Chapter Four 

"Listen here midget, if you don't cut that out I will hurt you." Yuri snapped and glared at Taeyeon sitting next to her on the couch. The shorter girls eyes were glued to the screen, a grin plastered on her face. "THAT'S IT!" Yuri threw her controller to the side, startling Yoona, as she leapt on Taeyeon.

"Waah! Get it off me!" Taeyeon squirmed as she fell to the side, being crushed by Yuri who was slipping in sneaky punches to her sides. Yoona remained quiet as she began to swiftly throw Yuri and Taeyeon's characters off the side of the terrain. She chuckled darkly to herself as she finished off Yuri's last life. She then moved on to finishing off Taeyeon's character.

"You're not allowed to play as Link anymore!" Yuri exclaimed with one last hit to Taeyeon's hip. She sat up only to let out a frustrated scream. "YOONA!" The reprimanded girl started chuckling again.

"Hey!" Taeyeon exclaimed after composing herself when she saw her characters last life being taken away.

"Gah! Between you and Taeyeon I refuse to play this game anymore!" Yuri stood up and turned the console off before Yoona could be deemed the winner.

"Yuuuriii." Yoona whined.

"What! You're a disgraceful cheater and Taeyeon is a talentless one move spammer! You guys !" Yuri huffed and sat down at the computer chair, folding her arms.

Not much could send Yuri over the edge into fitful tantrums and sulking. In fact pretty much nothing could, except for games. Yuri's inner beast came out when she played games. When Taeyeon and Yoona first found that fact out they were both too shocked to even retaliate to Yuri's beatings. Now, after many years, they were very used to it.

"Come on Yuri-ah" Taeyeon blinked up at her cutely, "Cheer up. Wanna watch a movie?" Taeyeon was rewarded with one of Yuri's hands shoving her away by the face.

"No." Yuri grunted as she stood up and put a different cartridge into the '64. "I'm going to wipe the floor with your heinous, cheating, one move spamming faces." She grabbed her controller and sat back down at the computer chair.

"Ah man! Mario Kart? Really?" Taeyeon whined.

"Shut it!" Yuri snapped.

"If I have to deal with this I'm getting more lemonade." The shortest girl mumbled as she stood up and went over to her fridge. "Ah man, we're out. I'll go get some from Nana's fridge."

"Get me some too!" Yoona called after her. "Oh hey Moo, come 'ere boy." Yoona reached down to try and coax Moo over to her. The cat slinked over to her, Yoona became excited, Moo didn't usually give her attention. He walked straight past her and around the back of the couch, hopping on top of the fridge and watched her disappointed reaction with silent glee.

Taeyeon had just reached the back door when she heard a voice. It wasn't the voice that tells people to dobad things, but the voice of the girl who lived behind her. She stopped and listened.

It sounded like she was humming to herself, occasionally singing out words to the song she hummed. Taeyeon couldn't stop herself, she went over to the back fence and climbed up on it, struggling yet again to keep herself up.

Man I gotta start working out or something.

"Whoa!" Tiffany exclaimed, dropping the towel she was hanging up on the line.

"Wah!" Taeyeon, in her shock of being found out, fell flat on her back, the air forced out of her.

"Are you okay?" She heard Tiffany's voice from behind the fence. There was a scrambling noise and Tiffany's head poked over the top. "What were you even doing?" The girl asked, perplexed as she stared down at Taeyeon.

"Uh. You sing-er, hum really sweetly. I was just wondering who it was." Taeyeon gulped in breath as she sat up.

"You scared me so much." Tiffany giggled. Taeyeon smiled.

"I'm sorry..Hey haven't we met before?" Tiffany stopped giggling, her face immediately flushed.

"Uhhh. Yeaaaah." She cleared . "Why were you even in that bin anyway?" Tiffany shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position, her arms were really starting to hurt holding her up like that.

"I annoyed your friends." Taeyeon said, an almost joyous glint in her eye.

"Ah yes...I have heard a few things about you regarding that." Tiffany chuckled. "But seriously be careful. They can be really mean."

"I know..." Taeyeon trailed off, staring at Tiffany as her mind went a thousand miles an hour. "Why-"

"Tiffany!" Taeyeon was interrupted by what sounded like Tiffany's mother.

"Oh, I gotta go. I'll see you around." Tiffany disappeared from Taeyeon's vision. She sighed as she stood up, dusting off her pants. She quickly jogged inside to get the lemonade before returning to the garage.

"What took you so long?" Yuri grumbled.

"I was uh.." Taeyeon spotted Moo on top of the fridge. "Looking for Moo, but it seems he's here." She poured a drink for her and Yoona and they started the game. Taeyeon and Yoona doomed for loss.

~

Jessica sighed, putting down her book. She was usually content with spending her Friday nights curled up in bed with a good book. But she couldn't stop thinking about a certain tall, attractive, kind, and sweet girl.

She left her room, her feet shuffling on the carpet as she made her way downstairs. Krystal was sitting on the couch watching TV. Jessica plopped down next to her, feeling oddly lonely. She was always pretty lonely, but tonight it felt like a gargantuan black hole in her chest was the life out of her very being.

"What's up Jess?" Krystal asked, noting the odd behaviour of her sister. It was rare that Jessica joined her after eight to watch TV.

"Nothing." The older Jung grunted as she curled up, hugging a pillow.

"Anything you wanna watch?" Krystal asked, looking at her sister’s profile as she stared at the TV.

"Nah."

"Yeah, there's nothing good on TV, I think there's a movie on in half an hour."

"What movie?"

"Uhh." Krystal clicked a few buttons on the remote bringing up the schedule. "Transformers."

"Cool, that should be alright." Krystal was about to ask what was up with her sister, she mulled over it a while but Jessica beat her to it. "I wonder what mum and dad are up to right now." Jessica said out of nowhere. Krystal finally understood. She wondered the same thing too sometimes, and she'd be acting the same way Jessica was. She was lonely. No, more than lonely, she felt utterly deserted. Krystal leaned her head on Jessica's shoulder.

"Well, dad's probably banging his business partner and mum is most likely drowning her rich person troubles in a bottle or two of Soju."

"I think dads partner this time was Mr. Choi." Jessica said, a smirk coming to her lips.

"My point still remains." Krystal said, a grin forming on her face. The two burst out laughing, collapsing on each other. Once they'd calmed down they both felt substantially better. As twisted as it was the best way for them to cope with their distant parents was to make jokes. Doing so made them feel like their problems weren't that bad, and light-years away. But then Jessica asked the question that both of them had been wanting to voice for years. A question they didn't even mutter to themselves late at night when they were alone.

"..Do you think they ever miss us?" Krystal scoffed, trying to hide the hurtful clench of her heart with indifference and agitation.

"Why would they? Dad's got Mr. Choi and mum has her alcohol. What more could they want?"

"I feel like a stranger in this house.." Jessica continued voicing things that the both of them had felt for a long time. Jessica didn't even know why she was saying all these things, she supposed everyone had their limit.

"...It's even worse when they're here." Krystal muttered, unable to hold up her act of indifference. She figured there was no harm in showing all her hurt to Jessica; her sister, and best friend, and even sometimes her mother. A girl who was suffering the same as her because of the same people. She knew she would not be judged.

"I hate it. It feels like they're more of strangers to this house than us. Why don't they just stay out of our lives?"

"They do more damage being around than they do neglecting us."

The two girls fell into their own thoughts, even though they were thinking the same things. Thinking of all the times they spent holing up in their rooms to avoid their parents because they feared what offensive interaction would arise if they even breathed in the same room as them.

"Jessi." Krystal started, tearing her watery eyes from the TV to look at her sister, Jessica turned to look at her little sister, urging her to continue speaking. "When...When you get out of here. Please don't leave me with them." Krystal's voice cracked, she bit her cheek hard, trying to stop the tears from coming. They stared at each other a long while.

"I won't leave you." Jessica said. She knew her sister and her didn't always get along. In fact they used to fight like crazy because of their parents, until they realised that they're better off sticking together. But she knew she couldn't leave Krystal to the wolves. Krystal smiled, it reached her eyes causing the built up tears to spill over and run down her cheeks. Jessica dabbed the girls tears with a tissue she grabbed from the box on the table. "We'll escape together." She stuck out her pinky finger, they linked pinkies and stamped it with their thumbs. "Want any snacks or tea with the movie?" Krystal nodded. "Alright, I'll go get some." Jessica smiled, getting up and patting her sister on the head as she left.

Jessica came back in with some chocolate and tea and Krystal leaned her head on her sister’s shoulder, both ready to watch the autobots kick some .

~

Yoona giggled manically as she snuck up behind Yuri, assassinating her with the Spartan sword she miraculously found near some rocks.

"HEY!" Yuri exclaimed and smacked Yoona's leg. "That's not fair! You can't use the sword it's like a one hit kill!" Suddenly Yoona's character's shields were down, and in another second her master chief crumpled to the ground dead.

"Taeyeon, seriously where are you?!" She exclaimed, it being the third time she'd been sniped by Taeyeon.

"It's a secret..HEY no screen surfing, get out of it!" Taeyeon reached past Yuri and shoved Yoona's head. The latter just chuckled darkly as she found the sword again and stalked after Yuri.

Game nights like these were common between Yuri, Taeyeon, and Yoona. Even if they were invited out to parties none of them thought they'd actually want to go. They just hadn't reached that part in their life yet. If ever. Plus with the way they acted normally, they really didn't need to get drunk.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Yuri screamed, jumping up angrily before sitting back down heavily. "That's it. You sons of s. I will gut you. I swear to god. I'm going to end BOTH of you." She growled, leaning forward to concentrate more. Secretly she'd been screen surfing and had an idea of where Taeyeon was. She had ran around the long way, coming up behind Taeyeon.

"Say...I haven't seen you in a while Yuri, where have you-OH GOD DAMN IT." Yuri cackled and stole Taeyeon's sniper, lining up Yoona's head.

"Any last words?" Yuri growled, grinning ear to ear.

"What?" Yoona looked at Yuri confused, two gun shots sounded. Yoona looked back at the screen only to see her character crumpled on the ground.

"...Well played." She muttered.

There was a rattling knock at the garage door. Taeyeon paused the game.

"Hey Nana, you're back later than usual."

"What are you talking about dear? It's only eleven." Taeyeon chuckled.

"Hey Nana." Yuri and Yoona said in unison.

"Hey girls, good to see you."

"Come in, come spend some time with your favourite granddaughter." Taeyeon urged. Nana chuckled and came in, sitting next to Taeyeon.

"You're only my favourite because you're the only grandchild I have."

"The only one you'll ever need!" Taeyeon grinned. They often tip toed around the elephant in the room that was Taeyeon's deceased parents. It was too hurtful to address in a straightforward manner, but in a way it was comforting in an awkward kind of way to joke around the way they did.

"Whatever you think dear. What are you girls up to anyway?"

"We're just playing some games. You know, the usual." Yoona said with a sweet smile. Yuri and Yoona loved Taeyeon's Nana.

"Aren't pretty girls your age supposed to be going out to parties and getting boyfriends?"

"Is that what you used to do Nana?" Taeyeon nudged her gently and gave her a sly look.

"Oh yeah. I was quite the looker in my day. Taeyeon clearly didn't get that trait of mine." Yuri and Yoona laughed while Taeyeon pouted.

"Gosh Nana. You're so contradictory. Moments ago you were calling me pretty now you're saying I'm not. Lies and slander!" Argumentative Taeyeon was coming out after her ego got hurt.

"Look at this smart . You'll make a good lawyer one day." Taeyeon's Nana wrapped an arm around Taeyeon's shoulders and pulled her closer to kiss her on the forehead. Taeyeon tried to suppress her smile with a sulky pout.

"All right. I'll leave you girls to it, I gotta go get some rest. I've got more old people things to do early tomorrow." She said as she stood up.

"Night Nana!" The three called in unison.

"See you girls next time, don't do anything I wouldn't do." She chuckled with her husky smokers voice and walked out of the garage.

"Greatest Nana ever." Yoona said before she looked back at the screen. "Un pause Tae! I've got me a Yuri to kill."

"DON'T."

~

Jessica and Tiffany decided to hang out on the Saturday. They met at the mall, hoping to god that they wouldn't see anyone from school out this early because they'd all be too hung over.

They decided to have a ten o'clock breakfast at a quaint cafe that Jessica enjoyed. Tiffany was happy to be showed around.

"Jessi." Tiffany started, "I'm thinking I should probably date someone soon." Jessica shrugged.

"If you want. I haven't dated anyone. I claim I'm in love with my father's co-workers son who is in college." Tiffany chuckled.

"What a good plan! To be honest I'm not overly interested. The guys here don't seem that great, even if they are cute."

"Mm." Jessica grunted, she didn't find any of them all that attractive. Though she could admit some had good genes. "And it would be suspicious if suddenly your dad had a co-worker with an attractive son as well." She smiled.

"Yeah. Gah, what is with these ridiculous rules and regulations?"

"I don't know but it ." Jessica grunted and took a sip of her coffee. She scrunched up her face, deciding she didn't really like it. They were silent a moment. Jessica inhaled, holding her breath a moment before speaking. "Do...do you think that maybe it's not worth it?" Jessica looked at Tiffany who had a surprised expression. "I mean, like, speaking from my own experience I still get teased by them. The only difference is the fact that I have to spend lunch times with them when I could be spending it with people I actually like." Jessica looked down at her coffee, noting the love heart the barista had drawn in the foam on the top.

"Hm. I see your point. And I'm sure that even though they don't say it to my face that they're being horrible about me behind my back." Tiffany spun her mug around slowly as she thought. "But what can we do? I wouldn't even know what to do with myself without having to constantly try to up to girls like Sun Hi." Tiffany chuckled bitterly.

"We're seriously messed up."

"Yup."

They both sighed.

"Well, if you could date someone, who would it be?" Jessica knew very well that even though she'd think about it and want to, she wouldn't just leave her group of 'friends'. It wasn't that simple and she wasn't strong enough to make it happen.

"I dunno...Siwon seems nice." Tiffany shrugged, Jessica chuckled.

"Oh man, that guy is too stupid to be mean."

"Jessi...that's not very nice."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Jessica said suppressing her chuckles. "He is nice. He probably won't even try to have with you either. Good choice there buddy." Tiffany blushed, Jessica slapped her friend on the arm.

"I think they're all going to try to, to be honest."

"Yep, it'd be pretty awkward..." Jessica looked around as she took another sip of her coffee, forgetting that she didn't like the first sip. She was pleasantly surprised when the second sip tasted slightly better than the first. "Why not get with Jo Kwon? I'm pretty sure he's gay, I mean he'd probably tell people you two had , but he probably won't try."

"Really? He's gay? I would not have thought..." Tiffany began scouring her mind for things about Jo Kwon, trying to see if there was evidence of him being gay. When she thought about it, it kind of did make sense..."What if I claim to have a boyfriend from my old town?" Tiffany grinned at her ingeniousness.

"Not bad, that could work. Uh, just don't say you're saving yourself for marriage. Google some things about heteroual and give them some made up stories." Tiffany chuckled.

"Heteroual ? That's specific." Jessica's face flushed, she quickly took a long sip of her coffee, trying to hide her crimson cheeks. She snuck a glance at Tiffany, who was looking at her coffee, deep in thought. Oh god, she's on to me. I'm doomed.

"Uh, yeah, Google has some weird crap on it, so you gotta be specific." She chuckled nervously and quickly tried to think of something to change the topic to. "I'm gonna get a muffin! To eat." She quickly stood up, ignoring the horribly obvious double entendre she'd just made as her hip smashed into the table sending her spoon flying. She chuckled nervously again and flitted off into the store.

"Muffin?" Tiffany cocked her head to the side as she looked at the half eaten bagel on Jessica's plate. Jessica returned a few moments later, a lot less flustered than how she was when she left.

"I realised I still had bagel to eat. So! Tiffany," Jessica started as she sat down, "Where abouts do you live?" Tiffany decided to disregard Jessica's weird behaviour.

"The west side of town. Actually, it's really strange, I found out last night that my house is back to back with Taeyeon's."

"Whooa. What a small world. Taeyeon is quite the character." Jessica smirked into her bite of bagel, reminiscing about the times Taeyeon graciously said what was on Jessica's mind to her friends.

"Yeah she's...interesting."

"She's the one you were in a compromising position with." Jessica giggled at Tiffany's shocked expression and red cheeks.

"Jessii." Tiffany whined, looking down at her coffee.

"You are so innocent, it's so adorable!" Jessica reached forward to pinch Tiffany's cheeks.

"Cut it out." Tiffany whined some more, leaning away from Jessica's condescending actions.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend before?" Jessica prodded.

"Of course!"

"Did you's kiss?" Tiffany squirmed.

"Y-yeah."

"Ooh. What else?" Jessica wiggled her eyebrows at Tiffany who was squirming like a frenzied worm.

"N-nothing."

"You only kissed? Did he get any action?" Jessica was enjoying torturing Tiffany. It was now her third favourite pass time.

"Jessi!" Tiffany looked up at her, shocked and appalled.

"Come on Tiffy, you can tell meee." Jessica cooed and grinned at the uncomfortable girl in front of her. Tiffany let out a long whine, folding her arms and glaring at her coffee. Jessica laughed, flinging her head back. It was borderline cackling.  "I'm sorry..I just...you're too funny." Jessica gasped through her laughter. Tiffany glared at her until she calmed down. Jessica wiped a tear from her eye. "My bad, I'm sorry. I'll stop being so crude. But, did he try?" Tiffany blushed.

"Y-Yeah. I was so shocked I froze for like ten seconds before I managed to push him off."

"Geeeez. He could have asked first." Jessica grunted. "Poor Tiffany." She jutted out her bottom lip and patted the back of Tiffany's hand.

"It's all right, he didn't try it again. He was respectful of me for the most part."

"That's sweet." Jessica smiled before she frowned. "He still should have asked. That's like ual harassment." Tiffany was still blushing. She wanted to stop talking about her previous love life. She decided to turn the tables.

"What about you? Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"Noope."

"You ever kissed someone?"

"Yeah." Sure the person she kissed wasn't a guy but Tiffany didn't need to know that.

"Did he get any action?" Tiffany smirked. Jessica bit her lip, wanting to say 'We both did.'

"They got a little." Jessica said, purposely vague.

"Jessi! ...Nice." Tiffany playfully punched her friend in the arm. Jessica chuckled. "So you're not a commitment person then?" Jessica pondered. She hadn't really thought about it, it was just easier for her not to date anyone, considering they would be female and she didn't exactly have it in her to keep it a secret. She knew she'd slip up.

"I wouldn't say that..." Jessica waved her hand dismissively. "Maybe I just haven't found the right person." She smiled, thinking of Yuri. Tiffany stared at her for a long while, an unreadable expression on her face. "What?" Jessica grunted, slightly frowning.

"..Nothing." Tiffany quickly grinned before taking a sip of her coffee.

Jessica's phone went off. She checked it, it was a message from Krystal.

-The sycophant is home. Stay out as long as you can, I'm going to escape through my window and spend the night at Sulli's. See you after the weekend sis.

Jessica rolled her eyes, grumbling to herself.

"What's up Jessi?" Jessica looked up at Tiffany.

"Oh, nothing, my parents just wondering where I am. They're so annoying." Jessica chuckled half heartedly. "Let's look at the shops when we're done here. Oh and can we go see a movie?" Or two.

Tiffany smiled and nodded.

"Only if I get to pick."

"Deal."

A/N: I could apologise every update for taking so long but I'm gonna presume you're all sick of it by now =p Hope you enjoyed the first of many depressing things to come! Don't worry, you won't cry...probably.

Hope you enjoyed, until next time!