The next day when Sophia walked as herself to school she saw to trace of Felix. He wasn't there to walk with her, but it wasn't like that was a usual thing anyway. She walked the distance she was carried yesterday, the distance that she had slept, safe and sound in-
No, she wasn't going to think about him. He was trouble, he was a pervert, an asshole, an idiot. He was just like Peter, nothing more than a dirty boy with a dirty mind. As if she would ever believe that she was his first kiss. Yeah, sure. Mister Popular has never kissed a girl before. Bullshit. She was sure he had screwed over some bitches as well. He wasn't some virgin saint like everyone believed him to be. She wasn't going to lower herself to the lever of those stupid fangirls of his, she could see the truth.
At school she spotted Belle, and headed over to her. "Hey Belle, what's the theme?"
"Oh, hey Soph! I thought that because next week will be Disney week today could be Disney day! You know, as a little sneak peek or preview," Belle told her with a bright smile as usual. Sophia returned the smile.
"I see you're going for Belle from Beauty and the Beast," she said, laughing a bit as Belle twirled around in her blue dress.
"Do you like it?"
"I love it," she said, earning a brighter smile from Belle. "Who am I?"
"Let's see," Belle said as she turned to the table behind her where neat stacks of clothing lay. "I had been thinking, with those black locks of yours you could be many characters, like Captain Hook, that new girl Moana from that new movie, Jasmin, but eventually I settled on Bagheera from Jungle Book. You know, the panther."
Belle held up a stack of black clothing an handed it to her. "Bagheera, huh? What an honor."
"Change quickly, we're about to start." Sophia was about to walk to the bathrooms when Belle stopped he again. "Oh, and if you see Felix, tell him he can pick up his costume."
"What?" Sophia said a bit shocked.
"Didn't he tell you? he offered to help today since Tink was sick and Violet needed to do something for her own school."
"Oh, okay, I'll tell him."
With that Sophia started for the bathrooms, the smile fading from her lips. She hadn't seen him yet. Normally he would have shown himself by now. Crazy stalked, maybe she finally got through to him. In the bathrooms she quickly changed. She darkened her eyes with mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow and face paint, letting the green in her eyes stand out. With some more face paint she blackened her nose so that it looked like the one of a cat and drew whiskers on her face. The shirt she had to put on was a long sleeve one that showed her belly. Her pants were half skirt half leggings with a tail, and her shoes were high boots. She also had black cat ears, which she honestly found adorable.
She gathered her clothing and put it in her bag. She walked out of the bathroom, about to head outside again, when she almost bumped into someone. Even though it was rather normal to bump into him, she was still surprised.
"Bagheera?" Felix asked, his eyes looking anywhere but at hers. She nodded. "You look stunning."
She turned her head away from him, hiding her blush before noting that he had a stack of clothing in his hands. "I see you found your costume, what are you?"
"A Lost Boy from Neverland," he said with a shrug. She nodded again, walking past him before the it became in more awkward between them. As she walked away from him a strange unsettling feeling settled in her stomach. She didn't understand what it was, but she was scared that if she analyzed it that she would hate what it was and why she felt it. So she just tried to push it down and ignore it for now.
Outside again she went straight to Belle. "I'm all done."
Belle turned to her, clapping her hands together. "You look amazing."
"Thanks," she said with a smile. "what kind of games are we going to let the students play?"
"We have different sectors, there is Neverland." Belle pointed somewhere behind her. "There is a game of find the flag. And over there," she said, pointing somewhere on the other side of the podium. "is the Beauty and the Beast area. It's a game of balance, the person who can hold the most teacups, pods and plates wins. And of course your area is over there." She pointed next to the Neverland area. "Jungle Book. As you can see we have laid out some mats under trees and knotted some ropes between the branches. At the top of each tree is a price, the one who can get it down wins."
Sophia nodded. "Sounds like fun."
"I thought so too. Now come, we're about to start."
"Excuse me."
Sophia turned, looking away from the climbing students to see Henry stand behind her. "Can I help you?"
"Uhm… yeah," he said, looking a bit nervous. "that girl you work with, the one with the brown hair, is she… here?"
Sophia smiled, turning to Henry fully. "Why do you ask?"
His cheeks turned red as he looking down. "Nothing, just wondering…"
Sophia hummed. "Violet had to do something for her own school today so she won't be here today. Tomorrow she will join us again."
Henry's head snapped up. "Violet? Is that her name?"
Sophia laughed at his expression and nodded her head. "Yes, that's her." she tilted her head, her smile turning softer. "She'd asked me about you actually, I think you should talk to her tomorrow."
"You think so?" he asked a bit hesitatingly.
She nodded again. "I think that it would make her day."
Henry smiled brightly, nodding. "Okay, thanks Sander."
Sophia tensed, her face falling. "Wha-what?"
Henry gave her a knowing look. "I've known it for a while, but don't worry, I won't say anything. You're quite inspiriting actually." He took the bag that was swung over his shoulder, ruffled through it, and took out a little notebook. "As you know I love writing."
Sophia took the notebook and opened it. In it were drabbles and little drawings. Some pages contained story ideas, other drawings of characters that Henry had made up. Then she came across a page that had written 'Sander Jones' at the top. She scanned over the pages, seeing sketches of her and drabbles of things that had did and did not happen.
"Don't see me as a stalker now, everything in this about you is just what I picked up through the years whenever we had a class together or something. Many things you do are just so inspiring and I wanted to use that as a base for a story I'm writing if that's okay," Henry explained. "It's kind of weird, I've imagined how you looked like as a girl but now that I've seen you it still surprises me."
"I feel honored," she said when she finally found her voice, still looking through the little notebook. She turned another page and came across a sketch of Felix. She frowned a bit, reading what Henry had written there.
'This is Felix, most popular guy of the school. I've noticed that he's been keeping an eye on Sander for a while now. He keeps glancing at her, which makes me wonder if he knows as well. I've noticed that he is the only person that ever greets Sander in the morning and says goodbye after. It are little gestures but I gather that Sander really appreciates them even if she always seems annoyed if he talks to her. But other than me and Peter who always teases her, Felix is the only one in this entire school who sees her.'
Sophia swallowed, closing the notebook. That was before he knew about her secret, and now that she things about it, Felix had been the one who always told her good morning. But she thought that he just said that to everyone, apparently not. She had always brushed is it off as nothing, but honestly, the days where he said hello always seemed a bit more bearably. And whenever he said goodbye she didn't dread going home to her empty apartment as much as she always did. She didn't know why, but it just felt nice that someone noticed her, she guessed.
"I still have many questions," Henry said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Do you mind telling me more about you?"
Sophia handed back the notebook, trying to smile again. "I don't know if I should, the whole situation is kind of personal."
"That is totally fine, you don't have to tell me everything, just the things you are comfortable with telling." Henry smiled, a look in his eyes she couldn't deny anything to. Eventually she gave in.
"Fine, how about you come to the café on Saturday. I should be able to answer some of your questions, plus I think Violet would love to see you."
Henry blushed a bit again, putting the notebook back in his bag. "Okay, well, I'm going now. Bye."
Sophia waved after him a bit absently. When he was out of sight she wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes falling on the Neverland part of the field. She saw Felix in his Lost Boy outfit, chasing some of the younger students with his fake cudgel. It looked like he was having fun, but as he stopped running for a moment she saw that the angry look in his eyes wasn't an act. He was really angry, but it didn't look like he was at someone in particular. Then, he looked at her, their eyes meeting for a moment and she could see a sadness in them. She looked away and turned back to her own game.
"Miss, can I climb now?" a boy asked.
Sophia erased all the thoughts of Felix from her mind and put on a fake smile. "Of course."
At the end of the day Sophia was completely burned up. Her muscles were still aching from the fight, and even though she kept it easy she was still exhausted. Who knew watching high schoolers climb up and down trees could be so tiresome? She sighed heavily as she leaned back against one of the trees, sliding down until she was sitting with her knees pulled up against her chest. Her hand rested on her forehead while her head was leaning back against the tree itself.
"Mind if I join you?" Felix asked from beside her. She glanced up at him, surprised that he still had the balls to ask such a thing after her burst out from yesterday. You can say whatever you want about him, but a coward was the last thing she would ever call him. Stupid, however, left her mouth with ease.
"Fine," she said with a heavy sigh. He sat down next to her, but not as close as she expected. She thought back of when Henry had told her that he knew, and what he had written in his notebook. There was more on Felix in there, but she didn't want to read what, because it had to do with her as well. She didn't want to know what else he had done for her that she didn't notice at first.
As she looked at him she saw that most of the anger had left him but there was still sadness in his eyes. Though, it wasn't as if she cared what was bothering him. She didn't care about him, not one bit. Or at least, that was what she told herself.
"About yesterday-" Felix started but Sophia cut him off with a groan, letting her head fall back against the tree again with a thud. He waited a second before continuing. "I've thought about what you said."
She glanced at him again, raising her eyebrow. "And?" she asked when he didn't continue.
He turned his head to look at her, a soft smile on his lips. "I know I screwed up yesterday, with that kiss and everything else. And you were absolutely right, but still, I'm not giving up on you, I never will. I won't leave you alone, and that may sound annoying to you now, but all I'm saying is that I will never let you feel lonely again."
"I'm not lonely," she mumbled, followed by a heavy sigh. "You stupid stalker."
She closed her eyes as she hear Felix shift closer. He kissed the side of her head to which she groaned. "Just admit it, you love it when I do that."
"It's gross as hell."
"Then why did you close your eyes when I shifted closer, you knew it was coming." She could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Shut up."
Felix hummed a laugh, leaning back against the tree. "Have I told you that you look gorgeous in black?"
"Shut up."
"Can I kiss you again?"
"Shut up."
"I love your green eyes."
"Shut up and go to hell."
"I love it when you insult me, really turns me on."
Sophia smiled slightly despite herself. "Shut up you gross pervert stalker."
A/N: Please don't hesitate to review if you liked this chapter :)
