KEEFER Of The Lost Cities(EDITING IN PROGRESS)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Since Keefe had nothing better to do, he decided to go bother Sophie, who was maybe 5 seconds away from a mental breakdown.

"Will you chill?" Keefe whispered. He waved at the air, fanning her negative, very stressed emotions away. "You're starting to stress me out."

She really was. If this was only a sliver of the stress she had, Keefe did not want to go through what she was going through.

"Aren't you nervous?" She asked.

"Nah, I'm awesome at tests. Photographic memory."

Sophie's eyes widened. "You too?"

Woah, she has a photographic memory? Why was she going on full stress mode then?

"You have a photographic memory? Then what are you freaking out about?"

"Because it doesn't help as much as you think."

Was she kidding?

"Sure it does. How else do you think I got a year ahead? It sure wasn't my work ethic."

"You're a year ahead?" Keefe hadn't realized that she hadn't realized that he was only a year older than her. "Yep. It's my big claim to fame. I skipped Level One. Kinda like you."

"I didn't skip it. I missed it."

"Same thing."

Keefe could tell she didn't agree, and Keefe knew he was wrong. Still, it took her mind off of the tests, even if only for a second.

When the bells chimed, marking the end of lunch/detention, fear kept Sophie seated.

Keefe pulled her to her feet. "That means it's time to go, in case you didn't realize. Seriously, Foster, you have to relax. You're going to make yourself sick."

"I feel sick," she admitted, wobbling.

He jerked away. "Thanks for the warning. No need to share that feeling. Look, I'm not good at the serious, supportive thing—but trust me, you're going to be fine."

"How do you know?"

He grinned. She was basically asking him to compliment her, even though she didn't realize it. Keefe also couldn't believe she had barely any faith in herself. Didn't she realize how smart she was?

"I have a feeling you can do pretty much anything you put your mind to. So stop doubting yourself and go prove me right. You know, so I can brag about it."

She smiled. "Thanks."

She took a long, deep breath, squared her shoulders, and Keefe felt her calm down. He mentally smiled.

***************

Keefe's next class was alchemy, which he rocked. He had a list of ingredients/ elements/ metals/ I-Don't-Know-Whatever-It's Called, and he had to make everything he could using just those things.

It was pretty easy, like what they did in some cooking or baking competitions that elves did. He knew for a fact that Della had joined-and won- one of those things.

Keefe had never baked before, but he was sure he'd be great at it.

His next class was The Universe, and that was super easy, considering he had a photographic memory.

He labeled and mapped all of the stars he was supposed to, plus some extra stars for bonus points, which he knew Lady Belva was definitely going to give him.

Keefe's next class was Agriculture, and the gnome that taught Keefe was having trouble keeping up with Keefe because of how fast he named the plants and their properties in alphabetical order. He finished this test in a matter of maybe 15 minutes, just 3 minutes earlier than his test for The Universe.