- 'Blue Lights', Jorja Smith

- 'Control', Halsey

- 'Coming Down', Dum Dum Girls

- 'House of Cards', BTS

- 'Cold Rain', 4Minute

- 'Russian Roulette', Rihanna

- 'Friends', Chase Atlantic

"You freaking idiot! You've always been stupid but this is something else, even for you Park Chanyeol!"

"Krystal would you please just back off?!" Chanyeol groaned, gently pushing her hand away from his bruised face. 

"Was it worth it?" Krystal asked him, her arms crossed as she stared at him with sheer and unwavering disapproval.

"Was what worth it?"

"Whatever death wish you had when you went and got yourself beaten up?"

"Holy !" Baekhyun howled in ridiculous laughter as he walked into homeroom, making a beeline for his best friend, "And I thought I was the bad guy around here!"

"Well, someone has to be prone to reckless idiocy if not you, Byun Baekhyun." Krystal rolled her eyes as she perched on the edge of her desk.

"Seriously man, what happened?" Baekhyun asked as he gently moved Chanyeol's head to look at his bruised cheekbone and busted nose. 

"Quit it," Chanyeol groaned as he swatted Baekhyun's hand away, wincing in pain slightly. 

"Good question, Baekhuyn," Krystal look at Chanyeol sternly, "What did happen?"

Chanyeol grimaced, his eyes flitting between his two friends uncomfortably as he played with the edges of his sleeves, "I uh- I went to find Kora..."

"What?"

"You what?" 

Krystal and Baekhyun exclaimed in unison. Krystal didn't know what she hated more about this situation; that Chanyeol had gone to find Kora in the first place, or that he'd been beaten up because of it. Clearly Baekhyun felt this twisted betrayal too, as he wore an identical look of frustration on his face to Krystal. 

It was clear that underneath this frustration, fear was taking hold. Fear that the web of lies that they'd all spent the past year coping with, was slowly becoming undone. How close were the rest of them to discovering that Lay wasn't in juvie like they all thought he would be? How long till they all start to question what actually happened? How long until they start to realise that Krystal still wasn't telling the truth?

"Look. I didn't want to tell you because I know you'd both be pissed." Chanyeol sighed as he slumped down into his chair, pouting like a child, "But I got a phone-call from Kora, and Sehun helped tracked her down. So I went to see her an-" 

"You mean you knew where she was and you didn't think to tell me?" Baekhyun asked, his voice fraught with tension as Krystal could see the anger radiate from him, his fists clenching at his sides.

Chanyeol returned Baekhyun's intense stare, "I thought you didn't care about her anymore!"

"You !" Baekhyun cursed at his friend, his eyes and voice all the rage and fury he'd been containing these past few months, threatening to bubble over.

Krystal didn't hesitate in stepping between the two boys before their tempers got the better of them and either of them did something they would regret. Reaching to grab tightly onto their ears, Krystal dragged the two boys out of the classroom and into the hallway.

"OW!"

"GET OFF!"

", that hurts!"

"You're going to tear my earring!"

"Now," Krystal sighed, letting go of the boys' ears and putting her hands on her hips as she them, "Will you boys calm the down and explain?"

The boys, both rubbing their throbbing ears, glanced at one another, before finally settling.

"What happened when you saw Kora?" Krystal asked plainly. 

Chanyeol sighed, his eyes still looking grave, "I told her she needed to come home. She didn't want to."

"Why?" Baekhyun asked, his voice still shaken with tension. Krystal could tell how much he was struggling to hold it all together right now. Even she struggled to contain her nerves.

"Because she doesn't want to be around people who would betray their own friends." Chanyeol's voice croaked, "Because she knows what we did to Lay. Because he was the one she ran away with."

Krystal and Baekhyun both released a large sigh, Krystal having to pace the hallway slightly out of sheer anxiety. Baekhyun leaned against the locker, sliding down to the floor as despair set in. Krystal fought with every in of her being to remain calm and not give in to despair as Baekhyun was.

She needed to stay focused, and figure out a plan to amend all if this. If she played her cards right, Krystal could avoid having their secret escape, and more importantly, protect her own.

"I'm sorry I never told you." Baekhyun sighed from the floor, a look of sheer anguish overcoming his face, "I was- I was just so scared when I first saw him that-"

"It's fine," Chanyeol interrupted, "I understand. To be honest, I would've done the same too."

"Really?"

Chanyeol nodded, "I just wish it didn't have to involve Kora. But I guess it does now."

Baekhyun pondered this for a moment. It was probably the first time he'd thought about Kora openly for a while, "So what do we do? How do we get her back?"

"You two are doing nothing." Krystal piped up, finally resolute on what she had to do, "You're both staying here and getting on with class."

"And you?" Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, "What are you planning on doing?"

Sighing, Krystal said, "I'm going to try and clean up some of this mess I made." she her heel, leaving the two boys confused in her wake as she set off in her mission. 

In the distance, Mr Kim arrived to their homeroom, where he loudly scolded Baekhyun and Chanyeol for hanging around in the hallway. Krystal would've at least smirked at this, but she was far too engrossed in her own mind right now to lend any further attention to this. 

She stalked over to her car, running over her options in her head as she felt panic begin to set in. Fumbling with her keys, her hands shook as she unlocked her door, where she quickly slumped in the driver's seat, pulling out a packet of cigarettes she always stored her for a emergency. She quickly lit it, allowing the familiar burn of the smoke and the rush of the nicotine to calm her nerves, albeit a momentary, superficial calm. 

She hadn't seen Lay since last year. That day where she'd stood up in court and told the judge and jury the story of that night. A court visit no one even knew had happened, and had been kept completely secret. 

Unless Lay told Kora.

Krystal had not been allowed to contact Lay after the decision was made that day. The punishments had been served and they went their separate ways. But that didn't mean that Krystal hadn't heard whispers and rumours about him, glimpses of the drugs he continued to run around Seoul and the crime circles he ran with. It was almost the opposite of divine intervention that Kora, of all people, suddenly had to end up running off with him.

But that was it. Krystal knew that if she had any hope in hell of keeping it all a secret, of keeping her secret, she had to get Kora back. Before it was too late, and everything fell apart.

*

Krystal walked up to the random apartment, already being able to hear the pounding music from inside and the crowds of people stumbling in and out onto the balcony. 

"You sure this is it?"

"I'm certain."

"And you're sure it's her?"

"Absolutely, it's one of the only groups in the city that the gang doesn't have influence in."

Krystal looked over at Jennie; the young girl reminded her so much of herself at 16 but with a much louder confidence than Krystal herself had. They knew each other from Krystal's stint at the private school, only Jennie got kicked out way earlier on in the year. Krystal was a party girl back in the day, but rich-kid Jennie ran the parties. She never really understood why Jennie ran with the little crime-gangs that she did, considering she was from a rich family and was fairly smart. 

But that's exactly why you acted out too. Because you were bored.

"You want me to go in with you?" Jennie asked as she gazed up at the building.

"If you want," Krystal shrugged, "Might not be a pretty sight."

"Oh I think I can handle that," Jennie smirked devilishly before leading them both into the back-end apartment. 

Krystal's nose creased immediately at the strong smell wafting through the hallways as they ascended the stairs, "What is that?"

"So uh- turns out this is actually a crack-house," Jennie said awkwardly as she covered her nose, "I do hope your friend is alright."

"She's not my friend," Krystal muttered as Jennie led them towards the source of all the noise and music. 

Krystal had never seen such a decrepit sight in her life. Random junkies were stumbling about the place, some intoxicated, others less so as the sour smell of narcotics wafted through the air. The girls could barely see 2 metres in front of them as smoke clung to the air, forming iridescent patterns as a pitiful-looking disco light spun slowly in front of a wall covered in kitchen foil.

Even for Krystal, with all the she'd seen in her life, this was something else entirely. She didn't even know what to think, let alone what to say when Jennie turned to her and asked; 

"You see this girl anywhere?"

And there she was. She lay down on the sofa, her head resting on the arm of one end as she brought a pipe up to her lips, her other hand shaking as she held the lighter up to ignite it. 

Krystal bounded across the room before she could even react properly, reaching for the pipe in Kora's hands and throwing it towards another sofa, where a junkie caught it with with surprisingly good instincts.

"What the hell?" Kora snapped, looking up at Krystal with eyes that were all black and swallowed up by pupil. 

"You need to come with me." Krystal said firmly. She knew very well from being in Kora's position that dealing with intoxicated people like this needed a certain level of authority.

Swinging her legs over the sofa, Kora looked up at Krystal with a slight smirk and a look of challenge in her eyes, "And who do you think you are?"

Krystal couldn't help but return the smirk, "I'm the one that's been cleaning up your mess since you ran away."

A look of sudden realisation dawned on Kora's face. She truly was beautiful, much to Krystal's annoyance, her eyes having such a unique, fox-like shape to them as well as being unnaturally green in colour for someone of their ethnicity. The colour in them only popped even more thanks to the dark smidge of eyeliner that rimmed them. Her silver hair was matted, and severely growing out at the roots from lack of care, and her black nails were torn down to stubs. She looked a mess, an angelic, dark mess. 

"You're Krystal, aren't you?"

Even Krystal had to be surprised at her perceptiveness. 

"And you're a massive thorn in my side right now. We have to go."

Kora seemed to ponder this for a moment, eyes glancing around at the pitiful scene around her, before reaching down to grab a backpack that lay beside the sofa. 

"Let's go." 

Getting her out of the apartment was another problem altogether. As soon as Kora stood up, her knees buckled underneath her ever so slightly, and Krystal barely managed to catch her in time before she collided with the floor. 

"Sorry," Kora groaned as she slowly managed to pick herself up again. 

Following instinct, Krystal put Kora's arm over her shoulder, (she couldn't help but notice how light Kora's weight felt to carry), whilst Jennie quickly came to grab Kora's bag. It was like trying to walk a child; Kora was so distracted by everything, so caught up in whatever they crossed paths with on the way downstairs - not that taking the stairs had been an easy feat either. 

Yet Krystal remained patient. Too much was riding on getting Kora safely home, and even more so on Krystal getting to the bottom of everything. Right now, however, that seemed a very slim possibility. As soon as they stepped foot outside of the building, Kora immediately cowered away and back inside.

"It's too bright!" she complained, covering her eyes from the midday sun. 

Groaning, Krystal mumbled, "Of course, she can't come out during sunlight."

Jennie, however, seemed undeterred by this, and handed Kora a pair of sunglasses she seemed to carry inside of her aviator jacket, "Here, take these."  

Looking at both Jennie and the glasses with a moment of uncertainty, Kora gingerly took the glasses and put them on. A coy smile immediately grew on her face, "These are awesome."

"Thanks," Jennie smiled back, "I designed them myself."

Kora began to slowly step out into the sunshine, taking in the fresh air and seemingly enthralled by the colour of the world underneath the tinted lenses. Krystal wondered how long Kora would remain this high for. 

"What did you say your friend's name was again?" Jennie asked as she and Krystal walked slightly ahead, Kora trailing behind as she began to dance about in the sunlight.

"Her name's Kora, and she's not my friend." Krystal found it difficult not to snap at that. She was here against her better conscience, but she wasn't exactly rushing to befriend Kora either. 

"Why does that name sound familiar?" Jennie pulled a face as she looked back at Kora.

"Apparently her Dad's some kind of crook. A pretty important one too."

"Then I'm not surprised she was hiding out here," Jennie sighed as she went up to her crimson Motorcycle, "Seoul is not the city to make enemies in." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Krystal called out as Jennie went to gear up on her bike.

Smirking slightly, Jennie hesitated a moment as she held her bike helmet, "I think you know exactly what I mean Krystal. The past always has a way of catching up with you. I'll see you around."

Krystal merely watched Jennie speed off, dumbfounded, at having been called out in such a way.

She's like a more evil, outspoken version of me! And I'm the crazy in Town!

And that wasn't even the last crazy Krystal had to deal with for the day. Sighing, Krystal turned around to see Kora sniffing a plant outside of the front door of the building. She was certainly a sight to see with Jennie's snazzy sunglasses, her messy ruffled her and annoyingly stylish leather jacket as she stood there analysing the poorly-maintained plants outside this run-down building. 

"You having fun there?" Krystal called out to Kora as she leaned against her Kora. 

Only when Kora looked up to smile at Krystal, she immediately turned away to throw up violently into the plant-pot she'd been admiring. 

"I need another cigarette."

*

"Krystal, how did you get this number?"

"I can't explain right now Suho. But I need you to get Sulli and Kai and get them to my place."

"It's not appro-"

"It's a life or death situation Suho!" Krystal exclaimed down the line, "I wouldn't be calling and asking you this if I wasn't desperate."

"Okay fine. We'll come as soon as school's over." 

The line clicked off. Krystal glanced at the clock on her dashboard - only 10 minutes left of the school day. 10 minutes that would go by terribly slowly whilst Krystal sped down the motorway. She was never one for fast cars and speeding, yet Krystal was doing everything in her power not to panic right now. 

Kora lay on the seats in the back, the belt draped lazily over her shoulder as she appeared to drift in and out of consciousness, mumbling only names like 'Mom', 'Lay', 'Baekhuyn' and even 'Chanyeol. Yet as annoyed as Krystal wanted to be about this, there was another name that Kora mumbled, one which intrigued Krystal beyond measure. 'Jaejoong'.

Could it be the Jaejoong?

There was another Kora mumbled, and seemed to mumble repeatedly, but Kora's voice was such a croak, so indecipherable, that Krystal couldn't even guess what it was. 

Clearly yet another man in Kora's life.

Dammit concentrate on driving!

Yet Kora seemed determined to make this journey home as difficult as possible for Krystal.

"I- I need to get out." Kora groaned from the back. 

Krystal glanced up into the mirror to see Kora rolling around and struggling under the seatbelt. Krystal rolled her eyes at her, "I'm currently driving down the motorway at way above the speed limit. Can you wait ten minutes?"

"I need- I need to puke-"

"Take these instead," Krystal threw back her own pack of cigarettes, where Kora caught it was surprisingly good dexterity for someone so intoxicated. 

Kora fumbled about with the lighter for a moment, before rolling down the window slightly and lighting up.

"Jesus, that's good." she groaned in delight as she inhaled and exhaled the fumes, "I don't think I've had a normal cigarette in days."

Krystal scoffed, "What, Lay didn't have enough for you?"

Kora sent Krystal a dark look, "I haven't seen Lay in weeks."

"What?" Krystal asked in disbelief as their exit for the motorway appeared in the distance, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Can you stop with all the questions?" Kora groaned, staring out of the window with big, dark eyes as she tapped the ash out of the window, "You're totally bugging me out right now."

Almost instinctively, Krystal tightened her grip on the wheel. Kora was really testing her patience right now - but she had to remain patient. It was only a short drive into Town now, and Suho and the others would be waiting for them. 

Then it's up to you to clean up this freaking mess.

"You feeling better?" Krystal asked eventually as they stopped at a traffic light.

No answer.

"." Krystal looked back to see Kora completely passed out in the back, her cigarette burned out to a stub in her mumble fingers, her lashes casting shadows underneath her hollowed out eyes.

"Don't panic." Krystal willed herself as she panicky looked up at the traffic light, willing it to flick green already as she anxiously looked back and forth to Kora. 

As soon as the green light flickered on, Krystal pressed down on the pedal as hard as she could, speeding down the main high-street with an urgency she'd never before driven with, whilst at the same time forcing herself with very inch of her being to remain calm. She ungracefully and dangerously swerved around a corner, taking a shortcut she knew to get to her apartment. As soon as she drove down into the parking lot, Krystal swerved again around a corner, where she abruptly stopped the car in her space, releasing a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding as she turned off the ignition. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Suho, Kai and Sulli emerge from the stairway, looks of apprehension and worry on their faces. 

"Breathe. Just breathe." Krystal panted, slowing her breath and heart down as the others made their way over. Getting out of the car, Krystal called out to them, "Boys, get over here now!"