The three of them sit at Jade's favorite spot in the school. Since Vicki's death, now Jeongguk is seen around Jaebum more than his other friends. Jade can't be sure if he's changed his social patterns though, she hardly paid attention to him when Vicki was still alive.

It's another humid afternoon during their free period, and this time Ryu joins them up top. She smiles at the sight of Jade, the other girl raises a hand to her eyes so that the glare of light is gone. Then she smiles.

"I don't have to worry about Bimil-ui Dobag." Jaebum says as Ryujin sits down. "I'm perfectly clean."

"If by clean, you mean boring." Jeongguk responds, laying down on the floor. Jade shoots him a weird look. "What?" He gripes. "I'm tired."

"What are we talking about?"

"We're trying to bet on who's next." Jaebum explains. "First Vicki, now Topaz— "

"It's Jade."

He ignores her and continues to talk. "...I don't count because I don't really do shit that I'm scared of other people finding out."

Jeongguk boos loudly. The older boy shoots him a glare. Jade shrugs, not really finding a problem with it. "No secrets? That's good, I mean. At least you can sleep peacefully at night."

"Jade, are you trying to say I don't sleep at night?"

"Yeah." She deadpans. "You look like an insomniac who drinks too much coffee."

"She's not wrong!" Ryujin laughs loudly. Then when their conversation slowly fades to silence, Jaebum speaks up.

"Diamond, your hair looks nice."

"It's Jade." She corrects, by now it's second nature. "And thank you."

"Did you skip school the other day?"

"Yeah I did." None of them say anything after that. The silence is statement that the three agree on though; Jade being a twenty has no affect on them. Jaebum actually can't say he was surprised when he found out. The girl was practically a genius. She also had this ability to attract attention wherever she went. It's a refreshing twist to the popular girl archetype, if he has to say so himself.

Ryu catches him staring at her friend, and arches a brow. Meanwhile, Jade is busy on her phone. Jeongguk looks half asleep, his food left untouched. So the insomniac has finally started to give in. Jaebum smirks slightly to himself at Ryu's newfound curiosity between the two. She wonders if this was some sort of relationship step that she wasn't aware of. Just dreaming about it in her head for a few seconds, the girl realizes that Jade — if anything — is totally Jaebum's type. How cute. There's already romance fluttering at ESS.

"How come you don't eat lunch with your other friends anymore, Jeongguk?" Jade asks, mildly curious. He peeps an eye open to look at her.

"I was just about to fall asleep."

"That doesn't answer my question."

He mutters something to himself. "That's not something I'd like to talk about." And the atmosphere goes tense. Vicki's death seems to have made the four friends drift apart. Maybe she was the only thing keeping them together for so long.

"Does it have to do with what happened last weekend?" And she's referencing the weekend before Vicki died. He looks at her again.

"Jade, drop it." And she does now, because his voice has dropped an octave. It's slightly scary, and reminds her of his serious expression when they met on the rooftop. Even the other two sit up a little straighter, though Jeongguk is still lying loosely on the ground. Jade has even more reason now to question what exactly happened that weekend.

But like always, she chooses not to press, because making Jeongguk angry is currently not on her agenda. Instead, she turns her head towards Jaebum.

"Are you single?"

"Did I just hear that right?" The other boy on the ground asks, voice now completely devoid of anything intimidating. He looks at Ryujin, who looks just as confused as him.

"Yeah I am." Jaebum responds, still looking at Jade. At this point, Ryujin clears her throat.

"You know, I feel like I'm intruding on something kinda' private..."

"Since when were you two talking?" Jeongguk gawks, very surprised. "Jae, I did not know you were straight."

"That's good." Jade says. Yes, it is good that he's single. And at her very obvious statement, Jaebum almost leans back, rolling his neck. There's something about girls who are very upfront with their intentions that he finds...

Attractive.

§

"Jeongguk." And he swears, sometimes her voice sends chills. This time is no exception. "You're avoiding us."

"Jisoo, I've been really busy lately." He answers tiredly, not really in the mood to speak to the other three right now. Doyoung seems to see right through his bullshit.

"Is hanging out with a twenty considering yourself busy?"

"I mean," He shrugs. "Sure, if you want to put it that way."

"People find it weird that you hang out with that girl." Jisoo frowns. "It's almost like you're degrading yourself."

"Jade is smart." He crosses his arms. "And besides, I don't really have the obligation to be around you three anymore."

"Are you asking for a death sentence?" Hyunjin speaks up now. "With all the secret spilling lately, you don't want yours to be in danger do you?"

And Jeongguk's smile fades, gripping the collar of Hyunjin's shirt. "You wouldn't dare."

And it's the younger kid's turn to laugh. His laughter only succeeds in making him more annoyed. "You think I wouldn't? You seem to forget who I am."

Jisoo and Doyoung watch this with expressionless faces, but Jeongguk knows them well enough to know that behind their cold masks, they are satisfied to see this kind of reaction from him.

"If you take me down, you better believe I will drag the rest of you down with me." Jeongguk mildly threatens, finally letting go of Hyunjin. "Even better, I'll expose all the things that the Five Crowns have done. How does that sound? Close group of friends who secretly hate each other? A group which Vicki trusted so easily, but we all hated her?" And he hits a nerve here, just like he expects. Doyoung swings a punch, which connects to his jaw. Jeongguk can taste the blood immediately, and when he finally recoils — he does what he always does; laugh.

"I see your feelings about Vicki never changed."

"You son of a bitch — you wouldn't dare!"

"Why not?" He shrugs, wiping the blood on his teeth. "She's dead." And he looks at Jisoo, who still has been very silent.

"Who would've expected you wanted her dead more than anything else?"