From Day One | JENSOO

Chapter 4

Try again.

For Jennie, the best way to wake her mother would be to dump ice cold water on her. It'd give Jennie the most satisfaction anyway, but this was still her mother and she respected her to some extent.

"Mom, I need to go to school. Ella's downstairs watching cartoons." Her mother mumbled something Jennie didn't understand.

"Mom, did you hear me?"

Her mother flipped to the other side, her back to Jennie. "Yes, yes, honey. Be good."

Jennie stood by the foot of the bed a while longer, wondering if leaving her sister with their comatose mother was truly a good idea. But Ella was a smart kid and Jennie had already gone through all the things not to touch or do with her.

It was just until the end of this year, Jennie thought as she went down the stairs, then Ella would be in school and she wouldn't have to worry nonstop.

She kissed and hugged her sister goodbye, showing her for the tenth time how to use the phone in case of emergency. Ella listened obediently even though she had memorized the steps by the second time.

In the foyer Jennie put her heels inside her backpack and slipped on her sneakers. She'd have to walk to school and she was not doing it in heels.

She opened the door and stepped forward but the odd sight before her glued her shoes to the ground.

"Good morning."

Jennie closed the door behind her and slowly made her way across the stoned path.

"Hi," she said skeptically.

Jisoo dug her fingernails into the soft interior of her helmet. Jennie's confused expression made her doubt showing up at Jennie's doorstep unannounced.

"I thought maybe you needed a ride since your car's in the shop."

Jennie just kept staring. She had forgotten that people could be this nice, that Jisoo was this nice. Jisoo took Jennie's silence as thanks, but no thanks.

"Unless Hanbin's going to pick you up or you're going to take a taxi. I should have called earlier."

And Jisoo would have called earlier but Rosé had more or less kept her tied at home, quite literally.

"No, it's okay. I would love a ride."

Jisoo smiled brilliantly, not unlike the way Jinyoung would. They didn't share much physical resemblance but the smiles in their family could be identified easily.

The passenger's safety was her priority so Jisoo gave her helmet for Jennie to wear. "You look kind of menacing with that," Jisoo joked, zipping up her jacket.

Jennie grinned and put the visor down, hiding her face with the tinted plastic.

Once Jennie was sitting behind Jisoo she didn't know what to do with her hands, whether to hold Jisoo or the hand rails in the back. Jisoo answered for her when she took Jennie's hand and brought it around her waist.

"Hold tight."

There was a big difference riding a car than riding a motorcycle. On a motorcycle you could feel the speed, the wind, the freedom, the danger. Jennie looked at the asphalt below her feet only once, the white strips blending together to make a long streak and her arms stiffened around Jisoo.

It wasn't until the machine underneath her stilled on the school parking lot that she relaxed. "Did I go too fast?"

Jennie took off the helmet, her fingers tapping against the plastic, only they weren't tapping, they were shaking.