READY FOR LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 6

Lisa

After wasting nearly thirty minutes of my life, Irene decides to take it further, pulling up another power point presentation about herself, declaring that we need to get to know each other since we'll be spending the semester together. I mentally groan as she goes on and on about herself.

"Alright, everyone, that's all I have about me. Now let's hear about you!" She prances over to the whiteboard, picking up a dry erase marker, scribbling. "Whoever you are sitting next to will be your partner for the semester, someone you're going to have to spend time with, so I want you to get to know each other, as well as the whole class." She continues writing on the board, making a bullet point list of questions. "First, I want you to get to know your partner, figure out their name, where they're from, their major, and what they want to do in future. When you're all finished, I'll have you stand up and introduce your partner to the class."

Multiple groans fill the air, everyone hating having to introduce themselves to a class, let alone another person. But I don't find myself minding it as much as I usually would. I twist a bit in my seat to face Jennie, and she turns her body towards mine as well, our knees almost knocking together. She gives me a small, almost shy smile. "Hi, I'm Jennie Kim."

I mentally jot that down.

"Lisa Manoban." I extend my hand out to her and she places her small hand in my much larger one, shaking it.

"Nice to meet you. I don't think we've had a class together before."

Definitely not. I would have remembered. Regardless, I try to play it cool. "No, I don't think so. What year are you?"

"I'm a senior, graduating in the spring. You?"

"I'm a senior too." I admit, feeling disappointed to have only just met her and have our paths cross now. "What are you majoring in?" I ask, hoping maybe our majors are so far off and that's why we've never ran into each other.

"I'm pre-med with a minor in chemistry."

I feel my lips purse into a frown. "I'm in health management, specialising in exercise science. How have we never run into each other?"

She gives me a tiny, one shoulder shrug. "I've seen you around a couple of times, but I guess we've never had the chance to fully run into each other."

I nod, disappointed that she's seen me around but I've never spotted her before. "Damn. I should pay more attention."

A small giggle passes her lips, and I'm pretty sure a small blush is blossoming across her cheeks. "Are you originally from Georgia?"

I shake my head. "Nah, I just came here for college. I'm originally from Florida, I guess."

"You guess?" she grins, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yeah, I moved around a lot as a kid, but I was born in Florida and spent most of my time there. Are you originally from here?" I ask, quickly diverting any possible conversation about my past.

"Yeah, my parents have lived here their whole lives."

"That's pretty uncommon; kids from around here staying for college. You didn't want to move away? Experience some place new?"

She shrugs. "I guess I like it here too much."

"So pre-med, that's pretty ambitious." I comment, twisting my body more towards her, getting comfortable in my chair.

She smiles. "Yeah. The plan is actually to become a cardiologist."

My brows nearly shoot up to my hairline. "Woah, a cardiologist? Like, you literally want to have people's hearts in your hands and work on them?"

"Obviously, that's what a cardiologist does..." I hear pale rat boy mutter lowly, and it takes everything in me not to give him the finger and tell him to mind his own business.

Jennie nods, not hearing him. "I've always been intrigued by the heart and all it can handle. Then I did some shadowing in the hospital over the summer and fell in love with it."

"Wow, that's more than ambitious... that's badass." I admit, making her smile.

"What about you? What are your plans after college?" she asks, and I suddenly feel a little embarrassed, my aspirations way off from hers.

"Oh, uh..." I awkwardly cup a hand around the back of my neck, massaging. "I actually plan on playing football. I want to get drafted by the NFL after college."

Her eyes widen. "Oh wow, that's really awesome." she says genuinely, not at all in a condescending or fake tone that I was partially expecting based on her academics.

"Do you like football?"

She cringes in embarrassment. "I mean, I've watched a few games with my dad, but honestly, half the time I have no clue what's going on."

"Don't worry, I can teach you." I reply smoothly, proud of myself.

"Alright, class!" Irene yells over all the chatter, trying to take reign over the classroom. "Are we ready?"

One by one, each pair of partners stand up and introduce each other to the class. When it's our table's turn, Rosé quickly shoots up from her seat first, rat boy following suit unenthusiastically. I find out Rosé's full name is Roseanne Park. She's a senior majoring in pre-med, wanting to become a neurosurgeon. Rat boy's name is Kim Taehyung and I'm still debating whether I'm going to call him by his real name or not. He's also a senior majoring in pre-med, wanting to become an MD.

Once they're finished, I stand up with Jennie, actually looking forward to this. "Hello, everyone." I greet the class, gesturing towards Jennie. "This is Jennie Kim. She's a senior here from Georgia, majoring in pre-med. After college, she plans on going to med school and becoming a cardiologist."

I look over to Jennie who gives me a small, surprised smile and an approving nod for going off script, not needing notes in front of me like most students.

"And this is Lisa Manoban." Jennie gestures towards me. "She's a senior, originally from Florida, and majoring in exercise science. After college, she plans on playing football for the NFL." Now it's her turn to look at me and I give her a grin, raising my fist to her for a fist bump. Once we take our seats, the next table continues on with introductions, the class finally ending after the last pair goes.