(Yes, I am up at 1:19 AM. 😂)
The people that were the most distraught about the news were Linh and Marella—they were on the yearbook committee after all.
"Eh," Keefe said with a shrug. "Foster and I couldn't go anyway,"
"You unfeeling little jerk!" Marella growled. "Don't you know how much this means to us? Do you know how embarrassing it'll be once people realize that two of the people planning the Gala aren't even going to the Gala?"
Keefe shrugged. "I'm just sayin'"
Marella crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at Keefe. "Sophie, how could you become friends with this gremlin?"
"Who're you calling a gremlin?" Biana asked. "Do you need glasses to help you with your blindness?"
"I know you did not just call my friend a gremlin," Dex said, glaring at Biana from his seat on the couch. "Because I know for a fact that that she's not the one who's a gremlin." He gave Biana a look that clearly inferred that he was calling her a gremlin.
"How dare you say that to my sister," Fitz said, his voice getting angry. "Do you even know who you're insulting?"
Linh glared at Fitz. "I think he does," She said. "And do you even know how sick it makes me when you talk? You act like you know that you're hurting people's feelings, but you still do it anyway. No one likes people like that,"
"Um, says the girl that barely talks to anyone," Maruca said. "How would you know what people do on purpose and what they don't?"
"Don't talk to my sister," Tam said, shooting a glare at Maruca. "If you value you're life, you'll take back everything you just said."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Keefe said. "Are we throwing out threats now? If you want to discuss that, I promise I have plenty that I can use,"
"What, like how there are plenty of people that can't wait until you all go extinct?" Jensi asked—but barely anyone heard his due to his rapid-fire speech.
But because of that everyone started arguing amongst themselves, leaving Sophie and Wylie just staring on.
Sophie had finally had enough of it and yelled, "Will you all just SHUT-UP!?"
Suddenly everyone was quiet and they were all staring at Sophie in shock and awe. "This is stupid," She said, a little quieter now. "If you guys can't get along—then there's no point of you even being here."
"Amen!" Grady said, poking his head into the room. "You all can just go home if you're going to argue in my house—saves us food and time."
Sophie sighed, but still said, "You hear that? If you can't stand each other for another hour and a half, you can leave."
Thankfully, no one left and they all had a nice and peaceful dinner. Barely anyone spoke, and if they did it was very quietly.
After they ate, Sophie had a talk with Fitz, Keefe, Biana, and Maruca. She told them she forgave them for ignoring her. Then they all went home, leaving Sophie to talk to Dex, Tam, Linh, Marella, Jensi and Wylie.
This was going to be a long night.
"So," Sophie said. "What do you guys want to talk about?"
"I want to apologize for our behavior this evening," Linh said, her cheeks flushing red. "It was really stupid and childish."
"Well I'm not sorry," Tam grunted.
Linh elbowed him before shaking her head. "Anyway, we also wanted to tell you how sorry we are for being so rude to you since September."
"Yeah," Dex agreed. "I'm really sorry, Sophie. I shouldn't have lashed out on you like that—it wasn't right of me and I really want you to forgive me. And I'm also sorry I pulled our friends into being against you too."
Sophie sighed. "I'm sorry about that too, Dex. I should've trusted that you would be okay with my decision. If you can forgive me, I can forgive you."
Dex nodded. "I can,"
"Are we forgetting about the fact that we had, like, a pranking war for a whole month?" Tam pointed out. "I want justice! I think that the Preppy group should apologize for that outrage."
"Yes, but Tam, if you remember, we started the pranking when Marella and Wylie shot spitballs in Sophie's hair," Linh said.
Both Marella and Wylie's face turned red as they both mumbled, "Sorry,"
Tam shook his head, his bangs getting in his eyes. "Actually, Sophie started it when she punched Dex in the nose,"
Sophie's face burned red as she glanced at Dex. "Sorry," She said. "I just don't like...Gordy the Clown,"
Dex shrugged. "I don't take it personally. I just volunteered at the mall and the only option was to dress up as a clown and make balloon animals. I was paid under the table,"
He said the last part so ominously that Sophie couldn't help but laugh. "Seeing as though you're only fourteen and you got paid, I'd hope it was under the table."
"Yeah," Tam agreed. "Otherwise whoever gave you the money could be thrown in jail—because that counts as child labor, even if you did do it voluntarily."
There was a small bit a silence before Marella spoke up. "So...does this mean we're all friends again?"
"I think it does," Wylie said with a smile.
Sophie smiled. "So...now that we're friends, do you think you guys could be friends with my other friends?"
The six of them groaned. "Do we have to?" Marella complained. "They're the most annoying and heartless people on the planet!"
"Actually, Adolf Hitler was the worst," Jensi said.
"Yeah, well he's not on earth anymore, is he?" Tam pointed out. "Take that shorty!"
"Hey!" Sophie said. "No name calling,"
"Sorry," Tam mumbled.
Sophie sighed, a smile on her lips. "Just promise me you guys will think about it...?"
They all begrudgingly agreed before they all left, telling Sophie bye and saying they hoped to see her tomorrow.
"Was is a success?" Edaline asked as Sophie helped her clean up the kitchen.
"Sort of," Sophie said. "I at least got all of my friends back—now I just have to bring them together."
"That can be challenging," Edaline. "When I was little me and my sister had different groups of friends, but our friends would still hang out with our other friends. It used to make us so mad. We wanted to keep our friends to ourselves. After a long while we finally realized that our arguments were stupid and we were finally fine with our friends being friends with our other friends. It just takes time."
Sophie nodded, but then asked a question that had no relation to their conversation at all. "How come we never see you or Grady's family,"
Edaline smiled. "You've seen one of them,"
"Who?" She asked.
Edaline laughed. "Your friend, Dex, is my sister's son. She married Kesler Dizznee if I remember correctly. Though I could be wrong—I haven't see Juline in twenty years."
Sophie's eyes got wide as she bolted from the kitchen and ran up to her room. She grabbed her phone and called Dex, hoping he'd pick up.
Ring...Ring...
Ring...Ring...
"Hello?"
"Dex!" Sophie said, relief filling her mind. "Hey, I have a quick question,"
"Ask away," He said.
Sophie bit her lip, and it took her a very long minute before she said, "I just wanted to know what your mom's name is."
"Um...Juline Dizznee—why?"
Sophie fell back on her bed. "Dex, my mom is your mom's sister,"
On the other side it was quiet for a while before he said, "No way,"
"Yes way," She said with a laugh. "You know what this means right?"
"We're...cousins," Dex answered.
Sophie bit her lip. "Yeah—we're cousins—well sort of,"
Sophie had been adopted by Grady and Edaline when she was three, so she was still technically not related to them. But she'd lived with them long enough to make it feel like she was really their daughter.
"Woah," Dex said.
And Sophie had to definitely have to agree with him. "Woah,"