They were there. Jinah saw Miss Kim not that far away. She had to watch over the gang meet. She had no right to interrupt unless it was to chastise her candidate. No matter what the gang members did, she was not allowed to interfere. No matter what was going on.

          Suho pulled the chair out for Jinah and, hiding her surprise, she sat down, tucking her skirt in. Miss Kim smiled at her. Jinah curled the ends of her lips a bit, but not too much. Her smile didn’t show any teeth. She wasn’t happy.

          “Hi, I’m Lay,” one said. He had short brown hair and his bangs extended downwards, similar to Jinah’s. His smile was warm and it felt somewhat true. But Jinah wasn’t going to be fooled this easily. This was a gang.

          “Hi, I’m Sh –”

          “Shin Jinah, we know.” Lay smiled kindly again.

          “Whoa,” another said. He had messy brown hair and large eyes. “You’re prettier up close.”

          Jinah almost laughed in disbelief. A Top gang member – complimenting her? She had been expecting disappointed jeers and awkward silences. “Whoa what?” she replied.

          The boy snorted. “Come on. I am so not the first one to tell you that. Just thank me for speaking honesty.”

          “Uh, thanks?” Then she saw the frown on Miss Kim’s face. “I mean, thank you, sir.”

          “No, no, no,” Suho waved his hand clumsily. “Lose the formality. I like your slang.”

          Jinah glanced at Miss Kim. She nodded a bit. Jinah nodded too. “Okay.” Then, the awkward silence came. Was she another five-minute toy? Probably. But they chose her off the bat, like Suho had said…but maybe they just wanted to get their minimum done and over with? That was a possibility. But twenty-two years of doing that…why stop now? They had to stop sometime though…stop thinking.

          The boy leaned in closer. “You’re actually really pretty,” he said again.

          “Thank you.”

          He tilted his head sideways. “Your jaw’s angular.”

          “Thanks… I guess?”

          “Your skin’s clear.”

          “Yes it is.”

          “Is that your natural hair color?”

          “No.”

          “What’s your natural hair color? When did you get your hair dyed?”

          “Wow you talk a lot,” Jinah exhaled. “Do you always ask this many questions all at once suddenly to a person you just met?” Miss Kim frowned at her again, but Jinah didn’t understand what she did wrong. Was that simple question too blunt?

          The boy smirked. All males smirked. “You’re just really pretty. I’m Baekhyun.”

          “Thank you. I’m Jinah, but I’m guessing you already know.”

          “If she wasn’t pretty I wouldn’t have picked her up, Baekhyun,” Suho said, leaning over to put his wrist on Jinah’s shoulder. She held back a punch. “Isn’t that the bare minimum, even for a Middle-Class gang?”

          Baekhyun laughed. “I guess. But she’s like, pretty-pretty.”

          “I’m D.O,” said a brown-haired boy with big frog eyes.

          “Hi D.O,” Jinah replied.

          Then from the corner of her eye, she saw a movement. Jinah looked to her right side, away from Suho, and saw the boy next to her, leaning, his hand outstretched and just about to touch her bare thigh –

          “Try to touch my thigh again and I’ll break your finger,” she threatened immediately, her fingers squeezing his. It was a quick and painful technique she learned at her dwelling. Well, a sub-unit of her dwelling; the Army Institute.

          “Whoa, whoa! I’m sorry!” the boy crippled in the abrupt, unexpected pain.

          Miss Kim looked very displeased. Jinah swallowed hard and let the boy’s fingers go. He rubbed his fingers continuously. She knew she had to apologize, but she didn’t. She wasn’t going to. If she had to fake her way through, she wouldn’t last long. She’d be released. He offended her first! He was going to touch her without her permission, as if Suho’s oh-so natural skin contact wasn’t bothersome and offensive enough. How dare this boy have the audacity to just attempt to her thigh! Common sense! But still, she had to force smiles and kindness. If she just got into this gang, they hate the paperwork of a release, too, she’ll be okay… Still, common sense!

          But, it was, after all, the Dark Era. History was another thing that Miss Park banned Jinah from reading. Jinah had talked back using a line from a history book. In the 2010s, females were respected. They had rights. Now? Ha, back to the ism in the Middle Ages…

          Then Jinah noticed the lingering silence. But it wasn’t the silence that bothered her, it was the tightness in the atmosphere. Had she done something wrong? Like, okay, she may have popped a vessel or something in that other boy’s fingers, but still…

          “That was Chanyeol,” Suho said. “Anyways, talk about yourself.”

          “That’s really broad. What am I supposed to say?” Jinah asked.

          Suho shrugged. “Anything.”

          “My name’s Jinah.”

          He laughed. Then he turned to the gang members. “Good choice we made, hey?” He then looked back at Jinah. “Other than that. Something we don’t know… you’re an all-around type, if I remember correctly. Why?”

          Jinah puffed air into one cheek. Why was she labeled as an all-around type? “I… hmm, I have more than one personality.”

          “You’re making no sense.” Suho sighed, he called Miss Kim over with a lazy wave of his hand. Jinah thought that was extremely disrespectful. “Miss Kim, right? Talk about this girl’s personality. More than one personality? What does that even mean?”

          Miss Kim cleared , her posture fixed and proper. “May I ask a question addressing to the gang, sir?” she asked. Suho nodded. “Well…what type of girl do you think Jinah is? If you put a slug in front of her, how would she react? If you give her a flower, what would she say?”

          “Oh, guessing game,” Suho said, with a smug grin. Jinah really wanted to smack the cocky grin off his face. “Slug…she’d scream and run into my arms. Right?”

          Jinah clenched her jaw. Who did he think he was? She held her tongue – fake, fake, fake. If she got chosen by these people, the expression on Jaein would be priceless.

          “Incorrect,” Miss Kim said.

          “Oh! Does she scream?” Baekhyun asked. “The slug part, I mean.”

          “Incorrect.”

          “Cry?” asked a black-haired boy with clear, dark eyes.

          “Incorrect.”

          “Flick it away?” Lay tried.

          “Close, but still, incorrect,” Miss Kim said politely. “Jinah despises anything with slime, goo, or sticky materials. In her cooking lessons, she either uses a spatula or gloves when dealing with sticky dough. She will avoid all contact with stickiness if possible.”

          “Kill it?” guessed a blonde.

          There it was again. The awkward silence with the tight atmosphere. The gang members looked to one another and made faces, mouthing words too quickly for Jinah to catch any of them. But the blonde kept his eyes on Miss Kim, resting his chin on the intertwined knuckles of his hands.

          Miss Kim smiled. “Correct.”

          “But she’s a female,” commented Xiumin. “How unladylike of her.”

          Miss Kim’s smile didn’t fade, but it looked forced now. “She has more than one personality, sir.”

          “Females shouldn’t act that way.”

          “And what way is ‘that way’?” Jinah challenged. Oh, she was pushing her limits, but her pride came to defense much too quickly for her to suppress it, and once it was out, it wasn’t going back in until it wanted to. And right now, going back in wasn’t even on the pride’s mind. She glared at him. “You say it like it’s poison in your mouth.”

          Xiumin glared back. “Females are supposed to be gentle and submissive, not tough and rebellious like you.”

          Jinah scoffed in disbelief. “Oh, so, females have a set of rules and regulations to follow, but you males can do whatever you want, go wherever you please, whenever you wish? Who do you think you are?”

          “I think I am Xiumin, a member of a Top Gang, mind you,” he said sourly.

          She bit back. She always did. “And I’m Jinah, a female who is offended by your implied ist intentions. Without females, you males would be long gone.”

          “Oh? And how did you come up with that? Did you read it in a book? Better not. You’ll get banned again.”

          “It’s logic,” Jinah replied coldly. “It’s basic logic. Is your head empty? Think. Without females, how can the human race continue? All you do is fight and growl and swear. It’s females that cook. Females that clean, females that carry the human baby, females that farm, females that produce goods, females that plow and garden. Without plants, you die!”

          Xiumin snorted. “And how so?”

          Jinah sat back, open in utter disbelief. Disbelief that Xiumin was this stupid. She pushed her bangs back and pressed her fingers into her forehead. She was at loss for words. Then she spat out, “So the rumors are true, then? All they teach you at the Army is how to fight and use a knife. No academics?”

          Xiumin’s face scrunched up. “Are you saying males are stupid?”

          “I’m saying you’re stupid, as a person, putting genders aside. Do you even know why plants are important? Why gardening is important?” That dumb boy didn’t move. This was preposterous. Her slang was coming out now, oh dear, she was going to get scolded later… “Dude! Plants include things like vegetations and food. You can’t eat without plants. Trees are also plants. Without trees you can’t live. You can’t ing breathe.”

          The whole gang’s eyes widened and most cheered in an unusual way. Suho wolf-whistled and clapped his hands. They were all surprised by Jinah’s boldness of words, the way she stood up to a Top gang member – it was brilliant.

          Xiumin clenched his fists and turned to the blonde. “Come on Luhan, you seriously can’t be considering her. She’s completely uncontrollable! Aheun, however…”

          Tao’s watch beeped. “It’s been five minutes. Minimum requirement met. What do we do?”

          Jinah sighed. Her time was up. It was done. She was done, for good. She had exploded just when she thought she just maybe had a chance. She almost laughed – the clumsy, careless Jinah, have a chance with a Top gang? Quit dreaming. Their five-minute time limit was up, it was over, she was done, they were done, she –

          “Let’s keep her.” The blonde, Luhan, hadn’t changed his gaze. It’s been on Jinah the whole time. He was so focused on her, scrutinizing her, remembering her words, her actions, her expressions. This girl was amazing. She was so bold, it was interesting. She had her protective walls up. He wanted them down. Her coldness wasn’t an act, it was genuine. He wanted to know the reason behind it – why though? Luhan asked himself, but he had no answer. Instead, he grinned wider as he said, “Let’s keep her for awhile.”

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I was going to stop after Tao's watch beeped and he said, "What do we do?" but I didn't want to leave you with a cliffhanger because not only would be kinda mean, there's going to be a plenty of it in the future! PPlys, and Luhan had to talk ;D Next chapter will be more... well, you'll see. It'll still be during this meet. How do you like the  EXO characters? Are they too OOC? You'll get to know them more in depth soon. How is Jinah? I want to make her like a tough girl that has a soft side... but not like one of those fake girls who everyone just ends up hating, you know? Hope you guys like her~

@mushrie: Don't worry, Jinah will be somewhat of an exception;) Our Lulu can't stay a jerk <333 Thanks for commenting! I appreciate it lots~

-deardeerhan