new year same me writing way too many authors notes. xoxo have fun reading. 

Chapter Five 

Sophie stumbled into her room after the long day at work and all but sighed in relief. "You really don't look good." Her head snapped towards the mirror standing in the corner of her room, and a frown appeared on her face. 

"When did you move into here?" she asked Vertina. 

"Edaline thought I was wasting away your closet, I believe," Vertina replied. "Why do you look like such a mess?" 

Sophie sighed and fell back on her bed. "Long day at work," she told the mirror. "I'm going out with Keefe and Dex plus whoever Dex brings in maybe an hour but I'm just so tired I think I'm going to take a thirty minute nap before that." 

"You have an hour before hanging out with your boyfriend and you're choosing to sleep instead of pampering yourself up, especially when you look like you haven't showered in years."

"I guess I could use a shower," Sophie replied, looking down at herself. She had traveled back and forth between the black swan and the council, going to meeting upon meeting. A stack of papers was added to her collection, and she was happy she finished the pile from earlier that week.

"I would definitely recommend taking a shower. After that we're going to be talking about appropriate outfits for your date." Sophie ignored the mirror as she made her way towards the bathroom, hoping that Vertina would get the hint.

When Sophie returned from her shower and opened her closet she found herself doubting everything she owned. "I was doing perfectly fine until you told me that, you know," she told Vertina as she stared at all the clothing Biana, Edaline, Marella, and Linh had helped her pick out on their latest shopping trip. 

"What you were looking like was plain awful, but don't worry. Thanks to Biana most of the stuff in your closet isn't too ugly." Sophie rolled her eyes and then perked up when Vertina reminded her that blue was a color she didn't look "too bad" in. She quickly grabbed a blue dress off a hanger and put it on as quickly as she could. 

She stood back in front of Vertina and started to findle with her hair. "I think you should keep it down with that one," the mirror informed. "Although maybe a small braided headband, I could show you how!" 

Per usual, Sophie shook her head and turned down Vertina's offer. "No, you know I'd only mess it up," she stated sadly. "But I can keep it down." She grabbed her hairbrush and started to gently tug it through the knots that had formed. 

"Where are you going, anyways?" Vertina asked. 

"We're going to hang out at the normal spot," Sophie answered, cringing as  she tugged on a knot too hard and wondered if the pain was really worth looking good. 

"You guys always go to Calla's tree!"

"That's why I said the normal spot," she replied, finally getting the brush to smoothly travel through the one section of her hair. She moved to the next section, frowning. 

"I think Keefe should take you somewhere different. You guys need to try something new. Maybe one day you could go to Atlantis and visit some shop, maybe hold hands while you walk down the street to make it seem more romantic." 

Sophie thought about what she said. "That's actually not a bad idea, I'll bring it up to him," she replied. 

Vertina mock gasped. "Did Sophie Foster really just... listen to one of my ideas? Am I dying?" 

"You're technology, you can't die," Sophie replied, shaking her head in amusement. After a moment she finally finished brushing her hair, and she smiled. "How's this look?" she asked. 

Vertina took a second. "Good enough," she answered. "My work is done, and you're almost late." 

Sophie looked at the clock after that statement and her eyes widened. "Wow, I am almost late. I'll be back." She waved, as if the mirror could wave back, and quickly ran downstairs to the kitchen where Edaline was prepping the meal she was making for Grady and herself. "Hey, mom," she greeted. 

"Keefe knocked on the door a minute ago to tell you they were here and they're waiting by the tree," Edaline told her. "I gave him the food."

Sophie sighed in relief and kissed her mom's cheek. "Thank you, have a nice dinner!" She waved quickly as she walked out the door and made her way across the property to where the tree stood proudly, and three figured stood next to it. She smiled at them and made her way over there, not yet being able to tell who the feminine figure standing next to Dex was. 

When she made her way closer to them her eyes widened in shock. "Wait, really?" was the first thing to come out of her mouth when she reached them, and her best friend let out a small laugh. 

"Don't think too hard about it," Biana replied, grinning. "I have to be back at my store in two hours, so we can't keep this too late. We always have a late night rush." 

Sophie took a seat next to Keefe and smiled as he quickly kissed her cheek. She reached over to grab the drink they had poured for her, not bothering to ask them what exactly it was, and looked at her boyfriend. "How long have you known about this?" she asked him, pointing to the smiling Dex and Biana sitting across from them. 

"Dex told me Sunday before we talked about the date tonight," Keefe informed. "I was just as surprised." 

"Oh come on, it's not that surprising," Biana replied, rolling her eyes. 

"I don't know, it's weird I always thought you were dead set on well," Sophie frowned, thinking, "Keefe." 

Biana laughed. "Oh no, I've been over that train for years." She paused, looking at Keefe. "No offense." 

Keefe grinned. "None taken," he replied, taking a sip of his drink. 

"So Wylie's married, we're paired up, and those two, plus Tam and that Syden girl, who's left?" Sophie frowned. 

"Linh, Marella, and Fitz," Dex replied. 

"Linh and Fitz are totally into each other, but neither would admit it," Keefe stated. "So technically just Marella."

"Wait, really?" Sophie's eyes widened. 

"Oh, totally," Biana replied immediately. "I know my brother and what it looks like when he likes someone. He's totally smitten with her, his eyes are more lovey dovey than when he was in love with you."

Sophie shifted, slightly uncomfortable as she thought about when Fitz did like her. She wasn't dumb, she knew that he had feelings for her. Even though they had gotten over that the year previous, it was a touchy subject. "Oh." She smiled. "Well, I'm happy for them. I mean, but what about Linh? Any eye witness she totally likes him?" 

Dex raised his hand sightly. "She told me." Everyone immediately stared at him in confusion. "What? We had a small thing last year but then she broke it off saying she was in love with someone else and about a month later I went to hang out with Sophie and she was there with Fitz totally giving him the 'lovey dovey' eyes." He shrugged. 

"We're going to back this up," Biana said, holding a hand up. "Linh? You dated Linh?" 

Dex shrugged. "Only for two weeks." 

"Two weeks is more than no weeks," Sophie stated. "How come neither of you guys have told us?"

"I knew, if that means anything," Keefe cut in. "I figured everyone knew. It's why for a few months you would never see the two of them in the same room."

Sophie found herself trying to trace memories of them being together and found herself with a dropped jaw, realizing Keefe was right. She even remembered a specific occasion when she had invited Dex over but he said no after she told him Linh was there. She immediately slapped Dex's arm. "How come you never told us?" 

"It wasn't really that big of a deal. It was more awkward than anything, it was never going to work out. I mean, first of all she was in love with Fitz." He shrugged. "Also, I was into someone else," he said, looking at Biana for a split second, making Sophie's heart warm slightly. 

"Wait, really?" Biana replied locking eyes with him. 

He grinned at her, but didn't reply. Sophie felt as if she was watching a moment she wasn't invited to, but was happy for her best friends and what they had found with each other. She found herself leaning slightly more on Keefe, who wrapped an arm around her. "So," she prompted, "when did you two date, anyways? How didn't we find out?" 

"It was right after you got your job," he told her. "Biana had just come up with the idea of opening her store so she was busy all the time planning with her mom on what exactly she wanted. It was before Linh joined Tam with helping out with the Black Sawn, so Tam and Fitz were working together on some sort of mission. Basically me, Keefe, and Linh were kinda behind everyone. So the three of us were hanging out one time and Keefe decided he wanted to draw us and then he was thinking that he could probably make a career of it, and then it was just me and her for about two weeks while Keefe started to go to pretty much everyone he knew to see if there was a way he could make that into a profession for himself." Dex shrugged. "And in those two weeks we dated." 

"I can't believe neither of you even mentioned it afterwards," Biana exclaimed. "That's so weird to think about." Her nose crinkled. 

Sophie nodded in agreement. "I honestly can't imagine you two together." She thought for a moment. "But, then again, I can't imagine you with Biana either but here we are. Speaking of that, how did you two happen?" 

A small blush appeared on Biana's face and a similar one reached Dex. "Well," Biana stated, "for starters, Dex was number one on my list." 

"Wait, really?" Sophie's eyes widened. "Our number ones were people we didn't even really talk to." She gestured to Keefe and herself. 

Dex shrugged. "Well, my number one was a random person, so I'm in the same boat. Biana was number four on my list." 

"That's weird because she was my number five and I was her number three. It goes in order. Three, four, five," Keefe stated, laughing. 

"That's great, honey," Sophie stated sarcastically. 

Ignoring her, Keefe then said, "Now all we need is a two to fit in Biana's one." 

"Syden was Tam's number two," Sophie stated. She found herself giggling. "You know, that is kind of funny in a stupid, ironic way." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Well, let's forget the gossip for a second because I'm hungry and Biana is on a schedule." 

"Yes, let's dig in," Dex exclaimed. 

She grinned as she watched the three immediately start digging through the food, passing out plates to each other. Dex flicked a piece of some random plate at Keefe's face, who retaliated by simply punching his arm and laughing while Biana burst into laughter and decided to flick some at Sophie. Sophie was happy, and seeing her friends happy suddenly made her appreciate everything. She knew that everything happened for a reason, and she was suddenly thankful for everything that brought her to the pure moment of sitting under a tree with three of her favorite people throwing food at each other. 

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i didn't have time to edit this so sorry if it's rough, my ap english teacher would probs cry if she saw my grammar in this today. 

LONG CHAPTER THOUGHHHH 

chapter questions:

1. i found out that when i write and read dialogue my face acts it out. hella embarrassing, especially because i didn't find out until today and it's apparently something i've been doing for a long time. i write and read in public mostly so apparently in public my face just randomly moves around and takes different emotions out of nowhere so that was embarrassing to find out. do you have any weird quirks like this?

2. technically all that's left is marella. i was thinking of maybe keeping at least one of them single and i love marella and i want her to find happiness with herself but also i lowkey also want her to find happiness with someone else as well. so i'm def gonna keep her single for a while but should i eventually pair her up?

3. what extra curriculars do you participate in? i'm in two things currently: theatre and book club (yes, book club, i love being a nerd). and next year on top of those two i'm probs going to add nhs (national honors society) to the mix. either that or the keyclub which is basically the volunteer club that helps you get the community service hours you need to graduate. or maybe i'll do keyclub and nhs upon the other two clubs. it seems excessive, and it is, but idk my sophomore year i stopped doing everything (including creative writing) and i miss doing things so i'm kind of toppling on everything i can now.  

lmao i made a longer chapter to help apologize for the longer authors note ig i really need to get on top of shortening things before it gets out of hand like before haha. love you guys hAPPY NEW YEAR BTW.