Light It Up | ✔ | #2

Chapter 7-

This was it.

Sophie took a deep breath, then glanced at Maya, who gave her a reassuring nod. Then she plunged into the darkness below the bleachers. "Hello?"

"Foster!" The name set chills through her. Keefe spread his hands wide, a knowing smirk appearing on his face. Then it disappeared. "What's she doing here?" He glared accusingly at Maya.

"Oh, hi, Keefe, didn't see you there." Her friend glared back at him. "Maybe, you know, since I got Sophie to come here, I could get a 'thanks'?"

The blond-haired boy turned towards her, disappointment and hurt appearing on his face. "Is this true?"

Sophie felt a pin of shame stab her heart at his expression, but defiantly raised her chin. "Yes." Why should she feel ashamed?

"Oh." Keefe didn't seem to have anything more to say. "Have you told her about...?"

"No," she replied immediately, understanding what he wanted to discuss with her. "Of course not."

"Then she needs to leave," he said.

"What is it that you guys are talking about?" Maya demanded from beside Sophie. "I'm right here, ya know."

Sophie tensed, a pained expression overtaking her features. "Maya...he's right. It's best that you leave...for now. Could you wait for me by the front of the school?" This might be a mistake, but it had to be done. She was not here to make it known that elves existed.

"You're sure." It wasn't a question, just something that needed to be confirmed.

"I'm sure."

"Alright, then." Maya started to leave, then spun back to face Sophie. "Don't do anything you regret."

With that final piece of advice, she left, letting small strands of light flicker in her wake.

Keefe shoved his hands in his pockets. "I promise you that I have a very good explanation for all of this."

Sophie wasn't about to be any less hostile towards him. She couldn't afford to. "Alright, then. You have exactly five minutes to talk. Then I'm out of here. This better be good."

He winced. "Yeah, okay, I probably deserved that one."

"Probably?" came her almost-silent snarl.

Keefe chose to ignore her. "I had to leave. The Neverseen said that they would otherwise...they would kill you."

"The Neverseen?" Outrage surged throughout Sophie's system. "They're gone. We killed them off years ago. And really? They would kill me? I have bodyguards for a reason, Keefe. I'm not some two-year-old that needs help defending herself either. I have an entire booby trap system at Havenfield for such purposes!"

"I didn't mean that you couldn't defend yourself, it's just that they showed me just how many members they had, and Sophie, they had at least one hundred members that had trained in secret. One hundred. Every ability imaginable, I swear."

Her brain was struggling to wrap around all of this information, and she reached to massage her temples. "The Neverseen. An army of one hundred with every ability imaginable? Why tell me this now?" Her eyes snapped open. "Why not tell me before you left? Why not tell me that you were leaving, in the least? So I could say goodbye."

"They would've killed you," Keefe insisted.

"Sure, Keefe," she said sarcastically, backing away from him. "Sure."

"It's true! You have to believe me!" He was desperate now.

"Take my hand if you like," Sophie spat at him. "If that's what it takes for you to believe that I don't believe you! You left me for six years, Keefe. I thought you were dead! Dead! I transmitted to you every. Single. Day. Just for the hope that you were alive. I wrote letters to you, as though you could read them! I was the only one of our friends that didn't give up hope. The only one! Do you know why I left the Lost Cities, Keefe? I left Havenfield, and everyone because of you! Everything reminded me of you. That I'd never see you again. That I'd never live to see the day where you would crack another joke because I finally stopped believing that you were out there. I trusted you, Keefe Sencen. I trusted you with my life. My life! You were my crush, my boyfriend, it was all you! You were becoming my world, and when you left, that world started falling apart."

"Sophi—"

"No!" Sophie hissed, reeling on him. "I loved you. I loved you. Once. Now I can't even believe a word that comes out of your mouth! I honestly deserve better than the likes of you, Keefe Sencen, and yet, I haven't gotten over you. I stayed loyal, all of these years. I tried dating other guys. None of them felt right, Keefe. Only you." Her voice cracked, and she sucked in a breath, realizing how her lungs burn. "Only you. You were the only one for me. But I can't stand to look at your face anymore—it reminds me of everything you rid me of."

"Sophie!"

"You were my everything, Keefe," she said. "I waited for so long. I waited for you, and here you are. In the Forbidden Cities, where I moved to get away from everything that reminded me of you, and here you are."

"Sophie, stop it," Keefe snapped, his face shoving in hers, backing her into a wall. Anger radiated from him.

"Why should I?" She said daringly, opening her mouth again.

That was her mistake.

Keefe grabbed the back of her head with his hands, jerking it forward into his lips.

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Author's Note-

Alright, not to brag, but...

was that intensely good or was that intensely good? 

(I'm sorry, but I put a lot of emotion into that chapter and the one that's next so I'm quite proud and a bit...I'm feeling a bit arrogant here, which is pretty unlike me. *beats chest proudly*)

I kind of fangirled while writing this, I mean...that was a pretty huge plot twist, I guess you'd say. Do you think that Sophie will kiss him back? That they'll get back together? Do you think Keefe's story is real? Or just a fake?

I wanna know what's running through you guys's brain right now!

I really, really hope you enjoyed. You know...that might've been my biggest cliffhanger so far in the series. Wow.

Owl~