the prom queen

chapter fifteen

k e e f e    s e n c e n

counting down the minutes until he'd get to see sophie, keefe eagerly watched the clock. now he was only seconds away from hearing the bell ring. the red hand on his watch couldn't be moving any slower. 3...2...1 ding! ding! ding! keefe bolted up from his seat and out the door. since he had almost the exact schedule as sophie, keefe knew that she was in latin, one of the few classes they didn't have together.
peering into the dark latin classroom, there was a paper projected onto the screen. their class was running late and nobody looked happy about it. many of the students were longingly looking out the windows, one including sophie. as soon as they made eye contact she perked up and ditched the class, the rest of her classmates following behind her.
dex whispered something into sophie's ear before she reached keefe, which had her glaring back at him and marella snickering off. "students i was not finished! the bell does not dismiss you, i do!" the latin teacher yelled out the door. sophie's eyes widened in panic and keefe pulled her away so she wouldn't get caught. hand in hand they ran to the nearest exit.
when they were out of earshot, keefe chastised sophie. "foster, you could've gotten detention for that-you still can."
sophie tugged on his arm and led him through the heavy doors to the outside. "then you'd have a friend in there with you." she joked, knowing keefe did get detention quite a lot. he chuckled and dragged sophie to his car.
"do you mind if we stop by my house? i want to drop off my stuff so i don't have to lug it around."
"you can just leave it in my car."
sophie shrugged and tossed her bag to the feet of the passengers seat. "just makes me feel better having my homework safe in my room." she seemed to have a realization because all of a sudden she turned to keefe with a stern look on her face. "hey wait a minute. i didn't do my homework yet. you're not supposed to be driving me home or seeing me until 5."
right. he'd forgotten to tell her about the change of plans. keefe said nothing until he got into the car with her. "well." he started, pulling out of the parking spot. "i was hoping you could hold off on doing your homework. tomorrow's senior ditch day anyway so nothing's due until monday."
"you make a good point." she admitted. "speaking of senior ditch day, do you know which theme park the student council chose?"
"hershey park." sophie's eyes widened and she furrowed her brows in skepticism.
"that's like six hours away from here. are you sure that's where we're going?"
"oh, did you think we were driving? no no no. when you're traveling with the vackers they never let anything get in their way. time included. they're having the whole senior class flown to pennsylvania in their private planes."
spohie's jaw dropped and keefe chuckled reaching over to close it. he nodded out her window, they were in front of her house. it really was a short ride from school. "we're here."
"great. i'll just be a minute." sophie said when she came out of her trance.
"oh no no no no no." keefe shook his head. "you're not going anywhere without me."
"it'll take two seconds to-"
he got out of the car and slammed his door before she could finish. sophie grudgingly followed along, keefe was already knocking at the front door. edaline happily opened it and let the two in. "i'm going to leave this upstairs. you are staying down here." she commanded.
"yes ma'am." once sophie left and keefe settled himself down in the living room, edaline started a conversation.
"so where are you taking sophie, if i may ask?"
"we're going shopping." he admitted.
"oooh shopping!? i love shopping!" edaline squealed. "how did you get her to go with you? i can never get her to come. wait. it's a surprise. duh."
keefe chuckled "you can come with us if you'd like." he offered.
"really? i would love to." edaline grinned. "but i don't want to intrude on anything." she quickly added.
"no you'd be doing me favor by coming. you probably know more about girls fashion than i do."
"i'll go get my purse and i'll be good to go."
"great." keefe smiled. edaline practically skipped down a hallway to where, he assumed, was her bedroom. he was alone for a brief moment before grady came storming in from behind a bookcase, wow. keefe thought. he had always wanted a secret passage way like that.
"edaline! where is my-" his voice came booming in. "oh. you're here." grady said narrowing in his eyes on keefe.
feeling a little awkward and very nervous, he stood up. "it's a pleasure to see you again, sir."
grady seemed to ignore the comment and took a seat. "listen mr. sencen, is it?" keefe nodded and he went on. "sophie tells me that you two have been spending quite sometime with each other." oh fuuuckkk. keefe really hoped this wasn't one of those talks. "i'm sure you understand that as a father i have a duty to ask," he internally groaned preparing for grady to finish. "what are your intentions with my daughter?"
he hadn't had to answer this question for four years, since his talk with alden, so he prayed he still remembered what he said to biana's dad. although, it wasn't like he was dating sophie or anything...keefe folded his hands and sat in the chair across from grady. "me and sophie are just friends, i can assure you. but even so, i plan to treat her full of respect and promise to never hurt her." he said with a very serious look on his face. keefe felt a pit in his stomach, he knew he was lying. eventually his bet with fitz would lead to everything he just promised would never happen to grady to ensue.
after minutes of direct eye contact with grady sophie came bounding down the stairs but as she turned the corner her face went white. "what are you two doing together?" and when edaline came in she finished with wide eyes turning to her mother "alone." edaline's brows furrowed before looking at keefe and grady sitting in the living room. she gave an apologetic look to sophie and hurried in.
ushering grady back to his office, keefe got up and walked over to sophie. "okay i'm ready to go." she smiled. keefe was wondering why it had taken her so long to get ready when he noticed the shine on her lips. did she put makeup on for him? he laughed at the thought. no way. she probably knew that they might run into some people from school. but then again sophie, didn't wear makeup to school. so who was she trying to impress?
"we're waiting for your mom. geez foster not everything is about you."
sophie ignored the comment and raised her eyebrows. "you invited my mom? keefe will you just tell me what we're doing already?" she whined.
"nope." he grinned.
they jumped when they heard a thundering voice coming from grady's office. "I DON'T WANT HER HANGING OUT WITH THAT BOY ALONE." or at all. keefe added in his head. his encounter with sophie's dad wasn't the most pleasant but it wasn't horrible either. he didn't think grady would hate him too much from their talk. then he remembered. keefe didn't really make the best first impression on him. he cringed thinking about the first time he met him. sophie looked to keefe with an awkward expression on her face. at least he wasn't the only one who was embarrassed.
a few minutes later edaline came out of grady's office with an exasperated look on her face. she grabbed a key chain off a hook on the wall and walked to the front door. "i think i'll drive separately. just in case you two want to stay out late." she winked at sophie and strutted out the door.
sophie's face was a deep shade of pink when she followed edaline out the door. keefe wasn't far, shutting the door behind him. thinking back to his and grady's conversation, keefe couldn't help but wonder what sophie had told her parents about him for them to get the idea that they might be more than friends. which they weren't.