It’s a few weeks later. The stage is set in Ro’s mind: the halls are swarming with students, lockers slamming open and closed. A laugh rings out here and there over the din of voices, a shout, a complaint. Ro stands down the hall around the corner, hidden in the shadow of a cluster of lockers – but she has the best seat in the house for the opening act. Her heartbeat picks up, and then adapts to the cool swagger as the show’s star as he approaches from stage right [A/N: Which is the left side of the stage if you’re in the audience. So the ‘star’ is coming down the hall from the left. Just giving a visual ;3]. The two lesser roles follow his path with smug looks, because though they are lesser roles, they are still a big part of the production – and seniors, to boot.

The big star draws near the first prop: his locker. Because he is in his last year of the torture called ‘high school’, he is one of the privileged that receives a tall locker, as opposed to the underclassmen who are stuck with the half-sized lockers that are doubly stacked. Ro twists her promise ring, anticipating the first line of this magnificent play. And she happens to be the director. Her best actor rolls his combination lock left, right, left. Then – Ro holds her breath as his locker door swings open slowly, leisurely, and . . .

CRACK.

Ro gasps.

Bull’s eye.

Jae and Woo stare at ChinHo, dumb-founded with swinging jaws, as they watch the light brown shell and the bright yellow yolk drip down from ChinHo’s forehead down his face. ChinHo himself gapes; he gapes at the slingshot in his locker, carefully aimed right for his forehead. Next to the instrument of insult lays a blooming red rose. A mock gesture. And to top it off, there’s a typed note in girly, swirly letters:

Have an egg-cellent day, jagiya <3

Saranghae~

ChinHo’s expression changes into one of murderous rage. It bubbles up from deep in his chest, travels upward like warm lava, and by the time the color reaches the surface, his face, it’s a sizzling red and quickly cooling into a deep purple. The students who had been snickering quiet suddenly as ChinHo’s eyes visibly darken with the rest of him. His fingers become claws, twisting the fake love note into a sweaty ball of ink and paper.

Ro slips away unnoticed, satisfied with Act One.

* * *

“Who wants my pudding?” MinHyun offers. Ro and JR both lunge for it. When their hands overlap on the container, they stare at each other with narrowed eyes.

“Rock, Paper, Scissors?” JR suggests. Ro winces; JR is somehow a pro at this chance game. Apparently he even tried to lose to MinHyun once – he TOLD MinHyun the object he was going to play – but Ro guesses that MinHyun forgot what beats rock. >>; [A/N: This actually happened >w< They were MCs on KPop Top 20…or something like that…Anyway, they did a round of R,P,S and JR told MinHyun what he was going to play and still Shanghai Boy managed to lose xD].

Ro counts, “One, two, three!” She plays paper; JR plays its weapon. He smiles a beaming grin as Ro pouts. “Two out of three,” she demands. BaekHo cheers (no one knows for who . . .) and Ro can’t help but glance at him.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Ro has accepted MinHyun, Aron, and BaekHo to be a normal thing now. They like teasing her, much to her annoyance, but the familiarity that she experiences from the boys everyday gives her something to look forward to, at least. Ro’s only real friends before them had been SooMin, Ara, and JR. And MinKi of course. But Ro senses a difference in BaekHo. It’s not just his insane, happiness, but something else also. Ro is determined to figure out what.

Aron’s sitting on the table and nudges Ro with his knee. “Use your psychic abilities on him, Rolly.”

“Don’t name me after a bug, American Boy,” Ro snaps – but not harshly. “And what makes you think I’m psychic?”

Aron smiles. “You always seem to know what I’m going to say to you.”

“You’re very predictable, Aron.”

He laughs. “Alright. But, back to the nickname. Can I call you ‘Ro-Ro’, then?”

JR scowls and hugs Ro possessively. “Aniya! That’s my pet name; get your own.”

“You can share!” But before the disagreement gets out of hand, Ara, who’s also sitting on the table, steals Aron’s attention by flicking his ear. “Yah . . .” he complains, turning to her.

Ro looks at JR. “One, two, three!”

Ro: rock. JR: paper.

“Okay, someone’s cheating.”

“How could I be cheating?” JR scoffs, smiling broadly. He reaches for the pudding. Ro looks at the dessert forlornly. “I don’t know,” she grumbles. “But you’re too good at this game.”

MinHyun laughs. “Next time, Noona, I’ll just give it to you, ne?”

“Ne,” she replies as he plays with the ends of her hair. MinKi gets his fingers in there too and starts to untangle knots. JR glances at MinHyun oddly, but after a second it disappears. Ro wonders at it but it slips her mind just as soon as she notices. JR scoops up the first bite, but when he feels to burning holes into his skull, he holds up the spoon and asks, “First bite, Ro?”

Ro’s lips clamp down on the spoon before he can reconsider his offer. “Whoa!” JR exclaims as he pulls the spoon out from . Ro smiles sweetly. “Gomawo, J-Hyun~.” JR looks at her, then at his pudding, then back at Ro. He s the container towards her. She takes it questioningly. “I don’t want you to attack me for it,” he clarifies.

Ro, MinHyun, MinKi, and BaekHo laugh. BaekHo pinches JR’s cheek. “You’re too cute to attack~,” he coos jokingly. JR does aegyo and Ro giggles and takes his other cheek. “Yep, too cute~,” she agrees.

JR winks at Ro with exaggerated seductive/iness. Ro blushes, but smiles wickedly. BaekHo, though, pinches JR’s cheek hard. JR jumps and rubs his now sore face, cowering against Ro’s side. “Noona, he hurt me!”

BaekHo waggles his finger. “Don’t hit on our noona, JR-ah; she’s saved for Aron.”

“Wha!” both Ro and MinKi yell.

“Did someone call me?” Aron turns around. Ara fidgets at the loss of Aron’s attention and SooMin giggles. Ara hates being interrupted. BaekHo smiles cheekily at Ro’s warning glower. “Yah, Hyung,” he says. “Ro loves you!”

Ro swears loudly, causing them all to dissolve in fits of laughter. Aron leans back on his hands. “So,” he drawls, winking at Ro, not unlike how JR did a moment ago. “Am I going to get myself a sweet thang?”

“Aniyo!” Ro shrieks. “I never said I loved you!”

Aron’s face falls in mock distress and he clutches his heart. “Saranghae, Ro; how can you say that when I do? Can you at least love me as an oppa?”

Ro shifts, blushing furiously at his pretend ‘saranghae’. God! So intimate. “. . . Dae – but only as an oppa!” she says, rushed. Aron smiles in a friendly way. “I can live with that, dongsaeng~.”

“Hey.”

All conversation stops as they all glance up at the intruder. ChinHo, Jae, Woo, and two other guys throw their shadows across the formerly happy group. Ro assumes she knows why they’re here and glances at her friends. The boys alone could take on these bastards, she studies.

“Hey,” ChinHo repeats, stepping towards Ro. Everyone instantly leans forward or closer to her. Only a little – hardly noticeable – but it makes Ro’s eyes prickle. It’s nice to have friends that you can depend on again.

But she knows that they could switch on her just as quickly.

“I’m talking to you, !” ChinHo hollers at Ro. Her eyes automatically start to blaze. To call her that is one thing – but in front of her friends, too? She tenses to launch herself at him, but, out of the corner of her eye, she sees MinKi flying at ChinHo. He shoves him in the chest.

“Don’t call my sister names,” Ro hears MinKi say quietly. MinKi is a silent seether. So the lower his voice is, the less emotion that plays on his face, the worse Ro knows his anger is. Ro can hardly hear him and his face looks like a plaster mask. ChinHo sneers at the blondie and moves to slap him. Ro’s off her and grasping ChinHo’s wrist in less than a second. She gets in close to his face, and anyone who didn’t know better would think that they were a couple stealing a kiss (in the center of the cafeteria . . .).

“You’re not allowed to touch my brother,” Ro growls menacingly, adrenaline pumping. ChinHo tugs his arms back and Ro crashes into his chest. “It’s you I need to have a word with, anyway.” His eyes are flickering with hidden fire. Ro’s heart warms with smugness. She really pissed him off with her little good morning present. Ro hisses back, “What for?” She yanks her hand away.

“Oh, like you don’t know, h--.”

MinKi steps forward so fast, Ro almost missed grabbing his arm and pulling him close, linking her arm through his.

“No, I don’t,” Ro answers.

“Then you can think about it really hard while you wash my ruined shirt – splattered with egg.”

Ro laughs tauntingly and her friends raise their brows, interested. She crosses her arms casually. “Oh, I heard about that prank; I’m sorely sorry I missed that~,” she coos mockingly. Woo flips her off. Since Ro’s still holding MinKi’s arm, he settles for gritting his teeth and making a rude gesture.

ChinHo clenches his fist, glaring at Ro so hard, she actually expects her hair to start frizzing. What was he expecting? Ro thinks skeptically. Did he want me to fall at his feet, confessing my sin? Then, rather abruptly, ChinHo swirls on his heel and stalks off. His minions follow, making rude and vulgar gestures to the other group. Ro’s group isn’t above mirroring the others’ behavior and she’s actually slightly proud. Then Ro feels a hand slip into hers and JR pulls her back onto the bench next to ho. His lips are a thin white line as Jae makes a movement with his hand. SooMin and Ara make sounds of revulsion.

When the enemy is out of sight and SooMin’s calmed MinKi down enough (although he’s already as silent as a statue), MinHyun leans towards Ro. “What did you do?” he asks with wariness and curiosity in his voice.

“Why do you assume it was me?”

“. . . What happened?”

Ro shrugs and leans against MinKi. JR squeezes her hand, which he hasn’t let go of yet. “I just gave him a taste of his own medicine. That’s all you need to know.” MinKi squeezes her shoulder, warningly. Ro ignores it.