Author's note: I owed Sofia a chapter. She's fun to write in this, because she's still young enough to do childish things but she's also burdened with these new, grown up feelings.

I'm going to be busy this weekend, so I won't be writing new chapters, but I'm pretty sure this story has enough written that it won't be interrupted.


Sofia woke bright and early and threw on her clothes, pausing in front of the mirror to pull her thick mess of curls into a passable high ponytail. Then she went running down the stairs and straight out the back door to arrive at the garage. Except that when she got there, the door was shut and there was no one inside. Not one to give up too easily, she made her way to the porch and sat on the concrete steps, waiting anxiously for the familiar sound of a motorbike to disrupt the stillness.

She supposed it was just her imagination, what happened at the creek the day before. They were roughhousing and splashing, and then suddenly he'd looked so serious, and he was leaning in closer. She really, really believed he would kiss her. But after she ran out of air and resurfaced, partly because the sudden grip of his big hands on her waist made her gasp, he never gave any other indication that he was interested in such things. In fact, the rest of the afternoon had gone by with a normality that felt stark in comparison to that fleeting moment.

Wishful thinking... She drew her legs up to her chest and hugged them, her eyes scanning the spot where the road met the sky, looking for any sign of the man. She'd been trying to catch his attention all summer, so it made perfect sense that her mind would play such a dirty trick on her, but it was still disappointing. For all her attempts, all her time spent hanging around the garage, or begging him for guitar tips in the quiet hopes that he would sit with her like he had that first time, he hardly even looked at her most days.

Turning her focus back to the yard in front of her, she spied a patch of dandelion puffs and stood, jumping from the top step onto the walk. She picked one of the white, fluffy flowers and held it up to her lips. I wish Cedric would love me. With that, she closed her eyes and blew on the flower with all her might, scattering the seeds on the wind.

Another quick glance down the road, and she decided to go in and get some breakfast, since he was obviously running late today.

"Morning, James." She greeted her brother when she spotted him sitting at the table, already halfway through a bowl of cereal. He muttered a similar statement through a full mouth as she took her own bowl down from the cupboard and filled it with Lucky Charms and some of the milk her brother had left on the counter.

"Cedric's not here today?" He asked from behind. Sofia capped the milk and put it away with a shrug.

"It's still early." She could feel his eyes on her while she took a seat at the table with her breakfast. She lifted the first spoonful to her mouth but paused, catching the skeptical glare her brother shot her. "What?"

"He's too old for you." James groused, leaning back in his seat until the front legs tipped off of the tile floor.

"I'm just being friendly!" She insisted, adding an exaggerated eye roll for good measure and hoping that the growing warmth in her cheeks hadn't yet become visible. James let out an undignified snort and set the chair back down only to repeat the motion a second later.

"Right." His eyes swept over her before he righted his chair again and returned to his cereal. "I've hardly even seen you all summer, Sofia. You've been too busy following Cedric around like a puppy."

"Have not." She mumbled, sniffing from the slight wound to her pride. "Let's do something today. Just us two." She added when she calmed, admitting to herself that she honestly hadn't spent much time with him lately, and missed hanging out with him.

"We could go catch frogs." He offered, brightening a bit at the idea. Sofia nodded while crunching on her cereal. It was a better idea than any she had, so frog catching it was.

...

Before they left, she checked the calendar on the wall near the fridge, making a note of how many days there were between now and the date circled in red marker.

"Mom and Amber will be back in a week." She pointed out, and James came up behind her to see for himself.

"Great, it's gonna get noisy again." He groused, but Sofia swatted at him playfully.

"Don't pretend you don't miss her." She scolded. "It's weird around here without them."

"Weirder for you, since you had your own room all summer." He stretched, then lifted the top page of the calendar. "Your birthday isn't circled, yet." Before she could respond, he trotted off to the junk drawer and grabbed the marker, uncapping it with his teeth.

"I don't care that much." He ignored her and circled October 9th with a flourish, adding a smiley face in the middle of the white box.

Her mother was planning to make a bigger deal out of her birthday than she would have liked, hampering her excitement for the event. There'd be a fancy gown, and dancing, and dozens of bizarre 'traditions'. What Sofia would have preferred was a Halloween themed party, with everyone in costume, and just the regular cake and ice cream. She couldn't say as much, though, because Miranda was so thrilled about the whole thing, and she didn't want to hurt her mother's feelings.

"Come on, Sofia." James dragged her out of her thoughts, grabbing her by the hand and tugging her toward the back door.

They raced through the field behind the house and down the worn path to the creek, the same one where she and Cedric went swimming just the day before, though they were in a different section. Here, it was shallow enough to wade in the water without getting your shorts wet. James kicked his sandals off and went in first. Sofia, already barefoot as she usually was in summer, trailed after him, making it a point to leave her thoughts behind her, on the muddy bank, and simply enjoy chasing after bullfrogs with her brother.