4

                                    

                                          
After class was over, Sophie and Dex walked out of the classroom together. 
                          
"Wanna-" Dex started, but was cut off by a squealing Biana.
                          
"Hey Sophie! How are you?" Sophie held up a finger to Dex to tell him to wait a second.
                          
"I'm good Biana, how about you?"
                          
"I'm great. Everyone here is so nice and..." Biana trailed off when Sophie rolled her eyes. "Er- everyone can be so nice," she corrected herself. Sophie grinned. "So do you want to come over to my house this afternoon?"
                          
"I would love too, but can Dex come too? I was going to invite him to my house, but if I'm at your house, then we can all hang out together!"
                          
"Of course!" Biana replied, not noticing the death stare Dex was giving them both. "We live at the biggest house on Everglen Drive."
                          
"Hey!" Sophie exclaimed, coming to a sudden realization. "We are practically neighbors! I live on Havenfield Lane, right behind you!"
                          
"Cool! Well I will see you in a few minutes."
                          
"Okay, bye!" Sophie turned back to Dex as Biana skipped off. "What? Didn't I help you out? You were going to ask me to come over, right? And it will help you make more friends!"
                          
"Like Wonderboy would want me there," Dex scoffed.
                          
Sophie's eyebrows arched in confusion. "Wonderboy?" she asked.
                          
"Yeah, Fitz. He's so perfect and only concerns himself with the popular kids."
                          
"Well, I'm not going to disagree with you, but Fitz is cool," Sophie asked, trying to stand up for him because of what happened in the hallway.
                          
"Oh please. Don't tell me you have a stupid crush on him."
                          
"No!" Sophie exclaimed, a little bit too loudly because a few heads turned in their direction. Sophie and Dex walked outside and got to the sidewalk before Sophie continued. "I don't like him," she answered truthfully. "He's got enough girls who want him, best not to add another."
                          
"Okay..." Dex said, eyeing her suspiciously. "Just making sure."
                          
Sophie laughed. "You don't have to be so suspicious."
                          
"Yeah, whatever. This is their house, right?" Sophie looked to where Dex was gesturing and gasped. She had thought her house was huge when she moved in with her adopted parents, Grady and Edaline, but the Vacker's  house was like a palace compared to hers.
                          
"That's not a house. That's a castle," Sophie stated in awe.
                          
"Mhm. Let's go inside," Dex said, waving his hand at Sophie to come forward.
                          
"Yeah. Let's." Sophie walked forward and knocked on the door. Less than a second later, a happy Biana opened it
                          
"Come in, Sophie! Hi Dex! Do you guys want to play Base Quest?
                          
"Yeah, that sounds great!" Sophie exclaimed. "Did you play it a lot in England?"
                          
Biana hesitates for a second. "Um, no. Fitz taught me... the other day."
                          
"Oh-kay," Sophie said, a bit suspicious. "Well, what are we waiting for?"
                          
"Hey Foster!" a voice called from inside. "Who's with you? Oh, it's, um..." Keefe trailed off, trying to remember Dex's name.
                          
"It's Dex," Dex grumbled.
                          
"Right! Is he your boyfriend?" Keefe asked Sophie. For some reason, Sophie thought she saw some jealousy on Keefe's face, but she decided to ignore it and blush instead.
                          
"NO!" she and Dex both cried at the same time.
                          
"We're just-"
                          
"We just met-"
                          
"We're just friends."
                          
"Well now that this has risen to a new level of awkward, let's play," Fitz's voice interrupted their conversation. 
                          
Sophie heard someone bustling around behind Fitz, and a second later, a face almost identical to Biana's stepped into view. "Hello dear! You must be Sophie. I've heard so much about you! And you must be Dex. Nice to meet you both. I'm Della, Fitz and Bi- I mean Fitz's mom. Sorry, I guess I've just been getting to close to Biana lately." Della laughed and it sounded like hundreds of song birds. I guess being that pretty also made your laugh sound good. That explained why Sophie hated her laugh.
                          
"Nice to meet you, too!" Sophie replied. Dex nodded.
                          
"Oh, come in for a second. Biana, where are your manners? My apologies," Della blurted out, realizing that Sophie and Dex were still on the porch. "I made some mallowmelt for you guys want any," Della offered.
                          
"Oh, I'd love some!" Sophie exclaimed. Della ushered them inside. 
                          
"I won't keep you for too long," Della explained, gesturing to Biana, Fitz and Keefe. "I don't want to keep you guys away from your game." Della cut out five slices of mallowmelt and distributed it to the hungry teenagers.
                          
"Mmmmmmm, this is great!" Dex exclaimed, his mouth full of food. Everyone laughed. Once they were done, they stood up to go outside.
                          
"You guys ready?" Fitz asked.
                          
"Of course, let's go!" Biana shouted.