“I think Lucy used to be Junior Vice Captain,” I breathe.

“What the is a Junior Vice Captain?” Sofia asks, sitting on a kitchen chair. She is in her red-and-white cheerleading uniform and an oversized letter jacket. Her long brown hair is tied up in a high ponytail.

“It’s a title for the most powerful junior Kado sorcerer,” Jin says hesitantly. “Junior Vice Captains become Vice Captains, who then become Captains.”

“Captain Cardozo was telling us about it at Hado HQ,” I say. “And I remember reading about it, and- I don’t know why this didn’t click earlier.”

“Why what didn’t click earlier?” Tom furrows his eyebrows. “Joo, how did you come up with this theory?”

I turn to Jin. “How do you become Junior Vice Captain?”

Jin frowns. “You have to be at the top of your class in your age group. Better than your fellow sorcerers. And you have to exhibit other traits, too.”

“Like what?”

“Like leadership, loyalty... I never had much of an interest in becoming Junior Vice Captain or the Kado itself. So I know way less than I should.”

“So do they just pick you? Or do people vote?”

“I know that you have to complete this huge test at the end.” Jin shrugs. “See, we all knew Jimin was going to be picked from the start. Ever since we were really young, he was always just... dead set on becoming Junior Vice. His dad is Vice Captain right now.”

Dev’s eyebrows shoot up. “Huge test at the end?”

“Exactly!” I clap. “I read about this at Hado HQ- the Hado has something similar. What if Lucy’s huge test was killing Meena? And she failed, and got outcasted from the Kado?”

This causes Jin to pause. Sofia- who had been annoyedly tapping away on her phone- looks up.

“Then what?” Lucy asks, finally speaking. She has been appraising me with a thoughtful look the entire time we’ve been talking. “Even if this is true... we don’t have any proof.”

“And even if we get proof, how will this help with Lucy’s memories?” Dev pipes up.

“Maybe it’ll trigger something in her brain. I don’t know.” I put my hands on my hips. “As long as we get one step closer to the truth, it’ll at least be something.”

Dev turns to Jin. “Is there a place at Kado HQ where records are kept?”

“It’s all online,” Jin responds. “Sealed with a combination of a wall of literal magical encryption. Besides, when they wiped our memories, they destroyed all traces of Lucy.”

“But- theoretically- if she was going for the Captaincy, they would’ve documented the results of her test,” Tom says. “Right?”

Jin’s eyebrows shoot up. “Ah.”

“Wait, you guys can’t be serious,” Sofia says. “Jin, aren’t you the one who said hacking into the Kado’s system is impossible? If we could’ve done this, we would’ve done it a long time ago.”

“But we didn’t know what we were looking for last time,” Dev says, his voice rising with excitement. “We actually have a starting point now. This could be a really interesting project- we could learn about magical programming.”

“We? Dude, I’m a ing artist!” Sofia exclaims.

“Okay, I will then!”

“How long is that going to take you?”

“I just need books and practice!”

“Oh, okay, so months? You’ll graduate by then!”

“Why are you always so negative?”

“Stop arguing!” I shout, rapidly banging an empty milk carton on Lucy’s counter like it’s a gavel. “Jin, you look like you want to say something.”

Jin is biting his lip, deep in thought. I raise an eyebrow at him.

“I know someone else who’s good at coding, too,” he says hesitantly.

Beside him, Sofia narrows his eyes.

“Please don’t say who I think you’re about to say-,”

“Who?” Dev asks, his eyes wide.

“Jungkook.”

Sofia, Lucy, Tom, and I erupt into simultaneous groans.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lucy moans, burying her head in her hands.

“We can’t ask Jungkook!” Sofia says. “Jungkook’s... Jungkook. He’ll be too busy trying to stick his into me, Lucy, or Joo.”

“But all three of you have been... involved with his best friends,” Dev says. I realize with a shock that he knows about Sofia and Laila. “Isn’t that a violation of the bro code?”

Jin rolls his eyes. “That’s what makes it more appealing to him.”

I grimace. My impression of Jungkook so far has been terrible. He’s a sleazy who always laughed as Taehyung was making fun of me.

Taehyung. What would he think about all this?

“Jungkook would never help us,” Lucy says. “He’s ride-or-die Kado. When we were hooking up, he kept bragging about the ‘exclusive club’ him and his friends were in. He all but told me he was a sorcerer.”

Dev turns to Jin. “Just propose the idea to him, give him the backstory. If he says no, zap him and make him forget you asked.”

“What the- we’re not even going to do this!” Jin exclaims. “This entire thing is crazy! It’s safer if we just ride out the next one and a half years!”

“, a snake tried to bite my head off!” I yell, flinging a pillow at him. He yelps and dodges.

“You guys are giving me a headache.” Sofia grabs Jin’s arm. “We’re leaving. We’ll discuss this... later.”

Our party gradually dissolves. After stealing eggs, turmeric, and soy sauce from our fridge- a concerningly bizarre combination- Tom leaves, dragging behind a blustering Dev. Lucy and I rant about everyone and everything to each other before 7 PM hits and I have to call my mom. I’m crabby and annoyed on the phone. My mom can tell something’s annoying me.

By the time the next morning rolls around, though, I feel a little calmer. Tom, Sofia, and Jin are right. Trying to hack into the Kado’s system is suicide. There has to be another way. I’ll decide what to do after a few more days.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of time. When I arrive at school and see Lucy’s tongue stuck in Jungkook’s mouth, it’s clear she’s made the decision for me.

We are utterly silent. I push around my mashed potatoes with my fork, attempting to make them look more appetizing.

Sadly, my efforts are futile. It’s a little hard to make food look good when your best friend’s face with someone right next to you.

Jungkook’s friends are sitting at the table across the cafeteria. Occasionally, one of them will shoot disgusted looks at Jungkook and Lucy. Taehyung keeps trying to catch my eye.

But my gaze has been on Jimin the entire time. He hasn’t glanced at our table once.

Judging by how hot the cafeteria is, though, I can tell he’s livid. The thought causes my lips to curl up into a grin.

Jimin must’ve felt my eyes on him, because he looks up at me. My smile grows even wider. The look in his eyes could sear through platinum.

“So,” Tom coughs. “I... uh... I didn’t know you two were... seeing each other.”

“Why?” Jungkook arrogantly asks, Lucy perched on his lap. “Were you trying to tap this ? ‘Cuz that’s wishful thinking for you, bud.”

Tom, Dev, and I look at him in disbelief. Lucy, however, buries her head in his neck.

“Lucy, you’ve gotta cut that out,” I say, my appetite totally gone.

“Keep going, babe, I love the hickeys,” Jungkook grins. He eyes me up and down. “You’re not still ing Taehyung, are you?”

I shoot him a disgusted look. “We were never ing.”

“What the ? Then why’s he so hung up over you?”

I suddenly feel extremely uncomfortable. “Shut up. I don’t want to talk about this.”

New text:

Sofia: what is happening.

Joo: I DON’T KNOW, IT’S DISGUSTING

Jin: jimin is so mad.

Joo: :)

Tom: I’m gonna hurl y’all

Dev is appraising Jungkook with careful eyes.

“So,” he says. “Tell me about yourself, Jungkook.”

Jungkook ignores him. Lucy nudges him.

“Answer him. I want you to be friends with my friends,” she simpers in a very un-Lucy-like voice.

Jungkook groans. “What do you want to know?”

“What do you do for fun?” Dev asks.

“ es.”

Lucy giggles, but I definitely see the murder in her eyes.

“Kidding. I play lacrosse. Obviously. And Fortnite.”

“Nice. I love Fortnite. Are you a big gaming guy? Into computers?”

Jungkook checks his watch. “Not really.”

“Oh. Interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

“Huh? Uh... you?”

“Anyway,” Tom says, trying to defuse the uncomfortable situation. “Jungkook. So glad you could eat lunch with us. There are only five minutes till the bell, so... we’re gonna go.”

He doesn’t acknowledge us as we hastily leave. As I hurry to the door, someone slams into my shoulder, sending me flying into Tom.

“Whoa,” Tom says. Both of us turn around. Jimin is looking down at me, smiling sweetly.

“Oh no! My mistake,” he laughs. “You okay, Joo?”

Instead of scowling at him like he expects, the -eating grin reappears on my face.

“I’m okay, Jimin. But are you? Your best friend’s sticking his in your ex-girlfriend, after all.”

“Okay, we’re going,” Dev says, hurriedly dragging me away as Jimin’s face turns murderous. I can’t help but burst into laughter as I walk away. Ha!

“Did... you see... his expression,” I guffaw uncontrollably, crouching down on the floor. “He looked so pissed!”

“Do you have a death wish?” Tom says, but he’s smiling, too. Dev looks downright gleeful.

“That made my day,” Dev sighs. “And what a ty day it’s been.”

“So. Lucy and Jungkook.” I say.

Tom rolls her eyes. “We all know why she’s doing it. She’s not being subtle at all.”

“There’s no way Jungkook is some expert programmer,” Dev snorts. “He has the depth of a kiddie pool.”

“Maybe he was being purposefully evasive,” I suggest.

“Hmph. He’s a .”

“Yeah, honestly. I guess we’ll just wait it out and see.”