Celebrity Crush (A Sokeefe AU)

Chapter 4: Ditching 101 with Keefe

"So," Keefe instructed, leading me through the empty halls, "that's the teacher's lounge, but if that tag is on the green side, there are teachers in it - so we might  not want to go there today." We. "That is the student lounge - which is for students, just after school. See, but I like to use it for ditching." He pushed open the door and coolly walked in, flopping down on a couch. "Welcome to Ditching 101, with Keefe!"

"You're giving me a ditching class," I checked playfully. He nodded and messed up his hair, which somehow managed to make it look even cooler.

"Of course! There are many things I have learned about the student lounge by ditching. Of course, this is a five-star expensive private school, so their lounges are like five-star expensive hotels. So let me show you a trick with the vending machine -" Keefe punched in his number and inserted a slip of paper instead of money. His snack rolled out. "Aaaand you don't have to pay! Easy as that! See, here they expect you don't care how much money you spend, so they just assume every slip of paper that enters there is money!"

I did nothing to suppress my giggles. I was not in class, I was in the student lounge, learning how to access free snacks. Grady and Edaline would kill me. "This isn't like normal ditching, Foster. This is ditching the right way," Keefe explained. "And how do I get away with it? I smile and tell them I'll have mommy come after them. Scares the life out of them. I'll do the same for you, unless - who are your parents?"

"The Ruewens."

Keefe whistled. "That actually might get you out of trouble. But let's play it safe and rely on my parents for now. Maybe someday we'll get more brave. And the best part of Keefe-Style Ditching: The pranking!" Keefe pulled a little vial out of his pocket that looked like it belonged in a science lab. "This, my friend, is apple juice dyed green. Today, I'm going to 'accidentally' drop in in Dex's drink to scare him. You know Dex, right?"

Good thing Linh pointed him out the other day. "I know of him."

"Eh. That's the most anyone knows about him anyway." Keefe smirked - he was good at it, too. "The Dizznees are just a family with high expectations for their kid, and they work really hard to scrape together the money for private school. Seriously, why not send him to public school? All he gets here is spoiledness."

"Says a very spoiled kid," I joked. Keefe loved it.

"Naturally. I'm a Sencen." People keep bringing that up. He keeps hinting about his family, like it's supposed to mean something. Unfortunately, I seemed to wear my confusion on my face. "You have no idea what that means, do you?"

I shook my head sheepishly.

Good thing Keefe liked it. "Let's keep it like that for a while. I want you to get to know me, not the version of my I'm sure your friends will tell you all about." Keefe rolled his eyes. "Anyway... class is over! Let's go to lunch, and hopefully avoid the attention of the teacher we just totally ditched. But remember, I have a secret weapon." His parents. He didn't say it this time, though.

As they walked through the halls, Keefe smirked and whispered, "Watch this." Keefe took my hand as he led me through the halls, and suddenly a fountain of whispers was turned on. Every single girl was talking, or glaring, or giggling, or eyeing me jealously.

I smirked. This was absolutely hillarious.

Then Linh and Marella spotted me.

"Uh... Sophie!" Linh said with a plastic grin on her face. "Are you going to sit with us at lunch?"

Be cool for Keefe. Be cool for Keefe. "Yeah, but I need to help Keefe with this -" I lowered my voice - "supercool thing he's doing. And you are not to tell anyone of my involvement."

"So that's where you were in History today," Linh muttered as Keefe led me to the lunch room.

Keefe and I stood in the lunch line next to each other, and picked up our food in sync. Whispers followed us everywhere. I'm not really an attention seeker, but Keefe was eating it up.

When we reached the register, Keefe told the lady, "You know what? Pay for Foster's lunch out of my account. My special gift to my companion today." I'm Keefe's special companion - and he's paying for my lunch!

I really sound like I have a crush on him, don't I? So let's establish this: No. I. Don't.

"Thank you so much, Keefe -"

"No. Thank you for giving me a much needed ditching and pranking partner. There was another girl, Harley, who was my partner for awhile - but she thought we were dating and that got weird, because then I got an actual girlfriend, and Harley called me a cheater. So now I'm single."

That sounded familiar - but I wasn't sure why.

But -

Keefe.

Sencen.

Was.

Single.

And being a "Sencen" apparently meant something. He'd acted like he was revealing something the other day when he mentioned his last name - finally - but I had no idea what he meant.

And he liked that.

Keefe Sencen was single.

Not that I cared.