s o p h i e    f o s t e r

"you guys! tell me more! you know how mad i am about missing senior ditch day!" marella was whining about having to stay home and prying sophie and linh for details. 

"i don't think you'd find my day very interesting." linh promised. "sophie's on the other hand..."

marella clapped her hands together and squealed. "i saw you and keefe holding hands on your cute little date!"

sophie's eyes widened in alarm and she grabbed marella's arm. "where?!" marella pulled away and from her grasp and threw herself onto her bed. sophie and keefe had spent the whole trip together, linh only returning at the end of the day, and had driven both girls over to marella's house for their slumber party. keefe complained about not being invited the whole drive. sophie smiled at the memory and linh gave her a cheeky grin, did she know what she was thinking about?

"biana posted a picture on instagram and you two were in the background." 

"i'm sure she wasn't too happy when she noticed." linh chuckled. 

marella's eyes lit up, excited to share her news. "get this. five minutes after she posted, biana took it down."

sophie took out her phone to see if marella was right and opened the app her friends made her download after cheer practice one day. biana's photo was the first to pop up on her feed and sophie squinted to see if she could recognize her and keefe in the back. "i don't see-"

"let me finish. geez." marella interrupted. "biana posted the same picture but she photo shopped you guys out of it. don't worry i screen shotted the original post if you want to see it." sophie nodded vigorously and marella threw her her phone. sure enough a tall blonde with messy hair, definitely keefe, was tugging on a smaller figure with what seemed to be a pretzel in their mouth, 100% sophie. 

linh sat up from lying on marella's fuzzy rug next to sophie and looked closely at the picture. "awww you guys are adorable." sophie whipped her head to face linh and glared. "okay okay i'll shut up."

marella took her phone back and sighed. "what do you guys feel like doing?"

"homework?" linh suggested. 

"i actually have an english paper i'd love for you to-" sophie started.

"what is wrong with you two? have you ever been to a sleepover before? who am i kidding of course you haven't." marella stopped for a minute, looking up at her chandelier then back down to her friends. "i've got it." she smirked. "we're playing truth or dare."

linh and sophie groaned simultaneously. "you don't want to play?" marella frowned. the two looked at each other and gave in.

"fine. we'll play a game. just not truth or dare." sophie agreed.

"yes! i have an even better idea." 

hours later, after eating dinner and showering, sophie, marella, and linh were all talking on marella's huge king sized bed. "i almost forgot! we still have to plan your birthday party." marella declared. 

"i can't believe you almost didn't tell us about it." linh frowned. 

"don't take it personally. i really hate making it a big thing." sophie admitted. 

"you're not going to hate it because i'm planning it. and i guess keefe get's credit for sending the invites." 

"he sent invites? to who?" 

"you didn't know? literally the whole grade sophie. and i bet you any juniors that actually matter are crashing." linh explained. 

sophie grumbled and pulled her hair into a high ponytail. "this party gets worse everyday. to be honest marella i don't want a bunch of people i've never spoken a word to recking my house. i'm going to be the one cleaning it all up the next day anyway. and even though edaline said she was okay with it, i'm not comfortable hosting a rager in my foster parents house who can kick me out at any time."   

"but they won't even be home! you said they were going on a work trip on your birthday so it's perfect timing." marella complained. 

"marella if she's not okay with it, let's not force it." linh backed her up. 

marella rolled her eyes and gave sophie a hug. "i'm mad at you but i understand." she pulled away from the embrace and grinned. "fortunately for you, keefe and i have gotten to know you very well in these what, four days?, and keefe put his address under the location in the invites."

sophie still wasn't very happy about the party in general but put on a smile for marellas sake. after all, her friend was trying to do something nice for her, even after knowing her for a few days. "i'll assume that's a 'thank you marella for being such an amazing goddess'."

"yep you read my mind."

"what are you guys going to wear?" marella asked. "wait, what am i going to wear?" she scrambled over to her closet and rushed in. sophie wasn't surprised to find out it was a walk in closet. marella seemed like the type. she was throwing dresses, skirts, pants, boots, all over and linh and sophie had to dodge them and pray not to get hit. 

"i have no clothing!" marella yelled from inside her closet. sophie and linh looked to the mound of clothes on the floor and shook their heads. "we're going shopping tomorrow." she declared as she walked back to her bed. 

"who says we want to spend more time with you?" linh joked. 

"oh, you don't have a choice. i don't care if you want to or not. we all need outfits for spirit week and sophie's party. i refuse to shop by myself." silence came from both girls and marella threw pillows at their heads. "you're the worst friends ever! you're so lucky to have me!" 

a pillow fight broke out between the friends that exhausted them tp sleep. it was around 3 am when sophie started to hear little taps interrupting her sleep. at first she thought she was imagining them, but as she got up sophie found out that they were very real. she had to be very careful as to not wake marella or linh up since they had all passed out on the one big bed. 

the sound was coming from the window, it was pitch black outside but sophie could see tiny grey rocks hitting the glass. she wandered over to the window and opened it right in time to be hit in the face with a pebble. "ow!" 

sophie rubbed her forehead before scowling down to see who had hit her. once she recognized who it was she suddenly became very aware about how little skin her pajamas covered. even though it was almost the middle of june, sophie had goosebumps spreading all throughout her body. she quickly grabbed a sweatshirt from the heap of clothes still on the floor and pulled it over her head. 

another pebble came shooting in from outside and sophie was barely able to dodge it in time. as she got over to the open window she whisper yelled downwards. "stop throwing rocks! you hit me right in the face! can't you see the window is open?!" 

keefe smirked and dropped a rock he was ready to launch back into the ground. "what can i say? i have good aim." sophie threw a rock back at him from the two that had flown in earlier but she missed by several feet. "alright i'm sorry. it's way too dark to see anything foster." 

"what are you doing here?" she grumbled. it was three in the morning and sophie was not happy about being woken up this early. keefe kicked his foot around in the gravel before looking back up. 

"i missed you." sophie's heart melted at his words but she had no idea what to say in response.  

"sorry, what did you say?" she asked, but sophie had heard him loud and clear. sophie could see keefe visibly frown then scratch the back of his neck.

"uh-nothing. you just forgot something in my car i thought you might need." 

"and this couldn't have waited until a more reasonable time?" sophie complained. 

"just come down foster." sophie begrudgingly shuffled her way out of marella's room and down the stairs. luckily mr. and mrs. redek were out of town for the weekend so she didn't have to worry about waking them up. sophie opened the front door and outside, standing right in front of her, was keefe. he looked a little anxious.

"hey are you oka-" keefe pulled her to his chest by her waist and dipped his head down to hers. sophie's breath caught in her throat as he crashed his lips onto hers then-

"soph it's time to wake uppp" 

thank you all for being so patient in waiting for these chapters! i just had a long weekend because of the holiday and was able to write a chapter. speaking of the holidays i have a lot to be thankful this year. i am so grateful for everyone one of you. your comments are one of my only motivations to write and i really could not have written this much if it weren't for you guys. and by the way the last time i saw how many reads this book had it had 3k and now it's almost at 12k that's just insane to me. thank you all so much for your support and get ready for a big surprise on dec. 25th!