"So..."

"Don't. Talk to me." Sophie growled out the words, gripping her pencil so hard it made her wince, though that didn't stop her from shooting another murderous glare at the idiotic blonde boy in front of her. They were sitting in a bland gray room, the only objects filling the space being several desks and chairs, the teacher's desk, and a few unused, dusty shelves.

Keefe held his hands up in surrender, twisting around further in his seat at the desk in front of her. "Okay, so things didn't go according to plan. But..."

"But what, Keefe?"

"At least it's the amazing duo of Team Foster-Keefe that's stuck in detention, am I right?"

Sophie stared at him dubiously. Before she could open her mouth to express her disgust at the title, someone else spoke for her.

"You really does have a death wish, don't you, Blondie?" Sophie whirled around to face a smirking Marella, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere and tilting her head to the side to look at them from her desk behind them. She jerked her thumb at Sophie. "This one's terrifying when she's angry."

"Oh?" Keefe smirked as well. "Is there a story behind that?"

"Well-"

"This is not story time. We're in detention, Keefe. We're in trouble!" Sophie snapped, cutting Marella off.

"So? This is just a... fun little unexpected detour in my fantastic plan." Keefe reassured her. Before Sophie could point out that he was the last person who should be attempting to comfort her, the teacher proctoring detention walked in.

She saw the hunter-green cape before she saw the auburn top-knot, but the same feeling of dread she felt every morning washed over her.

Ms. Galvin.

The teacher spun around to face them, cape swinging with her in a way that would be funny on anyone else, but on her was just ominous. Ms. Galvin caught sight of her immediately, narrowing her eyes and arching a dark brow. "Ms. Foster. I can't say I'm surprised."

"Oh?" Keefe whispered. "Do you have a secret double-life as a delinquent that I'm unaware of?"

"And you, Mr. Sencen," Ms. Galvin continued sharply. "I certainly had low expectations. Though I didn't think it possible, it seems that you have set the bar lower."

Keefe grinned smugly in return, and Sophie had to wonder just what this boy was afraid of, if not the menace that was their chemistry teacher.

"Ouch," Marella whispered at both of them.

"And you, Miss Redek. What are you here for?"

"Insulting a teacher, I think. I'm not quite sure though. Half of his verdict was incoherent screaming." The girl tossed her braids in a show of nonchalance.

"The third time this week," the teacher responded, letting clear disappointment leak into the words.

Marella shrugged. "It's a talent."

Sophie suddenly realized that besides the three of them, the room was empty. An entire hour alone with Ms. Galvin with only Snowflake Boy and her snarky friend as witnesses... what could go wrong?

As Sophie suspected, putting Marella and Keefe in the same room was not a good idea. Their personalities were just similar enough that they could get along, but so similar that they were constantly butting heads, with Sophie sitting in the middle of it all. Several times she considered banging her head on her desk, but she figured that would only be painful and result in an onslaught of teasing from both of them about her tendency to get injured.

Ms. Galvin had tasked them with completing an extra chemistry assignment. For Sophie, this meant powering through her work as fast as she could in an effort to get it done and out of the way, but for Keefe and Marella, it meant a ridiculous amount of procrastination and off-topic discussions that made Sophie question the sanity of the people she chose to associate herself with.

Sophie had been nearly finished with her chemistry assignment when Keefe decided to bring it up.

"So you know how Foster skates? Well-"

Sophie was leaning across the table and smacking Keefe's head before he could finish. Her face was so close to his that she could see the light, barely noticeable freckles that dotted his nose and cheeks. "Not another word or I will seriously murder you."

Keefe grinned. "Ooh, is this the violent side that Marella was talking about earlier? I like this Foster."

"Shut up."

"Not a chance."

"Is this a future couple I smell?" Marella smirked, leaning back in her chair and resting her feet on her desk.

"Feet off, Miss Redek," Ms. Galvin snapped a second later without looking up from her papers. Sophie thought the woman must have superhuman abilities.

"And speaking of skating, I went to the rink a little while ago and I saw you with your coworkers. A girl and a boy. What are their names?" Marella asked casually.

"Linh is the girl, Tam is the boy. They're twins," Sophie answered distractedly, a bit worried about the evil look on Keefe's face.

"Linh. Interesting..." Marella murmured, and Sophie thought her cheeks looked a little redder than normal.

"One-sided, maybe," Keefe said, completely unaware of the odd conversation they'd just had. "There's no way Foster wouldn't fall for my impossibly good looks and charming personality," he declared, and Sophie noticed his cheeks looked pink, though it wasn't like she could judge, with her own most likely fire-engine red cheeks.

"I would never date Keefe of all people," Sophie protested.

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm plenty attractive," Keefe retorted indignantly.

"Mhm. I'm keeping my eye on you two. And there will be no shortage of "I told you so's" when it does happen," Marella said before Sophie could argue.

"If," Sophie corrected, regretting it immediately when both Marella and Keefe raised an eyebrow.

"If?" They chorused at the same time. Sophie groaned and let her head slump onto her desk.

"Does Foster have a crush on me?" Keefe teased, poking her shoulder.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"This is too cute," Marella giggled.

"Ugh, leave me alone, both of you," Sophie groaned a bit too loudly.

"Miss Foster?" Ms. Galvin's voice cut through their conversation like a knife.

Sophie's head snapped up and both of her friends smothered laughs. "Yes, Ms. Galvin?"

"Need I remind you that this is detention?" The woman was standing up, looking down on Sophie.

"No, Ms, Galvin?" Her response came out as a question, and the teacher glared at her for a moment. Then, abruptly, she sat back down.

"Detention tomorrow. Do not repeat this behavior again."

"But-"

"Detention. Tomorrow."

"Yes, Ms. Galvin..." Sophie slunk down in her seat, glaring at her two beside her. "I hate you both."

They just kept laughing.

As soon as Ms. Galvin released them, Sophie dashed out of the classroom. She could hear footsteps behind her, and a few seconds later, Keefe was in step beside her. She cursed his long long legs, quickening her pace, but it was no use.

"Hey, slow down," Keefe said, laughter still lingering in his voice.

"What is it, Keefe?" She sighed tiredly, her frustration from being reprimanded and assigned an extra day of detention and the leftover panic from her secret almost being exposed again mixing to form a barely contained irritation.

"What was all of that about earlier?"

Sophie's heart sped up. "All of what?"

"You know what. The way you reacted to me bringing up skating." Despite herself, Sophie glanced around the hall quickly, checking among the mass of students for any of her friends. Keefe pointed at her accusingly. "See? I let it go last time because you seemed pretty anxious, but this is the second time. What is going on, Sophie? What aren't you telling me?"

Something about the way he said her name made her stomach clench. She couldn't tell if it was in a good or bad way. "Why do you care, Keefe?"

"Because I'm your friend!" he said, throwing his hands up.

"Please, we haven't known each other for that long. Why would I tell you if I won't even tell my other friends?"

"I don't know, I just... I thought you trusted me, I guess," he said, his voice quieting at the end.

Sophie hesitated at his sincerity, but plowed on. She whirled around to face him. "You know by chance, Keefe. You just happened to come to my school after we met at the rink by coincidence. I never wanted this to happen. I told you, I don't want you here." Sophie wanted to snatch the words back as soon as they came out of her mouth.

Keefe blinked, stricken, but then his face changed, hardening into that mask Sophie hated so much. "I'm... sorry for assuming." His voice wasn't cold, but it was empty. Dead.

Guilt welled up, but he had slowly walked past her before she could take it all back, his name refusing to push past her lips.

And so she stood there, surrounded by hundreds of kids dressed exactly like her, and yet... she had never felt so alone.

A/N: Queen Marella back at it again with the snarky comments

I couldn't leave her out of this story for too long ;)

On an unrelated note, I'm legitimately so exhausted right now. How are you feeling?