so, do we like each other or not? // JENLISA

Chapter 21

It was obvious that Jennie was really angry, because Lisa's phone went silent for the next week. Lisa had thought that maybe she would force her into an event every single night just to punish her, but it seemed that instead she'd chosen to sulk.

At first, Lisa didn't mind – she was still mad and a little bit hurt, and she could do without Jennie’s attitude problems for a day or two. But by the following weekend, the silence had begun to get to her. She kept picking up her phone and staring at Jennie’s number, hoping that sheer will alone would be enough to convince her to call.

Downstairs, she could hear Mary and David giggling in the living room. It was Saturday afternoon and David had stayed the night, as he did increasingly often nowadays, and Lisa hadn't been able to force herself to go down and see them yet because their delighted laughter was making her chest hurt. Instead, she was sitting cross-legged on her bedroom floor, moving all her 'final demand' envelopes from one box to another because they didn't fit into their original crate anymore. It was already a low moment in her life, but then she glanced up at her newly brimming closet and genuinely thought she might cry.

She'd somehow ended up in a position where the contents of that rickety old wardrobe was worth more than every cent she earned in a year, and while its hangers were full, her bank account was still shamefully in the red. She'd considered selling some of her new outfits, but the wastefulness of it made her fingers itch – she'd grown up in houses where she only got one new shirt a year, and to buy a full suit and then toss it away again after only one wear was somehow beyond her. She was convinced she'd be able to make this work – she might be able to get away with wearing plenty of items again if she just waited another couple of weeks.

She told herself it desperately, acid rising up in her throat.

Letters from her bank were coming thick and fast every single day, and although she was already on her third pay packet, she'd barely made a dent in any of her debts. She went sailing into every month with good intentions, wiring a few hundred dollars to the first company that was lucky enough to be sitting in prime position at the very top of the box. But then, before she knew it, she'd bought five new outfits and a pair of shoes. There wasn't much left after all that.

She groaned, shoving the box away from her, because she knew she had no right to complain. But then Mary and David laughed once more, sounding so comfortable together, and she suddenly felt lonelier than she'd ever felt before in her life.

She briefly considered going downstairs to join them, because it couldn't possibly make her feel worse and it might even make her feel better, but then she heard a buzzing sound from her nightstand. She crawled over and saw that her phone had lit up with Jennie’s name, and for a split second she considered letting it roll over to voicemail just to make a point.

Then her heart thumped, her hand reached out, and she knew there was no way she was going to do that.

"Hello?" she asked, swallowing hard.

"Lisa," a voice chirped back at her, and it sure as hell didn't belong to Jennie. "I need your help with a book report."

For a second, Lisa just blinked. Then she tentatively asked, "Lucas?"

"Yeah, it's me. Will you help me? You know more about stories than anyone and I'm stuck and I want it to be good."

Lisa was already trying not to laugh. "Does your mom know you're calling me?"