cream off of his shoulder and flicked his wrist at her, droplets of cream sticking to her face. Before she could protest, he started approaching her, a dangerous smirk on his face. And boy, did she know what he was going to do. His arms were outstretched, cream running down his shirt. She bolted to the other side of the island, trying to get some distance between the both of them.

The chase had begun. Jerome and her watched each other intently, both waiting for the other to make the next move. She analyzed all her options. The kitchen: two visible archways both blocked by Jerome, windows bolted shut, no chance of opening it and jumping out. That wouldn't be possible anyway, seeing as she had the agility of a sloth. Think, she urged, think! And then it hit her. The laundry room, behind her, easy chance to lock it before he caught her, door leading outside, perfect.

"Am I interrupting something?" Patricia asked. Mara seized the opportunity as Jerome was distracted and ran to the laundry room, locking it before she ran outside. As she ran, the sweet summer air washed over her. Her feet dug into the springy earth, blades of grass hitting her calves. Her lungs burned from the strain, as if on fire, the cool air not doing anything to help. She risked a look back to see him catching up with her. Laughter wrangled its way out of her throat as she thought of how oblivious he was being. He looked... Ridiculous. The fear caught up with her and she ran faster.

The forest seemed like the only the safe hiding place. Sure, there wasn't too much cover but she did know a couple of large trunked trees. Combine that with the fact that she was petite and could easily duck behind it sealed the deal. The air in the forest seemed much cooler but damp and constraining. Streams of light managed to shine on different patches of ground leaving other patches in the shadows. The ground was matted with leaves, browned and dying. They crunched under her feet as she ran, and she winced at every sound she made.

Trees were strewn close together, their trunks growing thicker as she ran farther in. A few times she almost fell flat on her face from a stray root, placed in her path with the sole purpose to trip her. She gritted her teeth and ran as fast as she could, praying, no, pleading that she inherited at least some of her parent's sporting finesse.

A broad smile stretched across her face when she spotted the tree. It had to be almost two by two meters. Moss clung to the bottom of the bark steadily crawling up the trunk. Branches drooped from high above, the leaves dwindling now, though some still clinging on for dear life, as if refusing their fate to die. She felt safe here, yet she feared that her laboured breathing would give her away. Her hands groped around for something to steady herself.

Surely, she found uneven notches in the bark and grabbed on, happily feeling her breathing slow down, her heart doing the same. Then there was the waiting. It was painfully boring waiting. No strange sound was heard, only the soft bubbling of a creek not too far away, the buzzing chatter of bugs and the occasional rustling of leaves that came high up in the trees. After a while she decided to herself that it must be safe and he had given up and went back to the house to clean up.

She retraced her steps, trying to avoid stepping in muddy areas when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and she heard an unnatural squishing sound. Cream covered the back of her head and the top of her favourite cardigan. "Jerome!" She squealed as she spun her around.

"Didn't think you could escape that easy, did ya?" He spun her around so that she faced him. His eyes glinted mischievously, humor etched into them effortlessly. His hands were on her shoulders now, and he was beaming at her. It was a genuine smile, a smile Mara loved seeing. She smiled back at him and soon they both found themselves laughing hysterically at how ridiculous they looked.

"Oh, I love you Mara," the statement slipped out on a sheer whim and instantly Jerome regretted it. Mara stopped smiling and stared at him, as if examining him.

"You... What?" His cheeks flushed deep red, his gaze now falling somewhere in the distance. When she didn't get an answer she slapped his arm, quite hard.

"Ow! What was that for!" He cried, cradling his arm. She may've been tiny but she packed a mean punch.

"I needed to make sure you hadn't gone into a state of shock. I've read about these things you know." He rolled his eyes. Typical Mara, knowing everything about anything that was.

"Well I'm not, well not now anyway."

"Just answer the question Jerome."

He let out a long, lingering sigh before saying," Mara Jaffray, I love you." If he could have, he would've melted right into the ground to avoid all confrontation. Unfortunately, life didn't work like that and so he stood, still solid, in front of the girl of his dreams, hoping he hadn't messed anything up.

"Jerome, we need to talk about this," Jerome suddenly had an idea and moved closer to her. She didn't back away or cower but stood her ground. It was good she was finally learning to defend herself and stand up for what she thought was right. It was a lame position on the subject, but in that moment, she thought she was being brave.

"Why? I thought you loved me?" He leaned in precariously close, their faces inches apart. It was obvious what he was trying to do, and she wouldn't let him try.

"I do Jerome-"

"Than what's the problem?" He brought his hand up and stroked her cheek, causing her to flinch ever so slightly. For those few seconds, they stared at each other, none of them daring to ruin the moment. He brought his lips to hers. When he felt her trying to pull away, he was devastated. Usually that technique would work. Maybe on other girls, but obviously not on Mara. Seduction was his talent, and it was rendered useless whenever he was with her.

The sounds of the forest were drowned out by their focus on each other. In their eyes, there was the mutual sense of fear. Her breaths were raggedy, occasionally hitching in her throat. Then, after what seemed like minutes, he broke the silence.

"I'm sorry, I should, I'll just leave you," But she did love him, didn't she? She loved his eyes, his sarcasm, the way he always protected her. And it was so clear he loved her, just the way he looked at her with such a look of adoration. Was she just too blind to see it? Or was she just in denial, caused by her fear of commitment? Had the failure of her relationship with Mick made her believe any relationship she would be in would be horrible? The questions flew around in her mind, and ultimately, she was left standing there like an idiot, confused.

Yes, she did love him. He had waited too long and hadn't heard it. Surely he deserved it! He waited for her. She needed to let him know he was loved. Panic rose in her heart when he was out of sight. Do something! She slapped her legs as if they were horses, trying to urge herself to catch up with him. So she ran up to him, screaming his name. She knew she probably looked like an idiot, or a psychopath, or both.

Jerome turned around and almost tumbled to the ground when they collided. They were tangled in a mess of limbs and cream. "Jerome," she whispered hoarsely with strain in her voice. They were too close for conversation the heat from their bodies slightly uncomfortable. So she brought her lips to his.

Their kiss was long, sweet, and chaste. His hands pulled her closer, smiling at her taste of peaches and cream. Their lips moulded together in a frenzy of emotions, the biggest of these being the victorious feeling of redemption. She smiled as he nipped at her lower lip, feeling her previous inhibitions fly away. Their tongues danced together, a moan discharged from his throat.

Feeling bold she slipped her hands under the hem of his shirt, trailing his chest. He shuddered and quickly retorted by trailing his hand dangerously up her thigh. Their kiss raged on, ending up with him pushing her up against the tree. Mara had never gone this far with Mick, or any other fleeting crush. For some reason, this felt right. The feeling of love, of chemistry was mutual. The cold hit both of them, their exposed skin prickled with goose bumps.

Eventually the need for oxygen cut their kiss to a close. In that time, the sun had managed to sink in the sky, shades of pink and orange. Their hands intertwined and they shared a secret smile, Mara near giggling. "I think," he suggested," we should get back to the house before anyone starts to worry."

"Are you sure?" He smiled at her, a genuine smile, so rare in itself that her heart near skipped a beat. She bit her lip to stop a smile that she felt creeping up on her face. "Well…" He leaned in and kissed her again, savoring her. While his kisses started travelling downwards, occasionally kissing a singular spot on her neck, they heard a scream.

More of a squeal but none-the-less they stopped. They were both now aware that a fuming Patricia and a squealing Amber were standing in their midst. There was also the fact that they were both partially undressed, and that the two had just been getting serious against a tree.

"Shit," Jerome muttered fumbling over his buttons. Mara did the same and repositioned her dress which was riding high up her thigh. "Do you guys do anything besides interrupt couples? Is that just what you do?" He asked, mainly towards Patricia. Over the extent of their relationship, she had been the one that had casually walked in while they were kissing. She must have made a hobby out of it, or maybe had a long running dare with Alfie, like a competition. He would have to ask him, but now, he had other things to worry about.

"Come on, Trudy sent us out to come and get you. Says it's not safe roaming the school grounds near dark. I, for one, am glad that she told us to. Imagine how much worse," she motioned to the both of them," would be."

Amber seemed the give Patricia a glance of subtle fury, probably thinking,' You're-the-one-to-talk,' before going into a long length discussion with Patricia about their couple name. By the time they had managed to exit the now cooling grounds and get to Anubis, they had thought of Jera, Jara, and Marome. There had a been a big argument about whether it should be Jara or Marome and eventually Jara won out. Jerome rolled his eyes at their antics.

Scrapbooks, ugh.

They walked to dinner quite casually without really saying anything and settling into the already pleasant conversation. Mara was quite giddy from the previous events, and quite hungry she noted, and started piling salad on her plate. That's when Eddie saw it. He could of just raised his eyebrows at Patricia or ignored it, but being the attention douche he was, he had to make a big show of it.

"Mara, what's that on your neck?" Jerome ran a hand through his hair, not bothering to check, wanting to seem calm. Secretly in his mind, he was praying that was Eddie was implying wasn't true. All his pent up anxiety was shown by the way he was stabbing a soggy piece of lettuce, and mentally, he started degrading that piece of lettuce, distracting himself. Stupid lettuce.

"What?" She brushed her neck thinking there was a leaf on it, so oblivious to what was happening. Eddie's face scrunched up as he focused on the mark. It was familiar to him and he knew why.

"Oh, this is just… Mara has a hickey!" Any private conversations at the table stopped and focused in on Mara and Eddie. She looked at him with questioning eyes. "A what?"

"Aw, little Mara doesn't know what a hickey is. Alfie, care to explain?" Alfie shook his head rapidly, trying to contain his laughter and shock.

"Patricia?" She shot him a glare, unamused, and went back to eating her pitiful dinner.

"I guess it's up to Siri then. Siri, what's a hickey?"

The iPhone promptly responded in an unfeeling voice," Hickey: A skin blemish, especially caused by a lover biting or sucking the skin." Eddie privately thanked the application and smirked back at the pair, wanting answers. Nina, Fabian, Joy, and Mick sat, their mouths hanging open, none of them wanting to believe that innocent little Mara had gotten a hickey. And from Jerome of all people. Mick's facial expression soon changed from shock to anger. He still hadn't gotten over their break up and tried to talk Mara up as often as he could.

"B-but it's on her neck!"

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Nina I've had my share of hickeys in my day, and trust me, the neck isn't the weirdest place you can get one, I mean, I once got one, like right he-" Patricia glared at him before he whispered, barely audible," Aw, don't frown. Don't you know I got most of them from you?" She slapped him and blushed.

Mara hoped that their little love fest had gotten them off topic. It hadn't. "So, I'm taking you two were making out?"

"It was on a tree!" Everybody howled with laughter, Alfie actually in tears, almost falling off of his chair.

Patricia snorted," And you should've seen how much cream there was." There wasn't as much evidence of the sticky stuff now, only the stains which were only visible on the clumpy strands of her hair and on his shirt.

"Oh, kinky." Eddie drawled. Everyone besides the two laughed at how embarrassed they were getting. Jerome was more accepting of the situation, relying on his sense of sarcasm to weasel his way out of it. He was just about to bring up the time he found Eddie and Patricia on the kitchen island at night. That had been a disturbing night for him, and they made him swear not to tell. He crossed his fingers though, so he had the right to tell.

"Actually Eddie, the cream was from Mara's prank." Alfie, Eddie, and Joy looked at her with joking shock. Mara felt offended. They could imagine her going far in college and in the world, but not pulling a simple prank?

"You're joking, right? Mara pull a prank?" Alfie stared at her, not believing anything they were saying at all. Jerome grabbed her hand from under the table and squeezed it reassuringly, telling her it was ok. It was ok. At least they were bringing in too many details.

"Yup," Patricia popped some pasta into her mouth," She threw a bucket of cream at him." Their oos and ahs were deafening, and eventually turned into claps, well, except from Mick. And she smiled, happy that for once, she was being appreciated from who she was an not the girl that was hiding behind the wall of shyness.

"To Mara!" Joy thrust her cup up in the air.

"To Mara!" They all followed, smiling, no, beaming at her. Yet he still felt the need for revenge:

"So Patricia, Eddie, remember that night…?"

~0o0o0o0~

"Hey Jerome," she hid behind the door whilst giving him a big grin.

"Hi Mara," she showed herself in and sat on his bed, twiddling with her thumbs.

"So..." Right. The diary, or journal, or whatever she preferred. Honestly, when the journal was in his possession, he felt guilty. The air in the room was stagnant, almost dry, and made it incredibly hard to breath. He strode over to the window and opened it. For a moment he stood there, just watching the night, when she snuck up behind him.

"Jerome, are you ok?"

"Mara… You know when you were in here the other night and you left your stuff here?" She looked at him dubiously before answering," Yeah?"

Wind entered the room, ruffling some stray papers, but he was glad for the distraction, something to put off the conversation between them. "Did you notice anything missing?"

"Like what?" She prodded, still unsure of what he was talking about. His eyes glanced at the bedside table," See for yourself." She turned around and saw here notebook on the table. A blush creeped up onto her cheeks when she remembered all her drably journal entries about him. He wouldn't have read them, would he? She clutched the book to her chest and said," Um, Jerome, did you look through it?"

He was unsure what to do. Tell her and let them get into a possible argument? Or not tell her and let her find out herself, ending up in an eventual argument? As much as he loved her, all women were confusing. Now would be a great time for any of the house mates to barge in but sadly for him, they were all pre-occupied.

"Yes," was his only answer.

"What did you see?" She would be extremely embarrassed if he had seen the entry where she talked about a very vivid dream that included both of them. That would be really bad. "Nothing really, just a page of doodles." That wasn't as bad as she expected. That page of doodles only had a few things on it, nothing really bad.

He turned around abruptly and came up to her," I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"I shouldn't've gone through your stuff. Aren't you supposed to be angry at me right now?" Wasn't a journal supposed to be something that you guarded with your life?

"Who says this is a bad thing? I mean, all the stuff on that page was true so… yah." She started spinning on the spot, avoiding eye contact.

"Even the part about Mara Dahlia Clarke?" He blurted it out before he could even process what he was saying. And he wondered why a lot of his attempts at romance always failed. She blushed and looked down, tittering ever so slightly.

"Well," he walked up to her," One day, I wouldn't mind that." He brought his lips down to kiss her when Amber burst into the room with a camera, taking a multitude of pictures – with the flash on. They shielded their eyes and screamed at her to leave.

"So-rry! I can't make a scrapbook with no material, you know! Oh! This one's a good one!" She promptly left, screaming for the girls.

"Where were we?" Mara inhaled slightly, getting a fluttering feeling in her stomach, a feeling she constantly got when she kissed Jerome. It was like being kissed for the first time, all the time. His lips brushed against hers gently, and even that was enough to send her mind into a state of numb euphoria.

"Mara! Oh um…" Patricia cried as she came in the room, suddenly regretting her outburst.

"Can we get some privacy, for Christ's sake!" Jerome really thought there was some conspiracy within the house that wanted to end his kisses with her. Even Mara looked annoyed, only she was better at hiding it.

"Hey, don't talk to me like that, I've got all night."

"Yea Patricia?" Mara asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh, um, we wanna talk to you, just Mara though."

"We being?" Mara asked, skepticism in her voice.

"The girls," Of course. Stupid girl time. Why couldn't she just keep one thing private? Guys had such a sense of simplicity, why couldn't girls have that too?

"Of course," Jerome rolled his eyes, trying to convey his annoyance towards Patricia. He really just wanted to ask her if she could just stall for a while but that might be pushing it.

"Shut it. Come on Mara!" There was such urgency in her voice as if their lives depended on hearing all the details of her love life.

"Ok, I'll be up in a minute, you go first, 'kay?"

"Alright." Patricia slammed the door shut and Jerome let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I need to go Jerome,"

"We still have a minute, don't we?"

And finally, not wanting the moment to be interrupted, their let their lips mold together in a frenzy of heat and passion, and, he smiled into the kiss, it tasted like cream.

~0o0o0o0~

I admit the ending was crappy yes no denials there but I liked the rest of it. Um… sorry if the flashback thingy was a bit confusing. Yeah, so THIS IS THE END OF THE STORY, YAY!

~kels