Sophie laughed as Dex, Keefe, and Biana argued over the teams for their game of base quest at Rimeshire. Fitz was hanging back, only looking up to glance at Sophie or Keefe every few minutes. Sophie tried not to look at him.

They eventually decided on Biana and Keefe on one team, and Dex, Fitz, and Sophie on the other- no abilities allowed. As they scattered to find their bases, Dex told Sophie she could guard their base while he and Fitz quested. Sophie was grateful. Keefe had indeed come to starbottle with her last night- at 2am- and she was exhausted. Happy, but not quite up to running around the woods. Dex must have sensed that, and gave her the easy- if slightly boring- job.

Sophie stood near their base, scanning the woods for Biana or Keefe. Nothing happened for a long time, and Sophie started to relax. Then, suddenly, arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind, and Keefe said, "Miss me?"

Sophie laughed, and tried to step out of his arms, but he held tighter and leaned on her back. Eventually she twisted free and turned around.

"You realize I could tag you out right now, right?" she asked playfully.

"You could. But you won't."

"Won't I?"

"Nah. You love me too much." He replied, grinning.

Sophie reached up and poked his nose gently. "I do love you. But that doesn't mean I won't tag you out."

He laughed and stepped closer. "I knew you would do it."

"I know." And Sophie stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him, then pulled back. "Um, you do realize we're on opposite teams, right? You're out now."

"Doesn't matter." He kissed her, then pointed at their base, which was now taken by a triumphant Biana.

Sophie turned to Keefe. "Keefe! Did you-"

"Distract you so Biana could take your base? Yes. Yes I did." He finished playfully.

Sophie punched him on the shoulder. "That's not fair!"

"No. Not really. But it worked out pretty well for you." he said, kissing her.

"I think it worked out better for you," Sophie laughed.

"Mmh, maybe." he admitted, kissing her a third time.

They heard noises in the woods, and quickly separated. Dex and Fitz trudged back towards them, defeated. "What happened?" Dex asked.

"He distracted me." Sophie returned, pointing at Keefe.

"How?" Fitz asked bluntly.

Sophie wavered. "Uh... what do you mean?"

"How did he distract you?"

"You do know how easy it is to make her mad, don't you?" Keefe cut in.

Fitz looked back and forth between them, unconvinced. "Fine. Let's quit, I'm done."

"I'm not done," retorted Biana. You can go ahead in if you want, but I'm playing again. That is..." she continued, looking at the others. "If you guys want to."

"Sure, I'm up for another round," grinned Dex.

"Great! Teams are me and Dex against Sophie and Keefe. No abilities. Let's go!"

Sophie and Keefe ran off into the woods, laughing. "You know she stuck us together so that we would distract each other and their quest would be easy, right?" Sophie giggled.

"Yeah. But I can keep an eye out for her or Dex, even if I am kissing you," he said, giving her a quick kiss to prove his point.

"You can not," Sophie retorted.

"Can so. Wanna see?"

"I'll pass until after we've won." she returned. "Here's a good place for our base."

So they set up their base, deciding who would quest.

"I'll do it," Sophie volunteered. "Guarding didn't work out too well for me last time."

"Nah, that was only because I distracted you. You're still too tired from last night to quest."

Keefe was right, but Sophie didn't want to admit it. So she didn't say anything, instead taking up a position at their base.

"Guard it with your life," Keefe said seriously. Then he set off in the direction they'd come, towards Dex and Biana's base.

Sophie laughed, scanning the woods for her friends. No one showed, though, and Sophie started counting the seconds. After 639, she heard a yell. Keefe sprinted towards her through the woods. When he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her, spinning her in the air. He set her down and kissed her.

"I'm guessing this means we won," Sophie said, laughing as she finally pulled away.

"Nah. But it was close." He laughed too, and pulled her into another long kiss. Soon, they heard Dex and Biana walking towards them and pulled away from each other. They walked to meet the other half of their group- no, not half. Fitz was here. He just wasn't here, here.

"Keefe tell you how I epically tagged him out?" Dex called.

"Not in so many words," Sophie laughed back.

"I wouldn't think so," giggled Biana.

"Hey! I slipped in the icy mud! It was not an epic tagout. You stepped on me."

"Be glad I didn't step on your head- or your hair." Dex laughed even harder. "That would've been epic!

"You wouldn't have dared." Keefe challenged.

"Wanna bet?"

"No." That might've been the first time Keefe ever turned down a bet, and it made everyone laugh so hard their sides hurt. Finally, they decided to call it a day and walked happily together back to Rimeshire.

They said hello to Kesler (the triplets and Juline were visiting Edaline) and went into the main atrium, where their sleeping bags were set out. They arranged their sleeping bags the way

they had at their last sleepover- shaped like a star with their heads in the middle. Keefe grabbed the bag next to Sophie, and Biana claimed her other side. Fitz went next to his sister, and Dex to the last bag, in between Fitz and Keefe.

They sat cross-legged on their sleeping bags awkwardly for a minute, the mood spoiled by Fitz's grumpiness.

"Hey, let's play a game." Biana finally offered.

"How about truth or dare?" Sophie suggested before she had time to think.

Apparently, elves didn't play truth or dare, so Sophie explained the rules.

Fitz added, "So you have to do whatever you get dared to do? What happens if you don't?"

Sophie thought for a second. "Sometimes you make up a punishment, but usually it's just being called a coward. You don't really ever forget that."

"Let's say if you don't do it, the others get to play whatever prank on you they want." Dex suggested.

Keefe smirked. "Deal. I go first. Dex, truth or dare?"

Dex thought for a minute. "Truth."

"Is it true that you sleep with a stuffed tomple?"

"Uh.. um... uh..."

"Answer, Dexy."

"Uh... yeah. But don't make fun of me! Have you forgotten about Mrs. Stinkbottom?"

Elwin had given Keefe the stuffed gulon a while back.

"Fine. That one was a bust. Your turn, Dex."

Dex turned to Fitz. "I dare you to eat 20 custard bursts in one minute with vomiting."

Fitz sighed. "Do you even have that many custard bursts?"

"Umm... lemme go check."

They laughed as Dex hurried into the kitchen to ask his dad whether they had any custard bursts.

"Uh... we did..." they heard from the kitchen. They laughed even harder as Dex trudged in.

"My dad ate them. Bet's off. Your turn, Fitz."

"Good." Fitz turned to Sophie without hesitation. "Are you and Keefe together?"

Everyone stopped laughing.

"Uh... you didn't ask me whether I wanted truth or dare. I pick dare instead."

"Fine. I dare you to answer my question. Are you and Keefe together?"

"Umm... we... uh..." Sophie stuttered."

"So it's true." Fitz looked at Biana.

So did Keefe. "Biana? You didn't..."

"Of course not! Fitz, what are you talking about." Then a thought seemed to occur to her. "YOU READ MY MIND?" she accused loudly.

Fitz shrugged. "What? I think I deserve confirmation that my girlfriend is cheating on me."

"Fitz! I am not your girlfriend!" Sophie gasped, horrified.

"Not anymore, that's for sure."

"Fitz. We agreed to just be friends. Things between us were always so fragile and awkward-"

"Maybe because you were spending all your time with him!" He pointed at Keefe.

"Listen to me, Fitz! Keefe and I weren't anything but friends until after you and I called it quits."

"So that's what it was? Because as I recall, last we talked about it, you said you needed some time and I was still calling you my girlfriend."

Sophie sighed. "Can we talk outside?"

"Fine."

Once they were outside, Sophie answered him. "Did you ever consider that just because you were calling me your girlfriend, doesn't mean I agreed with you?"

"So you didn't?"

"In the next sentence, I said I wanted to stay friends- just friends. You obviously didn't hear that."

"I thought you meant temporarily! How was I supposed to know you meant you were dumping me for my best friend?"

Sophie hesitated. "I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough. I did like you, Fitz. I just never felt right as your girlfriend."

"Did."

"What?"

"You said you did like me. Is that final?"

"Fitz... we aren't dating. We probably won't be in the future, either. But I would do anything to keep our friendship going."

"Anything?" He took a step closer.

"No, Fitz. Friendship. Friends. Not girlfriend-boyfriend."

He laughed darkly. "So that's it. 'Sorry, Fitz, turns out I've been kissing your best friend while you thought we were still dating.'"

Sophie hung her head. "I really am sorry, Fitz. I shouldn't have been unclear with you. I shouldn't have moved so fast with Keefe. It just... happened."

"No, you shouldn't have. But that's what you do. You try to have everything, not caring who you hurt in the meantime."

Sophie looked up, hurt. "That's not what I do!"

"And you don't even realize it. I could've dumped you when I found you and Keefe hugging at your house. Or at his house when I found you together again. Or that night, when you decided to willingly be a bad match, even though that would ruin my family's reputation even more than you already have. But I didn't. Because I loved you. You broke up with me. You told me that we should be friends. But you still didn't contradict me when I called you my girlfriend. And you think that's okay!?" He yelled in her face. "You just want me to be cool with that!? WELL I'M NOT!" And he stormed off, raising a crystal to the moonlight and leaping away.

For a long moment, Sophie stood out there alone. But then Keefe slowly opened the door and walked over to her.

Sophie continued staring straight ahead for a moment, then looked at him with glazed eyes.

"Sophie." He said gently. And with that, Sophie's emotions broke free. She nearly collapsed, but Keefe caught her in his arms and gently held her up. She sobbed against his shoulder for so long she lost track of time, and when she had finally run out of tears the sun had started to set.

But she didn't stand up on her own, instead pressing herself deeper into Keefe's shoulder, asking him one question.

"Could you hear us?"

"Only when he started yelling."

Sohie pulled away slightly and looked up at him. "Keefe..."

"Shh." He pulled her back in and patted her back. "It's okay. It's over now."

"But it's not! We still have to see him again, at school, and on missions, and..."

"It's okay. We'll work it out. Together. Don't let him get to you. I'm sure he'll be sorry later, you know him. I bet he'll regret it tomorrow."

"Yeah, probably. But..."

"I know." And he hugged her tighter. "What do you want to do? We can go back inside. Or we can go to your house. Or mine. Or we can stay out here. Or something else. Whatever you want, Sophie. Really." When she started to cry again, he panicked. "What's wrong?" he asked, holding her out so he could look into her eyes. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no, it's... thank you. Can we... stay out here a little longer?"

"Of course." Keefe led her over to a bench, and sat down. She practically collapsed next to him, laying her head on his lap. He stroked her hair, murmuring that it would be okay and that he loved her. Sophie, exhausted, fell into a fitful sleep. Keefe kept fiddling with her hair and talking to her as she slept. They stayed like that for what was probably several hours, until Keefe gently shook Sophie's shoulder to wake her.

"It's getting late, Sophie. It's too cold to be out here at night."

She slowly sat up, sighing. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked groggily.

"Yep. But you needed it. Do you want to go inside, or head home?"

"Let's go in. Might as well finish the sleepover," she said with a weak smile.

"Okay." And he stood up, helping her do the same. He wrapped his arm around her waist, supporting her weight. They walked like that inside, stepping softly in case Dex and Biana were asleep. They weren't, though. Dex and Biana were sitting on their sleeping bags, facing each other. They had apparently been talking, but stopped when Keefe and Sophie came in.

Biana stood up immediately. "Sophie, I'm so sor-"

"It's not your fault." Sophie interrupted, reassuring her. "You couldn't have stopped him from reading your mind. We shouldn't have asked you to keep our secret. I'm sorry."

"That's not what I meant. I'm soo sorry for Fitz yelling at you. You know how he gets when he's upset, but... he's never gone that far. He really does- did, I guess- love you."

Sophie started to tear up again, but Keefe gave her a reassuring squeeze, whispering in

her ear that it was okay. They crossed the room, going to their sleeping bags and slipping into them. Dex and Biana did the same, and Dex clapped to turn off the lights. Sophie lay awake, tossing and turning, until Keefe reached over and offered his hand. Sophie took it, and Keefe sent his blue breeze into her head, washing away her worries and sending her back to sleep.