Chapter Text
Four Years Ago
Sophie Foster yawned, stretching her tired limbs and climbing out of bed. It was her twelfth birthday, and she had a great feeling about it. “Mom, what are we having for breakfast?” she called from the top of the stairwell. “Can we have waffles?”
Her mom’s voice echoed throughout the vast house. “With chocolate chips?”
“Yes! Thank you!” Sophie raced to the bottom of the stairs and headed to the bathroom, combing through her blond hair with a brush. She winced, looking at herself in the mirror and taking in her disheveled appearance. Her hair was full of knots, her cheeks were pink from sleep, her eyes still looked exhausted. Wait-her eyes!
One brown, which was normal, while the other was a startling blue. A blue she had never seen before. Was this some prank? Was Dex pranking her again? “Moooom,” she shouted, setting the brush down on the bathroom counter and running to the kitchen. “There’s something wrong with my left eye!”
Her mom-Edaline looked at her with concern. “Let me have a look, Hunny.” She kneeled down and cupped her daughter’s face with both hands, inspecting her eye. “Grady!” Her voice rang throughout the house once again, causing Sophie to wince.
Her dad’s footsteps dashed down the staircase, his frantic voice a yell; “what is it, Eda? Are you okay?”
“Grady, look at this.” She pointed at Sophie’s eye with a frantic look. “We should take Soph to a doctor. How about Elwin? He checks eyes too, right?”
Her dad’s eyes widened as they scanned the girl’s face. “Okay. I’ll go get the car started. Meet me there.”
And that was how Sophie Foster had spent her twelfth birthday, getting examined by strangers in white coats and light blue masks.
Present Day
“Sophie!” Biana Vacker’s high-pitched voice could be heard from miles away as she ran to the slouching blond-haired girl. “Guess what?!”
Sophie glanced up warily from her book. “What?”
“Guess who’s moving here?!”
“Who?”
“Keefe. Fucking. Sencen.” The brunette’s voice could have shattered glass.
“The guy who acts like a brat?”
“Sophie,” Biana didn’t even try to hide the annoyance coating her tongue. “He’s not a brat. He’s a model who’s rich and is the son of Cassius and Gisela Sencen! The power couple of America!”
“Sooo bratty guy?” That earned her a glare.
“No, I mean super hot guy.”
“We are talking about that one dude with blond hair, right?”
Biana looked like she was trying not to throw something sharp at Sophie’s head. “Soph, please pay attention. Keefe Sencen-I don’t care what you call him-is coming here. To Foxfire. Can you believe it?”
She actually could, given the fact that Foxfire was one of the most popular and sophisticated schools in the world, but she didn’t dare make her best friend any more annoyed than she already was (no matter how funny it would be). “No, I can’t. Where’s he staying?”
Biana’s eyebrows furrowed, as if in deep thought. “Uhhhh…I’m not exactly sure,” she pulled out her sparkly purple phone and held up one manicured finger. “Give me a sec.”
Sophie tapped her foot and glanced back at her book. Maybe she could finish this page before-
“Some mansion in a nice town a couple miles from here. His location hasn’t been leaked…yet.”
Keefe Irwin Sencen was the biggest heartthrob in America. He had it all: money, girls, paparazzi, limos, huge suites, even weekly meetings with some of the biggest talk shows to ever come on the air. But what he was best known for was how he would jump from girl to girl that it was even hard for his biggest fans to keep up with.
In Sophie’s eyes, he was the biggest brat to ever walk the earth. In her best friend’s eyes, he was the perfect guy to date.
“Sooo what are you gonna do when he gets here? Seduce him with your beauty?” It was supposed to be a joke, but the confident glint in Biana’s eyes made her stomach squirm. Of course she was planning on seducing Keefe Sencen. “B, I was joking .”
She threw up her hands as if getting arrested by the police. “I never said anything!”
“You didn’t have to. Your eyes said it all.”
“Whatever! It’s not like what-or who I do is any of your business.”
Okay, Sophie was officially about to throw up the breakfast she had just a little over an hour ago. “ Gross , B! Absolutely disgusting. Just…stop talking.” She gagged and covered her mouth with one hand for emphasis.
“Realx, Soph,” Biana laughed and stood up, shoving her phone into the back pocket of her light blue skinny jeans. “I was just joking! When I finally do it you will be the first person I tell.”
The way she emphasized the word ‘it’ only made Sophie’s stomach churn even more. “Biana Vacker, we are only sixteen years old. Imagine if Alden and Della heard you talking like that.”
“Then it’s a good thing I can trust you and you would back me up. Remember, Soph, I’m just a sweet little daddy’s girl who has never had a single drop of alcohol before.”
Sophie knew for a fact that Biana had had more than a drop of alcohol before she turned sixteen, but she would never rat the brunette out like that. “Yeah. Of course. Now can we please drop this subject before I hurl into the nearest garbage can?”
Her friend grinned and nodded. “Sure, sure, you sweet little innocent girl.”
“Biana.” The words came out harsh but strong. “I said stop.”
Instead of getting mad and rolling her eyes, Biana only offered her a smug smirk, “there’s the fiery girl I know and love. Ready to get to class?”
“Seriously?”
“Mhm!”
“How are we even friends?” But she stood anyway and tucked her book under the arm, smiling slightly.
“Opposites attract, Soph. And the two of us? We are total opposites.” With that Biana took ahold of Sophie’s hand and dragged her away.
Four Years Ago
Nervous voices were muffled by the big wooden door as Sophie rubbed her tired eyes and sat up, gripping Ella (her stuffed elephant) to her chest.
Nerves danced in her tummy but she ignored it as she crept to her door and cracked it open. “Mom, Dad?”
Edaline and Grady looked up in surprise, their very normal eyes widening. That’s what she thought whenever she saw a pair of eyes that were the same color. Normal . The one thing she wasn’t.
“Yeah, sweetheart?” Edaline asked with a soft smile. “Is everything ok?”
“I can’t sleep,” Sophie admitted, shuffling her feet. “Is there…something wrong with me?”
Grady walked over and dropped to one knee, peering at his daughter with a strong smile that she wished she had. “No, Soph. There is nothing wrong with you.”
She sniffed and avoided her dad’s face that was covered in pity. “Is there a way to fix this?” ‘This’ being the color of her one eye that changed over one night.
Grady glanced at Edaline, and Sophie saw the anxious look they shared. “I don’t think there’s a way to reverse the color of your eye, Sophie.”
“Oh.” She knew this. It was the one thing that haunted her, not being able to fix the way her eye looked. It was the most beautiful blue, though. A bright, clear, light kind of ice blue that looked good on its own, but when next to the dull brown of her other eye looked terrible. Ugly.
“But we might have a solution,” Edaline jumped in with a bright smile that was obviously supposed to make Sophie feel better. “What about contacts?”
It worked. She felt her mood immediately shift. “Really?!”
Grady beamed and said, “really” at the same moment Edaline added, “but it might take the doctors and the person who makes those contacts a while. They have to copy the exact shade of your brown eye, since it’s the color you were born with and all of the photos we have are of you before… this happened.”
Sophie nodded eagerly. “Yup. Yup. Got it.” Then she wrapped her arms around both of her parents’ waists and squeezed. “Thank you, thank you! And no one will ever have to know?”
“And no one will ever have to know.”
Present Day
No one knew about Sophie’s eyes besides Biana, Biana’s brother; Fitz, Sophie’s non-biological cousin; Dex, Dex’s parents, Biana and Fitz’s parents, and Sophie’s parents. That was it.
“Did you hear about Keefe Sencen?”
“Yeah! He’s coming in just under two weeks!”
“You better wear your best lipstick.”
The halls were buzzing with excitement as Biana dragged Sophie down the halls to Algebra. “Ugh, can you believe these girls are going for my man?”
Sophie scoffed and stopped at her locker as Biana let go of her arm. “Your man ? B, you haven’t even met the guy yet and you're already claiming him?”
“What? Like it’s so hard to believe?”
“You’re insane. You know that, right?”
“Correction: I’m the cute kind of insane.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
Just then a girl with dark brown skin and blue hair ran over to them and started jumping up and down. “Sophie, Biana, did you hear? Keefe Sencen is moving here!”
Biana just nodded and smiled. “We know, Maruca. The whole school’s talking about it.”
“Oh…” Maruca’s smile dimmed. “Uhhh, are you going to make your move on him then?”
“She won’t shut up about it!” Sophie jumped in, shooting her a huge eye roll. “Seriously, I’m thinking about duct-taking her mouth shut. She said she might just ‘seduce’ him.” That made Maruca’s smile become huge again, which made Sophie feel like she won. She hated when her friends looked slightly disappointed, even if it were over something small and stupid.
“I can help you pick out your outfit for when he arrives,” the brown-skinned girl offered, looking over at Biana again. “You’re going to have so much competition.”
Biana giggled. “Okay, thanks, M! Ohhh I’m just so excited!”
“Me too! I wonder what his hair looks like in person!” And soon the two girls were fan-girling over Keefe Sencen, leaving Sophie to grab her books and laptop from her locker with a small smile still on her lips.
Before she came to Foxfire, Maruca was Biana’s best friend. They were these two mean girls who did everything together, but then Sophie came into the picture and her and Biana had, like, some instant ‘bestie connection’ and their friendship evolved into them becoming best friends. So, yeah, she felt like she owed Maruca something for basically stealing her best friend from her.
“Yo, Cous!” Sophie turned around just in time to see her non-biological cousin (and other best friend) Dex jump and tackle her into a hug. “Did you hear the big news?”
She rolled her eyes and peeled Dex off of her. “About the bratty rich guy moving here?”
“Uh-huh! That news.”
“Ugh. Biana won’t stop talking about it. She keeps bringing up the idea of seducing Keefe Sencen every thirty seconds.”
Fitz Vacker, Biana’s older brother, walked towards them and grinned. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope. It’s all she’s talked about this morning. I think I might be going insane.”
“Awww, Cous,” Dex cooed and petted Sophie’s head, “It’s ok, you’ll live.” She swatted his hand away and shot him a glare.
Fitz just shook his head and laughed. “I feel so bad for you.”
“I know. Wanna switch places?”
“Hmmm…nah. Even though I have to live with her, that doesn’t mean I have to hear her talking about seducing rich guys with overrated hair.”
“I hate you so much.”
“No, you love me.”
“Gross.”
“In a sisterly way, Soph. I don’t think of you like that.”
“Nor I you.” Sophie had dated Fitz for a short time when she was fourteen, but it only lasted a little under a month before crashing. Things were awkward for a little while, but soon they shifted into a new kind of normal. He teased her, she teased back. No awkward or sexual tension, just normal sibling fighting. She loved him as she would love a brother or close friend.
Dex crossed his arms. “Okay, as glad as I am that the whole Fitzphie thing is platonic so I don’t have to see you guys make-out or whatever, can we get to class before the bell rings? I don’t want another tardy.”
“ Another ?” Sophie and Fitz said in unison, eyebrows raised.
The strawberry blond-haired boy scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah…soooo I might have skipped class once or twice this year because of the whole ‘programming devices so we can track each other’ thing.”
“You do know there’s an app for that, right?” Fitz questioned with a sigh.
“Yeah, but he likes to make his own apps.” Sophie shrugged as she shot her cousin a helpful grin.
“But it’s such a waste of time!”
“Shut up, Wonderboy.” Dex jumped in with a glare. “At least I have spare time.”
“Well, Deck ,” Fitz spat, “at least I have a life.”
“At least I have brains.”
“At least I have friends.”
“I do have friends!”
“Oh, yeah? Name five.”
Dex smirked. “Sophie, Biana, Jensi, Uncle Grady, Aunt Edaline.”
Sophie internally cringed and laughed, but quickly covered it with a cough. She really needed to get her cousin some friends other than herself, Biana, a boy who is just genuinely nice, and her parents.
“Damn, Deck, out of those five people you picked your aunt and uncle over me?” Fitz rolled his eyes. “Pathetic.”
“Oh, so you’re my friend now?”
“I’ve always been your friend!”
That shut the both of them up.
“You both are acting like children,” Sophie sighed. “Now, I’m going to class. Are you guys coming or not?”
✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧
“How was school, Soph?” That was the thing Sophie heard every single day when she got home from Foxfire, and her automatic response was always, “good.” Not today though. When she opened her front door and walked into her ridiculously huge home she shouted, “Mom! Guess what happened today?”
Edaline appeared from around the corner, confusement plastered on her face. “Whatever it is, I bet it must be important. Spill.”
She nodded and kicked off her white sneakers, letting them scatter across the expensive wood floor. Her parents had super important jobs, running the most popular animal rescue business in the nation, so that brought in tons of good money. “So have you heard of Keefe Sencen before?”
Her mom’s lips twisted into a frown. “Yes. He’s that handsome young man who models, right?”
Sophie nodded, “mhm. Anyways, he’s moving here and Biana won’t shut up about it, neither will any of the girls in our school. He’s supposed to enroll in Foxfire in a little under two weeks.”
“Poor boy, that must be a big change.”
Sophie felt the urge to roll her eyes as she said, “Mom! Do you even know what his whole reputation is?”
“He’s a popular seventeen-year-old boy, Sophie. He probably has no idea what he wants to be when he grows up or where this life is going to take him. His reputation is probably just his parents telling him what to do.”
“Okay, first of all, you didn’t answer my question. I asked: do you even know what his reputation is? And second, do not make him out to be the victim here! He throws girls away like pieces of trash. He’s a womanizer and it’s disgusting.”
“Sophie, he’s probably just trying to sort through life like you are.”
That caused her to wrinkle her nose. “Please don’t tell me you’re sticking up for Keefe Sencen right now.”
“I’m just saying you don’t know what other people could be going through, so don’t judge so easily.”
“And I’m just saying that Keefe Sencen is a womanizer with no conscience.” She retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh,” she added with a sweet smile, “and can I go to the Vackers please? Maruca and I promised B we’d help her pick the perfect outfit to wear when Keefe Sencen shows up.”
Edaline sighed and dragged a hand down her face. “What on earth am I going to do with you, Sophie? But, yes, have fun and tell Biana I said hi.”
Sophie hugged her mom briefly before heading for the door. “Okay! Thank you, love you! I’ll be back for dinner!” And with that she was gone, jogging down the steps to the sidewalk, but not before cupping her left eye as she did so. It was tingling out of nowhere and it wouldn’t stop. Panic spread throughout her body as she turned back to the stairs, ready to tell her mom and grab some eyedrops Elwin, her eye doctor, had prescribed to her before someone crashed into her, making her fall to the ground. Right on the cement.
Shit.