Chapter 36

A week had passed since Jennie broke up with Lisa, and Lisa's mood certainly wasn't improving.

The wounds from the break-up hadn't seemed to heal at all, and they ran rather deep for a relatively short- lived relationship.

Lisa couldn't shake why she was so upset about this one. Perhaps because she'd been hurt before, it was re-opening her old insecurities and fears. Or perhaps because her feelings for Jennie had become deeper and developed quicker than she'd originally realized.

And those feelings didn't seem to be on the decline, which was a rather torturous experience for Lisa.

There had been a few nights where she dreamt of the honour student, and it felt so real that the feelings from the previous night would haunt Lisa the rest of the following day.

But Lisa would just have to move on...just like she always did when someone left her.

---

"You gonna eat that ice cream or just watch it melt?" Jungkook asked.

Lisa started a little, not realizing that she was actually staring at her frozen treat as it started to drip down her hand. She hurriedly took a bite, shooing her thoughts away, and cleaning her hand with a napkin.

"Why don't you just tell us what's wrong, Lisa?" Chaeyoung asked with a sigh.

They sat in their usual spot during lunch, and Jungkook had insisted that Lisa eat an ice cream bar since she claimed she hadn't eaten breakfast and also didn't bring a lunch. Although Lisa had done her best to hide her depressed mood, she ended up constantly spacing out, unable to join any conversation Chaeyoung and Jungkook were having.

Lisa sighed.

She was tired of this. Tired of being alone with these feelings, and tired of always dodging her friends' questions. What was the point of even hiding anything anymore?

"I got dumped."

Chaeyoung and Jungkook both looked at her, surprised.

"Dumped? By whom?" Chaeyoung asked, concern laced in her voice.

Lisa shifted uncomfortably, but finally blurted out the answer.

"By Jennie."

"I knew it!" Jungkook suddenly exclaimed. "I knew that's what it was!"

Chaeyoung elbowed him roughly.

"Be a little more sensitive, idiot!"

The girl turned her face towards Lisa once again, her eyebrows knitted together. "So, you guys were really dating? Since when?"

Lisa sighed.

"Since right before Halloween."

"Well, like Jungkook said, we had our suspicions," Chaeyoung said.

"But still, why didn't you just tell us?"

"Honestly, it was more for Jennie than for me. She didn't want anyone to know, and then a bunch of shit happened, and I never got a chance to explain."

"Well, why did she dump you?" Chaeyoung asked.

"Her grades dropped, so she wanted to focus on school instead of me, I guess," Lisa muttered, her heart clenching.

"Oh yeah, I heard she wasn't at the top anymore," Jungkook said, his mouth still full from a bite he'd taken from his sandwich.

Chaeyoung flashed him an annoyed look, then turned back to Lisa. "She didn't just want to take a break or something?"

Lisa shook her head. "No...I think she thinks it would be a long-term issue, and she's scared of how being in a relationship might hurt that." Lisa sighed. "I just wish that it ended on a better note."

"Did you guys' fight?"

"Yeah, kind of..."

Chaeyoung seemed to pick up that Lisa was getting more and more upset, so she patted the taller girl on the back.

"Hey, I know it's gonna suck for a while," she encouraged, "but we'll find you a super-hot girlfriend once you start healing a little bit. Just take it easy, for now "

Lisa smiled gently, though she didn't really feel it.

"Thanks for understanding, guys."

The two nodded.

Lisa heaved herself on her feet, melting ice cream still in hand. "I don't think I can eat this at this point. I'm gonna go throw it away."

The nearest trash can was on the other end of the hallway, so Lisa made her way down there in a haste before her entire hand was covered in melted deliciousness. She was sort of relieved - the thought of eating something sweet right now made her stomach turn.

She made it to the trashcan, tossing the ice cream in, then headed towards the nearest bathroom to get some paper towels. After doing so, she found herself walking straight into a smaller body after exiting the bathroom.

"Whoa, sorry!" she called out, taking a step back.

The scent of perfume hit her nostrils, and Lisa already had an inclination as to who it was, she ran into.

"Geez, Lisa, I know the view is different up there, but you can't just run people over."

Lisa looked down at the pretty blond with a cheeky smile plastered on her face.

"Sorry, Jisoo," Lisa replied.

Jisoo folded her arms over her chest, giving her an indignant look. "Lisa, the only time you ever talk to me is when we accidentally run into each other! I thought we were friends!"

Lisa didn't remember them exactly being friends, but it's not like they were on bad terms or anything. The only real thing tying them together was their mutual relationship with Jennie, and that was...kind of severed by now.

Still, Lisa offered her a half smile. "Sorry, Jisoo. I've just been a little busy lately."

"Busy?" Jisoo echoed, and her smile warped into something more mischievous. "I'm guessing you're not talking about midterms."

"Why not?" Lisa asked, raising an eyebrow. "I study, you know."

"Ugh, how boring," Jisoo groaned. Much to Lisa's surprise, she wrapped her arms around one of the taller girls playfully. "Come on, Lisa, tell me about all the drama you've been getting into."

Lisa guessed that Jisoo wasn't just touchy-feely when she was trying to piss off Jennie - she was probably like this with everyone all the time. The girl must've sent a lot of mixed signals if she was doing this to her male friends as well.

"Haven't you gotten into any drama yourself, Jisoo?"

Lisa asked, trying to change the subject. She was really trying her hardest to prevent Jennie's name coming up in this conversation.

"Nope, I've been a perfect angel."

"Somehow I'm having trouble believing that." Jisoo laughed and opened her mouth to reply, but her eye seemed to catch something down the hallway, and she raised one of her arms to wave it in the air.

"Hey, it's Jennie! Jennie, over here!"

Lisa's face went instantly pale at the sound of the name, and she turned her head to see, sure enough, Jennie walking down the hallway in their direction.

The brunette lifted her head at her name, which had been staring at her phone screen, and her expression turned serious when she saw them.

Fuck, well this sucks.

Obviously, the pretty cheerleader couldn't have known that they were fighting, but that didn't stop Lisa from wanting to be swallowed up into the ground. Especially after she acted so cold towards Jennie yesterday when she was being harassed by Nancy.

Jennie must've been unable to find a way out of this situation because she hesitantly approached them with a scowl. "Stop yelling like an idiot," she snapped at Jisoo, who was unphased by her attitude.

Jennie's eyes seemed to travel down to where Jisoo was gripping Lisa's arm - it could've just been Lisa's imagination, but her scowl seemed to grow even deeper. Jennie's entire aura was becoming a rather terrifying wall of irritation and antisocial energy.

"Jennie, are you in an especially bad mood, or have I just not seen you in a while?" Jisoo teased. Lisa couldn't help but be a little impressed by the blonde's fearlessness towards the ice queen.

"Do you need something from me?" Jennie asked, ignoring Jisoo's remark. She seemed to be doing her best not to meet Lisa's gaze, and the thought broke Lisa's heart a little.

"Why don't the three of us hang out for the rest of lunch?" Jisoo suggested. "I haven't talked to you both together for ages now! I'm feeling left out."

Both Lisa and Jennie tensed at the invitation.

"I don't have time for messing around with you," Jennie said to Jisoo.

"And I, uh, was already eating with my friends," Lisa followed up.

Lisa and Jennie accidentally locked eyes for a second, but Jennie averted her gaze almost instantly. Still, the simple glance at her icy blue eyes was enough to send waves of pain through Lisa's heart.

When Lisa came to her senses again, she noticed Jisoo glancing between the two of them, an eyebrow raised.

"What's up with you two-" Jisoo began to ask, but Jennie cut her off.

"I'm seriously in a hurry, so I'll leave you two to go mess around."

Before she even finished her sentence, the honour student was stalking off down the hallway towards the stairs. Lisa couldn't help but watch her a bit longingly. Was it really okay for them to stay like this? Should she try to talk to Jennie and figure something out? It would be nice if they could at least be amicable with each other...even friends.

Still, Lisa wasn't sure she could comfortably be friends with Jennie without dying a little inside. She definitely still liked her a lot, and the thought of being around her without being able to hold her was painful.

"Did you guys have a falling out or something?" Jisoo suddenly asked, pulling Lisa back to reality.

"Uh, no, we just, were never that close to begin with," Lisa said, trying not to allow the sadness to

creep into her voice.

She didn't look at Jisoo for fear that the blonde would be able to tell that she was lying, but she felt eyes boring into the side of her face suspiciously.

"I, uh, need to get back to my friends," Lisa said, and headed off towards the other end of the hall, feeling the suspicious eye continue to watch her back.

---

Lisa figured she should avoid Jisoo for a while, sensing that the cheerleader had taken an interest in her obviously broken relationship with Jennie. Sure, Jisoo knew that the two of them were kind of like rivals before, but that awkward atmosphere would've made it obvious to anyone that things were especially sour.

Plus, Jisoo had known Jennie since freshman year, so she was bound to see a difference in the ice queen's attitude. To top it all off, Jisoo was more cunning than she seemed, and certainly interested in prying into the affairs of others.

However, the plan to give Jisoo the slip was rather short-lived - there she was, the next morning, sitting in the desk right next to Lisa's. The girl hardly even showed up for Spanish class, and when she did, she sat next to a guy that Lisa could only assume was her boyfriend.

But she was sitting there with a rather wide, shit- eating grin on her face, early before the bell rang.

I had a feeling I should've ditched, Lisa thought. But it'd be too rude to just sit in a different spot, so she resigned to putting her bag down and sitting next to Jisoo.

"Morning," Lisa said.

"Oh, hey Lisa," Jisoo said, flashing a pearly white smile at the taller girl.

Lisa prepared for Jisoo to start asking questions, but she just stared into her phone's front camera as she touched up her mascara. Lisa sat there, tense, until the bell rang, and the teacher started lecturing.

Maybe she didn't notice after all? Or maybe she just decided to not bring it up.

But based on that suspicious look she gave the two of them yesterday, Lisa had trouble believing either of those possibilities. The pretty blonde always had something up her sleeve.

Class went on in a blur as thoughts raged through Lisa's head. It didn't help that Jisoo's boyfriend, who was sitting on the other side of the room, kept flashing confused glances at her. But Jisoo didn't acknowledge anyone - she was on her phone the whole period.

The end bell startled Lisa, and students started collecting their things to leave. Suddenly, Jisoo leaned over and grabbed Lisa's wrist.

"Grab your stuff and come with me really quick," she said. She was smiling, but there was a rather serious glint in her eye.

"O-okay," Lisa said, feeling unexpectedly compelled to agree.

And so, Jisoo hauled Lisa out of the classroom and into the girl's bathroom where they stood in front of the sinks.

"So, you should talk to Jennie," Jisoo stated, hands on her hips.

The sudden nature of the topic sent Lisa's head reeling.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Did you need to drag me into the bathroom for this?" Lisa noticed a couple of girls coming in and out of the stalls giving the two strange glances.

"Oh, come on," Jisoo said, lowering her voice a little to avoid being overhead. "I know there's something big going on. You should've seen how out of it Jennie has been these last couple of weeks. And when I saw how you two were acting yesterday, I knew you had something to do with it."

"So what?" Lisa asked in a sort of whisper-yell. "Why don't you just tell her to come talk to me?"

"You think she'd listen to me?" Jisoo asked. "She gives me a horrible death glare every time I even look over at her!"

"Since when have you ever been afraid of her death glares?"

Jisoo sighed. She seemed uncharacteristically serious about this whole situation, and Lisa couldn't decide if she should feel annoyed at the girl's nosiness or comforted by how much she cared. Lisa had really no one to talk to about this situation since barely anyone knew about her relationship with Jennie - even Chaeyoung and Jungkook, who actually knew they were dating, had a rather biased opinion of the honour student that wasn't helpful for objective advice.

"Look,'" Jisoo began,

"I'm not gonna force you guys to tell me about what's going on or what you've got...between you two. But I've known Jennie for a while, and she's seemed to have changed since she's been around you. I don't know if there's a way for you guys to fix it, but I figured I'd at least talk to you about it and see if you'd give it a try."

Lisa blushed, feeling like she'd been seen through.

Had Jennie really changed since they met? The thought gave Lisa's chest a warm fuzzy feeling that she hadn't felt since before getting dumped.

"You really care about Jennie, don't you?" Lisa asked.

To Lisa's surprise, Jisoo's smile faded for a second and her complexion seemed to redden a bit. But within a second, her expression warped back into her usual smile, and she giggled. "Like I said, I've known her for a bit. I missed pissing her off when I went to another school."

Lisa smiled. "You're something else, Jisoo."

"I also just kinda like getting into other people's drama."

"Yep, I can tell."

Jisoo patted Lisa on the arm and started to head out of the bathroom. She turned her head back to look at Lisa before disappearing into the hallway.

"We're gonna be late," she said. "Please think about it, Lisa. Jennie has an issue of not thinking things through."

And with that, she closed the door behind her.

Lisa stood there for a second, listening to the sound of the late bell ringing.

Perhaps Jisoo was right. The last time they got into a big argument, talking it through ended with them going out. They both had the tendency to get trapped in their emotions, and so sitting down and thinking up some other solutions might just save their relationship. Maybe the initial shock of getting a bad grade was wearing off for Jennie...maybe she missed Lisa too.

It was worth a try, anyway.