YOU & ME | JENLISA

Chapter 14

Jennie

"Don't look now, but there's a really cute guy behind you and he's checking you out... I said don't look!"

"Isn't he a freshman?" I asked.

"Eww, is he?" Rosé grimaced. "Come back when you've grown pubes dude!" Rosé shouted across the school corridors at him.

"Oh my god, Rosé!" I banged my head against the locker, while trying to cool down my burning skin.

"Oh fuck, don't look now but there's Lisa and she's... I said don't look! Jesus! Where are you going? Jen!" I ignored the sound of Rosé behind me and marched up to Lisa. I shoved my hand into her shoulder and her eyes widened at me.

"What!?" She snapped. I dropped to my knees and tried to pull up the leg of her jeans but she shook me off. "Jesus, what the fuck!? Personal space! Personal space!"

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry about her... she took a crazy pill this morning." Rosé pulled me to my feet. "Shit. No. Sorry. Um. She didn't take a pill, she doesn't do drugs. Not that... shit. I'm so sorry. I don't mean to offend you, she's just lost her mind... please don't hurt us."

"I want to see it." I ignored Rosé. "Show it to me." I pointed down to her ankles. I was mildly aware that everyone was watching me, whispering about me, and calling me crazy. Lisa had a glint to her eye, a mocking one.

"C'mon Jen, let's back away... slowly." Rosé cooed, forcing me to take steps away from Lisa. Once we got out of earshot from everyone, she slapped my bicep and railroaded me for ten minutes straight. "What were you thinking?! Have you gone mad!?" The bell rang above our heads and I sighed. "I've got to get to class."

Mr Choi was not in again, my dance squad waved me over and at first I made my way towards them, but changed my mind when I noticed that Lisa sitting alone. My face tightened and I stormed over there, sitting down right beside her. She kind of leaned away from me, shocked to have someone sitting next to her but then she relaxed and brought herself back to the centre.

"Can't say that I'm loving this new human interaction." She mumbled.

"I just need to know, did you put it back on?" The light coming through the windows directly hit her eyes, shining each fleck in shades of olive green, murky brown and gold. I never imagined that I would look into Lisa Manoban's eyes and think that they were beautiful, yet here we were. They were soft and humble, they didn't suit the rest of her shell. They didn't deserve to be in a body full of bruises and abused by substances. They deserved to be the eyes of someone kind-hearted and wholesome.

The silence droned on, with my question being ignored.

"Where did you go?"

"Nowhere."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Who did you see?"

"No one."

"Lisa." I breathed out in frustration, while pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Jennie." she mocked, while curling her lip into a slight smile.

The smile sparked her eyes even further and I almost didn't recognise her. They were warm and mesmerising, with the power to make you forget just how rough the rest of her looked. There was a certain gentleness to her that I got the feeling most people didn't get to see often.

The substitute teacher gave us work from Mr. Choi's lesson plan. I wrote the date at the top of the page, Lisa didn't write anything, she just sat still and calm.

"You're breaking stereotypes right now and the small minded can't handle that." She pointed her chin to my dance group, all of which were staring right at us, looking utterly mortified. I sighed, knowing that I would have to deal with Krystal later.

"Please Lisa. I risked my dad's job. I just need to know that you've put it back on, you're not gonna take it off again and you didn't do anything... criminal last night."

She licked the scab on her lip and quietly contemplated my words. Thick silence fell over us once more. Just when I thought that I had lost the battle, she lifted the leg of her jeans slightly and showed me the ankle bracelet.

"Last night I went to work, I needed the money." She flexed her scabby knuckles a few times and frowned down at them, while avoiding eye contact. "I can't work with it on."

"You know there's an agreement where you can work while you're being monitored, right?"

She shook her head. "I work at a bar."

My brows furrowed.

"You're underage, you're not allowed to work at a bar."

She smirked at me. "I'll give you a few seconds to catch up." She wrote her name and the date on her blank paper. I finally came to the realisation as to why she needed the ankle monitor off to go to work. "And you won't take it off again?"

Silence.

"Lisa."

"I may be a lot of things Jennie, but I don't break the promises I make so I'm not gonna say that I won't take it off again because I probably will, a lot. But if I get caught, I'm not a fink. I won't drag your name into it or your dad's."

With that, I turned back to my paper. Writing a summary on an overly dramatic book that we read on our last homework assignment. I couldn't argue with her, my word held no weight to her at all. She didn't care about me and quite frankly I didn't care about her. I just wanted my father to not be reprimanded for my stupid actions and I didn't want anyone to get hurt because of them either.

Blood dripped onto her paper and my eyes widened, she held her nose and sighed. "Great." She whispered sarcastically.

I handed her a tissue and she screwed it into her nostril, while keeping her head tilted back. She stood up out of her seat, grabbed her bag and left the classroom - all the while staring at the ceiling.

"What the fuck?" Krystal mouthed to me, pissed off that I sat next to Lisa and not with her.

I shrugged at her and looked down at her page, it was stark white with a few pen markings but the blood stood out viciously scarlet. I couldn't help but feel responsible, she probably bought the drugs last night with her new found freedom and I just made it so much easier for her to get them again and again and again.