Sokeefe - Until She Was Ready For More

Chapter 35

I woke up the next morning to the sunlight streaming through my windows, the delicious smell of breakfast wafting up to my room, and the unpleasant face of Ro mere inches from mine.

"Morning, sunshine!" she chirped as I pulled my pillow over my ears.

"Go away," I mumbled.

"No can do, blondie. Someone woke me up before the sun rose this morning so he could see you, and I'm not in the mood to let you sleep," she grinned in a maniacal sort of way.

I grunted and heeded her instruction to get up, slowly pulling myself up and out of my bed. My soft, comfortable bed.

Looking to the side, I found Keefe leaning against the wall, a smirk on his face.

"What?" I asked, an annoyed expression on my face.

"Nothing. You're just adorable when you're grumpy," he chuckled.

"I am not grumpy," I scowled.

"Whatever you say, Foster," Keefe said, trying to hold in another laugh along with Ro.

I rolled my eyes, walking over to the bathroom and shutting myself inside.

"Fosterrrr," Keefe whined through the door.

"What?"

"Hurry upppp."

"There's this thing called patience, Keefe. You clearly haven't heard of it," I replied.

"Excuse you. I waited for you for years while you were making puppy eyes at Wonderboy," Keefe scoffed.

"So basically saying, you've only had patience once in your life."

"Pretty much," Keefe started as I opened the door. "And I'm glad you're the one thing I decided to wait on, darling," he finished, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Me too," I answered, tilting my head up to meet his lips with mine.

"Ew, gross! Keep the lip contact to zero," Ro complained from the door.

Smirking, Keefe pulled me closer, dropping me into a dip and kissing me deeply.

"You guys are disgusting," Ro muttered, averting her eyes.

I laughed into the kiss, causing Keefe to pull away and pull me back up, him laughing as well.

"Okay Ro, I promise we'll stop," Keefe chuckled.

"You sure will unless you want to find your hair half shaved and dyed purple tomorrow morning," she threatened.

"Ro, you know not to threaten The Hair," Keefe whimpered.

"Then you better listen, Pretty Boy."

"Hmph."

The click of the door interrupted their argument, and Sandor walked in.

"Miss Foster, you need to leave for school soon," Sandor said.

"Okay, Sandor. Thanks," I smiled and Sandor nodded, a slight smile pulling at his lips.

Grabbing my bag, I followed Sandor out of the room and down the stairs.

***

After the four of us light-leaped to Foxfire and got through orientation, I broke the news to Keefe that I would be going to all my classes that day. 

"But Fosterrrrr," he whined, resting his head on my shoulder and proceeding to dramatically fake-cry. 

I sighed, pulling his face to mine and effectively silencing his sham. 

"Fine. Go. Just leave me here to die," he said histrionically after I'd pulled away. 

"Bye Keefe," I replied, waving before walking to Elementalism. I heard a sniff behind me and ignored it, knowing Keefe was just attempting to get me to come back. 

I continued walking down the hall, eventually finding the door to my classroom. I walked in, seeing my Elementalism instructor and classroom for the first time in years. It was strange seeing everything again. 

***

After a boring morning spent bottling lightning, I was finally able to go to lunch. Going back to school was taking more of a toll than I thought it would. Maybe it would be worth skipping my afternoon class and study hall. 

As I walked into the lunch room, I was faced with a group of people not like the one I was used to. While none of my friends looked entirely different in the future, I wasn't at all used to seeing them this young. 

"Sophie!" Biana waved me over. I noticed Linh, Keefe, and Marellla were missing from the table. 

"Hey!" I said, sliding in the table next to Biana. "Where are the others?"

"Well, Keefe probably has lunch detention, and Marella and Lihn have classes on the other side of Foxfire." Biana responded and I nodded. 

"Where were you during orientation this morning?" Fitz asked. 

"Oh, well I came a bit late and I didn't know where you guys were," I responded vaguely; it was easier than saying I wanted to spend time with Keefe, who wasn't even my boyfriend yet, much less my husband. 

"Alright then." 

While we waited for the others to show, Dex, Biana, and I chatted about our morning classes. Biana had gotten a good score on her homework I had helped her with the night before, as well as the test she'd taken based on the homework that morning. 

Eventually Linh and Marella arrived, but there was no sign of Keefe. Even once lunch ended, Keefe still hadn't shown up. 

I bid goodbye to all of my friends except Fitz, and we walked to telepathy together. 

I was sure this wasn't going to play out very well, but I didn't have many other choices. If Keefe had shown up to lunch, I would have considered ditching with him like he'd originally tried to convince me to do. Maybe he really did have detention. It wouldn't have been all that surprising if he had. 

We walked into the telepathy classroom, and Tiergan turned to face us both. Tiergan hadn't changed a bit from the past to my time. Well, his ears may have been slightly pointier, but the change was almost impercievable. 

"Hello, Sophie, Fitz," he greeted as we sat down. "I thought today we'd start with a harder exercise as you both seem to be progressing quite nicely."

Fitz smiled at me proudly, and I tried to reciprocate, but my face couldn't quite match his expression with all the thoughts tumbling around in my head. I had expected something easy, something I would be able to shield with almost no effort. Now I wasn't so sure. 

"First, I want to start by connecting your minds, but I would like to form the connection myself. To do so, I need you both to let your shields down," Tiergan said. 

He started with Fitz, entering and pulling an intangible thread from his mind. 

"Sophie," he said, waiting. I hadn't put my shield down yet. 

I reluctantly put my shield down, and the exact second Tiergan entered my mind, I saw the shock. 

"Sophie, what-"

Darkness enveloped me.