Chapter 26

"Oh look, she's just smiling by herself again." Lisa was pulled out of her daydreaming as Chaeyoung and  Jungkook approached her at a table in the cafeteria.

The three of them normally would sit on the little hill outside, but the fall weather was finally rolling in, and it was too cold and wet these days. Hopefully a spot in the cafeteria was temporary, though - it was far too noisy and crowded for Lisa's liking.

"Creepy," Chaeyoung joked in response to Jungkook's previous statement.

"Oh, shut up," Lisa said. The two of them sat across from her with their food trays, and Lisa eyed them suspiciously. "Really? Cafeteria food?"

"We forgot our lunches," Kookie replied, "And not everyone can live without ever eating like you."

"I eat, just not during lunch." Lisa was used to eating in first period and then at home after school. For some reason, the normal lunchtime was when Lisa was the least hungry. It probably stemmed from her time at her last school where she would leave campus at lunch with her ex to fool around. Some habits were hard to break.

"Well, whatever," Rosie said. "Why are you in such high spirits this week? I'm getting whiplash from these mood swings."

She was likely referring to Lisa's sour mood from last week. Lisa normally had an easier time hiding her emotions, but when it came to Jennie, it proved to be rather difficult. Or maybe Rosie and Kookie were just perceptive.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lisa said.

Rosie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure."

Lisa didn't feel comfortable explaining her relationship with Jennie just yet. It was still new and kind of delicate. Besides, it was obvious that Jennie was trying to hide it since she refused to eat lunch with Lisa.

Ugh...it would've been so nice to spend lunch with her.

Honestly, Lisa was a bit worried that Jennie would get spooked by the whole thing and run away. Anything that seemed too good was an object of suspicion for Lisa. She thought about how her dad would probably tell her she needed to relax and enjoy it.

Lisa wanted to make their relationship exclusive and official, but again, she was worried about how Jennie would react. I mean, was she even into girls? She didn't seem to mind kissing, but the thought of Jennie dumping her after it went any further than that well, the prospect caused Lisa's mouth to go dry.

Relax.

Jennie isn't the type to jump into something without thinking about it.

Absent-mindedly, Lisa opened her phone to look at her texts to Jennie. She hadn't heard much from her at all that Tuesday morning, and that alone was enough to put Lisa a bit on edge. Since Saturday, she really hadn't seen the girl at all.

However, as Lisa was moping about the whole situation, her phone lit up in her hand with a message from the girl in question.

Jennie: Can we meet after school today?

Giddy with excitement, Lisa typed her response and sent it a little too quickly.

Lisa: Of course @ Where?

Several seconds passed and Lisa's eyes were basically glued to her phone. She could feel Chaeyoung and Jungkook sparing glances at her as they had their own conversation.

Boy, Lisa had it bad.

Jennie: The hill behind the school.

Well, it seems like Lisa would still be visiting her old lunch spot in the colder months after all. Lisa replied with an affirmation to the meeting, a smile plastered

on her face.

"What, did Jennie text you?" Rosie asked, bringing the blonde back to reality.

"Maybe~" Lisa replied dodgedly.

Chaeyoung just gave her a lopsided smile. In spite of trying to keep her relationship with Jennie a secret, Lisa knew her friends could guess roughly what was going on. After all, they knew she'd been spending a lot of time with the honor student, and they knew the whole situation with Nancy had been resolved (though they didn't exactly know about Lisa's role in all of it).

In spite of the many times Chaeyoung warned Lisa about Jennie, she seemed to trust that the transfer student was making the right decisions. Luckily, as much as Lisa's two friends teased her, they didn't really pry. Probably figured that Lisa would come to them when it was time.

———

Lisa leaned against the tree on the top of the hill as she waited for Jennie after school. The honor student had got caught up helping a teacher, so she was running a little late. Not that Lisa minded - any time spent away from home was usually welcome anyway.

Plus, she was just happy she'd get to see the object on her affections again.

The sound of a football being punted in the nearby sports field filled Lisa's ears, and the chilly autumn breeze nipped at her skin. It was really starting to get cold......Halloween was only a couple days away, and Lisa even wondered if it would snow. Not that she really did anything on the holiday regardless.

Finally, she caught sight of the brunette appearing from one of the school's back exits, and Lisa's heart started beating. Jennie almost jogged over, and Lisa was almost growing nervous at the prospect of meeting her crush again after a few days.

"Hey, sorry about that," Jennie huffed, finally making it over to stand in front of Lisa. Her cheeks were already turning a bit rosy from the cold.

Lisa furiously fought off the urge to pull her into a hug.

There were still other students around, after all.

"Ah, no worries," she said, waving her hand dismissively.

There was a period of awkward silence, and Lisa noted that Jennie was acting kind of strange. Her eyes were downcast and she wasn't exactly being talkative.

"Uh...I was hoping we could go somewhere together," Jennie finally said.

"What? Of course!" Lisa replied, trying not to give away how surprised and excited she was. "Did you have something in mind?"

Jennie blushed lightly. "Well, not really. I just suddenly felt like it..."

"Ah, well, let's see," Lisa laughed nervously, trying to quickly think of something, as if Jennie would get bored and leave if she didn't. It was too cold to do anything outside and it was still too early to eat, so...

"Why don't we just walk around Main Street for a while?"

Jennie smiled a little. "That sounds nice."

Main Street was just the center of town where there were a lot of cute little shops. People walked around there often, and there was a river running beside it that was busy in the summer. There might've been some pop-up shops or a little market since it was the Halloween season.

Out of instinct, Lisa took Jennie's hand to lead her to her car. But the moment she did it, she pulled away, as if she'd touched a hot stove.

"Oh, sorry!" Lisa apologized, flustered. "I forgot we're still at school."

Jennie appeared to be taken aback at first, but her face began to turn red, and she looked away shyly.

Tentatively, she reached out and claimed Lisa's hand once more. In response, Lisa felt her own face warming up significantly.

"It's alright," Jennie said, "there's hardly anyone around anyway."

Lisa flashed her a wide smile, gripping her hand back. She excitedly hauled the smaller girl over to the parking lot, entwining their fingers once they were well enough away from the field. Once they were inside of Lisa's car, the tall girl took a quick look around to see if anyone was nearby, and she leaned over to give Jennie a quick kiss.

When she pulled away, Jennie's expression amused Lisa to no end - completely flustered.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

Lisa felt herself getting giddy when she saw Jennie's fussy side again. She'd been too quiet and normal today - it was starting to feel weird.

"It's just been a while," Lisa replied, chuckling.

"Good God, you're ridiculous!"

Little did Jennie know, Lisa was holding herself back immensely. If she really was to be ridiculous, she'd do what she wanted to do and just start a full on make-out session. The strength of Lisa's desire to touch the other girl was almost overwhelming.

They pulled out of the parking spot and headed on the main road. It only took a few minutes to get to Main Street, and luckily they were there early enough to get a parallel parking spot on the side of the road.

It could get quite busy during the early evening hours.

Although she wanted to, Lisa refrained from holding Jennie's hand as they headed down the sidewalk.

Halloween decorations colored the store fronts, putting the two girls in a more festive mood. They just took their time walking and looking, but Jennie would often haul them into a clothing store or a candle store the moment she spotted one she liked.

Just looking around, Jennie's attitude started to improve, and after a little while she was smiling and laughing rather openly. She must've needed something to take her mind off of whatever was bothering her - Lisa was thrilled that she decided to do it with her over her friends.

After shopping around for a little while, Lisa spotted a bowling alley at the end of the street. "Hey, wanna go?" she asked, nudging Jennie and pointing to the

building.

"Bowling?" she remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with bowling?" Lisa asked. "Scared you'll lose?"

And that was plenty to get the honor student on the hook. "Yeah, right, you wish."

"Well, let's just go and see, princess." Lisa pulled her along, smiling a bit too wide.

The sun was starting to go down and the two girls decide to eat at a local Italian restaurant. After the intense bowling match, they were rather hungry and needed to just sit and relax.

It was a close game, but Jennie ended up winning in the end. Though, Lisa may or may not have thrown it towards the end to see how happy the other girl would get. Really, she was competitive about the silliest of things, and that's one thing Lisa kind of loved about her.

Sitting at a booth by the window in the restaurant, Jennie immediately got lost in scanning the menu. Lisa just watched her, amused by the way her eyebrow knit together when she was thinking.

"You like Italian food, don't you?" Lisa asked.

Jennie peeked at her over the menu questioningly.

"Yeah, I guess so. It's my favorite type of food, anyway."

"It's definitely good."

"What's yours?"

"Hm?"

"Your favorite food?"

"Ah...probably Thai or Korean," Lisa replied. "I like spicy food a lot."

Jennie stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Ew, I hate spicy food."

"Loser," Lisa joked.

Lisa was so engrossed in the other girl that when the waitress came around, she realized she hadn't decided on what to order, so she just went with the first thing she peeked down at in a visible rush. And don't even think she didn't see Jennie quietly giggling at her from across the table.

Once their food arrived, the atmosphere had been calm long enough that Jennie's mood was starting to dampen again. She became much more quiet, and when she talked, she had this meek voice that was unlike her usual confident noisiness.

Was she not enjoying herself? Was she having second thoughts about their relationship? All these thoughts swirled around in Lisa's head. But there was really no use in sitting there wondering what the answer was.

It was about time to just ask.

"Is something bothering you, Jennie?" Lisa asked, breaking the silence.

Jennie paused from taking a bite of her pasta, then placed her fork down on her bowl. She seemed to be in a bit of a daze.

"Does it seem like something's bothering me?" she asked, but it almost sounded like the question wasn't

directed at Lisa specifically.

"Yeah, you've been weirdly quiet all day," Lisa replied, offering a dry laugh. But none of this was particularly humorous to Lisa . With Jennie's reaction, she knew now that there was definitely something going on.

Jennie let out a shaky sigh, and suddenly, she got that look on her face that seemed familiar to Lisa. It was similar to the one she was wearing that night at the party, but obviously less intense. Immediately on edge, Lisa stood and walked around to the other side of the booth, scooting in beside her. Jennie watched her, confused.

"What are you-"

She was cut off by Lisa lacing their fingers together and holding her in a serious stare. Luckily, the restaurant wasn't busy, and they were in a rather secluded part of it. Even so, it wasn't like Lisa really cared about that right now.

"Jennie, what happened?" Lisa asked, her expression serious.

Jennie couldn't ignore this cool sense of confidence and concern that the tall girl was offering her. She pursed her lips, then looked away, squeezing Lisa's hand.

"Kai's been contacting me again," Jennie said finally.

Lisa's breath caught in her throat at the name.

How could she forget about this situation? So many things had been happening that this predicament, the most important one, fell to the wayside. Lisa suddenly felt ashamed that she assumed Jennie's mood had anything to do with her. This was a serious issue, and here Lisa was just thinking of herself.

"That's not good at all," Lisa remarked, not sure of what else to say. Then a memory of something she once told Jennie re-surfaced. "Wait a minute - did you never tell your dad about this?"

Jennie tensed, and that was all the answer Lisa needed.

"Jennie, look at me."

Hesitantly, the honour student did. Her cat eyes, bore into Lisa's , sending a message of fear and insecurity.

The look simultaneously broke Lisa's heart and ignited it into a protective state.

"Jennie, you know I'm here for you," Lisa began. "If you ever need me to come around because you feel unsafe, I'll come running. If you ever need to talk, I'll be listening. But I can't be there 100% of the time. So you need to tell your dad so you can be safe in your own home."

Jennie swallowed, looking like she was trying her best to hold back tears. "I know."

Lisa's gaze softened. "Are you scared?"

"Yes."

"I can be there with you to talk to him, if it makes it any easier." Lisa offered. Perhaps Jennie's father wouldn't mind if she was just presented as a close

friend.

Not that it mattered anyway - any good father would be far more preoccupied by the danger of his daughter being stalked.

Jennie paused for a little, thinking. "I don't know."

"Is your dad home tonight?" Lisa questioned.

"Yes."

"What if I drove you home and waited out in the car while you told him," Lisa offered, trying to think of a

solution that made Jennie the most comfortable.

"Then you could come back out or stay in - at least the thought of me being there might help?"

"I think...I could do that." Jennie nodded slowly at the proposition. She sighed, and to Lisa's surprised, slumped her head down onto Lisa's shoulder. "I just

know I have to do it."

"Yes," Lisa agreed, stroking her hair lightly. "I'm just worried about you."

Jennie stroked her thumb along the back of Lisa's hand, the one she was holding.

"Thank you."