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Chapter 11

Sophie got into bed, and Arina shifted to make space for her.

"You're still awake? I though you were asleep."

"How could I sleep when I'm so excited?"

"What are you excited about?"

"I guess more training for Hydrokinetics. Linh's a great teacher."

"Yeah, she is. But about ability training," Sophie said, and Arina turned to her. "I wanted to ask you if you want to enroll in Foxfire when you're old enough. We completely understand if you don't want to."

"I want to enroll," Arina replied. 

"You do?"

"Well, I know Linh won't always have time to train me. And maybe I could make some new friends."

"Okay, then. Good night, Ari."

"Good night Sophie."

Even as Arina drifted off to sleep, Fitz's harsh words still flashed through Sophie's mind in perfect detail because of her photographic memory. She shivered slightly, and pulled the blankets as high as they would go. Not as high as she would have liked. Sophie gently crept off of the bed, and tiptoed outside. Before fully leaving the room, she grabbed her scrapbook off the bookshelf. Now, it consisted of her old family and her new family and friends. 

Sophie didn't want to wake Biana or Arina, so she snapped quietly and the chandelier by the dinner table turned on silently. She leafed through the pages, stopping to look at some of them. Suddenly, she stopped. There she was. With Fitz, under Calla's Panakes tree. That was the time that Fitz had told her that they would go at her pace. Prying out the photo, her hands shook as she flipped over the photo. And there were the two simple words; Trust Me.

"How can I trust you after what you've done to me?" she whispered, clutching the photo tightly. Continuing through the scrapbook, again, she ceased to carry on with recalling her past memories. "Why?" 

"Sophie, you should really go to sleep." Biana called.

"I'm not tired."

"I know you are, Sophie. We've been friends for literally 11 years."

"Maybe I am. I don't even know anymore." 

Biana walked up to her, and gently pried the photo from Sophie's trembling hands, saying, "You're still hung up on Fitz?"

"I'm not. Just . . . conflicted."

"About what?"

"About whether or not I was even a good girlfriend."

"Look, Sophie. At times, I will admit, your relationship was shaky. But whether you were a good girlfriend to Fitz wouldn't change his behavior. I don't think, at least. When you two were dating, the Neverseen were still raging on, and it was a confusing time. And even though you spent a lot of time focusing on shutting them down instead of spending time with Fitz, that didn't give him the right to cheat on you, okay?" Biana said, and Sophie nodded.

"I guess you're right."

"So you'll go to sleep? If not, maybe you should take a sedative."

"No sedatives, Biana."

"I figured you would say that. At least try to get some shut-eye, though. Because I'm not sleeping until you do."

"You shouldn't do that. You have work and stuff."

"And you have a date with Keefe tomorrow." 

"I do? Since when?"

"Since now. I'll tell him. I can't have you going on a date with eye bags that look like bruises, can I?"

"But they aren't even that bad. They've been getting better."

"Yes, yes, Sophie. But you need to look your absolute best. Keefe's waited a long time to go on dates with you and things like that."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. Now get some sleep."

"Alright." Sophie said, and she closed up the scrapbook and trudged off to bed. She fell asleep thinking about Keefe, and her night was filled with no sorts of nightmares. 

The next morning she awoke and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Arina wasn't in bed, so Sophie went in search of her. She found her downstairs talking with Keefe. 

"Hey, Foster!" he called. 

"Hi, Keefe. Ari, when did you get up?"

"An hour ago? I'm not really sure."

"Well, since you're awake, do you want to go on that date?"

"Let me go get ready."

"I think you already look great, but go ahead."

"Keefe!"

"What?"

Sophie blushed, "Never mind."

She came into her room, and slipped on the bracelet Biana had given her. She also changed into a silky white tunic with a skirt. Unconsciously, she smoothed over invisible wrinkles that only she could see. Reaching up to pull an eyelash, she stopped herself mid-thought.

A few minutes later, she and Keefe leaped to a mysterious place that Keefe wouldn't tell her about, much to her dismay. Arina waved at them and then traveled upstairs quickly. 

"So, what's planned for today?"

"It's a surprise."

"Keefe," she whined. "Can't you just tell me now?"

"Nope," he said, and twirled her around, catching her.

"Don't be such a tease," she said in response, and tried to wrestle her way out of his grasp. 

"It's not going to be that easy to escape from me, Foster." he replied, and Sophie smiled slightly. "Now, let's go before somebody takes the place I set out for us."

"And where is that?" she asked, staring into his ice-blue eyes. He seemed like he was about to give in, but then shook his head.

"Those eyes of yours can really work wonders, Foster."

"Apparently they didn't work this time. I'll get you to crack one day."

"I don't doubt that." he said with a wink. Sophie laughed. "You really are beautiful, Sophie." 

Sophie blushed and said, "Thank you. Not very many people have ever said that to me."

"Well, here it is again. You're very beautiful."

"You don't look bad yourself." Sophie replied, and he smiled, grasping her hand and giving it a squeeze. "Let's go now! I thought you said that there place you set out for us might get taken by someone else."

"You're right. Follow me." he pulled her with him towards a quaint little restaurant. 

"How did you manage to set something up like this on such short notice?"

"I guess Biana knows the owner or something."

"She really is something, isn't she?"

"Yeah. . ." Keefe trailed off, and his eyes looked distant. 

"What's wrong?"

"My . . . dad." he replied, glancing to the side, to reveal Lord Cassius.

(A/N): Hello to the few people that read this, I'm really sorry for the late upload. I know I usually post pretty often, but I was on vacation and didn't have Wi-Fi most of the time so I couldn't write very often. I'll try to post more regularly now that my vacation is over.