Fallin' For You

SIX

The next day at school, everyone was talking about how cool Fitz's party was—except Stina—and Sophie agreed. Fitz had told her he loved the dinosaur statue she'd gotten him and that really made her day. Everyone else's presents were given out, and then at the very end they had seven-layer chocolate-mint cake.

"I don't see what the big fuss is about," Dex grumbled as they walked to their table at lunch. "It's just another birthday."

Sophie shrugged her shoulders, trying to pretend that she didn't care. "I guess it's because they're Vackers—they're pretty much the richest people in the world, people depend on them. Just like Fitz had to invite Stina Heks because her mom works with his dad,"

"How do you know that?" Dex asked, setting his tray down and sitting.

Sophie sat down beside him, her face turning red. "Uh, I heard someone talking about it."

Dex nodded before grabbing his sandwich and chomping down on it. "This is so good," He said with a smile.

Sophie laughed. Then she started to eat her sandwich, then eat her green beans, and then drink some of her water. Foxfire probably had the best school food Sophie had ever tasted—every other school's food was trash.

While Sophie was in the middle of listening to Marella rant about her Forensics class, the intercom beeped on and a voice said, "Sophie Foster to the office to leave campus!"

Her friends gave her quizzical looks, but Sophie just shrugged her shoulders—having no idea why she was getting checked out.

Sophie dumped her tray and walked to her locker, grabbing her stuff. She figured out that the office was located in the western half of the Amphitheater.

"Is there a specific reason I'm getting checked out of school...?" Sophie asked Edaline as she met her in the office.

Edaline smiled. "Well, we have a bit of a family emergency,"

Sophie cocked her head. "What happened?"

§§§

"This is the family emergency?" Sophie asked.

She stared at the structures in front of her. Edaline had led her to the back of the house to find fences and stakes and a big shed.

Edaline grinned. "Grady and I decided to start our own Farm Animal Sanctuary after working at that animal shelter and earning a little money."

"But I don't understand," Sophie said, staring out at the rolling hills that were now covered with animal enclosures. "How could you have earned enough money to take in all these animals and materials by only working at that animal's shelter for a couple of days?"

Edaline's smile faded. "Sophie," She said, looking out at the hills as well. "Grady and I have actually been saving up money for a while now. We were going to start our own animal Sanctuary in Upstate New York, but then we found out about Foxfire and decided it'd be better for your future to move here. We spent the money needed for you to attend, and then won back the money to make our dream possible from our earnings."

Sophie looked at Edaline. "Wow," She said after a minute. "You and Grady really wanted this dream to come true, didn't you?"

"We did," Grady said, coming up the hill and standing by Sophie. "And now we have—so it's time to get to work."

"With what?" Sophie asked, looking from Grady to Edaline.

Grady smiled before motioning to 8 trucks pulling into their yard. "We're unloading the animals."