the prom queen

chapter nine

k e e f e s e n c e n

keefe nodded back to fitz as he passed by. he was a little annoyed that fitz was trying to flirt with sophie. although dating the next prom queen wasn't part of the bet, it would certainly improve keefe and sophie's chances at winning. of course fitz knew that and was trying to mess with her feelings so she wouldn't agree to date keefe.
he couldn't help but turn around before class started to see biana's face. she was staring daggers at him and he didn't mind saying that he was enjoying it. to make her even more jealous, keefe leaned forward and whispered into sophie's ear. "better not be crushing on fitz. or i'm gonna have to make sure every guy here knows you're mine."
she visibly tensed, which made him smirk, but relaxed when he backed away. keefe was mostly flirting with sophie to make biana jealous and to keep his hair on his head, but he would be lying if he didn't say he was developing a teensy crush on her.
the teacher went on and on about the importance of reading every choice before answering the question. math bored him to sleep sometimes but since he wasn't sitting in the back like usual he would have to at least pretend to pay attention. keefe was doing perfectly fine in this class, having an a-, so he didn't really need to listen. especially since they were nearing the end of the school year.
prom was in two weeks and he had to start boosting sophie's popularity status. the question was, what would be his first step? she was a little touchy on the clothing area, didn't seem ready to want to date him, was probably going to continue to sit alone, and all the clubs and sports were closed to newcomers. he was going to have to pick one of the options to work on with her sooner or later but he also needed an activity or event that would get the seniors of foxfire high to start favoring sophie over biana.
there weren't any parties going on that he knew
of and keefe didn't have a football game this weekend so they could have more practices to prepare for the anual football game hosted on prom day. he reminded himself to get sophie to come to his game and then focused back to the task at hand. keefe's first move was going to be trying to get sophie to sit at a semi-popular table at least.
sitting alone was a big no no but at least she wasn't at the table filled with foxfires most nerdiest students. there was an open seat next to keefe but he would probably have to spend a little bit more time with her to get sophie to sit at his table with his friends. fitz would just be trying to make fun of her the whole time anyway. he had to get fitz drooling over her before bringing her to his table so he would treat her with respect, even flirting with her would be better than laughing at her.
ding! ding! ding! first period was already up. it was strange how quick his classes flew by when he wasn't listening. when he actually took time to focus in on the class it felt like it dragged on for hours. sophie was already up out of her chair and scurrying out of the classroom. he was about to get up when fitz dropped his phone onto keefes desk. "did you see this?"
"see what?" he asked as his phone went dark.
fitz rolled his eyes and unlocked his phone as he continued talking "biana has been complaining all morning about how you haven't liked her photo yet. or haven't been active since yesterday."
he was referring to instagram and the social popularity that came with it. you had to be careful about what you posted. when keefe looked down at biana's newest instagram post he gritted his teeth. there she was giving tam song a big kiss on the lips. apparently she was ready to let the school know who her new arm candy was. it hurt him to see her with another guy but he knew that was exactly why she posted it.
keefe wasn't going to let biana know how much it bothered him. so he shrugged and returned fitz's phone. "eh. i've moved on. so has she. nothing to be upset about."
fitz slowly nodded and furrowed his brows, unable to tell if keefe was putting on a brave face or being serious. he got up, moved past fitz, and left the classroom. his next class was chemistry, the one he had every day before lunch, and was almost positive sophie wasn't in it. otherwise he would have asked to walk to class with her. he knew he did have to find her before lunch and seat her at a new table though.
they had a ten minute break before their next class but keefe had already spent half of it talking to fitz. he decided to text sophie and commence phase one of his mission. he needed to come up with a cool name for it. operation prom queen. nah. operation cobra. no that didn't sound right. operation-this was dumb. why was he coming up with a mission name? he was getting a little too invested on this bet. but he really didn't want to have to shave his hair off.

me : hey foster i was wondering what you were doing after school tomorrow?

foster : idk. just doing hw i guess.

me : would you wanna hang out with your fav?

foster : i already asked fitz he said he was busy.

me : you're hilarious. i'll pick u up at 5 tomorrow so u have some time to do your hw.

foster : alrighty...

foster : you could've just asked me in class you know that, right?

no he did not know that. he was convinced that chemistry was a sophie-free class. maybe he did need to pay more attention to people in his classes other than the ones in his "clique".

me : yeah. just thinking ahead...

foster : it's fine keefe. just admit you're self absorbed and we'll call it even.

me : i am not!

"are too." she said as she walked past him heading to chemistry. keefe smirked and rolled his eyes, following her into class. he walked to his seat, which was a high stool since you did a lot of standing. in chemistry they did many labs and the teacher always suggested standing so they could focus more. he ended up right next to sophie and turned to her with a confused look on his face.
"foster there are assigned seats in this class you know that, right?" he said mimicking what she had texted him earlier.
"you know we were partners last week, right?" she retorted. there were four people to a table and you switched from having the person across from you and the person besides you as your partner. maybe he was a little self absorbed.
"alright fine foster. you got me there. i'll admit i might be a tad self absorbed." keefe was a little disappointed in himself. he knew he was in the popular group at school and that he might be a little arrogant but he didn't think he was as bad as fitz. maybe he was worse than fitz. at least fitz knew he was a snob.
"so what do you want to do tomorrow?" sophie asked.
"it's a surprise. if i tell you, you're not gonna wanna go."
"pleaseeee. i have to tell my foster parents where i am at all times. there could be big consequences. not just for me but for you too. you'd never be able to take me out for whatever bet you made with your friends ever again."
keefe was surprised by how much sophie had guessed correctly but he assured her of his plans.
"like i said earlier. there is no bet." he lied. "as for your parents i'll tell them where we're going after school today."
"i never invited you over."
"well i'm inviting myself over and it would be rude for you to turn me away."
"i think it's rude to invite yourself over. i have every right to turn up you away." she stated.
"foster we both know you want to me to come over, stop fighting me on this."
sophie rolled her eyes and leaned on her palm. "why do you even want to come over?"
"you know what foster. you're actually right. i won't come over. i don't want you to get too sick of me for our big activity tomorrow. plus you're totally gonna miss me. you'll be begging to hang out with me the next time you see me."
"sure keefe. sure."

two chapters in one day. go meeee. ngl this was rough. it took me like all day to writeee.