I was inspired by the song "Lullaby" by Nickelback. Awesome song, look it up!

It's not my best, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head...enjoy!

"Where are they? We need to start this project like, now." Mara grumbled, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Maybe they're secretly dating." Eddie suggested from his place on the couch.

The other members of Anubis House stared at him.

"What? They're perfect for each other! We all know it."

"Jerome is always late, but Joy is rarely late, where are they? What other explanation do we have that isn't stupid?" Patricia asked, glaring at her boyfriend briefly.

A new project for History had brought all of the Anubis House residents to the lounge. All of them were ready to start working, all but Jerome and Joy, who hadn't shown up yet. The group jumped when they heard a door slam. Joy stormed around the curtains on the stage, tear stains trailing down her tan cheeks.

"Joy, what's wrong?" Patricia asked frantically.

"Joy—"

"Leave me alone, Jerome." she snapped back at him. "Alright, let's get this stupid project over with."

Jerome jumped off the stage, determination hard on his pale face, and landed a few feet away from her. "Joy—"

"Never mind, I'm leaving, do it without Me." the brunette mumbled, pushing away from the group.

"Joy, you need to listen to me for a second." Jerome demanded, gripping her elbow and pulling her around to look at him.

She shook her head and jerked away from him, making her way to the doors quickly.

"Jerome, she wants to be left alone." Fabian spoke up.

He ignored him and stopped Joy again, wrapping his arm around her shoulders from behind as she struggled. He didn't say anything. And eventually, she gave up with struggling and just stood there, crying softly. Jerome held his hand out in front of her.

"You're not alone," he whispered into her hair.

Through her tears, Joy stared at his wrists. Pale, fading scars covered his arm. Her eyebrows furrowed. "You…"

"Yes," he nodded.

The others watched them worriedly. They didn't understand what was happening. They'd never seen such a scene, especially exchanged between Jerome Clarke and Joy Mercer, of all people.

Joy pulled out of his embrace slowly and he let her. Joy looked up at the tall, lanky boy. The boy she'd hated for so many years. And she hugged him. Joy Mercer hugged Jerome Clarke.

The jaws of the watchers dropped in shock.

Jerome's arms snaked around her and held her tightly. She sobbed into his chest and he licked his thin lips, sliding down the wall next to them, sitting down on the floor as she curled up next to him. He looked up at his friends and jerked his head toward the door.

Leave, he mouthed.

Patricia shook her head slowly, glowering at him harshly. She didn't know what had happened, but she had a feeling Jerome had done something to her best friend.

Jerome looked at Alfie and tapped his wrist twice. Realization flashed over his roommate's face and he nodded. "Come on, guys, let's give them some privacy." He said, pushing them out of the room.

"Alfie, she's my best friend, I need to help her." Patricia protested when they were in the hallway.

Alfie shut the door behind them. "You can't help her with this, Patricia. Leave it to Jerome; he'll take care of it."

Patricia scoffed and rolled her green eyes.

Jerome took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He may act like he hated Joy, but he really did care for her. He cared for everyone in Anubis House; they were his family. And seeing a family member broken and hurt is something no one wants to have to deal with, but Jerome was dealing with it right now.

He had been walking to the lounge when he heard someone let out a sort of choked sob coming from a janitor's closet. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Joy Mercer hiding among the cleaning supplies with bleeding wrists and a pocket knife held tightly in her small, shaking hands.

"Joy…?" he asked hesitantly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"No, its fine, I need to stop crying—" she shook her head, pulling away from him, wiping her eyes.

"No, Joy, its okay, you can cry—"

"No, Jerome, it's not okay, I need to stop crying." She sighed, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes again.

"It's okay, not to be okay, Joy. Live in the moment, it'll make you stronger." He told her.

"What do you mean? I can't just sit here in drown out my sorrows with my tears, I need to push this away."

"No, listen, sometimes, it's better to just sit down and cry. If you do that again, and you break down again, and it happens too many times, you won't be able to keep yourself from breaking for good."

She watched him for a second before her brown eyes flitted to his wrists.

"You can ask questions, if you want." He said her softly.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, brushing her brown hair out of her eyes.

"I'm guessing a lot of my reasons are the same as yours. Loneliness, anger, hurt, betrayal, and…love. Some people do it because they just want to have a stronger pain than the kind they already have, but I just didn't want to live."

Joy looked at her lap. Her reasons were exactly the same, and what she wanted to do was also exactly the same.

"Do you still do it?"

He shook his head, blonde fringe flopping into his eyes. "I stopped about a year ago."

"How did you do that?" she gasped. It was addicting, and she was sure that he knew that. She couldn't imagine stopping, she barely remembered the time before she started.

"I did something that you should try. Come here," he opened his arms to her, and despite the fact that it was Jerome, she scooted back into him. "First, I thought about everything that I had worth living for. Do you have anything worth living for?"

"Is this supposed to be like rehab?"

He denied it easily and she took a deep breath, thinking hard. Her wrists were burning under her blazer. She never got to clean the cuts, and that was going to cause problems. She held her wrist tightly, hoping to stop the bleeding she knew was happening. Jerome watched her closely, but he didn't pay any attention to anything but her face.

"All my friends, my dad, my baby cousin Max…"

"What about the future? You think that you don't really have much, but the best is yet to come. You can contribute to the world, I'm not sure how. What are you talented at? And somewhere in the world, some dude that's looking for you, though doesn't know it, will never find you because you aren't here anymore. So he'll end up getting married to a girl that he doesn't truly love, have two kids that he doesn't completely care about, get a divorce, and become a drinker. Do you want to kill that guy?" his eyebrows raised in question.

"No, of course not," Joy shook her head vehemently, though she didn't know why, he had just sort of messed with her brain to make her think that would really happen, but she didn't realize it.

"Well, then, stop cutting." He smirked, leaning back on the wall.

"But it's not just that—"

"Oh, I know," he nodded and then continued, "Who would be pained to lose you?"

"Patricia, Fabian, Mara, KT, Eddie…"

"Willow, Alfie, Amber, Nina, Trudy, even Poppy; also me, and of course, your dad, your baby cousin, the rest of your family, half the school; a lot of people would miss you Joy."

"You would miss me?" she asked, doubt lacing her voice. She had stopped crying and her eyes were no longer red. She was feeling better; Jerome was definitely helping, and she was surprised.

"Of course; life's no fun without a little killjoy." he replied, winking at her quickly. "I need mine."

"Thanks…" she sighed, watching him warily.

"Is Fabian part of the problem?" the blonde asked knowingly.

"No—"

"He doesn't deserve you." he cut her off. He stood and pulled her up with him. "Let's get those cuts cleaned."

Their friends looked up and pushed off the wall across from the room when the door opened. Jerome pulled Joy by the hand out of the room and halfway down the hallway before she jerked him back. They didn't pay any attention to their housemates behind them.

"What do you mean, he doesn't deserve me? He can get any girl he wants."

Jerome turned to her. "Joy, you do know who we're talking about right? Fabian Rutter,"

"Of course,"

"He doesn't deserve you."

"Why not," she cried in exasperation.

"Because he can't see how special you are." He snapped. When she stood there, confusion etched on her face, he pulled on her arm and into the girls' bathroom.

"What do you mean?" she asked and followed his orders to sit on the sink.

"I mean that you deserve someone that can see your worth. You know, Fabian may be in love with Nina, but that doesn't mean he can't see other girls' value. If he was really good enough for you, he wouldn't have held a grudge against you last year. See, in the right guy's eyes, you should be flawless, perfect, valuable, priceless, something that he would guard with his life. But Fabian wouldn't give his life to keep you from getting hurt. He's Fabian. All he would do is yell at you to pay attention."

Joy swallowed, watching him. She didn't realize that she was shaking until he ran a comforting hand down her back, gazing at her with concern.

"You deserve so much, Joy. You should have a guy that can see your value. One that can make you feel special—" he stopped, holding her shoulders and pushing her away from him.

"Joy, I'm not that guy." He said softly, brushing her hair out of her brown eyes.

Joy's cheeks flushed a deep crimson and pulled away from him. She couldn't believe she had just tried to kiss Jerome Clarke. He was sending mixed signals, and her brain was swimming with thousands of confused thoughts. She couldn't think clearly.

"I know. I'm sorry." She said shamefully.

"It's alright. You're hurting and you're confused. It's natural." He assured her, orbs swimming with blue swirls of sincerity.

"You really think that though? I mean, I always mess things up and cause trouble—"

"So do I," he interrupted. "But, out of the two of us, you deserve someone. I don't deserve love after everything I've done. I don't deserve forgiveness."

He chuckled humorlessly and shook his head at himself. He knew that after everything he's done that no one would forgive him. No one should forgive him. He didn't deserve their forgiveness. He had hurt many people over the years. He had annoyed many people. He had made many huge mistakes that he could never fix. He had said things he could never take back. He was rotten, and he knew it, but he still tried to be different. He tried to be a better person. He tried to be someone that could get forgiveness. He tried so very hard.

"So I shouldn't forgive you for chasing me through the school; because if you hadn't, I would still be cutting. And Willow shouldn't forgive you for cheating on her; because she would've never found her soul-mate if you hadn't. Alfie shouldn't forgive you for that prank you pulled on him when you guys first met that put him in the hospital; because he wouldn't have a best friend if you hadn't done that. Eddie shouldn't forgive you for giving him stupid relationship advice that made his relationship with Patricia stronger? Your dad shouldn't forgive you for missing his parole hearing, which resulted in Poppy being the speaker, and he got parole because of it. Mara shouldn't forgive you for everything you've ever done to her because she's missing out on one heck of a guy. She'd be so lucky to have you again."

"Thanks, Joyless," he smirked.

"Oh, and, Jerome, please don't tell the others. I'm not really ready for them to know."

"Of course," he bowed.

"And get back together with Mara."

"I'll work on that." he promised.

"Thank you." she smiled.

"Anything for you, darling." He sighed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, kissing her hair, and leading her out of the bathroom.

I love Jerome/Joy friendship, don't you?

Review?

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. -2 Timothy 2:22

-Rachel