Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter fourteen. house of gates

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            "Your twenty-four hours are up," Jerome greets me at my locker during lunch, a grin on his face. "How are your ideas coming along?"

            "Great," I respond, shutting my locker. "Yours?"

            "Perfect." His grin somehow widens as he turns to the rest of the hallway, raising his voice. "Excuse me, excuse me, everyone. Can I have your attention, please? Now, I know I've been somewhat slow off the mark in the business competition."

            "Slow off the mark," I repeat. "Sounds about right."

            Jerome ignores me. "But I can today announce that I am firmly back in the running, as well is my partner/girlfriend, who's going to love this." He winks at me.

            "Whatever it is, you and I might have different definitions of love."

            "—as I give you, Alfido and his Amazing Hot Dogs!"

            Alfie comes through the doors, wearing a human-sized dog costume, holding a boom-box in one hand and a hot dog in the other.

            So, I guess this explains the hot dog emoji Alfie texted me five minutes ago. I guess it also explains the words HELP ME right after it. The rest of the hallway, including the girls of Anubis House, burst into laughter as Alfie says flatly, "Alfido, AKA Hot Doggy Dogg."

            I shake my head, reaching for my phone as I bite back a laugh. "I don't even know how to respond to this. But I am sorry, Alfie, that he's putting you through this."

            "You and me both," Alfie agrees as I take a picture with my phone. "Ashley!"

            "It's going in the scrapbook."

            Jerome chuckles, walking backwards as he tells Alfie, "Come on now, Fido. Walkies, come on."

            "I'm so sure this thing's got fleas," Alfie grumbles, following him to the end of the hallway.

            Amber walks over, linking my arm with hers. "What exactly was that?"

            "That was Tweedledum and Tweedledumber," I respond, walking with her down the hallway, into the lounge. "Jerome and I have a competition going on and if that's his best work, we'll be showing your dad my idea."

            "Hm, well, you should hear what Patricia and KT are doing for theirs," she tells me. "They got along long enough to agree on something. I could almost hear birds singing."

            "Oh, a miracle," I say dramatically. Patricia's talking to Eddie and Fabian's working on the code. "Hey, you guys missed Alfido."