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

As Fitz opened the door to the house, Sophie took a deep breath. Her mind was racing. She glanced at Keefe. I'm so sorry, she told him in her head. She tugged out an eyelash, inhaled, and walked into the living room, where Grady was (eerily) calm, sitting on the couch with a mug and a book. Keefe walked into the room.

"You must be Keefe Sencen. I'm Grady," he said, standing up. Keefe glanced at Sophie, and gave her a look something along the lines of don't be nervous and I got this.

"Yes, hi. What's up?" Keefe asked, shaking his hand. Sophie noticed that Keefe was almost the same height as Grady. Huh.

"Just wanted to formally meet you. Will your parents be joining us too?" Graady asked, and Keefe stiffened. Sophie, whose hands were behind her back, preparing to count Grady's questions, stuck one finger out.

"Nope. Politicians, am I right?" Keefe said, and forced a laugh.

"I see. What do you do for fun?" Grady asked as Sophie stuck out another finger.

"Well, I don't have a lot of time for fun, considering I'm busy almost every day after school, sir," Keefe added, a hint of a blush creeping up the back of his neck. Sophie was puzzled for a second, then realized he was talking about detention. Impressive, Sophie thought. Grady looked... not impressed.

"Prepping for college? You're a senior, no?" Three.

"You could call it that, sure..." Sophie almost smiled at that.

"Okay. What's your planned major?" Four.

"Haven't decided yet, honestly," Keefe said.

"You're seventeen, no? Who're you planning to vote for in the next election?" Grady asked. Five.

"Actually, sixteen. My birthday's next week. Can't vote next election." Sophie didn't realize that. She would have to find out the date from Biana so she could get him something.

"Okay great! Bye Dad! Keefe and I are going back upstairs to find Biana and Fitz" Sophie said, and swiftly walked out of the room with Keefe.

ooo

"Well, that was interesting, Foster," Keefe said, strangely, looking amused.

"Shut up. Sorry about that," Sophie said, feeling slightly guilty that Keefe had to go through that.

"No problem, Mysterious Miss F. Your dad's part of the package deal, huh? Let's go find Biana and Fitzy Poo," Keefe said, dragging Sophie by her hand up the stairs.

"Can't. I promised Dex I'd FaceTime him today. Won't be too long though, don't worry," Sophie said, teasingly.

"Okay. I'll try not to miss you too much" Keefe said, and turned into Fitz's room where Biana and Fitz were sitting, playing cards. Actually, Fitz was losing cards. Biana was winning. He's not going to like that, Sophie thought. He's literally the most competitive person I know.

Sophie went into Biana's room, pulled out her phone and FaceTimed Dex.

"Sophie! How's it going?" Dex asked, his smiling face and dimples appearing on the screen.

"Good! Ummm, are you in a closet?" Sophie asked, spotting a hanging Wonder Woman shirt in the background.

"Yup. The twins terrorize me as soon as I get on the phone, so yeah. Also for some random reason, my closet has an inside lock," Dex explained.

"I see. Is it snowing yet in New York?" Sophie asked, and Dex shook his head.

"Nope. We're expecting some light snow on Sunday, though. I'll send you a picture."

"Thanks! Have you talked to Linh and Tam yet? I saw Linh's post on instagram. I had know idea she was such a good swimmer!"

"Yeah! She said it was good to catch up with the swim team. Tam, as usual, responds to my texts at 3 am and are normally one word replies, so...'Sophie laughed. She had been experiencing the same thing with Tam.

"Sound about right!"

They continued their conversation for twenty more minutes, until Dex's family was ready to eat dinner. Sophie hung up and went to go join her friends, who were on the outside balcony with Ro.

"Soph! What's up?" Ro asked, and everyone turned their heads around to greet Sophie.

"Not much. Dex says hi to everyone," Sophie said, sitting down in between Biana and Fitz.

"Nice! We should totally do a group FaceTime tomorrow! I'll text them right now!" Biana said, pulling out her phone and typing. FIfteen seconds later, Sophie got a text from Biana on "besties for the resties" with a link to a skype and a time. (Biana and Linh's name).

ooo

That night, after dinner, Biana had the craving for chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sundaes, so Sophie and Keefe were at the nearest target with a shopping list the size of a midterm essay. They decided it would be best to stick together, mainly because otherwise keefe would be putting the wrong brands in the cart. Sophie had learned that Biana could taste the difference in products from different brands and tell which are the best.

"Nope. She doesn't like Ghiradelli chocolate chips. Hersheys." Sophie said, placing the bag back on the shelf and nodding towards the end of the chocolate isle, where the Hersheys bags were. Keefe nodded and placed the bag in the basket.

"So, what do you want to do for college? I know you want to go to Yale, right?" Sophie said, and Keefe stiffened.

"Yale is my dad's pick."

"But is that what you want?" Sophie asked, pulling a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream from the fridge.

"No."

"Well, what do you want to do as a career?"

"I was reading an article about the benefits of art therapy, and it sounds like something that could be fun," Keefe said, looking hopeful.

"So you get an art therapy degree. Have you looked at schools?" Sophie asked.

"Seton Hall University has a good program," Keefe said, putting two bottles of whipped cream in the cart.

"Great! So apply there!" Sophie said, excited for him.

"It's not that simple," Keefe said, and paused for a few seconds. "You know, it's not a big deal. Let's check out, I think we have everything." Sophie decided it wasn't worth the fight, and nodded. 

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