When Shadows find Light (SOTAM FF) ✔️

Ouch. - Sophie's POV

Wait one second, what just happened?!

I sat there numbly as Keefe crawled over to Tam's scroll and picked it up, flattening it and trying to read it. Linh suddenly looked panicked. "Keefe, I don't think you should read it yet... I don't think Tam would like it." she warned. Keefe shrugged. "So what? Bangs Boy doesn't like anything I do. If I breathe, he'll threaten to cut my throat."

Everyone turned a little pale in the face with that statement, including Keefe himself. "Uh, nevermind. But seriously, it won't hurt to read this, right?" Keefe said, unrolling the scroll. Linh shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, it might not, but it'll probably annoy Tam, and I don't think he'd like it–" 

"Well, has he ever liked anything?" Keefe asked, flattening out the scroll to read. He cleared his throat loudly. "And starting from five, is someone called Rhiah something, four is Marella, three is... wow, I never knew pronunciation was this hard. Number two..."

Keefe stopped, squinting at the scroll as if it was blinding. "Wow, that's... weird." he mumbled, twisting the scroll at different angles, as if the writing would change. "What? What's weird?" I asked, panicking slightly. I was freaking out for Tam because just imagining somebody going through and reading my scroll out loud to other people was too much information to handle. Plus, it was a traumatizing thought, because my scroll was most likely fake. Thanks, Mr. Forkle. I thought bitterly.

"His number two is Biana, and his number one is..." He paused, looking unsure of himself. He cleared his throat again. "Uh, his number one is Sophie." 

Wait, what? 

I choked back a strangled scream. "What? No, no, read it again. That... no, it can't be." I said, grabbing the scroll from his hands. Sure enough, at the top was my name, along with the number one. I wiped the writing, trying to see if it was fake and if someone was playing a prank on me. "What?" Biana asked, snatching the scroll away. "Geez, and I thought you two were kidding..." Biana said, shaking her head. 

"Hey, did you think I was kidding? You know I would never do that!" Keefe said, feigning a look of hurt. He dramatically clutched his arms to his chest, his mouth twisted into a frown. Biana sighed. "Yeah, yeah." she muttered, her lips twisting into half a scowl, half a smile. "Anyways, what does this mean? Have you two been secretly meeting up and talking?" Linh asked, her confident smile showing. I couldn't help but turn bright red and wave my hands in front of her frantically. "No, no, no! You don't understand, I– I don't even understand this!" I stuttered. 

"Uh huh... Sure, Sophie. Do you have something to tell us?" Linh teased, grinning. "No, not at all. I don't understand anything anymore," I said exasperatedly, collapsing onto the floor in the starfish position. "Remember, I'm an Empath. You can't lie to me." Keefe said, jokingly pressing his fingers to his temples. "And now, you're feeling very embarrassed. Ooh, what's the secret?" Keefe said, prodding Fitz's side. 

I rolled my eyes, but there was no doubt that my cheeks were still bright red, or a slight pink. "Shut up." 

"You know, I'm not really involved in this whole buddy group thing that you all have going on here, but I'm pretty sure Sophie has a crush on Ta–" Marella began.

"No." Sophie cut in stubbornly.

"Yeah, it's pretty obvious–"

"I said no, and what makes you think I like him? Jeez, it's like shipping down in the Forbidden Cities. They breath the same air once and people think they're married." Sophie muttered, fiddling the hem of her blouse. "What?" Dex asked. "Humans in the Forbidden Cities ship?"  Biana asked, looking startled.

"I'm betting my life insurance that you don't even know what shipping is." I said, sitting up correctly. Clearing her throat, Biana nodded slightly. "Yeah, you're right. But does it really matter now? Anyways, back to the Tam thing–"

"No, not back to the Tam thing." 

Surprisingly, it was not me who said that, but Fitz. He said it quite irritably, too. "Jeez, calm down, Fitzster." Keefe said, fanning his own face. "Shut up," the teal eyed boy said, crossing his arms. "Now are you going to stomp your foot for added effect?" Keefe said, eyeing his crossed arms. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Guys, we just need to figure out what I'm going to do with all of this," I gestured to every single one of us, then at Tam's rolled out matchmakers scroll. "And not make it seem like we know who's in his scroll?" Linh asked hopefully. I shook my head. "Sadly, it's a bit too late for that because somebody," I glanced at Keefe with a glare. "somebody already read his scroll without permission." I finished.

"Are you blaming me?" Keefe asked, holding his arms to her chest dramatically.

"Yup, sure am."

"Ouch, Foster. Ouch." 

"I'm not even going to say anything anymore." I said exasperatedly. I felt kind of frustrated, but tried shaking it off. 

"Oh, you just said something."

"Keefe, I swear–"

"GUYS!" Dex said loudly, snapping everyone back into attention. "We need to hurry and deal with this 'Sophie and Tam' thing, and we also need to plan for Sophie's Gala! That's why we're here in the first place!" Dex said frustratedly.

"Wait, really?" I asked confusedly. "I thought it was so we could see our matchmaking results..." I continued. "Well, sure. Fine. Whatever. But we still gotta clear this whole situation so we can focus on the real things." Dex said, still using that same angry-ish tone.

"Aw, that's my Dex!" Marella half-gushed. Turning a bright red, Dex sighed as everyone else stifled snorts. "Shut up, guys. Stop laughing." he said, still a shade of pink. 

"You know that's not possible." Biana noted, beaming when Dex covered his head in his hands. "You guys are so mean," Dex complained, obviously half-joking. "Aw, thank you very much." I retorted. The comment alone roused a couple of snorts. "Again, in Keefe's words, Sophie, ouch." Dex muttered.

"Well, I technically said, 'ouch, Foster, ouch', but that works too." Keefe stated.

"Yeah, shut up."

Omg i'm so sorry for putting this off. I'm trying to improve mu writing skill and I've also jumped into the k-pop fandom on accident, so it prolonged the publication of this chapter. Faster updates will come soon.

Veterans that are still reading, I salute you!