Chapter Six

Sweet Jesus no. This is not what I wanted. In fact, this was the opposite of what I wanted.

"How about it Jessica?" Sun Hi asked, an evil glint to her eye. She suppressed a sigh.

"I've told you already, I have a boyfriend. Who I quite like you know. I don't want to ruin things with him."

"Oh come on Jessica, how often do you even see him? Besides, Taecyeon is utterly gorgeous and he wants you. You of all people. I'm still shocked myself." Jessica's eyes narrowed at the not subtle insult she just threw at her. She was baiting Jessica and Jessica wasn't going to fall for it.

"Well, you can go out with him, I have Ji hyung."

"I thought your boyfriend was Ji Hoon. Jung Ji Hoon. Sometimes gets called Rain." Mi Cha asked, frowning.

"Uh, yes, you're quite right, I'm just so used to calling him loving pet names that I mispronounced his real name. My bad." Jessica's response was only slightly sarcastic but no one took notice. Except Tiffany.

"You know, I've never even seen him, or met him. It's kind of weird."

"Like I said, he's at college, he doesn't have time to visit so I go see him on holidays."

"Yeah, but no pictures?"

"He doesn't like pictures." She kept a calm face under the interrogation.

"I think you and Taecyeon would look much better together anyway." Tiffany piped to Sun Hi, trying to save Jessica from her interrogation.

"I know right." Sun Hi quickly got distracted and launched into a speech about how much better she was for him than Jessica. The latter of which didn't complain as it got the other girl off her back. Jessica decided to divert her attention to Yuri, who was sitting with Yoona and Taeyeon, she was looking at Yoona with a warm smile as the girl talked animatedly about...Well Jessica had no idea, but she seemed excited about it.

"Jessi?" Tiffany had resorted to nudging the girl whose attention she was trying to get.

"Yeah?" Jessica turned to look at Tiffany, trying to pretend that she hadn't just been spacing out at Yuri again.

"Come with me to the bathroom?"

"Mm, yeah sure, sorry." The two got up, leaving the rest of their group to talk about who knows what.

"I'm so glad they're not hounding me about Seulong." Tiffany chuckled.

"Oh yeah, as fool proof as my plan seemed I suppose it wasn't exactly as fool proof as I thought." Jessica frowned slightly, trying to think of plans to ease their curiosity, but all of them were nothing short of elaborate.

"So, tell me about this Ji Hoon." Tiffany said with a chuckle.

"Well, he's twenty. Has a really good body. He looks cute with long hair but he's so handsome with short hair. His voice is deep and rich and when we make love he whispers sweet nothings in my ear with his deep husky voic-"

"Jessiii." Tiffany whined, causing the reprimanded girl to chuckle.

"Sorry dude, the others love that kind of crap though." Jessica said as they walked into the bathroom.

"That seriously made me cringe. And want to throw up."

"Well, good thing we're in the bathroom then." Jessica leaned against the sink, crossing her arms. "Now do your business Hwang, this place is making me feel dirty." Tiffany chuckled and selected a cubicle to use. Once Tiffany was done and emerged from the cubicle, she headed to the sink, a question on the tip of her tongue.

"Jessi.." Tiffany started, Jessica noted the hesitant tone in the girls voice and -keeping a stony look on her face- she urged her on. "Have you and Yuri known each other long?" Tiffany glanced at the stoic faced girl before re-focusing her attention on washing her hands.

"Uh, not long. Why?"

"Oh..you two just seem, I dunno. Close or something."

"Really?" Jessica cocked and eyebrow, genuinely surprised.

"Mm." Tiffany nodded, shutting off the tap. "How do you know her anyway?"

"I met her when I joined soccer this year."

"And you two get along well I'm presuming?"

"Yeah..." Jessica smiled to herself, "She really gets me, which is rare. Not even you get me to the extent that she does." Tiffany saw the blush forming on Jessica cheeks, then it all kind of made sense.

"Jessi, do you like her?"

"Of course, she's a really good friend to me." Jessica tried to avoid the question.

"That's not what I meant." Tiffany caught on to Jessica's attempt and gave her a stern look. Jessica sighed. Should she tell her? How would she even react? What if she was homophobic and went and told Sun Hi? Well, she'd probably be able to spend more time with Yuri that way... "Jessi." Tiffany broke the girls thoughts. "It's okay if you do, I'm just wondering." Jessica noticed the sincerity of Tiffany. She nodded.

"Y-yeah. I do." Jessica averted the other girls gaze, waiting to be reprimanded.

"Does she like you too?" Tiffany asked, Jessica glanced at the girl who had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I don't know." Jessica said truthfully. She left out the part where she desperately hoped the tall, raven haired girl did like her back.

"Alright, we're going to have to find out. I'm going to have to do some snooping."

"W-What? No Tiffany, really that's not necessary."

"Look." Tiffany got a strict look on her face and tone in her voice. "You like her, from the minute amount of time I've spent with her I get the feeling she's nice and caring, and maybe a little dorky but that's regardless. You deserve someone nice and caring like her. Plus she's really attractive too, so it's like double win." Tiffany's stern face became a wide grin. "Your babies would be so beautiful oh my god." Tiffany transformed into an excited child within seconds as she bounced on her toes, making cooing noises at the mental image of YulSic's babies.

"Cut it out man, I'm not going to bear a child and I don't want her having to go through that either." Wait, was I just saying I thought of having babies with Yuri? Jessica blushed.

"Alright." Tiffany had become serious again. "You need to talk to her more, suss her out and see if she might like you back. Maybe I can try and get Intel from Taeyeon." 

"Hm? Taeyeon? You know her?"

"I've talked to her a bit, she seems really nice though I've never tried to argue with her." Tiffany giggled cutely. "Plus she lives right behind me so I can find her easy enough if I need to interrogate her."

"Hmm, okay, Taeyeon is a last resort though, I'd rather not get people I don't know well into this. So I'll just start off talking to her more. Seems easy enough." Jessica was, of course, simply trying to convince herself of that. For starters, how was she going to do that? If Sun Hi saw that she'd have a field day and endless insults to berate her with. There was soccer practice the next day however, Jessica decided to start from there, try and talk more, actually start conversation. Maybe she'd even try flirting with her a little, see if Yuri would pick up on that.

The two exited the bathroom, only for Tiffany to run into someone tall and lean. She fell back, a strong pair of hands stopping her from running into Jessica.

"I'm sorry!" Tiffany started apologising.

"Are you okay?" A gentle voice said softly. Jessica stepped back, seeing Im Seulong holding onto Tiffany's shoulders. He really was handsome.

"Y-Yeah." Tiffany stuttered, "Sorry and thank you for stopping me from falling." He smiled shyly, Tiffany's eyes widened. "I'm Tiffany, what's your name?"

"Seulong." Jessica noticed recognition flash on Tiffany's face. She hid a smirk, wondering how the eye smiling girl would feel about this afterwards.

"It's nice to meet you." Tiffany grinned, Seulong seemed in awe, Jessica had seen this reaction many of times already, she tried to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too." He seemed at a loss for words. He couldn't stop thinking how much more beautiful Tiffany was up close. "Uh. Um. I should probably get back to my friends. It was nice meeting you Tiffany. Jessica." He nodded at Jessica and walked away, glancing back a few times.

"Well, now that you've finally met the grandiose Seulong, what do you think of him?" Jessica smirked at Tiffany.

"Well, he seems nice. And he's good looking. It's like Yuri, a double win." Tiffany teased, knowing that Jessica was doing the same. The latter blushed at the mention of Yuri, just like Tiffany intended.

~

Taeyeon was trailing along behind Yoona and Yuri when she noticed her shoelace had become untied. Yuri and Yoona hadn't even noticed that she'd stopped so she didn't bother calling out to tell them to go ahead without her. Taeyeon had the feeling she was being watched as she knelt down and started looping her shoelaces together. She shrugged it off until she stood up and noticed a dark shadow that was half out from behind a corner retreat.

She squinted her short sighted eyes in suspicion at the now empty corner. She shook it off, figuring her eyes were playing tricks on her and jogged after Yuri and Yoona. They stopped off at their lockers to change books for the next class when something fell out, landing at Taeyeon's feet. She picked it up curiously. It was an envelope. Taeyeon frowned, glancing at Yuri and Yoona to see if they'd noticed. They hadn't, thankfully. Taeyeon opened it behind her locker door to hide it further from her two friends.

Taeyeon's eyes widened at the words.

I want to play a game.

Do not fear, you're not in any danger. Yet. And there will be a reward. If you wisely decide to play the game then be at the Beach Park tomorrow afternoon at around four, there you will find an ice cream cart. You will find your next step on another note there.

If you cannot make it tomorrow then be there the day after.

I'll be in touch Taeyeon-sshi.

P.S. Don't tell anyone about this.

-The Top

Taeyeon stared wide eyed. What the crap did I just read? And who the heck wrote this?

"You ready Tae?" Taeyeon was snapped from her thoughts. She glanced around nervously, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. She tucked the piece of paper into one of her books and closed her locker door. Taeyeon followed her two taller friends to the next class, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Perhaps she hadn't imagined that shadow disappearing behind the corner after all.

~

Jessica nervously gripped the steering wheel. She inhaled deeply.

"Are you nervous?" The instructor asked gently. Jessica shook her head. The instructor chuckled at the stubborn girl. "Alright then, when you're ready start the car." There was a few long moments. "Are you going to start the car?"

"I thought you said to do it when I'm ready." Jessica said icily.

"Well, by the looks of it we won't get any driving done if we wait until you're ready. So, start the car." Jessica begrudgingly did as she was told. "Excellent, now, push in the clutch and take off the parking brake." Jessica followed the instructions and soon the car was slowly crawling down the street. Krystal watched from the lounge room window, waiting for her older sister to crash or run over one of the neighbours.

Krystal knew well enough that any sort of driving was not quite her sister’s forte. When the two of them visited their grandparent’s farm once, their grandfather decided that it would be a smart idea to teach Jessica the basics of driving, you know, because she's getting to the age where she can get her learners. That was a dark day for Tammie the cow. From then on Jessica has been banned from using the paddock basher and she's not allowed to leave the driveway when she's on one of the motor bikes.

"I'm...not sure if I'm comfortable with going out onto the street yet." Jessica said, trying to keep her voice even.

"I don't think it would hurt really, these streets aren't really busy anyway."

"I'm serious, I don't think I should do it just yet."

"Come on Jessica, give yourself more credit, you can go as slow as you like if you want." Jessica sighed. "And it will get pretty boring if we just stay in the cul-de-sac for the entire hour, don't you think?" The girl’s eyes narrowed. A whole hour with this jerk pushing her to drive out on the dangerous streets? She fleetingly regretted deciding to get driving lessons, but she knew she had to have that sort of independence for when she and Krystal moved out. So she gritted her teeth and hesitantly drove out of the comfort of the cul-de-sac.

The driving instructor learned a valuable lesson in that one hour.

Don't ever push Jessica Jung.

~

Taeyeon put her bag down on the couch, plopping down heavily next to it. What a weird day. She thought to herself. She reached into her folder and pulled out the ominous locker note. She read it over and over trying to figure out what it could possibly mean. Not in danger. Yet? What did that even mean? Would she be in danger if she went along with the game or would she be in danger if she backed out?

She tried deciphering it to see if there could be a hidden message in there somewhere, but after twenty minutes she couldn't see anything. What was 'The Top' anyway? Was it an organisation? Was the person who wrote this the head of said organisation? The thoughts plagued her endlessly until the most important one struck her.

Do I go to the beach park tomorrow?

She told herself to think about it but deep down she knew what her answer would be. 

A/N: Double update everyone! Enjoy my lovelies =)