Sophia

Chapter I

“Jaaaaaaaaake! Get up pretty boy, grab your guitar and meet me outside black hills in about an hour” a familiar voice shouted down the phone, without saying a word I hit the end call button, put the phone back under my pillow and got up to get changed.

I shouted out for mum and dad as I walked into the kitchen, saw a note stuck to a plastic container labelled ‘food’ on the counter top but I was running late so I just grabbed a slice of bread and headed out; I shoved my guitar in the back of the car and headed towards black hills.

“Jake my boy” mason yelled as I got out of the car “we’re going out to the woods with a couple of the other guys and I asked Zoe and her girlfriends to join us, don’t you want to invite your friend? What was her name again? Sophie?”

“Sophia” I emphasised the end of her name and carried on “We both know why you want her here, but yeah I’ll give her a text, see if she’s doing anything later on tonight” taking out my phone I sent Sophia a text message, within a matter of minutes my phone vibrated.

“Sophia’s on her way mase, she’s brining her friend Jessica too, it’s your lucky day” I tormented him, he didn't say anything mainly because there was nothing to be said, everyone knew how much mason liked Jessica, except Jessica herself.

“So what’s the deal with this girl Sophia then eh?” Mason asked as he took steps towards me and sat down on the car bonnet next to me.

I looked up at him and couldn't bring myself to say anything, what would I have said? That I've known this girl for more than 6 years? Or that we’re great family friends? Should I have told him that she’s just someone who knew my sister? Or maybe told him the truth? Would it have been possible to tell him how much she means to me? How when she’s around and I can feel her presence nothing can stop me from being happy? Or how my feelings never stop growing for her?

I sighed and snapped myself back into reality “What are you talking about? She’s just a really good friend” having said that I walked back into my car and turned the stereo volume up.

Later on that day when Sophia and Jess arrived at the woods, we’d already got the fire going, Zoe and her friends were all gathered around either singing or cracking jokes, the two of them just came and sat quietly around the fire without saying a word, I managed to catch Sophia looking my way and smiled at her from across the fire, I remember how beautiful she looked, it was a rare opportunity to catch her with her hair down but she smiled back at me and scrunched up her nose to acknowledge the fact that she’s seen me.

I turned around to face mason who was sitting down next to me and patted him on the back whispering “she’s here” he cleared out his throat to cancel out my voice, then got up and started to shout above the noise “Right then, I think we all know we have a singer amongst us, so you girls better shut up and let him do his thing”

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing, steered their gaze from me to my guitar started screaming in unison and handed me my guitar, I had no choice but to play “Alright, alright I’ll play. But it’s going to be my own song, something I came up with not too long ago” I explained.

Everyone knew I was going to sing, but no one knew who I was singing for. I grabbed my guitar from a friend of Zoe’s and placed it on my knee, I began to strum down whilst tapping my feet on the ground, the vibration of the chords tickled down my arm and I stared at the fire to try to remember the words to my song, all I could really concentrate on was Sophia and her pretty little face, and how she would react if she knew I wrote this song for her.

I hadn't quite reached the second verse when I realised a shadow move past me and away, and then a second one. Suddenly the pit of my stomach felt empty, was it Sophia? Had I offended her?

The song finished, everyone cheered and clapped but I could only stare at the empty seat in front of me, I really had offended her! Having plucked up the courage I went over to them, Jess had only just stopped talking on the phone and they were both sitting on a rock facing the other way, I made a nasty remark so Jess would leave me alone with Sophia, she took the hint and walked back to the camp fire, I could only imagine how excited mason would be to catch her on her own.

“Was it that bad?” I sneered at Sophia without looking into her eyes..

“What are you talking about silly? You were really amazing. I came over here to call my mum, I’d forgotten to tell her where I was and what time I’d be back” she lied, I could always tell when she was lying, she did this cute thing with her fingers where she linked them together and squeezed as hard as she could,

I didn't want to upset her so I changed the subject and began to tease her “Are you trying to impress someone? Having your hair down tonight?”

She giggled and lightly tapped me on my knee “What are you talking about? I just thought a change would be nice” having said that she got up from the rock and stood in front of me “Do I look that bad?”

“Are you two not hungry?” Zoe interrupted from across the woods, so we began to walk back to the others, me one step behind Sophia, watching her every step trying to think why she would have lied to me.

Sophia –

With the thoughts running through my head It was almost impossible to eat, I forced the burger down and then realised I was surrounded by people and it would have been publicly embarrassing if I choked. The petite little girl sat next to me was ripping her burger into small bites and shoving them into her mouth, I wandered around the fire to spot Jess sitting on Mason’s lap, feeding him. How did that happen?

After everyone had cleared there plastic plates, we decided to play truth or dare except the boys decided truth was boring and everyone had to choose dare, as the game progressed a couple of girls had kissed each other, boys too, Mason and Jess had snogged each other’s face off, some of the girls were sat down with their underwear and the guys had ran butt naked around the fire.

Finally it was Jakes turn even though he refused to participate, everyone came up with different ideas and after a lot of suggestions being tossed around the final decision was for him to kiss Zoe.a After a lot of hesitation between both sides they agreed to kiss and my stomach felt like it was about to swallow itself inside out, I couldn't even look at them and stared down at my feet. Once it had finished everyone cheered, clapped and whistled, they both sat down and I finally raised my head to see Zoe’s face turning the same colour as her red hair.

I didn’t really want to stay there after that, I somehow managed to unglue Jess’s face from Mason’s and told her that I’m going home.

“What? Now? Come on, stay a little longer please. You’re my ride home Soph” Jess pleaded, batting her long eyelashes at me.

“It’s alright babe, I’ll give you a ride home.” Mason told her whilst he planted a kiss on her cheek

Without further hesitation I walked away from them towards my car, I unlocked it from a distance, slammed the door behind me and started the engine. Something in the seat next to me sparkled and caught my attention, I picked it up and realised it was Jess’s purse. Knowing full well, she couldn't last a day without it I decided to take it back to her.

I took small heavy steps, looking around for Jake’s face but he was nowhere to be seen. When I finally saw Jess and Mason, at it again like rabbits I tapped her on the shoulder and handed the purse to her without saying a word.

“How did I manage to leave this behind?” Jess smiled at me “Thanks Soph, you’re such a doll”

Once again without a single word, I headed back looking back and forth for Jake’s familiar face, strolling around trying to think of an excuse to talk to him.

As I was heading back, I heard a something in the distance that startled me. My curiousness got the better of me and I followed the sound to see Zoe and Jake. Zoe was leaning on a tree, one of Jakes hands on her waist and the other under her chin, his lips were so in sync with hers as they kissed passionately that she lost control of her hands ruffling through his hair, stopped to giggle, kiss his neck and then carried on.