Seolhyun didn’t want to be wearing a splint on her first day at a new school, but since her mom was insistent that she would wait until her checkup tomorrow after school, she was stuck with more than the ‘Look, it’s a new girl!’ reactions she got the moment she stepped into the halls of Tae Oak University. Plus, she had those looks ‘Look, a new girl who’s been beaten up!’ too.

Everyone stared as if Seolhyun were a two-headed alien rolling up into school. She wasn’t sure if she should feel like a celebrity or an escaped mental patient. No one spoke to her.

Luckily, TOU was easy to navigate and find classes. Seolhyun was used to high schools that were at least four stories tall, had multiple wings, and open campuses. TOU had a couple of floors, but that was it.

She found her class easily and sat through curious stares and a few tentative smiles. She didn’t see her neighbors until second period, and it was Hyejeong who strolled in seconds before the bell rang, with an easy smile on her full lips. Conversations practically ceased. Several of the girls around her even stopped scribbling in on their notebooks.

Hyejeong had a sort of rock star entrance with that deadly swagger. She had everyone’s attention, especially when she shifted her textbook from one hand to the other and then ran her fingers through the tousled waves of her long hair, letting it fall back over her forehead. Her jeans hung low on her hips, so when she lifted her arm, she flashed a row of golden skin that somehow made math all the more interesting.

A girl sighed next to Seolhyun and said under her breath, “God, what I wouldn’t do for a piece of that. A ‘Hyejeong Sandwich’ should be on the menu.”

Another girl giggled. “That is terrible, Doyeon.”

“Along with the Jung twins as a side dish,” the first brunette replied, flushing as Hyejeong drew close.

Seolhyun hastily averted her eyes to her notebook, but she still knew Hyejeong had taken the seat directly behind her. The entire length of her back tingled. A second later, Seolhyun felt something poke her in her back. Biting down on her lip, Seolhyun glanced over her shoulder.

Hyejeong did that usual jerk-smirking. “How’s the arm?”

Excitement and dread built inside her. Did she write on my back? Seolhyun wouldn’t be surprised if Hyejeong had. She felt her cheeks redden at the sparkle in her black eyes. “Good,” she said, tucking her hair back. “I get the splint off tomorrow, I think.”

Hyejeong tapped her pen off the edge of the desk. “That should help.”

“Help with what?”

She circled the pen in the air, apparently encompassing Seolhyun’s fashion sense. “With what you’ve got going on there.”

Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t even want to know what Hyejeong was referencing. There was nothing wrong with her jeans or her shirt. She looked like everyone else in the classroom, with the exception of kids who had their shirts tucked into their pants.

Doyeon and her friend had stopped talking, watching Hyejeong and Seolhyun with openmouthed stares. She swore to God if Hyejeong said anything ignorant, she was going to lay her out in class. Her splint was heavy enough to do damage.

Leaning forward, her warm breath danced along Seolhyun’s cheek when she spoke. “Less people will stare without the splint is all I’m saying.”

Seolhyun didn’t believe for one second that was all Hyejeong was talking about. On top of that, with Hyejeong this close to her face, everyone was staring. And they weren’t looking away from each other. They were stuck in the middle of an epic stare-down Seolhyun refused to lose.

A girl on the other side of Hyejeong gave a low whistle. “Chaeyeon is going to kick your , Hyejeong.”

Eyes still on Seolhyun, Hyejeong tipped her desk forward even further. “Nah, she likes my too much for that.”

The girl chuckled.

Seolhyun rolled her eyes. “Nightmares, Hyejeong. Nightmares.”

Hyejeong smiled, her eyes twinkling, and Seolhyun almost smiled back, but luckily the teacher started calling roll, forcing an end to, well, whatever was going on between them. She turned around in her seat, letting out a slow breath.

Hyejeong laughed softly.

When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Seolhyun couldn’t get out of there quick enough. She did so without looking back to see what Hyejeong was doing. School was going to more than it normally did if Hyejeong sat behind her in class every day.

Out in the hallway, Doyeon and her friend fell in step with Seolhyun. “You’re new here,” said the brunette. Observant.

Doyeon rolled her dark eyes. “That’s not obvious, Jieqiong.”

Jieqiong ignored her friend, pushing her round-framed specs up her nose as she deftly stepped out of the way of another stupid kid barreling through the crowded hall. “How do you know Shin Hyejeong so well?”

Considering the first kids to talk to her were doing so because she’d been talking to Hyejeong, Seolhyun wasn’t thrilled. “I moved in next to them in the middle of June.”

“Ah, I’m jealous.” Doyeon pursed her lips. “Half the population at this building would love to trade places with you.”

I’d gladly change positions with you, guys.

“By the way, my name is Jieqiong and that’s Doyeon if you hadn’t figured it out yet. We’ve lived here our whole lives.”

“My name is Kim Seolhyun, from Seoul.” Oddly, they didn’t have thick accents like Seolhyun had been expecting.

“You came here, from Seoul?” Doyeon’s eyes went wide. “Are you insane?”

Seolhyun smiled. “My mom is.”

“What happened to your arm?” Jieqiong asked as they followed Seolhyun up the crowded stairs.

There were so many people in the stairwell Seolhyun didn’t want to announce what happened, but Doyeon apparently knew. “She was mugged in town, remember?” She nudged Jieqiong with a curvy hip. “The same night Choi Yoojung died.”

“Oh yeah,” Jieqiong said, frowning. “They’re holding a memorial for her tomorrow. So sad.”

Unsure of how to respond, Seolhyun nodded.

Doyeon smiled as they reached the second floor. Seolhyun had English at the end of the hall that she was pretty sure she shared with Mina. “Well, it’s nice meeting you. We don’t get a lot of new people here.”

“Nope,” Jieqiong agreed. “No new kids since the triplets arrived here when we were freshmen.”

“You mean Chaeyeon and her brothers?” Seolhyun asked, confused

“The squad,” Doyeon answered. “With Hyejeong and Mina, all six of them showed up within days of each other. Had everyone going crazy.”

“Wait.” Seolhyun stopped in the middle of the hall, earning a few nasty looks from people she knocked off course. “What do you mean all six of them? And all of them came here at the same time?”

“Pretty much,” Jieqiong said, fixing her specs. “And Doyeon isn’t kidding. It was crazy for months afterward. Can you blame us, though?”

Doyeon stopped by a classroom door, eyebrows wrinkling. “Oh, you didn’t know there had been three of them?”

Feeling even more confused, Seolhyun shook her head. “No. There’s Hyejeong and Mina, right?”

The warning bell rang, and both Doyeon and Jieqiong glanced into the classroom filling up. It was Doyeon who explained. “They were triplets, too, although Mina is the only shortie in the group. Mina and there were two big sis, Hyejeong and Youkyung. They were born in the same year. Just like the Jungs.”

Jieqiong smiled sadly. “It’s really sad. The one sister, Youkyung, she disappeared a year ago. Everyone pretty much believes she’s dead.”

Seolhyun didn’t have much time to ask Mina about this other sister because she was late getting to English class. And she was still too hurt to broach the topic with her. She couldn’t believe she didn’t tell the complete story about her another sister. Or mention their parents, or their significant others, or else.

And she had disappeared? Died? Seolhyun’s heart ached for them even though they obviously hadn’t told her everything. She knew what it was like to lose someone. On top of all of that, there was something just flat-out odd about the fact that two different families with triplets moved to the same small town in a matter of days, but Mina had said the Jungs were friends of the family.

After class, Mina was strolled by Chaeyeon and a golden-haired boy who looked as though he could be a model. It took no stretch of the imagination to figure out that was one of her brothers. And when they had left her, all Mina said was to meet together at lunch before they had to rush off to their next classes.

“How’s your first day going?” Doyeon sat at the table in front of Seolhyun, smiling.

“Good. Normal. Yours?”

“Boring and long already,” she replied. “I can’t wait for this year to be over. I’m ready to get the hell out of here, move to a normal town.”

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