Enjoy?

"Shut it, Slimeball." Patricia groaned with a roll of her green eyes as she climbed the stairs to the second floor. Jerome's loud laughs followed her up to the girls' corridor until she made it to her room. She loved her room. She didn't share it with anyone, while everyone else in the house had roommates. Jerome had Alfie, Fabian had Mick and Amber had Mara. Patricia was all alone in her room, but she preferred it that way.

"Who are you?"

The brunette looked up quickly and smiled slightly, brown eyes twinkly brightly. "Hi, I'm Joy Mercer, your new roommate."

Patricia stared at her blankly for a moment before storming out of the room and down the stairs again, leaving a confused girl in the room behind her.

"Woah, watch it, Trixie's on a rampage!" Alfie joked from his seat on the couch next to Jerome.

"Did you guys know about that girl upstairs?"

"What girl?" Fabian asked, looking up from his book as he sat at the dining room table.

"Moy Jercer or something stupid like that," Patricia scoffed.

"Joy Mercer."

The others looked past the brunette. The thirteen year old behind her planted her small hands on her hips. Her skin was tanned and her lips were a light pink. She wore a white skirt and a green t-shirt that had a big, black smiley face printed on the front.

The others watched with interest as Patricia turned to her slowly.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I've had the displeasure of learning your name" Joy said with a sweet smile, hands clasped innocently in front of her.

Jerome grinned. He was beginning to like this girl.

"Well, lucky for you, I'll never tell you what my name is."

"It's Patricia Williamson. And I'm Fabian Rutter." The brunette spoke up, standing and holding his hand out for her to shake. "Don't pay any attention to her; she's just a bit temperamental."

"Thanks a lot, Fabian!" Patricia glowered.

"Yeah, thanks, Fabes. Mind if I call you 'Fabes'?" Joy asked, biting her bottom lip shyly.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Brilliant." He rambled, a blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Hi, I'm Mara Jaffray; I'm in the room next to yours." Her black hair was pulled back in two long pigtails.

"Mick Campbell's my name, anything and everything sports related is my game." The boy with the bright blonde hair grinned, a soccer ball tucked under his arm safely.

Patricia watched, irritated, as her so called 'friends', one by one, introduced themselves to the girl. Who was she to barge into her life and move into her room? She didn't want a roommate, especially her as a roommate. She'd seemed fine at first, and Patricia had probably caused the whole argument by ignoring her and getting mad, but now she was just mean. But she seemed to only be mean to Patricia. Now, Patricia was going to have to make sure she did something to her. The silent treatment maybe? No, that wouldn't be very affective. And then, her eyes landed on Joy's bed. A small, ratty, old stuffed bunny sat neatly, leaning against the pillows. Patricia smirked and looked back at the door. When Joy didn't appear, she stepped forward and plucked the animal from the bed. She tossed it into one of her dresser drawers and shut it, crossing her arms over her chest.

Patricia shifted in her sleep and her eyes fluttered open. The sound of someone gasping for air made her jolt awake and she sat up, looking around her bedroom with blurry vision. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she stood up and patted over to Joy's bed. The girl looked up at her with cold, teary eyes and turned away from her.

"…um, what's wrong?" Patricia asked cautiously. She wasn't good at the whole comfort thing, especially when it had to do with someone she didn't like.

"Nothing, I just can't sleep. Go to bed." Joy mumbled, pulling the covers over her head.

Patricia didn't like taking orders from people, but she complied and hopped back into her bed. Maybe she was homesick? Maybe that stupid, old bunny was what helped her sleep at night? Patricia had a stuffed dog the first few years she was at the school, but she'd grown out of sleeping with it, but she did still have it. It was in a box of old things under her bed. Sometimes late at night, her inner child would pop up and complain that Scruffy was feeling lonely, abandoned and forgotten in that box, but she always overcame that little girl and refused to take the dog out.

As much as Patricia hated to admit it, she felt a little bad for taking the bunny. And the more she thought about it, she realized that Joy didn't deserve losing it.

And as Patricia debated whether or not to return the toy, she drifted back off to sleep, Joy still sniffling quietly on the other side of the room.

Joy halted in her tracks as she walked into the dining room the next morning. All traces of tears were gone and now she looked happy. But she frowned when she saw Jerome and Alfie laughing hysterically while Mara's cheeks burned bright red. Joy walked over to the two boys and wacked them upside the head and then sat down at the head of the table.

"Shut up, idiots, don't be mean." She said and poured a glass of orange juice for herself.

"Alright, jeez, Killjoy, do you need to be so violent? You're like a girly version of Patricia, and we do not need another one of those."

Joy glared at Jerome as he rubbed the back of his head. Killjoy? Was that true? She decided to forget the comment but it was still in the back of her mind. She buttered a piece of toast and was silent for the rest of breakfast.

"Joy, um, would you like to, um, walk across with me? To school? It's alright if you don't, I understand—" Fabian mumbled, scratching the back of his head as the others filed out of the house.

"Yeah, I'd like that—"

"Actually, I'd like to talk to her about something."

Joy and Fabian turned to Patricia with a wary glance at each other. Joy gritted her teeth and nodded, waving at Fabian as he awkwardly walked away. Patricia took a seat at the table and straightened out her brown hair as her roommate sat across from her.

"I would like to apologize." She said softly, forcing the words out of her, tasting foreign on her tongue.

"For what,"

"For taking this," Patricia replied sheepishly, pulling the girl's bunny out of her bag and holding it out to her.

"You took Bunsie Bun?" Joy glared, ripping the stuffed animal out of her grasp and hugging it to her chest.

"Bunsie Bun, is that its name? Anyway, yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't really like that you had just showed up and moved in and I wanted to get back at you, for what exactly, I'm not entirely sure, but I was mad at you, and I took him. So…sorry, Joy."

"That's alright. My first night here wasn't very peaceful but thank you for returning him. And I'm sorry for just storming into your life; I don't know what I was expecting when I got here.

"Hey, it's Killjoy and Patticakes, the besties." Jerome teased with a grin, grabbing an apple from the bowl in the middle of the table.

"Hey, Jerome," Joy smiled, walking around the table until she was standing in front of him. She pointed at his chest. "You have a little something right there."

He looked down, picked at his white, button down shirt, and then looked back up at her. "There's nothing on my—"

Joy smirked, lifting a bottle of syrup to his face and squeezing it, the contents squirting onto his pale, un-expecting face.

Patricia grinned.

"That's what you get for calling me Killjoy." Joy smiled sweetly up at the blonde.

He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath as the syrup dripped onto his shirt. He was very tempted to get her back with something worse, but for the first time in his life, he let it go. "Like I said, I don't need another Patricia."

"Too bad, Slimeball," Patricia sang as he stalked out of the room.

She turned to Joy and laughed. Joy joined in a second later. When their chuckles died down, they hurried out of the house and headed for school.

"You know," Patricia spoke up as they crossed the yard, and Joy looked at her. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

"I agree."

"Also, I've never told anyone this, but I also have a stuffed animal. But I rarely take him out of the box." She blushed as she continued, "Do you think Bunsie Bun would like Scruffy, my dog?"

Joy smiled. "I'm sure he'd love him."

"Cool," Patricia pulled the ratty, old dog out of her bag and held it up to her. Its fur was gray, once white, with black spots, and his nose was scratched. One of his ears was sown upside down. He looked really old.

"Awesome," Joy did the same with Bunsie Bun, holding him up to the dog Patricia kept.

"Oh, yeah, they'll be the best of friends." Patricia chuckled at herself. This was so childish. Who knew a new roommate would bring that back out of her.

Joy grinned and said in a game-show-host, which caused Patricia to explode in hysterical laughter, "Introducing, the dynamic duo, Scruffy and Bunsie Bun!"

Oh, yes, the start of a beautiful friendship.

I thought that was cute and funny, what think you?

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. -Psalm 118:24

-Rachel