Jade was doodling during revision time on Monday.
" . . . but I don't know if it'll work, you know?" Perrie sat in the space next to Jade on her desk. She was speaking to Jungkook.
"Shifts in dynamic." Jungkook said as he stood in front of her.
Their teacher was watching movies on his laptop at the front. He had given them some practice papers to work on but most students agreed to do it at home.
"Yeah." Perrie had been speaking to him about the sleepover that Jesy had invited all of them to at her house this Friday. "She's better now but it's like she needs to work on the whole boundaries thing."
"Yeah. Boundaries." Jungkook was saying.
Perrie nodded again then turned to Jade. "What do you think- what are you drawing?"
Jade shut her notebook when she noticed she had been caught. "Nothing."
Jungkook and Perrie were staring in confusion.
Perrie scratched her cheek. "Looked kinda strange. Was that a tree?"
"Are you an environmental activist now Jade? That's good. The earth is dying but nobody cares." Jungkook sounded angry by the end.
"Let it die. Who gives a f*ck anyway? We all gotta die at some point." Perrie said dismissively.
"The issue is that it will die very slowly so our grandchildren will be the ones living in anguish because of what we've done." Jungkook told her.
"Hmm . . . didn't realize that." Perrie saw his point now. "Is that why you were drawing that tree, Jade? Because you're concerned for the earth?"
Jade took a while to answer. She seemed spaced out. "Yeah."
"That's nice." Jungkook and Perrie said together.
She smiled tightly as she put her book in her desk. She had not been drawing a tree for that reason. The tree was only part of a bigger picture that she was glad they had not seen. "What were yous discussing? How Jesy's addition to our group is changing dynamics?"
Perrie turned herself to face Jade more. "Just about the sleepover this weekend. I don't know. How do we like . . . feel about it? Are we just being nice? Leigh had been telling me something that Sairah had said. Something about just 'cause she can see Jesy and not freak out more doesn't mean they have to be friends and interact."
Jungkook nodded at her side.
Jade hummed in thought at that. "Well we're Leigh's friends and Jesy's friends and Jesy seems to want to be friends with Leigh and Leigh with Jesy so . . ."
"But does it work?" Jungkook asked while stroking his chin.
"I mean," Jade said in a high pitched voice. "Based on what you said about how Leigh reacted to our warehouse event it sounded like that was a bit of a hiccup but it doesn't always have to be like that."
"Do you even like Jesy Jade?" Perrie challenged.
Jade felt them both staring intently at her. "I . . . she . . . I don't like her."
"Ah-ha!" Perrie pointed.
"But she's part of our friend group and I don't believe in being mean so . . ." Jade shrugged. "I'm polite."
"Hmm . . ." Jungkook seemed to be thinking. "So it looks like you and Perrie are just being polite as you're not able to forgive all of Jesy's sins and yet you want to have a sleepover with this girl?" That sounded toxic. "Won't things be awkward?"
Jade just shook her head. "Leigh seems down for it, Jesy invited us so let's do it. It would be like a slap in the face if we said no."
"But what if she f*cks up? Do we leave?" Perrie tapped her fingers.
