TW: injury, mention of suicide (although it's in joke form)

"I'm jumping off a bridge."

"Sophie, no."

"Please." I cried. Keefe just shook his head.

"I'm not letting you jump off a bridge. We just started dating. What kind of impression would that be for your parents? I want them to like me, not blame me for your death." He joked and bumped my shoulder.

"I'm literally gonna fail exams, then Grady and Edaline are gonna kill me themselves."

"You're not gonna fai-"

"I'm gonna fail, Keefe. Lady Galvin hates me and I'm gonna need to pass alchemy to graduate." I shoved my head into his shoulder and sobbed without tears. He wrapped his arm around me and patted my back, sighing dramatically. I could practically feel the stares we were getting, but that's what happens when you act weird in the middle of the day on a public sidewalk.

We had been walking to the ice cream store, just talking, when Keefe brought up quarterly exams, which would be coming up in a week, right before spring break. Naturally, I chose drama rather than being normal.

"What if you have Dex tutor you? He's really good at alchemy. That's why I forced him to be in my group." He suggested. I side eyed him as we started walking again.

"Do you know the humiliation I would go through if I asked him for help? He would forever torment me! Just let me jump off a bridge in peace. It will be a much more painless death, rather than death by humiliation. Plus I owe him a lot of money already." Keefe smirked playfully.

"Noooo, I like my Foster alive and well. And don't worry, I'll beat him up if I need to." We reached an intersection and stopped, waiting for our turn to cross. His eyes turned soft and he gently grabbed my elbows. "Just ask him, I don't want you getting sent to Exillium because you can't pass at Foxfire." I stared into his eyes, nodding with a downturned smile. "Wait, why do you owe him money?"

"Oh yeah." I scratched the back of my neck. "Well you see, we placed this bet where I said I would never dare any royalty, specifically a prince. So yeah, I guess I lost." He laughed and shook his head.

"Only you, Foster."

I turned to look back at the crosswalk, frowning when I noticed a kid crossing when it wasn't her turn. She was about a fourth of the way out when a car turned.

Without thinking, I shrugged Keefe off, sprinting to the kid. She was frozen, staring at the car.

Almost there. 

The car was getting closer. Everything was in slow motion, including the panic covering the driver's face. He was about a foot from the kid when I leapt, tackling the kid away.

Something slammed into my side, making the girl and I fly and roll away from the car. I cradled her head to me, trying to protect her. When we stopped, I lifted myself up, the kid in my lap. She looked around five, and she was crying a lot. I hugged her tight and gently rubbed her head.

"It's okay, you're okay." I tried to whisper, but it came out as more of a wheeze. Pain shot through me from my side. I moved my hand from the girl and clutched my side, feeling even more pain while touching it.

Yeah, the car definitely hit me.

The driver jumped out of his car and ran to me, along with Keefe and who I assumed was the mother of the little girl. I probably looked like quite the sight, clutching a little girl while blinking back tears and biting my lips hard enough for blood to fill my mouth, but as long as it kept me from screaming I could deal with it.

The ringing in my ears slowly faded and I could finally hear the words coming out of Keefe's mouth.

"Sophie! What hurts? Can you hear me?" He turned to the girl's mom, the only adult present. The driver was the same age as Keefe and I, and he was pacing back and forth, freaking out. "What should I do? I think she might be in shock." He told her.

"I'm fine." I finally said. I didn't know when, but the girl had at sometime moved to her mother, who was hugging her almost as tight as I had been. "I'm fine." I smiled at Keefe and he smiled back, quickly wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. I yelped as his arm squished into where I got hit. My vision was flooded with black spots, which took way longer than normal to clear. He quickly retracted, gently holding my shoulders instead. He looked over at the girl's mom.

"Can you call an ambulance?" He sounded calm and collected, but I could hear the panic in his voice. He was really worried. I felt bad. Not for saving the kid, I'd do that no matter what, but for making him scared.

She took out her phone but I didn't pay attention to that, I paid attention to Keefe. He needed comfort, to know everything would be okay.

"I'm going to be fine." I told him. "It's really not the worst I've had. I'm sure it's just a broken rib, or maybe even just bad bruising." He smiled a little, moving behind me and sitting down so I could lean back onto his chest. He felt warm, and was shaking. Bad. I grabbed his arms and wrapped them loosely in front of my neck, so he could hold me without causing pain.

"Are you breathing?" He asked. It felt like a weird question at first, but then I realized I was breathing shallowly, and when I took deeper breaths it caused way more pain than usual.

"Yeah." I responded barely above a whisper. I don't really know why I was so quiet. I knew I could talk louder without pain, it just felt right to be hushed. "Just lightly."

"It hurts?"

"Yeah."

He leaned his face into the back of my head while his shaking slowed. It was charming, how he was more scared than me, and I was the one who jumped in front of a car. I almost hated thinking about it, but I couldn't help feeling like it was proof he really did care about me. I shouldn't have been doubting him at all, and I honestly don't think I was, but it felt nice to have the proof. To be able to know, for sure, that he really actually liked me, that he cared about me.

After a while, an ambulance came. To be honest, I thought it was a bit excessive since I was the only one who got hurt, thankfully, but Keefe and the girl's mom insisted. While we had been waiting, I learned that her name was Kate, and her daughter's name was Natalie.

Keefe came with me in the ambulance, while Kate and Natalie drove themselves to the hospital, to make sure Natalie didn't get hurt and that I'd be alright.

I really hoped my friends would get me one of those tacky balloons that would say "Get better soon!" I would put it right next to the door or my bed like they do in movies. I told Keefe that and he looked like he was in between judging me and agreeing with me.

"Honestly I'd be worried if you didn't say something like that. Then I'd know something was really wrong." He joked. Now I was between feelings, hurt and proud. I was kinda more leaning towards proud-

"Ow!" I yelped as the doctor in the back of the ambulance poked at my side a bit. Keefe sucked in a breath through his teeth while looking at that spot, so naturally I had to look too. There was a massive bruise, splotches of red, purple, and blue. It looked kinda sick, but in a good way.

"It's looking more like bad fractures than breaks." The doctor said. I probably should've learned her name but if it wasn't Elwin, I didn't care. "It looks like you're having trouble breathing, is that on purpose?"

"Yeah, it hurts to breathe."

"There's definitely at least a fracture then. Try not to move too much or take deep breaths, it could make it worse." I nodded, taking a deep breath.

Ouch that hurt-

~~~

When I woke up, I nearly peed my pants. The most hideous, grotesque sight my eyes have ever beheld lurched over me, the sheer size of it taking up my entire line of sight.

If you guessed my cousin's face, you'd be correct! The monstrosity peered even closer, then shouted as loud as he possibly could.

"SHE'S AWAKE!" I could still really only see Dex from where I was laying, but I was pretty sure that he got thrown away from me, with the way he went flying. Then I saw Elwin's face, along with swirling lights above him. I blinked a few times, able to make out the ceiling.

Then Elwin basically decided to blind me, so I naturally slapped his hand holding the flashlight away. He chuckled.

"At least we know her personality is intact. I don't know whether to say sorry or be happy." I glared at him. He just smiled. "Welcome back to the real world. You gave us quite the scare, passing out like that."

"Not my fault, it's that doctor that poked me." I grumbled, my voice croaking embarrassingly from no use.

"Ah yes, of course. The fact that you passed out way after that definitely doesn't disprove what you've said." He very obviously winked at everyone else in the room.

"So," I started after an awkward silence, "what's wrong with me?"

"Mentally? Many things." Who knew Elwin could be rude? "Physically? Two fractured ribs, major bruising above your hip and on your lower back. And a minor concussion, but you should be able to sleep just fine." I breathed in, getting ready for a really dramatic groan, only to yelp. That may sound embarrassing, but I bet anyone else would've been screaming in pain.

After a few more little tests, Elwin propped me up on the pillows on my hospital bed then left the room. Grady, Edaline, Juline, and Dex were all there. Probably meant Kesler—that poor soul—had to watch the triplets.

My family gushed over me, I mean who wouldn't? But in all honesty, it was pretty nice. What happened was too big for them to get mad at me for being reckless, since I could've died. Also I saved a little girl's life, so that's a plus. That didn't mean they didn't cry, because they did. A lot. All of them.

Then Keefe came in and they all gave each other looks, then left. Which was pretty worrying. I could tell from his slightly puffy and red eyes, this was going to be a tough conversation. And boy, why did this have to be the time I was right?

"I'm so glad you're okay." He said, crossing the room and gently hugging me. When he straightened, he was either mad or really upset. Either way, I was about to get a major talking to.

"Why would you do that?"

"You know why, I had to help Natalie."

"Yeah, but you can't just jump into every dangerous situation without thinking."

"It's a good thing I didn't think, if I had gotten there any later she would be dead!"

"But it wouldn't have been worth it if you died! You need to think about these things, Sophie. You're always so reckless, it's really like you try to do the most dangerous thing you can."

"It's not like I try to do it, it just happens. It's like my brain is just set on doing these things, and I completely blank out whenever I do something. I really don't try to get myself killed, and believe me, I don't want to. I don't know why I always put myself in these situations." I really didn't want to cry in front of Keefe, but I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. I really needed him to understand. None of my family did, but I really needed him to. He sighed, sitting next to me on the bed.

"I'm sorry. I just don't like seeing you hurt Sophie. I-"

"Sophie." I interrupted. He turned to me in confusion.

"Huh?"

"You called me Sophie, not Foster." Was he breaking up with me, was that why? Maybe I worried him too much, like I did with Edaline. But maybe he couldn't take it. It was too much for him, I was too much for him.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't even realize. Maybe I just realized I was actually being serious." It actually made sense. Hearing him call me Sophie made me listen more, and it did help me realize he was being serious.

"For once in your life." He clutched his chest, acting wounded. My laugh quickly turned to a yawn as my eyes drooped shut. Keefe smiled down at me.

"Tired?" All I did was nod, cuddling into his side.

"Stay with me, please." My voice was quiet as I drifted off.

"Anything for you Foster."

~~~

When I woke up for the second time, Keefe wasn't beside me and the ceiling was swirling again. This time, I couldn't get it to clear. I looked around while I waited for it to clear, noticing different colored blobs, including one that was a blonde color at the top.

"Keefe." I giggled, it was such a strange name. Who really named their kid Keefe? Why not Keith? Why did they have to be different? In fact, why was everyone's names weird here? Almost everyone's except for mine basically.

He walked over to me, looking like he was tipping over. In fact, the entire world looked like it was tipping over.

"You've gotta stop being so clumsy, you're falling." He laughed.

"No, Foster, you're just tilting your head." He put a hand on each side of my head, moving it. Suddenly the world was right side up again! My eyes widened and I moved my head from side to side, watching everything move. Keefe grabbed my head to keep it straight.

"You've gotta be careful, Foster. They put you on pain meds so you're a little loopy. Just make sure you don't go sharing any secrets you don't want to." I gasped in offense.

"I am not loopy! I'm fine. You're loopy." I crossed my arms, huffing. Why would he call me loopy, I was acting the same as I usually did! Wasn't I? "Also I don't think I have many secrets that you don't know about." I thought for a minute, perking up when I thought about my biggest one. That's one I can share! Yeah, I should tell him. "Oh! I'm Moonlark." I whispered the last sentence, so only he would hear. He just laughed.

"Okay yeah. Whatever you say." Phew, he believed me. I was thinking he wouldn't for a second. I grinned at him, scooting over and patting next to me on the bed. He sat down, leaning back and putting his arm around me.

"Who else is here?" I asked, motioning to the blobs still in the corner.

"You don't remember them?" He asked, looking very concerned. I laughed at his silly question.

"I dunno, I can't even see them." His face fixed back to his smirk. I guess he wasn't worried about me anymore.

"It's Biana, Tam, Linh, and Dex." My friends are here!

"Tell them to come over! We can watch a movie!"

Ten minutes later we were all cuddled up on my bed. Keefe was still to my left, Linh was on my right, Biana was sitting on Tam's lap in one of the comfy chairs that they dragged next to the bed, then Dex was on the other one.

Biana, Linh, Dex, and I won our movie choice, Barbie. It always made me sad, but there was I'm Just Ken to balance it. Tam and Keefe seemed disappointed, but I could tell they liked it because they were laughing and crying.

I started to get tired near the end, so I leaned on Linh's shoulder. It would be silly to lean on Keefe's! She put her head on mine and that's how I fell asleep.

Happy, safe, comforted, and not at all loopy.

waboom wabam. another chapter that i'm forcing you guys to love because if you squint there's some sokeefe! also i'm so ahead on chapter writing, i've got them scheduled ahead all the way into august! i'm so proud of myself! anyways, i hope you all enjoyed the chapter, please vote and comment to boost my ego! love you all!!!

Avery, out ->

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