Chapter 43

Another update!!!

Hope you guys like it!

Also, I'd like to thank you guys for reading this adaption! All credits to the author!

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The last few weeks had been rather aggravating for Jennie. Which was to be expected, given the circumstances.

The honour student did her best to focus on her studies and avoid Lisa and Jisoo when she was in sociology.

However, Jisoo always seemed to find a way to sit both herself and Lisa in the desks around Jennie - she used every trick in the book, from lying that she couldn't see the board to just flat out pretending that they were all best friends.

Jennie had an image to uphold, and one that was threatened by her close call with chemistry last semester. She managed to pull through and maintain her 4.0 GPA, but word somehow got around about her lacklustre midterm.

She couldn't have people think that she was losing her grip, so making a scene in sociology with a head cheerleader and a popular transfer student was out of the question.

So, she stopped putting up a fight and just tried to flat out ignore the two blondes. But even that, with Jisoo's constant nosiness, turned out to be a challenge. Sometimes she'd even get in a little tiff with Lisa after one of them made an off-handed comment.

They tried their best to not get in any actual arguments - they didn't need Jisoo feeding off their drama.

But Jennie couldn't feel calm in sociology class. Not while sitting right next to someone, she had a falling out with, someone she once really cared about. And it made it especially awkward and difficult when she'd catch Lisa glancing at her out of the corner of her eye.

Why am I even conscious of her anymore?

Jennie knew the only way to get rid of her muddled feelings would be to completely cease contact with her ex-girlfriend. But obviously, that wasn't going to be possible with this class.

And I don't even care about sociology.

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Fifth period ended on the Friday two weeks after classes began. Jennie felt an urge to just outright ditch, but the only time she'd ever had an unexcused absence was that one time when she went over to Lisa's house for lunch.

Jennie blushed profusely when she recalled getting pushed against the tall girl's front door.

But once it crossed her mind, she couldn't get the scenario out of her head. The soft touch of Lisa's lips, the warmth of her body pressed against hers, the sound of her gasps and breaths.

She was so engrossed in the memory that she found herself walking down the wrong hallway. She tried to act casual as she turned around to get back on track to her sociology classroom.

I need to get a grip, she thought.

I'm probably just sexually frustrated.

Yeah.

It's not that it's about Lisa or anything. It's just normal teenage hormones.

Plus, she didn't like Lisa at all now. They were enemies again, and their little affair was just a mistake. A mistake Jennie wouldn't be making again.

She needed to focus on her grades and the other things going on in her life.

Reassuring herself, she opened the door to the sociology classroom. She found herself immediately looking around for Lisa, but the transfer student was nowhere to be found.

Jennie headed over to her desk, relieved.

She worried that if she saw Lisa's face, she'd start reliving those distasteful memories again.

Since Jisoo wasn't there yet either, Jennie busied herself by taking out her notebook and laying it neatly open on her desk. She set her many pens out beside it for colour coding her soon-to-be notes.

Jennie braced herself for Lisa to walk into the classroom at any moment, but the bell rang and there was still no sign of her. When the door swung open only seconds after the bell, Jennie held her breath again, but the only person to enter was Jisoo.

Mr. Morrison stopped the beginning of his lecture and fixed the cheerleader with a stern expression.

"Nice of you to join us," he said sarcastically.

Jisoo put on her sickening smile for the young teacher. "Sorry, Mr. Morrison. I just lost track of the time."

Mr. Morrison rolled his eyes.

"Have a seat."

Jisoo did as he said, and of course she headed right over to the desk beside Jennie's. Jennie was past the point of trying to shoo Jisoo away, so she was just glad that she didn't have to deal with the blonde's chatter before class.

She'd have to be quiet since she arrived while class was in session.

Mr. Morrison cleared his throat and started again.

"Alright, so you guys might've remembered from when we went over the syllabus, but we'll be doing a group project that'll span the whole semester."

Jennie groaned internally. Ugh, I forgot about that. I hate group projects.

"We're going to be going over the details of that today," Mr. Morrison continued, and began passing out papers containing the instructions to the project.

"Basically, you'll be doing a comprehensive presentation and essay on a sociological concept. Your group will decide that concept yourselves, and there will be little assignments and checkpoints throughout the semester."

Crap, I hate semester-long assignments, Jennie thought bitterly. They always had to take attention and time away from her other more important coursework.

Mr. Morrison went over some more details about the project, including the fact that they'd have to turn in updates to the group's progress throughout the semester. After he went through the basics, a boy near the back of the room raised his hand.

"Do we get to choose our own groups?" he asked.

"Yes," Mr. Morrison responded.

"Groups of only two or three people, but I'll let you decide who to work with."

Dread filled Jennie, and she felt Jisoo immediately grab her arm.

"Hear that?" she asked in her annoyingly sweet voice.

"Let's pair up!"

"Hell no!" Jennie snapped in a whisper.

"Pair up with Lisa!"

"But she's absent today," Jisoo whined. "And who will you pair up with? You don't get along with anyone in the grade let alone in this class!"

"Oh, shut up." Jennie snatched her arm away from the cheerleader. But she did kind of have a point. Most of the student body was afraid of Jennie or had trouble relating to her. And Jennie normally preferred it that way, but it made it a bit difficult when she had to get in a group or pair up during gym class without Nayeon or Irene. This class was no exception to that struggle.

"Come on, Jennie," Jisoo begged. "I'll let you decide everything, I'll just do whatever work you tell me to do."

"You? Doing work? Sounds like some sort of fever dream."

"Jenduekieeeeee!"

Jennie groaned. She didn't think Mr. Morrison would let her work alone given the scope of the project.

Plus, it was too much solitary work for a course-load of Jennie's calibre anyway. For the sake of her grade, she'd just have to take Jisoo's word for it.

"Fine," Jennie grumbled, and Jisoo cheered loud enough to illicit a warning glare from the young teacher. "But what are you going to do about Lisa? I'm not letting her into the group."

Jisoo waved her hand dismissively. "Lisa's super social, and I think she knows some people in this class. She'll be fine! But you, on the other hand, I worry about!"

"Quiet."

Jennie felt relieved that Jisoo didn't seem interested in inviting Lisa to join their group. She probably just wanted to get someone smart to do all the work for her, and even though Lisa wasn't stupid or anything, an honour student was more likely to pick up the slack for the sake of a decent grade.

What am I doing? Jennie thought, rubbing her temples. She was playing right into Jisoo's plans.

But before Jennie could start regretting her decision too much, Mr. Morrison passed out a signup sheet for the groups. Jisoo proudly put both of their names down for a pair, a pearly white smile on her face.

Mr. Morrison collected the sheet after it travelled around the classroom. "Alright, that looks like everyone. There's a few people absent, so I'll just be putting them together in the last group."

Jennie sighed in relief.

At least she wouldn't have to start meeting Lisa after school for this group project. It'd be an unfortunate repeat of her tutoring ordeal with the transfer student.

The bell finally rang, and Jennie packed up her stuff, standing up from her desk. Jisoo also stood, but she didn't follow the honour student as she headed for the door.

"Not gonna stalk me out of the classroom this time?"

Jennie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope, you go on without me," Jisoo said with a smile. "I've gotta plead my case to Mr. Morrison. If I get another tardy on my record, my counsellor's gonna have my ass."

Jennie chuckled. "Well, good luck with that."

Jisoo waved obnoxiously as Jennie started walking away again.

"Don't miss me too much!" she called out after her.

"Our project's gonna be super fun, trust me!"