It was lunchtime. Jade usually kept her cosmetic related belongings in her locker. So she stopped there before heading to the cafeteria line, just to spritz a little bit of perfume and check her reflection. Just as she was smoothing down her skirt, the locker door which had the small mirror she was looking in was abruptly slammed shut.

"What the f—" Jade turns abruptly to be met with Hyunjin in her face. One hand is leaning against her locker which he must've shut, the other is resting loosely against his hip. Jade holds her tongue, though she's eager to curse him out.

"What do you want?" She rephrases, a finger twiddling with the strap of her book-bag. Hyunjin grins now, stepping a little closer to her.

"You're cute."

"Not interested." She answers simply, not even bothering a second glance before turning away to go get her food. Jade doesn't even manage a step when his hands wrap around her wrist. Surprisingly, he's a lot stronger than she took account for.

"Oh come on." Now she thinks Hyunjin must be assuming she's younger than him. "Come eat with my friends at lunch."

Jade smiles warmly at him. "Me?"

"Yes." He grins more, thinking she's coming around. Hyunjin is painfully brought to his senses when Jade aggressively loosened her wrist from his grip, twisting his own arm to the boy's surprise.

"No thanks." She growls under her breath, then finally gets to leave. When she's gone, Hyunjin turns to the end of the hall, where Vicki and Jeongguk are standing.

"Are you happy? My arm hurts like hell."

"You deserve it." Vicki responds plainly and starts to walk towards him. "You've been pulling too many stunts on me."

"Stunts like what?" He shrieks, by now the hall is empty. Jeongguk scoffs.

"Hyun, you know the answer to that. Do we have to explain?"

"You keep pissing off Jimin." Vicki states, crossing her arms. "This is the third fight you've had and we've hardly been back in school. If the administration finds out; you're out. Be glad that I even gave you the privilege of holding the after schools events on the rooftop. I don't place my trust in underclassmen so easily."

Now he understood what she was getting at.

"Vicki, are you threatening me?"

"Yeah." She shrugs like it's obvious. "You keep this up and you're out. I'll just give it back to JK." Who looks more than happy to take the position from Hyunjin. The younger boy scowls at Jeongguk.

"I'm going to the nurse."

"Aw, did she beat you up that badly?" Jeongguk taunts. "Hyun, start going to the gym. No one likes a weak little boy."

The last thing to be heard in that hallway is Vicki's musical laughter.

§

When she reaches the rooftop — the air is breezy and the sky is sunny so it's perfect — Jade finally finds some peace to eat her lunch. It's actually quite fancy this time; a mushroom patty burger with cheese filling and some lettuce and tomatoes. Jade is usually the only one up on the rooftop eating, but sometimes there's a few others sitting as well. Usually they are couples, who like the silence and privacy so they can have time alone together. Whenever that happens, Jade just goes to the other side of the rooftop.

Today however, an unexpected guest at her hideout greets her. He turns to look at her as she takes a bite from her sandwich, elbows leaning against the railing.

"What are you doing up here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Jade answers instantly, glancing down at the field below them. Many people are outside on the benches eating, since the weather is nice. She recognizes his voice; it's Im Jaebum. One of the Olympians.

"Don't you have to eat with the others?" She taunts. "Like a ritual?"

"It's not a ritual." He scoffs to himself. "And no I don't. I can do whatever I want."

"This is my personal hideout." She explains. "I eat lunch here whenever I can."

"Why? It's so far from everyone."

"Is it?" Yes, she enjoyed social interaction, but this view was the best one to exist. "I can see everyone here."

"So you watch people?" He arched a brow. "Are you a stalker?"

"Stalking and observing are two very different things." Her eyes met his. "I observe people."

"Observe me then." He looked humored by her little explanation, as if he couldn't believe her response. Usually whenever Jade explained her observations of people to them, they got freaked out by the accuracy.

"You look like a senior." She starts, thinking for another second. "Seems like Jeongguk got the idea of untucking his dress shirt from you, you do the same thing. People are intimidated by you. Either it's because you're an Olympian, or it's the hair and earrings. Your hair is tousled, slightly messy, because you're lazy. You can't be bothered with brushing it in the morning, since you're tired. Probably stay up late working on homework, I can still see the led marks on the sides of your fingers." At this, he takes a look at his hands. Jade wasn't done just yet.

"And for the earrings, you get them there because it's easy to hide with your hair. I think your parents don't approve of it so you got them behind their back. Earrings are easy to remove and they won't see, though you'd probably prefer one around your eyebrow. You smell like strawberries — probably just had a class with Doyoung. It has to be science, and you two are probably lab partners which is why the smell is a lot stronger than if you were in the same room as him."

"Valedictorian, was it?" Jade grins to herself. "Most people are surprised when they hear you're the valedictorian. You look far from a nerd and seem to have a social life of a party girl. People think you cheat to get your way to the top, since your parents have so much money...but it's all just smartness. They're just jealous. The accusations have irritated you before, the bruises on your knuckles indicate maybe a few fights, probably like five or six max. You seriously hate it when people make assumptions without knowing you, so maybe you thought I would slip up on this description. Maybe give Vicki a reason to attack me? Since Jeongguk invited me to his stupid party?"

Once she was done her monologue, Jade took another bite of her burger, satisfied with the slightly freaked and astonished look on his face. Explaining her thought process and people's reactions never got old. But this time, Jaebum was more impressed than freaked out.

"What number am I thinking of right now?" He asks suddenly, causing Jade to laugh.

"It doesn't work like that. I don't read minds." She turned her head back to watching the students down below.

"Six?"

The two look at each other again, and it seems like she was correct with her guess. Jaebum's trying to figure out who she is.

"You were mostly right. There was one thing you got wrong though." And he doesn't disclose what exactly was incorrect which irritates Jade a little. Still, she doesn't pry. Maybe it was just a detail for her to figure out later. "How do you do that? Are you like Sherlock Holmes?"

"You'd be surprised how much you can learn from someone based on their physical appearance. Anyone can do it, you just have to open your eyes."

§

Friday arrives sooner than she expects it to. By now Jade has been sitting in her room for more than an hour, deciding on what to wear. Ryujin said that Jeongguk's house parties were no less fancy than going out for clubbing. At this point, she was debating on raiding Jennie's closet.

"Wear this." The older girl says, leaning against the doorway as if she could smell her frustration. "Jade, did not know you were this interested in impressing rich kids."

"I'm not, believe me." The last thing Jade cared about was their reactions on her outfit. She just needed something enough to fit in, but with just a little push to make her stand out amongst the other. If that made any sense. It did in her head.

When she turns to look at the dress which Jennie has in her hand, her eyes gleam. "Eonnie, you're a god."

"I know." The third eldest states, glad to see that her younger sister is smiling. Jade runs her hands over the piece.

"Mino is going to kill me if he sees me wear this."

"So will Jiyong." Joy adds, emerging from the bathroom. "But I'll make sure they don't see you."

"You're going with Ryu, right?"

"Yeah. That's what she agreed on." Jennie plops down on Jade's bed with her other sister.

"Look at you. You're going to a party."

"Stop being weird." Jade mumbles absentmindedly, fiddling with the zipper on the back of the dress, she continues to struggle until Joy decides to help her.

The taller one whistles lowly. "Yeah they will kill you if they even see this. Jennie, how did you manage to buy this?"

"Jiyong and Mino can't say a single thing to me." The oldest of the three girls responds, and they know there's truth behind her words.

Looking at her reflection, Jade supposes she looks good. It's a vibrant magenta ruched dress. It clings to her frame like a second layer of skin. Lei doesn't wear clothes like this often, not that she feels shy wearing them, but there's not much of an occasion for it. The youngest then ties her hair into a high ponytail.

"I'm going to head out now." After slipping on a simple gold chain, Jade snatches an oversized denim jacket — it probably belongs to Jisung but it's in her room so she doesn't care — and grins at the two girls laying lazily in the comforts of her room. "Tell Dad I'll be home around 1."

"That's so late." Joy frowns. "I want to hear about the party." The two sisters hug each other.

"Yeah same." Jennie's tone is more serious now. "But if you ever get a weird feeling about anything, call me and I'll pick you up. Don't call the boys, they'll be after my ass for letting you leave like that."

"I know." Those are her last words before she leaves out the front doors. Nearby her place is a park, where her and Ryujin agreed to meet. Not even Ryu knew that she was a twenty, and Jade did her best to keep it that way. Of course, sending this girl her actual address would give away her status almost immediately. It's not like Jade's house was small, but it was very middle class. Comparing to their beach homes and mansions and estates, this was like a hut.

Ryu does not meet her at the park. She doesn't show up at all, and instead someone else does.

"Aren't you supposed to be at your own party?" Jade asks in disbelief, not quite processing that Jeongguk's Benz has pulled up near the playground where she was currently amusing herself with the swing set.

"Looking good." He shouts back, and unlocks his car. "Get in."

"Ryujin is supposed to be taking me."

"I know. I told her I'll be picking you up."

"For what reason?" She asks, leaning her elbows against the open car window. Their brown eyes look at each other again, and he reaches out to pull her hair loose from the scrunchie holding it together.

"No reason?" He smiles innocently, and Jade sees that she has no choice but to get in, otherwise she would not make it to the party.