A Look Inside, Part 1

Oh bother. . . The blonde put down his fork and looked down at his plate, trying not to catch Victor's eye. He heard the older man's awkward footsteps moving closer, and flinched when a cold hand landed on his shoulder. He let out a small sigh and slowly looked up, catching the landlord's agitated glare. He grasped the green toothbrush being held in his direction. Jerome raised an eye brow when Alfie's laughing was cut short, as he received a purple rag.

"After that ham Trudy baked last night, the oven must be in need of a good cleaning, wouldn't you say, Alfie?" Said boy's face contorted in disgust, who knows when the last time that oven was properly cleaned.

As soon as Victor had left the room, Jerome let out a good laugh. His amusement increased when he wasn't the recipient of Alfie's creamed corn, but Fabian was.

"Do you have to continue this, even after Victor just caught you?" The dark haired boy rolled his eyes, and tried his best to get the corn off of his face.

"What else could he possibly make us do now?" Jerome pointed out, smirking as he flung a spoonful of his mashed potatoes back at his friend.

Patricia scowled and left the room, muttering about living with a lot of prats. Mara sighed and followed after her new roommate, not before shooting a quick glance at Amber. The blonde girl was currently trying to get the stray potatoes out of her hair, before huffing indignantly and stomping out of the room. Nina had returned from the kitchen with more napkins, and was helping Fabian clean up the mess.

Jerome look at the tooth brush in his hands, and started slowly making his way to Victor's private bathroom. He figured his task would be half as bad as Alfie's. After all, it was just earlier this week his friend had to scrub Victor's toilet.

Thinking of the party only made Jerome grimace. Call him a kiss up, but he never lied to Victor, or ever got on his bad side. He liked keeping high up, having the older man trust him. It made him feel important, and powerful. He didn't know what happened, but he lied straight through his teeth. Perhaps it was what Fabian said that made him feel responsible, or the fact that Patricia, of all people, had stood with Nina. He knows how to read people, get inside their heads, and last he checked, the redhead despised the American.

Girls. He let out a sigh of exasperation. He had reached Victor's room, and the man was currently fixing up his strange stuffed black bird.

"I am very disappointed in you Jerome," the man addressed him without looking up from his work. "I expected more from you."

Jerome was no fool, a joker at the very least, but not an idiot. Victor was not referring to him and Alfie's latest food fight, but the key incident only days ago.

The blonde pulled open the door, and entered the bathroom without a word. He kneeled by the foul bowl and started scrubbing, the best he could with a tooth brush anyhow. Siding with his fellow classmates had sealed his fate. Victor clearly had lost faith in him, and now instead of treating him like a higher up, he was stuck cleaning his toilet.

Jerome concluded that Trudy's food, no matter how good it was, didn't look or smell as good after being eaten.