Jae walked out of the cafeteria, not even knowing where she was going. The layout of the school was still new to her. Soon she found herself heading down countless, empty hallways. After a few minutes of milling around, Jae stood in front of a glass door, with sunlight pouring in. Pushing it open, the sun rays engulfed her in reassuring heat. There in front of her was the domain of the gardening club; the greenhouse. Seated all around the numerous species of plants and flowers were several stone benches. Thankfully, it was empty. Jae dropped to a bench with a sigh.
   There was no point in trying to figure anything out for the umpteenth time. She needed all the facts and she could only get that from Kyungmi and L.Joe. Getting the two of them together in the same room, would be harder than trying to shave a cat. Mi hated just talking about him, there was no way she would even breathe the same air as him.

"You're not supposed to be here."
Jae hopped to her feet as a tall, lanky boy made his way to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Jae reached down to grab her bag.

"It's okay." The boy reassured. "I come here all the time." He sat down on the same bench Jae was on. "Peaceful isn't it?"

Jae sat next to him
"I guess so."

"I'm Ahn Daniel, but my friends call me Niel." The thick-lipped boy introduced himself.

"I'm Jung Jaehwa, but my friends call me Jae." She responded.

"So why are you here?" Niel questioned.

"I just needed to clear my head. What about you?"

"I come here to get some peace and quiet. The people here are kinda loud and outgoing, so it can be overwhelming at times."

Jae scoffed. "You can say that again."

"Whaddya mean?" Niel turned to face her.

"It's only my second day here and I'm already caught up in all this drama."

"Oh...you mean Lee Byunghun."

Jae spun her head around.
"How did you know that?" She asked warily.

She already thought L.Joe was stalking her, she didn't need another one. Besides Niel seemed so nice. He simply smiled up into the sky as a response.

"He goes after all the girls, especially new ones who don't know any better."

"Oh thank god." Jae muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Well, when you said you knew I was talking about L.Joe who was bothering me, I thought you were some kind of stalker." She explained in relief.

Niel laughed boisterously and his voice might have even cracked a little.

"Do I seem like a stalker to you?"

"No! But neither does L. Joe. Looks can be deceiving, ya know."

"Yeah, I do know." Niel sympathized.

   The two stayed in silence for a while, they enjoyed the rare silence, Jae never realized how loud and crazy the school really was. Now seeing the beauty of the garden and breathing in the warmth, she felt suddenly tranquil. 
   The silence was interrupted by the door squeaking open. Niel and Jae turned their heads in attention to Kyungmi who stood at the entrance. 

"Jae, there you are, I've been looking all over for you." She walked over to them.

Niel stuffed all his things in his bag and rose from his seat.

"I need to get going now. I'll see you around, Jae." 

Jae gave a small wave as Niel walked out. Kyungmi quickly took Niel's old seat, next to Jae.

"Who was that?" Mi asked.

"Just someone I met here." Jae avoided eye contact and stared straight ahead.

"I swear I didn't give anyone your number."
Jae stayed in silence as Mi further explained.
"After you left, I checked my phone."

"And?" Jae urged.

"It's not there. I must have lost it. Or someone could have taken it, someone like L.Joe."

Jae contemplated this. It was a plausible answer to all this but also a easy lie. But Kyungmi had been nothing but nice to her. The untrustworthy one was L.Joe. She felt obligated to believe her pleading friend.

"He stole it, huh? I guess it sounds like something he would do."

"It is!" Mi shouted. 

"Okay, okay calm down. But how could he have just taken it from you? You don't have any classes with him do you?" Jae inquired.

"No, but he's super popular. It wouldn't be hard for him to find someone to take it from me. Like in my gym class, there's plenty of girls there that he has wrapped around his little finger. They could have easily taken it from my bag in the locker room." Kyungmi offered up another explanation. 

"That makes sense."

"Of course it does, now come on let's get some lunch, I'm starving."

 Kyungmi grasped Jae's wrist in her hand and pulled her up and through the threshold, back into the dull and dim school.
Jae's mind wandered but her feet had a mind of their own. Even after Mi released her wrist, she followed her every step. The further they walked, the less Jae paid attention. Suddenly Kyungmi halted to a stop and Jae followed suit. She looked over Mi's slightly taller shoulder to see a smirking L.Joe.

"Hey, Kyungmi, thanks for all your help." L.Joe pulled his hand out of his pocket, holding Kyungmi's cell phone.

"My phone! So you did take it! What for?!" Mi yelled infuriated. 

"You know why." L.Joe pushed past Kyungmi to face Jae. "Hope your enjoying the school so far."

Mi pushed L.Joe to the side.

"Leave her alone." She warned.

L.Joe held up his hands in innocence and backed away, out of sight.
Jae was stunned in place.

"Don't let him scare you." Kyungmi placed a hand on the brunettes shoulder to call her back to Earth.

"Yeah..."

Kyungmi continued walking and Jae followed her, like always. Mi's words echoed in her head. She was wrong, Jae wasn't afraid of L.Joe, she was afraid of the way he made her feel. The way that whenever he looked at her, her heart fluttered and began beating like crazy. She had only met him a day ago, but she couldn't help her feelings.

Could she be...falling in love?

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Hey everybody, a slightly longer chapter with special guest, Niel. On another note, are you guys as excited about Teen Top's comeback as I am??