Dex woke up with a smile on his face. He had every reason to be happy, just from one day. His crush decided to date him and break some of that awkward tension, and his parents were accepting of it.

He rolled over to his left, where Keefe was. Or... should have been at. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Where'd Keefe go?

His questions were answered with blood curdling screams. Three of them, to be exact. He held his hands to his ears, wincing when it didn't really help to block the sounds. He stared at his wall. Why were the triplets able to overpower the soundproofing?

After a few seconds, he realized that they weren't going to stop until someone went out and stopped them. He left the room and saw that Keefe was there, attempting to calm the triplets down.

"Tell me what happened," he said, looking like he was trying to fight off a smile.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lex asked.

Dex sighed at the way they were being overdramatic. They were perfectly fine. But Bex's hair had been shaved completely, Lex's hair was thick and dragged across the floor, and Rex's was purple and curly. To top it off, they all smelled like reekrod. It was just a prank, they did not need to scream that loudly.

"Dex, how dare you!" The three of them screeched.

Dex winced. He really hoped that they could start controlling their volume. "I didn't do anything."

"Yes you did!"

"I just woke up!" He countered.

"Now now," Keefe soothed. "No fighting this early in the morning. I'm sure it wasn't Dexy."

Dex looked at him, and saw that his signature smirk flickered on his face. It was a very brief moment, but enough for him to see.

So, revenge? I see.

Before there could be more screaming, Kesler and Juline came running, both looking weary.

"What happen-" they looked at the situation, then at each other, then groaned. "Get ready for Foxfire, this isn't over for the three of you."

Keefe grinned triumphantly as the triplets pouted and went to their room.

Dex sighed. "Let me guess, revenge for yesterday when they picked you up and dragged you away?"

"That was a huge blow to my pride!" He said, voice filled with mock hurt. "Three tiny children managed to overpower the Great Keefester."

He fought back a snicker. Wow, he didn't notice how odd it was for telekinesis to not work?

"What?" He looked at him questioningly.

"Nevermind. Just... go get ready."

The two of them soon got ready, and had all the supplies that they needed for Foxfire.

"Care to join me and ditch?" Keefe asked.

"Tempting, but no thanks."

It was really tempting actually. But he knew he wouldn't do it. He needed his make sat his best, especially since midterms weren't too far away. Besides, his sudden absence would have his parents notified, and he didn't need that scolding. Then the triplets would rag on him forever. So they leapt to Foxfire.

"Where have you two been the past few days?" Sophie asked. "You've been a little distant."

Keefe grinned, then casually draped an arm on Dex's shoulder. "Hung out with my pranking buddy for a bit. Gotta keep you on your toes, y'know?"

"Sure it's not more than 'pranking buddies?'" Tam muttered, but nobody seemed to realize what he had said.

"Hey! I better not get replaced as your best friend!" Fitz said.

"Knowing him, you already have," Biana chimed in, nudging her brother with an elbow.

Fitz gasped mockingly. "Is it true?"

"Not yet you haven't. But you've got competition," Keefe replied.

The bell rang, so the group separated. Dex walked to his locker, and was surprised that Keefe was following him. The hallway was suspiciously quiet.

"My locker's not too far from yours. I don't always ditch, but I've got a reason to come to class now." He spoke casually, as if he didn't sense the mood shift around them.

"Oh yeah? How come?" Obviously he knew Keefe was only coming because he was there. But he decided to be oblivious.

Keefe stopped and slowly turned him around. He leaned forward. Was this it? Was Keefe about to declare their relationship in front of the school? But before the kiss could happen, they were interrupted. By multiple people.

"So it is true!"

"Keefe's dating a Dizznee?"

"Ew, at least date the girl!"

He watched as Keefe froze, his eyes wide with terror. His lips parted just a little bit, and he looked like he was panicking. The murmurs got louder, and Dex couldn't bear to hear them anymore. He walked away to somewhere, anywhere that wasn't where he currently was. He only looked back once, to see if Keefe would follow him. But he was still standing there like a statue.

He turned a corner and was relieved that there was no one around. But just to be safe, he walked even further down the hallway, his legs trembling. He fell to his knees.

Get it together! You can't go on crying right now. It's just people talking about you behind your back. Teasing you. You're used to this.

But it had gotten better, hadn't it? The mocking of the Dizznee family had never stopped, but it had become less frequent. It hadn't gotten so bad that groups of elves would join in. Not since level one.

It's not just about you. It's about Keefe too. Keefe's gonna have to deal with people mocking him. He doesn't deserve this, he's done nothing to deserve it. He'll be mocked because he's dating me.

A sob came out from his throat. Why? Why did it have to be like this?

He didn't notice the fog within his mind until found himself breathing. His hands began to shake less, and the tears that streamed down his face began to slow. For the whirlwind of emotions that he'd just been in the middle of, he felt oddly calm.

Then a hand laid on his shoulder. He looked towards it and saw blonde, but not the blonde that he'd wanted to see so badly.

"Dex?" Sophie asked, sitting right beside him. "What happened?"

He took another deep breath, and tried to imagine his negative feelings leaving as he exhaled. It didn't really work.

"I'm here for you, I hope you know that."

He gave her a very weak smile. "Thank you."

"Now, who do you need me to sucker-punch?" Her brown eyes gleamed with determination.

"The whole school population, probably."

She frowned. "What happened?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard about it yet. The prodigies aren't exactly... quiet."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

Dex steeled himself. "I'm dating Keefe."

He wondered how she was going to react. After all, the Forbidden Cities may have had people who were attracted to the same gender, but not everyone there approved. Sophie could be one of them. Each second that passed by made him more anxious.

"You're dating him?" She repeated.

"Yeah, I am."

"That's good for the both of you! I'm glad that you're dating someone you like! I think you two would be wonderful together- wait, is that why you two have been closer these past few days?"

He nodded again.

"I don't see what the problem is."

She doesn't have any problem whatsoever. It felt like a weight was lifted off his chest.

"I'm a Dizznee, he's a Sencen. Our families are so far apart. And..."

Sophie looked tense. "And..?" She prompted.

"Some of them would prefer if he dated Bex instead of me."

Her jaw was set, her mouth set in a thin line. "I can't believe this! I didn't expect this from the elves!"

"Expect what?"

"I can't believe that they're homophobic!" He noticed that she was saying 'they' instead of 'we'. "They're supposed to be better than this!"

"Isn't a phobia being scared?" He asked.

She shrugged, but it wasn't as casual as it normally would have been. "I mean, I guess. But still, they're supposed to be fair! How could it be like this?"

"I don't know," he murmured. "But the world isn't as perfect as we thought it was. Can I just hide? Forever?"

"You shouldn't have to hide though. You haven't done anything wrong!" She went from angry to more encouraging.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he agreed, his voice still quiet. "I didn't choose who to have feelings for."

"Exactly! Now come, we have to go to P.E. If anyone gets in our way, I'll deal with them."

She took his hand and got up, and they walked to PE. Hopefully things would get better.

Yeah, so I'm back (yay)! It's been forever. I know I constantly make excuses and stuff, but literally right now I have 7 projects (all due in 2 weeks), one of them being a story, so I'm channeling all my creativity into the story. It's actually been 2 weeks since I've even touched this fanfic. (My new story's not coming on Wattpad, but if anyone would like to hear about it, let me know???)

Also I'm writing angsty stuff, which I've never actually done before, so it's gonna be crap. (Yes there is more angst to go *laughs evilly*)

For the record, I don't really think the elves are homophobic (yes I'm going that route), I just think that the concept is new to them, as matchmaking exists, and how most of them would end up having children, as adoption rarely exists. So I don't think the elves would react too badly, just some while others go eh???