Well, not only did Jin overhear Maeve giving me condoms, but he overheard that I have serious daddy issues—like literally. As Maeve leaves my room, I prepare for the awkwardness to begin.

"So..." Jin begins, flopping back down on the bean bag.

"Ya..." My eyes linger to the bottom of my bed. I can't see the condoms, but just knowing they're under my bed keeps my face red.

"So, that was...interesting," Jin says, coyly.

"Shut up," I say, collapsing my head in my hands, trying not to laugh.

"I mean, I'm always up for an extra science experience..."

Wow.

"But in all seriousness," Jin changes the subject quickly, seemingly nervous, "that whole thing with your dad is crazy."

"I know, right?"

"You've never asked about him before?"

"Honestly, I don't think so. It was never a burning desire for me to find out about him. Do you think he might be important?"

"I mean, he definitely could be. It's just weird that your Mom wouldn't tell Maeve about him."

"No, the weird part is that Maeve and me—even though we're seventeen years apart—have the same freaking dad."

"It can't be a coincidence. You know that, right?"

"Agreed. But does it have to do with Red Lady?"

Jin looks lost in thought as he pulls out his notebook to write something down. "Hey, what were you going to tell me earlier?

"What?"

"About what you found in Maeve's office."

"Oh shit!" I say, jumping up to reach my hand under my mattress. "This..." I say, handing Jin a folded up document.

"A DNA test isn't the only thing Maeve has sent to a lab," I say as Jin's eyes scan it.

"What's this?"

"I wasn't sure when I looked at it earlier, but after what Maeve said, it makes sense. It looks like a lab or a genealogy report. Read this," I say, flipping to an attached letter.

"Ms. Sharock, Diagnostic Laboratories could confirm the absence presence of any abnormal genetic sequencing in the sample you sent in. The sample appears to be normal with no markers for any cancers, as well as no genetic deletions or duplications in any region of Chromosome 22..." Jin's words drop off once the words become too hard to understand."She was testing to see if there's something wrong with you?"

"YES!"

"But why?"

"Maybe she knows more than she says, maybe that's why she's so paranoid and on top of whatever I'm doing."

"From what I overheard, it kind of seems like she cares about you."

"Meave only cares about herself, trust me," I emphasize. "She always has an ulterior motive."

"You sure she just wasn't making sure you didn't have whatever your mom did?"

"That's what I thought, but look at the date," I tap the top of the paper.

"September 4, 2019," Jin says, looking up at me. "So?"

"That's just a couple weeks after Rina got here," I try to lead Jin along to the point I'm getting at. "Probably a couple of weeks after an offer came in on the house..."

"Are you saying she had you tested for something after she got an offer on the house?"

"Exactly, it takes about six weeks to close on a house. This is dated for four weeks ago. So—"

"So, Maeve had you tested as soon as she accepted my parent's offer?"

"YES!"

"But why?"

"That, Jin, is the science fair winning question—what the hell does Maeve know about me and that house?"

I thought going into this I had daddy issues, but it turns out I have sister issues.

"Hold on," Jin says, writing away. "Let me get this down..."

It's funny how thorough Jin is about all this. It's almost like he actually believes we'll find out what the hell is wrong with me using the scientific method. I wish it was that easy.

"So I put down that your dad may be of importance, and that we need to find out what Maeve knows. I think Maeve should be our next focus."

"So, what do we do?"

"We move forward with a new prediction," Jin says firmly.

"Okay, which is?"

"Maeve Shamrock knew when she sold the house that Vel Shamrock might become Red Lady."

"Okay, that's really far out there," I laugh, trying to take Jin seriously.

"What isn't far out there about any of this?" Jin says, dead serious.

Shit. He has a point.

"How the hell do we go about testing that prediction?"

"We let Red Lady go to my house tonight, and we let my parents find her aftermath."

"Are you seriously insane?!"

"Hear me out," Jin says, back to writing away in his notebook.

"If my parents think someone broke in, they'll call Maeve, and you need to be there to see how she reacts when they do."

"Why in the hell would they call Maeve?"

"If you just bought a house and someone trashed it, wouldn't you call the lady who just sold it to you, not to mention the lady who grew up in the house, to find out who might have a reason to break in?"

"I mean, it's a stretch."

"I'll make the suggestion. I'll bait my parents into calling her."

"Okay, but even if you get your parents to call her instead of the police, how the hell am I going to be there when Maeve gets the phone call?"

"Get her attention," Jin says as a smile peers across his face.

Obviously, he has an idea.

"Get in trouble, suspended or something." Wow, Jin, who was so afraid of going to the principal's office, wants me to get suspended? I'm for sure rubbing off on him.

"You want me to get suspended so that she has to come pick me up from school?"

"One hundred percent yes."

I kind of like bad boy Jin, even though science nerd Jin is still the OG. "Do you have a suggestion?
"Cece Bundt and Maverick Hall is a good place to start."

"Easy," I'm always up for pissing off Bundty.

"So, if Maeve freaks when my parents call, then she has to know something."

Damn, he's actually really good at this.

"I low key feel like you should be a detective," I laugh as Jin's face lights up with excitement.

"No way, I'm a mad scientist, bro."

Bro? Did I just get broed? "Do you call all the girls whose bedrooms you sneak into bro?"

"No, only the girls who are trying to kill me."

"Fair enough," I say as Jin slides his bean bag over to me.

"Here," he says, scooching over to make some room. "We continuing our Office marathon?"

I pause awkwardly, staring at the open space on the bean bag. I mean, I really want to sit there with him, but that's like really close. Somehow it's easier telling him all my deep, dark secrets than being physically close to him. As Jin flips on the TV, I turn off the lights. My green stars light up the room in the periphery of my TV's glow, and I keep my eyes steady on them as I squeeze onto the bean bag with Jin.

We sit quietly for a minute as my thoughts rush. I'm scared. I'm nervous, I'm...I don't even know. But Jin seems so calm and collected.

"Jin, how are you so calm right now?" I ask, keeping my eyes straight ahead as I feel his arm slowly reach around to the top of the bean bag.

"I wasn't calm three days ago when I thought I was living in a haunted house."

"Well, you are living in a haunted house..."

"You know what I mean."

"But how are you so calm about it now?"

"Well..." I listen to Jin's ruff voice as he talks. It's not the most lyrical sounding voice. It kind of sounds scratchy, but over the last couple days, it's grown on me. "I feel like once I got to know you, none of it was scary anymore."

"But, you should be scared," I whisper as the realization hits me. We should both be scared.

"No, Red Lady should be scared because I got lots of plans for Vel Shamrock, and she's not invited."

Slowly and all cliche like Jin's hand slowly moves to rest on my shoulder. And slowly and all cliche like, I get that warm feeling in my stomach that feels like it's bubbling—butterflies. Damnit.

I'm too nervous to say anything back, so I let my head rest against his arm and enjoy the little time we have left before Red Lady gets her turn to have fun.

*Hope everyone is enjoying Little Green Stars. Please take a second to vote.