Before and Now (Chaennie)

Chapter 16

Rosé's POV

The morning had been one of the most boring I ever had. I couldn't find any interest in the classes in was in because my mind was still on the event of the day before. I couldn't wait to talk about it with Jennie in the afternoon. The fact that Lisa had discovered the truth scared me to death but the girl cared about Jennie a lot. So that let me have some hope that she wouldn't do anything that might hurt her. I could see that and even if Lisa was a part of the people haunting my nightmares she was Jennie's friend.

I checked my phone, the text I had sent Jennie was still unanswered. Maybe I'll see a glimpse of her at the cafeteria. I entered the place and took part in the queue. I glanced around, setting my eyes on a particular table only to see all of Jennie's friends sitting there expect her. Lisa looked up at that moment and caught my eyes. She seems distraught and I wondered if it was because she saw me but Joy caught her attention, stopping our exchange. Was I scaring her? I always thought it was the other way around. Maybe after yesterday things changed. I had hoped it would be for the better but apparently not.

I took my food and left the cafeteria. I never ate there for obvious reasons. I always ate outside, alone on a bench. It was peaceful there, it let me time to think and to draw. Sometimes being alone was better than being surrounded by people.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my arm and dragged me ahead. Everything went so fast but I caught a glance of the tall girl dragging me ahead, her blonde hair covering her face and it left me with no doubt that it was Lisa.

"Go... go... fast." She looked so anxious and almost paranoid once I saw her face. She was looking in every direction. She dragged me to the closest classroom which happened to be the art room. She closed the blind immediately after we went in.

"Are you ok?" I asked, concerned by her attitude. At this point, it seemed really unlike character for Lisa even if I didn't know her well. I had observed her enough to know she was the quiet sneaky one of the group.

"Do you have any news from Jennie?" she asked back not even bothering to answer my question, starting to pace around the room anxiously.

"Uh... no... why?" at the answer she pulled on her hair leaving me scared, not for myself but rather for her "I texted her a while back, she hasn't answered yet." then I remembered Jennie wasn't with them at the table. "Is she sick?"

She stopped and looked at me but I could see she wasn't really seeing me, too absorbed in her head. "I don't know. She didn't come to school this morning. We texted her but nothing. At break, we called her, still nothing and it goes straight to voicemail. Same for her mom. It's weird.

My heart started racing and clenched, making it quite painful physically. I began to have flashbacks of when I learned about her accident, me leaving the classroom, running toward the hospital, my lungs burning, learning what happened, the feeling of tears on my face, the smell of the hospital's hallway, Jennie's father face, Lisa crying, the pain invading my body, my heart tearing apart and all of that was killing me.

Don't panic, Rosé, everything's fine.

Except that the last time I thought it would be fine, Jennie ended up in the hospital, almost dead and lost her memory.

Breathe, Rosé, breathe.

The tall girl before me looked no better no better than I did. She started pacing again and I felt a certain compassion toward her. We both felt the same for the person we cared about. I felt her pain, in a different way of course but it was still similar.

I approached her, hesitantly approaching my hand but ultimately putting it gently on her shoulder. Lisa didn't even get startled. Instead, she turned fully toward me, tears were silently falling and my heart clenched at the sight.

"Hey, don't cry." I couldn't help but wrapped my hands around her in a hug. Was it too far? Well, I didn't really care. Seconds later, her hands came up on my back. I smiled had the thought that she wasn't hating me to the point of rejecting me. We may not be friends but we both cared about the same person.

"What the fuck?"

I turned around detaching myself from Lisa to see the girls at the door, eyebrows raised so high on their faces.

"Get the fuck away." Joy tackled me to the ground before I had the time to react.

"Stop." Lisa screamed, trying to get Joy away from me. Only,  Nayeon and Irene got a hold of her before she could even do anything. Letting me to the mercy of Joy.

"Stop it. She's nice. STOP IT." Lisa continued, screaming even louder but Irene put her hand on her mouth trying her best to not get the attention on then.

The struggle between Joy and I continued. She was on top of me and it became hard for me to breathe. I could only see her enraged face now, she looked like she was going to kill me. At one point, she managed to punch me in the ribs, earning from me a shriek. My vision became blurry, I kept fighting like it was my only hope.

"STOP IT." I heard Lisa shout. She must have somehow managed to free herself but nothing stopped. Joy was still as violent as before. I heard some commotion around and I started to worry for Lisa.

"L.... Lisa?" I called "Are you ok?" but then Joy wrapped one hand around my neck squeezing, making me gasp for air.

"Don't you dare say her name." she spat near my face. I knew I had just made her even angrier than before.

"Stop hurting her! She's Jennie's girlfriend."

And then everything stopped.