A/N: Hello again! I haven't updated this in something like a week, so here it is! 

In case you needed a reminder about what happened, Keefe is still in a comatose state, (lowkey forgot about him, not going to lie), Dex saw Sophie and Linh run out of Everglen, and Finh/Flinh and Sotam are officially a thing. 

That's it for this note!

Yawning, Sophie opened her eyes as the sunlight streamed through her open window.

She was startled, for the last thing she remembered with great clarity was her conversation with Tam. 

She was not surprised to find that he was gone, nor by the fact that she was in bed, but the gentleness that Tam had gone through to place her in bed touched Sophie. 

She did not remember being put into bed, which meant that Tam had been extremely gentle, and gazing around at herself, Sophie was tucked very snugly into her bed. 

Sophie snuggled deeper into the covers, a warm feeling spreading in her, and she recounted the moments with Tam that she could recall. 

Slightly disappointed when she finally got out of bed, Sophie knew that Grady might not have taken kindly to finding Tam with her, innocent as it was, but she smiled when she saw the tin of treats still on her bed. 

A note laid on top of them, and Sophie smiled, holding it close to her. 

"I wasn't dreaming it then....."

Sophie went to her closet, astonished that Sandor hadn't come into her room as soon as she made any wake up noises. 

She struggled to put on her uniform, packing an extra set of clothes for later, just because she had a feeling that she'd need it.

A garnet colored fitted blouse, a black skirt with golden trimming, and black leggings needed to go into a bag without mussing up the rest of her closet, but Sophie managed. 

Staring at the couple pairs of shoes she owned, Sophie decided to pick out something a little fancier than her normal embellished combat boots; gold-tipped blood red flats. 

Coming out of her closet, Sophie tripped over a ball of purple fluff, and groaned when the scent of Iggy burps wafted to her nose. 

"Iggy..... Brush your teeth....."

Sophie crawled to her knees, and staggered over to Vertina, who immediately told Sophie that her hair looked like a drowned rat that was held in front of a fan for a day. 

"Thanks.... Can you help me?"

"Ugh. Only so that I may never see that  again. Brush your hair first..."

After a lot of pokes from pins and coughing from hair spray, Sophie's hair finally looked manageable, almost like Biana had just 5 minutes to do something to it, nothing too fancy, but enough to make Sophie look like she put effort into it. 

Sophie thanked Vertina, who scoffed, and went downstairs to eat something. 

Breakfast was some sky blue goop that woke Sophie up, a breath of fresh air, and some toast and fruit, a mixture of brown bread crumbs and wine-colored juice dripping down Sophie's chin. 

After washing up, Sophie said goodbye to Edaline and Grady, who was covered in sunset feathers and neon green sludge, and headed off to Foxfire, unaware of the young girl who light leaped onto Havenfield right as Sophie left. 

It was fortunate that they missed each other though, for the words exchanged would have changed their friendship forever. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The school day went by quickly, the atmosphere between everyone slightly tense, but that was to be expected, for Keefe had stirred a little bit while Linh and Sophie checked up on him. 

It wasn't a big stir, but enough for them to remember that Linh was supposed to help him. 

The news that Fitz Vacker was no longer single was not widespread, barely to those within Sophie's close-knit friend group, mainly because of Tam and Linh's wish to stay out of the spotlight, but if one paid close enough attention, you might notice that four people were closer to each other than they normally were. 

Dex and Biana ate with considerable normalcy when the group came together for lunch, but the latter had a glint in her eye when she examined the group.

Fitz and Linh were paying a little more attention to each other than usual, Tam was struggling between being enamored with Sophie or glaring at Fitz, and Sophie's eyes kept on flickering between a slight hurt and sorrow when looking at Linh and Fitz, or joy and laughter when she spoke with Tam. 

Biana kicked Dex under the table, who looked up in oblivion, absorbed with a device he kept on fiddling with in between bites. 

She gestured with her eyes to the four other people at the table with them, but Dex looked down quickly after his eyes widened slightly, and Biana sulked. 

"Alright. We get it. You guys are couples."

Her voice was hushed, but it carried across the table, and all four of them looked up, surprised, and embarrassed. 

"And we're talking later. You are coming over for a girls' night, tonight."

Biana pointed her fork at Linh and Sophie, who nodded meekly, under the unrelenting gaze of Biana's matchmaking eyes. 

"I'm glad I packed an extra set of clothes then?"

When Fitz opened his mouth to protest, Biana turned her stare on her brother, who quickly closed it. 

"We'll come up with a way to help out Keefe?"

Linh and Sophie shook their heads in sync. 

"Elwin said to not worry about Keefe. He's resting more peacefully now, and Elwin thinks he's on to something that will wake him up soon. He just needs me and Sophie though."

Linh quietly spoke, and Sophie nodded, giving her a smile. 

The Hydrokinetic smiled back, and a look of relief crossed over the two girls' faces, not going unnoticed by Biana. 

"Great! We'll work on that too tonight. You boys can help out Grady if you're looking for something to do though...."

Another mischievous glint gleamed in the youngest Vacker's eyes, and Tam shook his head quickly, followed soon by Fitz. 

"As much as I'd love to,"

Tam gave Sophie's hand a quick squeeze underneath the table,

"Lady Dara decided to give us a 'special assignment' that's due in a week, and I need to get a start on it."

"You never know when the Neverseen is going to strike next, and school doesn't wait for injuries really."

It came out slightly peppy, but with an unmistakable sarcastic twinge to it, and everyone smiled wryly, knowing that Tam was partially right, but at the same time, amused.

"Well, I think the Neverseen is going to be licking their wounds for awhile, so a sleepover sounds great!"

Everyone looked at Sophie a little quizzically. 

".....Do we not say that?......"

The elves all shook their heads, and Sophie blushed faintly. 

"It's okay. It's cute."

Everyone stared at Tam now, in stark disbelief. 

"What?"

"Yo-ou, said.... That something Sophie said was.....cute....."

"Everyone else heard that, right?"

Slow nods went around the table, and Tam smiled awkwardly. 

Looking down, he fiddled with his jerkin, and Sophie squeezed his hand, tightly. 

"Thanks."

It came out low, a murmur, just loud enough for Tam to hear it, and he smiled just a little bit at her.

Biana took it all in, and slowly, something formed in her head. 

Glancing at Linh and Fitz, who were still a little out of it, but close, Biana took it all in, and a wicked smile spread across her face. 

She let out a small squeal, but nothing other than that. 

The real fireworks were coming that evening. 

A/N: Yeah, that was kind of short, but I didn't have a lot of time to write this week, sorry..... 

I'll do my best for the next part. :P