MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

41

"Is it just me, or is it weird how much attention the boys are giving her?" Biana waved towards Chloe, who was surrounded by Dex, Fitz, and Keefe, all vying for her attention.

Sophie shrugged. It was a little weird, but Sophie wouldn't let herself be that petty. "Are you... jealous?"

"No!" Biana shouted- a little too loudly, and much too quickly. Sophie shot her a dubious look, and Biana scrambled to correct herself. "I mean, no, of course not! You know I don't like Keefe."

Not anymore, Sophie thought, wondering why the thought popped into her head. "I wasn't talking about Keefe. I mean Dex. I see how you look at him."

Biana groaned, shoving her face into her hands to hide her blush. "I thought you were the Queen of Obliviousness!"

"I used to be," Sophie muttered, shooting a sidelong glance in Keefe's direction. She shook her head. "I mean, I still am."

Biana rolled her eyes, her face still red with embarrassment. "Sure."

They reached the end of the hallway, leading to the front door of Foxfire. Sophie swallowed her jealousy and caught up to the others, who were tampering with the alarm system.

"....I think I got it," Dex was saying, fidgeting with some loose wiring. "Seriously, what kind of high school has security systems this intricate?"

The glass doors swung open, and the strobe light alarms lining the hallways barely flinched.

Dex stood up, looking triumphant. "See? Now all we have to do is find out where the bomb is, where it's being planted, and how to disable it in time before it blows up the entire city! And then, Keefe can- hey, where is Keefe?"

Sophie whirled around, mentally counting heads. Biana, Fitz, Dex, Chloe... Dex was right. Where was Keefe?

"I didn't see him leave," Fitz said slowly, looking around. "I thought he was right next to me this whole time! But that means he must've..."

"Keefe wouldn't do that," Sophie promised, but now... how could she be so sure?

How many times had Keefe betrayed them? How many times had he sworn his loyalty to a cause, only to be double angenting for another?

And they never learned.

Time after time, betrayal after betrayal, Sophie believed him. She trusted him. All because of that stupid smirk, those stupid ice blue eyes...

And it was because she loved him.

Somewhere, so deep down Sophie knew she had to have buried it intentionally, she loved him. And Sophie hated it. Because all it meant was that Keefe could keep using her, over and over and over and over, all to his advantage.

Was every smile, every wink, every kind word a lie?

Would he come back tomorrow, begging for forgiveness, only to betray her again?

But of course, if the Neverseen's plan was to succeed, there would be no tomorrow. Just a bomb, enough planes to fly the Neverseen's agents to safety, and an abrupt defuse. Then the whole city would be gone. The Black Swan and everything they had fought for.

Why had she ever convinced herself otherwise? Keefe wasn't on her side. He never had been. He was probably taking off towards Neverseen headquarters right now, towards his mother and the organization he'd grown up with, about to board a jet that would take him far, far away from all the death and destruction he was causing.

I'm sorry, Foster.

I shouldn't have done this to you.

I shouldn't have let you trust me.

But I was broken. I was alone. And I needed someone, desperately, that I could hold onto.

I'm sorry that had to be you.

Maybe if the stars were rewritten, if we weren't born into these rivaling organizations, destined to be each other's enemies, things could've been different.

Maybe you could've learned to trust me- for real, this time.

I'm sorry I loved you.

But Keefe had never said any of it. And the way things were going, Sophie doubted he ever would.

Because somewhere, flying to safety, Sophie hoped Keefe felt guilty. She hoped he regretted everything he'd done, everything he'd said- or rather, what he hadn't.

And most of all, she hoped there was another heart out there, Keefe's, that was breaking just like hers.