YOU & ME | JENLISA

Chapter 114

Jennie

Secretly, I watched her from afar. She stood with her probation officer and she smiled tightly, engaging in a light-hearted conversation. She spoke with her probation officer like on some level, they were friends. It made me sad. Lisa didn't have any friends, only Bambam. I wondered if she thought her probation officer was a friend instead of just someone being paid to spend time with her, like I was.

She pushed back her hair and breathed white mist out of her mouth whenever her hot breath mingled with the frosty autumn air.

"She's bad news for you, you know?" I turned my head to see Kai who was watching me watch Lisa.

"She's not what they make her out to be." I defended Lisa's name. I will always defend her name.

"Jen, she's a rapist."

I felt anger surge through me, I hated what everybody said about her. Nobody knew the real her, they didn't even give her a chance.

"She didn't rape anyone, you don't know her. Don't talk about her like that!"

Kai laughed, but it was dark and I didn't sense any amusement in him whatsoever. "Jen, she raped Nancy. Tore her clothes right from her body. Slashed her pink blouse to pieces. It was heart-breaking."

My brows furrowed and I looked back at Lisa. She playfully shoved her probation officer and laughed.

"How did you know it was pink?" I asked slowly.

"I was there." My eyes snapped back to him, his expression serious and deep. "I witnessed it all."

"You were in the room?"

He sucked in a small breath and then nodded his head with regret.

"So, you witnessed a girl getting raped and you didn't help her?"

He pursed his lips and set his expression straight. "I couldn't." He looked at Lisa. "You don't mess with the Manobans. I didn't want any trouble."

I shook my head and he sighed. "Look Jen, she's got into your head. Made you believe that she didn't do it. You're not safe with her. We've been friends for a long time, at one point we were even best friends. You know me, you know that I wouldn't lie."

"You're right, I know you Kai."

He smiled softly at me.

"I'll speak to you later, Kai." I didn't linger by him, his stupid face annoyed me, his whiny voice annoyed me, everything about him annoyed me.

Instead, I set my sights back on Lisa and made fast strides towards her. She had her back to me now, still talking to her probation officer. I snuck up, slipped my hands under her coat, jumper and T-shirt and pressed two ice-block palms against her bare skin. She shrieked and I laughed.

"Ahhh! That's fucking cold!" She flinched forward but then grabbed my hands and brought them around to her front, keeping them under her layers so her body heat could thaw my bones. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Jen Kim, Frank's daughter." Her probation officer extended a hand out to me and I rudely looked at it in dismay. I didn't want to take my hand out of Lisa's coat to shake his hand but reluctantly, I did. "Hi, I'm Teddy, her probation officer. I was just drug testing Lisa here."

"Teddy." Lisa interrupted.

"I think it's amazing you're going to give the judge a reference on her good character." Her probation officer continued.

"A reference?" I questioned, stepping to the side of Lisa now and looking at them both with bewilderment.

"Fuck, Teddy, can you just go?" Lisa practically begged, with a blush tainting her face. "I think Emma's waiting." My confusion grew bigger.

"Emma!" He gasped. "I'm not meeting Emma." He glanced at me and laughed in an uncomfortable way. "You joker! I'm here to watch your every move. I certainly wouldn't be ditching my job to spend three hours with some French girl." He pointed to Lisa with his thumb. "This kid."

"It was nice to meet you." I offered politely.

"Yeah, you too. I'll be watching you, Lisa." He walked away and Lisa offered me a small smile.

"You have a nice relationship with your probation officer." I commented.

"He's alright. Teddy is like me, a trailer park kid. I think on some level, he gets it."

I smiled sincerely. "He's gonna go meet some French girl now, isn't he?"

"For sure!" She laughed. "And what he said, about the reference. You don't need to give me a reference, I just thought maybe... I don't know. It might help but that's not why... I wasn't... forget it."

"Lisa, it's okay." I grabbed her hand. "I have no problem giving you a reference."

"Really?" She seemed skeptical.

"Of course."

She wore the sweetest smile upon her face, it was completely warming.

"I got to talk to you about something." Her smile wavered a little. "Kai was there, the night that Nancy accused you." Now her smile was lost entirely. She looked up and her eyes narrowed the second she set them on Kai.

"He's bluffing Jennie, ignore him. I wasn't going to tell you this but the other night, Kai was the one who gave me the aspirin. He told me it was cocaine. He doesn't like me."

"No, Lisa I don't think he is. He knew she wore a pink blouse and he knew it got torn up."

She breathed out a blast of mist. "He was there?" She replied quietly, deep in thought. I just nodded in confirmation. "So, what's he saying?"

"He's saying you did it."

She closed her eyes, her whole body tightening like the words physically hurt her. When she opened them again, I could see the fear and hurt on her face.

"Jennie, I swear to you I didn't touch her. Please believe me, I didn't lay one finger on her."

I gasped, did she think I was questioning her? "No Lisa, I know. Don't worry, I believe you."

She relaxed a little but her chest was working hard to breathe and she was shaking. I grabbed her hand and she looked down at our interlocked fingers.

"You're so cold." She commented.

"Lisa, if I talk to Kai he might stand as your witness. He might be willing to tell the truth. I think he will listen to me."

"No Jennie, forget it. He hates me, he'll make everything so much worse. Let's just leave it to my lawyers."

Principal Yang was calling everyone to continue walking around the lake. Lisa nodded up ahead, gesturing for me to go. "I'll catch up with you."

She ran off in the opposite direction and I looked at Kai. He was writing notes on a clipboard or just doodling. I chewed nervously on my lower lip and contemplated how I was going to go about this. I had to try. Lisa was facing serious charges and if I could get them dropped, I shouldn't just leave it to her lawyers, right?

"You haven't moved." Lisa laughed. I blinked in surprise, everyone had moved on and I was stood standing in a daze.

"I was daydreaming." I admitted.

"Here, I got this from that stand over there." She pointed to a small hat stand and pulled a furry hat out of a bag and showed me it before shoving it onto my head.

It was ridiculous, one of those hats with a scarf attached and hand pockets at the bottom of the scarf. The whole thing was faux fur and on the hat was a silly penguin face. She beamed a smile at me, so full of adorable innocence and charm.

"You look so cute in your little hat." She leaned forward and placed her cold lips on my forehead.

A smile stretched the entire width of my face. She bought me a hat set because she didn't want me to be cold. It made me look so ridiculous but I didn't care, I loved it and I loved how she grabbed my hand inside the scarf pocket and walked around the park together.

"Thank you." I said with a shit eating grin chewing up my face.

"Thank you." She replied, I'm not sure why but she said it with so much meaning.