Work Text:
Sophie had always been an early riser, even more so than Peter, believe it or not, and it was for one reason and one reason only.
Peace.
There was a sort of gentleness and tranquility that came with waking up around sunrise. The colours were beautiful; the early autumn, late spring, and all-around summer heat didn’t quite kick in just yet, and it gave her a few hours to herself before everyone else started their days.
The first thing she liked to do was jog and Mount Horizon had some beautiful trails for that.
So with a big stretch, she climbed out of bed and got dressed in some leggings, a T-shirt, and a hoodie. She tiptoed towards the front door of Peter’s cabin and quickly laced up her sneakers.
She jogged through the forest for about twenty minutes before circling back and crossing through parts of the school’s campus.
She was unsurprised to find that it was still deserted—or almost.
Sophie suddenly came to a full stop when she spotted something quite unusual and very concerning.
In the middle of one of the courtyards was a large, wooden statue of a mother bear with her baby bear and tucked in the space between the mother bear’s arms and the stump in front of her was a small, curled up, blonde girl.
“What the…” the older blonde muttered as she jogged over to the girl, accelerating near the end when she recognized that it was Shelby and she was asleep , “Oh my god. Shelby. Shelby? Shelby, sweetie, wake up. Shelby!”
She placed a gentle hand onto the sleeping teenager’s arm and when that didn’t work, she shook her a bit but still to no avail. She was in a worryingly deep sleep.
Just from the coldness of her pyjamas, Sophie could deduce that she’d been there for a while, definitely a couple of hours at least, and it being the middle of October only worsened her concern.
“Crap,” she muttered, not knowing what exactly to do.
She definitely couldn’t just leave her. That was out of the question. She shouldn’t have been sleeping there at all.
However, she wouldn’t be able to lift her alone and she wasn’t waking up.
With a sigh, Sophie removed her hoodie and covered Shelby as much as she could with it before sprinting back to Peter’s cabin, which was only about a three-minute run away.
She burst inside, startling the man who had woken up by then and was just finishing lacing up his runners, also dressed in workout attire.
“Woah! Where’s the fire, Soph?” Peter teased the blonde.
“Peter, come on! Shelby’s sleeping in the bear statue!” Sophie exclaimed, skipping the greetings.
“What?” the brunette man responded, shocked and confused but now also equally concerned.
Sophie resisted rolling her eyes and took Peter by the hand, leading him outside, “Come on! You have to help me get her inside! She’s freezing! I think she fell asleep there overnight!”
The two ran back towards the courtyard and found Shelby in the same position in which Sophie had left her.
“Oh my god,” the older blonde heard her male companion mutter behind her, “Shelby?”
“I tried, but she wouldn’t wake up,” Sophie told him, fully perturbed, “Come on. Let’s get her into the lodge.”
Peter nodded wordlessly and carefully scooped the young girl up into his arms, making sure that Sophie’s hoodie remained draped over her to provide her with as much warmth as possible.
“Here, put her on the couch and get the fireplace started. I’ll get her a blanket and pillow,” Sophie suggested.
The brunette man did as he was told and soon enough, Shelby’s body temperature returned to normal.
The two adults kept careful watch over the young blonde, grateful that there were no signs of her having caught a cold or anything so far.
“What the hell was she doing out there anyway?” Peter questioned.
“I don’t know,” Sophie answered, hand raised up to her chin in contemplation.
Peter knew that look and that tone of voice. “What is it, Soph?”
Sophie sighed and replied, “I don’t know. I…it might be nothing, but there was just something so…sad about seeing her curled up out there in the bear’s arms. I have no idea why she would do it, but…it just makes me sad…whatever the reason may be.”
“Yeah, I don’t know why either,” Peter agreed, “She’s a…puzzling girl. And she can be difficult and even rude at times, but there’s something special yet…fragile about her.
“I just wish she’d let us in, so we could help her see that she doesn’t need to push people away. She doesn’t need to build her walls so high. That there isn’t only evil out there in the world.”
“Yeah,” Sophie responded, nodding in agreement.
“Okay, well, I’m gonna go on my run, but I’ll be back soon,” Peter announced, giving the woman a quick kiss on the temple, “Do you mind staying with her?”
“Not at all,” Sophie readily answered.
“Great. Thanks,” Peter responded as he began walking towards the door before tossing some advice over his shoulder on his way out, “Oh, and if I were you, I’d wake her before the rest of the kids get up.
“She’d probably get embarrassed if people found her sleeping here and when Shelby gets embarrassed, she gets mean…er.”
Sophie gave him a thumbs-up, then sat down in one of the armchairs next to the younger blonde, taking out a random book from one of the end tables and opening it up.
About an hour later, Shelby stirred on the couch, so Sophie put the book down.
She was going to greet the teenager, but decided to simply observe in silence.
It was fascinating, really.
The first few seconds of Shelby waking up, she was so unaware and still a bit groggy, which didn’t give her the opportunity to put on that “mean girl” mask that she constantly wore. She looked so young—innocent—vulnerable. She looked like the kid that she was supposed to be.
It was enough to make Sophie smile.
But then, just like that, she stopped rubbing at her eyes and abruptly flew up. Her head whipped around, frantically taking in her surroundings, as she shoved the blanket off of herself, the mask almost instantly falling back into place.
Then finally, her gaze landed onto the only other person in the room and a scowl hardened over her face.
Gone was the innocent and vulnerable girl, replaced by a surly, defensive young woman, who was forced to grow up too soon and taught to be suspicious of everyone and everything at first glance.
Sophie’s smile disappeared right along with it.
“It’s creepy that you were watching me sleep, you know?” Shelby deadpanned, her voice low and slightly raspy from drowsiness.
Nice to know that her attitude as well as her mask kicked in first thing in the morning.
“Good morning to you too, Shelby,” Sophie replied, ignoring the sass.
“What the hell am I doing here?” the young girl questioned, also disregarding the older blonde’s words.
“Language,” Sophie remarked, “And Peter and I brought you in here to warm up and sleep somewhere more comfortable. I found you out in the cold in the bear statue during my morning jog.”
A nearly unnoticeable blush crossed the girl’s cheeks, but she otherwise didn’t respond.
“What on earth were you doing there, Shelby?” Sophie questioned, mom tone coming in, “You could’ve gotten sick.”
“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went for a walk. When I still didn’t feel tired, I hung out at the statue. Guess I fell asleep. Big whoop. I’m fine ,” Shelby recounted curtly before shoving herself up from the couch and making a move towards the door.
Of course Sophie didn’t let her off the hook that easily though.
“Why couldn’t you sleep?” the older blonde asked in concern, standing up as well, “Were you having nightmares?”
“Oh my god. No. I’m not a five-year-old, little girl,” the teenager answered, throwing her hands up in exasperation, “And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I don’t know you and I don’t want to, thank you very much.”
With that, Shelby strode out of the lodge and returned towards her cabin.
Sophie sighed as she watched the girl go, wondering what it was about her.
She still firmly believed that her tendency to run away from home was not the only reason why Shelby was at Mount Horizon. There was no way. Almost every kid there had that problem.
She was also convinced that there was something deeper about Shelby climbing into the statue than she claimed. There were plenty of places—way more private places on campus to end up during a nightly walk because of nightmares or troubling thoughts than a giant bear statue in the middle of a courtyard . Something must’ve drawn her to that statue in particular.
Maybe Sophie was reading into the situation too much, but she didn’t think so.
There was definitely more to this girl than anyone thought.