Chapter Text
The shaky tower of red plastic cups finally toppled over just as Lisa placed her cup on top. The one that she swore would make it. Cheap beer splashed onto the table and inadvertently onto Chaeyoung and Lisa. Their clothes were soaked through completely and they stood there dripping and shell-shocked from the wet impact.
Jennie watched amusedly from the sidelines, feeling her sides ache from how hard she was laughing. A screech echoed through the apartment.
“Lisa,” Chaeyoung shrieked, “What did I say about not touching anything?”
The bangs hung limply over Lisa’s forehead until she bent and straightened back up with impressive flexibility, flipping the wet strands back to show Jennie a truly uncomfortable vision of Lisa’s beautiful-but-too-naked-for-Jennie’s-liking-because-you-know-she’s-still-beautiful-but-it’s-like-seeing-someone-without-their-glasses bare forehead.
Chaeyoung tried to maintain her strict posture but Jennie swore she saw a flash of desire in the redhead's eyes and her slow, cursory look of Lisa’s body-line through her wet clothes didn’t dissuade anyone of the notion that Chaeyoung truly cared more about the spill.
“You told me not to touch anything!” Lisa answered easily.
Chaeyoung drew her brows together and her jaw tightened, but her pretty, pillowy lower lip jutted out in a way that invalidated any hint of harshness.
“I’m sorry,” Lisa said, donning a pouty-face. “Here, I’ll kiss it better.”
“Nope, no kisses for tonight,” Chaeyoung ordered pettily, which made Lisa raise her hand to her chest and gasp out in exaggerated shock.
“Unlucky Lisa is back at it again,” Jennie giggled, wishing she had a bucket of popcorn to munch on with the scene in front of her. She decided to relieve both their miseries and went over to the bathroom cabinets to scrounge out two fluffy towels for the girls.
“Thank you, Unnie,“ the two girls chorused in harmonious synchronization and Chaeyoung streamlined straight for Lisa and used her own towel to soak up the beer droplets from Lisa’s goose-pimpled skin, chiding the blonde as she did.
Jennie pointed a finger to the storage room where all the cleaning supplies rested and said, “Don’t thank me yet. You’ll both be cleaning this up.”
Chaeyoung sighed and threw the dirty towel at Lisa, who looked resigned to the chore.
“We’ll go get the mops now.”
“I’m sorry, who is this ‘we’ you are referring to?” Chaeyoung lifted a brow. “I’m not responsible for your mess.”
“But we’re soulmates!”
“Do I look like I give a fuck?”
“Soulmates, Chaeng!”
“Too bad you didn’t think like that when you were busy finishing off my last stocks of ramen.”
A petulant whine echoed in Jennie’s modest but comfortable apartment. “We’re practically married, what’s mine is yours. I didn’t complain when you took my chocolates.”
Precedence has shown that 98.99% of fights between Lisa and Chaeyoung ended in sex and Jennie did not want to carpet-clean her apartment again.
“Less talking. Closet is that way,” Jennie intervened and the two girls mumbled under their breaths to each other and followed directions.
A delicate knock sounded on the other side of the door, throwing Jennie off and she frowned.
The only people she invited to this astronomically small get-together was Lisa, Chaeyoung and Irene. But Irene was busy with her maid-of-honour duties for one of her friends from work and she had begged off coming tonight.
Jennie didn’t blame her. Hens’ parties were wild, you never wanted to miss one.
She walked to the door and closed her hand around the doorknob, flinching slightly from the cold metal, and unlocked the latch sitting on top. Jennie looked through the keyhole and her eyes met a vision of ivory skin and a cute heart-shaped mouth.
“Hi,” Jisoo said cheerfully. “Can I come in?”
Jennie’s hands slammed back to the door latch and locked it again, the soft click a strong, affirmative sound. She backed away from the door in a matter of seconds and consequently stumbled over her feet in a stroke of clumsiness. Sharp pain shot into her as her tailbone collided with the floor.
She groaned and then her eyes flew open.
Kim Jisoo was outside her apartment.
The girl that everyone loved to praise for her eye-catching visuals and gorgeous, straight black hair. Hair that belonged to a Pantene commercial (Jisoo had actually modelled a CF for them last year in Japan, there were posters and billboards and everything.) Her face was a transcendent paean to elegance.
Heads turned when Kim Jisoo made her rare appearances at the university bar. Even when she donned casual sweats, her natural beauty was enhanced even more making her the envy of half the college campus. Her straight-A grades made her the envy of the other half.
No doubt about it, Kim Jisoo was the total package.
She was also the girl that Jennie had been in love with for the casual past years of her life, stemming from high school when Jisoo was the student council leader. But that was the past and this was the present and -
“Hello?” Jisoo queried worriedly from the outside. “Are you okay, I heard a thump?”
And Kim Jisoo was still waiting outside her apartment, for reasons unknown to Jennie.
Jennie rushed to her feet, ignoring the ache radiating from her backside and she smoothed her brown hair which was ruffled. She pulled her short, plaid skirt down from where it had rumpled up in the fall and she pulled the door open, making sure there was a bright smile on her face.
Act normal , Jennie mentally begged herself, don’t do anything embarrassing. Don’t do anything embarrassing.
Jisoo waved at her and shyly said, “Hi.”
She wore a Burberry vintage check topstitch jacket unzipped over a simple tank top and a pair of compact, blue jeans. Gunmetal diamante tassel stud earrings dangled from her ears which accentuated the model’s enviable bone structure. A slap of pink lipstick on Jisoo’s lips completed the elegant and feminine look.
Jennie swallowed. Jisoo looked good. But she had to speak otherwise Jisoo might think she was a complete loser aside from just a partial one.
“Hey, sorry, I wasn’t expecting you,” Jennie apologized in a tone that sounded too light and quaint for the emotions coursing through her. “I - I was about to open the door but - but the dogs surprised me.”
“Really?” Jisoo asked, her eyes lighting up. “I love animals. Where are they?”
Jennie shuffled her feet. There were no dogs in the apartment because firstly, Jennie was lying about dogs being in the apartment. Kuma was away on a playdate at her mother’s place because Jennie’s mom simply adored the sweet little, brown Pomeranian. Was there another dog she could borrow to keep up pretenses? Not really. Her neighbours didn’t keep pets and if they did, they probably wouldn’t react too kindly if Jennie made a point of asking.
“Oh, you know,” Jennie said breezily, waving her hands in a general direction and trying to air confidence, “Out back.”
Jisoo tilted her head to the side.
“Kuma has a habit of pushing into unsuspecting people and running anyway before anyone sees him.”
“So you’re saying that your dog likes to commit hit-and-runs,” Jisoo ventured out slowly.
“Yes.” Jennie stared straight at Jisoo, her dignity shrivelling up. “That is exactly what I’m saying.”
“Nice! My dog likes playing fetch.”
An awkward silence filled the air.
“Not that I dislike your presence or anything but,” Jennie started nervously, “was there something you needed?”
Jisoo startled, like she had forgotten why she had come, and grinned sheepishly. Her fingers ran apprehensively through her long, black hair.
“Lalisa invited me? She said there was something happening here and she texted me the address,” Jisoo explained. “Did she - did she not tell you?”
Of course.
Of course , it was Lisa. Lisa knew all about Jennie’s life-long crush on Jisoo, she probably orchestrated this whole thing to get Jennie a date which is stupid because Jisoo dined with models and famous idols and not with girls like Jennie.
“I’m guessing that’s a no,” Jisoo ascertained from Jennie’s surprised reaction, making a movement to leave. “Right. You know what, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize this was your place and it was totally rude of me to come to you like this. I’ll just get out of your hair and go jump off a cliff.”
“No, that’s okay!” Jennie yelled out and her hand gripped onto Jisoo’s wrist, stopping the other girl in her tracks. Faint embarrassment bubbled inside of Jennie. She pulled her hand away just as quickly, like Jisoo’s skin was scalding hot to touch. (It wasn’t. Her skin was warm and smooth and her wrist felt so delicate in her grasp.)
Jennie said softly, her voice wavering in the silence between them. “I - We would appreciate the company. Come in, please?”
Jisoo bequeathed one of those infamous heart-shaped grins and it may or may not have thrown Jennie’s heart into a series of quick palpitations.
“I’d love to,” Jisoo answered warmly. Then her expression turned deadly. “But first, you wouldn’t happen to know where Lisa is, would you?”
Jennie smiled wickedly. “I’ll show you the way.”
Somewhere from inside the apartment, Jennie thought she could hear scared little gulps.
Jennie liked to think that she experienced several mini-orgasms simply watching Jisoo chide the maknae.
It was the simplicity in Jisoo’s stance, the way she stood upright. The vein in her forehead was throbbing and her arms were waving about. Like she was a Greek goddess doling justice left and right to the evil-doers but also a goddess who shopped at high-fashion department stores.
Jennie thought further. Actually, it seemed more likely that when Jisoo went to department stores, it would be the other way around. She could imagine Jisoo strolling into Dior and all the stylists throwing lavish, expensive clothes into her path, like it was a village market. “Wear this, Jisoo!” “Please wear my design, Jisoo-noona!”
And Jisoo would flick her silky hair over her shoulder and smile brightly, her warm, brown eyes melting the hearts of retail workers and Jennie fancied the warmth of those eyes reaching her and the huskiness of Jisoo’s voice when she said, “Jennie-yah, do you want-?”
Jennie flinched lightly when a friendly arm placed itself on her shoulder. Chaeyoung was sitting to her side, watching Jisoo scold Lisa. Lisa was pouting to the maximum, her clothes still damp from the beer.
“It’s really hot, seeing her like this,” Chaeyoung whispered in awe beside her
Jennie frowned, not liking the emergence of an unusual sulkiness inside her, but she tried to keep her voice straight when she said, “I didn’t know you were crushing on Jisoo.”
Chaeyoung harrumphed. “I’m not you. Jisoo’s gorgeous but Lisa - Lisa is a goddamn vision. I think she’s going to cry in the next two minutes,” she said, looking far too eager.
Jennie stared at the redhead, nonplussed. “You need new kinks.”
Of course , it was Lisa. Lisa knew all about Jennie’s life-long crush on Jisoo, she probably orchestrated this whole thing to get Jennie a date which is stupid because Jisoo dined with models and famous idols and not with girls like Jennie.
“I’m guessing that’s a no,” Jisoo ascertained from Jennie’s surprised reaction, making a movement to leave. “Right. You know what, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize this was your place and it was totally rude of me to come to you like this. I’ll just get out of your hair and go jump off a cliff.”
“No, that’s okay!” Jennie yelled out and her hand gripped onto Jisoo’s wrist, stopping the other girl in her tracks. Faint embarrassment bubbled inside of Jennie. She pulled her hand away just as quickly, like Jisoo’s skin was scalding hot to touch. (It wasn’t. Her skin was warm and smooth and her wrist felt so delicate in her grasp.)
Jennie said softly, her voice wavering in the silence between them. “I - We would appreciate the company. Come in, please?”
Jisoo bequeathed one of those infamous heart-shaped grins and it may or may not have thrown Jennie’s heart into a series of quick palpitations.
“I’d love to,” Jisoo answered warmly. Then her expression turned deadly. “But first, you wouldn’t happen to know where Lisa is, would you?”
Jennie smiled wickedly. “I’ll show you the way.”
Somewhere from inside the apartment, Jennie thought she could hear scared little gulps.
Jennie liked to think that she experienced several mini-orgasms simply watching Jisoo chide the maknae.
It was the simplicity in Jisoo’s stance, the way she stood upright. The vein in her forehead was throbbing and her arms were waving about. Like she was a Greek goddess doling justice left and right to the evil-doers but also a goddess who shopped at high-fashion department stores.
Jennie thought further. Actually, it seemed more likely that when Jisoo went to department stores, it would be the other way around. She could imagine Jisoo strolling into Dior and all the stylists throwing lavish, expensive clothes into her path, like it was a village market. “Wear this, Jisoo!” “Please wear my design, Jisoo-noona!”
And Jisoo would flick her silky hair over her shoulder and smile brightly, her warm, brown eyes melting the hearts of retail workers and Jennie fancied the warmth of those eyes reaching her and the huskiness of Jisoo’s voice when she said, “Jennie-yah, do you want-?”
Jennie flinched lightly when a friendly arm placed itself on her shoulder. Chaeyoung was sitting to her side, watching Jisoo scold Lisa. Lisa was pouting to the maximum, her clothes still damp from the beer.
“It’s really hot, seeing her like this,” Chaeyoung whispered in awe beside her
Jennie frowned, not liking the emergence of an unusual sulkiness inside her, but she tried to keep her voice straight when she said, “I didn’t know you were crushing on Jisoo.”
Chaeyoung harrumphed. “I’m not you. Jisoo’s gorgeous but Lisa - Lisa is a goddamn vision. I think she’s going to cry in the next two minutes,” she said, looking far too eager.
Jennie stared at the redhead, nonplussed. “You need new kinks.”
Jennie said slowly, “I’d love to.” Her eyes moved up to Jisoo’s warm, brown irises. A bright smile started to creep onto Jennie’s face. “I’d really love to.”
“Great! We’re having a party this weekend and everyone’s bringing their friends so you could too, if you wanted,” Jisoo excitedly said.
Oh.
Friends? A party with other people? So it wasn’t a date. The realization came as a depressingly solid weight in Jennie’s stomach.
Maybe Jisoo had just wanted Jennie as a friend - to reconnect with an old acquaintance from high school. It was really Jennie’s fault for expecting too much but Jisoo as a friend was still a hundred times better than Jisoo as a stranger so Jennie fought hard to think past the sinking feeling in her gut and she smartly propped up a bright smile on her face.
“Text me the details, I’m down.”
Jennie had collapsed into bed afterwards, arms and legs laid out like a starfish. It felt colder tonight for some reason so Jennie pulled her doona all around her and she stretched her feet into the mattress. Plumping her pillow, she mindlessly stared at the mouldy ceiling above her, fixating her attention on the exposed beams, which incorporated the recessed lighting from the apartment’s halogen bulb-lights. It all looked so ugly. But this was her life and she had worked hard to get this far.
This was her ugly.
A small ball of warmth started to blossom from within her chest as she thought of Jisoo’s presence tonight. Jennie had genuinely thought that she would have never been able to talk to Jisoo again and she was content with nursing her crush alone for the rest of her life. But Jisoo appeared because of Lisa’s invitation and despite the fact that Jennie thought for a moment there was solid chemistry, Jisoo invited her to a party as a friend.
And that was great and Jennie convinced herself she was happy.
She should have been.
🍦🍦🍦
6 years ago
Jennie pulled the straps of her backpack closer to her shoulders, conscious of all the eyes on her. Being the new kid was never a fun role to play - especially at a posh school like this.
The act of blithely stepping onto the pristine, green lawns created a little knot of tension within Jennie and the knot remained as Jennie speed-walked to her locker, ignoring the stares and the spidery whispers that followed her trail.
She took comfort in the fact that the amount of attention lasered on her was diminishing with time but knew they would never stop looking.
Scholarship kids were always treated like abnormalities - like peasant folk that had accidentally slipped through the cracks and found themselves in a wonderland they didn’t belong in. Like trash that didn’t know where they belonged.
That was fine with Jennie. The only thing she was aiming for was to get her first choice of seating for all her classes. Jennie planned it out in her head with precision and strategy.
Most classrooms typically have rows of 7 x 5 desks set up and Jennie preferred the row directly in the middle. But she would sit closest to the left because that was where all the windows were.
In that position, she would be able to receive a mild breeze and not overheat during this summer and she’d also be able to pay attention to the teacher since she needed not only to pass her classes but to ace them to keep her scholarship (which was her lifeline.)
More importantly, It was the perfect spot for going unnoticed which was Jennie’s main strategy for navigating the intricate politics of high school. Being a girl in high school meant that aside from studying, she had a million things to do and not to do just to get through the day. Fellow students could do things that could ruin your social reputation, mess up your entire week depending on how cruel they wanted to be that day.
People could be mean, especially rich ones.
But Jennie knew the rules. Hell, she practically printed them in a fineliner pen on the front page of her cheap notebook journal. Those rules were her bible.
For the sake of repetition, Jennie closed her eyes and repeated them like a prayer under her breath.
#1 Do not draw attention to yourself.
#2 Learn to prioritize your studies.
#3 Do not draw attention to yourself.
#4 Endear yourself to your teachers; DON’T become a teacher’s pet.
#5 Do not draw attention to yourself.
#6 Dress to impress but DON’T show off.
#7 Do not draw attention to yourself.
#8 Follow the flow of traffic.
#9 Do not draw attention to yourself.
#10 Think of the end game.
College.
A well-paying job.
A nice apartment which didn’t have to be nice. It just had to be hers.
A life of independence.
The school warning bell rang interrupting Jennie from her reverie and she plucked her heavy geometry textbook from the locker and opened the zipper of her thread-worn backpack, placing the book inside with care. Her bag only contained textbooks and cheap stationery but it was important not to ruin anything.
If she lost something, her financial situation potentially meant that she wasn’t capable of buying it again.
Everything she had was it.
Jennie pulled the zipper back to a close and fixed up the combination lock on her locker, tugging at it afterwards to insure it was completely sealed. Time to arrive early for class and pick her preferred seat
Someone bumped into her before she turned around to make an exit from the crowded hallway, knocking Jennie into the locker behind her producing a bang . Jennie groaned as she slid down stiffly, receiving an eyeful of short, black hair and a heart-shaped mouth set open in horror and something sparkly and gold that was clasped onto the front pocket of the school’s black uniform .
“I’m so sorry,” the girl apologized frantically, the words streamlining out. She looked behind her and even more dismay slid into her expression. “I have to leave but I’m really sorry. But ugh, I don’t want to leave unless you tell me you are okay.”
Jennie was still sitting on the floor, her back to the cold metal of the locker. She felt an ache beginning to bloom near her head but she shook it away.
“I’m fine, I’m okay,” Jennie brushed the student’s concern off. A crowd of snickering students started to gather around them which meant that she had just broken Rules# 1,3,5,7 and 9 all within the space of one week.
The girl patted Jennie on the head awkwardly.
“Sorry again,” she said and took off running again into the corridor. “
The congregation of students near Jennie had started to disperse, discontent with the lack of titillating drama but Jennie stayed sitting. She had her head within her knees and she told herself to breathe.
Breaking rules were fine as long as she didn’t do anything else, Jennie told herself, like having an anxiety attack.
She was not going to have an anxiety attack now, not on the first day of school.
She drove herself to get up and feeling a twinge of pain, she leaned against her locker for support. No one asked to help which Jennie appreciated.
Jennie looked towards the direction the girl took when she fled. It had all happened so quickly but she remembered seeing something shiny - something that resembled the school council badges. And taking into account the short, black hair and flustered but elegant appearance of the student, Jennie thought she could make a good guess as to who ran into her.
The same person who was always seen at the head of the high school assembly.
Student Council Leader: Kim Jisoo.
Ding-ding-ding-ding.
The familiar noise echoed through the school, signalling the beginning of classes. Jennie felt horror flow through her. She rushed to pick her bag up from where she had dropped it in the fall and absconded to the classroom. Everybody was already seated when she arrived and the sharp-browed teacher had given her a disdainful frown when she had arrived.
“Please arrive on time,” the teacher warned. “This is not a place for you to take education lightly.”
There were a few scornful laughs from the rest of the classroom and Jennie’s heart skipped, the familiar presence of anxiety skating down her spine.
Jennie bowed deeply at a 90 degree angle and said sincerely, “Yes, bujang seonsaengnim.My apologies.”
She looked around the room and saw that the seat closest to the winders in the middle row was taken by a plain-faced brunette who was absentmindedly twirling a lock of her hair. The only desks available were the ones in the middle row: a chair closest to the windows on the left and the chair nearer to the right where the doorway was. Jennie started slowly approaching the left, feeling conscious of every step she made. A clique of girls near the back started twittering but a sharp look from the teacher stopped the noise. They were probably the same girls who had laughed at her.
Jennie pulled the chair out, thankful as the four legs dragged against the plushly carpeted floor soundlessly. Placing her bag beneath the desk, she took out her stationery amidst the background noises of pages being turned and pencils scribbling on paper.
Jennie took out her own pen. She knew what she was going to do.
She was going to add a new rule.
#11 Stay away from KIM JISOO.
She highlighted the name and etched it deeply into the paper, the tip of the pen almost sinking into the next page. When she finished dotting the sentence, she deposited the pencil back onto the desk carelessly. Jennie didn’t notice the pen going further than it was supposed to, rolling off the desk and landing next to her left. The small thump of the pen landing made her flinch but her clumsiness went unnoticed by the rest of the class.
Glossy red lacquered nails reached out to pick up the plastic ball pen that Jennie had dropped and a charming brunette proffered it to her with a charming, white-toothed smile, “Here.”
Jennie breathed out a careful thanks, taking the pen back and not letting their fingers touch and focused on the geometrical shapes in her textbook, numbers swimming in front of her doing acrobatic tricks.
That would be her first encounter with Lee Da Bin and because of the precipitation of good will that drove it, Jennie wasn’t as wary as she should have been.
In retrospect, she should have picked the seat closest to the doorway.
“How are you finding life here?”
Jennie let out a thoughtful hum and said, “It’s as well as can be expected,” hoping the answer wouldn’t encourage any further conversation and wasn’t too rude. High school wasn’t about making friends for her, it was about avoiding people in general.
The girl persisted, “You know, we all thought you’d be more wide-eyed about this. Because you’re not used to all this.”
“Used to what?”
“The list is endless. Good food? A roof over your head? Plumbing?
Jennie wrinkled her nose and retorted, “You do realize that that’s a stereotype, right? A scholarship kid doesn’t have to grow up in poor housing and have a tragic backstory to be accepted into private schools?”
Lee Da Bin flushed angrily and retaliated, “It’s not my fault that every new kid comes to this school wants our left-overs and sloppy seconds.” She leaned back in her chair, her perfectly ironed uniform barely wrinkling with the motion. “I don’t know why it’s such a crime to be charitable nowadays. Especially for people like you, considering you benefit from our charity every single day.”
Students behind them were perking their heads up. Was this drama?
Jennie could sense the looks fixating on their conversation. The teacher was luckily preoccupied with another red-faced girl who had arrived late, huffing and puffing, and she took the other empty seat.
Do not draw attention to yourself. Especially not twice in one day.
Jennie swallowed her snarky reply and gave a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You’re right, I’m lucky that I was given a chance.” Something unrecognizable burned inside her though and Jennie found herself unable to prevent the flow of words from her mouth, “I’m privileged that way, you know? I was born into a poor family so I could work hard for the hand-outs I receive.”
Jennie turned to face the front of her desk, ignoring the shocked looks. The quietness that emitted from Lee Da Bin felt like an impending storm. Like lightning waiting for the right moment to strike.
Looking back in retrospect again, that was when Jennie really should have shut her mouth.