"I still don't know why he isn't expelled from school yet, Mom," So Min rolled her eyes as she grabbed a breadroll and cut it up into two, spreading some butter on it before dropping it into a paper bag to bring to school.

"Honey--" Her mother tried to intervene.

"What, just because Sung Cheol's results are 'too good'? Really? One day, he could murder someone and he would still be let loose only because of his brain," So Kim pulled up her boots and swung her bag across her shoulder. Sung Cheol had been suspended from school for a week, given what he had done to the 10th grader from Jisung's class. 

"The principal said it was his last chance. One more time and he will be expelled, honey. I'm hoping we could help him along the way," Her mother leaned against the door frame as So Min adjusted her sweater. She was wearing a medallion shade sweater paired with denims and ankle high black boots. 

"'Help him'? Mom, he picked a fight with 12 graders. And they did nothing wrong! Jeno and his friends are the most popular kids in school and they could have easily fought him off together. Yet, Sung Cheol had the 'brains' to try and pick a fight with them." So Min pulled open the heavy, Ebony door. "If they decide to bring the fight to him instead, Mom, there's no way in Hell I'm 'helping' him, because he doesn't deserve it, and you know that's not because you married his dad. Jeno and his friends are nice people, so if Sung Cheol can tick them off, I can't tell you what they can or cannot do." So Min shrugged unenthusiastically and as-a-matter-of-factly. She took one last glance at her mother before she shut the door behind her and ran down the steps to the car that was rightfully hers. 

Jisung was sweating and had his Sapphire droplet in his palm, the familiar shape of it pressing its edges against the palm of his skin. 

"What the--"

"The stone,"

Jisung was startled. He knew he was in a dream, a vision, and it felt so real. It wasn't like how the other boys had their visions like a portal, Jisung was in his. 

"The stone, my child," 

Jisung could not recognise that voice, but the threat was growing in his stomach as he felt the stone slowly dissipate from within his palms.

"Wait!"

"Jisung! Wake up! Bus comes in 15, Christ," Renjun shoved Jisung off the bed, making him land with a loud thud. Jisung groaned, looking across the room and noticing Chenle struggling onto his feet from the ground as well.

"I'm going to make sure you two are not roommates if you guys are late one more time--" Renjun folded his arms across his chest infront of the doorway.

"Give them a break, Jun," Jeno laughed as he stuck his head in through the door. Jisung's eyesight had adjusted after being shoved off the bed, and propped his head high enough to see Jeno and Renjun standing at the door. Jeno was surprisingly fitted into a white and blue horizontal striped tee with a denim jacket, paired with white jeans. 

"What are you-- Justin Bieber? What are you wearing? To school?" Renjun raised a brow, turning and looking at his friend.

"What? What's wrong with it?" Jeno frowned and looked down at himself.

"Oh no, first Jisung and Dong Hyuk hyung and now you..." Chenle buried his face in his palms and snickered to himself. Jisung raised a brow mischievously and smirked at Jeno. He pushed himself off the ground and grunted as he grabbed his clothes off the chair that weren't even pressed or ironed.

"Let's see you apply your 'don't listen to her' tactic," Jisung playfully whispered into Jeno's ears as he passed the older. Jeno scoffed and whacked Jisung on the back of his head. Chenle snickered and ran past Jeno, catching up to Jisung.

"Who is it?" Renjun smirked and folded his arms. Jeno widened his eyes, realising that he himself didn't know why exactly he was so dressed up. 

"Uhm... Hwang So Min...?" Jeno squinted one of his eyes and shrugged.

"Wow, you are clueless," Renjun clicked his tongue and laughed. He cheekily patted Jeno's shoulder and strutted off.

As usual, So Min was in school even before a fraction of the student body would even leave home. She didn't want anybody spotting the expensive car, much less Mr Han driving her around. By the time the school bus came however, there were enough girls around to make a scene when the school's most pooular boys got off the bus. To make matters worse, Jeno was dressed up like a celebrity. Renjun, Jaemin and Donghyuk were in single colored hoodies and jeans, while Chenle and Jisung were both in dark colored varsity jackets with their names printed on the back. As the gang made their way through the yard of the school, Jinsung sat in the corner with Cheon Ha and So Min, busy eyeing the boys while the other two sat comfortably and munching on food brought from home. 

"Are you guys not seeing this? Look at that crowd! It's like there's a mob," Jinsung shoved her pupils so far back her head she thought she saw her brain. 

"Why are you so hooked up onto their popularity? If I didn't know better I'd believe you were just jealous of them," So Min finished the last of her bread roll. Cheon Ha smiled before dropping a grape into . Jinsung huffed and pushed her lips out, obviously unsatiated by their responses. Cheon Ha and So Min resumed their small talk as the younger continued dropping grapes in . As unnoticeable as those movements were, Jisung had already found her apart from the group of girls that were slowly and seemingly following them. The girl was wearing a pink, slight v-neck sweater with ribbons crossed on her back, paired with leggings and black high-cut converse sneakers wrapped around her feet.

Jinsung had a grey and black beret, the colors separated down the middle of the beret. She was wrapped in a white trench coat and a black dress with thigh high boots to top it off. 

"Don't you just love it when girls don't dress their age?" Dong Hyuk whispered into Jaemin's ear, noticing Jinsung glaring at them from afar. 

"If she has the money and whatever she's wearing isn't stolen, you have nothing more needed to say," Jaemin squinted his eyes and pursed his lips at Dong Hyuk. Right after Jaemin finished that sentence, a sharp sting zipped through his head, almost like a passing headache. Flashes of the green emerald appeared before his eyes as he struggled to remain on his feet. Jeno noticed the change in expression on Jaemin's face and pressed his fingers onto the back of Jaemin's neck, the headache spreading only slightly to him. 

"You alright?" Jeno whispered, recovering from the short head splice. 

"Yeah, I'm--" Jaemin groaned a little, the ache painfully reciding as the veins on his neck surfaced. "Had worse days," Jaemin shook it off. 

Jisung on the other hand, began to feel nauseous, but instead of feeling his stomach grumble uncomfortably, he felt his palms 'leaking'. As if he had scooped water out of a pond, water began to drip from the middle of his palms, the cold, ice water draining from his palms.

"What the...?" Jisung frowned and looked at his hands. They looked like they were sweating oceans. Jisung looked up, only to realise Chenle was also looking at JIsung's palms, noticing that there was obviously something going on with Jaemin and Jisung.

"Are we not going to discuss the headache and Jisung's leaking palms?" Chenle sqeaked over dinner. There was an empty seat meant for Jisung, who was still stuck in school practising for the Winter dance competition with Cheon Ha, and Jeno who was at an external basketball game for grade 12s.

"'Leaking palms' sound extremely disturbing," Dong Hyuk chewed on his vegetables. 

"We might need to find some answers. I highly doubt headaches in the middle of the day and... sweating balls from your hands are considered normal for us," Renjun leaned over and grabbed the plate of fried eggs. 

"Hey, does anybody feel like Jinsung hates us?" Dong Hyuk could barely make out from his potato-filled mouth.

"Jinsung? As in, Cheon Ha and So Min's friend?" Jaemin took a sip of his water.

"Yeah, her. Overdressed lady in a beret and a trench coat," 

"Saw her glaring at us," Chenle took the last dumpling.

"I knew I wasn't imagining things," Dong Hyuk waved his fork in the air.

"Doesn't matter if she likes us or not, what matters is, we figure out what the Hell is happening to Jisung and I, and make sure nobody knows about it," Jaemin finished his food and leaned back in his seat. 

So Min opened the door to see Sung Cheol hurling a baseball at the wall right next to the door, barely a few metres away from her face. The boy was seated on the staircase, a baseball glove in his right and throwing it with his left. So Min was not the least bit shocked or taken aback at the object nearly smashing itself into her face: she was used to this. 

"How was the sweet smell of school up your nose the entire day, ?" Sung Cheol purposefully hurled the ball at the wall right behind her as she turned towards the shoe cupboard and pulled her boots off.

"Which goddamned tail did I step on, now? Also, the type of sportsballs I deal with, can break your nose," So Min was completely unfazed. 

So Min walked into the kitchen and noticed that there was still a rather large amount of stew left in the pot, obviously meant for her. The sun had set about an hour ago, not because she was busy, but simply because she didn't want to come home to the faces she preferred not to have seen, otherwise obligated. Also, maybe because the school volleyball team coach had spent a good amount of time trying to convince her to join them.

"So Min, what took you so long today?" Her mother popped out from the back of the kitchen, her arms carrying two baskets of freshly dried laundry.

"Staye