the prom queen

chapter ten

s o p h i e   f o s t e r

"sure keefe. sure." sophie was feeling a little awkward about what happened in math today. she didn't know if he was just playing with her or if he actually liked her. especially after what happened this morning with the pillow fight and everything...but who was she kidding? why would a guy like keefe like a girl like her? she was a loner and didn't really have many friends. but sophie didn't like him. there wasn't even a point to having this conversation with herself.
"hey so about math class-"
"look i'm sorry about that foster" keefe interrupted. "biana was staring right at me and...even though i said i don't want to get back together with her..."
"you still have feelings for her." sophie finished. there it was. he didn't have feelings for her. she didn't either. he was just using her to make biana jealous. which was fine by her as long as he wasn't going to be a jerk while they hung out. well, if they hung out. they already had but whose to say they would again. keefe did say he was picking her up tomorrow but who knew if they would talk after that or if he would even show up. sophie saw this whole friendship as temporary. she was still convinced that keefe was only talking to her as a joke between his friend group.
"yeah. anyways it won't happen again. unless you want it to." he wiggled his eyebrows making sophie laugh and she turned away to look at the door. she and keefe had every class together today. whether he would notice or not wasn't too clear. he hadn't known she was in his classes before but now that keefe was hanging around her more he seemed to actually see her, not right through her as usual.
"shut up." she made out through her growing smile. sophie turned sharply when a thud! vibrated the whole table. sitting diagonally from her was marella redek. the leader of bianas minions and biggest gossiper at foxfire high. she new all the latest drama and everyone's deepest secrets, that she would occasionally share with biana. marella hadn't really acknowledged her presence until today.
"ugh. kissing makes me sick. can't people keep it in their pants until after school?" she sat down in a huff. marella was dressed in a gingham black and white mini skirt and a white tank top with a black short sleeved shirt that tied in the front, somehow she managed to pull off. "i'm done. i'm swearing off boys for the rest of my life." but she perked right back up once tam walked into the room.
keefe raised his eyebrows at marella and nodded to tam. "you know trying to dress goth isn't going to impress him. biana dresses in the same pink girly things you do. maybe try and actually talk to him." marella glared at him before turning to sophie. not only was her stare intimidating but so was her clothing. when marella gazed down to inspect sophie's outfit choice, she raised a judgemental eyebrow. the simple action made sophie start to get really insecure about what she was wearing. she usually didn't care, but with marella looking like a freaking goddess she had to fight herself from peering over to see who keefe was checking out.
why did she even care who he was looking at? ugh. sophie focused her attention back to marella who had just asked her a question. "sorry, what did you say?"
"did you do the homework?"
sophie nodded and pulled it out just as the bell rang. ding! ding! ding! which indicated the start of second period. marella dragged sophie's paper across the table towards her blank one with a sweet innocent look on her face. "mind if i copy?"
she sighed and agreed when keefe put a hand on her knee, making her jump, and smirked. "while it's out...i could use some help too." it was impossible to disagree with him while his godly powers rushed clouds, that impaired all logic, into her brain. once the two had finished copying her answers, they shoved all three papers to the curly haired kid sitting across from sophie. his name was jensi, she thought. it was a little hard to remember with keefe hovering over her.
jensi got up, grabbed the papers, and happily turned in their identical homework assignments. she was nervous they'd get caught when her attention moved back to keefe and his retreating touch. sophie pouted but made sure keefe didn't see, she didn't want him getting too cocky. jensi returned and mr. calle, the constantly tired science teacher, started writing on the chalk board. "today we will be going over the lab from yesterday."
chemistry was the one class sophie had every day, which meant it was also the shortest. her first and last block would alternate every other day, except for monday when she had all her classes. whenever mr. calle said they would be going over a lab, that told all the students they could slack off that class. he would basically stand in front of the chalk board and mutter, mostly to himself, about the previous days lesson. no one could hear what he was saying, after the first few weeks of school, they started to realize it didn't matter. "why are you wearing black?" keefe asked marella. "you usually wouldn't go this far to impress a boy. i remember you saying, and i quote, 'i would like you to throw me in a trash can if you ever catch me wearing black to school."
marella ripped through her gorgeous blonde locks and closed her eyes. "it's a long story."
"we've got time." sophie gestured to the front where mr. calle was rambling on about the different settings on a microscope.
marella peered to her left where tam was sitting before continuing. "biana is such a bitch."
"tell me something i don't know." keefe grumbled.
sophie appreciated their hatred for her but realized that both of them had served her for years before converting to the right side, and it probably wasn't permanent. marella explained how at the beginning of junior year, when tam transferred to foxfire, she had the biggest crush on him. the only person she told was biana. she promised to help marella get tam to fall in love with her by the end of the year. instead, biana cheated on keefe with tam and kept it a secret from her up until today. apparently keefe didn't know about it either because his eyes glassed over the same way they did in his car yesterday.
of course marella was explaining it in much further detail but all of a sudden sophie heard a ding! ding! ding! and just like that second period was over. but their conversation was far from it. "so then i was like you knew i liked him! and she was all like but he didn't like you back!" sophie and keefe shared a look that said "this has been going on for way longer than necessary". the two of them started their way to the cafeteria but marella followed along and explained further into the story.
"now biana's dating my crush and i have no one who i can hope asks me to prom!" marella threw her hands in the air then raced to catch up with them as they entered the lunch line. the three friends towered the famous foxfire brownies on their trays and walked over to sophie's empty table. sophie was surprised that both marella and keefe were joining her for lunch but she tried not to get her hopes up. she needed to manage her expectations and couldn't get too attached or too used to having people sit with her.
sophie smiled when she saw keefe pulling out the container of mallowmelt edaline had given him this morning. she was both happy that he actually saved it for lunch and that she remembered she'd packed herself some as well. not only did she have her favorite desserts ready to eat in front of her, but sophie had friends with her to enjoy them with.
she was about to ask keefe for her piece of mallowmelt that she put in his bag this morning, when a loud bell rang. sophie was a little confused, thinking it might be the end of lunch, but it had just started. it was also louder and longer than the school bell. in from the cafeteria doors came tam and two other guys holding a big stuffed teddy bear, bigger than sophie, with a jumbo sized poster attached to its chest.
they stopped right in front of biana and tam read the writing on the poster out loud. "biana, my dancing is unbearable...but can you teach me at prom?"
biana jumped into his arms and the whole cafeteria cheered and clapped for the happy couple. opposite to the reactions of the foxfire high seniors, keefe and marella were fuming. sophie couldn't decide who was more pissed. keefe's hands were balled up in fists and he looked like he was going to punch someone. marella, on the other hand, was on the verge of tears but was covering it up with her fake grin that didn't quite reach her eyes, but sophie could see right through her facade. sophie knew that becoming friends with keefe and marella wouldn't leave any room for boredom in her life.

three times in one dayyy. can i get a whoop whoop 🙌