Although he had been the one to come look for me before my lunch period, I remembered that Baekhyun was one of the EXO members that no longer attended our school.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, and when I turned to him, Baekhyun was watching my movements closely. I didn't know why he was staring, but there were emotions swimming in his eyes. Perhaps of longing, or of regret. 

"Why are you here, Baekhyun?"

He didn't answer, and I didn't expect him to. He just continued staring at me like he had been, even though I started getting uncomfortable as he did so. What he said was strange. Was there even an explanation to those words? Why did it feel like there was a hidden message? To avoid his gaze, my eyes passed him to where Chanyeol was at the end of the hallway. He usually avoided going near my locker or anywhere near me but I could see him there with a small bag in his hand. When he saw Baekhyun, however, his expression blanked and he stalked over to us quickly.

"Baek, what are you doing here?" 

In return, Baekhyun pointed at the bag in my hand. Perhaps Chanyeol had missed it before, but his gaze flickered over to me and I saw a spark of irritation in his eyes.

"Forget whatever he's said to you."

With that, Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun by the arm and started walking away. My eyebrows furrowed as they walked away since Chanyeol made no sense to me, but then my eye caught something. On their wrists were small spiraling tattoos, similar to the ones I had seen in my dream.

"Those tattoos!" They froze when they had just taken two steps from me and turned their heads to look back at me. It was a little funny, because their already pale faces had paled even further.

"I saw them... in a dream. You were covered in them. All of you. The tattoos were glowing, and the clouds..." 

I didn't mean to talk about the dream at all, but my head dropped as I started thinking about the tattoo, my mouth moving on its own as I described what I had seen. Why did I see those tattoos in my dream before I even knew about their tattoos?

"You dreamt of us? How cute." Baekhyun's expression betrayed that he didn't find it cute at all. It was strange, because he had been softer to me just before Chanyeol arrived, but now... why is he like this to me?

I wanted to retort with something witty, or just glare at him, but the two of them hurried away before I had the chance to. Why? Were they afraid I would hit them? Well, maybe I planned to, but did that really give them a right to keep doing this to me? EXO made no sense to me. They refused to leave me alone and barged into my life, but then they acted like I didn't matter to them or like I was a nuisance to them. Which was it? Why couldn't they decide?

After staring off in the direction they had gone in for minutes, I finally let out a sigh and retreated to the roof for my lunch. It was quiet up there like it always was, and from on top of the roof, I could see everything that happened in town. The lunch included a smooshed turkey sandwich that I had probably ruined, an orange that was also smooshed because of me, and a juice box. A juice box, really? 

In the end, the only thing I consumed was the juice box. I had been hungry earlier on, but now thoughts of EXO plagued my mind. Did they realize how irritating they were being towards me by switching sides so often? Instead, I couldn't tell if the boys liked me or not. What if it was just a game to the twelve of them? Could they possibly have been like this towards other girls as well?

I didn't go to my classes after lunch. I might have zoned out and missed the bell, but when I realized what time it was and checked the clock, I was too lazy to get going to my next class at all. It didn't matter if I went or not anyway, since I was ignored everywhere I went. I was sure no one would even bother looking for me up on the roof.

I was wrong.

"You're supposed to be at your forensics class." When my head turned, I found that it was Sehun standing behind me. He wasn't looking at me but his gaze had been focused on the city before us, and a spark of longing filled his eyes.

How did he know my schedule? I turned to him with my eyes narrowed, but he was still looking out at the city. A moment later, I sighed and returned to drinking my juice. Was it really still surprising that they knew so much about me? I didn't think I could be surprised by them any further. Sooner or later they'd also probably force me to live with them without telling me why. They were that kind of people. They had no explanations or reasons, they just did what they wanted.

"Why are you up here?" I asked, sipping out of my juice box. It was apple juice, and though the carton itself was crushed, the juice had a refreshing taste and brought a smile to my face.

"It's nice up here." When I turned again, he was looking at me. Or was he actually just watching me drink juice? Usually, Sehun didn't like me. There were the times he'd tensed when I was around, or he teased me. Was he being nice to me now? 

"Why are you all so damn confusing?" My voice was bitter, I realized. Sehun flinched as I spoke, fidgeting where he stood for a moment before he finally sat down beside me. 

"Why aren't you in class?" He avoided my question like it meant nothing to him, and it probably didn't. I scoffed as I stood up, wiping my hands on my pants and turning away from the intruder.

Since the twelve EXO boys refused to cooperate with me, I had no reason to cooperate with them. It was as I turned away that I saw another figure. I shouldn't have been surprised that Sehun wasn't alone, but I was. Kai was there waiting by the staircase with a sandwich in his mouth and his lips pressed into a firm line.

"We have an excuse." Kai sputtered, although I hadn't even asked him why he was there and not in class.

"This is our free period. We're always out here."

Due to how rich and influential EXO was, they were allowed to do whatever they want whenever they wanted. I wasn't surprised as they admitted it to me, only slightly annoyed. Of course they would be at the only place I thought I could be alone. Moments later, the door to the staircase opened and out came the other four EXO members that went to the school. 

When the boys noticed me, I saw Chanyeol's eyes harden. I remembered the conversation I had with him and Baekhyun earlier and couldn't help but glare right back at him. They were keeping secrets from me and being suspicious yet I was the one being treated badly? The others must have sensed the tension between the two of us, for moments later, Chanyeol was pushed away and instead, I was face to face with Chen.

"You should be in class." He scolded me, but his voice was teasing and there was that devious glint in his eyes again.

Since Chen and I had never argued since we met, I ended up smiling as he teased me. It was strange, but Chen was friendly and his jokes were enough to cheer me up.

"I'm just going to head home for the day." I answered his scolding, and a worried glimmer entered his eyes.

"I'll call Kris to take you home." Tao suddenly called out, but I furrowed my eyes as I looked back to him.

"Why would you do that? I know how to get home on my own." But Tao was already on his phone with his back turned to me. In surprise, I jumped forward to snatch the phone out of his hand but Tao had somehow dodged right before I got to him.

"Chanyeol would take you but he's already skipped enough classes this week." D.O. muttered, as if nothing strange was happening. I narrowed my eyes at them because what did they think they were doing?

Chanyeol refused to look at me by that point, so in frustration, I walked back to the ledge of the roof. Weird things happened whenever I was with them, yet they always pretended nothing was happening and made me feel like I was simply imagining things. Sehun and Kai were devouring the lunch I had let go of at some point during our encounter, and Chen was watching the sky closely as if something were going to drop out of it.

"It would be best if you got a ride. It looks like a storm is coming."

As Chen spoke, I whirled around and looked at the darkening clouds, with my heart constricting. After losing my family, I had grown to be afraid of lightning and of fire. I know there were other things I should have grown to fear, but whenever I thought of that day, the first images that popped in my head were of lightning and of fire. Since I hadn't been able to check the weather earlier on, I didn't know if the weather change were just another weird effect of being with the EXO boys. But when thunder cracked in the sky, I knew Chen was right. I quickly covered my ears, whimpering. I wasn't usually this vulnerable, but the storm that was coming terrified me and I just wanted to escape from where I was. 

"She's scared, Dae, she's scared!" I could barely hear the sound as my hands pressed against my ears but I could tell it was Chanyeol. I wanted to make sure, to know why his voice was suddenly so concerned, but my eyes shut tightly when I saw a flash of light in the sky.

"Myung Ji, step away from the edge." Kai's voice also sounded afraid, but when I stepped, I realized I had only stepped forward towards the edge. Why had I even moved this far in the first place?

Right, I had moved this way because EXO was at the stairs and I wanted to be as far away from them as possible. But now with them blocking my way to the exit and my only way out the edge of the rooftop, I didn't know what I was doing. 

"Step towards my voice." Someone's voice instructed, but by then I couldn't tell the difference. Everyone sounded the same and my ears felt like they were going to fall off.

I tried going off in the direction that I was called, but my feet were rooted to the ground and I didn't want to chance falling off the building. Then another flash of lightning came, and I jumped, losing my footing and falling straight to the ground below. I screamed as I fell because who wouldn't, with my eyes shut tightly as I descended.

Suddenly, someone caught me. I don't know how, I don't know why, but someone caught me, and I held on tightly to whoever it was holding me. 

"What happened?" Kris's voice was yelling upwards towards the top of the building, but how could they hear him from the ground?

"I want to go home." I didn't bother opening my eyes to ask, but I could tell he was nodding. Moments later, the sound of a car door opening caught my attention, and then someone else was holding me.

I was shaking in my seat the entire way to the orphanage.