A/N How old are you? I'm 16. I'm not trying to be creepy, I just want to get to know my readers more!

Sophie ran into the hallway and slammed the door to study hall behind her. She would never forget the staring prodigies and Fitz's mocking face behind her. But she pushed it out of her mind. Right now, she had a fuming and humiliated boyfriend that she needed to talk to.

She looked around for Keefe, but didn't see him. So she walked down the halls, calling his name. No answer. She sat down on a bench and stretched out her consciousness.

Keefe? KEEFE? I know you can hear me, Keefe.

A minute passed.

Foster?

Yes, Keefe. We need to talk.

I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off.

I get why you did. But we need to talk now.

Kay. At our spot. And he severed the connection.

Sophie sighed. She didn't know why she had stopped the fight. Fitz deserved that- and more. But... Sophie had been worried about Keefe. She knew he wouldn't want to seriously injure Fitz. But Fitz didn't seem to have the same reservations. Sophie knew Keefe would win in a fair fight, but... Fitz wouldn't fight fair.

So as she made her way to their spot, she wondered what she would say. She was so consumed in thought that she didn't notice Keefe laying on the bench to her left.

"You must be lost." he said with a smirk.

She whirled around to face him, then smiled in relief. He didn't seem to be mad at her.

Keefe stood up and touched her face, then frowned. "What's wrong? You feel..." He closed his eyes in concentration. "Are you scared? Scared of... me?" He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Sophie?"

"No, Keefe. Not... not scared. Apprehensive is better. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you stop. You have every right to be mad at me. I humiliated you in front of everyone, and-"

He cut her off. "Sophie."

She tried to continue. "I'm really sor-"

"Sophie! Listen to me!" He stepped closer and tilted her chin up so that she was looking him in the eyes. "Why on earth are you apologizing for not letting me get beat up?"

"I-"

"Sophie, we both know I didn't have a chance. I was just hoping to get a couple punches in and make him pay for... that. It was stupid of me. I was trying to be the hero again, and I'm sorry."

Tears came to her eyes. "You're not mad at me?"

"Couldn't be if I tried." He looked at her for a long moment. "I was doing it for you, you know."

She laughed through her tears. "You are stupid."

"I know." His hand traced up her face into her hair, and he placed his other hand on her waist.

He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "If you hadn't been there, things would've gotten pretty messy."

"I bet Fitz would've looked worse at the end than you."

"Maybe."

"Not that you could ever look bad."

He pulled back a little to look at her and grinned. "Cheesy."

"Maybe."

He laughed, pulled her in, and kissed her. Sophie leaned in, losing herself in his arms. All she could feel was him holding her tight and kissing her like there was no Fitz, was no fight, was no world outside. Time seemed to stop, and the next thing Sophie knew the bell was ringing. Neither of them pulled away, though. Neither could bear to move. So Sophie simply whispered, "We should go to our last session."

Keefe just looked into her eyes and ran his fingers through her hair. Sophie closed her eyes, enjoying how it felt, and suddenly he was kissing her again. She kissed him back for a minute, but pulled away laughing.

"Grady's already gonna kill me."

"Mmm... he's gonna kill me."

"Yeah, that too." And she extricated herself from her arms- but not before Keefe snuck in one more kiss- to walk down the hall towards her last session. He watched her for a minute, then turned the opposite way and walked away.

*****

Sophie stepped out of the beam of light, nervous. Now she had to convince Grady to let her go over to Keefe's house. So she hurried up to her room, deciding to change first.

She slipped on a red and white colorblock tunic and black leggings, pulling her hair back into a high ponytail. Then she splashed some water on her face and reapplied a tiny bit of makeup.

Satisfied, she grabbed a couple books on hydrokinesis and skills, and ran down the stairs. She decided to not give her dad too much time to think about it.

"Dad? I have an assignment for PE and Keefe and I need to use water, so we're going to do it at the Shores of Solace." She held her breath and crossed her fingers.

"Can't you do it here?" came the reply. But just as fast, another voice joined in.

"Aww, let her go, Grady. She'll be fine." Edaline smiled reassuringly.

"Thanks Mom!" Sophie ran to the Leapmaster before Grady could protest further.

As she leaped to his house, she thought. She should probably get a crystal, so that she wouldn't have to bother with the Leapmaster anymore. Which reminded her of the last time she'd been at his house, when he had just happened to have a spare crystal to Havenfield. When had he gotten that? She shook her head. There was a lot she didn't know about him.

Sophie knocked on the door of the Shores of Solace. She was hoping Keefe would open the door, but instead she saw Lord Cassius. She frowned but greeted him politely.

"Hello, Lord Cassius. Is Keefe already outside?"

"Actually, he's in his room. He wasn't sure if you would be able to come. So... I heard things... happened between you." He winked suggestively.

Sophie restrained herself from yelling YOU DON'T GET TO DO THAT. Instead, she simply nodded and walked past him, turning down the hallway to Keefe's room.

She knocked softly. Ro opened the door a crack, then swung it open the rest of the way when she saw Sophie.

"Hey, Blondie! Come to see Lord Hunkyhair, I'm sure. And congrats on finally getting out of denial land!"

Sophie blushed. "Uh... yeah." She turned to Keefe. "You ready? I was thinking we could start small, like a little water in a bowl, then-"

Keefe cut her off by striding over and pressing a finger to her lips. "Not even gonna say hello?" He scrunched up his face with a fake-hurt expression.

She blushed again. "Sorry." She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "Hi, Keefe."

"Hi, Foster." He mimicked her tone, then made a big show of crossing his eyes to glare at his cheek where she had kissed it. She laughed, and kissed him again- on the mouth this time.

Ro was watching this exchange with interest. "Wow. That's different." She smirked.

Sophie laughed, then turned back to Keefe. "Now we should get to work."

"Fiiiiinneee" He dragged out the word. Then he slipped his hand into hers and led her out the screen door onto the porch. "Be right back." And he went back inside, coming out a minute later with a bowl and a picnic blanket. Then he walked the rest of the way to the ocean, spreading out the blanket. Sophie followed him and sat down as he filled the bowl in the gentle waves. Then he walked over and sat across from her so that their knees almost touched. He set the bowl in between them, and sat back. "There you go!" He grinned at her expectantly.

Sophie glared at him. "We both need to be able to do this."

"Yeah. So you figure it out, then teach me!" The look on his face was like he was telling a little kid they got to live in a candy store. Sophie couldn't help but laugh at him.

"You are ridiculous."

"Uh huh." He smirked. "And that's why you love me."

She groaned. "Don't you have any other way to respond to that?"

"Don't you ever tell me anything different?"

"... fine. But you have to help."

"Yeah, I figured. Where do we start?"

"I was thinking just lift a tiny bit with telekinesis first, then move on to more." She reached for the bowl, picking it up and dumping most of it into the sand behind her. Then she sat it back between them and concentrated, trying to lift the water with her mind. It was hard to focus, though, because Keefe hadn't taken his eyes off her the entire time they'd been sitting there. She sensed his gaze, and glanced up, but was immediately trapped by his intense ice blue stare. They locked eyes, and Sophie suddenly found it very hard to breathe. She tried to look away, but she found that she couldn't tear herself from his steady gaze.

Without breaking eye contact, Keefe reached up and touched her cheek gently. Sophie's face felt like it would explode from tingles as she subconsciously leaned into his hand, revelling in his familiar touch. He didn't move again, only staring intensely in her eyes like he was trying to see inside her. Eventually, a noise startled them both- a seabird cawing loudly.

Keefe finally looked away, his hand falling back to his lap. Sophie was shocked to see a sunset forming across the huge sea.

"That's not possible. We've only been here a few minutes!" she protested.

"Guess it was longer then it felt like." He smirked, and shook his arm. "Maybe that's why I'm so sore."

She laughed, and he stared at her again- this time with a less intense stare. It was more like the kind of look Edaline would call smitten- the kind she'd said Fitz had given Sophie all that time ago. And this time... Sophie recognised it. And returned it.

They both looked back at the water at the same time.

"We'd better work quickly," Sophie said. "Or else Grady will never let me come back here."

Keefe nodded, then went to staring at the water. Sophie did too, and- after several minutes- got a tiny reaction. But it was the entire bowl that lifted. Sophie set it back down.

They worked for a while longer, finally getting a blob of water to hover in the air on its own. But no matter how hard she tried, Sophie couldn't get it to do anything.

"You're forgetting Foot Energy, Foster." Keefe smirked.

She had, in fact. So she tried again, this time stepping forwards slightly as she twisted the blob of water. She was so surprised when it formed into a flat disc that she dropped it, stepping back.

"It worked!" she said incredulously.

"Told you, Foster. You just gotta believe in yourself! My turn."

By the time the sun set, both Sophie and Keefe could form the water into several simple shapes, as well as picking up more from the ocean.

Sophie and Keefe stepped happily up to the Shores of Solace, content. In the morning, they'd be able to show off their hydrokinetic skills in PE.

So when they opened the door to Keefe's room. nothing prepared them for what they saw.