Hey guys! This is 4Ever-Foxfire here! Thanks for leaving all those wonderful reviews! I was so happy when I found out! Seriously, with my "needs-to-be-perfect attitude" for looking at my works(not others though, somehow), I would have, like unpublished this story if nobody liked it :3 Thanks so much for following and reviewing, everyone!

TEAM SOPHIE- XD Yeah, well, the usual jokes here and there, riiiiiiiight? XDXDXD

thelittlepurplepuffball- Yeah, I agree, Laieen is an awesome friend! And with three abilities too, similar to Sophie... But she's not the only best friend Sophie will ever have... *wink wink*

VerdiTheTRex- Well, I wrote like five chapters before publishing this story, so after giving readers time to get to the last chapter, I'll be updating daily or so for a while ;) Thanks!

sophieelisabeth- Thank you! I'm so glad you like it!

INTRODUCING!

-3-

Loud, blaring music and crowds of laughing people immediately took over Sophie's senses. As Laieen pulled her through the crowds, laughing and greeting people she knew, Sophie stayed silent and carefully searched the crowd for any signs of her old friends. None, so far. But, like Sophie had known from the day she discovered her true identity, anything could change in just a matter of seconds.

And change it did.

Just as Laieen had given her some cold drinks to try out, Sophie felt a girl bump into her, accidentally spilling her drinks on the floor. She gasped and immediately bent down to clean them.

"No- no, I'll do it." the girl said hastily, holding her hands over the mess. Sophie's eyes widened as the juice evaporated and a ball of clear water wiped over the spilled spot. Oh, life. There was only one girl she knew who could do that-

"S-sophie?" Sophie looked up, and sure enough, the wide eyes of Linh Song were staring back at her. When Linh had come back to Foxfire, no longer the girl of many floods, she had been placed in a different dormitory from Sophie's. It had been a relief that Sophie wouldn't run into Linh anytime. And then, after all that business, a simple party was all it took for them to meet again.

Sophie was so done with her life.

"Um- yeah, um, hi, Linh," she mumbled, staring at the floor. Linh seemed to be speechless too, looking at anywhere but her eyes.

"We should split up now."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeah..."

"Sophie? Where are you?" Laieen's voice interrupted Sophie's thoughts. Sophie looked around wildly, searching for her friend. She turned around just in time to see her bursting through the crowd behind her with a worried expression on her face.

Just in time to also see Tam emerge from the crowd, grabbing Linh's hand and telling her to never disappear again.

Sophie had just enough time to think, this can't be happening, before Tam looked up and noticed the blond haired girl staring at him. His eyes widened like Linh's.

An uncomfortable silence followed despite their loud surroundings.

Laieen looked nervously from the two siblings to her best friend. "Um." She cleared her throat, raising her voice above the noisy crowd. "Sophie, we gotta go now, right? You know, I promised you that I'd, um, like... show you, um, show you the... the pond with multicolored pebbles!" Her eyes were pleading for Sophie to go along with her excuse.

"Of course." Sophie answered, relieved that Laieen had been there to save her. "Let's go, right?" She took hold of Laieen's hand and let her best friend lead her away from the wide-eyed siblings.

"Now that was close." Laieen said breathlessly after they'd gone far out of Tam and Linh's sight. They had been immediately swallowed up by the crowd, giving them a better chance of escaping the awkward moment.

"Yeah." Sophie agreed. "I told you, I didn't want to come to a party where you might get an awkward moment anytime."

"At least we're far away now." Laieen said. "We'll keep an eye out for more... ex-friends of yours, okay?"

"Okay." Sophie nodded. They cautiously edged towards the pond, warily eyeing every elf near them.

After reaching the multicolored pond, Laieen grabbed hold of Sophie's hands. "Sophie Elizabeth Foster-Ruewen." She said, her voice turning serious. "I'm going to teach you something now."

"Wha-what?" Sophie asked, anxiously looking at her friend.

"I'm going to teach you something."

"What?"

"Promise not to freak out first."

"Um, why? What's it about?"

"Promise not to freak out, okay?"

"Um, okay."

"Good. Great. Awesome. Terrific! Okay, so I'm going to teach you about... life."

"Life?"

"Yeah. Life. How to survive in the endless catastrophes of life."

"Well."

"Well?"

"So, um, teacher, what's your point?"

"LIFE! Wonderful, beautiful, catastrophic life where you meet your old friends you broke up with and mend things up with them. Meet in front of the stairs after the party!" With that, Laieen bolted for the crowd and disappeared in the sea of people.

Sophie stared after her, lost for words. So it was one of Laieen's crazy ways to help old friends get together. Well, there was nothing else to do but wait. Sighing, she turned around and stood for a moment, admiring the pool.

Soon people began to close in around her, talking excitedly and commenting about the pond. Sophie focused her thoughts on the crowd. A girl's voice caught her attention. It sounded familiar yet somehow foreign at the same time.

"Hey, Rester, can we take a pebble from here?"

"No, no, absolutely not!"

"Why?"

"Just don't touch anything, okay?"

"I'M GONNA STEAL A PEBBLE!"

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

"Wait, what?"

BANG!

"Oww, ow, ow!"

"I told you not to touch the pebbles!"

"I knew it! You didn't tell me about the exploding pebbles on purpose, didn't you?"

"You never know."

"Hey!"

"What? I warned you."

"WhatEVER. Huh. Technopaths and their technology. Fitz, I wanna check out something else now."

Sophie gasped.

"You'll have to wait a moment if you're going with me, Biana. Or go by yourself, you're old enough."

"Why?"

"I need to speak with Hirlen, okay?"

"Seriously. Your last year at Foxfire spent like THIS?"

"Choose, or something. Stay with me and wait, or go by yourself."

"Fine!"

Their voices were drowned out by the louder noises of the crowds.

Sophie gulped. They'd been at the same place up until just a moment ago. Ugh, life was really annoying.

Suddenly Hirlen fell into the pool right beside Sophie. He looked as if he were running away, and as his back hit the pebbles below, a series of loud BANG!s followed and the pebbles burst one by one.

"What was that?" Sophie asked him as she helped him up.

"Ugh, nothing." Hirlen replied, glaring at a figure in the crowd a distance away. His clothes were dripping with water and glitter from the exploding pebbles. "I was trying to run away from Fitz Vacker. You know, to avoid the whole talk about studies-" he grinned. "Maybe I can go prank him or something, maybe a potion that'll make him burp every time he says the word "study". He's concerned about my low scores or something."

"Can you really do that?" A boy asked, pushing through the crowd and walking up to Hirlen. He didn't seem to notice Sophie.

"Yep." Hirlen said. "Probably. If I have enough Limbium to go around." He paused, then added, "What I need right now is a towel."

"Hey, I'm allergic to Limbium." Sophie said, nudging him in the ribs. "Don't let that potion of yours get anywhere close to me."

"I once knew this girl who was allergic to Limbium!" The boy piped up. Suddenly his face turned red, and he mumbled, "No, forget what I just said, I-"

Sophie's eyes widened. "D-Dex?"

The boy looked up. His strawberry blond hair was hanging in a rather unimpressive way, but his periwinkle eyes were filled with knowledge and intelligence. Sophie knew exactly who that was. Dex Dizznee, the only Technopath Sophie knew who could beat Rester Murtino in technology. He was one of the friends who were the closest to Sophie, two years ago. He was also one of the friends who she had broken up with.

As Dex was one of the few friends who had taken Sophie's side, him and Biana were less awkward with seeing Sophie. Sophie had bumped into Dex once at Slurps and Burps, and she'd somehow turned up standing right next to Biana at a public announcement in Eternalia. Both times had been awkward and they'd all felt uncomfortable, but Sophie knew that she would've experienced the same thing a thousand times than accidentally run into Fitz, or Keefe, or Tam and Linh- which she had just done a minute ago.

"Sophie?" Dex asked, gaping at her. His eyes widened and Hirlen looked at them with a questioning look on his face. "Why? What's wrong? Dex, you look like you've just swallowed an imp."

"Uh, nothing." Dex replied, still staring. "Um, I- I think I gotta go. Oh, uh- Hirlen, I'd like to see y-your pranks someday. Thanks, um, bye, right?" He turned and ran hastily towards the nearest fountain.

Sophie stared after him, feeling as though she were plummeting through space into a black hole. She hadn't even thought to give Dex an apology for running away that night without a word. But he was gone now.

"Well, that was awkward." Hirlen muttered under his breath. He turned to Sophie. "Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"He- he's probably just excited with meeting you- he likes potions and good pranks, you know."

"Oh! Well." Hirlen grinned. "That's awesome! We could be the Prank Pals! Does that sound good?"

"Um, yeah." Sophie mumbled. "I have to go now too, so, well- um. Good luck with getting your towel."

"I forgot about that for a second." Hirlen told her. "Well. Guess I should go towel hunting now."

"Yeah, bye."

"Bye! And if Dizznee comes along again, tell him that he's welcome to come to me anytime!"

"Sure."

Sophie walked away, searching for Laieen. She finally spotted her sitting on a bench beside a food cart, munching on an odd-looking round sandwich. "Hey." Sophie called as she walked closer.

"Oh, hey! How did that meeting with Dizznee go?"

"Fine. Uncomfortable. Extremely horrifyingly awkward." Sophie said. She glared at Laieen as she sat down beside her. "Thanks a lot for abandoning me."

"You're welcome!" Laieen said cheerfully, bowing. "Friendship 101! Catastrophic Life! Cool! Awesome! Incredible!"

"Ugh, that moment with Dex was horrible." Sophie said. "Let's go back to our rooms now."

"Okay." Laieen pushed the last bit of the sandwich in her mouth and started up the stairs. Sophie followed her, relieved that the party was finally over.

But as Sophie climbed the last set of stairs to her room, she had this feeling- a sudden feeling- that things were not just done with her ex-friends yet.

Maybe Laieen really had taught her a lesson after all. Maybe, just maybe, her life with her old friends wasn't over.

Maybe things were going to change.