Paparazzi

3. Pain

After Lisa ended the call Jennie felt even worse, she lost her job because she preferred to help her over get a profit from the scandal in that party, and then she heard her crying on the phone, she never heard someone crying with so much pain, thinking about it, probably just once, when her father died and her mum cried for days, she was just 4, she barely remember her dad but she can't forget about the pain her mum felt.

Mr. Smith knocked the door and Jennie let him come in, "Miss K do you need something else? I'll get this boot tomorrow, I already ordered it", Jennie smiled "Thank you Smith, do you think you can help me?, I need to be honest with you, please sit down", he did and immediately got worried since he never saw Jennie so serious before, "Listen you are like my uncle and you always have helped me around as long as I remember, we are practically partners in crime", he laughed and Jennie gave him a gummy smile, "So tonight I went to a party, but the place was really hidden, you know how the storm was getting heavier and heavier so everything was really slippery and I got scared with a loud thunder, I fell down and this girl helped me, come on don't look at me like that, don't tell me you weren't young and reckless like me?", Smith smiled "I was but I never got hurt or got caught" both laughed.

"So I guess this girl helped you?, The one in the car", Jennie nodded "Yeah she did, even if she recognised me, the thing is she is a paparazzi, look at this camera, she was there to take pictures from people in that wild party".

Smith gave her a puzzled look "You stole her camera! Jennie do you know how expensive they are?, that girl looks really young, even if she works like one she probably had to work a lot just to get it", Jennie looked ashamed "Well she gave it to me, as a guarantee that she just wanted to help, like she told me I had to leave or else I would get in troubles and as you can see there's no way I was going to make it by myself, after a while I accepted, she even gave me a piggyback ride, then she offered to bring me home, of course I didn't want to give her my address and well she got fired, she got a call and this guy said this was her last chance and just fired her, I felt bad because this guy said someone saw me around and she said it wasn't true and she would leave, she cried in silence, I have never seen someone trying to hide her feelings like that, I was trying to hide my face but I could see she tried to hide her tears from me, I guess she got too affected, do you think I'm too selfish?".

Smith sighed "Why do you ask me that?", She looked away from him "Well in that moment I didn't care she was fired, actually I was happy like if I was getting revenge, so after all that, I was still acting like a bitch, and now I'm getting guilty cause it's my fault she lost her job gosh, now I feel even worst, is that possible?, Like... She just helped me, she could just have taken the pictures and leave me there, she chose to help me over her own job".

"Jen I think she was really nice, why did you call me to pick you up?, You were almost here" he said in a serious tone, "I guess I didn't feel safe, I think I didn't trust her enough, even after everything she did for me".

Smith got up and paced around "I understand that part but Jen your mum raised you better, I even raised you to be as nicer as possible, what happened? I know you have a strong personality but where is your kindness?", Jennie sighed "I think I have forgotten how to act around normal people, like the ones that aren't idols or actors, they are too... I don't know, not all of them are open or genuinely care for you?, I guess she was really worried or she cared about what would happen to me and I didn't know how to react".

Both were silent for a while "Smith remember where did you pick me up?", He nodded, "Well she asked for a favour and I denied it to her, I was thinking only about me and well she has asthma and she couldn't breath properly, I know you always tell me to listen, to pay attention but I was too focused in my situation and well I had the audacity to ignore her request and insult her instead to listen to her, she just wanted I handed her the inhaler she needed, but at the end I gave it to her, I thought she wanted pics to like recover her job".

Smith looked at her with a strong disappointment "As you saw, she was broken because I took her camera with me, she lost her job because of me, I hate paparazzi, I know it's not the coolest thing but it's not illegal either right?", Smith sat by her side "Did you ask why does she work as one?, You should have asked first, look she could have taken pics of you looking like a mess on the ground, yet she chose to help, she saved you, she practically dragged you out of that mess, I know how stubborn you are, I don't know how she convinced you to get into her car young lady, look at this", he handed her his phone and Jennie read some people were arrested in that party, Jennie was shook, she could have gotten arrested too, that would be a disaster.

She was thinking, trying to focus, "You know Lisa has talent, I looked at her pics and they are beautiful, I'll show you in a bit, so I'm not that bad, or that bitch, the thing is I called her to say sorry and ask for her address to return her things, she told me she wouldn't be home and it was better if she could pick her camera cause I wasn't gonna keep it, I just thought she took pics of me and I wanted to delete them but she was honest, look", she handed him the camera and indeed the pics there were really good.

"JEN! I know where to find her!, her school is just a couple of blocks away from here, do you want we surprise her? You still can do something nice for her you know?", Jennie thought for a while "I don't think she wants to see me again, I hurt her, I saw her face after I called you and I took her camera, she begged me, gosh she was even crying her eyes out and still I didn't care, when I called her she was sad but when I mentioned her camera she muffled her crying and I could hear so much pain behind her sobs, I'm an horrible person", Smith stroke her back "You are a stubborn girl but if you were horrible would you be here discussing this with me trying to think how to apologise to her?, Cause I'm sure you wanted to talk about this cause you need some help, let me tell you what will we do, tomorrow I'll call the school to ask for her schedule, then will call her when she is there and you'll return the camera and that's it".

Jennie nodded "Wait I'll have to wear that ugly boot isn't it?", He nodded and chuckled, Jennie sighed, she was too tired and decided to sleep, Smith looked at her "I'll help you, who knows maybe she could be a good friend, a real one you know?, Good night Miss Rebel", He walked out of the room and Jennie looked at the phone she used to call Lisa, she plugged it, and took her other phone, she had tons of missed calls and messages from Kai and other friends asking if she was gonna miss the greatest party, she sighed "Yeah the greatest party for sure, everyone was waiting for me to get in troubles", She put the phone away and tried to sleep.

Minutes passed and Jennie kept struggling, rolling around her bed, "Why am I overthinking this?, I should be sleeping like a baby, damn it! this never happened to me before, I better get enough sleep so I don't look like a zombie" she wanted some milk but she couldn't hop around to get it so she finally declined and tried to sleep again, it seemed this night would be longer than usual.