"I still can't believe that you fell into the arms of Fitz Vacker." Marella whispered to me, pretending to watch our gym teacher perform a perfect split. The school's gym curriculum was out to get me, from last week's basketball unit to now gymnastics. I couldn't even do a front roll, let alone a split!

"He-llo!" Marella said in a low voice. "Like seriously, Soph, you're the luckiest girl, like, ever. You have Keefe Sencen as your Chemistry partner, and you freaking fell into the arms of Fitz Vacker!"

"So, what's the big deal?" I muttered, crossing my arms. I really regret telling Marella and Linh about my "Fitzphie Fall!" as Keefe calls it. All he did was catch me as I tripped, then express concern over the burn on my leg. And yet, we still have a ship name. A ship name!

"What's the big deal?!" Linh exclaimed, joining the conversation. "He's literally royalty in this school, Sophie. Now all you need is a ship name, and his weirdly possessive sister will chop your head off."

"We already have a ship name, so ya, in your terms I'm basically dead." I mumbled to the ground.

"What?!" Linh and Marella whisper-shrieked. Several heads turned in our direction as I hid behind my hair. "You're so dead." Marella declared. "I'm surprised Princess Prettypants hasn't marched over here already, ready to tear off your arm with her perfect manicure."

"She's really that bad?" I asked, glancing over to where Biana was gossiping with her usually posse of girls. I watched as she flipped her hair and giggled at something one of her friends whispered in her ear.

"Uh, ya," Linh and Marella chimed. "I already told you that she's super possessive of Keefe, right?" Marella asked me. I nodded. Thanks to my friends, I now knew everything about the famous, super-duper rich trio.

Fitz was a junior and basically the leader of the group. Unlike Keefe, almost whenever a magazine asked him to model, he agreed. His parents, Alden Vacker and Della Vacker, were basically royalty in the modeling world. It also helped that Alden also worked with the government.

Fitz's sister, Biana, was almost worse. She was also a junior, but was a year younger than Fitz. She didn't wait for the magazine's to offer; she in essence invited herself over to their modeling jobs. "Queen of gossip, modeling, and basically acting shallow", as Marella put it.

And it seemed to ring true. For the little I've seen of her, she was constantly gossiping, fixing her outfit/hair/makeup/everything, and being sickly sweet. And she was even more possessive of her brother than her crush, which was saying something.

You already know enough about Keefe. Anyways, I wanted to know as little as possible about 'Sencen.' I much rather learn about Keefe from himself.

"Well, one time a girl who wasn't a girl in her friend group asked Fitz out, and he accepted. Two weeks later, Little Miss Gossip had terrorized the poor girl so much that she dropped out of Foxfire."

"You saw this?" I gasped, but Marella shook her head. "No, but I've heard the gossip. I could go on and on with all the horror stories, but-"

Ms. Alexine clapped her hands, signaling to get into our groups. "Today, we'll be starting with something simple: forward rolls." She announced.

My heart, which had lifted at 'simple', sank like a stone. Of course it was the forward roll.

Marella and linh hooked their arms through mine. "Relax, Soph," Marella teased, dragging me over to a mat in the back of the room. "Maybe you won't get into an accident for once!"

"Umm, Marella?" I asked. "Have you even known me over the past six years?" Marella and Linh burst out laughing.

"It's simple," Linh told me, squatting down on the mat. "You raise your hands, lean forward and simply roll." On roll, she leaned forward and executed a perfect forward roll to her feet. "You see? Easy."

"Easy for you to say," I grumbled. "You're a gymnast." But after a moment's hesitation, I squatted on the mat as well. "Here- don't face that way- and keep your feet apart-" Linh made minuscule tweaks to my stance.

"Ok, good," She took a step back. "Now just- roll."

I took a deep breath and leaned forward, placing my hands in front of me. Then I let go. I chanted the steps in my head. Push, over, tuck head in- my wrist crumpled, knocking me off balance. My eyes flew open and I saw the ground rushing up to meet my head.

Then I felt a sharp pain in my forehead and everything went black.

o-O-o

"We should take her to the Healing Center-"

"No, we can't move her like this, there's too much blood-"

"Might have a concussion-"

My eyes flew open, squinting in the bright light of the coach's office. "W-wha-what happened?" I slurred.

Linh flew to my side. "Oh my god, Sophie, thank god you're awake!" She said frantically. "Marella! Ms. Alexine! Sophie's awake!"

Two familiar heads popped into view. "What happened?" I repeated.

"Miss Foster, thank goodness you are awake. You hit the edge of the wall with your forehead and blacked out. How are you feeling?"

I struggled to sit up. "I have a pounding headache, but besides that, I think I'm fine."

Ms. Alexine frowned. "Just in case, we should get you to the nurse. We need to make sure you don't have a concussion. Miss Song, Miss Redek, please take Sophie to the Healing Center."

Marella mockingly saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!"

I hestaintedly slid off the bed, bracing myself on Marella and Linh's shoulders. The second I touched the ground, however, the room spun. I cried out in pain. But the next step was easier. And so was the next one. And the next one. And the next one.

After about ten steps, I could walk without feeling like I was about to throw up. I leaned heavily on Marella and Linh as they slowly guided me out of the gym and down the halls. One, two, one, two, one, two, three. One, two, one, two, one two, three.

I started to drift, letting my brain take autopilot. One, two, one, two, one, two, three. The world was reduced to smudges of colors and sound, as if I was underwater. One, two, one, two, one, two, three. Hopefully Grady and Edaline didn't hear about this. They took the meaning of 'overprotective parents' to a whole new level.

Somewhere, high, high, up out of the water, I vaguely heard a voice calling out, and footsteps too. All of a sudden, Marella and Linh jerked to a stop.

"Foster, what happened?" I focused my eyes and saw, of all the people I could have seen, Keefe. He jerked to a stop in front of me. "Keefe. Hi." I said lamely.

He looked at the gash on my forehead. "What happened?" he repeated.

"Accident...in gym...class." I told him woozily. I felt my blood soaking out of the gauze on my forehead. Keefe smiled humorlessly. "I should have known." He looked me over once, then, before I knew what was happening, hoisted me up in his surprisingly muscular arms.

"Put me down!" I flailed, snapping out of my sleepiness. "Keefe! Put! Me! Down! Right! Now!"

"Nope. It's the fastest way to get you to the nurse. You know, flailing around is just going to make you bleed more, right?" He asked conversationally, walking down the hall.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Marella and Linh gaping at Keefe, and me in his arms for a second, then rushing to catch up. Keefe ignored them.

"What are you doing?!"

"Taking you to the nurse."

"I don't need to be carried!"

"Foster, you can barely stand, so don't argue with me."

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"This is more important."

"Keefe!"

"Chill, Foster, class is almost over anyways."

I didn't get his attitude. I was fine! I've never seen him like this. We reached the doors of the gymnasium. Shifting me into his right arm, he used his left to push open the door. Marella and Linh scrambled to catch up. Keefe started striding across the grass. "Foster, just relax, ok?"

I wanted to argue, but the wooziness was setting in again, and lumbering of his footsteps was oddly soothing. Without really knowing what I was doing, I snuggled closer against his chest. And of course Keefe had to ruin the moment.

"Foster, if you wanted to snuggle, you just had to ask." He smirked. I twisted around and saw a pair of Sophmore girls staring at us and giggling. Oh.

I jerked away from his chest. Great, now the whole school would be talking about this. As if I needed more attention.

And it got worse.

Just as we were rounding the corner, the girl in red took out her phone and snapped a picture.