After Stellarlune

Chapter Twenty Three

The next day at school felt like stepping back in time. 

Sophie and Fitz were back in telepathy together and their friendship felt almost like it had before everything got all complicated. Keefe teased Sophie like before. Like he didn't remember anything that had happened between them. Like he didn't remember that she had confessed to him. And he had told her they should just stay friends.

But something had happened.

So much had happened.

Keefe wouldn't end things so quickly if there wasn't something big going on.

But it was an upgrade from two days ago when Fitz would barely look at Sophie, and barely talk to Keefe. At least they were all friends again.

Including her and Keefe.

She hadn't forgotten about that conversation. In fact, she couldn't stop thinking about it.

Was he already pushing her away? Was he doing something dangerous? What was going on? 

She needed to find out. 

"What's wrong with you?" Stina asked her at lunch. "Usually you're being all ordery and bossy."

"Why so quiet?" Marella added.

Sophie shrugged. "I'm just thinking."

They raised their eyebrows. 

"Care to fill us in?" Dex asked.

"It's nothing important."

"If you say so," Marella said.

"Foster just can't believe how un-busy she is," Keefe said. "Now that she doesn't have anything to worry about, what's she supposed to do with her time?"

"I'm always worrying. About you," Sophie said. Then she realized how that sounded. "I mean, that you're going to do something dangerous without telling anyone."

"Aw, Foster's worried about me," Keefe said. "Don't worry, all the stupid decision-making is long behind me. From now on, I'm only going to make smart decisions."

Fitz coughed.

"I don't think you'll ever start making smart decisions," Biana said. 

"Agreed," Maruca and Linh said together. Before anyone else could add in, Fitz changed the subject.

"Hey, did you hear?" He said excitedly. "The next Tackle Bramble championship is coming up!"

"Are you going to compete in it?" Sophie asked.

Fitz and Keefe looked at her like she was crazy. 

"Uh, you can't just play in the tackle bramble tournament," Fitz said. "You have to be insanely good."

"The guys who will win are as big as ogres." Keefe added. "They train for this tournament every day. It's a big deal to them. Right Dizznee?"

"It's true, they're unbeatable," Dex said. "But there's like, five different teams of huge guys. So you still get to pick a favorite team and go for them."

"You can even place bets on who wins," Keefe added. "I won so much money last championship."

"Doesn't sound that exciting to me," Tam shrugged. "Just a bunch of tackling."

"Haven't you watched it before?" Keefe exclaimed. 

"It's amazing!" Fitz added. "There's a huge festival, and there's no school, and the whole lost cities comes to watch, so there's a ton of people. They were supposed to have it last year, but with the Neverseen, the council thought it would be too much of a threat to have everyone all in one place."