wonderboy ↠ fitz vacker

2 | The (Not So Good) Plan

Fitz held on to his dear life as Sophie jumped off Everglen's cliff. Ever since she started becoming more confident on her teleporting, the more they did it and the more Fitz was terrified of ever leaving his house while she was around.

He liked holding her hand, though, so maybe it wasn't so bad.

Sophie, Keefe, Fitz and Biana arrived at Havenfield, everyone looking like they were going to throw up except Sophie, and Keefe who was more concentrated on her than on the horrible dizzy feeling. Seeing it made Fitz's want to puke even stronger.

"Can we just light leap next time Soph?" Biana said, and Keefe and Fitz agreed fervorously.

Sophie laughed. "What's the fun in that?"

"Oh, there's no fun, but at least I know I'll live." Fitz said through agitated breaths.

Keefe threw his arm around Sophie's shoulders, laughing. "Lay off, Fitzy, no one died. Let's go greet Edaline and see if she has any mallowmelt!"

They entered the almost-castle house. Fitz looked at the beach through the glass walls and admired the starry night in its water. The way the moon was reflected in the waves almost perfectly always left him breathless. He looked down at the caves. He couldn't stop thinking of what would've happened if he was the one with Sophie that day instead of Dex. What would've changed. This house was full of bittersweet memories that reminded him of what could've been. Memories of happy moments and sad moments, both in which he had always been the first choice. But not anymore.

"You okay?" He felt a hand in his shoulder and jumped. He turned to find Biana looking at him pitifully. He knew she had a good intention, but pity eyes weren't exactly his favorite expression.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry about me." He smiled reassuringly. She smiled back and left. He wanted to believe those words. He wanted to believe he was okay, but if he was honest he didn't know if it was true. He thought he was better, but it seemed like this place brought back happy memories that turned sad, now that the circumstances had changed. After a few seconds, he sighed and followed Biana.

"Fitz! I was starting to wonder if you'd come!" Edaline gave him one of those great mom hugs. She offered blitzenberry muffins and he gladly took one.

"I was just looking at the view you have here, it's amazing! Even if I've been here hundreds of times it's always as stunning as the first time I was here."

"That's sweet of you to say- and completely true. Sometimes we forget the beautiful view we have because we're too worried with our own problems," Edaline turned to Sophie "which reminds me of what we came here to talk about."

Sophie fiddled with her satchel's strap then looked at her mother with worried eyes. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I think I've been too caught up in Keefe being awake that I've sort of forgotten about the other problems we were dealing with."

Edaline's eyes softened. "You don't need to be sorry, you're a teenager, it's alright to spend some time with your...personal life." Something told Fitz she would have said boyfriend but stopped herself because Fitz was there. Honestly he couldn't blame her, he still had a hard time adjusting to the fact that they were a thing now, and ever since it happened, no one had dared to say the b word while he was around. Except for Biana, of course. But he was thankful. He wasn't sure if he was ready to hear it either.

"I- I know," Sophie seemed to notice too by the way she stuttered. "It's just that, while my personal life is important to me, this was more important." She gave her a crooked smile that sort of looked like a grimace. "Do you know when the rest are getting here?"

"Not really, but Grady hailed me a couple minutes ago saying that he was leaving, so they shouldn't take too long to arrive." Edaline explained. "You guys can go upstairs to wait if you want, I'll call you when they get here."