Precious Things || Jensoo

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I don't hear much of what my History teacher has to say for the rest of the lesson. In fact, I'm stymied by the fact that I still appear to be alive. It's like my greatest dream and my worst nightmare have happened all at once.

I know my grandfather expects me to hit the pillow at ten every night and sleep instantly. Well, my head doesn't always accede to his expectations and I lie awake. Of course, I think of her. What else is there to think about? The hours and hours of secretly stored video tape in my head that play the Jennie Kim movie over and over are sometimes interrupted by that bastion of all teenage brains: daydreaming. Is it still called daydreaming at night?

Always, always, Jennie and I are thrust together by circumstance and always, she finds me irresistible. Of course, the circumstances are always a little more dramatic, such as earthquakes, school invasions and alien hordes invading. They're never this banal, but then again, they're never this real.

The problem with daydreams is that I control them. They never go badly because then they'd be daynightmares, which makes no sense whatsoever. The problem with reality is that I have no control over it, and never will. Things can, and almost certainly will, go wrong. And now that I'm panicking about it, I'm sure to shove my foot so far in mouth that my foot starts playing with my appendix at our very first meeting.

Oh, Christ!

At the end of the lesson, Miss Charles gives us five minutes to sort out when we're going to start working together. We'll have nearly a month to do this project, and there will be class time, but we'll mostly have to work outside school hours. This, I anticipate, will be a huge problem given my grandfather, but still, it's gotta be done. I'm guessing most of my work will be done solo.

A thought hits me: what if Jennie just wants to split the project up? What if we work entirely separately? It's both a possible escape and a horrendous idea all at the same time.

I wish I could make my mind up about this.

While everyone else is scrabbling around the classroom to talk to their pairs, Jennie and I remain in our seats. I swing around to look at her, to see if she'll give me a signal to come on over or if she's going to make her way to me. She does neither, just leans back in her chair and inspects a nail. The action makes her shirt ride up and a delicious sliver of gorgeous toned skin makes goose bumps rise on my arm.

After a minute of her not looking at me, I finally make a decision. Swinging my bag onto my shoulder, I walk down the aisle, my heart pounding with every step. She sits between Jongin and Krystal every History lesson. Her two companions have been leaning across her desk talking, occasionally throwing remarks to her. Jongin sees me coming and scrambles to vacate his seat, a move that surprises all three of the women around him.

Grinning, he says, "Here," and moves to the front of class where Miss Charles lets him escape early.

I gingerly take his seat, sideways, and am about to say something to Jennie when Krystal flips her hair over her shoulder and starts talking.

"So, girl, Mikey's party this weekend... We are so there."

Jennie raises one perfectly sculpted eyebrow, looks up from her nail and then glances at me, followed a glance at Krystal. "Sounds good."

To my surprise she then turns to me. "This assignment or whatever."

"Yeah," I breathe out.

"We should meet."

God, I wish she'd be a little more specific. Wait a second, she wants to meet with me! I nod.

"After school?"