Don't Mess With Time

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Hort, I have to get some... advice."

"What about?"

"What... what do you do when you can't get someone out of your head?"

Her green eyes stared into his and he felt his heart freeze for a moment.

Did...

Did she like him?

It made him feel a bit happy but not as much as he thought it should.

"Umm, Sophie, who are you talking about?"

Her face turned a bit pink.

"I'd rather not say."

Hort felt his eyes widen.

Was it really him?

Did she like him?

"Well, usually it means that you like them," Hort said slowly.

Sophie's eyes widened in disbelief and she started to shake her head.

"Of course not! That can't be what it means!"

Hort raised an eyebrow.

"Who is it?"

"I just hate them! I don't like them!"

Sophie hurried away in a very un-Sophie way that he'd never seen her use before.

What was going on with her?

~

Nicola had a pile of five books beside her.

She was reading a bunch of books lately, trying her best to learn everything she could... she didn't want Sophie to show her up.

She couldn't let that happen.

Kiko and Serenity were both looking at each other with raised eyebrows.

Serenity was reading the books all the time, but not like Nicola was right now.

It was weird.

Like she had a reason to be going even more insane about reading than usual (a hard feat to accomplish considering how much she usually read).

~

Sophie shook her head.

She could have a... crush.

She was above that.

She was better than that now.

She didn't need some man.

Of course not.

But the person she couldn't get out of her head definitely wasn't a man.

No...

Nicola was a very beautiful woman that was so smart and funny...

A woman that Sophie didn't think she could ever stop thinking about.

She was just so...

She shook her head in a vain attempt to clear it of thoughts of Nicola.

She knew she'd just gotten Hort and dragged him out of the library...

And she'd just let him go back to studying.

But she let out a very uncharacteristic growl and turned on her heel, marching back to the library.

~

"So, Ravan, I was trying to s-"

"HORT!"

He flinched at the familiar voice and shot Ravan an apologetic look before he went back to where he saw Sophie.