Chapter 2

Dora Juggins had two best friends. One was Joy Zimmerman, her lifelong partner in crime. The other was Jade Quiney, her high school classmate. There was no need to explain the bond between Dora and Joy. They had been neighbors since childhood. When they got along, they were close enough to share a pair of pants. When they fought, they could scratch each other's faces to shreds. Yet no matter how fiercely they argued, their friendship never faded. If one of them was bullied, the other would fight to the death for her. Whenever life grew boring, they came up with pranks that left each other half-dead. Dora and Joy were both wild by nature. Their families could not keep them at home, and their classrooms could not hold them for long. The moment they had free time, they ran outside to raise hell. As a result, friends came and went throughout their school years, passing through their lives like travelers at an inn. Only the two of them remained each other's best friends. Jade was Dora's high school classmate. Compared with the untamed Dora and Joy, Jade was a flower raised in a greenhouse. She spoke with extreme caution and handled everything with delicate hesitation. Dora had not liked her at first. They were in the same class, but they barely spoke. Dora earned excellent grades. Their homeroom teacher assigned seats according to academic performance, so she was always the first to choose the spot she wanted. She was popular with the boys, but not with the girls. Besides, the class rules forbade boys and girls from sharing desks. That meant Dora's deskmate was usually the lowest-ranking girl in the class, someone who had no choice in the matter. After the midterm exams during their first year of high school, Jade became the only girl with average grades who volunteered to sit beside Dora. Dora was not particularly warm toward her, but she was not unfriendly either. She disliked people who spoke so softly that she had to lean in just to hear them. Being around someone like that felt exhausting. Her opinion of Jade changed one night shortly before winter break. Dora and Joy had secretly skipped evening self-study to go online at an internet café, only to be caught red-handed by the head of student affairs. The next day, they had to stand before the entire school and confess their wrongdoing. Dora stayed up late writing her self-criticism. Then she overslept the next morning and forgot to put on her school uniform. As a day student, she had no time to go home and change. In the end, Jade lent her own uniform to Dora. Jade then pretended to have a stomachache and skipped the public self-criticism. That was when Dora decided Jade was a pretty good person after all. She had guts and knew how to stand by her friends. From then on, the two got along remarkably well. Whenever someone bullied Jade, Dora was the first to demand justice for her. When Jade struggled with her grades, Dora tutored her. Because Jade's family was poor, Dora brought her all kinds of fruit from home. If anyone bad-mouthed Jade, Dora chased them down and beat them from one end of the school building to the other. Their friendship grew closer and closer, until even Joy became jealous. Dora introduced Joy to Jade, and the three of them became friends. With Dora's help, Jade's grades improved by leaps and bounds. Later, all three girls were accepted into the same university. Dora and Joy remained irreplaceable best friends to each other. But Jade gradually became part of their circle as well. Before long, the three girls shared everything. They became the closest of friends, the kind of intimate confidantes people simply called besties.