PERIWINKLE POV

Chapter Eight: The Midterm Celebration

Foxfire is always specially decorated for the midterm celebrations. Silver streamers are wrapped around every plant and every tower, confetti and flowers all over the floor, and giant bubbles filled with prizes floating through the halls. It's unrecognizable, but I love it.

I catch Sophie by her locker, reading up and popping a bubble floating near her. A box of Prattles drops into her hands, right where she placed them. "Good catch," I say, jogging to reach her. One bubble floating far above my head containing a small bottle of lushberry juice catches my attention and I jump for it. I grit my teeth, take a couple steps back, and get myself a running start again. But before I can jump, Stina shoves me aside with one of her bony arms and pops it.

She waves the bottle of lushberry juice in my face. "Must be frustrating being shorter than the average dwarf."

Sophie snorts at Stina before I can slump, like I used to do. "This coming from someone who looks like a giant lollipop. If your head gets any bigger, you'll topple over." I crack up at this - even bald Stina matches this description.

Stina's jaw clenches and I can tell she wants to fight this matter, but she instead just growls, "Awfully brave words coming from a girl who's going to flunk out of here today." Sophie opens her mouth to snap something back, but it seems she can't think of something. Stina giggles and bumps Sophie into a wall. "Enjoy your last day at Foxfire, loser."

"Don't let her get to you - and if Lady Galvin fails you, I'll organize a protest." I point to Sophie's thinking cap, which is overflowing with presents, gift after gift stacked up on top of each other. "Look how many people care about you here." I frown at my own cap, which barely hits the halfway mark.

Sophie nudges my arm and digs into her satchel, finally pulling out a package and dropping it into my cap. I grin at her, flashing my dimples. "I slipped your present in before you got here." My eyes drop to my feet and my cheeks flush. "I hope you like it."

"I'll love it," Sophie promises. "Just let me drop off Biana's gift and we'll go to the cafeteria."

I sigh at Princess Prettypant's name. "Ugh - why did you buy Biana a present?"

"She's my friend," Sophie says firmly.

"Yeah, and like a month ago you guys hated each other.:

"That was a misunderstanding," Sophie insists, but I don't buy it.

"Yeah, well... I don't trust her," I say. It seems fishy, how she hated her and then asked to be friends. "I don't think you should either. Why would she reach out to you for -"

Sophie shuts me up with a sharp look as Biana and Maruca enter the atrium. Biana bites her lip when she sees Sophie and quietly says, "Oh, hey, Sophie." Maruca is glaring at Biana.

Sophie clears her throat, fidgeting awkwardly. "Sorry. I just wanted to drop this off." She hands Biana a neon pink box, which she drops into her thinking cap.

"Wait," Biana says right before Sophie turns and leaves. She pulls out a slim purple parcel and hands it to Sophie, which she promptly puts in her thinking cap. "You're coming over for dinner tonight, right?"

"Of course! I can't wait! Well... I'll see you later," Sophie says, turning to look at me. I glare daggers at me. I thought she was my best friend, but I guess not. "What?" She asks, as if she's all innocent.

"You're going over there for dinner?"  I ask. "Fine, go and party with the Vackers." But just as I start to say this, the chiming bells drown me out and Sophie freezes, making it impossible to be mad at her. 

"What do we have here?" Keefe asks, snatching a red box from Sophie's thinking cap. He looks at the card and cracks up, holding it up. For one, the card is red and is covered in hearts. And also, it says... I look up to see Keefe already reading it out loud. "'Dear Sophie. I really enjoyed our dance, and I hope we can do it again sometime. Love, Valin.'"

My shoulders tense without realizing it and I watch as everyone at the table laughs. Sophie flushes. "Who's Valin?" I ask.

"Vice president of the Sophie Foster Fan Club," Keefe explains without actually explaining my question. "Don't worry, I'm president, so I'll take care of her." He winks in a way that I don't like and tosses the present back toward Sophie. "Go on. Open it."

Sophie heaves a sigh, but she tears through the bright red wrapping paper and unwraps a bracelet full of heart charms. Keefe cracks up at the sight of it. "Aw, Foster has a boyfriend."

I feel lightheaded at this. "She does not!" I snap. There is no way that - I'm not going there. "You don't, right?"

Sophie shakes her head several times - hard. "I'm just teasing - sheesh," Keefe says, nudging my arm and grinning at Sophie. "Interesting."

"What?" I don't like his expression one bit.

"Which one's your gift," Dex?" Sophie interrupts, changing the subject. For that, I'm grateful, but I shoot Keefe a glare as I grab a small, plain package noticeably missing paper.

"Sorry, we didn't have any ribbon." I bite my lip - what's a present for Sophie if it doesn't have any ribbon? But she acts like she doesn't care.

"Please, I still can't believe you made me something." She unwraps the paper and gasps as she sees what's inside. "My iPod." She taps at the screen and the human gadget springs to life.

"Yeah," I say, inwardly pleased at her obvious delight. I point to the green rectangle on the back that I tinkered with. "It's solar powered now, and it has a speaker in case you don't want to use those ear thingies."

Sophie stares at me for a long couple of seconds, a look of awe in her face. I blush without meaning to. "This is amazing, Dex. How did you do it?" I just shrug, knowing that my face has to be tomato red. "Well, thank you. Best. Gift. Ever."

"I dunno," Keefe interrupts, because he has to ruin every moment between Sophie and me. "You haven't opened mine yet."

Sophie bites her lip, looking nervous. "Which one's yours?"

"Your hat was overflowing, so it's waiting in your locker," Keefe says smugly, looking proud of himself that he got into her locker.

Of course, the first question Sophie asks is "How did you get in my locker?"

"I have my methods," Keefe says secretively.

Sophie shakes her head in disbelief, but Marella shoves a box wrapped in crooked green paper into her hands. "Open mine next." We spend the next hour unwrapping gift after gift, eating piece of candy after piece of candy. But when the doors burst open and parents start to stream in, Sophie seems to freeze completely, not even breathing as she scans faces.

I squeeze her shoulder to  reassure her, but I don't even think she's listening. "It'll be okay no  matter what." And then she's on her feet, pushing through the crowd, toward Grady and Edaline.

By the time that I'm told I passed, Sophie is squealing with joy and happy tears are running down her face. She throws her arms around me. "I couldn't have done this without you." I'm redder than ever, and Sophie giggles at it.

Pride runs through me as I look at Sophie. I helped her pass, I helped tutor her. And now she's passed.