My friend (yes, the cheese one) gave me this idear also! I LOVE HER! IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PAN! I WUV YOU AND MISH YOUUU! XD Without further ado… JARA! (Because who can get enough of THAT?) This is NOT MICKRA, I SWEAR! Keep on readin', folks…

I don't own House of Anubis.

Yes I do.

No. I'm kidding.

Dearest Mick,

I miss you so much! I can't tell you what it's like without you. Unbearable, to say the least. Everyone is so oblivious to how I feel, and I feel as if you're the only one I can relate my feelings to. Every day here is so miserable without you! No one cares about me, and nobody is ever there when I need a shoulder to cry on. No one is here to comfort me, and I'm so lonely! Please hurry back, because every day without you is torture!

Heaps of love,

Mara 3

Jerome's hands shook furiously as he read the letter. He angrily placed it down, then picked up the next, which was in a messy scrawl compared to Mara's neat cursive. The grammar was terrible compared to hers, too.

Hey Babes!

I miss you to! This try out is really tough, but fun at the same time. I can't wait to see you're shining face again! How is everyone? I'm sorry to hear that you can't find anyone to help you deal with this hard time. I hope you aren't really dieing without me, because I'll be back soon! (Hopefully.) nothing can ever part our love, babes! I love you!

Love,

Mick

Jerome felt an emotion bubbling to the top that he rarely felt, and hadn't in years. Tears pricked behind his eyes, and his chest was rising and falling heavily.

Nobody is ever there when I need a shoulder to cry on.

It echoed in his head, over and over like some sick record. What was he to Mara? Invisible? Non- existant? He blinked furiously as the pestering tears threatened to pour over. Jerome could feel his throat tightening, and he swallowed once to help him gain control. When Mick came back, he would….

Who was he kidding? He never did anything. He watched on as Mara and Mick played Romeo and Juliet, oblivious to everything he tried to do, so caught up in their undying love.

Jerome stood limply in the middle of the room, clutching the letter. It was only one out of many, but they were all the same. Mick would write to her in grammar equivalent to a three- year old's, and Mara would write back about how no one was ever there when she needed them. It was cruel and unrealistic. Her letters were all so thoughtless and critical of everyone else and their apparent hate for her. Everyone was just so mean to her, weren't they?

Suddenly the door was thrown open, and a laughing Mara walked into the room, holding a cell phone to her ear and grinning wider than Jerome had ever seen. He turned to glare at her through blurry tears.

The smile faded from her face in seconds, and she said hesitantly, "I'll… call you back, Mick…" She shut her phone and looked curiously at Jerome.

"Jer-"

"Don't…" Jerome interrupted dismissively.

"Wh-?" Mara's eyes drifted down to see the letter in Jerome's hand; she stared for a moment, and then something went off inside her brain.

"Hey! That's mine, Jerome!" she said, crossing to face him.

"Then take it," he spat venomously, shoving the letter into her hands roughly.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a broken voice, after the gasp of surprise she had emitted after he pushed her.

"What's wrong?" he asked furiously, advancing toward her as she backed away. "What's wrong, Mara? Where do I start?"

She opened her mouth, astounded, and looked down at the letter, trying to find something wrong, then looked up, apparently empty- handed.

"I… I don't understand…"

Jeromed laughed coldly, suddenly feeling the urge to hurt her as she had him.

He picked up the letter she had written to Mick, and looked back at her accusingly.

"How could you write this? What was going through your mind?"

Tears brimmed her eyes.

"Please, Jerome…. I… I don't understand…"

He tore the paper from her grasp harshly and quoted, "'Nobody is ever there when I need a shoulder to cry on.'", then looked up at her, hurt.

"Jerome," Mara cried, seriously not understanding.

For some reason, her lack of comprehension pushed him over the edge.

"Mara, I was there. I was always there. I tried to make it so obvious, but you didn't understand, you never understood like I thought you did. I know, yes, it's hard for me to express my feelings, but you couldn't even tell? You don't even have a clue?" Jerome paused, exasperated and frustrated, to look into Mara's shining chocolate eyes. His stomach flipped, and he practically screamed.

"I like you Mara. I like you, I like you! There. Maybe now it's dawning on you. I've liked you since the beginning of time, and I can't stand to see you with that meathead for one more second. Mara, you deserve someone who can… match your intelligence and wit, and someone who you can joke around with, laugh with. How could you not see?"

Mara stood, dumbfounded, clutching the letter with white knuckles, staring at Jerome.

He opened his mouth and shrugged slightly, but nothing came out. For the first time, she saw real emotion in his face; pain and longing.

"When you came with me…" He sounded pained as he spoke. "To see my dad… I thought then…. That maybe we could be... I don't know, something….. but no, you continue to whine and complain about… how nobody cares about you when… when I've been here the whole bloody time!"

Mara realized as a tear dripped down her face that Jerome had probably never said anything so deep and emotional in his life, and she could see the struggle written across his features. She also struggled internally. There was a hint of offence within her at his words. He had insulted her and Mick both, but still… what he had said after that…. There was a sudden rush of affection for him in her chest, and she suddenly walked towards him, still crying at his words. However, he resisted, backing up to the bed, where he sat and placed his head in his hands wearily.

Mara looked worriedly around the room, and her eyes came to rest at the open drawer full of loving exchanges between her and Mick. She loved Mick, but at the same time…. She looked at the pathetic reduction of Jerome Clarke before her, and placed Mick's letter down into the drawer gently. She could have walked out, but she couldn't leave him like this.

Mara walked quietly and slowly, but surely all the same, over the carpeted floor to the side of the bed where Jerome sat, head in hands, silent.

"Leave," he said in a muffled voice.

Mara ignored him and the fact that this was her room, and sat down on the bed beside him.

"I don't want your pity, Mara," Jerome spat, slightly lifting his head towards her before dropping it back down again.

Mara said nothing in return, but reached around Jerome's lanky form to hold him tightly in a hug.

At first he resisted, muttering for her to get off and knock it off, but there must have been a change of heart involved, because he suddenly clutched her to him quickly, and kissed her hair gently before releasing her a second later.

"I'm… so sorry, Jerome." Mara's voice sounded unnatural and unused, although the silence had only lasted for a minute. She let go, and he moved away from her again, silent.

She got up hastily and walked out, mind preoccupied with her sudden mixed feelings and thoughts, wondering how she could have been so stupid.