I woke up the next morning with Jerome's arms still wrapped tightly around my waist and a loud thump on the door. I tried to push Jerome's arm off but the more I did the tighter his grip became, the thumping grew louder and I heard him groan as he began to finally wake up.
"What do you want!?" He shouted at the door, already in a bad mood about being woken up.
"Jerome, Theo wants us ready in 10 minutes." I heard Greenwood reply and I perked up, they were going out today, meaning Barbra and I can finally do something about getting me out of here.
"Uggghhhhh fine." He finally took his hand from my waist and stretched. I began to get out of the bed only to be pulled back. "What no good morning?" He asked with a goofy grin, his hair falling messily around his defined cheekbones.
"Morning." I grumbled, still half asleep and needing to pee.
"Not a morning person I see?" He asked and I looked at him deadpanned.
"Thank you captain obvious." I rolled my eyes. "Can I pee now?" I asked and he grinned at my morning grumpiness.
"Sure thing! Remember what I say about windows!" He called as I made my way to the bathroom.
"You're really funny Jerome." I stated sarcastically and he just grinned as if it were an actual compliment.
I finally got to the bathroom and took a moment to look at myself in the mirror, my hair was all over the place, the colour slowly fading but I had better things to worry about. The bags under my eyes were slowly getting better because I actually had a decent sleep, I couldn't find a hairbrush so I just settled with detangling it with my fingers and throwing into a messy ponytail.
I went to the bathroom and washed my hands, splashing the cold water on my face to try and wake me up slightly. Once I wasn't half dead I went out to the bedroom to find it empty, Jerome must have left.
Without bothering to change from my pyjamas I exited the room and tried to follow the way to the living room by memory. My bare feet made a small patter as I eventually found my way to the living room that was also empty, odd. I looked around the room to find anything that would hint to where they were, I didn't trust myself not to get hopelessly lost in this humongous house.
Suddenly the silence was broken by the faint sound of cutlery scratching against plates and soft voices. I followed the sounds, walking into what I assumed was a dining room. The maniax along with the Galavans sitting and eating breakfast at a long table.
"Ah there you are gorgeous! We were just talking about you!" Jerome exclaimed. "Barbra is actually excited to do girly stuff with you, I don't think I've ever seen her excited before!" I stood there and nodded awkwardly, immediately regretting the decision to keep my pyjamas on as I saw Greenwood's hungry gaze on me.
Jerome seemed to notice too as he quickly got up from his seat and guided me to the one beside him, once again being the furthest from Greenwood. Greenwood's grin didn't falter as he kept his disgusting eyes on my body. Theo cleared his throat and caught everyone's attention.
"So boys, are you ready to cause some trouble?" He asked and the maniax all let out a chorus of yeahs.
"I dunno Theo I think I might miss Kat too much to go." Jerome states dramatically as he throws his arm over my shoulders.
"Well if Katerina becomes a distraction then we will have to be rid of her, we do not have time for distractions." Theo replied strictly and I saw Tabitha's smirk as she thought about it. What did I even do to her?
"Nah Theo Kat's fine, ain't that right Kat?" He turned to me and so did the rest of the table.
"Yeah, totally fine." I replied sheepishly, my cheeks still flushed from being caught wandering around for them.
"Anyways, you boys have fun doing whatever it is you all do, while Kat and I will be having a serious talk about her fashion choices." Barbra looked me up and down, bringing full attention that I was still in my pyjamas.
"These are my pyjamas though-"
"Even your pyjamas are ugly." Jerome laughed at Barbra's attitude and I just tried to make myself as invisible as possible.
"I don't care what's on her body cause it wouldn't lat lon-" Greenwood's disgusting comment was cut short by Jerome's rash actions. He jumped from his chair and was right in front of Greenwood's face in the fastest time I'd ever seen a human move. He had a knife with him and held it to under Greenwood's chin, their faces almost touching.
"Say one more vile thing about her and I will stick this knife down your throat are we clear?" Jerome threatened and the look in his eyes was absolutely terrifying. I jumped back in fright as I held a hand over my mouth in shock.
"You can't make me." Greenwood replied and I was surprised he had said anything.
"I thought we discussed who the boss was here. Katerina gorgeous, you were here, tell me who's the boss?" Jerome questioned me as he turned to meet my frightened gaze.
"Y-you are Jerome." I replied instantly, fearing that he would stab me in the throat if I didn't.
"See, she get's it! Get it through your thick skull-"
"That's enough Jerome, I think Greenwood understands what you are saying." Theo interrupted and I thanked him mentally, id he didn't break it up I think they would have destroyed everything in the room.
"Good." Jerome's whole demeanour changed back to how it originally was this morning, bright and bubbly. He came back over to his seat and pulled me closer to him so that our arms were touching. "See all things I do for you." He whispered in my ear and my whole body shuddered in fear.
Soon enough breakfast was finished and the boys went to finish getting ready for whatever it is they were doing. Barbra dragged me back to her room, avoiding Tabitha on the way which I think made Tabitha hate me more. Once we were safely in her room and knew no one was listening in to the conversation Barbra started speaking.
"Ok, so I feel like you going back and continuing your regular life is just impossible at this point." She began and as much as I knew it was true it was still hard to hear. "You can't go back to your home because that'll be the first place they'll look, you can't go to Jim's because that's the same deal and quite frankly as long as he knows you're out there somewhere he will go looking for you."
"What if he doesn't know I'm out there?" I suggested.
"I'm listening..." She gestured with her hand for me to go on.
"Well what if I 'died' committed suicide for example? You could say you found the body and dumped me in a river or whatever. He won't come looking for me because there will be no 'me' to look for." I explained further and she seemed to have caught the drift of what I was saying.
"That might work but we still need a way to let Jim know that you didn't actually die, otherwise I don't get my end of the deal." I nodded in agreement, I couldn't just expect her to abandon her deal with Jim.
"Very true, you could give me a phone and I will call him once I'm somewhere safe and he can tell everyone I'm dead, well everyone except my dad-"
"You can't tell your dad your alive, it's better if he thinks you're dead because it will look more convincing to Jerome." Barbra interjected and I couldn't believe what she was saying.
"Of course I have to tell him I'm alive! I can't do that to him!" I shouted and she instantly put a hand over my mouth.
"Watch your volume, you don't know who's listening." She hissed and I nodded.
"You expect me to let my dad think I'm dead?" I asked and she nodded as if it were no big deal.
"If he knows it will put him in danger." She replied simply and kind of understood where she was coming from.
"I guess." I sighed, blinking back tears.
"We still need a place for you to stay, anyone you can call?" She asked handing me a phone.
I racked my brain for someone who would help me without being too obvious. That's it!
Edward Nygma
YOU ARE READING
Gotham Gazette // J.V
Fanfiction"Love your hair gorgeous..." Katerina Ferdine's dad had asked her to do one simple task. Bring his lunch to him at work since she was home sick. That was all, he didn't tell her to get caug...
