Noah really thought he was all that, huh? Parading around with Sophie on his arm, making a big show of hugging her and kissing her cheek whenever they got near me. He'd be flipping me off behind Sophie's back. I wanted to punch that guy in the face.

I really wish I could punch that guy in the face. I almost had my chance in the parking lot on the first day back from winter break, but I couldn't have done that. It was already going to get back to my parents that I was almost in a fight, not to mention how ballistic they would've been if we had actually "scuffled," in my mom's words. They couldn't stop me from dreaming about it, though. He just had such a punchable face, I don't know how I didn't realize it before.

I only wish I could tell Sophie how bad he was for her, all the things he'd threatened to do, but if I did he'd actually go through with it. And it's better if he's nice to her but I have to deal with them acting like a mushy couple rather than her being hurt or in pain.

Or any of the other nasty things that slime threatened to do to her. That's what he'd been telling me, that's why I shoved him in the parking lot. It hurts me when he threatens to hurt her, of course it does. But what he'd been saying, he'd gone way too far and I couldn't take it. I snapped. I only wish I'd gotten in some good hits before coming to my senses.

At least Sophie wouldn't get hurt. All I need to do is make sure she spends the least amount of time possible with Noah without it being suspicious. And honestly, she doesn't even have to be spending that time with me. As long as I know she's safe from him, that's all I need.

You know, that's actually a good idea. Yeah, I'm going to tell Biana and Tam. I created a group chat on Snapchat with the two of them (never thought I would, but there's a first time for everything) and typed out the longest text of my life. I explained what I had been thinking before. I also ran through everything that had happened in the parking lot, everything he said.

I got an immediate reply from Biana.

BeeBee: I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!!!

She also had some knife emojis, making it more cute than scary.

Bangs Boi: Me too. He's not going to hurt a single hair on her head. I won't let him.

That text made me raise my eyebrows. For one, why was Bangs Boy always so formal in his texting? It's weird. No one does that anymore. For two, do I sense a little enemies to friends? To me it sounds like he's starting to care about her. I was definitely going to tease him relentlessly for that.

BeeBee: oh also Fitz knows too, can we add him?

I did as soon as I finished reading the message.

Fitzypoo: Is this about Sophie and Noah?

I gasped, shocked that he immediately knew.

Me: yeah how'd you know?

Fitzypoo: Group chat name.

I gasped again, shocked that I didn't notice Biana changed the name to "How to kill Noah and get away with it." A little long if you ask me, but I liked it well enough.

Me: then i'm sure you know what we're planning too.

Fitzypoo: Obviously. I'm on board, is there a plan yet?

Bangs Boi: Not yet, though you know his death will be painful, especially after the new information.

Fitzypoo: Wait, what new information?

I copied and pasted my previous message so he'd be able to read through it. It's safe to say, he was just as angry as the rest of us. We continued to talk, going through a bunch of different plans that would get us thrown in jail by the FBI agents watching our phones. Once it got late, I told them goodnight, went out and told my parents goodnight, went back to my room, then snuck out the window.

"Oh Foster! I'm back!" I whisper shouted while jumping through the window. I heard a thud and saw her sprawled out on the ground. This immediately worried me, given what happened last time I was in her room (cough cough seizure cough cough).

Until, of course, she lifted her head and glared at me.

"You scared me!" She smacked my arm after getting up.

"Never realized you were so jumpy." I laughed. She pouted, which made me laugh harder at her cute little face.

"I'm not jumpy, I just thought you were some serial killer at first!"

"Whatever you say, Foster." I flopped horizontally on her bed, hitting my head on the wall it was pushed up against. Thankfully, I'm really good at faking nonchalance. She rolled her eyes and joined me, our shoulders hardly an inch apart and that's all I could think about. My thoughts jumbled even more when she rolled on her side to face me.

"So not that I don't enjoy the company... but why are you here?" I shrugged in response.

"Guess I just missed depriving you of sleep. And, I brought snacks!" Her eyes sparkled. Take notes, the way to a girl's heart is through her stomach.

"See, I knew there was a reason I kept you around." I almost thought she was serious until I saw her little smirk (me core).

"Ha ha, very funny. You know, I might just leave... with the food." I know, pure evil. But I couldn't help it, I wanted to see one of her dramatic reactions. And I was not disappointed.

"NO!" She gasped. "Please don't do this to me! I'm literally on Santa's nice list! But you won't be if you take my food away." She was rolling around on the ground crying. It was really funny and took all of my restraint not to laugh. "I've always been a good friend to you! You know I didn't mean it. Please don't take my food!" She hit me with her puppy dog eyes and I couldn't say no, tossing my backpack to her. She tore into it like a beast, grabbing the giant bag of... cheetos? Wait, I didn't put cheetos in there. We don't even have cheetos in Eternalia...

I reached to grab one but she smacked my hand away. Instead I grabbed a chocolate bar and took small bites.

We sat on the floor, leaning against her bed, completely silent except for the munching and crunching. Then Sophie put her head on my shoulder and I turned into a puddle of goo.

"I'm glad you came over." Her words were barely audible from the volume of her voice.

"Me too. I feel like we haven't hung out, you and me, in forever."

"We really haven't." Sophie lifted her head off my shoulder, opening her mouth to speak, when we were interrupted by two dings. We both picked up our phones, seeing a message on the group chat.

Mare Ella (Nicknames): can we all hang out tomorrow? i have something i want to tell you guys.

I looked up at Sophie, watching her read the same text. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, looking at her screen for a full minute before looking at me.

"You take forever to read." I teased.

"It's texts. I cannot with texts anymore." She pouted.

"Womp womp." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"What do you think it's about?" She asked.

"I don't know." I replied honestly. "Maybe family, maybe her, maybe she hates all of us and doesn't want to be friends, maybe she's going to confess her undying love for me. We'll just have to wait and see." She rolled her beautiful brown (orbs) eyes and started typing on her phone.

Foster: yeah, i'm free.

Me: me too.

BeeBee: ofc babes

Linh (Sunshine): can't wait ;)

Bangs Boi: Sure.

Fitzypoo: sounds great. i just farted.

BeeBee: wow fitz, i can't believe you just said that on the group chat.

Sophie and I looked at each other then burst out laughing. Just based on the texting style, we knew it wasn't Fitz who said that. He always capitalized, and would probably make it more formal. 'I just expelled gas from my bottom.'

Wylie: I'm good with that. And Fitz, stop letting your phone get taken.

Fitzypoo: She tackled me and tied me up. She's a menace.

BeeBee: :)

"It's official, Biana is my spirit animal." I snorted at Sophie's statement.

We both put our phones on Do Not Disturb while the group chat blew up, choosing instead to talk to each other until falling asleep.

We both woke up with severe neck pain, still leaning against her bed with our heads against each other. As soon as my beautiful Foster, in all her bed-headedness, realized I was still there, she leapt up in shock and practically threw me out the window.

When I realized it was six in the morning I sprinted to the palace before my parents or 'babysitters' would notice.

I made it just in time, hopping through the window and into bed as soon as the door slowly creaked open.

"Funkyhair are you up?" Ro asked from the doorway.

"Yeah." I faked a groan and rolled over to face her, rubbing my eyes.

"Your parents were starting to worry, you're usually up early in the gym or somewhere." She ran over to the bed and jumped on top of me, her pink pigtails tickling my nose. I shoved her off, getting her in a headlock. She flipped me over her, my back landing harshly on the ground.

"You should go join your parents for breakfast, I think they were hoping you would."

"I've actually got breakfast plans with friends, can you tell them some other time?" I could tell she was disappointed in me, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I would gladly skip another meal consisting of my parents telling me how disappointed they were in me.

I got dressed quickly then left, going to the little cafe downtown that we agreed to meet at. Most of the group was already there, including Sophie and Dex. We waited a little bit longer for everyone else to arrive, including Sophie's friends, Wylie and Jensi. We all ordered food, Marella looking nervous for her announcement.

I was almost done with my pancakes, having inhaled them, when Marella finally spoke up.

"So I know you all know I didn't ask you to come just for breakfast. I recently realized something and also recently got the courage to tell you all, thanks to Dex." She took a deep breath before speaking again. "I'm lesbian." It was silent for all of a second before we were cheering and hugging her, causing others in the cafe to stare at us. Marella was smiling brightly at the acceptance she was getting from her friends. Until, of course, we all realized Linh was just sitting there, and had been the entire time.

"I'm bi." She suddenly blurted. "I think I love you. Please my girlfriend?" The way she said it was so not Linh, it just showed how nervous the little sunshine was. I was worried for her until Marella smiled.

"I would love to. I think I love you too." We all cheered more while they hugged, except for Bangs Boy.

"Hurt my sister, you know what will happen to you." His eyes almost seemed to turn black as he said it. It was like the room got darker, you could feel how serious Bangs Boy was.

"Don't gotta worry about that, grumpy. I would also rather be hurt myself than hurt Linh." Linh smiled at her new girlfriend's statement, grabbing her hand and gripping tight.

Before we left, Linh grabbed Sophie and hugged her tight. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I'm pretty sure Sophie had something to do with Linh's confession. At this point, I could tell that was just a Sophie thing to do.

And it made me love her that much more.

I love Marellinh. Marellinh's biggest shipper right here. Boom. Also tragic one-sides sokeefe but that's okay because reasons. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, don't forget to vote and comment for my ego! Love you all!!!

Avery, out ->

🫳

🎤