Chapter 48

Lisa, Chaeyoung, and Jungkook's usual lunch hideaway under the stairs at the end of a hallway had become relatively abandoned as it became warmer outside. It still wasn't hot by any means, but it was bearable to be outside since snow was less common in March.

The trio used this to their advantage since they were far freer of teacher supervision outside as opposed to inside. And that day they decided to spend their lunch period playing tennis at the court on the school grounds.

Since there was three of them as opposed to an even number, they had to work with imbalanced halves of the net. But it worked out since Lisa was far more athletic than her uncoordinated friends, so she played alone against the two of them. They were still losing.

"You gotta chill out with those serves, Lisa!" Chaeyoung yelled, leaning over to place her hands on her knees, out of breath. "This isn't the Olympics."

Lisa rolled her eyes, spinning her racket in the air and catching it with one hand. "You guys are being dramatic. Maybe you should stop ditching gym class."

The three of them took a break to down their bottles of water on the side of the tennis court.

Lunch period was almost over anyway, so Lisa figured they might as well start packing up.

She sighed when she remembered having to look forward to both sixth period and after school with Jennie. The sociology group was meeting that day for the project.

There was more bickering and disagreement in group meetings than actual work. It was becoming tiring having to scramble something together after everyone gets too busy to meet up and being unable to make decent progress with assignments.

It was already March, but summer seemed so unimaginably far away.

"Hey, Lisa!"

Lisa's head whipped around from the familiar voice, and sure enough, Jisoo was on the other side of the chain link fence that surrounded the tennis court.

She was together with a tall, dark-haired guy wearing a letterman jacket. Lisa didn't recognize him which made her consider that he was possibly a senior.

"Jisoo? What are you here for?" Lisa asked.

"Oh, we were just walking back from the parking lot," Jisoo explained. "But I'm glad I ran into you! I wanted to ask you something!"

Lisa was sort of surprised since Jisoo could've easily asked her during sixth period.

Maybe she was planning on ditching? It wouldn't be that out of the norm for Jisoo, though she skipped sociology far less than she used to ditch Spanish class last semester.

"Sure, what's up?" Lisa said.

"So next weekend we're having a get-together at my house," Jisoo replied. "It's gonna be a little going away party since one of the guys from Isaac's baseball team is leaving the state."

When she said "Isaac", she tugged on the hand of the boy she'd been walking with, indicating that he was the person in question. He waved a little when he was mentioned, smiling a bit awkwardly.

"Is it gonna be like an actual party?" Lisa questioned.

She wasn't sure she was up for one of those, to be honest. She was never one for them in the first place - Chaeyoung and Jungkook were more keen on the dancing and underage drinking scene.

Jisoo shook her head. "Nope, it's really mostly for Isaac's friends. But I wanted some people I knew there to even the playing field a little." Her face suddenly stretched into her usual devious smile, and Lisa instantly grew suspicious.

"Plus, I have someone I want to introduce to you."

Lisa folded her arms across her chest. "Oh yeah? Who's that?"

"Well, my cousin will be coming," Jisoo explained

"And you guys have some things in common."

"Like what?"

"Like, you know, an appreciation for women?"

"You're trying to hook me up with someone, Jisoo?"

Lisa asked, somewhat surprised.

"No, no, no," Jisoo insisted. "Well...not exactly. But my cousin was persistent that I invite you when I said I have a cute lesbian friend!"

Lisa was rather hesitant about meeting Jisoo's cousin.

She hadn't thought about casting her net out at all, and dating had been far from her mind. After her breakup with Jennie, she'd been uninterested in romance, meeting this girl sounded like more of a burden than anything.

However, Lisa wondered why she was even hesitant in the first place. What was wrong with moving on and having fun with a girl? It didn't even have to be anything at all - if they got along, great, if they didn't, no big deal. She could probably use something to get her mind off Jennie anyway.

Lisa sighed. "You sure it's not gonna be some giant party?"

Jisoo nodded happily. "I promise! We're even just gonna watch movies and stuff! It'll be totally chill."

"...Alright, fine.'

Jisoo literally leaped up in happiness. "Yay! I'd hug you if this fence wasn't in the way!"

Isaac, who Lisa supposed was her boyfriend, tugged on her hand. "Hey, we're gonna be late, babe."

Jisoo seemed to snap out of her excitement to look at the tall boy. "Oh, right." She looked back at Lisa and waved. "I'll send you my address and some info in a bit! See you in sixth!"

And with that, Isaac pulled the cheerleader away from the tennis court towards the school.

Lisa immediately felt like she was going to regret the decision to go to Jisoo's get-together. Nothing good seemed to happen around the cheery blonde, but Lisa felt like getting out might be good for her.

She turned to Chaeyoung and Jungkook who were standing with the tennis rackets only a few feet away.

"You make the strangest friends, Lisa Manoban," Chaeyoung said, heading over to the Lisa and grabbing her arm to take them out of the court, Jungkook trailing behind. "You make me worry."

Lisa laughed. "Yep, I hang out with the 'bad crowd'."

As they walked back to the school building, already making good time for a tardy to fifth period, Lisa thought of something that made her a bit terrified of the whole ordeal with Jisoo's get-together.

What if she invited Jennie?

No, Lisa was sure that Jisoo would invite Jennie. Every time Jisoo was around, Jennie followed close behind, and the pretty blonde seemed to make sure that they all ended up together one way or another. The thought of seeing Jennie at a small get-together filled her with dread.

But...was Lisa going to let Jennie scare her out of a friendship with Jisoo? Who was she to decide who Jisoo hung out with? She couldn't avoid seeing Jennie the rest of the semester, so she shouldn't allow her ex-girlfriend to scare her from having fun or meeting someone knew. She'd just have to live with her presence, at least until the summer.

Filled with new conviction, Lisa tried to convince herself that she didn't care.

Plus, Jisoo inviting the honour student was one thing - her actually attending was another.

It was stupid to worry about, and frankly, Lisa was tired of worrying.

---

A week seemed to pass rather quickly, and before she knew it, Lisa found herself parked on the curb next to a two-story suburban home, lights illuminating the windows with an orange yellow.

She sighed and stepped out of the car, turning to see herself in the window reflection. She didn't dress up in anything crazy - just a jean jacket, white tank top, and black jeans.

It was just a casual get-together anyway, and she wasn't going to go out of her way to impress this cousin of Jisoo's.

Lisa felt a bit awkward as she headed up the driveway to Jisoo's front door. She opted not to bring Chaeyoung and Jungkook for backup since it felt inappropriate to bring them to a more intimate gathering.

Lisa kept wondering if she was going to see Jennie's face when she walked in the door of the cheerleader's home.

She knocked after hesitating for a second, and it didn't take long for the front door to swing open.

"Lisa! Hey!" Jisoo squealed, pulling Lisa into a big hug.

She released her and stepped to the side. "Come in!"

Lisa did as she was told, stepping into the warmth of the indoors. It was a well-decorated but relatively normal home, which almost seemed strange for the over-the-top Jisoo. Her family must've been more average than their daughter.

Lisa saw that most of the people were in the living room, and Jisoo had been right - it wasn't some giant party. There were only about ten people in there, not including Jisoo and Lisa herself, mostly guys in letterman jackets who she assumed were part of Isaac's baseball team.

Isaac was sitting in the living room next to a more nerdy-looking guy with dark brown hair and glasses.

"Hey, everyone! This is Lisa, my friend from school," Jisoo announced.

They waved and there were several "heys" before everyone went back to their prior conversations.

A small redheaded girl popped up from the group and headed over, a big smile on her face as her eyes fell on Lisa.

"Lisa, this is my cousin, Somi, " Jisoo introduced, a wide smile on her face.

"Oh, uh, hey," Lisa said, feeling awkward about being so obviously set up. But the redhead didn't seem to mind the whole situation and was beaming.

"Nice to meet you!" she said.

"I'm gonna go grab some dip from the kitchen," Jisoo said suddenly. "You guys go ahead and, uh...get to know each other?"

Jisoo flashed Lisa a sly look, and Lisa returned it with an unamused one.

She turned back to the much shorter girl, trying her best to be polite. She still felt incredibly awkward and unsure, in spite of the fact that so-called Somi was admittedly cute.

Somi seemed to recognize her discomfort and even took her hand. "Hey, let's go sit with everyone else," she said, pulling her to the living room.

They sat on a couple of folding chairs placed in the living room to provide enough seats for the guests.

Lisa was a bit surprised by Somi's lack of shyness, but also grateful that the girl was there to keep her from being alone without Jisoo.

"So, are you a junior like Jisoo?" she asked, her bright green eyes giving full attention to Lisa.

"Yeah, I am," Lisa replied. "Are you, too?"

Somi shook her head. "I'm actually a sophomore."

"Oh..." Lisa trailed off awkwardly. It was like she'd lost all of her social skills somehow, in spite of being so extroverted before. Something in her seemed to want to resist hitting it off with a girl who was obviously interested in her.

"Are you nervous being here?" Somi suddenly asked.

Lisa's eyes snapped up, caught off guard by the question.

"Not really, why? Do I seem like I am?"

"Well...you just seem a bit on edge," she replied. "I figured you might be a bit shy."

Lisa shook her head. "Nah, I'm not shy. It's just been a while since I've been to a party. Ah, but I guess it doesn't really count as a party."

Somi giggled a bit, and Lisa couldn't help but think it was a little cute. "No, I wouldn't say it's much of a party. But I get it. You don't seem like you know anyone but Jisoo here."

"Nah, not really."

Somi smile lightly, and Lisa stiffened as the girl's hand touched her arm ever so softy. She was leaning rather close, and Lisa could pick up the smell of the redhead's shampoo. It was citrusy.

"I'm the same," she replied. "So, I guess we'll have to stick together."

Her tone was most definitely flirty, but Lisa was having trouble processing such a thing in her brain, and she couldn't look away from the girl's bright green eyes.

However, her gaze was finally torn away at the sound of a knock at the front door. She turned towards it, her stomach turning for some unknown reason.

Jisoo shot out of the kitchen to head to the door. She opened it, chatting with the new person, but their voices were out of Lisa's earshot. She initially only saw the shuffle of a coat being removed and then racked next to the door, but when Jisoo moved aside, she saw her worst fears realized.

It was Jennie.