Jennie Kim was the scariest kid in school. Or at least Rosé had decided back in the second grade when rumours circulated about the brunette biting off the class hamster’s head Ozzie Osborne style. Never mind that no one had actually seen her do it. Or that Lisa, the star witness, had a penchant for telling tall tales. Rosé herself wasn’t even in school the day the gruesome deed allegedly happened. She had been home for a week with the chicken pox. But Lisa was her best friend. And Jennie had terrifying eyes and had bullied the hapless blonde in kindergarten when she had tried to share a cookie with Jennie, a gesture that the ornery brunette loudly rejected by screaming at the top of her lungs that she didn’t want cooties. Since that fateful day, Rosé had been known as “Cootie Patootie”. So you’ll understand why the blonde would readily accept that Jennie ate live hamsters like a… well, like a hamster. For reals, they do that. Cute but cannibalistic with their little rodent teeth. Like Jennie Kim.

Fast forward to senior year of high school where Jennie had a reputation for being a troublemaker. She had been caught smoking in the bathroom. She would get into fights, steal boyfriends and girlfriends *gay gasp*, skip class, mouth off to teachers, club baby seals, sacrifice s. Recently, she had apparently made it rain frogs in the teacher’s lounge. She had broken many hearts, every rule in the student handbook, and all laws of God and man. The worst part is that Rosé couldn’t stop thinking about her. Not just in the way that she was evil incarnate but also in the way that the blonde thought Jennie was the hottest ing piece of she’d ever laid eyes on. Not that Rosé would admit that to anyone, even/especially to herself. 

The two hadn’t actually spoken since kindergarten. Rosé didn’t know of Jennie even speaking to anyone at all, with the possible exception of Jisoo. Jennie likely communicated solely through glaring. And possibly echolocation. Or sonar. Something creepy, you get the picture. 

“You know she’s not as bad as you or everyone else thinks she is, right?” Jisoo told Rosé at lunch while annihilating chicken nuggets. Kim Jisoo was the student council president and also the biggest slacker in school. She possessed a goofy affability that made everyone like her despite her affinity for dad jokes and stealing people’s desserts at lunch. 

“Doubtful,” Rosé replied, wrinkling her nose in mild annoyance and then shovelling spoonfuls of rice and banchan into . She was the school’s top student, on track to becoming valedictorian. She prided herself on her academic excellence and her ability to strictly adhere to rules. Lol.

“She’s ing y is what she is,” Lisa chimed in between chewing on gummy worms and slurping chocolate milk. Lisa was that kid in kindergarten who ate paste. Also in high school. It says 'non-toxic' on the label for a reason, right? But she was the best dancer the school had ever seen. She was also fiercely loyal to Rosé even if she expressed this loyalty mostly through loud, unwanted comments.

“God, I mean, sure if you’re into that whole psychotic bad girl thing,” Rosé said defensively, rolling her eyes and making Jisoo laugh. Jisoo had the superpower of seeing through teenage bull. “What’s so funny?” the Australian asked, but Jisoo just laughed and laughed like the maniac who had stolen the blonde’s book report as part of a master plan to bring about world peace.

The period a