Mirrored Conflicts (a Sokeefe story)

Chapter 7: Trusting

When Mr. Forkle came to pick her up the next morning, she was so freaked out by her pineapple hair that she actually listened to Vertina—and she had to admit, the sleek, twisted ponytail her hair was now pulled back in was something Sophie never could have managed on her own.

However, maybe it drew a little too much attention to the fact that she'd put in effort, because when she walked down the stairs...

"Whoa," Fitz breathed. "I didn't recognize you for a second."

Sophie looked down. "Bad hair day."

"No, it looks really good," he promised, and it was annoying the way that still made her blush. "Brings out your eyes."

Which was probably meant as a compliment, but... "You mean my weird eyes."

"Your unique eyes," Fitz corrected. "I think they're pretty."

Before she could come up with a response to that comment, Grizel came out of the shadows. "You should do that with your hair more often," she suggested. "Drive the boys crazy."

"Uh... maybe."

Attention made her a little nervous.

Especially attention from Fitz, though entirely against her will.

Speaking of which...

"Why are you staring at me?" She said, her skin starting to feel a little itchy.

"Oh, I'm just checking for cuts or scratches," Fitz explained, his fists curling into little balls. "Making sure... he didn't hurt you."

She spun around to Mr. Forkle. "You told him about K—about my nemesis?" She silently cursed her almost-slip, hoping he hadn't realized she knew the boy's name.

"I thought we agreed that he should know."

Sophie sighed. "Can we have a minute? I want to talk to Fitz alone."

Mr. Forkle nodded, leading Sandor and Grizel out of the room. Sophie motioned for Fitz to sit down with her. "We should talk telepathically," she suggested, not wanting to say anything she was about to say out loud.

She still didn't know how much she was going to tell him. But she believed in their cognate relationship, and she'd seen how keeping secrets from Fitz had affected their ability to work as cognates in the past, so she had to tell him something.

She owed him that. Especially since she'd told him she trusted him.

Fitz entered her mind, saying whatever his special words were that allowed him to slip through the defenses the Black Swan had given her. So... what's this about?

I... give me a minute. Sophie took a few calming breaths. I'm going to try something here.

Try what?

Being... honest with you. Honest about things I'd rather not share. And it might be kinda difficult, cause it's new, and I recently just lied about this to... everyone.

...That sounds like a really big thing, Sophie. Does it happen to have anything to do with that secret you didn't want to share in our trust exercises, or—

NO! That one isn't even relevant anymore—I promise.

Are you sure?

Positive. Can't be a secret if it isn't even true. She shook her head wildly and pushed all thoughts pertaining to her crush as far from her mind as possible. So maybe her heart still fluttered a little around him. But she didn't want to be with him—she was sure it would mess everything up. And letting him know that she had those feelings, even in the past...