Chapter 19

"Damn, this is really good!" Lisa exclaimed.

Jennie flashed a smug smile.

"Of course it is."

The two of them sat at the dining room table, Lisa stuffing her face eagerly. The dish turned out to be a lot of work, but it was fun and well worth the effort.

Lisa honestly couldn't be in a better mood. The day started off so shitty, but now just being around Jennie was making her giddy with excitement, like a middle schoolgirl around her crush. Even when the topic of Lisa's family came up, her mood refused to dampen.

Speaking of which, Lisa forgot to tell her mom that she'd be staying over somewhere else. She grimaced at the thought, thinking of how her mom would start on her bullshit, asking a bunch of invasive questions.

Luckily, Jennie didn't seem to notice Lisa's momentarily sour expression. Lisa didn't really want to talk about it anyway.

"We need to make a plan," Jennie asserted, suddenly looking like her usual arrogant self. Lisa couldn't help but think it was ridiculously cute.

"About what?" she asked.

"About what to do with Jisoo," Jennie answered. "I know she's planning something evil."

"What makes you think that?" Lisa was thoroughly amused by Jennie's suspicion, though she agreed that there was more to the blonde than meets the eye.

"Because that's how she's always been!" Jennie sighed. "She used to always harass me and try to one- up me in everything. It's ruining my reputation!"

"Your reputation?" Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Of everyone being afraid of you?"

"Exactly!" Jennie crossed her arms indignantly. "It keeps the order in this school. It's the job of the honour student to keep high school pigs in line!"

"Am I one of those high school pigs?" Lisa asked playfully, taking a bite of her lasagne.

"Of course! And as a result, I'd say you've made a major improvement from the thug transfer student you used to be."

"Thug, huh?" Lisa echoed. "But I'm not afraid of you, so how could you have made an impact on me?"

"I don't know, but you should be afraid of me," Jennie puffed out her chest as she continued eating.

"Why?" Lisa teased. "You're small and..." Cute, "all bark and no bite."

"Don't get too cocky just because you're tall and good at sports," Jennie fired back.

"Speaking of, that's the only thing Jisoo's actually better than me at, and she's totally milking it."

"So, what are you going to do about her? And why am I involved?"

"Because it seems like she wants to use you for something," Jennie stated matter-of-factly.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Like, she's all over you and she just met you. Totally suspect for someone like her."

Lisa smiled deviously. "What? You don't think she might just be interested in me?"

Jennie blushed, seemingly caught off guard. "No way! We're talking about you after all."

"Ouch," Lisa said, feigning offense. "But if she's targeting you, then why would she be going through me?"

Jennie's blush intensified, and she folded her arms and averted her eyes. "How should I know what a crazy person is thinking?"

Oh, she's being way too obvious, Lisa thought excitedly. I'm gonna start thinking you like me back if you keep acting like this...

They finished up their meal and cleaned the kitchen before retreating to the living room. After feeding Donut, Jennie suggested they watch a movie, so they agreed on a recently released thriller of some sort.

As they watched the movie, Lisa thought about how only a few weeks ago, she'd never have imagined staying over at Jennie's house getting along like they were. She wondered if Jennie's mean girl reputation really had any weight to it at all - sure, the girl was blunt and unfriendly, but she didn't seem like a bad person. Honestly, she seemed more lonely than anything.

But, to be fair, Lisa was rather lonely too.

She checked her phone briefly to see various texts from her mom. She got around to telling her mother that she was spending the night elsewhere, but she didn't reply to the barrage of questions that came as a result. I'm so glad I'm not home right now.

The movie seemed like it was starting to wind down to its conclusion and Lisa peeked over at Jennie who was being awfully quiet. To Lisa's surprise, the brunette was slumped over the armrest of the couch, sleeping.

Oh, no, it's too cute, Lisa thought, pausing the movie.

She lifted herself off the couch and snuck over to crouch in front of Jennie's sleeping form.

"Hey, Jennie," Lisa whispered, poking her arm lightly.

Jennie's eyebrows furrowed as she slightly stirred. "Huh? What time is it?"

"I don't know, like 10?" Lisa replied

"Ugh, sorry." Jennie moved her hair out of her face lazily. "I haven't been getting much sleep so I just kind of passed out."

"Want me to carry you up to the bed?" Lisa joked, hardly able to fight off a smile.

Jennie blushed, shoving Lisa's shoulder. "You're so annoying."

The air fell quiet, and they ended up locking eyes in the darkness of the living room, the TV screen being the only light source. Lisa's brain urged her to stand up and get out of this dangerous situation, but her body wasn't obeying. Her breath shaky and quiet, she stared into Jennie's blue eyes, which seemed much more awake all of a sudden. Lisa's face inched closer on instinct, and she could swear Jennie's did too. I have to stop. If I do this now, everything's going to get weird between us.

But, once again, Lisa was having trouble listening to herself as she approached the point of no return.

Riiingg!

The loud noise made Lisa basically fall backwards in surprise, snapping her out of the moment. She picked herself up to see Jennie fumbling for her phone, her

face completely red.

"Oh, it's my dad," she said, her voice a bit shaky, and she answered the phone. "Hi Daddy! Did you make it to the hotel okay?"

As Jennie talked on the phone, Lisa took a second to compose herself.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, what was that?!

She was having trouble calming herself down, her heart nearly beating out of her chest, her hands clammy and warm.

This is not what she came over for. It was to support Jennie, not to do something stupid and ruin their relationship. She could only thank the heavens that Jennie's dad called when he did.

I'm not a middle schooler, I need to control myself better than this, Lisa lectured herself. But it was easier said than done - all she's been wanting to do the whole night was touch the other girl.

After a few minutes of talking, Jennie hung up, hesitantly looking over at Lisa. "Sorry, my dad's kind of a worrywart. He would've called a lot more than this, but he's technically at work."

"Haha, that's fine," Lisa replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

There was a moment of silence as the two girls avoided looked at each other, fidgeting nervously.

"Well, uh.do you want to finish the movie or go to bed?" Jennie asked.

It was still early to go to bed on a weekend night, but if they went to bed then Lisa could pretend, she's asleep and run away from this horrible awkwardness.

She was grateful that Jennie didn't seem like she was going to bring the incident up again. Lisa wasn't ready for that talk.

"Well, you seem pretty tired, so why don't we just call it a night?" Lisa suggested.

Jennie nodded.

"I'll just, uh, sleep down here on the couch or something," Lisa offered.

Jennie finally looked up, a bit startled. "The couch? It's not very comfortable. I can set you up on my bedroom floor."

"Oh, no, that's alright, I really don't mind-"

Lisa was cut off by Jennie's nervous expression and fidgeting, as if there was something she wanted to say. She looked extremely uncomfortable, but Lisa imagined that if it had something to do with the moment they just shared, Jennie wouldn't be opposed to letting Lisa sleep in the living room. Of course, what am I here for? I'm such an idiot!

"Are you worried about...him?" Lisa asked gently.

Jennie nodded, seeming thoroughly embarrassed. "I-I know it's stupid and you'd still be here in the house but..."

"It's not stupid." Lisa stood up and reached her hand out for Jennie to take. Jennie hesitantly took it and allowed herself to be pulled off the couch and onto her feet.

Lisa felt stupid for letting her personal feelings get in the way of helping Jennie with her trauma and the actual threat that she was facing. She had made the choice to support Jennie when she stayed with her at the party weeks ago. There would be a time for them to talk about their feelings, but it wasn't that night.

"Thank you," Jennie said quietly. Lisa smiled in response, and they went upstairs to Jennie's bedroom.

Lisa felt awkward going into the bedroom, but when she did, she was taken aback by how clean and decorated it was. It was pretty big (not surprising for such a nice house) with a decent-sized bookshelf, a vanity, and a desk covered in textbooks.

On the desk was a photo of what appeared to be Jennie in elementary school with her toddler brothers and who she assumed were her parents. Lisa's eyes flitted over to the woman in the picture, a tall woman with a bob haircut. She appeared stern but had smile wrinkles that made her seem somewhat welcoming.

"Is this your mom?" Lisa asked, gesturing to the picture.

Jennie looked over from her closet where she was pulling out a large blanket. "Yeah."

"You look kind of like her, but meaner," Lisa joked. Jennie smiled, not even pretending to be angry.

"Yeah, she was really nice. Sometimes she was a little strict, but she was a real softie." Her expression softened as if she was recalling happy memories.

Lisa went to help her set up the makeshift bed on the floor before going to change into her pyjamas and brush her teeth. When she came back, Jennie turned lights off and they settled into their respective sleeping arrangements.

The room was rather silent, and moonlight drifted through the curtains on Jennie's window. Lisa thought she'd put her feelings aside, but she found herself unable to go to sleep with her crush lying in a bed next to her.

Suddenly, she heard a shifting of movement, then a soft voice.

"Are you awake?"

Lisa turned around to see Jennie at the edge of her bed, looking down at her. She couldn't see her face very well in the darkness.

"Yeah," Lisa whispered.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

Jennie paused for a second, finding her words.

"What actually happened at your old school?"

Lisa hummed, thinking of the painful memory.

"Well...I didn't actually get expelled."

"Really?"

"Yep." Lisa affirmed.

"Those are just rumours. I left."

"Was it actually a private school?"

"Yes," Lisa continued.

"My mom's a real hardass and she wanted me to go to the school my sister went to. I didn't want to follow in her footsteps, so my mom started liking me less and I acted out more."

Jennie remained silent, waiting for Lisa to continue.

"During sophomore year I got this junior girlfriend who was kinda a bad influence. My mom really hated her, but she was the only one who was there for me. We were the only 'bad kids' in the school and no one else wanted to talk to me.

"What happened to her?" Jennie asked gently.

"Well, right before the end of 10th grade, I found out she was cheating on me with a few people. She said she didn't know we were 'officially together'. What a load of bullshit. I was obviously extremely upset, and I was basically a shut in the entire summer. When I went to student orientation, I couldn't bear even being in the school, so I decided to transfer.

"That's horrible!" Jennie said, seeming genuinely perturbed by the situation.

"Yeah, high school hasn't been the best so far," Lisa replied with a sigh.

"But I'm glad I got to come to this school. I seem to get along better with a non-private school crowd."

Jennie was silent for a few seconds and Lisa started to wonder if she fell asleep. However, she spoke once more.

"Are you still in love with that girl?"

Lisa was somewhat caught off guard by the question, which seemed out of character for Jennie to ask.

"Ah, well, no, not really," Lisa answered. "I still have some sore feelings, but once I found out she cheated on me it was like I'd been in a relationship with someone who didn't exist."

"Well, she's a real bitch," Jennie stated matter-of-factly.

Lisa laughed. "You could say that again. But anyway, my transfer story isn't as interesting as the rumours, unfortunately."

"I'd say that's a good thing." Jennie replied. "There's already too much drama going around, much less rumours of an expelled, druggie, predatory transfer student."

The two of them laughed, and the atmosphere started to wind down. Lisa could actually feel her eyelids start to grow heavy, and she even felt herself starting to drift off to sleep after several minutes of silence.

"I'm glad you came to our school," came a soft whisper in the dark.

Lisa smiled, half asleep, but extremely happy all the same.

"Me too."