FAUX REAL

8

"Lisa!" Rosé screams at the top of her lungs, running towards me with Wendy and Kai in tow. "Why aren't you eating in the dining hall? It's fajita Friday, bitch!"

I glance at the sad half-eaten blueberry muffin on my lap as I refresh Hilton Hears, the autumn sun shining down on me. The dining hall is a breeding ground for gossip so it's best to avoid it until I can come up with a plausible explanation for my current predicament. So far no one has come up to me and asked about Jennie. Granted, Seulgi and her friends aren't enrolled in any AP classes so I've managed to steer clear of them. As soon as the bell rang in each one of my classes, I darted out there before anyone could hassle me for information. I've received a few questioning stares but that's all.

It's been five days since Hilton Hears blasted that message about me, and two day since I've seen Jennie. She's very good at keeping a low profile. She's never in the common room and I don't see her around campus. It's like she's hiding.

From who, though? Me?

"Hey guys," I say with a sigh as my friends plop down around me. "How're your classes going?"

"I'm already failing math," Wendy says with a shrug, her bright green eyes fixated on her fresh manicure. "We had a pop quiz this morning and I got two of ten questions correct."

"Oh," I hum, nodding my head. How in the- "That's not bad. At least you got two....right?"

"Honestly, how was I supposed to know they'd test us about shit we learned last year?" she asks. "Do they really expect us to remember?"

I close my eyes. Thank goodness her parents own a hotel chain. "Well, you're not supposed to forget everything, wen. That's not the point of an education. Especially math, sweetie. It's like building blocks. If you don't know the basics you can't move forward."

"Whatever," she huffs, pulling out her phone. "I'm just going to start dating Suho or something. He'll help me out. He just asked me out a few minutes ago."

Kai cocks his head to the side. "You're going to date Suho Junmyeon just so he'll help you pass math? Seriously, wen? That is so gross."

"So what? He likes me and he's cute," Wendy says, unbothered as she replies to a text. Oh, she wasn't joking. "Apparently it's the season of love. Right, lisa?"

"What?" I ask, my eyes widening. "What are you talking about?"

"You and jennie, duh," she says, a knowing grin on her face. "You're dating, right? Everyone was talking about it in English."

My eyes dart to Rosé who's inhaling a fajita wrapped in a napkin. Oops. I think she just ate a part of the napkin. "Rosie? Can you corroborate?"

She finishes chewing at lightning-fast speed before stating, "Yup. Facts. Everyone knows that you're dating the new kid."

"Oh," I hum, anxiety jolting my stomach. "Great."

"I'm surprised you're dating her," Kai comments. "She's not your type at all. But I'm kind of proud of you for finally moving on from taeyong. I mean, we were pretty shocked to hear the news from HH rather than from you but still, we're proud."

"I guess that kiss sparked a little something-something, didn't it?" Wendy asks, wiggling her eyebrows. "I sensed you weren't telling us the whole truth about jennie."

Kai and Wendy are two of my closest friends and I hate lying to them but the fewer people that know about this the better. I don't think that they'd spill my secret but Sehun's house party is coming up this weekend and they get quite chatty when they're drunk. Better safe than sorry.