There will be more Keefe in this chapter.

CHAPTER 4

"Biana?" I asked.

"Um, yeah. I was wondering... do you want to come to my house this afternoon?" She asked. "You could just get off with me at my stop."

"Sure. Just let me call Grady and Edaline..." I said.

Grady picked up on the third ring.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Um... Biana Vacker asked me if I wanted to go to her house for a little while. Is that OK?"

"Sure. Be back by 5."

"Thanks! See ya then."

"Bye kiddo."

"He said I could." I said, turning towards Biana.

"Great! You can sit with me on the bus." She replied.

Dex and Marella stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, come on. You're going to Biana's house? As in princess prettypants Biana?" Dex asked.

Aw guys, just give her a chance." I said.

"Yeah, whatever. See you tomorrow Sophie. Come on Marella." Dex said as he walked away.

Marella looked at me apologetically, then followed Dex. I went to go sit by Biana.

We talked during the bus ride and I learned that Biana actually had two older brothers. One was, obviously, Fitz. The other, they didn't talk about much. He'd joined a gang of criminals called the Neverseen. We talked about our favorite and least favorite teachers and classes. Biana was actually very nice. I discovered that I liked her a lot. We had the same taste in music, books, and movies. She was way Girlier than me, but other than that we were really similar.

"Here we are!" She said as the bus stopped.

I followed her off of the bus and we stepped onto the sidewalk. Fitz joined us a second later

"So, Sophie, what do you think of Foxfire?" Fitz asked.

"It's nice. A lot nicer than my old school." I replied.

He grinned.

"Race you home!" He said. Then he took off running.

Biana sighed. Then she grabbed my arm and took off running, dragging me with her.

"We can't just let him win!" Biana yelled.

I laughed and ran faster. Unfortunately, my natural clumsiness caught up with me. I tripped and got a facefull of grass and dirt.

"Sophie!" Biana yelled "Are you OK!"

Do I look OK?! I thought.

"Yeah... Am I bleeding?" I groaned.

"...not exactly." She said.

"What does that even mean?" I asked.

"You're just so... dirty." She said.

I laughed. She helped me up and we walked to her house.

"I won- dang Sophie, what happened? Are you OK?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"You're bleeding." He said.

I looked at Biana and raised my eyebrows.

"I swear you weren't before!" She said holding up her hands.

I laughed.

"Do you have any band aids?" I asked.

Fitz ran to get some. He came back and I put a bandaid on my nose. Someone knocked on the door.

"Oh, that's probably Keefe." Fitz said, walking over to the door.

Biana blushed and discreetly fixed her hair. I hid behind her.

"Hey Fitz. What's up?" Said Keefe, coming into the room.

"Hey Keefe!" Said Biana.

"S'up Biana. Foster? Is that you?" Keefe asked peering around Biana.

"Yeah." I said.

"Whoa! What did you do to your face?" He asked.

"I...fell." I said. His face was teasing, but his eyes looked genuinely concerned. That made my heart flutter for some reason.

Stupid heart.

"Hey Biana, do you want to do our chemistry homework?" I asked, changing the subject not-so-discreetly.

"No. Let's do makeovers." She said pulling me upstairs. Keefe smirked at me as I looked at him for help.

Biana pulled me into her room and closed the door.

"He's soooooo perfect." She sighed.

"Who...Keefe?" I asked.

"Yeah..."

"Don't let him hear you say that. He'll be insufferable..." I mumbled.

"Oh yeah! I was serious about the makeovers by the way." She squealed.

"Yay." I groaned.

"Yay!" She echoed with much more enthusiasm.

I sighed as she set to work. She cleaned up my dirty face. Then she pulled my hair out of my face, making my eyes look bigger. Then she dusted on some light eye makeup and mascara, highlighting the eyelashes I had left. When she was son I looked... really good actually.

"Ooh Sophie! You're so pretty! Go get us some food while I do my makeup. There are cookies in the kitchen." She said.

I raced downstairs then remembered that both Fitz and Keefe were here. My quest for cookies had turned into a stealth mission, because I really didn't want anyone to see me in makeup. I had two cookies in each hand and one in my mouth as I snuck back upstairs.

"Sophie?" Keefe asked from behind me.

I froze.

"Yes?" I asked, though it came out more like "yrth?" because of the cookie in my mouth.

"What are you doing?"

I turned around to see Keefe standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Getting food." I said.

Keefe laughed.

"You look great, by the way. Makeup suits you." He winked.

"Um, thanks." I mumbled.

I turned around, so he wouldn't see me blushing, and ran to Biana's room.

"Hey there." She said, her makeup done perfectly.

"Hi." I said, handing her the cookies.

"What do you want to do now?" She asked.

"Hmmm... I don't know." I replied.

My phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Sophie? Are you OK?" Edaline's soft voice came from the phone.

"Yes. What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just checking on you. It's 5:20."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes."

"Oh my goodness, I'll be home soon. I'm so sorry. I lost track of time."

Edaline laughed.

"I figured." She said. "Just be home soon."

"OK. See you soon."

"See you soon." She hung up.

"I'm so sorry, Biana. I have to go. I was supposed to be home 20 minutes ago." I said, as I was packing up.

"That's OK, Sophie. See you tomorrow."

"See you. Thanks for having me over."

"Anytime" she grinned as I ran out of the door.

I ran downstairs, and had almost made it to the front door, when Keefe called out to me.

"Where are you going, Foster?" He asked.

"Home." I responded.

He laughed.

"See you tomorrow then, Sophie." He said.

I ran out of the front door and down the sidewalk towards my house.

See you tomorrow? What did that mean?

Was I over thinking this? Yes.

I reached my house and ran inside.

"Sorry I'm late." I said as I put my school stuff away, and began my homework.

"No problem, honey. Good to see you making friends." Edaline called from the kitchen.

" I see that Biana has inherited her mother's talent for makeovers. " Edaline said when she saw my face.

"What happened to your hands though?" She asked.

"I'll tell you at dinner." I said." Grady is going to want to know what happened too, and I just can't tell the story twice."

Edaline nodded understandingly.

When Grady came home he did want to know what happened to my hands. I shared the story over dinner. I was seriously getting tired of telling it.

"I'm glad everyone was OK." Grady said, wiping the tears of laughter out of his eyes.

"I never liked Ms. Galvin when I had her." Edaline giggled.

"Wait, you had her? How old even is she?" I asked.

"Who knows. I think even she lost count." Grady said.

I laughed.

"Oh, I met Dex today." I said.

"I was hoping you would." Edaline smiled.

"He is a very nice boy." Grady said.

I yawned.

"You've had a long day. Maybe you should get some sleep." Edaline said.

"That sounds nice." I murmured.

I got ready for bed. Edaline turned off my light, and I was just drifting off, when I heard a scratching at my window.

A small white bird with a broken wing sat perched on my windowsill.

...

Silveny! Yay! I'm going to add Tam and Linh soon...

I just love Sokeefe soooo much.