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Marcus is already sitting at an empty table in the corner of the library. When he sees me, he nods.

"Everyone else should be on their way," he tells me in his deep, somber voice.

"Alright," I respond tersely. My fingers play with a loose thread at the bottom of my sweater. An awkward silence hangs in the air.

Suddenly, Marcus blurts out, "I'm sorry."

I look up at him. "Why?"

"I'm the one who dragged you and everyone else into this 4 Flames mess," he says remorsefully.

This is the first time I have seen Marcus- who is usually as expressive as a rock- display any emotion. Regret is etched in every feature of his face.

“Don’t worry about it,” I sigh. “If I was in your position, I would do whatever it took to get revenge.”

He is silent for a moment, then says, “My older brother, Kyle... he was the first in our family to go to college. He earned a full ride to UC Berkeley for engineering. His professors called him a genius. He got an internship with Yohan, a billion-dollar tech development company in Silicon Valley. Everything was perfect.”

“Then, one day, out of the blue, we get a call. He was murdered only a few miles from the university. But when we tried to find out who it was, press charges... the police and the media were keeping it all quiet. I knew something was up. Lina, Preet, Annabelle, and I went to L.A., discovered that someone from the Harana gang had killed him. The Harana gang was under the jurisdiction of the Kkangpae, the South Korean mafia.”

“And the 4 Flames must be the specific gang who were in charge of the Harana.” I exhale. “So you want revenge on the entire 4 Flames group.”

“Yes.”

I don’t say it, but I think that this is a lofty goal. Again, we’re literally a group of 16 and 17 year olds. How the hell are we supposed to take down an entire gang? And, if Jungkook’s little buddy-buddy session with Officer Robertson was any indication, they can probably talk their way out of sticky situations with their power, anyway.  

Neither Marcus nor I say anything else until Lina, Preet, and Annabelle arrive at the library a few minutes later.

“I had to announce to my entire 2nd period class that I’m on my period and needed to go to the nurse for tampons,” Annabelle groans, shaking her head. “I’m going to die of shame.”

Preet plops down in a seat next to me. “So what happened with the police?”

I exhale. “Well, they were about to arrest me, I’m pretty sure. But at the last minute, Jungkook came to save my .”

Their reaction to this statement is exactly how I predicted it would be: Preet nearly falls out of his chair, Annabelle gasps, Lina slams her fist on the table, and Marcus just blinks.

“Jungkook Jeon?” Lina shrieks. “So the guy who tried to shoot you in the face yesterday now suddenly saved you? What?”

“I know! He told the authorities that I was his girlfriend, and we were on a date yesterday afternoon. On top of that, he had these pictures of us together, and the police and the principal were just gushing over him, and-,”

“Hang on.” Lina holds up a hand. “This... I’m so confused. What does he want from you?”

“He gave me two options. Either I join the 4 Flames-,”

“No,” Annabelle gasps.

“-or I’m put on constant watch and possibly get assassinated.” I shake my head. “Obviously, I refused to join-,”

“Are you an idiot?” Preet snipes. “Did you actually say no?”

I blink. “What?”

“You should’ve said yes! That’s the obvious decision!”

Lina narrows her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Preet shakes his head. “Seriously? The best way to take down something as big as the 4 Flames is from the inside. If Ami joins, she’ll be able to give us inside intel and stuff that we can use against them!”

Marcus clears his throat. “And Jungkook basically told Ami that if she doesn’t join, she’ll die..."

“But I don’t want to join a gang!” I protest. “And I don’t want to help Jungkook and his stupid friends. I hate them all! They’re the biggest s ever. Screw them!”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Annabelle pats my arm sympathetically. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to... well... actually, you kind of do...,” She trails off uneasily.

Lina twists her lips in disquietude. "I really don't want Ami to join a gang. It's... not safe at all."

Preet folds his arms. “Ami, you need to go join them. Not to help us. But to save yourself. Although helping us would be nice, too.”

“So you want me to join the 4 Flames as a mole.” I scowl. “I’m supposed to go back to Jungkook and say, ‘Sorry, I was too hasty in my decision. I would love to join the 4 Flames! Just tell me how I can help!’ Yeah, right! Like hell that’ll happen!”

“Sorry, I was too hasty in my decision,” I tell Jungkook in a falsely chipper voice. “I would love to join the 4 Flames! Just tell me how I can help!”

He stares at me, an eyebrow raised. “You can cut the bull,” he smirks. “I know you don’t want to.”

“No ,” I growl, all pretenses of enthusiasm dropping. “Unfortunately, seeing as how I don’t want to be hunted by your stupid gang cronies, I kind of have to join.”

Jungkook turns around and eyes the rest of his gang, who are hulking in the corner, watching me warily. He snaps his fingers and they stride over to us.

“She says she’ll join,” Jungkook says.

Yoongi scoffs. “Really. So we’re supposed to trust her all of a sudden? Don’t you think that her reason for breaking into the website in the first place is very sketchy?”

“I still think she’s a part of another group,” Taehyung pipes up. “She’s going to collect data and then try to snitch to the police.”

I gulp. That’s exactly what I’m planning to do. Instead, I purse my lips and say, “Do you really think I’m a part of another gang? Are you stupid?”

“Her background checks and tracking logs made it pretty obvious that she’s not a part of another group,” Jin mutters. “She interacts with 10 people daily, tops. She doesn’t go anywhere, and she has about 2 friends.”

I open my mouth to object. To my chagrin, I realize that I really can’t.

Namjoon clears his throat, and everyone in the group turns to look at him. “We should proceed how our superiors told us to,” he states in a firm voice. “Give her a test. If she passes, she joins. If she doesn’t...,” He suggestively trails off, leading me to draw my own conclusions about my fate.

Jungkook looks like he’s going to protest, but I say, “Fine. I can do tests.”

    It would’ve been okay- well, as okay as it could’ve been- if that stupid cow Mrs. Wringer hadn’t made everything a million times worse.

    When I plunk down my bag in my usual spot at the back of the Chemistry classroom, Mrs. Wringer remarks in a sugary sweet voice, “Ami, aren’t you going to sit next to your boyfriend?”

    The classroom goes so quiet, you could’ve heard a fly sneeze. I gape at her with a stupid half-baked expression, and then sputter, “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about-,”

    “You know, your boyfriend, Jungkook. You were on a date with him yesterday afternoon, which is why we all know that you weren’t the one who was responsible for that explosion.” Across the room, I see Jungkook blanch. His friends- including Hoseok and Namjoon, who are in this class- goggle at him in shock. Emma Carter, his fling of the month, glares at him with a flummoxed expression of disbelief.

Mrs. Wringer smugly smirks down at me with a look on her face that clearly reads, I know you two aren’t dating, and I know you blew up my storage room yesterday, so I’m going to make you pay.

    Well, she’s succeeding in humiliating me. Whispers fill the classroom, along with pings! and tap-taps! from my classmates’ phones, which are sending texts to other students, informing them of this shocking revelation. In the middle of it all stand Jungkook and I, wishing- praying- that Mrs. Wringer did not just sell us out, and this is some huge, terrible nightmare that we don’t have to face.

I am seriously considering sticking my head down the nearest acid disposal tube when Jungkook breaks into a cheerful laugh.

    “Well, looks like the cat’s out of the bag,” he chuckles, strolling over to me. He stiffly places an arm on my shoulder. “Ami, come sit next to me.”

    “What the ?” Emma hisses, shooting up from her seat. “Jungkook, please tell me this is some sort of joke. You are not dating Ami Hwang.”

    “We’re dating,” I inform her bluntly. Her cheeks turn redder than a stop sign.

    “You- I thought we liked each other!” Emma screeches, turning to Jungkook. “We’ve been hooking up for months-,”

   A few titters echo from the corners of the classroom.  “Ew,” I gag.

“Look, Emma, you’re a great... friend-,” Jungkook winces when he says that last word, “-but we’ve never been a thing.”

Emma sneers. “Fine. Go ahead. There are tons of guys who wish they had this.” She punctuates her words by gesturing towards... certain parts of her body. Oh my god, this is disgusting.

you, Mrs. Wringer. you.

“Okay, Emma, Ami, Jungkook, settle down,” Mrs. Wringer says, clapping her hands. She looks a little uncomfortable. “Back to chemistry!”

With great reluctance, I heave my bag over my shoulder and shuffle to Jungkook’s chair. Curious eyes follow my every move. When I get there, I realize that there are no empty seats around him.

“Move,” Jungkook mutters to Hoseok, who reluctantly moves over a few seats. I throw down my stuff and take a seat, forcing a fake smile on my face.

I can’t concentrate the rest of class. How can I? Emma’s eyes are piercing into my skull. Every single person in the class is openly staring at me. I’m sitting next to some of the most popular people in the school, whom I loathe will all my heart. A massive South Korean crime syndicate has decided to recruit me. I almost got killed last night.

“I swear I’ll get her fired,” Jungkook mutters in my ear. “She’s not supposed to reveal what was discussed with the police. No one was supposed to know about that fake story I made up, except for the administration.”

“That's tempting, but forget it,” I growl. “It won’t make a difference. We can’t make everyone un-hear that.”

“Let’s just pretend to be in a relationship for a few more weeks. Then we can ‘break up’ without raising any suspicions.”

“Fine. Now can you get your little girlfriend to stop death glaring me?”

Jungkook rolls his eyes. “She’s not my girlfriend. We only hooked up a few times.”

I pretend to retch. “Gross.”

Jungkook inches his face closer to mine. “Why do you care? You’re not my real girlfriend.”

“I don’t care. I just think it’s weird.”

“Jealous?”

I smirk. “Of y little Emma Carter slobbering all over you? Like hell I am.”

Suddenly, Namjoon pokes me in the back. “Cut it out, you two,” he mutters.

Jungkook and I raise our heads. Mrs. Wringer- along with the entire class- is gawking at us. With a jolt, I realize that our faces are literally inches apart. I quickly scoot to the edge of my chair, as far as I can go from Jungkook.

My stomach is churning in embarrassment. I know exactly how that must’ve looked like.

“Sorry,” I cough.

Hoseok is snickering at the two of us from his seat. “Couple of the year,” he murmurs, loud enough so only people in the vicinity can hear.

Jungkook and I simultaneously flick him off.