fifty sokeefe kisses

(27) good luck

"Uh oh, someone's got a bad case of the grumpies."

Sophie glanced up. "Very funny," she responded, not bothering to hide the fact that she was clearly sulking alone in a corner of a Foxfire hallway.

Keefe crossed his arms. "Are you telling me that Sophie Foster—genetically-enhanced Moonlark, prodigy Telepath with five Abilities, Mastermind of the Black Swan, Savior of the Waking World—is afraid of her midterm grades?" He put on an exaggerated expression of surprise.

She gave him a deadpan stare. "At least half of those descriptions are completely false."

"What, did you suddenly manifest a sixth ability when I wasn't looking?"

"I'm serious, Keefe," Sophie groaned. "I fell behind in my classwork this year because I've been so busy. If I fail midterms I don't know what I'll do." She nodded towards the other end of the hallway. "My parents have been in their mentor conference for so long. I've just been waiting here in dread."

He softened, leaning forward to rub her arm comfortingly. "Hey, that's understandable. Sometimes time feels slow when you're anxious. The conferences are only twenty minutes each—how long have they been in there for?"

"Twenty-three minutes."

"Oh."

Sophie snorts. "Yeah."

"Okay, so, how about you join the celebrations with everyone else? There's tons of goodies floating around. And I saw your thinking cap overflowing with gifts—you better collect them before Dex steals all the good Prattles." He grinned playfully.

That would be a good distraction, but it was too late now. "My parents are going to walk out that door with my midterm results any second," she told him dejectedly. "I appreciate the thought, Keefe, but I'd rather get this over with first."

"That's probably for the best," he admitted. "Your nervousness is rubbing off on me. Now I'm also dying to hear the results of your midterms."

She sighed and miserably leaned her head against his shoulder. "Got any other distractions up your sleeve?"

"Plenty," he replied. "Guess how many sour mood candies I gave to Tam?"

Sophie racked her brain. "Uh, ten?"

"It's actually down to four now, cause the others were eaten by the skunk I hid in his locker," Keefe snickered.

She swatted Keefe playfully on the shoulder. "Hey, Tam didn't do anything to deserve that," she scolded, but couldn't help giggling at the thought of Tam's face when he no doubt discovered the prank.

"The skunk goes with his hair, and the candy goes with his personality," Keefe explained. "I think it was a thoughtful gift. Shows I really care."

Sophie laughed. "Oh, yeah? And what thoughts did Tam have, exactly?"

Keefe pretended to think. "I don't remember. It was mostly yelling." He looked down at her and smiled, nudging her with his shoulder. "Still feeling nervous about your results?"

Although the mention of midterm grades still made Sophie's stomach twist and turn, she had to admit she was feeling much lighter, like the dread she had been carrying around since that morning just melted away. Keefe had a unique way of making her feel grounded, whether in her mind or emotions or both. Even if she failed miserably, everything would still be okay as long as he was there, anchoring her to reality.

The door down the hallway opened slowly. The last murmurs of a conversation could be heard from inside.

"Oh noo," Sophie groaned, hiding her face against him. "I'm doomed."

Keefe steadied her by the shoulders. "Whoa, Soph, don't get caught up in that again. It's fine. You have me as a good luck charm now!"

"Yeah, I'm doomed."

"You'll be fine." Keefe leaned forward and gave her lips a quick but affectionate kiss. "Good luck."

She wanted to kiss him again, but she could hear Grady and Edaline saying their goodbyes to the mentor already. Sophie rushed down the hallway towards them, filled with anticipation and nerves.

At first glance, it was hard to tell whether it was good news based on Grady's stony expression—until Edaline's face broke into a sunny grin. "Sophie, you passed!" she exclaimed.

Sophie's eyes widened. "I did?"

"With flying colors, kiddo," Grady said with a chuckle. He pulled her in for a hug. "Sorry we took a while. Sir Beckett and I went to Foxfire together back in the day so we had to catch up."

Sophie slumped in relief as Edaline rolled her eyes. "You just wanted to relive your glory days," she teased.

Sophie glanced over her shoulder to give Keefe a thumbs up. He let out a whoop.

"Told you!" Keefe shouted cheerily.

"What's he doing hanging around here?" Grady muttered. "He's supposed to be the year above you."

Edaline scoffed. "Grady, give the boy a break. Keefe is friends with Sophie."

"And also hiding from Tam," Sophie explained, which really wasn't a lie.

Grady just frowned. "What a coincidence he keeps showing up here, don't you think?"

"Not really," Sophie said, and turned to give Keefe a fond smile. "Just luck."