Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire Within! Book 1
Chapter Ten

Lori showed up on my front porch Sunday afternoon grinning from ear to ear. “What has you looking like the Cheshire cat, girl?” As I ask the question, I feel myself smiling back at her. Damn if her smile isn’t contagious!

“I ran into Ash last night as I got off work.” My heart stutters at this bit of information. “We ended up going and getting ice cream together.” She somehow manages to say all this while keeping the smile upon her face. I feel like my heart is sinking to the bottom of my feet as she tells me this, and I can feel the smile falter on my lips. I turn my head back towards the entryway as though I had heard something, but really it was so that she isn’t able to see my heart shattering into a million pieces onto the floor.

Taking a deep breath, I turn back to her, a forced smile back in place and say, “wow. That is so awesome! Did you guys have fun?”

Realizing we are still standing at the front door; I tip my head to the side indicating for her to come in and she tells me how much fun her impromptu date was while we make our way up to my bedroom. We both flop onto my bed and then she leans into my shoulder as she asks; “so… how was your date with Blake?”

“It was fun for the most part,” I shrug my shoulders and offer a half smile to Lori. “Though something odd did occur, we decided to take a stroll through the park and as we were walking around, we ran into Ash. Crazy, right?” I watch Lori’s face and see the surprise glitter in her eyes at my statement.

“Uh, yeah. That is quite a coincident.” She stares at me as she speaks, her eyes doing a sort of squint thing and I feel like she is trying to figure out whether or not I’m lying about Ash showing up while I was on my date with Blake.

“It was crazy. First Ash acted like Blake was not even there at the beginning but then Blake was super rude to Ash telling him that we were on a date, and he should leave us alone. I was so shocked by the way both of them were acting but more hurt by the way Blake treated Ash. I mean, I am sure there was a better way to let Ash know to let us be…” I look at Lori and wait for her to respond to what I had just said.

“Well, I can tell you that it sounds like Blake is jealous that another guy was talking to you, receiving your attention, but as for Ash, I can’t offer an explanation other than, it truly was just coincident.” She puts her hands up in the air, shrugging her shoulders at the same time to express her ‘I don’t know’ thought.

After that we somehow ended up discussing whether she and Ash would go out on a real date. I really had to focus on maintaining my statue-esk facial expression when she said, “Oh gosh, I really, really hope so.”

Eventually her mom called telling her she needed to head home for dinner, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

^^^

Monday morning rolls around way too quickly especially because I did not do much of anything all night long except for toss and turn as I tried to sleep. With a deep sigh I head into school only to feel eyes staring at me from all directions of the hallways I had to walk down. Talk about weird! I make my way to my locker only to be shocked by who was standing next to it. “Uh, hi Blake, what’s up?”

He smiles at me as he leans against my locker door. “Hey babe. I just wanted to see you before I head to class.” His grin gets wider as he sees surprise cross my face, my eyes having gone wide at his words.

I chuckle even though I feel a little weird that Blake called me babe. Like for real, we have only gone on one real date. That does not make him my boyfriend, right? Thankfully, Lori came skipping up to us just then, saving me from having to say anything to him.

“Hey girlie.” Lori throws her arms around me, giving me a quick hug as she says this.

I laugh at her spontaneity before hugging her back and saying “hey” in return.

Lori steps back from the hug and realizes who is standing by my side. “Oh snap! I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

Before Blake has a chance to say anything, I quickly grab Lori’s arm, so she is unable to leave us and say, “no, not at all. What are you up to?”

“Uh, nothing much…” she looks at me questioningly, right eyebrow arched. “What about you; what are you up to?”

“Oh, um, nothing,” I was going to say more but the first bell rings indicating that we should all be making our way to our homeroom class for attendance. “Shoot,” I shout out as I realize I forgot an art item. I turn on my heel and head back to my locker and with a glance behind me, watching for a second as both Lori and Blake hurry down the hallway, so they won’t be tardy.

Rummaging through my locker, I replace the packet of charcoal I was looking for and shut the door. I turn to head to homeroom but end up walking right into Ash, (have mentioned how graceful I am, right?).

“Ouch,” I squeak out more due to shock than having actually hurt myself. Shaking my head because I am embarrassed and surprised that me walking into someone more than once could happen. As soon as I realize who I have walked into, my face turns bright red. “Oh, hi Ash. I am so sorry. I didn’t think anyone would be in the halls, I figured everyone would already be in homeroom by now.”

Ash grins, probably because I sound like a moron, just guessing though. “Hey all good, Sofia.” I realize we are mere inches from each other, and I think about how easy it would be to go on tiptoe and kiss the Australian God! I can feel my cheeks warming because I am blushing from the unprovoked thought.

I shake my head trying to rid my mind of such nonsense. “We should probably get to homeroom before the late bell goes off,” I say as I look up towards the clock that hangs on the wall of hallway. As we enter the classroom, all eyes fall upon us. I force a smile to my lips and hastily make my way to my seat just as the tardy bell rings.

^^^

As I meet up with Lori at ‘our’ normal table in the cafeteria (rainy days force us to stay inside), Lori looks like she is about to burst. Raising an eyebrow, I hesitantly take my seat across the table from her; “uh, what’s up Lori?” Her grin widens as I continue to stare at her.

“Oh my gosh Sofie. You should hear the gossip going around the school, it’s all about you!”

I scrunch my nose up and roll my eyes because why would anyone want to talk about me. I am literally the most boring person at this school. “What are you talking about Lori? What could anyone possibly have to say about me?” I am sure she can see the utter confusion in my eyes as I continue to look at her.

“Hmm, where should I begin?” She taps her index finger against the side of her face as she debates where to start. Can there really be that many rumors floating around about me? “Okay, so first everyone was talking about how Blake was standing by your locker this morning waiting for you to arrive like a puppy waiting for its owner to return home… and then, someone saw you and Ash talking by the lockers about five minutes later; standing very, very, close to each other as though you had just kissed. Oh! The best part of the gossip is, I guess Blake heard the rumor about you kissing Ash and now he wants to fight him.”

I really did not think my eyes could get any larger than they already were, but I am positive they did. The heat coursing through my body of embarrassment is unbearable! I feel like a spotlight is shining brightly upon me, saying ’hey, look at Sofia’. “Wow, that’s ridiculous,” I state as I stand up my chair scraping across the tiled floor as I do so. Feeling as though I am burning up from the inside, I grab my bag and walk out of the room. Since it’s lunch time, no one questions me as I make my way up to my locker.

My footing faulters and an ughescapes my lips as I see Blake hanging around my locker. I so do not want to talk with him right now. Unfortunately, I have to grab my jacket and my history book before I dip out of school, yes, I am going to skip the rest of this school day. With a heavy sigh I walk up to my locker. “Hey Blake, what’s up?”

“Hey Sofia, I just wanted to see you before I left for the day.” Blake gives me an adorable grin and I almost lose my resolve to be angry with him, but then I remember what Lori was saying about him wanting to fight Ash and I clench my jaw tight.

“Oh? Are you leaving too?”

Blake tilts his head as he says, “leaving too. Why are you leaving?”

Shit! I think to myself. “A wicked headache. I’m going home and to bed before it turns into a migraine. Why do you have to leave?”

“Not sure. Received a call from my father that I was needed at home immediately. I am guessing a family ‘emergency’ of some sort, but not really sure.” He shrugs his shoulders slightly as he finishes talking.

“Geesh, I hope it’s nothing serious,” I say as I reach into my locker and grab my bookbag and jacket. “Why are you waiting here for me if you need to be home?” I try to pass my words as joking but inside really, I just want him to go away so I can be alone.

“Well, if you’re leaving as well, let me walk you out to your car.” I growl inside my head and force a smile to my lips as he offers. Nodding my head yes, I turn from my locker and begin to walk. My mind is in a fog, a haze of sorts coating my eyes as I make my way to my car. I can hear Blake chatting away by my side, but I have no idea what he is saying. My focus is my car and home.

“So, is it true?”

That question pulls me from my thoughts quickly, “is what true?” I look at Blake confused, my hand frozen on the door handle of my vehicle where I had just placed it so I could open my door and get inside.

“Did you kiss that new guy, Ash?”

“Uh, what? No! Who told you that? I ran into him in the hallway. I apologized for bumping into him and then went to class. Nothing more, nothing less than that.”

“Ok.” I watch as Blake leans towards me after having said the word and before I know it, he has planted a kiss on the side of my cheek. “I will see you tomorrow then. I hope you feel better.” And then I watch him saunter off, I’m assuming to go to his truck.