"Avery, don't freak out. She's going to be fine. She's a big girl." Drake tried to reassure me as I paced the hallway. Despite his calm voice, I was having a hard time believing him.

Sophia is a two-year-old in a 17-year-old's body. She blurts out whatever's on her mind without thinking of the consequences. Maybe if she were talking to someone sane, I wouldn't be so concerned.

However, she's talking to Chris; someone who's shown they have zero problems hitting girls. Sophia revealing the wrong thing could get her into a lot of trouble.

"I'm going to go find her," I declared before attempting to walk away.

Seth immediately grabbed my arm and pulled me back between him and Drake. I looked up at him with a harsh glare.

"Avery, she needs to learn how to take care of things by herself. You have done every little thing for her since freshman year. Don't think I haven't noticed." Drake lectured sternly. "You need to step back for once."

I agree. I need to give Sophia space and let her do her own thing. And I'll start doing that after I make sure that she doesn't get both of us killed and left in a ditch.

"Drake. Seth. I'm going."

"Avery. Drake and I think you should stay."

"We know that you should stay."

"Well, I know that I should get Sophia before she does something stupid."

"Avery!"

"I'm going to go get Sophia!"

I walked away from the two and began shoving my way through the crowd.

The worst part about all of this is that I didn't have the slightest idea of what Sophia would say to him. At least if we had talked about it, I'd know how bad things could get and could preemptively call 911.

Sophia didn't understand that you can't just break up with people. Wyatt is going to ask why they broke up and Sophia being Sophia, she'll probably tell him the truth. Most of the time her drive to be an honest and upstanding citizen is admirable, but today it's damning.

Even if she doesn't tell the truth, it'll only buy us some time. Things will be good until people find out we're dating (if we even start dating). Then Chris will be even more furious that she lied. And by that point, all of the homophobic people who went after me would've started going after Sophia. Then she's at a higher risk of getting hurt, which will cause me more pain.

As my brain began to spiral, my feet picked up their pace.

I peeked around the corner of the hallways where Chris and his friends usually are and almost banging my head against the wall. Chris's friends were there, but there was no sign of him.

I went back around the corner to where they couldn't see me and inhaled a few shaky breaths. Sophia being somewhere alone with Chris was not any more comforting.

I don't even know where to look. There weren't very many hiding spots in the school, but they were all on opposite sides of each other. It would take me way too long to look through all of them.

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"A voice suddenly asked from behind me.

I yelped in surprise and jumped a couple of inches off the ground. When I reached the ground again, my hand was resting over my heart. I slowly turned to face the owner of the voice.

I turned around to see a girl small in only her height. She radiated a bright, bubbliness that mimicked Sophia's own. However, she held herself with this impish confidence that not even Sophia's mischief could create.

She stood there, gazing at me with a perplexed look I didn't deserve. She was the one who snuck up on me. Didn't her mother ever tell her not to do that? As if my heart didn't have enough things to jump at right now.

"I'm looking for someone," I responded dismissively.

I tried to walk around, but she stepped in front of me and blocked my path. My eyelid twitched and my lips pressed into a firm line as my frustration grew. I didn't have time for this.

"Who? I bet could help you find them." She suggested cheerily, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"That's nice and all, but I think I've got it," I said with a falsetto smile, before trying to move past her again. The girl took a few steps back until she was blocking my path again. I do not have time for this.

"But I could help." She insisted with a head tilt.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed quietly. I should stop being stubborn and let the girl help. It seems to be the only way to get rid of her anyway.

Besides, it's not like I have any grand ideas on where to look for them. And if the girl is wrong, at least I know where they aren't.

"Sophia. Sophia Helms." I revealed finally, crossing my arms over my chest. "She's about my height. Has brown hair and -"

I was interrupted by the girl's excited squeal as she jumped up and down in her spot. I guess she knows who Sophia is. I'm not too surprised. You'd have to live under a rock to not know who Chris' girlfriend is.

She grabbed my hand in hers and started pulling me down the hallway. I stumbled behind for the first few steps until I found my footing and was able to follow her.

"I saw her and Chris walk over this way a little while ago. I'm pretty sure I overheard them talking about "going to an abandoned classroom" or something like that." She pondered allowed, tapping her chin with her free hand. "Anyhow, there's only one abandoned classroom, and it's down this hallway."

She pulled me until we reached the older area of the school. There weren't very many classes held down here anymore, and it was a walk from the main building, so not a lot of people spent their free time here anymore. Usually, it's only the people doing things they aren't supposed to be doing.

That means that this is the perfect place for Sophia right now.

The girl walked from door to door, peering inside of it with an excited smile. She was no novice at this. I'd even go as far as to say she's does this for fun. I wasn't sure whether to find that creepy or not. Either way, it was helping find Sophia, and that's all that matters.

"Look! I found them!" The girl exclaimed, pointing animatedly at one particular classroom. I immediately ran up to the door and peered inside cautiously.

"Sophia doesn't look too happy though." She noted as we watched the scene in front of us.

We could only see the side of their profiles, but their facial expressions were still clear as day. Chris was looming over Sophia with clenched fists and veins sticking out of his forehead. That sent me into mild distress, as my eyes widened in fear. However, there wasn't an ounce of fear on Sophia's face.

She wore a small frown, but the rest of her features were relaxed and neutral.

Chris seemed to be the one doing all of the talking. There were a few times where she raised her eyebrow, but she never actually interrupted him. I couldn't tell if it was because she was scared to or if she didn't care. Funny how the one time I want Sophia to be expressive and crazy, I get the exact opposite.

And then it was as if fate had heard me, and decided to grant my wish.

Chris began the move closer to Sophia, slowly causing her to back away. Eventually, there was nowhere else for her to go. She had backed into a desk, and Chris saw it as an opportunity to bracket her in with his arms. It was only then that fear began the creep onto her face.

"We need to get them out of there. Now." I whispered furiously to the girl next to me.

She bobbed her head quickly, immediately moving to grab the doorknob. I grunted in disagreement, swatting her hand away.

"Without actually going in there," I clarified.

The girl's mouth fell into an 'O' shape before her eye started scanning up and down the hallways. Eventually, her eyes landed on something that made her entire face light up. She turned back towards me, gripping my shoulders.

"Here's the plan. When I do what I do, make sure and grab Sophia. Hopefully, there will be enough chaos to where you two can lose Chris in the crowd. Understand?" She explained, and I gave her a wary look.

A piece of me wanted to know what she was going to do. However, if it was crazy enough to cause mass panic, I may want to have plausible deniability.

I eventually nodded back at the girl, giving her a small smile. She grinned back at me before beginning to leave. Before she could go, I grabbed her arm.

"Thank you for all your help..." I trailed off lamely, realizing that I didn't know her name.

"Gabby." She informed me, with a tip of her imaginary hat. "Gabrielle Catherine Perez. And no problem."

Gabby skipped down the hallway, and I watched in amusement. The smile on my face quickly turned into a grimace when I turned around and saw Chris trying to touch Sophia's face. To my pleasure, Sophia swatted his hand away every time.

Chris couldn't take the hint though.

He leaned into Sophia as if he were going in for a kiss, despite the apparent discomfort in her face. Bile rose in my throat, as I watched Sophia struggle to keep her face away from his.

Just as she ran out of space, a deafening screeching noise began to fill the school. Every classroom door opened and crowds of people started to pile into the hallway. Everyone tried to yell over the alarm as they looked for direction in the panic.

Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to have a fire drill this early in the morning? No one is even awake yet.

As I looked up and down the hall for the nearest fire exit, my eyes found Gabby. She gave me a quick wink and a wave, before following the waves of students leaving the school.

I blanked for a few moments before it all clicked. Gabby Perez just pulled the fire alarm.

I shook my head in amazement until I remembered why she pulled the fire alarm. To my luck, Sophia and Chris were still inside the room, but they were beginning to walk towards the door. Luckily Chris looked like he was going to be the first one out.

When the door opened, Chris walked out and promptly melted in with the crowd. When Sophia came next, I grabbed her by her waist and dragged her back into the room. She thrashed against me, but I didn't let her go until I closed and locked the door.

"Who do you think you are?! Do you not hear the fire alarm?! We have to -" Sophia furiously yelled until she turned around and saw me. Her eyes narrowed at me, and I shrugged guiltily. It looked like there was a lot more yelling she wanted to do, but she didn't know what about.

"Avery you have two seconds to explain what is going on." She said, tapping her foot on the ground. I hadn't thought this far ahead. My plan had been: find Sophia, save Sophia, and then the end. I forgot to factor in that Sophia wanted to be in there with him.

"I didn't want you in there with him anymore," I replied, hoping that'd be enough of a response for her.

She gave me a dull look, leaning against the desk behind her. "You pulled the fire alarm because you were jealous?" She questioned. Sure let's go with that.

I shrugged indifferently. "Technically, I'm not the one who pulled the fire alarm. The was someone else who- Ow! Sophia! What was that for?!"

I was interrupted when Sophia got up and delivered a quick smack to the back of my head. I rubbed the injury, frowning at her.

"That was because you treat me like a three-year-old and don't trust me!" She sassed, waving her hands at me. It wasn't her that I didn't trust, it was Chris. But I couldn't tell her that.

"It's more like a two-year-old and - Sophia don't you dare hit me again," I warned, catching her hand before it could connect.

She glared at me one last time before her facial expression softened. She gave me a small smile and squeezed our conjoined hands.

"Thank you for getting me out of there." She whispered sincerely.

"Of course," I responded, smiling down at her.

We stared at each other for a while, getting lost in each other's eyes, before we both slowly became aware of the loud blaring again.

"We should probably go outside before the fire marshall finds us," I suggested.

Sophia laughed before nodding in agreement. Before we left the room, she turned towards me with curious eyes.

"If there were a real fire, would you still come looking for me?" She asked, her hand resting on the doorknob.

"Always."