Precious Things || Jensoo

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

I haven't looked at her. My eyes have skirted around her like she's an Jennie Kim-shaped hole in the universe. It doesn't matter anyway: even if I look at her, it will change nothing.

Don't think for a minute I've been put off by her thinking I'm a loser. I was under no illusions about that anyway. Sure, it stung, but I'm used to it.

Still, I have to protect the little bit of me that still resides deep inside. And to do that, I have to pretend that I can be aloof. That's where the illusion comes in. Some control over something is all I ask for. Some illusion.

School is always the same for me. I can almost make myself believe that everything is forgotten, except that I can feel Jongin's eyes on me. It's creepy, even though the way he's looking at me isn't. He's thoughtful; I can feel it. And I know he's spoken to Jennie because I saw him turn to her, saw him say something and I saw her look at me. I was clearly too far away to hear what they were talking about, but even from afar I could read her body language.

I share a few classes with Jennie, and, except for gym, Krystal is in all of them, too. Aah, the queen bee. She's not mean to me because she dislikes me, she's mean to me because it comes with the job description. Still, it annoys me that Jennie agrees with her, because I know for a fact that Jennie refuses to do anything Krystal tells her to just because Krystal told her to. I could just imagine the look of disbelief and sheer amusement on Krystal's face if she ever found out how I feel about Jennie.

See, I've seen Jennie be nice to people. I've seen her laugh and be happy. I've seen enough to make my heart ache and my stomach keen and all of those butterflies take air at once.

We have History together. History is my favourite subject. Something about being forced to live in the past, I suppose, makes me a little fond of it. I love immersing myself in times gone past and just absorbing the atmosphere. I like knowing how we got to where we are. Today in History, Miss Charles is late. This, of course, results in a very noisy classroom.

I'm sitting in my chair by the window doodling on a piece of paper. I can hear the inane chatter going on around me but I'm not really paying much attention to it. Jennie, of course, sits towards the back of the class. Not in the final row, because that belongs to the slackers and sleepers, but far enough back that she doesn't taint her cool nature.

She's giggling with Krystal. I don't need to turn around to know this, my ears hone in on her honeyed tones no matter where I am. God, she has a sexy voice.

The ironic thing is, if she fronted up to my desk right now and said, "How 'bout it? You and me?" I'd be completely stumped. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Like everything else in my life, this is entirely in my head, where it's safe.

Miss Charles walks in and I put away my piece of paper, making sure my books are perfectly lined up on the desk. No one else really does anything but keep talking. My History teacher is lovely. She's by far my favourite teacher in the school, and she's not exactly hard on the eye, either: tall, brunette, with a sweet smile and a nice demeanour. She's a great teacher and she's always nice to me. Most of my other teachers basically ignore me, like everyone else in the world, but not Miss Charles. She never ignores anyone.

"Come on now class, quiet down." It's not very loud, but she commands enough respect to get everyone to sit forward and pay attention. Everyone except Don Ames who's asleep in the corner with his hat over his face. That's okay, he does that in every class. God knows what he does all night, but it sure as hell can't be sleep.

"Miss Kim, I know you and Miss Jung must have some very, very important things to talk about but right now may not be the most appropriate time." Miss Charles flashes her smile and wit across the desks to where Jennie is leaning over and whispering to Krystal. The warmth in my heart grins back as she settles down in her seat.