Ever Since I Met You

Midterms Celebrations - Book 1: Chapter 28

A/N: This one was fun and took a long time! Sorry it wasn't up until today! Enjoy . . .

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The best part of midterms was the celebration the day after. I mean obviously, because who likes exams anyways? I loved the way it looked when it was all decorated—silver streamers on every tree, confetti and flowers showered on the floor, and bubbles filled with random things like lushberry juice and boxes of Prattles.

Unfortunately, tonight's celebrations were tainted because of my father's presence. He was nothing but discouraging and cocky—he was such a disease.

Walking through the Level Four wing, I expected not to find anyone terribly exciting. No one who could brighten my mood, in any case. I kept my eyes on my shoes, escaping my father's death glare. I looked up only when he said, "Well, well, who do we have here?"

I was definitely not expecting to find Foster standing there. I was a little taken aback, but her heart sank as she turned around. What was that supposed to mean? Being an Empath was so annoying—I could read emotions but could figure out what they meant. How pointless. Sophie looked puzzled as she met my eyes, and I knew why. My grin was gone—so different from every other time we had been together with my jokes and smirks.

"This must be the girl who was raised by humans." He said it so loudly—what was the point? He was just trying to draw attention again. Classic dadio—always one for the attention. "How curious to find her in the Level Four wing, talking to Foxfire's most infamous Mentor."

I looked down at the floor again.

"Infamous?" I could feel Sophie's gaze trail on me, but I didn't look up.

"Few Mentors have resigned, then returned years later—out of the blue—to train a mystery prodigy."

Sophie was embarrassed at that. Which was sort of confusing—despite her being mysterious—because Tiergan was a Telepathy Mentor. Who could that mystery prodigy be? It couldn't be Foster, could it?

"Interesting theory, Cassius—"

"Lord Cassius," he interrupted. He was so infuriating. No one cared that he was a noble. Most people were here—it's just the way things worked. The fact that he demanded people use his title was beyond annoying. Who cared?

Sophie was annoyed too. I could see it took all of her effort not to roll her eyes. That was my girl.

"Lord Cassius. But do you really think I could be tempted back by a little girl? Especially when performing so unremarkable in her sessions?"

I could feel the air turn sour as Sophie's hurt feelings wafted through the air towards me. Interesting, again. She seriously was so mysterious. What was she hiding?

"Come on, Dad," I said, looking at Foster. I tried to communicate, through my eyes, the biggest apologies to her. She never should have met him. "I'm sure Fos—er—Sophie has somewhere she needs to be."

Sophie instantly felt sad. But not for her—for me. No pity, she just felt bad. If I hadn't known I already liked her, I definitely would've started liking her then. She was one of the only people who didn't pity my life. She just felt plain old sad, like she would do anything to help me. Gosh, she was so amazing. Good thing we were around each other a lot . . . maybe some of her good vibes would rub off on me.

I could feel him glaring at me—probably for almost calling Sophie, Foster—and for interrupting this conversation he was enjoying so much. "Yes, of course. And I need to meet with your Mentors. See how disappointing your scores will be this time."