fifty sokeefe kisses

(19) detention

Sophie dropped into her seat with a heavy sigh. "Not a word."

Keefe scoffed from behind her. "I didn't say anything," he said, but Sophie could hear the smirk dripping from his tone.

She remained stubbornly silent as more prodigies slowly trickled in from their lessons. Unsurprisingly, no one—including Lady Galvin—looked rather enthusiastic to be in detention.

Except for one person, that is.

"Sooo," Keefe muttered devilishly, quiet enough that Lady Galvin wouldn't call him out, but just loud enough for Sophie to hear, "you come here often?"

"Only when my idiot of a boyfriend ropes me into a ridiculous pranking scheme that lands us both in detention."

The door opened before Keefe can reply, and they both turned in their chairs to catch a glimpse of the latecomer.

"Aw, shucks." Keefe said. "Looks like another of our party members got caught."

"All 'cause your plan sucked," Tam snapped as he slid into the seat beside Sophie. 

"Hey, it's not my fault you can't outrun a bunch of jackalopes."

"Oh yeah, that has nothing to do with the fact that you didn't let me know when you were planning to release them—"

"Mr. Song! Mr. Sencen!" came Lady Galvin's voice. "You are aware you are in detention, are you not?"

The bickering duo fell silent. Tam stuck his tongue out at Keefe before turning to face the front. Sophie just shook her head as Lady Galvin walked around the room, tossing her wrinkled capes unceremoniously at each of the prodigies.

"I'm sorry he dragged you into this," Sophie whispered to Tam as they ironed.

"Don't worry about it," Tam replied. "I at least got to see the look on Dame Alina's face when she discovered a horde of jackalopes in her office."

Sophie smiled. Although there was still a scowl on his face, it sounded like Tam wasn't as pissed off as he seemed.

Her relief was short-lived. "Sophieee," came Keefe's whine.

"Don't do it," Tam hissed at her.

"Foster, I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me," Keefe whispered.

Sophie looked at Tam questioningly. He shook his head.

I feel kinda bad, she transmitted to him, frowning.

He doesn't deserve your pity, Tam replied with a glare.

"Hey emo, get out of my girlfriend's head," Keefe said. 

Tam whipped around in his seat. "She was in my head first!"

Sophie sighed. "You're not helping, Keefe."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" he asked.

She turned around to tell him off, only to be met with Keefe's best puppy-dog look. He was definitely exaggerating his hurt feelings, but Sophie could never resist his wide blue eyes.

"You look like a gremlin," Tam deadpanned.

"Ouch, dude. Sophie always falls for it."

"I do not," she demanded.

Keefe grinned. "Then why are you blushing?"

Sophie felt the heat rise to her face in spite of herself. She set her iron down to scold him, but almost fell out of her chair when she realized Keefe was hovering right over her shoulder, his breath warm on her cheek. Her heart stopped in her throat.

"Mr. Sencen! Ms. Foster!" came Lady Galvin's shrill voice. "The last I recall, talking was not allowed in detention." She narrowed her eyes as she approached. "Neither is canoodling, Mr. Sencen."

Before Sophie could protest, Keefe piped up. "Sorry for not asking before, Lady Galvin. I'm just helping Sophie with her ironing." He offered her an innocent smile. "You do remember what happened the last time you allowed her near one of your capes?"

Lady Galvin stiffened. "Of course," she said carefully. She looked down her nose at the prodigies. "See to it that it doesn't happen again."

She casts a last suspicious glance at them before stalking away between the desks. Sophie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. 

"Thank you," she whispered to Keefe.

"Anytime," he said. He had his arm slung over the back of her chair; he was so close to her face she could practically count his eyelashes. "Are we even now?"

Sophie made sure Lady Galvin's back was turned before leaning over and pressing her lips to Keefe's. He let out a sigh when she pulled away, as if she'd dragged the breath out of him. "For now. It doesn't mean I've forgiven you yet," she warned.

Keefe said nothing, but the look on his face screamed yeah, right. And Sophie knew it. Stupid Empaths.

"Gross," Tam hisses. "Can you do your smooching somewhere not within my general vicinity?"

Sophie has to wrap Keefe's hands in her own to keep him from lunging across the desk.