There Are Never Enough Minutes - A SoKeefe Short Story

The Second Part

Well she really screwed everything up now. Now Keefe thought she hated him, now he was never going to talk to her again.

Great.

Sophie furiously wiped her tears away, but unfortunately for her, she had an infinite supply.

"Stupid gosh darnit tears!" She muttered as they trailed down her face, no doubt ruining the minimal amount of makeup she had applied that morning. Sophie didn't believe in using makeup to change herself, but she didn't mind using it to enhance her dull features. She had actually thought she looked pretty that morning. Of course, that was after she covered the dark spots under her eyes.

Sophie and all of her friends had applied to the same college, they also all had fall backs, but they assumed they would all get in. And they almost all did. For some stupid reason, they all got in but Sophie. And she truthfully didn't understand why. Her resume was far more impressive than Dex's and Biana's, she had better grades, she'd done highly advanced extra curricular activities, she'd even been adopted after her parents unfortunate death and still thrived in education. Didn't that say something?

Apparently not. Or maybe it did. Maybe it showed that she wasn't good at anything but school. That was boring, she already knew that. Sophie wasn't special, she wasn't going to change the world. She was just going to get an "A" on all her assignments. Lame.

She was good at a lot of things, right? But she felt like she was only good. She wasn't exceptional at anything, just decent. That's why no one wanted her.

Why he wouldn't want her.

The thought brought forth a new waterfall of tears. They were all going to go to a college without her, she was the only one who failed.

She didn't want to lose them. Didn't want to lose them the way she lost her first family.

If there was any chance that they would stay in contact with her, she had to prove she was a worthy friend. So, she put on a smile, wiped her tears one last time, dusted her jeans, and began walking back towards the school.

When she walked through the gates, lunch was already over which meant there would only be a few people in the halls. A few choice people. One of which she really didn't want to see right now.

But Sophie had never really been lucky.

"Sophie?" She sucked in a sharp breath and plastered on her face what she hoped would be at least a semblance of a smile. When she turned around Keefe was staring at her, hurt still darkening his features.

So he called her Sophie. Not Foster. Sure she had corrected him, but she really didn't want him to stop. Before she could stop herself Sophie blurted, "Foster!"

"What? I- When I called you Foster earlier you corrected me to Sophie! God Sophie, make up your mind already! What the Hell is wrong with you?" Sophie hadn't realized how badly she'd fractured him. She also didn't realize she had begun to cry.

"What isn't?"

"Foster, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that; You're crying!"

"I'm not crying, you're crying."

"No Foster, I'm pretty sure you're the one crying."

They smiled at each other, and for a second Sophie thought everything might be okay.

And then an alarm blared. And gunshots fired. Their school was under attack.

Sophie screamed and Keefe immediately ran over to her and covered her mouth. "Come with me! We have to find shelter!" He whisper-shouted, then he pulled her into one of the empty classrooms. After turning off the lights and locking the door, he pulled Sophie to one of the far walls where the shooter wouldn't be able to reach if they tried to shoot through the door.