Tales | jensoo

Kinda Fake Dating - II

Jisoo didn't make a big announcement. Instead, she finally tells Lisa, another gossiper, who has been pestering her about it since the word first came out. And no one can spread a rumor faster than Lisa Manobal. Within minutes, the whole school knew.

It took Roseanne less than fifteen minutes to come storming over to where Jisoo was sitting with Jinyoung (who hasn't stopped frowning since Jisoo told him her plan).

"Jennie Kim?!" She whisper-shouted. "I thought you weren't dating anyone and now you're dating Jennie Kim? She's bad news, Jisoo. I can't believe that you-"

"Rosie!" Jisoo all but shouted and it surprised Roseanne enough that she fell silent. "I'm not actually dating her. She's just helping me and she's nothing like Hanbin. She's nice and really sweet."

"That's what people thought about Hanbin before he literally killed someone," Jinyoung said angrily.

"She has never done anything like that," Jisoo spits back. "You have no evidence that she has. You're just judging her on stuff that her brother did. Anyway, it's not like it matters. We aren't really dating."

Jinyoung didn't say another word, but his frown did get deeper. Roseanne put out a huff of exasperation.

"Jisoo, I swear, you do this stuff to make my life harder," The blonde said.

"I don't. I'm just hoping that if I tell them I'm dating someone, the mystery wears off and they'll leave me alone. And if not, Jennie agreed to stage a public break up so that it can all be well and truly done with."

"You're ridiculous and this is almost certainly going to blow up in your face," Roseanne disagreed.

Jisoo shrugged, "It can't be worse than this."

-

It did blow up in her face almost immediately.

People stopped coming up to her but the whispers increased. People seemed less concerned that she will hear now because they're louder and she can hear them and it made her blood boil.

"I can't believe Jisoo is dating a Kim. Do you think she tricked her?"

"What could Jisoo possibly see in that Kim trash?"

"I can't imagine Jisoo and her together. She's just so.. weird."

Jisoo found herself going through the day with her hands curled into fists at her sides.

By the time that she made it to the library at lunch, she's ready to punch something. Jennie was already there, picking at a Caesar salad. She didn't look up when Jisoo stumbled in.

"You're really well-liked you know," Jennie said softly, and there's something hollow in her tone of voice that turned Jisoo's fury cold. "I've had four people come up to me today and tell me to stay away from you. They think I'm corrupting you."

Jisoo wanted to cry. And she found that before she could even stop herself, she was crying. Silent tears ran down her cheeks and she did her best not to sob. Jennie finally looked up at her and her face drops.

"Oh, Jisoo. I'm sorry for whatever they said to you. I knew they would be awful but I didn't think that they'd be mean to you. I mean, they all love you. I'm really sorry for dragging you into this."

"They didn't say anything about me. Don't worry about that. But the stuff they said about you.. it was awful, Jennie. I mean, they don't even know you, and just because your brother.. I mean, what he did was awful, but you aren't him and they were just so mean."

"Wait, you're crying for me?" Jennie queried, looking utterly startled.

"You've been hearing this stuff since your freshman year haven't you?" Jisoo asked softly. "How did you.. I mean, how do you manage it? How do you stop yourself from going crazy?"