Her Wish

Her Wish [Chapter 21]

All day, folded and crumpled notes landed on Jennie’s desk top, in hopes of earning her detention for the end of the day, or even better, the entire week. However, she did her best to ignore them, only pausing for seconds to brush them emotionlessly off her desk before continuing with her class notes.

But it got to a point where the teacher had to have been blind to not notice the increasing amount of balled papers surrounding Jennie’s desk. As she watched him make his way over, Jennie cringed inwardly. Perhaps it hadn’t been the smartest idea to merely brush them aside, but what other choice had she been left with?

“Jennie.”

Her head rose immediately, dread filling her as her mind quickly worked out a story to tell the teacher. However, she began to bite on her lip frantically when she came up with none. Jennie looked around, her eyes locking with Elie’s who had turned around in her seat to watch the results of her day’s long worth of efforts unfold.

She remained silent.

“Explain this.”

But how could she? How could she so easily say that she was being tormented just because she happened to unknowingly befriend the boy her supposed best friend liked? How could she reason with the teacher that none of this was her fault, that she hadn’t even wanted this to begin with? How could she explain something that she doubted her teacher had the time to hear?

“I’m sorry,” she bowed her head in apology, knowing there was nothing left for her to do.

He shook his head, frowning in disappointment, “Clean this up immediately. Detention after school, I think.”

Elie’s gaze lingered on Jennie only for a second longer before turning back around in her chair, the lesson resuming once more.

After that, the notes stopped. Jennie wasn’t sure if it was because Elie had given her classmates some sort of signal to stop or because they were finally satisfied, feeling they had accomplished what they’d set out for.

-

“Detention, huh?”

A self-satisfied voice rang from the doorway as the person watched Jennie cleaning the classroom alone. It was particularly dirty today, and Jennie hadn’t needed to think very long to draw conclusions as to why. The chalkboard had been covered in girlish scribbles, litter scattered all around the classroom.

Although she already recognized the person from the sound of their voice, Jennie’s head rose anyway to see Elie leaning against the wall. She said nothing in response, continuing to brush aside stray scraps of paper, a gaze of acknowledge being the only thing signifying that she was aware of Elie’s presence.

“You know, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Elie continued to speak out, unbothered by Jennie’s silence. After five years of friendship, she had already adapted to Jennie’s lack of speech.

Jennie silently willed for her to go away, to leave her alone and just allow her to clean the classroom in peace. Day after day it was something she found even scarcer in her life. Every corner she turned she never knew what awaited her. But even now, Elie still felt the need to abuse her power further, presenting herself just when Jennie had begun to believe she was alone.

“You shouldn’t have lied to me.”

Those words stopped her short, creating a slight pause in Jennie’s actions. Up until now, she had thought she knew clearly Elie’s intentions behind such desire to isolate her. However, those few words confused her, making her question if she really knew anything at all.

She quickly resumed her cleaning, though this time murmuring a few words in response, “When did I lie?”

Elie laughed, but there was no amusement in it, “Are you really going to play innocent?”