Pain. Sophie was sure that a kiss was not supposed to be this painful. Even though her kiss with Dex was awkward and unnecessarily... bumpy, it didn't hurt like this one did.
It wasn't Nick, he had clearly had much much more practice than Sophie had. A part of Sophie really wanted to enjoy it, to kiss him back.
It was Sophie's head.
The constant stinging and jabbing and pounding in her head had turned into a tsunami, and forced Sophie to pull back from Nick's embrace a second after the flash went off.
Nick didn't look hurt, he looked... scared?
"Sophie, I'm..." Sophie didn't hear the rest of the sentence as she stumbled out the booth. The music was louder, and drove Sophie to muffle a grunt and slam her hands over her ears. She wanted to focus, to find where the pain was coming from. If it was coming from her repressed abilities and skills.
She shoved her way through the dancing and grinding crowd to find the door, occasionally tripping over her damned heels. Away from the music. Away from the noise. Away from whatever was making her head hurt. Nick.
She finally slammed through the doors and passed the admissions booth. Away from the music. She needed to be alone. Alone. Alone. She finally passed into a mostly-empty hallway and slammed into one of the lockers, sliding to the ground. The couple she had interrupted in the middle of a make-out session grumbled but made their way back to gym.
The bass of the music could still be heard, but at least there were no kids screaming along to the music. At least there were no people in general.
"Sophie?"
Sophie scrubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, probably smudging her eyeliner before looking up to find Nick standing there, with his hands shoved into his pockets and his shoulders tensed.
"Nick, you don't have to say anything-"
"No, Sophie, I do." Nick slid down the lockers besides her, still keeping a respectable distance between the two. "I swear, my mom's given me the 'consent' talk, but I was just in the moment- not that that's an excuse or anything- and I just thought it would be really cool to have our first kiss on a picture. Like, to look back at, because Sophie I really like you. And if I've messed everything up between us, I'm sorry-"
Sophie slammed her hands against the ground, trying to draw pain away from her head. "Nick, just shut up for a second." She appreciated his apology and his sensitivity, but she just needed a moment of silence. Thankfully, Nick complied.
Sophie let herself count to fifty-four before answering. The tsunami had settled a bit, still lingering but giving Sophie back a clear mind. "Nick," she said slowly. "I'm not mad at you for kissing me."
"You're not?"
Sophie turned to face him, keeping her legs tucked underneath her. "Nick, I'm not feeling well. My head... It wasn't the kiss that made me leave. I'm sorry."
Nick let out a sigh. "You don't have any reason to be sorry. Are you sick? Are you ok?"
Sophie attempted to tug out an eyelash, but only mascara came off into her hands. "I'm not the person you think I am."
Nick's expression kept getting more confused. "I'm not sure I follow."
"Sophie? Are you ok?"
Sophie snapped her gaze over Nick's shoulder. She scrambled off the ground quickly.
"Fitz? What are you doing here?"
Fitz stalked closer and pointed at Nick. "Who is he? Who are you?"
Nick shot to his feet, grabbing Sophie's hand while positioning himself slighty in front of her, as if protecting her from Fitz. Sophie could feel her cheeks getting red, from both Nick feeling he needed to protect her and from the glare Fitz was directing at both of them. Before Nick could jump in and say something awkward and/or insulting, Sophie blurted out, "Fitz, this is Nick. Nick this is Fitz. He's... a friend."
Nick's grip loosened a little bit and Sophie stepped around him to talk to Fitz. "What are you doing here? How did you even know there was a dance tonight?"
Nick jumped in, "Yeah man, I don't think I've seen you around."
Fitz glared. "No, man, you haven't. I go to a private school."
Oop. Sophie took a glance at Nick's face, which now had a slight shake to it, which she assumed to be rage at being belittled.
"Fitz, again. Why are you here."
Fitz took a step towards them, but stopped again when Nick seized Sophie's hand again. It was then when Sophie noticed Fitz was wearing his leather jacket. The one he had given Sophie. "I went back to your building to get my jacket and found your apartment on the register, but when I knocked there was no answer. So I found a key on the doorframe and-"
"I'm sorry? You broke into my house?"
"Well, technically yeah, but it wasn't my idea, it was a friend's idea, so you can't really blame me-"
"You broke into my house?" Sophie was so confused and angry that she barely recognized the mention of a 'friend.' Who was it? Keefe? Biana?
"I'm sorry, Sophie, but we went into your room-"
This is where Nick jumped in, "Dude, that's not cool." Fitz shot yet another glare at him.
"Can I finish? Anyway, I found my jacket under your bed." Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no. "And I found this." He held up the pouch that held the only remnants from Sophie's previous life. Her spyball, cognate rings, Keefe's necklace, and her charm bracelet, were all in there. The proof that Sophie had a life as an elf.
Before Sophie could speak, Miss Keystone popped into the hallways and gestured with a finger. "Mr. Banks, I need to talk to you." Fitz looked startled as she approached them. Sophie was startled too. Would she notice that Fitz didn't go to this school? Did she notice his strange accent? Would she ask what they were arguing about?
But she didn't. She simply waited next to Fitz, her foot tapping. Nick looked at Sophie, as if he expected her to stand up to Miss Keystone and say, "I'm sorry, Miss Keystone but Nick here is defending me from one of her friends who just broke into my apartment." But Sophie was actually quite glad for the interruption. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain herself to Fitz, but she knew not having Nick around would help.
"Go Nick," Sophie pushed his arm. "I'll find you later, ok?"
Nick hesitated and shot another glare towards Fitz. "Are you sure? I don't want you to be alone with him." He squeezed Sophie's hand, and she didn't even pretend to ignore the way Fitz was staring at him.
"Fitz isn't going to do anything. Go with Miss Keystone." He frowned with one corner of his mouth, but gave up and moved to Miss Keystone's side. Their teacher gave Sophie a once over, and Sophie couldn't tell if it was disdain at her for never showing up to their meetings or confusion. Either way, she left the hallway with Nick on her heels.
There was a two second pause after they left for Fitz and Sophie to make sure no one was listening. Then they spoke at the same time; "I'm really sorry Fitz, I didn't mean to lie-" "I think these can explain your missing memories-"
They took another step back from each other. "What do you mean you didn't mean to lie?" Fitz asked slowly.
Sophie realized that the bag still hadn't been a giveaway. Maybe he thought the Neverseen kept the bag with her, or that she didn't even realize the bag was there. "Fitz, I"
"Sophie, do you know you're an elf?"
"A-A what? Like one at the North Pole or a Keebler elf-"
"We're cognates Sophie. I know when you're lying."
"Well you didn't know for the weeks I've been here!" Sophie shouted back at him. The imp was out of the cage now. Shoot.
Fitz's face looked like it didn't know what expression to take on. But judging from past experiences, she reckoned it would be anger. He would be so angry at Sophie. So angry that she had left their world behind. But the voice that came from him was one of the quietest she had ever heard from him. "Sophie, please explain. Please."
Sophie took a deep breath and took a step forward, but Fitz took two back. "Fitz, I had to leave. You have to understand. It was for you and our friends' sakes."
"No, Sophie! You don't get to pull that type of crap! You don't know what it's been like for these past couple of weeks. You haven't seen Grady and Edaline. So you don't get to just stand there, looking all human and tell me virtually nothing! I deserve more than that! Your family and your friends deserve more than that!" Fitz finally exploded, closing the gap between them, so close that Sophie could smell something sweet on his breath.
"Fitz I-"
"We thought you were kidnapped and the note was forged! Marella had a theory that you were enslaved in an orge work camp. We thought you were dead. So give me a solid reason for your disappearance. Give me a good reason that would make up for the hell you have put us through, while you were in the forbidden cities, knowing everything yet going to school and dances. Tell me."
"Fitz," Sophie whispered, wiping away a tear from her eye. She already knew what her family was probably going through, and that her disappearance would just be a distraction from what really mattered. But this was too important, and the pain was building again so she didn't feel like fighting. "Fitz, I manifested as a pyrokinetic."
Fitz's shoulders slowly sank. "You what?"
Ok so technically not the end of the chapter, so the next one will probably be a little short, but I need to get started on homework and I wanted to give you guys an update.
Also Shannon announced that the next book won't be for another two years, and I'm very sad... I'll be in college by then! I really hope I don't stop enjoying the series by then.
Love you guys, stay safe.