"You kissed my sister's face."

I could feel my mouth drop open at the words and I watched as Jade's eyes went wide, face quickly turning red. Whether from anger or embarrassment, I wasn't sure.

I shared a glance with Ian, who had a shocked grin on his face. It looked like he was trying not to laugh, but couldn't manage to suppress the smile. I had to agree-- it was kind of funny.

"I- Well- Yeah," Roy stuttered, cheeks flushed with even more color than Jade's, "I mean, yes, I did. I did do that. How do you know that?"

The handshake broke as Matthew began to elaborate. "She wrote about it in her dia-"

"Okay!" Jade interrupted, springing into action and grabbing her brother by the shoulders, steering him out of the kitchen. "That's enough of you. Take this" -- she grabbed his laptop and shoved it into his arms, pushing him towards the stairs -- "and go be quiet. And do it in your own room!"

"What are you cooking, anyway?" he questioned, seemingly unbothered by being forcibly removed from the room. "And what for?"

"Do you have to know every little ounce of my business?"

"It smells weird," he justified.

"So do you," she said, shooing him away. He rolled his eyes, ascending the stairs, and I heard a door shut a few seconds later.

"Sorry, he's annoying," Jade apologized, coming back to the kitchen. I bit my lip to hold back laughter at the proud look on Roy's face, and looked to see Ian wearing a similar expression to mine. Jade didn't notice, avoiding looking at any of us as she got back to work silently.

"I think I should go up and talk to him more," Roy said. She shot him a look of confusion, so he continued, "He clearly has information that interests me."

She rolled her eyes, mouth breaking into a smile. "Shut up."

A few seconds passed before Ian broke, a laugh escaping him as he spoke. "Do you ever write about me in your diary?"

I practically snorted, letting out laughter against my own will.

"Oh my god," Jade mumbled, covering her face with her hands. "Okay, yes, I have a diary, ha-ha. I'm glad you can all laugh at my embarrassment. God, I'm gonna kill him."

"It's not embarrassing," Roy corrected. "It's very endearing. What's embarrassing is being called out by a twelve-year-old for kissing you on the cheek. He looked like he wanted to punch me-- I think he's protective over you."

Jade laughed, shaking her head. "He is not. Someone could kidnap me right now and the only thing he'd be worried about is getting his game tomorrow."

The four of us continued to joke around as we worked, managing to reach our goal before it was time to go. We helped get the kitchen back to its clean state, making sure not to leave any evidence behind.

Ian was in charge of bringing the smoke bombs to school the next day, so he loaded them all into his backpack. The four of us went over the plan one last time, making sure everything was taken care of before leaving Jade's house.

"Hey, you think I could bum a ride?" I asked Ian as we closed the door behind us. Roy was already at his car, raising a hand in goodbye as he unlocked the door.

"Yeah, no problem," Ian said, waving back as we walked to his truck. We climbed in and I reached for the seatbelt, smiling as I watched Roy drive away.

"So... Roy and Jade," I started, nearly laughing again at the thought of Matthew grilling him about the kiss.

"Roy and Jade," he repeated, nodding his head. "You think they'll actually end up as a couple?"

"I'd say a kiss on the cheek means they're headed down that road, yeah. But then again, who knows." I shrugged. "Relationships are weird."

"What about you and Daniel?" he asked. "How'd you two get started?"

"We worked on a group project together in one of our classes, and he asked me out. He asked me to be his girlfriend not too long after."

"So how long have you been together?"

"About a year," I answered, brow furrowing slightly at the question. "Why?"

"No reason," he said, keeping his eyes on the road.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a read on him. He looked over at me, noticing my stare.

"Okay," he started, sighing. "I just... I don't want to offend you."

"So don't say anything offensive," I countered, nerves starting to settle in my stomach as the conversation veered into potentially uncomfortable territory.

"My reason for asking definitely falls into the 'offensive' category."

"Let me guess-- you don't like Daniel, and you're curious why I do?" I wasn't stupid-- I could see that everyone was getting a little fed up with Daniel's lack of participation. If they didn't like him, it wasn't hard to understand why.

"Well... no. But also yes, if you want me to be honest."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Daniel's okay, but... he never wants to do anything. And he can get a little snippy, too, which I don't appreciate-- it's like he's working against us half the time."

"Look, he's doing the competition for me-- if it wasn't for my situation, he probably wouldn't be paying this thing any attention at all, so I'm not going to be mad if he doesn't want to jeopardize his future just to win. You, Roy, and Jade have only seen Daniel's bad side-- The Seven bring it out of him."

"That's fair. I guess I kind of figured as much-- I don't take you as the type of girl who dates assholes."

"Not intentionally," I said, mind trailing to Kendall.

"So when Daniel asked you out, what made you say yes?"

I hesitated, eyeing him again. "You're just full of questions, huh?"

He shrugged, smiling at my comment. "Just curious. But we can drive in silence if you prefer. Or I could turn on the radio, although I gotta warn you-- I'm a native Texan, and I do like country music."

"Hmm, so that's where you're from," I noted, finally able to place his accent. "To answer your question, I said yes because we had things in common."

"You both hate The Seven," he gathered.

"Yes." I looked away, knowing the reasoning probably sounded dumb to anyone else but me. But in a school full of people who followed The Seven's every move, it felt like such a breath of fresh air to finally find someone else who wasn't interested in the group. "Obviously it's not the only reason we're together, but it is the reason I said yes to the first date. And it was probably the first time since starting high school that I hung out with someone and didn't have to hear the words 'The Seven'."

He nodded, pursing his lips. "Makes sense."

"Now-- back to my question. You still haven't told me your offensive reasoning for bringing all this up."

"Alright, if you really wanna know." He sighed, hesitating. "It's just... the two of you don't seem to have a lot of chemistry, that's all."

"Chemistry," I repeated, dumbfounded by the answer. "What would you know about Daniel and I having chemistry or not?"

"Well, I mean, I look at Roy and Jade, for example, and I see it-- there's a certain kind of... heat, y'know? Tension," he explained. "I don't see that when I look at the two of you."

"Beginnings of relationships are always like that," I defended. "It's new and exciting at first, but it's natural for things to cool down after a while."

"To a certain degree, yeah," he laughed, pulling up in front of my house. "But not down to nothing."

I scoffed, turning away as I unbuckled my seat belt. "You're making a lot of assumptions about a relationship you're not in."

"Sorry, I know," he admitted. "I was just saying why I asked. I shouldn't have, I was crossing a line."

"It's fine-- I asked you to say it," I said, opening the door and stepping out. Part of me wanted to slam the door and storm away, but I turned around, knowing I shouldn't leave the conversation like that. "Look, the last thing we need is bad blood in the group. So I'll pretend you didn't just insult my relationship-- and my boyfriend-- and you can pretend that you don't dislike Daniel."

"Okay," he agreed, a half-smile adorning his face. "I can do that."

"Good. You'll pick me up tomorrow for the plan, right?"

"I'll be right here at seven twenty," he assured me.

We said goodbye and I headed up to my house, waving before shutting the door behind me. I leaned against it, exhausted from the conversation. As I replayed it in my head, the anger I'd fended off minutes ago started to come back.

Chemistry. Who cared about chemistry? Kendall and I had it, and look what happened there. As far as I was concerned, chemistry, heat, tension, whatever Ian wanted to call it, it wasn't the sign of a good relationship. Daniel was a great boyfriend, that was what mattered.

I crossed my arms, my stomach twisting. I was mad at Ian-- that was why my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. My face was flushed with anger, nothing else.

I let my bag fall to the floor with a heavy sigh. This wasn't anger.

This was chemistry, heat, tension, whatever you wanted to call it. The only anger I felt was buried miles underneath all the nerves and excitement, and it was directed at me, not Ian. I was supposed to feel this way with Daniel, not from a five-minute car ride with a guy I barely knew.

I took off my shoes, heading upstairs to my room. It was probably just a fluke. The conversation we had made me nervous, that was all. I'd finish my homework, eat dinner, shower, sleep, and forget all about this.

The last thing I needed right now was to focus on feelings that probably meant nothing-- my brain needed to be focused on one thing and one thing only: the competition.