Final Chapter

"And so, the Thomas Theorem can help us recognize the importance of labelling to an individual's behaviour in society. By understanding how individuals act and feel the way they do, we can begin to remedy the issues in groups or even entire nations."

Once Jennie had finished the closing line of the presentation, the class applauded and her, Lisa, and Jisoo returned to their seats.

When they were at their desks, Lisa let out a sigh.

"Whew, it's finally over," she breathed. "I'm surprised we even got it done in time."

"Seriously," Jennie agreed. Then she folded her arms over her chest in an act of trying to hide her shyness.

"I really appreciate you guys for keeping it together while I was out of school. We would've never been able to finish if you hadn't."

Since Jennie had been gone, Jisoo actually did a part of the project during the critical period when Lisa had to be there for Jennie. When that passed, Lisa returned to help, and they worked tirelessly to try to keep the presentation up to Jennie's standards. The last thing Lisa wanted was for Jennie to come back to have to re- do a good chunk of the project.

Naturally, Jennie still wanted to make a few revisions, but she was surprisingly pleased with their work.

Jisoo seemed especially proud of this.

"See, we weren't that bad of a group after all," Jisoo said with a smirk.

"The jury's still out," Jennie replied defiantly, but a smile was threatening to form at the corners of her mouth.

There was only one more presentation after that and then Mr. Morrison let them go fifteen minutes early.

It was the last day of the semester, and, honestly, Spring had flown by. Lisa couldn't believe that summer break started the next day and they would all basically be seniors.

Despite the difficult first month, Lisa and Jennie's relationship was going far smoother than expected.

The following two months flew by, and they even survived the stress of finals.

"Do you guys have a final for seventh period?" Jisoo asked once the three of them had left the classroom and were walking down the hallway.

"It's a free period for me," Lisa replied.

"We did our finals for that class yesterday, so I don't have to go," Jennie added for herself.

"Lucky," Jisoo said with a sigh. "I've got to go fail a world history final."

They stopped near the stairs of the hallway and Jisoo turned to face the two of them. She suddenly pulled them into a three-person hug, her voice shaking as if she was about to cry.

"I'm gonna miss you guys so much," she blubbered.

Lisa smiled, patting her on the back, while Jennie seemed to just be trying to survive the tight hug.

"Oh, calm down, Jisoo," Lisa soothed.

"We can see each other a bunch over the summer."

Jisoo finally released them from the hug and sniffled.

"Yeah, but you guys still have to get back from your trip," she protested.

Jennie rolled her eyes. "It's only two weeks."

"Well, just make sure to be safe, and text me, call me, take pictures...oh! And grab me a souvenir too-"

"Alright, Jisoo, you don't want to be late for your final, right?" Lisa interrupted gently.

Jisoo regarded them with her rare, genuine smile.

"I'm really glad you guys are doing better."

The couple smiled at her in response.

"Thank you, Jisoo," Jennie replied.

"For...everything."

The blonde girl finally turned so she could head down the stairs to her class, waving back at them as she did so. Lisa smiled, knowing that two weeks would still be enough for her to miss the nosy cheerleader.

She looked over at Jennie who almost seemed like she was on the verge of crying herself.

"What? Don't tell me you're actually going to miss her?" Lisa teased.

Jennie's face morphed into an expression of indignity.

"No! I didn't see her for a month after spring break, didn't I?" But then her expression softened once more. "I'm just, she's just a good friend."

Lisa smirked deviously, poking the side of Jennie's arm.

"You used the 'F' word!"

"Shut up," Jennie groaned, lightly slapping Lisa's hand away.

"You don't hate her, do you?" Lisa continued teasingly.

"Sometimes I still do. Same goes for you."

"Aw, how could you hate your girlfriend who's taking you on a trip to Australia?"

Suddenly, Jennie frowned as if she'd just remembered the whole affair. "Oh yeah...I keep forgetting that I'm going to be meeting your dad soon."

Lisa chuckled, snaking an arm around her waist. "My dad's super easy-going. You guys'll get along.

"But what if he thinks I'm too uptight?" Jennie asked, starting on a long ramble of worries.

"After he's invited me to come with you on this expensive trip.... not to mention that we're both girls and-"

"Calm down, Jennie, take a deep breath," Lisa said, thinking about how dangerously cute it was that Jennie was so worried about being liked by her family.

"I know he'll love you. Plus, the flight wasn't expensive, my dad travels constantly so he's got like a gillion miles."

"That's not the point," Jennie grumbled.

"Did you pack already?" Lisa asked, changing the subject. "We're leaving pretty early tomorrow."

"Of course," Jennie huffed as if it was ridiculous to even insinuate that she hadn't. "And you did too...right?"

Lisa smiled sheepishly.

"You haven't even started, have you?"

"Ah...well...I just figured I'd have enough time tonight."

"Lisa!" Jennie said sternly. "You need enough clothes and essentials for two weeks and we don't even know what the weather's exactly like or-"

"Alright, alright," Lisa said, suddenly pulling Jennie closer so the front of their bodies were pressed together. They were still on the second floor of the east wing, and the bell had rung, so luckily no students were around at the moment.

Lisa leaned down to whisper in Jennie's ear. "You know, my dad will still be working while we're there, so we should have plenty of alone time..."

Jennie visibly shivered, boosting Lisa's ego a little. Lisa found herself losing grip of her self-control and awareness of her environment, so she bit Jennie's earlobe lightly.

The honour student immediately reacted by shoving the taller girl away, holding a hand to her violated ear while her face lit up bright red.

"Lisa, we're at school, remember!?" she screeched.

"Sorry..." Lisa said, not really meaning it.

"God, you've been totally insatiable lately!"

"Hey, you can't say that when last weekend we missed the movie because you-"

"Oh my God, shut up, we're at school!" In an effort to hide her beet red face, Jennie began to storm off down the hallway. Lisa quickly caught up to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"You're not gonna see me off before I go home to pack up?" Lisa asked, pouting.

Jennie rolled her eyes.

"Maybe if you start behaving yourself."

---

Lisa spent most of the evening doing as she promised - preparing for the trip.

Her father, many times in the past, requested to pay for Lisa to come see him at whatever country he found himself in. However, Lisa's mother never allowed for this to happen, and, quite frankly, Lisa never had much of a desire to go anyway.

But since breaking the good news about Jennie, Lisa's father insisted on bringing them both over to see him in his current temporary residence in Melbourne, Australia. Lisa thought it actually sounded like a good idea - escaping from all of the chaos they endured during the spring semester seemed heavenly.

The issue was getting Lisa's mom to let her go.

So, she followed what Jieun told her to do - she brought it up to her mother in front of Jennie when she came over to visit.

Naturally, not wanting break her façade of having a perfect family in front of a guest, she agreed that it would be a good idea. And before she could refuse once she was alone with Lisa, Lisa's father purchased the tickets, and the vacation was confirmed.

It was shady and underhanded, but it was also wrong to prevent your almost-adult child from seeing their biological father.

Jennie was initially sceptical about the whole trip, but she caved in once Lisa expressed how excited she was to go on a vacation with her and have her meet her father. Jennie was a softy at heart, really.

---

"Do you need help with that?"

"Nope, I got it."

Lisa heaved the suitcase into the trunk of Jieun's car, slamming the door shut over it.

"Alright, then, let's get going," Jieun said, heading towards the driver's side door of the car. Lisa followed suit, climbing into the passenger side.

"I appreciate you offering to drive us to the airport," Lisa told her sister genuinely.

Jieun sighed as she started the car and turned on the navigation to Jennie's address. They'd be picking the other girl up on the way. "Well, I'm still not super happy about you going to see Dad."

Even though Lisa and Jieun's relationship had improved, the elder sister still maintained no contact with their father. Since she was older when he left, she remembered the devastating effect it had on the family even more than Lisa did.

"It's not like I don't blame you for not being able to forgive him," Lisa said, trying to tread lightly. "But you should know that he really regrets it. You should see his face whenever you come up in conversation. Maybe you should give him a chance to apologize?"

Jieun just frowned, and Lisa figured that was as good of an answer as she was going to get. Their relationship was not something Lisa could force Jieun would decide what she wanted to do, and the younger sibling would support her in it.

They finally pulled up to Jennie's new house after the modest drive, and the honour student was quick to see them and appear from the front door. Behind her, her father Neil was quickly telling her what could only be safety tips and farewells, but Jennie hastily made her way from the car, blushing as if he'd said something embarrassing.

The middle-aged man waved at Lisa and she and Jieun waved back Lisa stepped out of the car to help Jennie put her luggage in the trunk.

"Your dad giving you trouble?" she asked after taking it upon herself to grab Jennie's suitcase for her in spite of the shorter girl's protests.

"He's just worried about me," Jennie sighed. "This should show you how much he trusts you. I never imagined he'd let me go on a trip abroad without him."

Lisa smiled. "We'll, I've won him over with my good looks and charm."

"Shut up."

They both climbed in the car, Lisa in the front, Jennie in the back.

"Good to see you again, Jennie," Jieun said curtly, pulling the car out of the cull de sac.

"Yes, same here," Jennie replied, overly formal.

Lisa smiled. The two were still getting used to each other and Jieun was adjusting to their relationship. This led to awkwardly stiff interactions between the two of them. But Lisa knew it would get more natural over time, especially since the two young women were rather similar to each other at heart.

They headed for the airport under a spotless sky and warm weather, the perfect conditions for flying. Lisa's heart began to race as she imagined what Australia would be like - she'd never travelled out of the country before.

As she looked back and chatted with Jennie during the ride, she could see that her girlfriend was starting to look excited as well.

Their anticipation mounted when they pulled up to the drop off area of the airport. All three girls got out of the car to remove the luggage and say their goodbyes.

Lisa stepped up to Jieun, offering her a smile.

"Thanks again, sis."

Jieun smiled lightly herself. "Be safe out there. I'll be here to pick you up in a couple of weeks."

Lisa debated it for a second, shifting on her feet, but she finally decided to just pull her sister in for a hug.

The older woman stiffened at first, but eventually returned the gesture.

"I love you, Jieun," Lisa said, feeling like she might tear up a little. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just relief from all the stress she'd been under for months.

Maybe it was the fact that she'd be leaving her home for two weeks. Or maybe she was just happy to be on speaking terms with her sister again. Whatever it was, it was a happy feeling rather than a sad one.

"I love you, too, Lisa," Jieun said in her usual awkward tenseness, and they pulled away.

Jennie thanked her one last time and the couple left Jieun to drive back home.

The airport was already bustling with people leaving for summer break, and the festive air only worked to ramp up Lisa's excitement.

After they passed customs and security and made it to the terminal, the two made their last texts and phone calls to friends and family, Lisa promising to bring Chaeyoung and Mark souvenirs when she returned.

Once they were done, they sat in the waiting area of the terminal, and Lisa took hold of Jennie's hand. She half expected the honour student to pull away since they were in public, but she didn't.

"Everyone's acting like we're leaving forever," Lisa remarked with a sigh.

"Well, we're going to the other side of the world, basically," Jennie replied.

Lisa smiled, watching the light of the rising sun leak in through the airport windows and illuminate Jennie's face. "You know, if you told me in September that I'd be going on a vacation abroad with you as my girlfriend, I would've called you crazy."

"And if you told me that I would've socked you in the stomach," Jennie joked.

Lisa laughed, squeezing the honour student's hand and looking down at where their fingers were interlaced.

"You know, I never thought we'd get back together. But now that we're here I can't imagined not

being...well, you know." Lisa blushed, worried about saying anything too corny.

"I guess it was just meant to be," Jennie said, almost in a whisper.

Lisa blushed even more.

"And here I was trying not to say anything too cheesy."

"Oh, shut up! I mean it!"

"I know...me too," Lisa replied, pressing their foreheads together.

"I love you," she told Jennie, her voice dropping to a more serious tone.

When she first transferred schools, she'd been betrayed by 'I love you's' and displays of affection.

They held a promise of betrayal, of short-lived sweetness that would transform into bitterness and mistrust. From her father leaving to her ex-girlfriend stabbing her in the back, the bonds she made appeared to exist to be broken. She was even convinced this was the case when she had a falling out with Jennie.

But when Jennie said "I love you" back, those fears and regrets dissipated. Those words held a promise of a future, of trust, of struggles that ended in happiness instead of despair.

And Lisa believed them.

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Well, that's it for this story guys!

Thank you for supporting this adaption. And, of course, all credits goes to the original author of "Fucking Perfect".