JENNIE

"Sungjae is back."

I'm sitting in Yeri's game room at her house, slouched on the floor with my back against the couch, an Xbox controller in my hands.

On the giant TV in front of me, I watch a dragon grab my avatar, Lady Lucinda, by the head, shaking her so hard that the body goes flying offscreen.

Great.

Sighing, I rest the controller on my stomach as the screen goes white. "That was my last life," I mutter, reaching for the can of Sprite Zero beside me. Yeri nudges my foot with hers, her toenails a bright purple.

"Nini, did you hear me?"

On my other side, Sehun sits up, taking the controller from me and restarting the game. "She heard you, Yeri. She doesn't care."

"I do care," I insist, "because I like Sungjae, and it's nice that he's back. I just don't think it has anything to do with me."

Crossing her legs, Yeri sits up straighter as she looks at me over the tops of her glasses. They're new, the acid-green frames bright around her dark eyes. "Nini," she says, and I roll my shoulders, uncomfortable.

"They're done," I remind her as I sit up, too. "Over. And me and Joy are—"

"A summer fling that will break your heart," Yeri fills in, and I scowl at her.

This is the drum Yeri has been beating ever since I told her about me and Joy—that Joy is flighty, that she changes her mind more often than she changes hair colors, that I know what Joy is like.

I know she's saying it because she cares about me, but it's still not exactly my favorite stuff to hear, and besides, she's wrong. And maybe a little jealous. Joy and Yeri were really close a few years back, but as Joy and I got tighter, Yeri sort of ended up on the outside a bit. Our Foursome Friend Group is constantly shifting.

Me and Joy now being a thing has obviously shifted things even more.

"Joy is kind of flaky," Sehun acknowledges as his fingers fly on the controller's buttons. He glances at me, auburn hair flopping over one eye. "Sorry, Jane, but you know it's true. It's one of the things we love about her, but I can see it making her a bad girlfriend."

"You're not exactly an expert in girlfriends, Sehun," I say, and he gasps with faux outrage, his eyes still glued to the game.

"How dare you, Jennie Kim?" Then his face breaks out in a grin. "Also, yes, fair. But I am an expert in you, and I don't want to see you get your heart smashed. Yeri is being kind of bitchy, but Yeri is not necessarily wrong, which is usually the case with Yeri, let's all be very real here."

"Why do I even invite you over?" Yeri mutters, picking up her can of soda and taking a long sip.

"Because you love me, and you want to support my video game habit," Sehun says, then gives a triumphant whoop as the dragon on the screen flops down dead.

Tossing the controller to the thick carpet, he leans over me to grab the bag of cheese puffs that have ended up stuffed under the sofa. "This setup is so wasted on you, Yeri," he tells her. "You don't even play."

Yeri shrugs, and I take a cheese puff from Sehun, careful not to get any crumbs on the carpet. Not that Yeri or her parents would care. But their house is so nice that I feel like I should care.

Yeri's dad works for some oil company in Houston, which means her family has a lot more money than mine or Sehun's does. It's never been an issue, but I'm still really aware of the pretty flooring, the giant TVs, how Yeri has her own bathroom attached to her bedroom.

Now she looks at me, eyes narrowed a little. "Joy said you got into that fancy school in Scotland."

"What?" Bright orange flecks fly from Sehun's lips as he brings a hand up to his mouth, and I look back and forth between the two of them, my stomach dropping.

"She told you that?" I ask, and Yeri grabs the bag of cheese puffs from Sehun.

"Yes," Yeri tells me. "Are you not going because of her?"

I pick up my soda again, more for something to do than because I'm actually thirsty. "No," I finally say. "I'm not going because it's expensive."

Sehun snorts at that. "Right, because a scholarship is totally beyond you, O Lady Smartypants."

"Exactly," Yeri agrees, and I just shrug. It bugs me that Joy said anything to Yeri, especially since I hadn't told anyone else myself.

But I just say, "It's probably too late to get financial aid. And it was a stupid idea to apply in the first place. I just . . . wanted to see if I could get in. I didn't really want to go."

"Calling major BS on that, Jane," Sehun says, wiggling his toes at me. "You were talking about Scotland all last year."

"We watched Brave at least three times over winter break," Yeri adds, and I give both of them what I hope is a stern glare.

"A girl is allowed to change her mind," I say, and then watch as they exchange glances.

"All I'm saying," Yeri finally says before taking the controller from the floor and shutting off the Xbox, "is that you shouldn't give up a great opportunity for Joy."

"I'm not doing it for her," I reply, but there's that look between Sehun and Yeri again, and scowling at the two of them, I take the controller back, powering on the system again. I've still got two hours before I need to be home, and dammit, I'm going to kill a dragon.

"This isn't about Joy, and even if it were, who cares? Sungjae coming back isn't changing anything."