Foxfire High {ON HIATUS}

Sophie- Someone Finally Understands

Sophie slammed her locker shut and leaned against it. After fifteen minutes of wandering the corridors, a few unfortunate locker incidents, one very disgruntled English teacher, an absolute flop of a math class (turns out Sophie had forgotten all of her math while staying in the Lost Cities) and a horrible accident with someone's bag, a pair of shoelaces and a bottle of Coke, Sophie was ready for today to be over. 

A flash of braided blond hair appeared in front of her, and before she knew what was going on, Sophie was surrounded by the storm that was Marella. 

"Hey," Marella said, tossing her braids behind her shoulder as she popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth. She leaned against the locker next to Sophie. "You look like shit." 

"I feel like shit," Sophie replied. She turned her head to face Marella. "How do you feel about skipping school with me and hiding in a hole for the next ten years?" 

"That bad, huh?" Marella popped another piece of popcorn in her mouth and offered the bag to Sophie. 

Sophie took a handful and shoved it in her mouth. "Yeah."  she said "Pretty bad." 

"Well," Marella said, her braids swinging from side to side "You know I totally would but I promised Linh I'd meet her in five minutes. You know I can't let her down." She crumpled up the now-empty popcorn bag and said "Hey! Why don't you come to Flori's with me and Linh later! She was going to bring Tam anyway so it wasn't really a date anyway." she tossed the popcorn bag into a nearby bin. "So, what do you say?"  

"Yeah, sure." Sophie said, smiling at Marella in gratitude. Maybe hanging out with them would do her some good. But the cafe name... Flori's? Surely it couldn't be Flori? 

A black-haired head popped up from behind Marella and kissed her on the cheek. 

"Hi," said Linh, smiling and pulling away, lacing her fingers through Marella's. "You weren't in the cafeteria." she said to Marella. 

"I was waiting for Sophie," Marella replied. "We're headed that way now." 

"Alright, but be quick. I've got to give Tam this sandwich, I'll meet you there." Linh said, gesturing to a plastic-wrapped sandwich in her hand.  She trotted off down the hallway, waving goodbye over her shoulder.

"Let's go," said Marella, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "Do you have everything?"

"Yep." Sophie nodded, walking next to Marella. Marella was about a foot taller than her, which surprised Sophie. She didn't remember Marella being this tall back home. 

"So," Sophie said, almost jogging to keep up with Marella's fast pace. "How long have you and Linh been dating?"

Marella shrugged "I don't know, about a month? Two? I've kind of lost track. Why do you want to know?" 

Should she tell her? She could trust Marella, she usually would back home...

"I feel like I've had a dream... but I don't remember anything else. Does that make sense?

"So... like amnesia?" Marella asked

"Not quite. You guys were all in my dream, you and Linh and Fitz and everyone. But it was different. This is going to sound really weird, but... we were elves."

Marella nodded. "Okay. So... it was a dream, so you know us, but not us in real life, and you don't remember anything before the dream, so you only know dream version of us and don't understand everything that's happened here recently. Am I right?" 

Sophie could have danced in relief. Finally someone understood her problem! 

"Yeah, there's just one thing... I'm not entirely sure it was a dream." 

"You..." Marella paused for a moment to think. "You don't think it's a dream? You think that we're... elves?" 

Sophie huddled up in her hoodie. "I don't know. But I do know that I'm not supposed to be here, and if this other world exists, then I need to go back. I need to go home."

Marella nodded. "Alright." 

Sophie looked at her. They stopped just before the cafeteria. "Will you help me? To figure out what's going on, I mean. I don't know who else I can turn to. Amy thinks I'm crazy and Fitz will get really concerned about my mental health and make me see a therapist or something, but I know you won't. I know I can trust you." She fiddled with her sleeves. "The Marella I know wouldn't judge me." 

Marella snorted. "Thanks for the speech, but I was going to help you anyway, stupid. Whatever you crazy plan is, it's better than homework." she grinned at Sophie. If Sophie could have danced with relief earlier, this made her want to do back flips off the roof. 

"Thank you!" It took all of Sophie's will for her not to squeal in delight. 

"I already told you, it's nothing." said Marella, dragging Sophie through the double doors into the cafeteria. 

Sophie stopped. There were so many familiar faces in here- Stina sitting in a corner with Maruca, Jensi playing some video game with some of his other Drooly Boys. 

Marella interrupted her staring around the room. "Earth to Sophie, lets go get some chow," she said, striding towards the counter. 

"Chow?" Sophie scoffed "Since when do you use the word 'chow'?" 

"Since five seconds ago, now hurry up because I need to find Linh."