Keefe sat on his bench, throwing prattles in the air and trying to catch them with his mouth, when he suddenly felt a burst of panic, fear, and confusion.
Why was he feeling those things? Wait... those aren't his feelings.. Okay, that's weird- he can't feel emotions without contact.
But soon enough, he saw a blonde, brown eyed girl walk around the corner into sight. Yep, that was Foster. She didn't seem to notice him, but her panic was seriously getting to him- seriously, she was panicking so much that KEEFE was panicking- or was he? How did he know what she was feeling without her even being close to her? No, more important, how was he able to FEEL what she was feeling?
He'd felt this before, but never this close.
"You must be lost." The words slipped out of his mouth before he could think about it.
She blinked, probably realizing she was somewhere completely different than she expected. "How did you know?"
Keefe smirked, "It's the middle of session. Either you're lost, or you're ditching—and clearly you're not ditching."
Why was she in the hallways during class?
"Why couldn't I be ditching?" She asked.
"Are you?"
"No," She admitted.
Keefe's mouth twisted into a crooked grin. She was pretty cool. "You're the new girl, aren't you?" She sighed and nodded. "I'm Keefe"
"Sophie- but I'm sure you already knew that."
He laughed- everyone already knew her. "You may be the biggest news to hit the academy since the Great Gulon Incident three years ago—which, by the way, I had nothing to do with." He flashed a slightly wicked smile. "But that's not a bad thing. Personally, I've always enjoyed being the center of attention."
Her mouth opened to say something, but she changed it to, "Where are you supposed to be?"
"The Universe. I ditch whenever I can. Lady Belva has the worst crush on me. I mean, I can't really blame her"—he gestured to himself—"but still, it's awkward, you know?" Which was actually like, 10% true(The Lady Belva thing- not the awkward thing- That's 100% true)
"And now I get to meet the mysterious new girl," he added. "So I'd say ditching paid off pretty well." Which was also true- he'd been looking forward to meeting her. Probably trying to hide it and failing, she blushed again.
"I'm hardly mysterious." She lied- maybe she didn't know she was lying, but "hardly mysterious" was the opposite to what she was.
"I don't know. You won't tell me why you're not in session. Don't think I haven't noticed."
She looked down at her feet, as if her shoes were the most interesting thing ever. Waves of embarrassment hit Keefe, which is why he could guess her answer- "That's because it's too embarrassing." Yep.
"I love embarrassing!" He laughed when she stayed silent- but he didn't push for exact details. Yet he needed to know what happened. "Will you at least tell me where you're supposed to be?"
She sighed. "Alchemy with Lady Galvin." Ugh, Lady Galvin, ew...
"Ugh, she's the worst. I had her as a Level Three—and she hated me, probably because I turned the lab table to silver. But she said she wanted me to impress her." He winked. "Still, I wouldn't mention that we're friends if I were you." Sophie seemed surprised about something, but he wasn't sure what. Was it because he'd called her his friend? "So, what, did Lady Galvin kick you out or something?" he asked.
"Kind of."
"Now this I have to hear."
"You're going to laugh at me."
"Probably," he agreed. Keefe wasn't going to let it go, so she admitted, "I accidentally exploded the serum I was making."
Right on cue, he burst into laughter, imagining what sort of damage she did. His brain mentally gasped- WHAT IF SHE DESTROYED HER CAPE!? - "Did you do any damage?"
"Only to her cape—" Wait... what did she just say?
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Do you have any idea how epic that is? That cape is her pride and joy! Did she send you to Dame Alina's office?"
"No, she sent me to the Healing Center. A little of it got on my hand." She looked like she was trying to kill the red bruise on her hand by glaring daggers at it. And Keefe didn't blame her. Normal girls would be crying with that sort of wound, even some guys would be too. Biana would have fainted at the sight of it, though probably only because of how ugly and huge it was. Foster was pretty strong to be able to handle a wound like that.
"Wow, most girls would be crying about a wound like that—most guys too. Even I'd be playing it up for sympathy and stuff."
"It must look worse than it is."
"Still, don't you think you should get it treated?"
"I guess." Keefe laughed again. "You just turned whiter than these walls. What's wrong?" Was she scared of going to the healing center?
"Nothing."
"Come on, then. I'm taking you to the Healing Center so you don't get lost again." He hooked his arm through hers and dragged her away before she could resist.
***************
Once they got to the healing center and Elwin came out of his office, he immediately said, "Sophie? I figured I'd have to drag you back here to check up on you."
That was weird. Keefe cocked his head, looking at her. What did he mean? Why did Elwin have to check up on her?
"I know." Sophie said "I have a tiny burn I need you to treat- no big deal."
"Well, let me check it out." As he got up, a slinky gray creature hissed and scurried across the floor. "Don't mind Bullhorn," Elwin said. Sophie backed up against the door "He's harmless."
Right, she was raised by humans- she didn't know what a banshee was.
"What is he?" Sophie asked.
"A banshee. Adorable, isn't he?"
"Uh, sure" Sopie said, clearly very unsure(Lol, what she didn't know was that Bullhorn would be her best buddy for years to come) Bullhorn snapped at her ankles, and Keefe laughed.
"What brings you here today, Keefe?" Elwin asked.
"Just helping a fellow prodigy, sir."
Elwin grinned. "I notice you've had to miss your session to do it."
"I know. Such a shame." He sighed dramatically. "But Sophie needed help, so what could I do?"
"What, indeed? And I suppose you'll be wanting a pass to excuse you."
"What a good idea."
"You always have been one to seize an opportunity." Elwin handed Keefe a slip of paper. "Session won't be over for another half hour, so I'd walk slow if I were you."
"Oh, I can't leave yet—not until I know Sophie will be okay." And to be honest, he couldn't. He wanted to know more about this mysterious girl, and maybe staying longer, Elwin could tell him a few things- like why he had to check up on Sophie.
"Mmm-hmm. So, where's the burn?" he asked Sophie. She probably wanted to be brave in front of Keefe, but her arm shook when Elwin put his funny glasses on and flashed a blue orb of light around her hand. Keefe felt so much fear coming from Sophie that he was about to faint.
This emotion reading thing definitely had its downsides. But he already felt like he knew her for years just by reading her emotions.
Elwin frowned. "This looks like an acid burn. How did you manage that?"
"Um . . . slight accident in my alchemy session."
Keefe mimed a huge explosion, complete with sound effects. "Destroyed Galvin's cape."
Elwin dropped her hand, cracking up. "Wish I could have seen that! Sorry," he added when he caught Sophie's scowl. "Have a seat so I can treat it." He made Sophie sit on one of the beds and grabbed a small jar from one of the shelves. Keefe could tell she was trying to stay calm, but wave after wave of terror shot out of her. Plus, he was sure she tried to hide it, but Keefe saw her flinch. "Out of curiosity," Elwin asked. "How did you explode the serum?"
"I'm not sure. I measured everything twice, and added it in the order I was supposed to, but when I whipped it, it exploded."
"Whipped it?" Keefe interrupted.
"Yeah. At first I thought it said 'whap,' but I figured I read it wrong so I whipped it."
Elwin and Keefe both burst into hysterical laughter. "WHAP means 'wash hands and present,'" Keefe managed to explain between laughs.
Okay, this was honestly one of the funniest things that happened to him- not Sophie herself, but how little she knew about Foxfire, or the elves in general.
Elwin cleared his throat. "It's an honest mistake. Could've happened to anyone." It probably couldn't have, but Keefe didn't blame her.
Still, a good story was a good story "This is going to be epic!" Keefe exclaimed. "I can't wait for tomorrow!" She sighed, but there was nothing she could do to stop Keefe now.
Okay, that basically just reading when Keefe met Sophie again. THIS IS SOOO BORINGGG, now that I'm rereading it. But don't worry, just ONE more chapter and I can add some fun stuff.
~Zara