Just letting ya know, the pacing might be a little weird in this chapter, but I personally like it. Also another long chapter!

Class was boring, not that Keefe had been there to attend it. He definitely enjoyed ditching way more. It wasn't that learning was the problem, but the teaching style was not working for him. He was forced to sit still in an uncomfortable chair as the mentor would drone on and on about something that he would never actually need to know about. It would lull him to sleep. The best part of Foxfire were the lunches, where he could freely fool around, see Sophie and the rest of his friends.

Foxfire ended and he was relieved, because he didn't have to deal with school. But when he recalled the look on his father's face earlier that morning, he sighed. He would have to go home immediately, or risk making him even angrier. The good news though was that he knew exactly what to expect, there was no surprise.

But still, his body felt heavy as he approached the door. His steps were slow and steady, he was prepared for yelling. When it didn't immediately come, he relaxed just a little bit, walking a little bit faster than before. He put his stuff away and grabbed a snack when Lord Cassius came.

"Keefe!" He called, entering the dining room.

"Yeah dad?" He replied.

Cassius glared. "May I have an explanation as to why a Dizznee was in here?"

"Dex is my friend," Keefe answered, doing his best to keep his tone cool and calm. If he started yelling now, it would just be a shouting match.

"First Sophie Foster, the one who has caused lots of trouble. Now, a Dizznee?"

Keefe grit his teeth. This was escalating too fast, and he wasn't going to be able to keep calm for much longer. "Don't insult him."

"He's a Dizznee. Don't you understand how he's going to influence you negatively?"

There went his efforts. "What bad has he done? Tell me! Is it just really the fact that he's the son of a bad match? Well I don't care about that!" Keefe snapped, leveling a glare at his father. "You're too stuffy, too trapped in your own ego to be able to notice the world around you! There's no way you'd be able to recognize and cherish a nice person, because you aren't!"

Cassius blinked, his eyes burning bright. "In your room, now!"

Keefe turned around. "Fine by me!"

He stormed into his room and sat down. With deep breaths, he could feel the anger start to dissipate. I haven't felt that angry in a while. Why was I that angry?

Dex is my friend though. If anyone insulted Foster or Fitz like that, I'd probably be even more angry. But Dex doesn't deserve this, he's kind and hardworking.

He grabbed a paper and pencil and started drawing. The pencil moved back and forth in his fingers, but he didn't realize what he'd actually drawn until there was a rough sketch in front of him. In the foreground there was him and Dex, standing back to back. In front of Keefe was Fitz, while Tam was in front of Dex- both looking like they had gotten pranked. Sophie, Biana, Linh and Marella were on the sides, laughing.

It was adorable, and it made him laugh. But doing that, he ended up falling over, his hand crashing into a sharp tool. He winced, even though he'd taken much worse damage.

He snuck to the leapmaster, as he knew his father would yell at him for being out of his room. He leapt to Foxfire and went to the healing centre. As he walked in, he could hear Elwin talk to someone.

"My suggestion, just wait and see where your feelings take you. If it's just a one time thing, then that's it. If it grows into something more, then it's something more. I don't think that it's as complicated as you're making it out to be. Just pay attention to your own feelings, and don't neglect them, okay?"

Whatever conversation was going on felt personal, and he felt bad for intruding. It sounded like romance? Keefe wanted to turn away, because he intruded. But instead, he kept going, pretending to ignore that whole thing.

"Hey Elwin, where are you?" He called out, faking enthusiasm.

"I'll be right there! What do you need?"

"Accidentally cut my palm, nothing too big," he answered, walking towards them.

As he got closer, he could see who Elwin had been talking to.

Dex? Why would Dex talk to Elwin about a crush? It's not like he isn't able to recognize the signs.

"Dex? What are you doing here, you okay?"

Said boy didn't look that okay. His legs shook a little bit, his hands were behind him, probably fiddling. He also looked a little red.

"I... uh needed to ask Elwin something. How... l-long have you been here?"

Keefe was about to lie and say that he only just came in. But there was something about how nervous- terrified Dex looked that made him tell the truth instead.

"About a minute ago. Heard something about feelings, but only that last part. Girl troubles again?"

Telling the truth seemed to work well, as Dex stood a little taller, and looked up. "You could say that."

"Is it Linh? Someone I know?" He asked.

"Keefe. I'd uh... prefer not to tell! I can't!"

He can't, or he just doesn't want to?

With that thought, he reached out and grabbed one of Dex's hands. The action only made him look more flustered. There was some strange emotion coming from him. Dex jerked his hand back as if he could feel it too.

"Sorry. It's just that the one I like doesn't like me back. I know that for a fact."

Oh, it's heartbreak all over again. Maybe almost like what I went through with Foster. At least he'll deal with it earlier on what I had.

"Sorry for prying," Keefe apologized. "Shouldn't have done that. It's fine if you don't tell me, but you can if you feel like it. And I do hope that whoever likes you realizes that you're a good person."

Dex looked at him with a smile. Keefe couldn't help but smile with him. Elwin coughed before asking for Keefe.

Oh right, my hand's bleeding and hurting. How could I forget that?

But still, he barely felt the pain. Not when his thoughts were focused on whatever feeling was coming from Dex. It felt so familiar, but he couldn't quite identify it.

Once his hand was healed, he went back to the Shores Of Solace, and looked at some empathy books. He usually never read them, especially since most of them were written by his father. Maybe they would help? But as he skimmed through the pages, he couldn't find anything that perfectly matched what he had noticed. All he knew for now was that Dex was flustered, but there was more to it than that. But he was too tired to think of more.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Keefe woke up. It took him a few moments to remember that there was PE. Well, he would just ditch that too. But then he remembered that there was going to be a splotching match. He styled his hair- which was thankfully normal- and got ready.

He arrived at Foxfire, and both Fitz and Tam were looking normal too. He walked to PE with the two of them.

The tournament began, but it was really slow, since neither he nor his friends were called for a long time. Finally, one of them was called, and it was Dex. Unfortunately, he was matched against Stina.

Her attitude had mellowed out a bit compared to how it was before, but she definitely couldn't be described as nice.

"You won't even come close, let alone actually beat me," she sneered.

Dex only gave a grin. "Challenge accepted."

Once the colour was chosen, the match had begun. Many of the prodigies cheered for Stina, so Keefe cheered louder for Dex. Even though his friends also cheered for him, it was clear to anyone that it was Keefe who cheered the loudest. He didn't fail to notice Dex smile at that, his movements quicker, as if the encouragement actually fuelled him.

Dex almost got hit by a splotcher, but narrowly avoided it. Then, with a fake-out, he got Stina's arm. Keefe clapped, proud of him for winning. A few more rounds passed by, and then Keefe was called up. But so was Sophie.

"No fair!" He whined. "Obviously Foster's gonna win! I want a rematch against Fitz!"

This match was quieter and there was a lot less enthusiasm. Keefe couldn't blame anyone though, because Sophie would win, until matched up against Fitz, which was where the action happened.

But there was still cheering, even for Keefe. He was surprised to hear that Dex was in that group though. Keefe glanced at him, and saw him clamp his mouth shut and look away. Sophie took that moment of distraction to hit him.

Keefe sat back down. This was weird. What was up with Dex, why did he look so nervous? First the healing centre, now this?

"I'm glad you did, but why did you cheer for me?" Keefe asked.

Dex looked down. "You cheered for me. And we already knew who would win so..."

"Nothing's wrong though. It's good that you're cheering for the Keefester."

The rounds continued. Tam and Fitz faced off, and to his dismay, Tam won. Ram was then matched against Biana, who didn't hold back and won. She went against Linh, and Linh won. She was then eliminated by some random elf. Then, there were two left. Sophie and Fitz.

This final match was tense. As cognates, they understood each other really well. So neither of them would make any hasty decisions. It was almost a complicated dance, and Keefe envied them.

Man, maybe if I was a telepath, things would be different. Wait. Stop. Stop sulking!

When he looked back at the game, Sophie had tripped, and Fitz immediately struck. But she managed to roll out the way, and hit him when he was grabbing a new splotcher.

"Woo, Foster!" Keefe cheered. "You took down Wonderboy once again!"

Both Sophie and Fitz rolled their eyes in response.

Lunch came and they sat down. Keefe had raced for the end seat. They talked before eating. Biana was sitting next to Tam and rested her head on his shoulder, making his face flush pink. Keefe looked at Dex, and saw that he wasn't fazed at all.

This new elf. Whoever she is, you must really like her.

He picked up his food and began to eat. Even though he'd done a pretty good job at not doing so recently, he snuck a few glances at Sophie. But she didn't notice, because she was staring into teal eyes with a soft expression on her face.

I wish... I could be the one receiving that look.

Fitz wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into a hug. A few moments after that, he gave her a light kiss. That action earned a few delighted squeals from Biana and Linh, and shocked gasps from a few other students.

Keefe just stared down at his food. It didn't look so appealing anymore.

"Just gonna use the washroom," he muttered.

He should have just teased them like he always did. But this was different. No being oblivious.

He passed by a washroom, choosing to go to one further away. He went inside, relieved to see that it was empty. He sat down against a wall, trying to take deep breaths.

"Come on Keefe," he told himself. "No need to get jealous. They're happy together, and that's what you'd want. Just get used to it."

He closed his eyes. But all he could see was that kiss. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for having a photographic memory. He imagined various objects, hoping to shove the memory away. But it just wouldn't work.

"Calm down. Calm down. You want her to be happy. Let her be happy."

"Hey Keefe?" Dex called. Wait, when did he get here? "You alright?"

"What are you doing here?" Was his reply.

"You've been gone for a bit. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." He came and sat next to him.

Keefe looked at him, and was shocked to realize just how tall Dex was. He knew that Dex was tall, but since when was Keefe shorter than him? Dex's arm lifted slowly, and hesitantly wrapped around Keefe.

"You're not unloved. There's someone out there that likes you," he whispered, his voice barely audible.

Again, there were those feelings again. Then a huge wave of embarrassment came. Dex's face was redder than he'd ever managed to make Sophie blush. Why was he so flustered?

He normally would have taken the opportunity to do some teasing. But Dex looked afraid and delicate, Keefe knew he couldn't. Periwinkle blue eyes were fixated on the wall behind him. Keefe decided to let that go.

He was still confused though. It wasn't like he didn't know he had people crushing on him. The event from yesterday was an example. But he didn't care about those people, because they saw him as someone more. But really, he was just an elf. It was why he fell for Sophie. She saw him as ordinary, and it was relieving. She was the first he could tell his deepest darkest secrets to.

But at this moment, there was more to him than his love for Sophie. She had made her decision, and he was going to accept it. Besides, he already had told her that.

I didn't apologize to Fitz though.

With newfound determination, he stood up. He'd apologize that evening, let out the last of his feelings. Once they were out of the way, he would leave them behind. They would be left behind in the past, and he would find new ones in the future.

Keefe Sencen was going to make sure that he got over Sophie Foster.