probs a lot of mistakes, it's so freaking long i didn't have time to edit after writing. 

Chapter Seven

Sophie took a shaky breath as the meeting came to a close and everyone was packing up. She looked at the long list of notes she herself had written, and then her eyes found the papers of everyone else's notes she'd have to add on. It seemed with each meeting there was more papers, and Sophie needed to tell Forkle before it got too out of hand. He was sitting beside her, looking through a scroll that was sent to him, and looked up when he realized she was still there. "What's wrong, Sophie?" he questioned. 

She looked at the door to make sure everyone was officially gone. "I'm being worked to death," she admitted. "I can't keep doing all this work." She received a frown as a reply along with silence. "For almost a year now the work has been piling on heavier and heavier, and yesterday it took me five hours to work through everything and that's with the help of Keefe." 

Forkle nodded in understanding. "You're perfectly right, I haven't been thinking too much of your situation. When you were younger you constantly forgot you weren't invincible, and I guess it was my moment to forget." He put his hand on hers reassuringly. "No alliance is worth you loosing your mind." His eyes traveled to all the paper in her hands and he took them from her. He started to flip through and his eyes widened. "You've really been writing this much?" he questioned. 

"Yes," she confirmed, nodding. 

"That's impossible, when we hand the information over it's just a lengthy letter written on a scroll." He flipped through the pages of writings and frowned. 

"Well, I do all of the arranging and editing, and then I hand them over to Fiera and she cuts it down as much as she can," Sophie replied. "I add all of the notes and make them neat and easy to read. Does she really cut it down so much?" 

Forkle looked through the papers. "Sophie, there's never been the need for you to do so much. You have an entire page in here dedicated to one sentence I spoke."

"That's because that's everyone's notes put together," she explained. 

"Sophie, who told you that it was your job to write down every single note?" he questioned, handing the papers back. 

"Jem," she answered, frowning. "I think I'm seeing the problem here, now." She thought of Jem, a man who constantly wore a disguise. His face was always covered with some intricately drawn mask, and he was very obnoxious about it. He had pledged his full loyalty to the Black Swan, and the important people knew who he really was, but the majority of the organization didn't because he was refusing the risk of his identity being given away, not wanting to be associated with them even after they were cleared of their bad reputation. She had also found he was one of the members who did not agree with the moonlark project. "Oh my gosh," she suddenly exclaimed, feeling the need to slap her forehead. Her elbows rested on the table as she put her face in her hands. "I can't believe I listened to him." 

"It's alright, Sophie. I will be speaking to him about this, so don't worry too hard. Just make sure that you stop putting all this work on yourself. Eliminating repeating notes will save you a few hours." They both stood up and he gave her a hug. "Now I do believe I heard about you having a date tonight?" 

Her cheeks turned slightly red. "We're going to be at his dad's old beach house. He's letting us use it for the day." 

"Well, I wouldn't want you to be late," Forkle stated, smiling. "Have a good day, Sophie."

She nodded in appreciate and waved goodbye as she found herself exiting the doors. After using the crystal to go back to her home, she quickly rushed into the house. "Whoa, grease lightening," Grady called as she sprinted up to her room. 

She stopped, confused as she turned to him. "That's a human movie reference," she commented, looking at him. 

"Dex came over earlier with one called Grease, you know how his parents watch them. He wanted to ask you something about it but you weren't here, I said maybe I'd know he we ended up watching the movie. It was... interesting." 

"It's a classic," Sophie replied, smiling. "Almost all humans have seen or at least heard of Grease." Then she sighed. "Also, I need to get dressed and ready in five minutes so," she looked at him standing in the doorway, "bye?"

"Wow, I brought you into my house and helped raise you from the time you were twelve and this is how you repay me? Kicking me out?" Grady sarcastically stated as he exited. 

Sophie smiled at her adopted father, saying, "Oh hush!" He waved back at her, closing the door and leaving down the stairs. She grinned to herself as she turned towards the closet, where Vertina was standing out in her old place. 

"Don't ask me for advice," Vertina stated. "I'm still mad at you for sticking me in here again." 

Sophie rolled her eyes, saying, "No need. I've got today covered. All I have to is and pull back my hair. We're going to a beach so I'll be swimming and my hair is going to be a mess anyways." 

"Beach, huh? Body suit or bikini?" 

"Oh." She looked at the swimming section. "I guess I hadn't thought of that." 

"That's where I could've helped if I hadn't been betrayed." Sophie couldn't help the snort that escaped her. 

Sophie moved to the very small assortment of of bathing suits and picked the first thing on the shelf. She quickly changed out of her clothes and put it on before going in front of Vertina to stare at herself. It was a two piece midkini, with the black and white striped bottoms reaching up to her belly button and a plain black top that was like a tight crop top. 

She looked over herself. "This should be good, right?" Vertina let out a 'humph' and Sophie sighed. "Vertina I don't have room for you in my actual bedroom. And you're not wasting away here, I come in here at least twice a day to get changed." 

"It makes you look beautiful," Vertina finally let out. "Although I would definitely recommend wearing a pullover. And what's going to happen with your glove situation?" 

Sophie had gone swimming at the beach before, and she'd always taken off her gloves right before swimming and the first thing she'd do getting out of the water was put them on. Of course this once led to her accidentally giving Biana a boost, which led to Biana wanting to play ultimate hide and seek with everyone in the water. 

"It'll be fine," she stated. "But I will be taking you up on the pullover situation." She grabbed a black pullover and tried to find the most comfortable shoes she could as well as a quick outfit to change into after they were done swimming. She made her way downstairs just in time, as Keefe walked through the door a second later. "Hey Soph, ready to go?" 

She grinned and took his hand, turning to Grady who was sitting in a chair looking through a scroll. "I'll be back later," she told him. 

"Go have fun," was his reply before they made their way out and eventually came to the beach house. 

"My dad said there's some food here, so I didn't pack anything. I'm hoping he put something good in there." Keefe had eventually made up with his father, and although they weren't close and never would be, they were at least on civil terms. His father would usually give the beach house away to Keefe once a month if he wanted it, and everyone in the friend group usually took advantage of the time there although this time Keefe decided he wanted to use it for a date with Sophie. 

Sophie nodded in reply and followed him inside towards the small kitchen. Keefe started to rummage through the counters as Sophie told him about what happened that day. "Wait, Jem seriously told you that you had to give your entire soul away to do the work pretty much when it could've been taking you maybe two hours tops?" 

Sophie sighed. "Yeah, he did. Fiera probably knew as well and didn't say anything, I'm sure," she told him. 

"That's wrong that they took advantage of you like that. It's one thing to pull a small prank, it's another to blatantly lie to someone which leads to them having to work twenty four seven and give up their social life." Keefe shook his head, grabbing a container of a food Sophie had never seen before and emptying it out into two bowls. She didn't bother asking what it was when he handed it to her, and he must've assumed she knew since he didn't mention it. 

"It's weird thinking of everyone in the Black Swan as coworkers when they were mentors originally, and I think it's the same for them. They still think of me as an impressionable little girl who has no idea what she's doing." Sophie shrugged, taking a bite of what turned out to taste like salad if everything in salad was made with sugar. It tasted weird at first, but she couldn't find it in herself to stop eating. Eventually she'd have to ask him what the food was. 

"We have basically the entire day, so I stacked some movies in the movie room to hang out in after we swim," Keefe informed her, taking a bite of his own food. "Totally care-free day." 

Sophie nodded, smiling. "Sounds nice. Also, you never told me what you did today." 

Keefe grinned. "I went to Dex's and he gave me some movies to stack in the movie room and then I came here to put them away. After that I went home and worked on the painting that I told you about on Monday, with the flowers," Sophie nodded in acknowledgement, "and then I quickly got dressed and now we're here." 

"I mean, it sounds productive," she told him, smiling. She took another bite, and eventually after ten minutes both of them finished eating completely and making their way outside to the water. "How cold is it?" she asked him. 

"It shouldn't be cold at all," he replied. "I'll check if you want me to." She nodded and took off her gloves as she watched him dip a toe in the water. "It's warm!" he called back to her and then stepped into the water. 

She took off the black pullover and made her way into the water. She walked through it until the water reached her waist, and then stopped. She looked over at Keefe who was deep enough that it reached his shoulders, and she laughed at the visual of just his head sticking out of the water. "You know you can mess up your hair," she told him, smiling. "It's just me, and you know I could care less." Every time they went swimming that was as far as Keefe would get, as he had a thing against ruining his hair with the water. 

"I don't do my hair to impress you, I do it to impress myself," was his reply as he stood still. She rolled her eyes and made her way deeper in the water until she was fully submerged. Then she started to balance on the top, laying on her back. Her arms were spread out and eyes closed. It was peaceful for a few moments as she laid in the water and Keefe watched, but the nice moment was gone after he splashed her. 

"Oh come on," she whined. "You could have gotten water in my nose!"

"What a tragedy," he sarcastically replied, grinning. 

She splashed back at him after the remark, getting his hair wet completely. His eyes widened. "And suddenly Sophie and Keefe were a couple no more," he stated, putting his hands on his hair. "This is a serious offense I cannot forgive, Foster." 

Sophie rolled her eyes, making her way over to him through the water. "Oh stop whining, your hair looks perfectly fine. I actually really like it this way." She decided to reached up and run her hands through it. "It's also really soft even though water just touched it, what's your secret?" She pulled her hand back and grinned at him. 

"A magician never reveals his secrets," he replied, and then grabbed her waist so he could wrap his arms around her. "We should do this more often, it's sad I only get this place once a month." 

She shrugged, letting her arms fall around his neck. "This is fun, but it's more fun because we don't do it so often," she told him, smiling. 

"Did I tell you that you look really cute in that?" he questioned, looking over her. "Because you do." 

She grinned, kissing his cheek. "Thanks, you look pretty okay yourself." 

He gave her his signature smirk. "I know."

She laughed. "You're so cocky."

He reached down and kissed her cheek. "You like it."

"I like you," was her reply. They simply stared into each other's eyes, the only sound was the waves falling onto each other. Keefe grabbed her ungloved hand, forgetting about the boost. 

"This feels so weird, even years after you got the ability," he said, letting his finger run over the back of her hand. 

"It feels weird to have the gloves off," she admitted. 

"Well, my fair lady," he said, kissing her hand playfully. "Since my hair is already wet, how about we do something fun like snorkeling." 

Sophie thought about it. "Sounds like fun," she told him, smiling. 

An hour later they both made their way back into the house, wrapped in towels and laughing as Keefe made as many jokes as possible. "You know, I can't wait to have kids someday so I can make as many dad jokes as possible," he told her as he opened the door, letting her in. 

"I am not looking forward to that," she replied, laughing. "You'll ruin them before they have a chance." 

"They'll have you for that," Keefe replied, grabbing his packed bag of dry clothes. She smiled at how easily he told his feelings, especially since while they were younger he had such a dark cloud over his head it was hard to always know how he was taking things. 

It felt weird to talk so openly about a future together, where they would get married and have kids, but she also couldn't imagine a future where they broke up and it didn't happen. She couldn't imagine a future without Keefe. 

"I'll take upstairs, you take down," he told her, gesturing to the bag in his hands. She understood and made her way to the bathroom to change into the clean clothing she packed. Afterwards she made her way to the movie room where Keefe was already waiting, flipping through the disk selection. "These movies seem weird," he told her as she walked over. 

She leaned into him and he wrapped his arm around her. "I'll try and see if I can find a good one." She started to flip through all the movies Dex provided them with. "What exactly do you want to watch? RomCom, Comedy, Horror, Fantasy, SciFi, Musical?" 

"Can you explain what that means?" 

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Romantic comedy, I'm going to assume you know what regular comedy is, and then horror is basically a scary movie, fantasy and SciFi are along the same boat in the way they're imaginative situation that are very probable to never happen. SciFi stands for science fiction and usually includes aliens. And a musical is a movie where everyone sings. Sometimes they sing straight through or other time they have spoken scenes between songs." 

"Well, I'm going to say no to horror movie," he said, looking over her shoulder. "Is that a horror movie?" He asked, pointing to a certain disk. 

Sophie shook her head. "No, that's Harry Potter," she told him. 

"What's it about?" he asked. 

"Well the first one is about a boy named Harry Potter who finds out he's a wizard. You're pointing towards the disk for the sixth movie." She flipped through the disks until she found the first. "This is movie number one. The movies are based off the books."

"Books?" He frowned. 

She grinned. "Don't worry, usually people use these movies to ignore the books, so you won't have to do any reading if you want to watch this. Although the books are really good, I'd recommend. Movies can't fit everything, even if they're almost four hours like Gone with the Wind." 

Keefe shrugged and stated, "Well, I guess we can watch this movie then," he told her. She nodded and put the movie in the player as Keefe made himself comfortable on the couch. She walked over after putting the movie in and got under the covers with him. They cuddled up on the couch as the movie started playing. 

Throughout the entire beginning Keefe kept asking Sophie questions, and then after Hagrid had told Harry he was a wizard Keefe wouldn't stop laughing, and Sophie was forced to pause the movie. She stared at him in confusion and asked, "Why are you laughing?" 

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice unapologetic. He started to laugh as he explained, "It's just this reminded me of Fitz telling you that you're an elf and I just imagined Fitz staring seriously at you and stating 'you're an elf, Sophie,' in that same voice." Sophie couldn't help the laugh that escaped her as she imagined the same thing. Eventually they were able to calm down and finish the movie and then Sophie placed the second one in which they were also able to get through. 

"This series seems interesting," Keefe told her. 

She grinned, cuddling up closer to him. "It's pretty good. I remember my human parents really liked it." 

"Well, I like it too," he told her. He leaned over and pressed his lips against her own, and while they were kissing a realization dawned on Sophie. 

Her eyes widened and she pulled back. "Keefe, that was our first kiss," she told him, grinning. Subconsciously her fingers touched her lips and he smiled back her, realizing the same thing. It wasn't her first kiss, that had been given to Dex, but it certainly was her best. She couldn't believe that that was the first time they kissed, especially since it felt like she had kissed him a thousand times before and could kiss him a thousand times again. 

---

this chapter is around 3100 (it's more than that but less than 3200) and completely unedited

let me rephrase that: this is one long chapter and it took me about five hours so enjoY

also free promo here for my short story contest. please please please enter. i would love to read what you guys can do and i need 10 people for it to work out. 

chapter questions:

1. what's your favorite kotlc fanfic on here? (well, besides mine ofc c;) 

2. do you have a favorite book on here that's non-kotlc related?

3. what do you think about the chapter and their fiRST KISS?

 literally i should send you guys the messages I've been sending to my friend becca (MysteriousWasHere gotta give her that free promo) like we've been talking the entire time i've been writing this (probs why it took me so long) and i was complaining about how it's been four chapters since they got together and they're like hella in love but haven't kissed yet and i just had to do it but like couldn't find a moment to have it happen and that's why this chapter ended up so long lmao. 

anyways have a great day, join my short story contest, and subscribe to my youtube channel link in bio because i'm extra xoxo.