Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter fifty-one. house of rainbows

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            My mind's going, like, a mile a minute. Every scenario of what could've happened to Eddie is roaming around and none of them are nice. Patricia's been going through her phone for the past five minutes to see what Victor did or if Eddie's gotten in contact with her.

            "No missed calls, no texts," she says, scrolling through it as KT and I follow her back into the living room from the corridor, where she'd been pacing for five minutes.

            "Did Victor do anything with it?" I ask, confused. Patricia's phone is the exact same as it was the last time she used it. As far as we can tell, he just took it for no good reason. I don't understand.

            "He wouldn't know how to," Patricia retorts, dismissing it.

            "So I guess he was telling the truth," KT says. "He found it."

            I shake my head. "No. I don't believe that."

            Alfie comes in, looking between us warily. "What's going on?"

            "Eddie, um..." KT pauses. "Stood Patricia up on her date."

            "It wasn't a date," Patricia corrects quickly. "Would everybody stop saying he stood me up? He hasn't stood me up." Well, she was the one who said she was stood up in the first place, but I'll let it slide. And there's no way he would've ducked out on purpose. This isn't like it was when they first met; the boy's too in love with her to disappoint her like this.

            "Sorry," KT apologizes, rephrasing her words. "He failed to attend a prearranged meeting with Patricia."

            "He's late," Patricia insists as Alfie sits on the arm of the chair. "He just hasn't bothered to call me yet. You guys can go. I've got this."

            "That's weird," Alfie remarks, looking toward KT and me. "Why wouldn't he call?"

            "Because he hasn't changed," Patricia answers for us. "And it wasn't even a date."

            Alfie gets up and sits beside her, setting a hand on her shoulder. "I've had some bad prearranged meetings in my time, too."

            I roll my eyes, deciding to try my best to comfort Patricia. I still don't think Eddie stood her up, and I think something might've happened, but Fabian would've been out to tell us he's missing by now, wouldn't he? Maybe there's no need to worry yet. "Look, I know a lot about, uh, liking jerks," pretty much my type, really, "and the good ones do change. Eddie's one of the good ones. Maybe you should call him and see what he has to say."

            "Why should I make the first move?" Patricia questions.

            "Because boys take forever to get stuff done, and it's the twenty-first century. I don't even think boys know what they're doing half the time," I answer. Alfie, the only boy in the room, doesn't even argue. He just nods and shrugs. "Besides, making the first move is fun. Just don't do it in front of his dad."