*DISCLAIMER: This  book uses  the characters from Shannon Messenger's Keeper of the Lost  Cities book series. I did not create these characters*

The rest of the week flew by, and before Sophie knew it, Friday was here. This week was rough! I'm going to have to do some serious relaxing this weekend! Sophie thought. She was doing pretty well in all of her classes, except science. The results from her science pop quiz were, ummmm, well, not pretty. Sophie had promised herself to study this week, but so far that hadn't happened. But could you really blame her? Sophie's favorite class was definitely Psychology. Her teacher, Mr. Tiergan, happily partnered Sophie and Fitz together, and they already got a project, but a fun one. To celebrate their first week at Foxfire, their friend group decided to get ice cream, while the weather was still nice. Biana was talking to Linh about all her favorite celebrities' main coffee drinks. Tam was complaining about the sun being too bright while drinking an iced black tea with no sugar. (ice cream was too sweet). Fitz was also skipping out on ice cream, because he had a track team race in an hour. Instead, he was drinking water and getting Dex to help him track his miles on his fitbit. Sophie was texting her parents while drinking a root beer float.

"Is everyone almost done? It's so bright outside, I think I'm going to die." Tam said, squinting at the group.

"Tammy, you can borrow my sunglasses, they're really nice," Biana offered, and Tam politely declined. Sophie was getting the feeling that Tam didn't want to be seen in sparkly pink cat eye sunglasses.

After everyone had finished, people were figuring out car arrangements. Fitz had a track meet, Dex had to tutor a freshman, Biana and Linh had KOOCP, or Keep Our Oceans Clean Project, and Sophie and Tam had nothing.

"Okay, here's the plan. Me and Fitz will drive together in my car because the track is near the library. Biana and Linh, duh, you guys take Biana's car to KOOCP, and Sophie, you go with Tam, okay?" Dex said, and Sophie was surprised. Dex had seemed timid. Huh. Also, Sophie was excited to ride with Tam. I hope he talks and doesn't just drive the whole time. THAT would be awkward, Sophie thought.

ooo

"So, you're a Junior, right? How long have you been at Foxfire?" Sophie asked, hoping to make this car ride not too terrible.

"Yeah. Linh and I did freshman year at a public school at home, but transferred to FHS for Sophmore." Tam responded. "How are you liking it here, anyway. It's definitely an adjustment," Tam said, chuckling slightly.

"It's great. Definitely different then public school, though," Sophie said with a smile. They drove and continued to talk about school until they were stopped at a red light, when Tam swore.

"Forgive my language, but we're about to run out of gas. I'm going to try to pull over before we stop completely. This stupid car! It never tells you you're about to run out of gas until you've got three minutes left!" Obviously, this was not the first time this had happened.

"At least we don't have anywhere to be, right?" Sophie pointed out, trying to lighten the mood. It seemed to work. Tam smiled as the engine puttered to a stop.

"Yeah. Linh really wanted this car, and they don't make this model anymore, so I have to just put up with it."

"You and Linh seem really close. It must be nice having a sibling," Sophie said. She had always wished for a sibling, but loved her parents, so at least she had them.

"Oh yeah, Linh's great. Coffee addicted? Yes. Super annoying? At times, yes. But I still love her. Wouldn't trade her for anyone in the world," Tam said, smiling. A new side of him, Sophie noted.

"And she was so great after Glimmer..." Tam trailed off, realizing what he said. He put his head on the top of the steering wheel, and his long black and silver bangs fell into his eyes. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. It just... slipped out. We should probably call the tow truck," Tam said, making eye contact with Sophie. He's holding back tears, Sophie noticed, as Tam's eyes watered.

"It's okay. We have all day. Do you wanna talk about it? I know you don't really know me, and I hate to brag, but I'm a pretty good listener," Sophie said with a small smile. Tam chuckled weakly and agreed. He put his head back on the steering wheel, sighed, and started talking.

"It was really rough. We dated for two years, even one year long distance while she was still at my old school. I came home a day early for summer break to surprise her, and I saw her with my best friend," Tam's voice broke, and he stopped for a shaky breath. Oh my gosh, Sophie thought. His best friend? "I pretended I didn't see anything, but later that night, I called her to schedule a date. She said yes, but then as soon she got to the ice cream shop, she told me we needed to talk." Tam sighed. "That's when I knew it was over." Tam stopped, and Sophie realized after a second he was crying. Sophie unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed over to give him a hug.

"You know it has nothing to do with you, right? Those were their choices, and there was nothing you could have done to change that, Tam." Sophie finally understood why Tam was so uncomfortable when everyone was getting ice cream.

"Thanks, Sophie. I think I really needed to hear that." Tam sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "It's still been hard some days, though."

"You're almost there, so don't give up," she reassured him. He smiled weakly and looked at his watch. Sophie realized she was sitting very weirdly after hugging him and pushed herself back into the passenger seat of the car.

"We should probably call the tow truck. And none of this happened, okay? Not a word will be said about this. I know where you live." Tam said jokingly, but Sophie could tell he was serious. So she nodded and assured him that no one would ever know. Tam smiled at her as he dialed the tow truck company. "And for what it's worth, you were right. You're a great listener." Sophie laughed.

ooo

After Tam and Sophie got towed, they walked back to their building together. It was now close to five thirty, and students were leaving the residence halls to go to the movies, eat at a restaurant, or just get out of the school environment. Sophie and Tam walked down to the elevator, and hit the level three button. As the elevator went up, Sophie realized that she made a bond with Tam, and took a moment to be grateful for that. That was actually pretty nice, except for Tam's unfortunate experience, she thought. As the elevator dinged, signaling their arrival to the third floor, they said their goodbyes, or more accurately, the see-you-at-dinner-in-90-minutes, and stepped out of the elevator. Tam disappeared into his room, 301, and Sophie walked down the hall to 345. I should probably start my homework now, so I don't have to do it this weekend, Sophie told herself, and pulled her laptop out of her bag.

"Okay, I'll start with math, then tech, social studies, and english, I'll do psychology after that." Sophie said aloud, pulled up the online math classroom, and began.

At six fifteen pm, Biana burst through the door, interrupting Sophie's boring social studies assignment she was half way through. "Heyyyy! Long time no see, friend? Did Tam talk at all in the car?" Biana asked, washing her hands in the sink of their kitchenette, which was basically a sink, minifridge, microwave, a floor cabinet, and three wall cabinets.
"Yeah, a little bit. Have you started on social studies yet? It's boring." Sophie was anxious to change the subject, trying to protect her promise to Tam. Thankfully, Biana took Sophie's bait and let out a groan as she dried her hands on a towel.

"NOOO. Is it really that bad? I haven't started any of my homework, so I should probably do some now before dinner, right?" Sophie nodded.

"Yeah, I've been here since five thirty and have done math, tech and am halfway done with social studies." Biana smiled in relief.

"Okay, so I can probably get that much done before dinner, right?" Sophie nodded, and they got back to work.

ooo

At five minutes to seven, Biana stretched, looked at the clock, and claimed it time to 'meet up with the party people in the great hall of food.' Sophie gladly agreed. The food was surprisingly good, and Sophie had finished all but psychology. Oh no! I left my textbook in the lecture hall! Sophie felt slightly panicked as she remembered this, but reassured herself that she could just go get it after dinner.

"Let's go! I'm starving and am dying to hear about the track meet!" Biana said, grabbed her and Sophie's meal cards, and ushered Sophie out of their room. Sophie laughed, and asked Biana how KOOCP went. "Oh! Thanks for asking. Pretty great. We're planning to run an informational meeting to recruit more people next month. You should totally come! It would be so fun!" Sophie agreed, and put the date, which Biana specified, into her phone calendar. "Awesome!"

ooo

At the dining hall, Sophie spotted Tam quickly walking over to Linh, who looked like she was trying to discreetly pour a cup of coffee. Tam grabbed her cup and Linh pouted, but then smiled and grabbed a fry off of Tam's plate.

"Sophie! Biana!" Dex called out, and the two girls turned around to see Dex waving.

"Hey Dex! Where's Fitz?" Sophie asked, as she sat down. Dex was about to open his mouth when Sophie felt an elbow resting on her head. She turned her head around to see Fitz holding two plates. He grinned, and set one down in front of her.

"Bon appetit! Since you are new here, you do not know the amazingness of Friday night dinners." Everyone else at the table agreed, and Tam and Linh, who had just sat down, nodded their heads, grinning. "Because almost everyone here goes out to eat on fridays, the chefs go all out and make extra good food. I thought you might have trouble choosing, so I saved you from the hard part. You're welcome." Everyone laughed and dug in.

"So, how was the track meet?" Linh asked, and took a sip of her water.

"Pretty good. Coach wasn't too thrilled though. Apparently the team took too much time off running over summer break. I believe his exact words were 'kangaroos turned to koalas.' Don't really know where he got that phrase, but I have to agree. I lost the three minutes I shaved off last year, that's for sure." He finished his story by taking a big bite of his chicken.

"Oh well. I'm sure you'll get it back. Did the fitbit work today?" Dex asked.

"Yeah! Thanks, man. You're awesome." Dex grinned and blushed a little at the compliment from Fitz. It was obvious that he looked up to him. The conversation switched topics, and before everyone knew it, it was eight thirty. Everyone stood up, saying they had homework, were tired, or both, and left, except for Sophie and Fitz, who were discussing the possible topics they good do for their 5 week paper. "So I was thinking about doing a study on stress levels throughout the week, because I think that could be cool." Fitz was saying as they slowly walked to the elevators.

"Totally. I'm fine with whatever, but that sounds good to me. I know this is a little off topic, but why do you like running? You're obviously pretty passionate about it, so I was just wondering." Sophie asked, hoping she didn't come off as nosy and annoying. Luckily, Fitz smiled a movie-star-worthy-grin and started talking.

"First of all, I love running. You don't need anything to do it, it can be by myself or with other people, it's so versatile, but so simple, too. You know?" Wow.

"I never thought of it like that," Sophie answered

"Not a lot of people do." Sophie nodded in agreement. She loved that Fitz was able to take a boring thing like running and explain how it was this amazing sport. It almost made Sophie want to take up running. Almost. "Do you play any sports?" Fitz asked. Sophie giggled.

"Not really. With two mega overprotective parents, anything that could involve serious injury was a no. I am also the most injury prone person ever, so I'd rather watch a movie or go for a walk." They both nodded and continued to walk and chat together, until Sophie remembered that she needed to grab her textbook. She thanked Fitz for getting her dinner. He was right - everything was so amazing! - and set off for the lecture hall.

Sophie started to get a bad feeling when she saw the lecture hall's light's off. Hopefully they have motion-sensored lights so I can see my book! She approached the building's doors and hoped they were unlocked. Please please please please please let the door be unlocked! Please please please pleaaaase. She put her hand on the door. She turned the knob. Nothing.
"No! No no no no no! Come oooooon. How am I supposed to do my homework now?" Sophie felt panic creep up from her stomach. Calm down, take deep breaths, she told herself. Sophie decided to sit on the bench next to the hall and throw an impromptu pity party. After about five minutes, Sophie decided to come up with a solution. Think. Could I use a website? She sighed. No, the questions are specific to the textbook reading. She kept going through possible solutions in her head until she came up with a plausible solution. There's probably an online version of the textbook! I'll use that! Sophie almost laughed out of relief. She gathered up her stuff and headed to the elevator.

ooo

Sophie was humming a happy tune under her breath as the elevator doors started to close. But then Sophie heard a voice call her name.

"Dex?" she asked, as the strawberry blond's head came closer into view, she saw he was running for the elevator while carrying a small box - he had been collecting mail from the mail room. She pressed the open doors button as Dex ran to the elevator.

"Thanks!" he said, slightly out of breath. Sophie smiled and they rode up together. "I'm 390, so super close to the common room, if you ever need anything. And since I have a single room, if Biana is ever annoying, you can crash with me." Sophie thanked Dex and parted ways once she reached 345.

Unfortunately for Sophie, her textbook, as she soon discovered, was not online. Uh oh. Don't panic. Deep breaths. Biana, who was scrolling through instagram, having just finished her homework, sensed Sophie's panic.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Biana asked, her voice displaying genuine concern. When Sophie told her, she furrowed her perfectly-shaped eyebrows, thought for a minute, and then laughed.

"I sure would love to know what's so funny, considering I'm going to fail psychology!" Sophie said, crossing her arms. Biana stopped laughing, but smiled at Sophie.

"Isn't Fitz your psych partner?" Sophie nodded warily. "He also has a textbook. Just go borrow his, silly!" Sophie gasped.

"Oh, you're right! Thanks! What room is he in, again?" Sophie asked, standing up and grabbing her phone.

"456." Biana replied, grinning. "I'm sure he's there, so no need to text him you're coming." Sophie nodded, thanked Biana again, and sped out the door. Since some people's doors were open, she tried to walk at a normal pace, but ended up running as she got closer to the elevator.
Unfortunately, the elevator was in use, as Sophie discovered, panting and out of breath. Dang it! I'll take the stairs! Sophie sighed, remembering that the stairs were on the other side of the hallway. She restrained herself from running up the stairs, as to not be a sweaty mess when she was asking to borrow Fitz's textbook.456, 456, 456, 456, she kept repeating in her head, hoping to not forget the number. Ah ha! 456! Sophie thought, as she saw the door. She smoothed her hair one more time, and knocked on the door.

It took about thirty seconds for the door to open. Finally! Sophie thought. But it wasn't Fitz who opened the door. Instead of the familiar teal eyes and perfectly placed dark hair, a tall, lean boy, with sleepy ice blue eyes, messy blond hair, and ink stains on his hands, opened the door. A look of shock, then confusion crossed his face, which turned into a smirk.

"Are you lost?"

*I hope you enjoyed the third chapter of Lost and Found! Please follow for more, comment down below, and vote!*