Blanket Of Stars | jensoo

green eyed monster

One of my favourite things to do when I was little was to go into the woods not far from our house. I never got bored hanging out in there with my friends or on occasion the older kids from the neighbourhood used to be down there, there's a part down there that you have to climb down, Jin estimated it to be a fifty foot drop from the top. It was easy to climb down, you just pray the roots you're white knuckling won't give way and think to yourself how brave you are for the rest of the day, until you have to climb back up that is.

Looking back now it was dangerous for kids, kids who thought they were ready for anything. Kids who were seven years old.

My friend lost a shoe down there once, his foot got stuck and it fell off when I was trying to get it free.

The cooler kids used to make swings from trees that were as tall as the houses, or atleast it seemed that way back then, I was dared to try it out once and I accepted the offer, I was terrified but I could have probably done with some character building. I fell off, the impact on landing wasn't the worst pain though as I only fell on my butt, it was how I put my hands out to stop my sliding further down the slope and I dragged a bumble bee with me. It was just hanging off my thumb, dying.

I must have been in shock because Nayeon hurried to me and asked me if I was all right but I couldn't speak, suddenly my thumb was bumble bee free and her mouth was over it, sucking. That was the first time a girl's tongue was on my skin and I can say with all honesty that my eyes weren't wide because of the pain.

I still think that however nice it felt she shouldn't have done it, it was probably dirty from the fall.

My mother never approved of us spending time in the woods and I can't even tell you how many times I was grounded for ignoring her warnings of how dangerous it was to be in there.

The only time I took her seriously was when she told me one of her classmates died in there, she was walking home and took a shortcut through the woods when some guy strangled her with his belt. I still don't know if it was something she said just to stop me from going down there or if she was being honest but a few weeks after that I stopped going there. If I did happen to be feeling daring I would just stay at the front of the woods.

At the front I always remember a small single dead tree and I could never reach the first branch no matter how hard I tried. All my friends could reach it and pull themselves up but I couldn't, even if I jumped it was still just out of my reach.

One day last year I took a walk through those woods and I couldn't believe how low the branch was, I could reach it without a problem.

For the past week Jennie has been nothing but nice, she even pushes a chair out for me at the dinner table and then 'decides' to sit in the next seat leaving enough room for me to squeeze in without her parents noticing the moving chair.

They still work long hours and they didn't press Jennie for more answers when they asked about her neck, she told them it was some guy and I know that technically she wasn't lying but they hardly batted an eyelid.

"Jisoo?"

I look at the only person who knows my name, "Yeah?"

Jennie is standing by the TV holding two DVDs. "Mulan or Alladin?"

I'm supposed to be able to pick?

"I love both, you pick."

"No no, you pick."

I roll my eyes but can't help smiling at her. "Alladin."

The thin air about five feet away from me gets a smile. "Can you bring the popcorn in?"