Naughty, little game, Naughty!

You have to be a very cool person. Way cool, not fun  In fact you’re older than your siblings. Repeat, older than another.

Once upon a time, in the lazy day of the laziest day. You’re being bullies.

“P-O-L-I-T-E-S-S-E. 11 points.” Irene declares as she lays out the tiles. “And letter S is on a double word premium square, so that makes it 22.”

Dangflabbit. I’ve never thought of that. It’s so like Irene to choose “politesse” instead of “politeness.” She’s big on using fancy words like that. Then again, maybe she doesn’t have letter n.

“Thank you for opening a letter S!“ It was Sinb’s turn. “S-E-C-U-N-D.” She added 9 points on her current score.

“Wait girls, isn’t ‘secund’ a Latin word? Secundus? Are we allowed to use Latin?” I object.

Sinb looks at me with condescension. “Jessie, it is a botany term. Flowers that are arranged on only one side, such as lilies-of-the-valley, are called ‘secund.’ You are welcome to look it up on the dictionary.” Irene agrees with a nod.

Sigh. Yeah I’m too old for this. Sometimes it’s so hard playing Scrabble with certified brainiacs. Especially Irene, Taeyeon sister. Irene is the group’s book lover. Her collection ranges from the complete Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings set to a book called NO, YOU CAN’T! —A book chock-full of girls’ night in dares ranging from the creepy (“No. 157: Sneak in your bra inside her locker”) to the psychotic (“No. 220: Send her a lipstick with your name on it, she’ll get the hint”).

Yes, she is that kind of bookworm. She got from her big sister, Kim Taeyeon! Although being a bookworm does have its perks, like scoring 762 points on Scrabble.

Back to my tiles. What word could you possibly conceive with the letters A, E, U, L, F, and F?

Aha!

“Q-U-A-F-F-L-E.” I hesitate. “Look at that! 22 points—“

“Nice try, but no. Quaffle is a Harry Potter term. You cannot use wizarding words on a muggle Scrabble.” Irene smirks.

“Fine.” I settle for R-A-F-F-L-E instead. Lame, I know.

“Okay, time to add up all the scores!” Sinb announces in a singsong voice. Here comes the moment of truth.

I do not even know why I agreed to this. I always lose whenever we play Scrabble at Sinb’s. We all have our own “dominions.” Irene’s excels on anything that has to do with literature, words and grammar, and Sinb’s is a scientific prodigy. When it comes to mathematics, though, they all cringe at the sight of me. It has always been that way, thus making the people or Taeyeon label us as Powerpuff Nerds. Before, we were quite hurt by the mockery. But as time passed, I saw it as a compliment—a reminder that we actually excel on something.

A feat most students nowadays lack, apparently.

Although they always beat me at Scrabble, I cannot help but love these girls. I was but a lonely when I first came to Home without Taeyeon, a result of my parents’ hasty decision to migrate. It didn’t help that I’m good at mathematics, too. People saw me as either a threat or a freak—apparently, my answering of 10 differential equations problems within 15 minutes is “supernatural”. Sinb, however, saw me as a friend not are sister. We’re different year students, and we’ve been through a lot even we’re different year and ages. Of course, what really bonded us are our preferences for the same . We’re three homouals living on a country where being in love with the same gender is perceived as a disease, an abnormality. There are rumors roaming around about our uality, and we only let our true colors show—fun, fierce, and fab—when it’s just the three of us, although Irene can hardly raise any suspicion at all. She claims she’s still on the stage where she’s confused about what she really wants, about who she really is. “Yeah right,” we keep on telling her. While we really do not care about what other people may think, there’s still the possibility of our families disowning us once we walk out of the closet. It definitely isn’t an endearing thought when you’re still studying, and have no money yet to support yourself.

“Here it is!” Sinb waves the scorecard on our faces. “Irene: 762 points. Sinb: 532 points. And Jessica… 492 points!

“What is new?” Sinb smirks, not unkindly. I roll my eyes. “I am just kidding, Jess.”

Irene tarts to gather the tiles. “What are we going to play next? Shall we go for another round?”

Sinb sighs. “Scrabble, Word Factory, Chess, Creative Chemistry Tetris… we always play the same games. Why do not we try something new?”

“Like what?” I ask.

Irene ives us both a wicked smile. “We can consult my book of dares—”

“No!” We reply.

“Come on, girl!” Irene says. “We are only a few months away from Jessica being eighteen, and we still have not done anything exciting. Something that is completely out of our leagues.”

I glare at her. “If you are going to make us strip in front of our crushes—I think that’s number 35—no thanks.”

“Us?” Sinb looks at me with disbelief. “We are not the ones who lost in Scrabble today.”

“Now this is getting interesting.” Irene chimes in with a creepy smile on her face. When I first saw her with that grin, I thought she’s being eerie. Now, I actually see it as endearing—something that’s personally Irene sameness like Taeyeon.

I let out an exasparated gasp. Seriously? “C’mon, you girls. That’s unfair. We never talked about this being the consequence if you lose on Scrabble toda—”

“But you always lose on Scrabble.” Sinb says. “I think this is fair enough.”

Irene said. “Two against one! We win. Okay, what would be our Jessica dare? Do you have anything in mind, Sinb?”

No- Ohh no. I bury my face in my hands. Sometimes, being with these people can be really depressing. Sinb pokes my arm and says, “Of course it should involve her Taeyeon .”

NO! “No! Guys, no! Okay, anyone—anyone but Kim Taeyeon.”

“Okay then, it should have something to do with Taeyeon. Should we consult my book collection of dares?” Irene asks.

“NO! At least give me that. No dares from that book.” Evil smiles play on my friends’ faces. “Please.”

“Why are you being such a kill joy, Jess?” Sinb asks. “Besides, this’ll actually do you some good. You never even interacted with her.”

“Uh, actually I did. There’s this one time when we both rode on the same bus on the way home, and I offered her my seat. She said, ‘thanks.’ She smiled and kissed at me.” This actually happened. I was so thrilled being with her on the bus, and there are no more vacant seats. She looked so weary and drained; I could not help but offer her my seat. Taeyeon’s a member of our university’s photographer, and she’s really good. I saw her for the first time at cafeteria university’s. It was love at first sight. Every day I stalked her (creepy yes, but who doesn’t stalk their crush?), cheered for her, almost started a fan club dedicated to her… it was crazy. Even Sinb and Irene believed