At the end of the class, Jen started to pack up everything into her backpack, once again revealing the harsh insults carved into her desk. She sighed while looking at it again, not realizing that two people were standing in front of her.

“Oh no!” Sunny gasped insincerely.

“Who would write these things on your desk?” Jessica asked with fake surprise, “that’s so mean!”

Jen shrugged her shoulders before answering. “I don’t know…”

“It’s very mean, Sica. We’re sorry this had to happen to you,” Sunny said and bowed shortly.

Jessica bowed shortly as well and tried to look as genuinely concerned as possible. “I know we didn’t get off on the right foot back at the airport but this… this just isn’t right!”

Jen looked up at the two girls skeptically. ‘Is she really sorry for what she said earlier?’ she thought to herself.

“I want to make it up to you!” Jessica said cheerily, “lets hang out after school today! Sunny and me are going to head down to the movie theater on the basement level of the school. You should totally join us!”

‘They really… they want t-to hang out with me…?’ Jen thought in shock. She couldn’t believe that they actually wanted to hang out with her of all people. These were the girls that everyone at the school wanted to be and they actually wanted to hang out with her – the new kid.

“Y-Yeah… that’d be… sure, I’d like that,” Jen stumbled trying to find the right words. She didn’t want to sound too eager or too apathetic either.

“Great! We’ll see you later then,” Jessica said with a big smile, “just take the elevator to the basement level and follow the signs to the theater, arraseo?”

“Ne!” Jen responded returning the smile.

“Great! See you later Jen!” Sunny said excitedly and linked arms with Jessica, both girls walking out of the classroom together.

Once Jessica and Sunny walked out of the classroom, they burst out in laughter. “I can’t believe she actually fell for it!” Jessica said in between fits of laughter.

“I know right! How naïve can she be?” Sunny snickered while gasping for air.

“Yah. Yah!” Jessica called trying to grab Sunny’s attention, “we should go set everything up. We have a job to do.”

“Yes ma’am!” Sunny said jokingly and saluted to Jessica.

Jessica sighed and put her arm across Sunny’s shoulders as they began walking away. “How can we be so talented, rich, beautiful, and intelligent all at the same time?”

---

Jen happily finished putting away her books and put on her backpack. She was happy that she was going to hang out with Jessica and Sunny. Sure, they weren’t people that she would particularly hang out with in the first place but it wouldn’t be so bad to give them a chance. I mean, how hard could it be?

Jen walked out of the classroom and began making her way to her second class of the day.

---

Luhan watched as Jessica and Sunny approached Jen’s seat. ‘Now what are they up to?’ he thought to himself. He couldn’t hear what they were saying to Jen but he could tell one thing…

How fake their smiles were…

How fake their laughs were…

Everything was so… fake.

Luhan’s eyebrows furrowed when he noticed that Jen was going along with what they were saying. He, however, couldn’t shake the feeling that they were plotting something bad. He didn’t know how but he knew he had to get to Jen before they did something to her.

“Yah! Lulu, we need to go,” Kai said and nudged Luhan’s arm, “Lulu, kaja!”

Luhan finally snapped out of his own thoughts and swatted Kai’s hand away. “Yah! Stop calling me Lulu; you know I hate nicknames.”

“Whatever,” Kai smirked, “now let’s go. I need more coffee before my next class.”

“You should really calm down with drinking so much coffee… too much isn’t good for you,” Kyungsoo said while quietly packing up his stuff along with Luhan.

“This’ll be my last cup today,” Kai assured, “I’m not awake enough yet… I lost too much sleep because of the airport.”

“Let it go, Jongin,” Luhan said as he put on his backpack, “you know it was just an accident.”

“Ahh… so you’re going to take her side now?” Kai asked bitterly, staring into Luhan’s eyes with heated intensity.

“Guys don’t do this,” Kyungsoo interjected and stood between Luhan and Kai, putting his hand on Kai’s shoulder.

“Aish!” Kai hissed and shook Kyungsoo’s hand off his shoulder, “forget it. I’m leaving.” He shot one last death glare at Luhan before storming out of the classroom.

Luhan was about to go after him so that he could explain himself but Kyungsoo stopped him. “You’ll only make it worse if you go after him now…”

Luhan nodded reluctantly knowing that Kyungsoo was right.

“He’ll calm down eventually. Let’s just go to our next class, okay?” Kyungsoo added and Luhan agreed. The two boys immediately made their way to their next class together but only Luhan looked back with a sigh. He hated fighting with his best friend more than anything but… Kai could be so irrational sometimes. The best way that Luhan could describe Kai was to say that he was like a predator – once he had his eyes set on his prey, he would immediately go in for the kill… no matter what.

---

♦ After school ♦

‘Okay so they said the movie theater was on the basement level of the school…’ Jen thought as she pressed the button to open the elevator. She pressed the button a few more times before it actually opened and she stepped inside.

‘Man I hate elevators,’ she thought when the elevator started its descent to the basement floor. She tightened her grip on the railing and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the elevator ride to end.

Ding.

The elevator doors slowly opened and Jen cautiously walked out. “Hello! Is anyone down here?” she called hoping that someone could help her along the way to the movie theater.

The basement level of the school was dimly lit and had several pieces of furniture covered by plastic to her right. To Jen’s left, she saw a hallway and a sign directing her to the movie theater. ‘Ah, so it’s down there,’ she thought and then she made her way down the hallway, ‘it’s so dim down here…’

She continued to walk down the hallway until she reached a fancy door. The door was decorated with a plush red velvet covering and the trim was gold. ‘Whoa, this really seems like it’ll be a nice movie theater,’ she thought and then opened the door…

Clang! Splash!

A bucket strategically placed over the door tipped over as soon as Jen opened the door and out spilled a cool, gooey liquid onto her. Jen gasped and attempted to wipe away the liquid from her eyes but it didn’t help much… the liquid was on her hands too.

Then she heard an eruption of laughter from all around her and then Jen heard two very familiar voices…

“Wow, did you really think we would hang out with you? Gah! I can’t believe you actually fell for it, oh my god!” Jessica teased.

“You seriously must be dumber than we thought!” Sunny snickered and with the two girls’ comments, the laughter grew.

Jen’s bottom lip trembled and she spun around on her heels and ran blindly out of the room. She didn’t know how she was going to get out of the basement but she at least needed to get out of there – and quick.