How It Should Have Been: Sokeefe AU

Episode 26: (Sophie's POV)

Before:

"I told you, Ruewen. I just wanted to check on you. You're cute when you're pushy, though, so thank you for that," Keefe grinned. He instantly regretted the comment when he spared a glance for Fitz, whose eyes were burning lasers into Keefe's brain. His face was scrunched up with anger. Keefe felt, more than saw, Sophie's eye flick to Fitz before she nodded and let him go, smiling as he gave her one last smirk over his shoulder.

But she still called after him, "Hey, hail me later, okay?"

He nodded, not daring to turn and meet her eyes again.

He would not be telling her a thing, not today.

The door slammed behind him.

He ran into Biana, of all people, on the stairs, and only managed to give her a shake of the head before continuing on, the slightest hint of tears burning in his eyes.

The break after midterms ended.

Sophie hadn't seen Keefe for the rest of the six-week break, not since he had come to Havenfield and left without saying a thing. She waited for him to hail her for the rest of the night, before giving up and repeatedly saying his name into her imparter.

He didn't pick up.

She had leaped to school early, scanning the field for a carefully styled head of blond hair, but he wasn't there.

Of course he wasn't there, Sophie tried to reassure herself. Keefe would never show up to school early...

So she trained her eyes on the spot most people were appearing, concentrating so hard that she didn't notice him come up behind her.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist, and she tried to whirl to see who it was, but they were too tight. Panic flared, and she struggled to escape, tearing at the arms until a familiar voice sounded, clearing the fog of fear.

"Hey, Sophie, calm down! It's only me!" Fitz released her and spun her around to face him, rubbing his arms as though her fingernails had done some damage.

Guilt rose up in Sophie's stomach. "Sorry," she mumbled. Why had she gone all crazy, anyway? It wasn't like kidnapping was a thing, and this was her boyfriend. She had no reason to feel nervous or scared.

"It's okay," Fitz promised, although Sophie noticed his smile wasn't as bright as it normally was. "Were you looking for me when you were staring over there?"

Sophie hesitated. Fitz kinda freaked out when it came to Keefe... maybe she shouldn't tell him. But wasn't honesty a large part of dating?

She realized she'd been silent for too long, and panicked. (repanicked?) "Um, Marella!" she blurted, saying the first name that popped into her mind. "I was looking for Marella! I mean... you know, she's going through a lot, and I was just wondering if she was coming to school, even though I don't know if she has great control, and she might want to stay home..." Sophie rambled, before forcing herself to stop talking.

Fitz's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I guess..."

And... the crushing guilt came back, only worse.

Sophie was stressing over boy troubles... again! Marella was going through a monumental event in her life, which hardly anyone had ever gone through before, and Sophie was worrying over whether Fitz liked her or not?

Her issues were minuscule compared to Marella's problems. She shouldn't be anxious, not when so many people were going through worse.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Fitz asked her softly. "Why are you crying?"