Because There Is a Future

Chapter Eight

Biana. 

Fitz. 

Tam. 

Linh. 

Wylie. 

Dex. 

Marella. 

Heck, even Stina. 

They were all killing Sophie with unbelievable amounts of questions after questions. After a while, they decided it would be for the best if they each took turns talking to Sophie and not make her a deaf person with a baleful glare. 

Edaline gave Sophie a reassuring hug, took Charlotte, then walked over to where Grady was.

And, of course, the first person to talk to her was Biana. She was wearing a flowy yellow gown, and if it weren't for Linh's way too puffy dress, Sophie would've thought Biana was the bride. She looked as stunning as ever. Her body bent and curved in all the right places, and everything about her screamed "royalty!"

"Oh my gosh!!" She exclaimed, looking at Sophie as if she were a ghost. "Sophie goddamn Foster!" 

"Yes, Biana," Sophie said, rolling her eyes, "stop talking to loud! You're attracting stares."

"Uh, that part's on you." Biana deadpanned. "Look at you- the girl who was gone for seven years. Also, save some pretty for the rest of us! Look at your dress. I can only gawk at how much you've changed."

Before Sophie could say anything, Biana crashed into her and embraced her in a huge bear hug. 

"I missed you." Biana sniffled.

"Me too, Bi." Sophie said after a while of comfortable silence. "You can never imagine how much I missed you all."

"Then why'd you leave?" Biana said. "Why? Do you know what it was like without you? We were all a snotty, wet mess. Especially Fitz and Keefe. Well, I guess everyone was like that... But Keefe and Fitz, they tied first place. If it hadn't been under these circumstances, it would've been hilarious. They cried a whole ocean out! And Keefe, get this, didn't come out of his room for about a month. His stomach won, though, and he came out looking dead. He claimed he wrote to you every day, though no one knew where in the world you were. Fitz wasn't much better, though. He was screaming at the top of his lungs every ten minutes and howling in the next. It was awful. And I-I..." Her voice quivered. "There isn't a word to describe how we felt, Sophie. So please, tell me why you left."

Sophie was saved from replying by Dex. He toppled out of a nearby bush looking very red. 

"Dex!" Biana chastised. "Please tell me you weren't eavesdropping."

"I-I totally wasn't!" Dex tripped over his own words. Biana rolled her eyes, a bit of a smile forming on her lips. 

"I guess it's your turn now. But Soph, you aren't off the hook yet!" She winked and skipped away.

Sophie looked down at her shoes. Cue the awkwardness. 

"Hey baby girl." An amused and familiar voice said. "Can't say I missed you."

Sophie looked up to see Marella with her arm slinged across Dex's shoulders, although it looked odd given Dex's very tall figure and Marella's smallness. She smirked. 

"Oh yeah?" Dex retorted. "You totally weren't crying when you found out Sophie was missing. And you definitely didn't beg the Collective to send out a searching team to find her."

Marella shrugged, rolling her eyes. She took back her hand from Dex's shoulders. "Whatever." But her facial expression changed back into a smirk when she caught Sophie's confused eyes. "I'm just kidding, hon. Damn, the humans must have had a bad effect on you, girl, because you can't take a joke anymore. Maybe Dizznee over here could make a gadget that resets your mind, because no offense, you're pretty messed up right now." She let out a tiny yelp when Dex elbowed her. "I'm just saying. Because, you know, you left the Lost Cities without any reason as to why."