It was Friday afternoon, and Beth and Simone were listening pop songs together via a pair of shared headphones in Simone's homeroom. Sunlight enlightened the room through the windows, leaving golden sparkles on the plants and photo albums on the window ledge. Simone's guitar quietly lay in the corner on the side of the room — a hot pink bass guitar filled with stickers.

Julianna told the two girls not to wait for her to go together to her house — she had a club meeting, and she also wanted to check out some books for the Biology Olympiad. Instead, Beth and Simone would be navigating to Julianna's home by themselves. Julianna had granted them the password to enter the house, and the three of them will meet at 5:00 PM sharp in the living room.

Simone walked towards her guitar and took it with her.

'I don't know what I should play for the band audition, and if I go to the band audition at all.'

'Are you still thinking about Fifi?'

'Yes and no. You see, I like writing songs and composing music by myself, and I have been doing that on my channel for a long time. However, it feels different to play music with people that I love and care about, like these people who grew up with me in middle school.'

Simone opened up the album on her phone and showed Beth photos of her middle school band. Most of the pictures were taken with her band members when she was in junior high. Everyone was squeezed together as they made funny faces looking at the camera. There were a couple of pictures of her and Felicity playing guitar on stage together. In the photos, she looked more timid and childlike. In contrast, Felicity stood by her side with her eyes closed, rocking her bass guitar like a pro.

Beth wanted to sit still and ask Simone more about her middle school friends, as well as other things she had been doing. However, she felt it was not the time for them to slack around in the homeroom. It was better to head toward Julianna's house, which was situated near the suburban areas of Laurel City. To get there, the girls would have to walk to the subway station at West Park and take one hour of subway to get there.

On the way to West Park, Beth and Simone noticed that the sun was spreading its last glimmers across the horizon. That's when the city showed its quirks. A couple was kissing in front of a flower shop. A group of children was playing a chasing game between the block buildings. Just on the right side of them, some older people immersed themselves in the sunlight, with two large dogs snuggled against them. A tall red drawbridge was in the background, silently observing everything that was going on near the park.

Beth and Simone walked down the subway station that was just situated under the drawbridge. The train came within a couple of minutes after they found their platform. To Beth's surprise, the train was only half-full, and there weren't a lot of people occupying the subway seats. Right in front of her was a row of three empty seats. No one was coming for them. She and Simone each instinctively sat down on one of the seats, while placing their bags on the third seat.

'Tell me about your middle school friends, Simmy. What were they like?'

'Everyone had different personalities, but we had a lot of fun together. Many of my early music videos on my channel were made in collaboration with my middle school band. Especially with Felicity.' Simone stretched her arms. 'I want to start making music videos with friends again. I might work on one very soon. Would you like to be part of it?'

'I would love to help you with your video! By the way, how was starring in Always In My Heart, the romance series, like?'

"Oh, that was a long time ago...It was nothing big. I starred as one of the couple's daughters for several episodes.'

"What's the personality of the girl that you were starring?

"She looks naive but is an old soul in a young body. You can call her a little adult--she loved advising people around her."

"That's interesting. I bet that the little girl you were starring is a complicated and multifaceted character. Did you enjoy portraying her on stage?"

"I think so. The process of production was enjoyable. I got to talk to other kids on set, and we did so many prank when the team was not looking!'

'Why did you stop starring in Always In My Heart, then? Didn't you enjoy acting?'

'It's a lot of things added together.' Simone said. 'acting is fun, and it does give you quick attention and fame if you are lucky. But imagine you are a young child who has to constantly comply to dress codes, go on trips, and perform in front of people. You can't visit your parents and friends often, and your appearances change as you grow old. It gets draining having to live up to other people's expectations. That's why I thought it was better to leave and get an education instead. I had to leave. It was hard at first catching up with all the school work, but voila, here I am at Laurel. How cool is that?'

'Are you adjusting well to Laurel Prep now?' Beth quickly asked.

'I'm doing okay. Not as good as Jules, though. I worry about what she told us during the day when she had her college counseling meeting. Is she gonna be okay with all the stress she imposes on herself? What kind of home do you think she is from? An affluent, gifted home? A home with pushy parents?'

'I don't think so. Her parents seem way too fine. Let's arrive at her home and see what we can discover.'

✨

After getting off the subway and walking for another ten minutes, the two girls found themselves in a neighborhood with rows of blocky townhomes with well-manicured lawns and fine plantations. It was very different than the neighborhoods adjacent to Laurel Prep, where people resided in little cubicles in high-rise buildings. The neighborhood is very quiet. Some people were walking their dogs, some were jogging, and some were reading a book on the public benches. Time seemed to move more slowly here — the day was already dimming down, but no one was rushing on the pathways to go home in a hurry.

Beth's navigation said that this was the neighborhood Julianna lives, and her house was located right across from the public playground. Beth had already expected the navigation to be right. Right in front of them was a modern, geometric two-story building with clean, shiny panels as all-around windows. Holy shit! Beth stared at the house with her eyes wide open. How did I casually make such a rich friend? This home is so fine!

'Let's go to the front door and open it using the password.' Simone peeked at Beth and found her focused sharply on the building. 'Umm...Beth? Are you alright?'

'Yes yes!' Beth burst her words out in a hushed voice. 'Let's go. Jules should be waiting for us now.'

Simone walked towards the front door and opened it with the password. A twist sound was made and the door cracked open, exposing the living room inside the house.

However, all the lights in the room were off, and there wasn't a single sound in the house.

'What time is it?' Beth asked.

'5:20.'

'That's odd. Jules should be here by now. Did she run into some problem?'

'I will text her, but I don't know if she's going to respond.' Simone pulled out her phone. 'She rarely reads my text, and I barely even know why.'

'Hey, Simmy...a person is walking towards this house.' Beth seemed to spot something out of the blue.

"Let me look at that." Simone diverged her sight to Beth's direction. She stared at the person for a second and two, and immediately had a concerned look on her face. "Wait. Isn't that our Jules Miller?"

'How do you know?'

'Just look." Simone took out her phone and opened up the camera app to zoom in on the person. "Look at that iconic blue hair. Her eyes are half-closed, but I can see that they are brown. I don't recognize the hoodie but those orange sneakers...they do stick out."

Beth pulled herself closer to Simone. 'Oh gosh...it could be her. Why does she look tired? '

'No idea. We probably need to check if she was okay.'

"I never saw Jules like this. Compared to us, she was always on top of her things. Besides, she had always been proactive and prepared..."

"I don't know--weren't you the person who got to know her before me?" Simone said. "this behavior is atypical for her. I just think that maybe she is shielding from us something that she doesn't want us to know. Some people don't do much self-disclosure."

✨

Julianna walked into the living room as if nothing had happened, while silently clenching her fist to avoid her eyelids fighting against each other.

'Welcome to my home, and feel free to sit anywhere you want.'

'Well, Jules, are you feeling alright?' Simone looked concerned. 'Please don't stretch yourself out too much if you are not feeling well."

'I am fine. It's just all the walking home tiredness acting up. Do you guys want anything to eat or drink?'

Julianna rubbed her eyes and dragged her weary legs forward towards the refrigerator.

'What about we call it a day?' Simone said. 'You can go back and take a rest, Jules. Beth and I will order takeouts to bring here.'

'I SAID THAT I AM FINE! Let's just get straight down to discussing the networking event, shall we?'

Simone felt every inch of her hair standing up suddenly as she sunk into the sofa.

Simone told Beth that maybe there were things Julianna didn't want to talk about to both of them. Beth started to suspect if that was true. Although she and Julianna had been friends for a month and so, she only recalled Julianna talking about ideas and academics. When she was out to dinner with Eleanor and Darius, they mentioned that Julianna might have been bullied, yet she never talked with them about the issue. Furthermore, Julianna rarely talked about her past life in middle school, nor did she mention anyone that was specifically close to her. Shouldn't there be some reason behind that?

'Guys, let's both calm down.' Beth walked around, pointing to a photo that was placed on a corner on the living room shelf. 'Hey Jules, I didn't know you were this cute when you were young. Why haven't you shown us these photos —"

But before Beth could even finish her words, she had realized that her attempt to make the atmosphere less serious had failed.

Julianna dashed towards the shelf and slapped her right hand onto the photo with a loud bang.

'Beth, you can't see that! Give that picture to me!'

'Why? What's wrong with those photos?'

'JUST GIVE THEM TO ME ALREADY!!'

Julianna grabbed Beth by the wrist with a strong grip, almost flipping her wrist over. The photo slipped out of Beth's hands immediately, falling onto the ground near her. Simone jumped out of the sofa and pushed against both Julianna and Beth, attempting to separate the two of them. Upon seeing Simone coming, Julianna crouched under Simone and extended her arms forward, trying to reach the photo. But before she could do that, she slipped onto the ground, her head crashing against the floor.

Just then, the girls heard strong, consistent 'boom, boom, boom' coming from the walls. Something was bouncing against the walls. Simone looked up and found a jellyfish-like creature right outside of the right window.

'Beth! Are these emotional monsters? They are coming at us!"

"Emotional monsters of Jules?"

"I think so. Who else has monsters look like marine creatures?"

"No way!!!"

Beth shouted, letting go of Julianna's grip. A burst of emotions pounded heavily in her chest as she watched several other giant jellyfish move toward Julianna's house.

'We need to act fast! You go first, Simmy! I will be here protecting Jules.'