Both of our cheeks burning furiously, I tenderly place Sophie on the ground again. My mind racing with questions, I absentmindedly turn to look at the others. I don't hear what Mr. Wallace says, but I see Sophie nod besides me. I'm assuming that he asked whether she was alright or not.

But I do catch the part where Laurel exclaims, "This is going into my collage!"

"When did you start making a collage?" I ask, dread pooling into my stomach as my cheeks flush more. "And when did you have the time?"

"And what else in in that collage?" Sophie asks, her face bright red.

Laurel merely giggles. Benen takes this chance to say, "Of you two when sleeping, that moment in the dark where you two were holding hands-"

"How'd you get into my room?!" Sophie asks, blushing at the memory of the two of us last year. I blush as well, but still curious.

"Mr. Wallace!" she chirps.

"Oh- then there's that time after that when you tried walking back and Fitz caught you all movie-scene like," Benen mentions to Sophie, making both of us blush even more.

"Seriously, how did you get those... moments?" I ask, purposely looking at the ceiling since it's so interesting. "Didn't these happen in the dark? And wouldn't we have heard you?"

"Yeah," the female Percipient voices. "I didn't even notice you were there."

"And there was moment when the light just turned on and Fitz was still holding your hand," Laurel tells Sophie.

"After she snuck in?" I ask. When Laurel nods, my eyes widen. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh, were you two talking?" Laurel asks, giggling more. "I didn't hear anything- I just took the photo and left!" She laughs more when I relax noticeably. "Why- were you expressing some feelings?"

"No!" we both say a bit too quickly. We then look at each other before blushing- our synchronization was not helping on our behalf.

Laurel laughs more. "But I think this moment was my favorite!" She snaps her fingers in disappointment. "You two were so close!"

"T- to?" I ask, my blush coming back at full force. Sonia blushes deeply when Laurel squeals in response as Benen raises an eyebrow at me. I sigh and mouth, "Later" to him. He nods, but still smiles at me.

Mr. Wallace, even though he's the one who didn't warn me that I'd somehow endanger someone today, comes to our rescue. "Well, I think that Fitz must be drained and Sophie must be scared out of her mind right now-"

We both nod because he wasn't wrong. As if on cue, I feel my connection to my mind slipping from exhaustion.

Mr. Wallace further proves this when he points to a levitating Benen. "See?" he says, pointing to a speechless Benen when I grab strings of my consciousness to bring him down. "The telekinesis drained him so much that he can't control himself that much."

Before I can agree, the teal ribbon that's still tied to the ceiling unties itself and circles around me like a bird before blindfolding me. I try to pry it off with my fingers as Sophie gasps in fear, but I fail to do so. Instead, I manage to loosen the knot considerably, but don't take it off completely. The sudden drain in energy makes me fall to my knees. I hold my arms out and breathe, "I'm... fine... just..."

"Drained?" Sophie asks as the ribbon unties itself completely, most likely due to Sophie using telekinesis herself. I then look up as I see her lower Mr. Wallace and Laurel from midair. I smile apologetically as they dust themselves off look at the two of us.

Sophie takes a step back, holding her arms out to stabilize herself. "Wow," she says. "Um, you're right- that's pretty draining."

Mr. Wallace nods, dusting himself off. "Those effects will fade quickly since you possess more potential that I would've ever guessed. So go to your rooms- it's almost three in the afternoon."

We nod and exit Donovan's room, the Altruistics following. I hear cameras clicking, but merely raise my eyebrow before Sophie and I separate into our own rooms.

Once inside, I turn around to see Benen holding a camera as well, scrolling through the photos. He smiles at the last one before looking at me. "What?" he asks.

"I heard cameras clicking behind us," I explain. "What'd I do? I didn't hold her hand accidentally, did I?!" My eyes widen as my questions from a few moments before come back to me.

Benen shakes his head, still smiling. "No, but you did do something that I'd call adorable."

My face all of my dread I'm feeling, my face paling as well. "Oh no. What?"

All of my breath leaves me when I see a photo of Sophie and me walking out the doors, the edges of the doors still visible in the photos. I don't see at first what's wrong- or adorable, in Benen's perspective- until I look at our hands. My hand's slightly closer to Sophie's, but not touching hers.

So that means that I'm the one who accidentally tied the teal ribbon around her right wrist as if it were a bracelet.

I blush considerably. "What's happening to me, Benen?" I ask feebly before I sit down.

Benen looks at me in confusion. "What?" he asks.

"After we left, I can't stop thinking of her and of all these questions about what I did, and what I almost did. And with this, I don't know..." I sigh in exasperation, placing my head in my hands as I sit down on my bed.

"Like..?" Benen asks. "What type of questions?"

"Like why I leaned in, and why she leaned in as well," I begin, not knowing how to stop myself. Before I know it, I'm spilling everything. "I don't know why my heart started beating so quickly being so close to her and why I've been feeling the same feeling when we were at Leila's house. I also don't know why my heart twisted in different directions when we were snapped back to reality..." Without any more words to express how I'm feeling, I look up at Benen for his expression.

"Wow, that's much deeper than how I described to myself," Benen begins, making me feel like I was too sappy with getting my words across. "But Fitz..."

"Yeah?"

"You know what I think it is?"

"What?"

"You like her, Fitz Vacker." When I'm left speechless, Benen swallows before saying again, but this time a bit louder and more certain, "You like Sophie."

"I-" I play through all of my new emotions with this mindset of a crush.

And he's right. Oh, so right.

My eyes widen as I stand up. "That explains it, but..." I begin pacing, a habit I've made for myself after Michelle and David's case. "Why do I feel so unnerved? Like my heart's going to explode at any second? Or like my mind will never calm down or feel relaxed ever again?"

Benen sighs. "Liking someone is never rational, to put it in your complicated words," he says. I smile at him thankfully. Thank God I trust him like a brother. "But the worry you're feeling is probably because you're wondering if she likes you back."

"Why am I worrying about this already?" I fail to stifle my yawn, and for a moment, my worried questions fading away momentarily. "If you want, you can go check on Sophie since she was hanging from the ceiling a few minutes earlier." Pointing to my bed, I say, "I'm going to sleep and try to sort my thoughts out."

Benen nods. "I did that, but I failed. Let's try to see if you can. You most likely won't," he adds, smiling at me unhelpfully.

I sigh. "I know."

...

The boy stands in front of a cabinet, the only thing he can see. Everything else is dark, reminding just how isolated he is surrounded by the darkness.

Looking at the cabinet, he opens the last drawer. He doesn't know why he did this; maybe because he likes to think outside the box. And he sees nothing. Not even a scrap of paper.

The first drawer didn't have anything inside it either. The third drawer had the same result.

The second drawer, however, was overflowing. Papers suddenly fall out before all the papers won't stay in and swirl around him like a cyclone, but without the wind and destruction to his surroundings.

Which is nothing. Literally.

Sighing, he reaches up and grabs a paper. Instantly, his mind is occupied with the girl who had pulled him away from absolute confinement. Chills run up his spine as he quickly places the paper down neatly. Just as he does, a number of folders appear in the file, the newly-placed paper magically switching to the last folder. Raising an eyebrow, the boy grabs at another piece of paper, seeing the girl again. He places the paper down after he realizes that he saw her for a longer time. He rubs his eyes, knowing that he has to just put the paper away.

Faster, he grabs at the air randomly and somehow begins to sort the papers out without crumpling them up in any way. He then tries to shake the girl out of his head, but only feels his heart long for her in returns.

The boy quickens his pace before he suddenly stops. He sees the teal eyed girl smile at him before grabbing his hand softly, her blond hair practically lighting him up. She laughs the most beautiful laugh as she takes one step backwards, causing him to take one step forward. "That's it," the girl whispers encouragingly, making him feel like he's on top of whatever world he's in. "Just take a step. Come on..."

The boy shakes his head, forcing the girl away from his thoughts. This job is dangerous, he thinks to himself as he files everything more and more quickly. I almost lost myself.

He's almost done when he feels a soft hand gracefully hold his shoulder. The boy stops what he's doing, but stays where he is. He doesn't stop the blond girl from turning him around so he's facing her. She smiles at him before reaching down and prying the paper he was holding out of his hands. When she narrows his eyes at it, he quickly takes it back and puts it away, seeing the blond girl longer than before.

He's in this daze so long that he only snaps back to reality when he sees the girl rip the drawer out entirely. "What are you doing?!" he shouts, his heart already tugging and twisting his emotions in unpredictable and indescribable ways. He feels happiness, worry, and another emotion that draws his to the teal eyed girl.

She doesn't answer him as she throws the drawer into the air, both of them watching as the papers all fall down. They glow teal like her eyes before dissolving completely into the darkness, making the boy speechless. He doesn't even flinch when the metal drawer comes down with a BANG.

The girl smiles in satisfaction before whirling around and grabbing the boy's shoulders. One hand gripping his neck, the girl closes her sea green eyes and gently kisses his forehead and nose. He feels a warm sensation on the specific areas from where her lips touched his skin.

But instead of stepping back afterwards, she leans in so close, their noses are touching and their faces are millimeters away. Instead of closing the distance, though, she smiles as she places her right thumb on his lips, her fingers warm in a soothing way. She runs her thumb down his bottom lip and chin before pulling him close to her again. "You can never sort those out once you've seen and felt them for the first time," she whispers to him. "Remember those teal papers you saw fall helplessly to the ground?"

At a loss for words, the boy nods instead.

"You're like those teal papers. You fell in helplessly, and now you're lost in them. You can't sort them out." She smiles before tracing the outline of his face. "You can't get out of it now."

"I can't..." the boy mumbles. "I'm lost..."

"And that's just the beginning."

...

I suddenly sit up in bed, almost making Benen drop his camera. "What, what?!" he asks, looking at me in worry as I jump up from my bed and begin to pace again.

I sigh. "Benen," I begin.

"Yes?"

"I didn't sort them out," I say. "I can't. I've... fallen. I'm lost."

Benen pats my shoulder. "I know. And that's just the beginning."

"The beginning of what?" I manage to croak out, running a hand through my hair frantically.

"The beginning of infatuation." Benen replies smoothly. "The beginning of your crush on Sophie Foster."