Fallin' For You

FOUR

  Thankfully, a lot of people Sophie knew were in her study hall. That included: Dex, Linh, Tam, Marella, Wylie, Maruca, Jensi, Biana, Fitz, and Keefe.

Sophie sat next to Dex at a desk in the back. "What do we do in here?" She asked.

Dex shrugged. "Usually on the first day we just sit and talk because Dame Alina told all the teachers they weren't allowed to give out homework on the first day. So Mrs. Clarette just lets us talk—but you're not allowed to get out of your chair."

Sophie nodded. "Good job in gym class, by the way."

Dex laughed. "I really just want to strangle Biana right now, you know? She's just so annoying and..."

As Dex rambled about Biana and all her imperfections, Sophie saw Fitz and Keefe make their way over to their table.

Sophie tried really hard to get him to shut-up, but sadly she was too late.

"...she's just a little Miss Prissy Pants that thinks she can do whatever she wants to!"

"Who is?" Keefe asked, sitting on Sophie's other side.

Sophie smiled at them, trying to tear their attention away from Dex's rant. "What are you doing over here?"

"We came over to see you," Fitz said with a smile.

Dex cleared his throat.

"Oh," Sophie said with a strained smile. "This is Dex—do you all know each other?"

Dex said, "Yes," at the same time Fitz and Keefe said, "No," Awkward.

Fitz cleared his throat. "Well, you did pretty nice in the contest, by the way," Fitz told Dex.

"Right," Dex said, glaring.

"What?"

"Nothing apparently,"

Sophie was about to switch the conversation, but Tam walked over and sat down. "Hey guys—I just came over because you looked like you were having an interesting conversation."

"Not really," Sophie said, at the same time Keefe said, "Very interesting,"

"This is not an interesting conversation," Dex demanded. "Things were great until he came over here," He pointed at Fitz.

"What did I do?" Fitz asked.

"Oh you know what you did," Dex said, crossing his arms. "Your sister flunked our attempt at winning—and you—her brother—just had to come over and rub it in by saying we did 'pretty nice'. What kind of a compliment is that?"

"Why would we—" Keefe started, but he was cut off by the teacher.

"Miss Foster," Mrs. Clarette said, looking over at their table. "Do you mind telling three of your four various boyfriends to go find another seat. You're distracting the class."

Sophie's face burned red as giggles spread through the room.

Fitz and Keefe, however, looked unfazed. "She's right," Fitz said. "I should probably go—I'll talk to you some other time. Goodbye—oh, and it was nice to meet you Deck." Then he and Keefe hurriedly walked away.

"What was that about?" Sophie asked, turning to Dex after Tam had left.

"Me?" Dex asked. "What about him? 'Nice to meet you Deck'," He did an uncanny impersonation of Fitz's voice.

"Maybe he just heard me wrong...?" Sophie said with a shrug.

Dex scoffed. "I can't believe it!"

"What?"

"You're just like all of those other girls—fawning over Fitz Vacker."

"I am not," Sophie snapped, hoping Dex would keep his voice down.

"Whatever," Dex muttered, pulling out some paper from his notebook. "Girls,"

§§§

"Hey Sophie!"

Sophie turned around and saw Fitz running toward her.

"Uh..." Sophie said, feeling her cheeks flush. "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing," Fitz said, taking a deep breath. "I just wanted to give this to you," He handed her a blue card. "It's my birthday tomorrow and I was wondering if you'd come."

Sophie stared at the card for a second before looking back up at Fitz. "Um, I'll have to ask my parents. I'll let you know if I can."

Fitz nodded. "Well, my phone number is on the card—call me," Then he walked away without another word.

A few minutes later Dex came up and stood by Sophie. "I'm sorry," He said after a minute of silence. "I acted like a jerk toward you. Will you forgive me?"'

Sophie turned to Dex. "Of course Dex," She smiled.

Dex grinned and then looked at the buses passing by. "How was your first day at Foxfire?"

"It was good," Sophie said, nodding her head. "I had a good day,"

Dex smiled, and then pointed to the blue card in her hand. "What's that?" He asked.

"Oh, it's a...welcome to Foxfire card someone gave me." She lied.

Dex nodded, and then smiled. "There's our bus," He pointed to a bus coming to the school.

Sophie smiled, following Dex to the edge of the courtyard as their bus pulled up. All the people from this morning—maybe a little less—got on and sat down in their regular seat.

It was pretty much quiet on the bus—Dex scrolled through his phone, and Sophie stared at the blue card.

It only took a few minutes to get to her house—she was the first one to get off—and the bus stopped, and she stood.

"Bye, Dex," She said. "See you tomorrow,"

"Bye," He said, looking up from his phone. "See ya,"

Sophie walked off the bus, up her driveway, up the stairs of her porch, and inside. Then she walked up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door behind her.

Sophie slung her book bag on her chair and then looked out her window. "Today was a good day," She muttered to herself as she replayed her day in her head.

Then she saw something she did not expect.

She looked through the window of the house across of hers and saw a figure behind it, but it wasn't just any figure.

"Foster?" Keefe asked, opening his window and smiling at her.

Yep, today was a good day.