13 Reasons Why

Off tape 04

JISOO

"It'll be fine, "I looked quickly at Jennie before I turned my head back to the road as she nodded, clearly deep in thought.

We were currently driving to school. It was Jennie's first day back at our school in a pretty long time and I could tell she was very nervous. Well, of course, she was, everyone there bullied her and thought she was dead.

After talking with the school's principal and headboard, Jennie got everything cleaned and was allowed to start here again.

The only person besides us knowing Jennie was alive was Nayeon, but she promised not to tell anyone about it.

So that brought us here. On our way to the place where Jennie was publicly tormented and mistreated for months. I was proud of her for even wanting to step onto school property again, to be honest. But I knew she wanted to start fresh. She wanted to get over that bad chapter of her life, and the reasonable way to do that was to face her fears. Those were the people going to the school we were about to enter.

I parked in the school parking lot and grabbed Jennie's hand before she could get out of the car. She turned and looked at me, confused.

"You're amazing and I'm so proud of you for doing this. I'll be with you the whole way, and I won't let anything bad happen to you. I love you so much, "I grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her slightly closer as she smiled at me.

"Thank you so much, love. I love you too, "she pecked my lips and took one last deep breath before we stepped out of the car. We intertwined our fingers and started walking towards the large building with the bold letters writing out 'YG High School' on it.

I could feel Jennie's hands shaking and sweating in mine, but she looked rather calm after all. I hoped my pep talk in the car at least helped her nerves a little bit.

Not many people were in the parking lot since it was between first and second class right now. Jennie was very nervous last night, resulting in her getting very little sleep, so she woke up a little later than usual. And yes, I stayed over. I couldn't bear the thought of her being alone the night before something so frightening and nerve-wracking as this.

We walked up the last couple of steps to the entrance doors, hands still clamped around each other. My eyes found Jennie's one last time before I pushed open the door. As soon as we stepped foot inside, eyes were pointed in our direction. Gasps were heard, and people immediately started whispering. Some people even dropped their books of pure shock.

Everyone hurried to the sides of the hall, emptying the middle area for only Jennie and me. As we walked along the hall I felt stares from every student burning into my skin. All focus and attention were pointing toward us - or more precisely, Jennie.

People needed a couple of moments to process everything because within a minute or so a crowd formed around Jennie. They were fighting to get to her, but, to our surprise, not to say anything mean, to apologize. The first person to get Jennie's attention was Taeyong.

"Hi, Jennie, "he looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

"Taeyong, "she answered half-heartedly.

"Jennie, I'm so sorry. For everything. You didn't deserve it, and it was mean of me. Those tapes made me realize her terrible people were to you, me included, and I'm so sorry."

"Okay, thank you, "Jennie answered. She said it in a way that indicated that she heard him and understood, but still wasn't over what he did to her.

That was how it was most of the day. In the end, it all seemed a little repetitive. People, mostly the ones who had a tape dedicated to them, came up to Jennie. They apologized, said they'd never do anything like that again, and told her how glad they were that she was still alive.

Jennie ended up confronting most of the people who hurt her; Namjoon and the soccer team, Irene, Roseanne - her ex-girlfriend even visited her that day - and a lot of other people. But there was still one person left. The reason this all started. Jongin.

As far as I could tell he wasn't even in school. I hadn't seen him all day, and he was not with his usual crew of minions. That was why, at lunch, when Jennie was in the bathroom I walked to the table he normally sat at.

"Hey, um, why isn't Jongin here today?"

"He hasn't been to school ever since those tapes of Jennie's came out. I'm pretty sure he went down with depression, "One of the girls shrugged as if she didn't care. That was just the real deal with popular girls. They didn't care when it came to it.

I chose to not tell Jennie about Jongin before school was over for the day since I didn't want to lay that burden on her right now. She had a lot of other stuff to deal with.

Even though people were sorry for what they did to her, and weren't bullying her anymore, they won't dare try for real to make up for what they did. Almost everyone was keeping their distance from Jennie, practically walking on eggshells around her now.

The only ones making an effort to be in Jennie's life again were Jisoo - obviously - and Nayeon. She was constantly saying how sorry she was and doing everything in her power to make Jennie feel good. She was trying, and I will give her that, but I could tell Jennie was still conflicted about her.

After a hell of a long day, the last period finally ended and Jennie and I got off for today.

Surprisingly we hadn't been teased about the fact that we were a couple now, but people didn't dare to mess with Jennie after what happened the last time they bullied her for something. I didn't think they like the fact that we are two gay girls in love, but I couldn't care less about their opinions.

"Jennie?" I said as we were laying on her bed in the afternoon doing homework.

"Mhmm?" she answered, concentrating on the paper she was reading.

"So, um, you probably noticed Jongin wasn't in school today."

Jennie's eyes directed themselves questionably at me now, "Yeah?"

"I asked some of the girls he usually hangs out with, and they said he hasn't been in school ever since your tapes came out, and that they think he had depression because of it."

"Oh, "was all she managed to get out, which was very understandable.

"I'm not forcing you into anything, but I was thinking that maybe we should visit him. Then he would see that you aren't actually dead and maybe it'll help him to apologize to you. I know how he treated you, and you don't owe him anything, but yeah, I just-"

"I know, Jisoo, "she smiled understandably.

"I think it's a good idea, "she pecked my lips quickly, making me smile.

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Finally, people came to their senses!