After somehow being dragged into another one of Laurel's makeovers, I was finally allowed to go back to my room. Sighing, I can't help but fiddle with the flowing knee-length skirt of my crimson red dress. The dress was originally rather loose around my waist, so Laurel had decided to make me wear a brown braided belt that's about three inches in width. Although I will admit that the black heeled ankle-boots made the entire outfit much classier.

Grateful that the only "makeup" I was forced to receive was a tinted chapstick, I open my door to see my clean and tidy room again. Curling some of my straightened hair behind my ear, I walk over to my desk to take off the unnecessary and bulky bracelets that Laurel stole from my room to make me wear. I only notice the beige folder on my desk when I stand up again after putting the excess jewelry away.

The corners of my lips tugging into a frown, I slowly walk over to my desk. I pick up the folder tentatively. "Arien Leroy," I whisper to myself, the back of my mind trying to remember when I've seen the folder before.

My eyes then suddenly widen as I drop the folder, the unopened file falling gently onto the desk surface again.

Michelle Barrera.

David Grahams.

Dread pooling into my stomach and fear clouding my mind, I rush outside, hastily closing the door behind me. Laurel jumps up when the door slams loudly. As she walks besides me, she asks, "Where are you going already?"

"Fitz," I quickly reply as we both step into the elevator. I press the button for the ground floor and watch as the metal doors close slowly.

"Why him?" she asks.

I turn to see the sly smirk on her face again. My eyes widen at this. "Oh, no- it's not like-"

"Are you sure?"

Even though I know that now isn't the time, I still feel my face warming. I press my lips together and look anywhere but at her. I then realize that Laurel is most likely taking the silence the wrong way as well. Looking at the female Altruistic, I say, "Your theory is completely wrong- it's for another reason entirely."

Laurel only winks at me in a suspicious what. "Sure," she says, the word dripping with sarcasm. "By the way, I think he's in the conference room with Benen." Her eyes widen. "And I think Donovan went after them. With pies."

My eyes widen and the two of us rush out of the elevator. Mentally cursing the heeled boots, Laurel watches me silently as I place my hands on the door handles. She smirks at my hurry.

I shake my head. "But seriously-" I pause, opening the conference room doors. "I need to talk to Fitz because..." My eyes blink in surprise as I take in the scene in front of me.

Donovan and Benen are caked from head to toe in pie remnants, glimmering slightly from all the sugar. I look to see Fitz dodge yet another pie that's being flung at him by the male Sovereign. I clear my throat obnoxiously loud to make their heads turn towards the entrance. Fitz blushes in embarrassment and turns away from me, running a hand through his sugary hair. "Um...Don't ask," Fitz finally say, glowering at Donovan after he ducks to avoid a pumpkin pie.

"Hey, Sophie!" Laurel calls. "You were about to say something, but you didn't..." Laurel stops mid-sentence like me when she finally sees the three boys. "Oh. Wow."

Benen smiles and waves at her. "Hey, Laurel!"

Laurel blushes deeply. Smiling softly, she waves at him. "Hi, Benen."

Donovan claps two pies together, grabbing our attention . "Okay," he begins loudly, earning an eye roll from me. "Now that the blush fest is over, can we please continue this? Mr. Wallace seems to want to throw another pie at me since I hit him."

"Mr. Wallace?!" Laurel and I exclaim when Mr. Wallace walks into view, trying his best to wipe cherry pie filling off of his face. He sighs, briefly glaring at Donovan, who only smiles innocently.

Shaking my head to mentally get back on topic, I look at Mr. Wallace, silently asking him if I should say it out loud. The back of my mind hastily tries to think of words that won't tell the others but will tell Fitz at the same time. When he nods, I turn to look at Fitz. "Arien Leroy," I say, my mind flashing back to the beige folder.

Fitz's brown eyes widen as he looks at Mr. Wallace. Then he says to the boys, "Actually, I feel really sticky right now, so I'm going to take a bath." His eyes then meet mine for a moment before I look away, flushing instantly.

Donovan frowns. "But you're the one who got pied the least," he practically whines.

But Fitz and I had already run to the elevator to reply.

...

As Fitz cleans himself, I pick up the file on Arien in my room. I open it up to see a woman with chocolate-colored skin and almost red hair. I notice the streaks of grey in her hair and say that she isn't as young as Michelle but not old enough to seem like a grandparent. Maybe near Mr. Wallace's age, I think to myself.

The folder says that her age is 49. If she is near Mr. Wallace's age, then I'd have to ask about that later. I'll ask Fitz first, I think. Maybe he'll think differently.

This time, only her father has died. Her mother, apparently, is living a healthy live as a ninety-nine year old. I sigh, trying to imagine the grief that elderly woman is going through since she lost her father and her only daughter.

I'm about to read her relationship when I see something move out of the corner of my eye. I gasp in fear and drop the folder when I find myself staring at a long-legged spider. When it crawls towards me, I scream and try to scramble back. The spider jumps off of my desk and begins to make its way towards me.

Shrieking when the spider tries to jump at me, I dash towards the connecting door and practically slam the door open, bursting into Fitz's room. Of course, since I'm still wearing the boots, I trip over my own feet and realize that I'm going to hit the ground- hard. I blindly wrap my arms around something as I near the ground. I close my eyes when all of the air inside of me is knocked out forcefully. Only when I hear, "Sophie..?" do I open my eyes.

When my gaze meets the eyes of Fitz, I blush madly and press my lips together. I then notice how tightly my arms are wrapped around his neck anod how close his hands are to my waist. Our cheeks redden considerably when we both take in the fact that we're so close together- and in a rather... "unique" position. Not to mention that our faces are mere centimeters apart.

"I- there was," I try to explain, but only blush more when Fitz leans slightly closer. Oh god, I think to myself when my heart reaches hummingbird pace.

"Is there a reason why I heard you scream?" Fitz asks, his sea green eyes showing genuine concern. Mentally face-palming myself when my heart switches to an even faster hummingbird pace, I blush even more as I look away, my arms still around his neck.

I glance over to the open connecting door to hear someone snickering as they unlock the door to my room. Fitz and I quickly look at each other before Fitz tightens his hold on my waist, pulling me up to my feet. I silently nod as thanks, trying to hide my flushed face.

But before Fitz and I can pull away, Audrey and Mr. Wallace walk through the connecting door. Both of their eyes widen as they stare at us. Audrey then begins to gag obnoxiously as Mr. Wallace raises an eyebrow at the two of us causing both of us to blush and separate quickly.

Audrey frowns. "Wait- where's the spider?" She looks around before looking at me with a smile. "Oh wait- here it is." The female Sovereign laughs and holds a glass container that has the spider.

As Mr. Wallace glares at Audrey, Fitz looks at me in confusion. "Spider?"

I sigh. "That's why I ran in here," I tell him. Turning to glower at Audrey, I say, "I should've known it was you."

Audrey merely laughs. A moment of silence passes before she looks at the two of us. "You want to explain why you two were holding each other like you're ballroom dancing?"

Our blush coming back at full force, I say, "I kind of ran in here after I saw the spider. I tripped, and Fitz caught me."

And it didn't help when Fitz leans into my ear to whisper, "More like you brought me down with you."

My heart racing again, I can't decide whether I should hit his arm or just say something back. Shaking my head, I whisper back to him, "Yet you didn't seem like you wanted to get up that quickly." I smirk victoriously when I see Fitz's embarrassed face.

Of course, my victory was only temporary. Fitz then whispers to me, "Maybe I didn't. But you didn't want to either."

I'm about to say something back when Audrey announces loudly, "O-Kay! Break the romantic flirting up!" Glaring at both of our flushed faces, she adds, "I don't think you two want vomit in your rooms..!"

I shake my head when both of them turn to leave. Mr. Wallace is almost out the door when he says, "After the folder, go visit Laurel. She has something to show you."

And I don't know if that' a good thing or not.