Because of a Scroll | KotLC Fanfic

Chapter 5 - The System

"It's getting late," Fitz stated after he flushed red for a moment, and walked to the other side of the room where he was originally sitting. "Maybe we should go to bed."

The smile Biana was wearing was hard to miss. Though, there was also evidence of surprise in everyone's features—and judging by the emotions and thoughts churning within Sophie, she was probably the most surprised out of all of them.

"Y—yeah, I'm getting pretty tired." Sophie stood up slowly, still feeling dazed.

What just happened?

Slowly, grumbles of agreement spread throughout the room, and the boys were first to leave—already discussing who's sharing a bed with whom.

With a weary smile, Fitz looked back as they were leaving and said, "Goodnight."

"Well that just happened," Biana said a moment after the boy's loud whispers vanished up the stairs, with her eyebrows raised, a happy bewilderment still remaining.

"Um . . . yeah . . . I guess it did." Sophie awkwardly scratched her neck, still replaying the moment in her head.

Fitz kissed me. Fitz kissed me? FITZKISSEDME?! was the only coherent thought going through Sophie's mind. She couldn't decide if she was happy or confused about it—but probably a little bit of both. But if she was feeling happy he kissed her, what did that mean about her feelings towards him? Did she still like him after everything that happened? And what about Stina? Fitz was dating her currently which meant—

"Hello?" Sophie saw a hand wave in front of her eyes. "Earth to Sophie. Is someone there?"

Sophie's eyes blinked back to reality to find Biana and Linh staring at her with wide eyes.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled. "I guess I zoned out."

"Yeah," Biana agreed. "I don't blame you. What's going on in your head?"

The best answer Sophie could muster up was, "A lot."

Linh smiled and put her hand reassuringly on Sophie's shoulder. "I bet. I'd be pretty confused too. We should probably go get some sleep and maybe you and Fitz could talk about everything tomorrow?"

Sophie silently nodded her head, wanting to get some rest. But she wasn't looking forward to talking to Fitz tomorrow when she didn't know how she was feeling.

Sophie couldn't fall asleep. Instead, she just stared at the pattern of the branches on Biana's white ceiling, casted by the shadows of the shifting moonlight going through the trees outside the window.

She studied the moving shadows, listened to the soft, paced breaths of the girls on either side of her, and even counted sheep to distract her from her thoughts of Fitz—and sometimes even images of Keefe—and to help her fall asleep. But to no avail, her eyes weren't even tempted to shut, even after an hour in the dark.

Eventually, Sophie decided that maybe drinking water will help. She tried her best to quietly climb out of bed without accidently waking up Linh and Biana. She crawled down the middle of the mattress until she got to the foot of the bed. She carefully put one foot over the footboard and balanced herself. But as she tried to bring her other foot over, it somehow caught onto one of the bedsheets and Sophie lost her balance, and fell with a slight thump and a yelp.

She heard the girls shift and moan in the bed, but they didn't wake up. Sophie let out a sigh of relief and silently cursed herself for her clumsiness as she stood up and walked out of the room.

She was careful stepping down the stairs, trying her best not to step where it might creak. When she was on the last step, she smiled at her success in getting down the stairs safely.