If Lara was fire—loud, impulsive, ready to ignite at the smallest spark—then Jade was water. Not in the boring.way, but in the quiet, steady way that could wear down stone. She didn't rush, she didn't flare up, and she didn't say things she didn't mean. And sometimes I envied that about her.
That calmness was on full display the next day, when the three of us sat under the old oak tree in the courtyard during free period. Lara was ranting, as usual, this time about the injustice of pop quizzes.
"They're basically psychological warfare," Lara fumed, tossing a pencil in the air. "You can't just ambush someone's brain like that. It's cruel."
"It's school," Jade replied evenly, flipping through her notebook. "You're supposed to expect quizzes."
"Expect? Sure. Surprise attack from nowhere? No." Lara crossed her arms dramatically. "If I ever become a teacher, I'm banning quizzes. Only open-book tests. And extra credit for showing up."
I laughed, shaking my head, but Jade didn't even crack a smile. She just wrote something in the margins of her notes before speaking again, voice calm as a still pond.
"Lara, you fail most open-book tests too."
I choked on my water. Lara gasped like Jade had just declared war.
"Oh no, you did not just come for me, Miss Perfect."
Jade raised her head finally, the corners of her lips twitching like she was hiding a smile, or maybe she was."You're dramatic. It's the truth."
Lara sputtered, clearly at a loss, and I couldn't help but laugh. That was Jade—calm, steady, never cruel but always honest. She had this way of speaking that left no room for argument, like she'd already thought through the possibilities before she opened her mouth.
It was one of the reasons people listened to her, even when they didn't want to.
Later that day, the three of us headed to the library—me because I needed to finish an essay, Lara because she'd heard Ethan sometimes studied there –"strictly for observation purposes," she claimed–, and Jade because she said she wanted silence but I suspected it was also to keep Lara from doing something reckless.
When we walked in, my eyes betrayed me immediately—they found Ethan.
He was sitting at the same corner table as yesterday, absorbed in a book thick enough to double as a weapon. His hair fell into his face, and one hand rested lazily against his cheek. He didn't notice me at first—or if he did, he didn't let it show.
My heart stuttered anyway.
Lara elbowed me, smirking. I glared at her and forced myself to focus on Jade, who had already settled at a nearby table, pulling out her neatly arranged notes.
"You're seriously doing homework right now?" Lara whispered, incredulous.
"Yes," Jade said simply. "That's the point of school."
Lara groaned. "You're going to make me look bad."
"You make yourself look bad," Jade replied without missing a beat.
I stifled a laugh, and Lara shot me a betrayed look. But the thing about Jade was—she wasn't trying to be funny. She wasn't trying to one-up anyone. She just… said things, plain and direct, and somehow they landed harder than any joke Lara could make.
We stayed at the library for a while, Lara fidgeting and whispering too loudly, me pretending not to notice Ethan every time I looked up, and Jade… just existing in that quiet, collected way she always did.
At some point, I asked curiously .
"Jade," I said softly, leaning across the table, "how are you always so… calm? Like, nothing fazes you."
She looked up from her notes, surprised by the question. Her pen paused mid-air.
"I'm not calm all the time," she said after a beat. "I just don't see the point in wasting energy on things that don't matter."
"Like surprise quizzes?" Lara muttered, still bitter.
"Like surprise quizzes," Jade agreed, not unkindly. Then she added, "Besides, when you grow up in my house, you learn to think before you talk."
I tilted my head. "Because…?"
Jade hesitated. Her calmness cracked for a moment, just slightly, like she was deciding whether to let us peek behind the curtain.
"My parents fight a lot," she said finally, voice quiet. "It's not… violent or anything. Just loud. Constant. My mom is impulsive, my dad is stubborn, and every conversation feels like a battle. So I learned early that words can either throw gasoline on a fire… or stop it from burning worse."
Lara blinked, suddenly quiet. I didn't know what to say either. Jade rarely talked about her family, and hearing it laid out like that made sense of so much—the way she measured her words, the way she balanced us, the way she always seemed to think twice before speaking.
"I guess I just decided I don't want to sound like them," Jade added with a small shrug, lowering her gaze back to her notebook. "So I try not to."
Something in my chest ached for her. Jade always seemed so unshakable, but now I could see the edges—how her calm wasn't just who she was, but also who she had to become.
Lara reached over suddenly and nudged her hand. "You know what? That just makes you the wise one in this group. Like the mom friend."
"I don't want to be the mom friend," Jade said, though her lips curved slightly.
"Too late," Lara grinned. "It's official. We'll get you a badge."
The tension eased, laughter slipping back in, but I didn't forget what Jade had said. I don't think I ever could.
At some point, Lara excused herself to do something God knows what. Jade stayed put, scribbling in the margins of her notes, her calmness filling the air like white noise.
I, unfortunately, wasn't so steady. Because Ethan chose that exact moment to stand, stretch, and walk past our table.
His steps were unhurried, his presence magnetic in that way that made it impossible not to notice him. And of course, because fate hated me, his eyes flicked to mine as he passed.
Just a glance. Nothing more. But the weight of it lingered, heavy enough that I forgot how to breathe for a second.
He didn't stop. Didn't say a word. Just kept moving, like he knew exactly what he was doing to my heart and decided to leave me with it.
I ducked my head quickly, hoping Jade hadn't noticed, but she had. She always did.
Her expression didn't change, though. She just gave me that small, knowing look before returning to her notes. Like she'd already figured out more than I had.
That night, lying in bed, I kept thinking about two things: Ethan's eyes and Jade's words.
One left me flustered, restless, questioning everything.
The other left me thoughtful, quiet, and oddly grateful—for Jade's steadiness, for Lara's chaos, for this strange little trio that kept me from falling apart completely.
Because if Ethan really was going to be the chaos in my life, then I was going to need Jade's calm more than ever. Just tell me I don't sound crazy right now.