HERO (JenLisa)

1: Childhood Hero

When did I fall in love with her?

Lisa can't give the exact moment when she realized how deeply she has fallen for her friend, Jennie.

But she can tell you the time when she first felt that the Korean was something else, belonging to an entirely different league from the rest of ordinary people in her life.

~ ~ ~ ~

Lisa will always remember how it felt when Jennie spoke up for her the first time.

It was in seventh grade, the awkward stage where a lot of kids are feeling they are not 'children' anymore and wanted to be called young adults but not really falling into that category yet.

For a tall, lanky girl like Lisa, who only transferred from Thailand to Korea a year ago, the word "cool" isn’t likely to be associated anywhere near her. But it doesn't bother Lisa.

They could have said - "Lisa, it's not cool to wear sweatpants every single day of school," but eh, she was comfortable.

They could have told her, "Lisa, it's not cool to go to the school dance and do solo step dancing for the entire The Fame album of Lady Gaga." She would not have stopped spinning and dancing anyways.

Then seventh grade happen, and all of a sudden being a seventh grader only has two options of existence: Either be cool or be invisible. And Lisa was doing pretty well at option two.

Until on the second day of the first week back, when a teacher had them fill out a questionnaire with 'getting to know you' questions.

Silly her assumed that the Teacher would be reading them privately, so Lisa felt momentarily safe to share from the perspective of the sweatpants-wearing, lady gaga-dancer wannabe that she was.

The teacher collected the sheets, shuffled and distributed them to the class. And then they went one by one – they will read the other student's name and tell the whole class their top three favorite answers.

Her, being the unlucky young Lalisa Manoban, got her sheets ended up in the hands of a kid who was one of the “coolest” and meanest in her class.

His "favorite answers" of Lisa’s were the three worst ones to be read out loud.

The first question was 'What's your favorite movie?" The other kids wrote Fast and Furious and The Hangover. Lisa remembered thinking "We're twelve! How are you watching R-rated movies?"

He read her answer, 'Happy Feet'. A laugh erupted in the room and Lisa’s cheeks burned because she knew, the mean kid was just getting started.

The next question he read was 'Where would you like to travel?', the others wrote Japan, Australia, Lisa wrote - 'Wherever a book takes me.'

The laughter this time exploded, and a lot of her classmates were even high-fiving.

The final question was 'What do you like to do after school?'. The other wrote 'hang out with friends' and 'go to the mall'. She wrote - 'Dance in my room and practice hand stand'.

Those who weren't laughing at her were sort of looking at her like they were saying - you're a girl, why would you like to do hand stands?

Lisa felt like she was such a loser, and just bowed her head down hoping the ground would just swallow her up.

But then, something amazing happened.

A voice, an angel's voice from the back of the room said -

"Guys, cut it out."

And the room went silent.

The voice belonged to Jennie Ruby Jane Kim, Jennie Kim as she usually called by the teachers.

She's the prettiest girl not only in their class or grade level, but Lisa thinks the whole school.

Jennie Kim was popular and cool.

Jennie Kim had sway. The room was quiet.

But this angel was not done. She turned her eyes to the teacher and addressed her, with a slight frown.

"Why are you letting this happen, teacher? What is the point if we're just gonna make fun of each other?"

And Lisa looked up, and didn't take her eyes off her angel until the end of the class.

She was grateful, and at the time her heart beats a little faster, and happy as she scrutinize every inch of her classmate’s pretty face that day. The cute fluffy cheeks, her cat-like eyes that looks intimidating but Lisa now knew, holds in kindness.

Jennie Kim.

Even back then Lisa knew that she will always remember Jennie Kim's name. To this day, she cannot remember the teacher or the boy's names, but she still remembers how it felt when Jennie spoke up for her because the Korean showed her that day that you can either be of the three options:

One, you can be cool, and be remembered for a little while.

Two, you can be invisible, and don't be remembered at all.

And three; That if you stand up for somebody when they need you most, then you will be remembered as their hero for the rest of their life.

But Jennie is not just a fond childhood memory, she is still in Lisa’s life, her friend, her angel, her love - Jennie.

If only I could make Jennie also love me.

~~~~
A.N.

This is my personal favorite from my now deleted short stories compilation 'Touch of Black, Shades of Pink', sadly I don't even have copies of my other stories there 😭