"Be careful."

Those were Biana's first words to Sophie as they approached the mansion-like home of the Vackers.

"Why?" Sophie asked, confused.

Biana merely sighed, opening the doors. "It's a long story. Just don't break the vase." She pointed to a gorgeous, sparkling and shimmering, aforementioned glass vase that would be worth trillions of dollars in the Forbidden Cities.

"Oh . . ." Sophie's mouth went dry. She wasn't exactly the most coordinated person —and the vase was so precariously balanced that it looked like it would fall and shatter into a million pieces if somebody so much as sneezed within five feet of it.

"What's with the vase, anyway?" Sophie asks.

"I think my dad's holding onto it for somebody," Biana replied.

That didn't make a whole lot of sense to Sophie but she shrugged it off and followed Biana to her room.

"What is Sophie going to wear?" Biana mumbled to herself as she opened the doors to her massive closet filled with uncomfortably fancy gowns in all shapes, colors, and sizes.

"I'm right here, you know."

"Yeah . . ." Biana quietly said, still thinking about Sophie's possible outfit. "But you won't be much help since you have no fashion sense."

Sophie's eyes widened. "Hey! I have . . . some sense. Maybe not a lot—but it's still there!"

Biana smiled. "Understatement of the year. You'd have to get a microscope and zoom in about twenty-thousand units." Sophie had to nod and agree with that one, laughing.

Biana shortly pulls out a sparkly, purple dress and holds it up to Sophie's frame before frowning. "No . . . maybe I could wear this one."

She went back to searching her wardrobe and looked thoroughly through every dress she came across.

After a couple minutes, out of boredom, Sophie asked, "When exactly is the ball?"

"Tonight at eight," she mumbled still looking. "Ooh! You should wear a red dress! That would narrow down my search by a lot. Ugh, why didn't I think of that in the first place?"

"Remember—"

"Nothing too fancy," Biana finished for Sophie. "Yes, yes. I know."

After several more minutes of Biana looking through her red selection—which, in Sophie's fair opinion, hardly narrowed down the search—Biana finally pulled out an ankle-length dress made of silk with small ruffles flowing out from the waistband.

"Oh wow," Sophie couldn't help but say as she looks over the dress. It was simple but elegant—perfect for her.

Biana had a proud grin breaking her lips. "I know, right? I think my mom actually got this for you a while ago but forgot about it or something. Here, try it on!"

Biana held the dress out for Sophie to take and she did. Biana went back into her closet, looking for a dress for herself—which meant Sophie was on her own putting on the dress that, Sophie soon found out, didn't have a zipper.

Sophie tried several methods of attempting to put on the dress—going in feet first, head first, telekinesis, trying to manifest as a phaser to phase into the dress—but all ended up with her somehow landing on the floor out of the dress.

"Hey, Sophie?" Biana called out, walking out of her closet with a loud dress in her hands. "What do you think of . . . what happened?"

"Dress three-million-seven-hundred-four-thousand-two-hundred-sixteen. Sophie . . . zero."

Biana laughed and helped Sophie up from the floor, setting the dress down carefully onto her bed. "Why didn't you just unzip the zipper."

"THERE WAS A ZIPPER?!" Sophie practically screeched, analyzing the dress again and still not seeing such a thing.

"Yeah," Biana said, showing Sophie how it was hidden within tiny folds in the backside. "They usually have it hidden so it looks prettier, I think. It's a new method."

"I thought you said your mom got the dress for me a while ago?" Sophie questioned, wondering at the same time if she could somehow strangle the cloth.

"Um . . . well, yeah," Biana stuttered out. "But by 'a while ago' I meant a few months ago and by a 'new method' I meant a couple months old."

"Right . . ."

The next ten or so minutes were spent on the girls getting into their dresses. Sophie didn't have a chance to really look at the dress Biana picked out for herself, but when she saw Biana in it, she was in awe.

It was a strapless, teal dress made of mostly silk with golden lace roses decorating the top half. At the waist, the dress expanded out into a slightly puffy ring with the over layer being the same teal silk pinned into supposedly random ruffles and forming 3D roses here and there while the opening to reveal one of the under layers had more of the same golden lace rose designs. It looked absolutely beautiful, especially on her.

"What do you think?" Biana asked her with a wide smile, twirling around.

"It's looks amazing," Sophie honestly answered.

"Thank you," she laughed. "You look stunning, too! And that's without the makeup."

A horrified expression overtook Sophie's face. "Makeup?"

Biana grinned. "Yes!"

Della interrupted them—postponing Sophie's torture for a little while longer and Sophie was grateful.

"Hey, Mom," Biana said, looking through her endless supply of what Sophie liked to think of as "torture devices."

"Oh, you two look gorgeous in those dresses," she said in her melodic tone, walking in with her hands behind her back.

"Thank you," Biana replied, distracted, examining Sophie's hair, picking up strands and loosely framing where they would go before dropping them and trying again. "It took us a while to find this one for Sophie."

"With beauty comes patience," Della told them before revealing what she was hiding behind her back. Two black cases usually used for jewelry. "I found these and was hoping you two would wear them."

Biana and Sophie accepted the box being handed to them and Sophie watched as Biana opened hers, an awed expression on both of their faces as a beautiful teal necklace and a pair of crystal earrings were revealed.

"Wow, Mom," Biana breathed, gingerly touching the jewelry. "These are beautiful."

"Of course they are." Della chuckled. "Those were what I wore to my Winnowing Galas. And I thought you may like them. Of course I had to have them repolished and re—oh!"

She was interrupted by Biana tackling her into a hug. "Thank you so much."

Della smiled, embracing her daughter. "You're very welcome. I just can't believe you're already growing so much."

Sophie smiled at their bond, feeling touched by the wholesomeness of it. But she also felt awkward, like she was intruding on a special moment.

Della must have sensed this—as mothers tend to have this whole other sense to detect anything wrong with their children—and motioned for Sophie to open her jewelry box as she pulled away from Biana.

"Go on, Sophie, open it," she spoke softly.

Sophie's eyebrows raised in awe at the stunning necklace—a heart with one half covered in diamonds in the shape of flowers and the other half simply fulfilling the rest of the heart without special features or characteristics other than being a shining metal.

"Edaline wanted you to have it," Della said before going on to explain, "It used to be Jolie's. Edaline thought that the simplistic side paired with the fancy side of the heart seemed to match your personality well and would benefit you a lot more."

Sophie smiled, gently outlining the surface of her new accessory. "Thank you for bringing it to me."

Della laughed. "I only wish I could take credit for it, but it really all belong to your mother."

Sophie looked up at Della. "Thank you, still." Sophie hugged Della and the three of them laughed.

Della abruptly pulled apart from them with a surprised, "Oh! Look at the time! You girls only have four hours left until the ball!"

Sophie looked at the clock and saw that Della was right. She also wanted to point out that "only" four hours is still plenty of time.

Biana looked shocked. "How did time go by so fast?! I still haven't done hair and makeup! And Linh is going to come over to get ready, too!"

Sophie wanted to laugh like, You're kidding me, right? Surely, it wouldn't take four hours for hair and makeup—Sophie mistakenly thought.

"There's also something else . . . ," Della mumbled. "Juline is volunteering to help set up Foxfire for the dance and Kesler is working at the shop today and Dex is busy with something so . . . I offered to help take care of the triplets."

"Okay. . . ." Biana and Sophie both said in unison, waiting for Della to continue.

"But I just remembered that I have an errand to run and I really don't want to let Juline and Kesler down." Della looked between the two of them, hoping they would see where this was leading.

After a couple seconds, both of their eyes shot open as they both exclaimed, "You want us to watch the triplets?!"

This, however, might be something to worry about, Sophie thought. The triplets were notorious for causing trouble and leaving a path of destruction behind them.

"Thank you so much for offering!" Della said with excitement before rushing off.

"Mom, wait!" Biana called out, rushing after her mother. But it was too late; Della had already vanished and there were elves waiting at the gates of Everglen.

Biana groaned before looking back at Sophie. "Sit," she commanded and Sophie obeyed. "Don't move or touch anything. I will be right back after calming the triplets and I will do your hair and makeup without any more interruptions."

Sophie gulped as Biana stormed off, really not wanting to go through with the next four hours—mostly because she'll have to suffer through products with names and brands she would never be able to remember, even with her photographic memory.

As Sophie was waiting in Biana's room, mentally preparing herself for the torture about to follow, her thoughts wandered off to Fitz. And their kiss. And his placement on her list—he's in the top twenty.

Sophie nearly fell out of the chair when she heard his voice fill her mind.

Hey Sophie. . . .

Hi, Fitz, she transmitted back, not missing the way he dragged off her name like he wanted something as she recovered from her mini heart attack.

Your favourite colour is teal, right? he asked her, sounding nervous.

Sophie's eyes went wide as she answered with a yes, hoping that he wouldn't ask her why—though at this point, their feelings for each other are already out in the open so it wouldn't be as nerve-wracking telling him.

No reason, he told her, nothing to worry about.

Sophie rolled her eyes. If she had a luster for every time she heard a variant of that phrase come from a Vacker . . .

"Hey! What's this vase?" Sophie heard one of the triplets call from downstairs.

"I don't know! It looks cool though!"

"Is that made out of glass?"

"NO! DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

Uh oh, Sophie thought, already rushing out of Biana's room.

What? What's wrong? Fitz asked.

Nothing, I have to go. I'll see you later, Sophie quickly transmitted, practically leaping down the staircase.

"OHMYGOODNESSYOUGUYSAREUSINGYOURTELEKINESIS! ITOTALLYFORGOTYOUCOULDDOTHAT!" Biana managed to exclaim in one breath, only quickening Sophie's pace.

By the time Sophie reached where Biana was, she watched as Bex threw the vase over to Rex using her telekinesis, who was laughing and giggling, before using his mental ability to toss it to Lex as the three of them were running around.

For every jump, Sophie and Biana sucked in a deep breath, still chasing after them. Because of how unstable the telekinesis was at their ages, Biana and Sophie didn't want to risk messing with their already weak concentration by throwing theirs into the mix as well and having the vase land in a floor and in a pile of glittering shards. So there were left with running after the triplets.

At one point, Rex tripped over something, losing his concentration—meaning that the vase was quickly falling to its demise.

Biana and Sophie both shouted, "NOOO!" before using their telekinesis to catch the vase millimeters before it reached the ground. They placed it on the highest, stable-looking place they could find (also known as the chandelier, for some reason—and Biana laughed to herself every time she looked at it for a reason Sophie didn't know why) that would be out of reach—and hopefully out of range—for the triplets.

"Alright!" Sophie said, exasperatedly before continuing on in a fake, excited tone. "Let's do something that won't give Biana and me a heart attack!"

"I have a great idea!" Biana gushed, putting on her "I'm dealing with little kids" face and voice despite the fact that they're twelve-year-olds.

"What?" we all chorused back to her.

"Why don't we play dress up!"

Red, Bex, and Lex did not look amused. "We're not little kids," they reminded her. Sophie had to agree with them—and most definitely not just because she knew Biana was going to use that as an excuse to apply makeup onto her.

"I know. . . ." Biana let out, not sounding like she really knew. Then, her face lit up. "But you guys are practising your telekinesis, right? So the challenge is you have to change and look all nice and dressed up only using telekinesis. Winner gets a special prize."

Sophie thought that sounded ridiculous, but the triplets were intrigued.

"Excellent," Biana said proudly with a smile Sophie thought was malicious.

Why couldn't the triplets not be agreeable for one second? Sophie asked herself.

"Sophie? Can you grab some kiddie dresses and suits from Fitz's and my closets?" Biana asked her as she led the preteens into the living room. "Thank you."

Just then, someone knocked on the doors of the Everglen mansion.

"On second thought, can you get that?" Biana asked. "It's probably Linh and a gnome let her inside."

"Okay," Sophie complied and rushed to open the door. Biana was right; Sophie opened the door the reveal Linh, who was wearing a gorgeous grey-black, strapless dress. The grey layer tightly wrapped around the waist opens to show a black layer underneath and ruffles around. She had crystal earrings that looked like water droplets and a matching necklace. Sophie could tell she applied a little mascara, lipstick and blush. She looked beautiful.

She gave a shy wave and said, "Hi, Sophie. I'm sorry I'm late. Tam gave me a long speech about staying away from boys."

Sophie only chuckled as she invited Linh in. "It's okay. We were just trying to figure out how to handle the triplets. We're going to play telekinetic dress-up. Yay! . . ."

Linh chuckled. "The triplets are here? Is Dex here, too?"

"No," Sophie explained, "Dex and his parents were busy so we're watching them instead."

"Sounds like fun," Linh said with a hint of sarcasm towards the end.

"Very."

They both laughed. They walk into the living room to see the triplets calmly waiting on the sofa. Immediately, suspicion arose in Sophie and Linh.

"Where's Biana?" Sophie asked.

"She had to go upstairs to get the clothes ," Bex let out with a bored sigh.

"Oh, no," Sophie mumbled to herself, knowing that if the triplets get bored waiting, they're going to do something crazy.

Linh, replicating Sophie's thoughts, said, "Hey, Sophie? Could you go get me some water from the kitchen? I'm going to show them a few tricks while we wait. You know Biana—she takes a while choosing clothes for anyone and any reason."

Sophie chuckled and nodded, heading towards the kitchen, feeling relieved that they managed to successfully calm down the wild triplets.

Lost in her thoughts, Sophie accidentally bumped into something—surprise surprise!—and grunted.

"Oh, sorry," a voice said and Sophie almost yelped, not expecting a wall to talk.

Only, when she looked up, she saw the supposed wall had two gorgeous teal irises belonging to a handsome face.

"Oh . . ." Sophie let out, surprised. "Hi, Fitz."

He grinned before looking at what Sophie was wearing and going breathless for a moment. "You look . . . beautiful."

Sophie felt her cheeks redden as she looked away. "Thank you. You look beautiful, too."

DID I ACTUALLY JUST SAY THAT?? Sophie thought not even a millisecond after the words escaped her mouth.

Fitz only laughed. "Thank you, lovlie."

"No problem," Sophie managed to mumble with a small smile.

"What are you still doing here?! Chop chop! You have to go get ready!" Biana's rushed tone saved the two from the awkward silence that would have prevailed between them. "You can talk to your girlfriend at the ball!"

Sophie wanted to protest and say that technically the two weren't dating, and Fitz looked like he wanted to do the same before he looked at the pile of clothes in Biana's hands.

"Are those my clothes? I thought I gave you different ones," he said.

"Yeah, but your fashion sense sucks and I had to use my own judgement and grabbed some other stuff," Biana told him. "And Sophie, what are you doing in the kitchen? Where are Linh and the triplets?"

"Oh um . . . I was getting some water for Linh so she could do water tricks while we waited for you. But I guess there's no point in that now," she quickly explained.

Biana's eyes lit up and she dropped all the clothes in her hands. "Perfect!"

Fitz's eyes widened. "Hey! My clothes!"

"Linh can just do her hydrokinesis stuff for them and I get to finish your makeup!" Biana said excitedly.

Oh no, Sophie immediately thought.

"Also, Fitz, I put out your outfit on your old bed," Biana told her brother with her hands on her hips. "It'll match Sophie's outfit and makeup so hurry up and go get ready!"

"You know I have to get back to the Golden Towers, right?" he asked.

Biana rolled her eyes. "I know. Take the tux and go! I need to finish Sophie!"

Fitz shook his head at Biana before turning to face Sophie with a smile. "I'll see you soon."

Sophie smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

He hesitated for a moment, but then decided to go through with his original thought and leaned closer to Sophie, kissed her temple, and whispered into her ear, "You always look beautiful."

He walked away with a goofy grin and Sophie only stood still, tomatoes replacing her cheeks.

Biana clapped her hands and squealed. "You two are so adorable! Ahh! Also, he should do that more often, it's going to save me from using blush on you."

Sophie looked at her friend. "Please go easy on me with the makeup."

Biana grinned—it looked a little evil in Sophie's opinion. "You know I won't."

"And . . . done!" Biana exclaimed as she finished the last touches.

Sophie was worried to look in the mirror after being poked and prodded—and almost stabbed in the eye several times—at. Reluctantly she turned to face the mirror and smiled.

"Whoa," she breathed. Biana resorted to using the classic golden eyeshadow to make her eyes pop, made her cheekbones seem a little higher than normal, and her lips were glossed a shiny red. She looked . . . pretty.

"My brother isn't going to know what hit him," Biana said with a squeal. "Ugh! I can't wait for Fitzphie children! You're definitely going to have a girl first—I've always wanted a niece."

"Can we just go to the ball, now?" Sophie pleaded, needing to be saved from Biana's comments.

"Aw, you both look stunning!" a voice called from the door and the girls turned to find Della waiting there with a wide smile. "And you did a wonderful job babysitting."

"Thanks, Mom," Biana said. "Wait, how come you're home so soon?"

Della's eyes widened a bit. "Uh . . . oh! Look at the time! You girls are going to be late. Better get going!"

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did you have to do, again?"

Della sighed, realizing she might as well tell them now. "I just had to leave the house and see if you were ready to take care of the children on your own."

"Why?" Biana questioned, making miniscule adjustments to Sophie's natural-messy-looking-bun.

Della only smiled. "Just out of curiosity. Now you girls really do need to leave!"

Sophie took in a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for a fancy occasion, before following Biana out of the room and towards the leapmaster. 

~*~

Question: what K-Pop groups (if any) do you stan? 
(If you want, try including group name, bias + bias wreckers, ships, and any song recommendations.)

Song: BTS - "DNA"
(this song was my alarm when it came out a couple years ago, so every time I hear the chorus, my brain is like, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!!" It's not as bad anymore, though)

Thanks, lovelies! -Nuela <3
Edited by EllenH2006