Chapter 7

Fitz’s POV 

“You good?” Biana smiled up at him as they left the giant steps of the Everglen mansion.

Fitz was a bit nervous for the new day of school, but also completely ready. He had everything scheduled and in place. Today he was going to ask Sophie to the ball. It was all anyone could talk about and with everyone beginning to find dates there was no time to lose. Almost everyone in Foxfire was taken or going solo at this point, so Fitz could no longer stall. He gathered his nerves and put a brave face on. 

“Yep, never better” he answered as he looked down at his little sister hoping he looked happy. “Good, cause for a second you had me worried. I’ve never seen you look so stressed” Biana laughed a little and then paused. “Wait. You’re not asking Sophie out today are you?” She said in a scared, high pitched tone. She looked at him, her eyes filled with concern and desperation. 

“What? Noooo” he lied

To be honest Fitz wasn’t sure why he had just lied to Biana, but something about the way she had looked at him when she asked that question threw him off. Wasn't his sister supposed to be on his side? The thought brought a scarier question to mind. Biana was on his side right? Yes of course she is, he thought. What a silly question he mentally joked to himself. I mean Biana was his sister, and she knew how much Sophie meant to him. There was no way she actually wanted her to end up with Keefe. Anyway, Biana was probably too focused on her own problems at the moment,  to worry about their silly little competition. 

When they light leaped onto the first floor of Foxfire, they quickly went their separate ways.  Biana waved goodbye and walked over towards a small group of their friends. She immediately went over to Dex and his eyes lit up for a second when he saw her. It seemed like she had started hanging out with him a whole lot this week, but Fitz didn't really mind. As long as he ended up with Sophie he didn’t really care about other ships. He had spent the whole week getting ready for today. Fitz wandered through the crowds of kids coming into school looking for a pair of bright brown eyes. As soon as he saw them his plan would go into action.

 

It wasn’t until lunch when he first saw them, and by the looks of it they were surrounded by all of their friends. Unfortunately that included the bright ice blue eyes that she was currently staring dreamily at. Great! Now Fitz would have to do this in front of everyone, although that was actually kind of good right? He sure hoped so. Fitz looked around at everyone he had asked to help him, giving them a little signal to let them know that he was ready for the show to start. He put on his most charming smile, quickly fixed his hair and started walking up to Sophie. Everyone who agreed to help him was in the right position and he was just a few feet away from Sophie, when all of a sudden Keefe jumped up on the table. He had a huge grin on his face but his eyes looked slightly nervous for a second before he started:

“Attention everyone! Drum roll please” Keefe called, pointing to someone in Fitz’s group.

Fitz tried to stop them saying this wasn’t part of his plan, but they started the drumroll anyway, making everyone join quickly. It was a fast booming sound that dragged everyone's attention to Keefe. He was still mounted on the table looking like a king looking handsome and confident as always. Oh no. This wasn’t part of his plan. Had Keefe actually beat him to it? Looking back at his group one last time, he shrugged and sat down at the table with their friends so he could see the action up close. Maybe Sophie would say no? To her own boyfriend... he laughed at himself for the thought. Not a nice laugh, but one that left his throat hoarse and brain hurting. It didn’t matter what theatricals he had planned, Keefe had beat him to it. He mentally slapped himself and rolled his eyes. Well, at least I get a show, he reminded himself trying not to puke his early lunch. 

 

“Sophie Elizabeth Foster!” Keefe continued, once everyone was looking at him. His eyes shone like a sparkling moon, and his whole face lit up when he said her name. He smiled down at her and all the eyes in the room followed his gaze down to where Sophie sat. Seeing everyone staring at her made her blush intensely, turning her face a bright shade of tomato red. 

“Keefe, you can ummm get down now” she said shyly, obviously not loving the attention

“Just wait” he said leaning down to whisper something into Sophie's ear. Fitz tried to lean in and hear but he said it way too quiet. Whatever he said to her had everyone wanting to hear it, as Sophie laughed a cute little chuckle, playfully rolling her eyes. Keefe stood back up grinning, and pointed to someone near the light switch. All the lights slowly switched off leaving everyone staring at a sight which they could have only dreamed of. The room was now pitch black, but that didn't matter. On the walls was something so beautiful, so indescribable that it had Fitz crying internally.

 

Sophie's POV

Sophie was sitting in the cafeteria talking to her friends and laughing as Keefe told a story. The way his eyes lit up at certain points made her heart flutter and she loved just looking at him as he talked. When he was done everyone else started talking about other things but Sophie kept staring. Suddenly Keefe jumped up and stood on the table. He looked slightly nervous but he just smiled and called out to everyone

“Attention everyone! Drum roll please” He said pointing at someone on the other side of the room.

What is he doing? Sophie thought. However, he looked so cute that she just watched, as intrigued as everyone else in the room who were starting to whisper ideas of what they thought was happening. She saw FItz sit down at the other end of the table but she was too focused on Keefe to pay attention to anything else.

“Sophie Elizabeth Foster!” He said after the whispering died down a little.

Sophie couldn’t keep her heart from fluttering or her lips from smiling as she saw the way his eyes sparkled at her name. He smiled down at her and she suddenly realized he had just called her name out and now all pairs of eyes were focused on her. Okayyy...

“Keefe, you can ummm get down now” she said quietly trying to avoid everyone's eyes and not be the center of attention.

“Just wait” he said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes and a smile that made Sophie melt. Slowly he bent down and brought his face close to hers. His lips gently brushed the side of her face making her blush even more as he whispered,

“You trust me, don’t you?” 

His tone was hushed and teasing but for some reason it made Sophie's heart soar. She could see everyone leaning in trying to hear what he was saying but she was glad it was just between the two of them. She laughed quietly, rolling her eyes at him and trying, but failing, to wipe off the dreamy look she knew she was wearing. Sophie was sure her face was burning brighter than the sun. Yet she really really appreciated what he was doing for her. Keefe straightened, clearly proud of himself for making her laugh and annoying her at the same time, then turned around and pointed to someone standing next to a light switch. She took in a quick breath, and her jaw fell open not believing what she saw. 

 

When the lights turned off she was so shocked at what she saw, that she was pretty sure her food had dropped onto her shirt. Although her only question was, Why was Keefe doing this? He had already asked her to the ball and she had said yes, but still it seemed he needed a big presentation. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Fitz with a disgusted look on his face, but at the moment that wasn't her main worry. The real question was: How much trouble was Keefe going to get into for doing this? She tried to focus on that, but as soon as she looked around everything else washed away. On the large wall to her left was a giant painting, and how she hadn’t seen it when the lights were on was a mystery. It looked to be made of a glow in the dark paint. It captured her perfectly, and in the most beautiful way possible. In the painting her hair fell gently on her shoulders, and it came down in soft blonde curls that seemed to be waving in the wind and gently framing her face. Her smile was bright and beautiful and it seemed to light up the room. Her lips were full and gorgeous, and right alongside her eyes which stood out thanks to the long, gorgeous eyelashes. In fact it was seeing her eyes that made her vision blur with tears of happiness. They were big and bright, with beautiful flecks in them that made them captivating and brighter than the stars in the sky. How Keefe ever saw her that pretty was a mystery to her, but it made her heart swell and left her smiling widely. When the lights came back on Sophie wasn’t ready to stop looking at it. “So Foster, will you be my date to the ball?” Keefe asked, dragging her back to the present.

At that moment Sophie didn’t care that he had asked her before, and she had already agreed. In fact she forgot about everything else as she saw the hopeful expression on Keefes face as he looked at her. She couldn’t believe he had done all this for her and having him ask her again was incredible. 

“How could I say no?” She whispered back to him her voice gentle and quiet, as he tucked his arm around her waist. “But, you know you already asked me right?” She teased. 

“Well hearing you say yes twice was totally worth it” He grinned

She hugged him tightly, and rested her head on his shoulder. 

“Thank you” She said quietly

Keefe smiled back in response then turned to the rest of the room

“She said yes!” He yelled out to everyone else who seemed to be either tearing up over the painting or awwing at Sophie's reaction. 

“Keefe!” Someone yelled from behind them. Sophie’s worries came back for a second before she recognized the voice. They both turned and saw Magnate Leto waltzing up to them with a little smirk on his face. 

“While I love your dedication to ask out Ms. Foster, you technically destroyed school property so you’ll have to come with me” Magnate Leto shook his head trying to wipe the smile off his face and look serious. 

“Hey, it's alright” Keefe returned his smirk, turning towards Sophie “I got to make Foster over here cry tears of joy! And you know how much I love making her swoon, I mean look at her, she's adorable” 

Sophie rolled her eyes at him “I really hate you sometimes, you know that?”

“Nah, you love me Foster”

Sophie playfully shook her head at him

“Ouch. That hurts'' He said putting a hand over his heart “I know you’re just head over heels in love with me, and who can blame you?” He smirked, making Sophie blush slightly. She tried to duck her head to hide it but Keefe definitely caught it. He laughed with a full smile and gently scooted closer. 

“Ummm ok...Are you done here?” Magnate Leto asked, looking between the two of them. Sophie had honestly forgotten he was there and her face turned bright pink. But Keefe obviously knew everyone was still there watching as he looked like he enjoyed the attention. 

“Goodbye Milady!” Keefe said while holding her hand. Keefe leaned down gently and kissed it. His eyes twinkled at his own joke, and he winked behind him as he followed Magnate Leto out the door. Sophie smiled widely, ignoring everyone else as she walked out of the cafeteria. 

 

Biana’s POV 

“Ha ha ha” Biana giggled laughing at a joke Marella made as they light leaped to her house. Marella’s mom was having one of her bad days so she offered Marella the night over. Gladly she took her up. They had decided to give each other makeovers as they climbed onto the grand swirling staircase leading up to her room. So when they reached Bianas' room Marella plopped down on an elegant sofa. “Truth or dare?” Marella smiled up. “Uhh truth” Biana said a bit confused. “Ok, do you or do you not like Dex?” The question made Biana blush and Marella started laughing. “I knew it!” The whole game had come out of nowhere and now that Biana thought about it this had all probably been a plot to get that out of her. It was true she had gone a little out of her way to talk to Dex during school and had even started flirting a bit with him, but it was only because she needed him to ask her to the dance. It wasn’t because she liked him, right? Ok she liked him a little bit but it was hard not to with his cute little nose and strawberry blonde hair. Oh boy she reassessed she had it bad. “Ahhh” she sighed onto the seat next to Marella. “Do you think he’ll ever ask me?” When she looked up it seemed Marella was trying hard to keep it together. “Oh come on!” Biana lightly slapped her arm. “Of course he will Bi! Your one of the prettiest and sweetest girls in the grade! Don’t even worry about it!” This made Biana feel a lot better so she sighed. “You're right, I don't know what I was stressing about”. They had fun for the rest of the day but when Biana finally put her head down a little voice seemed to be warning her that if she wanted to go with Dex she was going to have to ask him herself.