Sophie blinked up at the tall golden gates barricading her from the ginormous house. No matter how many times she came to the Vacker place, or estate if she was really being honest, she would always feel starstruck by the huge, palace-like house that towered over her like a menacing giant. The gold gates gleamed in the sun, rays of light glaring down as she stood there tapping her foot, waiting for Biana to let her in.

Surprisingly, it was Della Vacker who finally let her behind the walls that guarded their castle.

Unsurprisingly, the Vacker siblings' mother was impeccably dressed, from the long, jewel-toned purple dress that stopped just above her feet to the elegant way her brown hair was swept into an up-do. The amethyst pins in her hair that matched the dress in color glittered as she approached, catching the light beautifully.

When she reached Sophie, she pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. Her appearance would fool most, unaware of the strength and power she held. She was a force, just as every mother was, in her own special way.

"Sophie! It's been a while since I've seen you around here," she exclaimed as she pulled back and gripped Sophie's shoulders, studying her face with searching pale blue eyes. Apparently, she was satisfied with whatever she found, because she dropped her hands and motioned for Sophie to follow. "Fitz and Biana are waiting for you."

"It's nice to see you, Della," Sophie said as she followed her to the back. It suddenly hit her that she had said Fitz and Biana. Her heart sped up at the thought of him waiting for her.

"Go on, have fun. It's nice to see you back too, Sophie." She flashed another warm smile, and then she was gone, leaving Sophie to hunt for her best friend and crush while she mulled over her words.

She didn't have to look long, because as per usual, Biana found her first. She ran over and threw her arms around Sophie in a hug almost as tight as her mother's.

"Sophie!" she squealed. "Glad you could come!"

"Me too!" Sophie replied. She had to hold herself back from asking where Fitz was, but again, she didn't have to wait long, because he came through the back door just then.

His hair, normally styled, was product-less, flopping over his eyes in soft brown waves as he bent down to grab water from the small sitting table next to him that out-looked the rest of the backyard. His teal eyes were alight, and Sophie's stomach fluttered at the sight of him so casual. Biana waved at him, and he jogged over. He grinned as he approached them, stopping in front of Sophie.

"Glad you could make it," he said nonchalantly.

"Glad I could come," Sophie said, regaining herself.

"Should we go inside?" Biana asked after an awkward moment of looking back and forth between them with a giant grin.

"Why not?" Sophie said, tearing her eyes away from Fitz's teal ones before she could get too lost in them. "What should we do?"

Biana tapped a finger to her chin in thought, before her eyes lit up. "I got it!" She grabbed Sophie's wrist, about to drag her away, before pausing with a smirk. She wheeled around to face Fitz. "Would you like to join us?"

Fitz met Sophie's eyes again, and then grinned in a way that made her sure he knew exactly what he was doing. "Why not?"

Biana's great idea turned out to be whipping up a batch of another one of Edaline's food creations, a dessert Sophie had a soft spot for that Grady had deemed mallowmelt. The entire Vacker family had adopted it, and it was a shared food whenever their families would get together for parties and such.

As they baked, Fitz cracked jokes and Biana scolded their sloppy measurements. Eventually, when they finished, Fitz suggested that they try putting icing on it. Sophie thought it would taste terrible and wasn't a fan of icing anyway, but she nodded, eager to extend their time together. She ended up being right, as it tasted disgusting, but she grinned through the artificial sweetness on her tongue.

At least he tried, and he'd even drawn an awkward but cute little bow on her piece, like he was giving her gift. When it was his turn to try it, he took one bite and immediately threw it in the trash. He turned back to see Sophie's grimace as she tried to get her features under control, and laughed.

"Don't worry, you don't have to pretend it's good for my sake," he chuckled, plucking the overly sugary dessert from her hand and tossing it.

She blushed when their fingers touched, but he either didn't notice or was ignoring it for her sake. Either way, she was grateful to be spared the extra embarrassment.

"This was fun," he said a bit shyly as they cleaned up, Biana having left them to "deal with their own mess". "There's no place I'd rather spend a Saturday afternoon."

When Sophie arrived back home, those teal eyes of his were all she could see in her mind, and the softness in them as he told her he'd like nothing more than to be right there with her.

On Monday, she was immediately called to Tiergan's office. She silently thanked him for saving her from having to go to Mrs. Galvin's, turning down the opposite way to his office.

She knocked quietly when she approached the door. She could hear him talking through the door, though the sound was muffled and she couldn't make out words. After shifting from foot to foot for a minute, she decided to go ahead and open the door.

She pushed it open slowly, the creaking of the hinges alerting him of her presence. Tiergan looked up quickly, an odd wistfulness in his eyes. He was holding a phone to his ear, and his normally slicked back hair was ruffled, like he'd been tearing his hands through it.

"I have a student, may I get back to you?" he murmured into the receiver. After a moment, he smiled. "Yes, and thank you for the update. Mmm. Bye." He hung up, and then clasped his hands together in that manner of his that made him seem calm and in control.

"Hello, Sophie," he greeted her. She sat down in the chair in front of him, tilting her head curiously. Before she could ask, he answered. "I was getting updates on Prentice's condition."

"Oh..." Sophie's eyes slid down to the floor guiltily.

Despite his suggestion, she hadn't yet met up with Wylie or visited Prentice. She'd been so busy with Keefe and Fitz and the rink that she'd completely neglected it, and them in the process. She slid down in her seat, but Tiergan's eyes were looking past her, his mind a million miles away.

"Anyway," he said, his eyes snapping back to hers, "I realized that it's already November, and I haven't done a check-in with you, so I figured I should now." He leaned over. "So. How are you doing?"

"Well... not bad, honestly." And Sophie realized it was true. She still didn't go a day without thinking about Jolie, but she'd found it was less painful. Despite the stress of dealing with her secret and Snowflake Boy and her crush, she actually felt... lighter.

Tiergan must have seen it in her face, because he smiled. "I see."

And he sent her on her way.

She went to one of the bathrooms, opting to avoid her first period and sitting and thinking instead.

Her visits with Tiergan always made her think a lot deeper than she normally would, no matter how short. His insightful words seemed to rub off on her. Sophie was still contemplating when the bell rang as she walked down the hall. She found her locker and started spinning for the combination. She had just popped it open when she heard her name being called.

"Foster!" Keefe yelled from down the hall, approaching with quick footsteps. "I'm in dire need of assistance."

Several heads turned at his announcement, and Sophie's cheeks reddened as they connected it to her and the obnoxiously loud blonde boy.

"What is it, Keefe?" she asked, turning her head to rummage through her locker and hide her blushing face.

Keefe seemed unfazed by the stares, plowing on. "I need you to do me a favor."

"Uh oh," Sophie said immediately. She had spent enough time with Keefe to know that his 'favors' often involved something incredibly embarrassing or incredibly against the rules. Judging by the smirk that was curling his lips as they met eyes, she had a feeling it was the latter.

"Well, I figured it's time to give some payback to our lovely principal."

As expected, Principal Alina was not fond of Keefe, and he returned those feelings. He had been to detention twice within the short amount of time that he had attended Foxfire, administered to him on both accounts by the principal herself. She was determined to find reasons to punish him, and Keefe figured, if that's how she was going to paint him, why not be exactly that?

And 'exactly that' seemed to involve Sophie a lot more times than she was comfortable with, and despite her misgivings she ended up agreeing every time.

This time, though, she wouldn't give in.

"I'm not helping you this time. At all. Not even a little bit," she said vehemently.

Keefe raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. "Are you sure? I can't honestly believe you're not dying to see what her face will look like when she finds cockroaches in her office."

"Yes, I'm- wait, did you just say cockroaches?" She stopped short, the lock she had been fiddling with dangling from her fingers.

He gave her a smug grin. "Indeed I did, Mysterious Miss F."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "New nickname?"

"It fits, don't you think? What with your secrecy about-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," she cut him off quickly, eyes darting around the halls cautiously despite herself. There were only a few people loitering besides them, which reminded her that they had to get to class.

Keefe just shook his head. "See? Mysterious!"

"I'm not even going to respond to that. We have class, Keefe," she said urgently.

He smirked. "I see what you're doing. Trying to avoid it. Fair enough. I'll convince you," he shouted the last part just as she disappeared down the corner.

"Ha," she muttered. "Fat chance of that."

Okay, so maybe he did convince her.

But she was trying to convince herself that they wouldn't get caught, and in any case, the sour principal really did deserve everything she had coming to her.

She felt uneasy as they walked down the hallway, and Keefe's shoes sounded impossibly loud against the tile. Though she knew it was probably her paranoia, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

"Could you please walk any quieter?" she whispered sharply.

"Should I tiptoe?" he snorted.

Sophie refrained from acknowledging that he made a good point, instead switching gears to nagging him about his risky plan. "And you're sure her lunch break doesn't end for another twenty minutes?"

"Positive," Keefe said confidently.

Sophie shot a disbelieving look at the back of his head, but sighed and relented. They approached the door to his office, and Keefe glanced from left to right before slowly opening the door. Sophie cringed at the creak it made, quickly looking back behind her, but the hall was empty. And dark...

"Would you hurry?" she snapped, fear leaking into her voice in the form of irritation.

"Sorry, sorry," Keefe said hurriedly, shuffling to the side so that she could step in as well. She shut the door with relief, glad she didn't have to look at the eerie hallway anymore.

"Do you have the cockroaches?" she asked after watching him dig through his bar frantically for  more than a few worrying seconds. "Is a large jar of dead bugs really that hard to find?"

"Chill, Foster. I've almost- there! Got it!" He broke off with glee.

"Where are you going to put them?" She followed him as he prowled around the room, looking for the perfect spot.

"Hmm... ooh." He grinned devilishly as he caught sight of the half-drank mug of some sort of tea concoction.

"Keefe..." Before Sophie could get more than his name out, he had opened the jar and plopped one in. She leaned over to look at the black bug now floating in the watery brown contents of the cup. "Don't you think that's going a bit far?"

"Nothing's too far for her," he said solemnly, before his eyes lit up as he caught sight of a half-open drawer.

Sophie stood and watched him with an anxious sort of amusement as he walked around the room, eyes flicking between him and the door. He continued to place the roaches wherever he saw fit, until he finally emptied out the jar, closing it and grinning.

"And now," he said dramatically, "we escape."

And escape they did.

Or at least, they tried to.

Sophie couldn't help the quiet giggle of relief that slipped from her mouth as they crept to the exit of the room together. Keefe put a finger to his lips jokingly, making the exaggerated motion of pressing his ear to the door and slowly lifting his hand up and turning the handle. Sophie had to smother another laugh at his antics, but it died in her throat as they looked up to find the one person they absolutely could not get caught by staring down at them.

"Now, what is going on here?" Principal Alina said, crossing her arms and fixing them with a glare that made both Sophie and Keefe straighten. They met each other's eyes, and in that moment she was sure the exact same thought was running through both of their heads.

We're. So. Screwed.

A/N: Yayyy! Sophitz for the Sophitz/undecided/mixed shippers!!

I even titled the chapter just for him! Are you proud of me yet :3

I have to say, the Vackers and their house are so BEAUTIFUL that I have almost too much fun thinking of descriptions for them XD

Tell me how you're doing! I'm currently very stressed over finals and very excited for two weeks all to myself afterwards. Just have to push through these last few days and I'm free :'')