Sophie: A Story of Change

Moonlit Reverie

"I know, but Sophie plays a lot of games and I'd like to make it past the first boss," Heather S. replied. "You'll love it, Sophie. It plays like an action game, but it's really all about strategy. Each character has different strengths, so the two players have to coordinate with each other to choose the right pair to make it past all the-"

Heather M. stopped paying attention. As embarrassing as her friend's hobby was, this could prove useful. Sophie was happy again, which would make building trust much easier. Trust was going to be important.

* * *

Sophie spent the next couple of hours playing games with Heather S. and the incident at the mall fell to the back of her mind. Heather M. ordered dinner and the four laughed over stories about school and parties as they ate. Afterwards, Heather S. taught Sophie how apply nail polish, and the Heathers gazed over Sophie as she carefully applied blue to each of her toenails.

"Nice job," said Heather M., nodding with approval. "Pretty impressive for a beginner. Now, for practice you can paint all of ours."

Heather K. made a concerned noise. "But, I usually do that," she said.

"Well, now Sophie can," Heather M. stated flatly.

Sophie frowned. "All of you?"

"Yeah, you have a lot of ground to cover. Get painting, girl," Heather M. ordered. For the next several minutes Sophie was occupied with applying red polish to Heather M., yellow to Heather S., and started to paint Heather K.'s nails pink while the others chatted, but she shook her head.

"Black please." She said, her voice somewhat quieter than normal if that was possible. Sophie nodded and set to painting her nails black, which nicely offset her pink blouse, to Heather K.

After their nails had dried they set about selecting a movie to watch. This consisted of an increasingly annoyed Heather M. shooting down multiple suggestions from Heather K. Heather S. finally broke the stalemate by suggesting a sappy love flick that Heather M. deemed acceptable. Sophie found herself scratching her head in confusion.

"But wait, why'd you say yes to that one after all of Heather K.'s suggestions?"

"Because-" Heather M. began before getting cut off.

"Because she's a sucker for love stories," Heather S. teased, making a kissing face which proved to be an irresistible target for a throw pillow chucked by Heather M.

"I'm not a 'sucker' for anything you little jerk!"

Heather S. burst out into a fit of laughter. "Right, then how come you have a whole pile of grocery store romance novels in your room?"

"I've told you before, it's because they're very immersive!" Heather M. threw her other pillow at Heather S. who caught it easily between giggles. "Whatever. I'm going to grab my liquor."

"Liquor? But you aren't old enough," Sophie protested.

"Come now Sophie, my parents may have bought it but if it wasn't for me then why would they leave it right where I could find it?" Heather M. replied in a bemused tone, leading the group to a large cabinet in the dining room loaded with a large election of wines and liquors. "Don't tell me you've never gotten drunk before?" Sophie hesitated as she tried to find the right way to word it without sounding uncool.

"I just... I guess I've never thought about drinking. It just seemed like something I shouldn't do."

"Seriously? You've never drank any alcohol?" Heather M. mused.