Another fast update!? Yeah, I figured I'd give you one more before I had to learn how to write a fight scene. Ughhhh.
Crowd- *Snickers* *Twix* It'll be so terrible! I can't wait!
Me- Hey!
Wow! Thirteen whole reviews! Thanks guys! Almost 250... the dreaded number. (Maze Runner people, you'll know what I'm talking about.)
OH AND TWENTY FAVORITES! SERIOUSLY, THANKS GUYS!
Cary: Quarantine! HE IS A CHANDELIER HEAD! YOU'LL HAVE TO READ TO FIND OUT! That's fine. Thank you! And quarantine sucks.
FlowerGirl15: We love Linh wisdom. She's one of the only smart characters. YAY! And you'll have to read to find out! Quarantine has killed us all, and me no wanna english goodly.
MeeIsFarrow101: vERY CALM. Thanks!
Guest: Thank you! I have some Tam/Biana content if you want to read that! (Shameless...)
MalinaEverfree: Thanks! You'll have to read to find out!
Lilac: You'll have to read and find out! I've read it! It's great. And yes, it was probably based off of that, honestly. They are incompetent fools though! Thanks!
Mallowmelt: I suck at atention to details, but you'll have to read to find out! Yay! Thanks!
Guest: Thank you! This was pretty fast, right? You'll have to read to find out!
Sky: Woo! Me too, that's why I write it! THEY ARE! You'll have to read to find out! Though I suck at atention to detail. Thanks! And Linh is one of the only smart characters XD.
Princess Book (Ch 29): O.o That escalated quickly. Don't die. Thank you! It was fun to write. I'll try!
Princess Book (Ch 28): Don't die! 1) I mean... duh. 2) Yep! 3) MUAHAHAHAHA! He was. And thanks!
The-Vegginonymous-Potato: YEP! Thanks. And sorry. But not really.
MidnightBunnyy: I'm sorry! Solophie is great, but with all of the effort necessary for the love triangle, it's not really worth it. Thanks!
If you're a math dork like me, I think you'd all be pleased to know that the document used for planning the love triangle is/was called Keefe^2+Fitz^2=Sophie^2.
Get it? Get it? 'Cause it's a triangle...
I'll stop.
Alternate chapter title: A. Fan cannot write love confession scenes.
"You must be lost," Keefe's voice said, turning on the lights. "It really is an unnecessarily big place."
After leaping to the Waves of Wimpiness, Sophie had realized that she didn't really think this through all the way. To let Keefe know that she wanted to talk to him, she took out an imparter from another pocket and hailed Keefe. He told her that he was really at Candleshade, and she leapt over there. Ro gave her a strange look as she entered, but didn't comment. Sandor, who had followed Sophie to the Waves of Wimpiness and then here, muttered something about why they couldn't have charges with a shred of self preservation.
After a quick ride on the Vortinator Of Doom, Sophe had been wandering the halls of Candleshade, relying on her (admittedly photographic) memory to remember where Keefe's room was- but it was dark, and all of the halls looked the same, and yes, she definitely was lost.
Sophie smiled, remembering that those were the first words he ever said to her- the first part, anyway. "Yeah," she agreed softly. "What brings you here?" She looked around, vaguely recognizing the room he led her into as Keefe's bedroom.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"Right, but I asked first," Sophie countered.
He laughed quietly. "True. I couldn't sleep. And I came here to clear my head. I don't know why it works, but... it sort of does. I have a lot of memories here. Some of them don't even suck. Plus... Ro is right, smashing some of the stuff here at Candleshade is pretty theraputic. Okay, your turn to answer. Why is the Mysterious Miss F coming over to my old house at five in the morning?"
Sophie's face exceeded the temperature of the sun in that moment. She'd felt so excited coming here, but now... there was just a heck of a lot of awkwardness. "I, um, well, I couldn't sleep either... and I talked to Linh, and she helped me- she helped me realize that..." To stop herself from pulling an eyelash, she took Keefe's hands in hers. "That I choose you."
Keefe's eyes widened. His mouth opened to say something, then closed again as he changed his mind. Again and again. Finally, he settled on "Sophie, I- I hope you know what a horrible decision that is."
"Don't say that. Keefe, I don't know how you don't realize this, but you're amazing. You're who I want by my side as I grow up and get married and have kids and... Keefe, you may not be perfect, but I love you."
Keefe's arms engulfed her, holding on to Sophie like if he let go, he would lose her forever. She hugged him back with the same amount of force. Finally, Keefe let go. They stayed so close together as he cupped her face and whispered "I love you too, Sophie."
Her heart wasn't fluttering this time. In comparison, the way she felt after looking into Fitz's teal eyes was almost childish. No, her heart definitely wasn't fluttering. Instead, it seemed to be expanding, swelling bigger and bigger with her feelings for Keefe, almost bursting. Sophie's cheeks were definitely on fire, but instead of her usual awkwardness, she felt sure of herself as their faces drew closer...
And closer...
And closer...
"OH MY MALLOWMELT!" a voice squawked. Sophie and Keefe jumped apart. Her head whipped around, searching for the source of the scream. It seemed like no one was there... until the light in a certain area grew brighter and a giddy Biana appeared. "It's really happening! It is happening! This is not a drill, guys, Team Foster Keefe is happening!"
"It was happening before you ruined our kiss," Sophie pouted.
Biana bit her lip. "Oh. Feel free to continue-"
"Well, it's going to be awkward with you standing here watching!"
"Oh, so now you feel bad about making me third wheel!"
Their bickering was interrupted by Sandor rushing in, closely followed by Ro. "I heard a scream, is everything all right?"
"Yeah!" Lady Sparklepants piped up. "It's better than 'all right'! I was screaming because TEAM FOSTER KEEFE FINALLY HAPPENED!"
Ro let out a squeal almost as enthusiastic as Biana's. "YES! Our girl finally realized that she should throw that Chandelier Head out like trash? Anyway, I'm proud of you, Lord Funkyhair. You finally got the girl. Not that there was any doubt. And seriously, where is the popcorn?"
Sandor sighed and rubbed his temples. "Listen, That Boy-"
"Sandor, please stop turning into Dad," Sophie interrupted.
Her obnoxious bodyguard rolled his eyes. "Where do you think he takes his overprotectiveness lessons? Anyway, where was I? Listen, That Boy, if you ever hurt my charge, the gorgodons will look about as threatening as a tomple."
Sophie was torn between wanting to roll her eyes at him and wanting to "awwww," at his protectiveness of her. Well, that was his job... to protect her from the Neverseen, that is, not from getting her heart broken. So this was just Sandor caring about her. It really was pretty sweet... but also pretty annoying, especially since she already had her father's overprotectiveness. Luckily, she was spared from having to decide by Dex appearing in the doorway and saying "Hey, tomples are cool."
Biana grinned at him. "Sure, techno-tomple."
"Anyway, what's going on? It's five in the morning, and your hail consisted of basically 'Ahh! KEEPHIE! COME TO CANDLESHADE ASAP!'"
"That pretty much sums it up!" Biana declared happily. "Sophie finally figured out that cursed triangle and decided on Keefe!"
"Awesome!" Dex said, holding his hand up for a high five.
Before she could high five him, however, Marella came rushing in, hand in hand with Linh. "She chose Keefe, right? It seems like she did. Man, I really hope so."
Sophie groaned. "Biana, how many people are coming?"
Biana started counting on her fingers. "Let's see. I hailed Dex, Linh got Tam and Wylie, and Marella told Glimmer, and then breaking the news to Fitz was a team effort."
"Oh my mallowmelt... how did you guys find us, anyway?" Keefe asked.
Linh answered, "I came back into the bedroom, and Biana noticed about five minutes later that you were gone. When I told her why, she squealed so loudly that she woke Marella up. I thought you were looking for Keefe because of the leaping crystal, but we decided first to check Fitz's room. Fitz was still asleep and you weren't there, so we figured it was probably Keefe. Biana and Marella both screamed, which woke Fitz up. We had to break the news to him, and he mumbled 'whatever, I'm too tired to deal with this,' and fell back asleep. We each hailed our respective friends, and then leapt over to the Shores of Solace-"
"Waves of Wimpiness," Ro corrected.
"Um, okay. To the Waves of Wimpiness, where we found Keefe's note, and then each leapt over here at various times. The end," Linh finished.
"Why is everyone so invested in my love life!?" Sophie yelled.
"YOU SAID LOVE!" Biana and Marella shrieked together. Sophie buried her face in her hands.
Tam walked into the room next, followed by Glimmer. "Please tell me what was worth getting out of bed at this ungodly hour for?" he muttered.
"Sophie chose Keefe!" Linh answered.
"Yeah. That's nice. I don't really care," Tam replied. "I want to go back to bed."
Glimmer shrugged. "I don't really know you guys well enough to understand everything about the triangle thing and the ships, but, um, congratulations!"
"Thank you," Keefe said. Sophie groaned. She just wanted to kiss her new boyfriend (boyfriend? Maybe? Well, they hadn't actually discussed it, so no...) in peace, without all of these annoying people called "friends" showing up and interrupting. The feeling got about ten times worse when a familiar teal-eyed elf entered the room.
Ex-Boyfriend Who She Agreed To Be "Just Friends" With But Might Still Like, She's Not Sure.
But then again, now that she'd chosen Keefe, anything after "but" wasn't really accurate.
Ex-Boyfriend Who She Agreed To Be "Just Friends" With But Still Likes Her, And She Has To Reject Him. EBWSATBJFWBSLHASHTRH.
"Fitz."
"I'm guessing this means... you've chosen him," Fitz said sadly.
"Yeah."
"Okay. Well. Congratulations. I'm really happy for you two."
"Thank you."
"Don't worry, dude, you'll move on eventually," Dex, who had also gotten rejected by Sophie (in a much more brutal way), reassured him.
"He's right," Biana agreed, no doubt referring to how she used to like Keefe- thankfully, that wasn't true anymore.
"We're still friends, right?" Fitz asked Sophie.
She smiled. "Of course."
"And Cognates?" he asked, holding up the hand with his rings.
Sophie held out her own, and they snapped together. Always, she transmitted. Then she gently removed her hand from Fitz's and walked back over to Keefe.
I can't believe these losers interrupted our kiss, she transmitted.
Keefe wrapped his arm around her shoulders. I know. For know, I guess I'll just have to settle for doing this.
Doing wha- Sophie's face flamed, but a smile spread across her face as Keefe's lips touched the top of her head.
"Well," said a voice. Sophie froze, the soft happiness that had just overtaken her vanishing instantly. Lady Gisela smiled. "Aren't you two just the cutest?"
BAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT CLIFFHANGER! BAHAHAHAHA! AND I'M ONLY GOING TO GET EVILER! BAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HATE ME! BAHAHAHAHA!
Well. I'll wait for the death threats to start rolling in.
But, cliffhangers aside... cute Sokeefe! Fangirling friends! Overprotective Sandor! Rejected Fitz! More cute Sokeefe! Except for the last line, this was a nice chapter! Right?
Also, seriously...
It really should be titled "A. Fan cannot write a love confession scene to save her life."
Anyway...
Please review!