the prom queen

chapter two

s o p h i e   f o s t e r

sophie's lab partner had finished up their project in class ten minutes before lunch so they were both dismissed early. exiting the room, the halls were deserted and silent. the only sound she could hear were her footsteps marching down to the cafeteria. sophie's backpack was weighed down by all the books she carried in it. for foxfires elite students, lunch was meant for conversing and taking a break from learning. whereas for sophie, lunch was a time she caught up on school reading and books recommended by her sister.
she was always excited when she got dismissed early since the lunch line took up half of her lunch time. limboing under the ropes that organized the non-existent line, sophie reached the self serving lunch buffet. her mouth watered as she inhaled the yummy smells. sophie loved taco tuesday's, her mom used to make the best tacos and she missed them so dearly.
grabbing a hard shell, beef, salsa, sliced avocado, and a bottle of water sophie made her way to the back of the cafeteria to her usual table. settling in, people started to fill in the room. she loved the silence to read in but sophie had pretty much trained herself to read in any environment. loud, smelly, quiet, hot, cold, humid, rainy, etc. she placed her tray down onto the rectangular table and plopped down on her chair. her table could fit about seven other people but no one bothered to introduce themselves to her. sophie understood that no one wanted to branch out to the new kid in senior year, and the time for her to reach out to others was expired, so she had learned to be on her own and more importantly, despise the popular kids.
they were the loudest of them all and were always causing a new dramatic scene each week. like she said, sophie didn't bother the noise, but when it came to complaining she just couldn't stand it. whether it was about their "obnoxious" parents or some prada giveaway they didn't win, she was just tired about how ungrateful some of the students at foxfire high were. but it was a private school so what else did she expect?
focusing back on her lunch, sophie wanted to pick the perfect book to go along with her perfect meal. the cafeteria only served tacos one tuesday a month and she had to make the most of it. this was her last taco tuesday after all. as sad as it was, sophie was off to college in a few months and she didn't know if yale had tacos in their dining hall. she swung her backpack onto the chair beside her and unzipped the bright teal bag. it was stuffed with books of all genres, in case she got bored of one she could switch to a different one.
sophie pulled out her biography on marie curie and finished up her reading on marie's discovery of radium. taking bites out of her taco, she enjoyed the rest of the biography and put it back in her bag. she took a break from reading to throw out her lunch in the trash cans in the center of the room. when she got up is when the drama started. sophie had wondered why the cafeteria had been unusually quiet until she saw the two teens standing beside her destination.
keefe sencen and biana vacker were having a screaming match in the space that connected all the pathways together to the trash cans. okay maybe sophie was exaggerating a little on the yelling, but compared to the other students the couple was by far the loudest in the room.
sophie had heard they'd been together since, well pretty much forever. she listened in and tried to make out what keefe was saying. sophie didn't know keefe well as a yeller so she had to try hard if she wanted to know what was going on. "biana -break up. wait -after prom. we're done." was all she caught from his reply.
her eyes widened but she averted her attention back to her plate. sophie hadn't noticed she had been standing the entire time until she saw the glances being thrown at her by her classmates around her. sophie quickly took her seat once again and tried to get back into her reading mindset. part of her wanted to keep listening in, but she knew that she shouldn't be focused on school drama that wouldn't help her in the future.
pulling out a new book, sophie lost herself into a historical fiction book on mary queen of scotts. that was the only type of fiction she would let herself read. she dug herself further into her book as she pulled her black hoodie over head and rested her elbow on the table. she didn't even notice when someone sat down next to her.
"sup. i'm keefe." sophie jumped when she heard their introduction. no one had ever approached her before and she wasn't sure what to do. her default personality was to be stand offish and anti-social so that's how she continued.
"i know." she replied.
"you know?" he smirked.
sophie rolled her eyes, never making eye contact. "don't flatter yourself. i've seen your posters plastered all over school." she said pointing to the nearby prom king flyer with keefe's face on it.
"nice hoodie." keefe complimented. he peered down obviously trying to read the print on her sweatshirt.
sophie waved her hand in front of his face, making eye contact with his ice blue eyes for the first time. "my eyes are up here."
he blushed and shook his head. "i was just reading the words on your" sophie gave him a pointed look and he finished "but you were joking of course."
keefe exhaled slowly and continued on with his compliments. "so you like reading? i do too. i've read the whole harry potter series."
she had read and reread that series by the time she was in fourth grade. that's when she realized fiction was for after you've retired from your job and have the rest of your life to waste on reading pointless made up stories. "never read them before." she said trying to give him a hard time. it was funny to see the king of foxfire struggling to find the right words.
"uh...well you're in my chemistry class right? with dr. matthews? he's always so energetic. makes you wonder what he's on."
sophie was wondering why keefe sencen would ever come talk to her. it was probably a dare. she looked back at his tables to see his friends all staring at them, only to divert their attention once she caught them. she looked back to keefe with a stern, serious face. "i actually like dr. matthews and maybe he has better things to do than question his students for being overly excited about going into school."
keefe looked taken about. as he should. what was he expecting? for her to fall at her knees and beg him to be her boyfriend now that he was single? not everyone was in love with him and he needed to get that through his head. sophie started to pack up her bag to get away from whatever conversation keefe was trying to start up. "look if this is dare or whatever you can go tell your friends to choose someone else for you to bother."
sophie picked up her backpack and tried to get up from the table when he grabbed her hand to try and stop her from leaving. "i just wanted to ask if you would be interested in going out for dinner tonight?" keefe asked.
"like i said im not going along with whatever game you're playing. and maybe asking someone out on a school night isn't the best idea." sophie retorted as she pulled away from him and walked back to her locker. she was not going to be involved in the prank, she knew was going on, with the popular group. just when she was starting to appreciate the good day she was having, keefe sencen had to pull some stupid act on her.