Love, Lumiere

like puzzle pieces

Dear Jennie,
I hope your winter break has been well! Happy New Year!

It has been a long time since we have written to each other. I miss awaiting your letters in your locker, though I understand with college acceptances, prom and graduation coming up, it is a very turbulent time, as I am going through the same events.

I thought I should let you know that you and your letters give me comfort during these hectic times. Someone I expected to be so outgoing and spontaneous turned out to be very reserved and shy, which I find absolutely charming. I do hope this new year allows you to grow more comfortably into the person I know you to be. Everyone deserves to see and love the real you.

Ah, I have gone off on a love-infused sonnet once again, or tangent, as you normal people like to say. ;)

I look forward to your long-awaited response.

Love,
Lumiere
~~

Something Lisa seriously underestimated of high schoolers is their ability and speed to spread rumors.

She's not sure how word got around, but as soon as winter break was over and everyone returned to the start of the second semester, people caught wind of Lisa and Jennie spending their New Year's together. In high-school-talk, that's quite a grand romantic gesture.

For someone like Lisa, who thrives off romantic novels and is the resident Love Letter girl, it really wasn't that big of a deal.

Well, except for the kiss. The feeling of Jennie lips remains imprinted on Lisa's cheek. Thank God that integral part of her New Year's never reached anyone's ears. She wouldn't have any idea what to do if people caught wind of that.

With the rumors, Lisa's popularity shot up through the roof. She was getting approached by random students in the hall, asking what she and Jennue did over break, what Jennie is like in real-life (Do these people just admire Jennie like she's an untouchable god? She goes to this school too, Lisa thinks), and even asking things about Lisa, like what her favorite books are and movies she would recommend. She didn't think her indulgence in Netflix's entire catalogue would be of anyone's interest or that anyone knew what her interests even were, but here she was, telling some random freshman who's looking at her with stars in their eyes that Sixteen Candles is one of her favorite classics.

But it gets suffocating after a few days, people going as far as finding her favorite secluded lunch spot, bothering her friends, and brazenly asking her out when she doesn't even know who they are. So Lisa decides in her frazzled mind that the only way to get out of this is to avoid Jennie while at school. It'll stop if she avoids the one thing that's caused everything, right?

It does the opposite of what Lisa intended.

Jennie follows her like a moth to a flame, like she always has been. Not that she's complaining, but it does attract more eyes than she'd like. Sure, she sticks out like a needle in a haystack, being six-feet-tall in comparison to those a foot shorter than her (which is nearly everyone), but people didn't care about bookworm and loner that is Lisa Manoban. Now that she had Jennie Kim attached to her name, suddenly people were interested in who she was, and it was odd.

"Lili?"

Lisa blinks.

She's at her locker, eyes trained on the polaroid photos taped on her locker door that she and Jennie took that New Year's.

Jennie's peeking from the other side of the door with the most adorable expression.

"You zoned out on me," the older laughs as Lisa coyly shuts her locker after pulling her lunch box out. "I asked if you wanted to eat lunch with my friends and I."