Hey all! I'm so sorry to keep you all hanging! School and finals took a lot of my time up last week, then I was just cursed with awful writers block.. Seems I can write for hours on end in class, but on my own time I have some problems. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and thanks for being patient with me.

:Gives you all cupcakes:

Love from the Future.

Chapter 15

Tiny Lies.

The footsteps hurrying up the stairs the next morning told both Erik and Sophie they stuck around much longer than intended. Erik decided to make his get-away while he still could and wanted her to track him down later. Sophie agreed, even though she knew he would track her down. Try as she might, she could never keep a finger on him. He was always off doing his own thing, whatever it was. Already lonely without her friend, she trekked downstairs where morning rehearsals were getting underway.

After dodging all the "Where were you's?" and "Are you sick's?" she sniffed out Kaitlyn and gave her the 'We need to talk' signal.

"Well well well, look who decides to grace us with her presence this morning. What can we do for you this fine morning princess?"

"Go jump off a bridge for starters" Kaitlyn mumbled under her breath. Sophie just let it slide and smiled warmly at Melanie before choosing a spot to stretch out and start her warm ups. Melanie took the spot right next to her and Sophie groaned to herself, preparing for a battle. She had taken a big gamble with Erik and didn't exactly loose, but then she didn't exactly win either. He didn't get scared or run away, but he didn't say anything back. Sophie was nothing if not confused, should she had just kept her big mouth shut?

"I know it was you who destroyed my dressing room" she whispered threateningly. "Rest assured the managers were notified and you will be watched."

"You can't prove that Hun"

"I don't need proof. My word here is law. This is "Dodge city" and I'm the Marshall."

"And I'm Zulu, Queen of the Dwarf People. Admit it, you've got nothing on me. But now that you ticked me off, watch out. When you least expect it…Expect it. And there's no one around to prove I just said that" Sophie said with a wink and walked off.

Melanie stood fuming, clenching her hands into fists by her side. How dare that vexing little bratty new kid ignore her threats and power! There was only one other who showed the same defiance, but Sophie had just beat her by a landslide. Practice had began and both girls tried their very hardest to mess the other up. Melanie had shoved her knee into the back of Sophie's legs causing her to wobble about and fall to her knees on the floor. Sophie retaliated by holding her foot on Melanie's loose ribbons on her ballet shoes causing the other girl to trip over herself and lurch forward into a mirror.

If Madame Giry had seen what the girls were up to, she said nothing. If it was something to be settled on a dance floor, who was she to interfere? 15 thankfully quiet minutes later, she called the end of morning rehearsals, gave some quick pointers to some of the younger girls and wished everyone a good rest period, or as Sophie liked to call them, a weekend. Apparently the term didn't exist yet. The girls quickly trotted backstage and flocked into their own cliques while Sophie took her leave and shuffled off to her room to wait for Kaitlyn. She sincerely hoped Kaitlyn would be smart enough to figure out they needed to talk about Operation Princess Smarty Pants and also knew it could not be talked about in the open where any pair of ears could catch wind.

Sophie closed the door and leaned back against the wall looking up towards the ceiling. Then, changing her mind, she flopped on the bed and laid down backwards. Her brother always made fun of her for that, saying no normal person could possibly sleep backwards and It is very strange. She didn't care though, right now it was comforting and familiar. Her feet came in contact with something hard under her pillow and she kicked it aside to revel her backpack. She dragged it closer to her hands with the heel of her foot and laughed, remembering when she still made her home in Erik's lair and he caught her with the foreign object. She had demonstrated how it was worn for him and tried her very hardest to explain that it does not look ridiculous in modern times, and is in fact quite popular with students and adults alike. When she had put it on him, he reacted much like a dog that comes in contact with an embarrasingsweater. He seemed to get the idea of a backpack when she explained it was the shopping basket of the 21st century.

"You know, I forgot what was actually in here" she told herself unzipping it and sticking her head inside. She had her Outlander series, an Ipod, a few Cosmo magazines, some chips, and a hairbrush. Down in the corner, all crumbled up, a regular piece of notebook paper caught her eye. On any other day, it would have just been tossed aside as a random wad, but she picked it up and unfolded it carefully. It was a portion of a note she had written with her best friend Zoë back in high school.

Zoë, my parents are going to slaughter me! I'm pulling a C in psychology and after I spent so much time telling them how easy the class is, I can't come with a C! They were already on my case ALL morning busting me to go online and check my grade, I'm scared. Any ideas?

Whoa, hey. Relax, I have a plan. Do what they want.

Excuse me! Who's side are you on?

Do It. Go online, get your grade, but umm, fix it so it's to your liking. What you do is copy and paste the sheet into Word, change your grade to something more fitting, print it out and show them. Bim bam boom, you're done. Instant fixage.

You are an evil little genius! I can't believe I never thought of that! I bow to you oh Goddess of evil ideas.

Make me proud now. By the way, Lucas was asking-

"Sophie, are you in there?" Kaitlyn called pounding on the door. Sophie squeezed her eyes shut and tried to get back into the memory, but she had lost it. It was over. She had told a small, tiny lie to Erik. Yes, she did miss her friends and it was a very odd feeling she could probably walk in the same cities, past the same parks, and down the same streets as she did with her friends, but they were not even born yet, heck they weren't even being thought of! She knew Kaitlyn and Erik weren't going anywhere anytime soon, but she missed laughing at the stupid stuff and missed the friends it had taken her almost a lifetime to build.

"Wow, yea- yes Kaitlyn I'm right here. I'll be there in one minute" Sophie yelled back rolling off the bed and falling to the floor with a thud. "Damn bed" she cursed under her breath . She ran her fingers through her hair, smoothed out her shirt, pasted a smile on her face and opened the door.

"We need to talk," Kaitlyn told her walking in and sitting on the bed, placing one leg underneath the other. "It's a crisis."

"Oh wow, a crisis is never good. What's the matter?" Sophie needed to talk too, but her news was just what she discussed with Erik. If someone had a problem, they immediately came first. She couldn't help it, she was just always that way.

"Well, what do you do if you think you really like someone, but it's incredibly obvious that he has feelings for someone else?"

"Ohh boy, that is a crisis. Not a good situation at all. Well, how do you know he likes someone else?"

"All you have to do is look in his eyes."

"Mmm, when I was 16, I worked in a…" Sophie paused, trying to figure out how to word 'movie theater' into something a little more time appropriate. "… in a bakery" she finished, giving up. "Now, there was a boy who was working there, his name was Matt. I thought he was perfect in just about every way. One time I was in the bakers area being silly and dancing around, he comes up behind me and goes "Need a partner?" and danced around in the back with me. If he told me to, I would give him anything he asked for. But as it turns out, while he was doing all this flirting and dancing around with me, he was um, involved with another girl. If he did that with her, he could have done the same to me… Does it make sense what I'm telling you?"

"It's just that, well for once I want to be the one who gets noticed. Not Melanie, not a girl with a title, but…me"

"Aww Hun, I'm not trying to discourage you, but be careful when you think you've found Mr. Right, there might be a Mrs. Right he isn't telling you about."

"Still"

"Well who do you like but you think likes someone else?"

"His name is… Christian. He works in a jewelry store. Yes, a jewelry store." A jewelry store? Sophie was ready to say forget everything she just said, if he works in a store like that he must get beautiful pieces for free, or at least at a very good discount.

"Well if it isn't my two favorite ladies having a serious chat. Isn't this sweet" came a voice behind them. Both girls whipped their heads around in panic only to find Erik leaning back against the mirror with his arms crossed smirking at them. Two sets of pillows flew in his direction to punish him for the fright. "Look I'm sorry to interrupt" he started, trying to clear his name before the girls got ugly, "I just need to borrow Sophie for one quick second and then I'll leave you to your talk. I promise"

The girls looked at each other. "Should we believe him" Sophie asked, grinning wickedly at Kaitlyn, meanwhile looking for some fun.

"Yes, maybe he's telling the truth after all." Sophie smacked herself mentally.

No, you're supposed to agree with me, that way we can have an excuse to tackle him and touch him… I guess.. Maybe.

"Erik, why are you here?" Sophie asked quietly, looking up over his head.

Is she really that mad at me?

Oh he thinks I'm mad now, wait till he see me when we're alone.

"I need to talk to you. Please, it's important" he said grabbing her hand and pulling her with him towards the mirror. Sophie turned her head and looked back at Kaitlyn. "If I'm not back in 10 minutes, send for the police." were her last instructions before letting Erik pull her onto his turf.

Kaitlyn sat back on the bed in a daze. "It's you he likes Soph, not me, not Melanie, and not some girl with a title. I think he's a good person, go easy on him now.."