Imperfectly Perfect [Chaelisa]

forty three

"This is so weird," Jisoo announces as she stares at the chair that was Somi's, "Chaeng, you should've taught her all the wrong stuff so she'd be here with us this year."

Chaeyoung looks up from her book in confusion, not expecting to be addressed. "Who? What are we talking about?"

"Somi," Jisoo replies as Lisa giggles and starts rubbing circles on Chaeyoung's back. "You should've conveniently taught her the wrong things for her classes last year so she'd still be here."

"You're making it sound like she's dead," Jennie laughs. "Her college is ten minutes down the road and we're going to see her at the weekends."

Jisoo frowns, but her expression lightens completely when Jennie takes hold of her hand and gives it a small squeeze. "Yeah. I guess so. It's still weird though, like an empty hole where she should be."

"Chaeyoung and Jennie could've been gone too." Lisa points out. "We still have two of our responsible adults."

"Look, I still swear that my second grade teacher hated me. Like, who even needs the second grade anyway?" Jennie rolls her eyes. "Not my fault she held me back for no reason."

"Actually, you did miss like two months of school." Jisoo argues, turning to Lisa to explain. "She got pneumonia in second grade and her teacher held her back. That's why she's with us."

"Again, not my fault." Jennie argues, "I blame my immune system and my evil teacher."

"Our teacher wasn't evil," Jisoo counters, "if she really hated you, she would've moved you up to seventh grade so you'd be out of that completely. She'd hardly keep you for another year."

Chaeyoung looks up from her book. "She could've at least given her a chance to catch up on all the missed stuff. But then you'd be somewhere at college instead of here with us, and I'd miss you. So I'm glad your teacher held you back."

"I wouldn't have met you guys." Jennie points out. "And that'd be like hell. So I guess it was okay. I still hold a grudge though."

As Jisoo and Jennie continue to bicker, Lisa turns to Chaeyoung, who is incredibly invested in the novel she's reading - Stephen King's It. "I'm glad you started school a year late, babe. I wouldn't want my girlfriend to be off at college somewhere without me."

Chaeyoung hums in response. "Yes."

"Sociable," Lisa comments, raising her eyebrows at Chaeyoung's one word response, "but I guess you're too busy reading to pay attention to me."

Chaeyoung frowns to herself and seems to remember something, closing her book quickly. "You said we'd go to the counsellor today. We can go at lunchtime."

Lisa lets out a reluctant sigh, because she'd kind of hoped Chaeyoung would forget about that. "Do we have to? Nothing has happened since the... incident, so I think it's safe to say I'm okay."

"No, we're going," Chaeyoung is quick to reply, "and you can't convince me not to, because I know you're going to try by kissing me and telling me nice things, but it won't work this time. Because I'm not going to be a pushover with this. It's serious."

"Fine," Lisa rolls her eyes, "we'll go at lunch. Anyway, what do you think is going on with Jensoo? We know they went on their date, but they haven't specified any changes to their relationship. Do you think they're together?"

Chaeyoung closes her eyes, tapping on her leg. "They are holding hands. Maybe they're not girlfriends yet. Maybe they're just dating friends."

"Ah, dating friends. Forgot about that crucial point in a relationship." Lisa sends her girlfriend a teasing smile, but when Chaeyoung opens her eyes and doesn't smile back, Lisa's look changes to one of concern. "Are you okay?"