Purpose

Number

The week long festival had finally arrived and the school was bustling with people visiting from outside. It was the 4th day and so far, Jisoo thinks this was the brightest she has seen her school. Don't get her wrong, she's absolutely not one for events like these— but her admiration for it is enough to tell how great the event has been so far

Or maybe the fact that Jennie had been the one to make this and organize it from ground up added to Jisoo's bias, something Chaeyoung pointed out. But it was truly fun, with the school pageant that Irene easily won and the amount of booths along with guests flooding the achool.

Jisoo's class did a Ramen shop, transforming half of the room for serving guests and the other for cooking. Jisoo had only been assigned at the register, with everyone knowing she has experience working behind it. Her schedule wasn't as flexible, but she had enough time to simply roam around and try every booth at least once with Chaeyoung, whom she promised to spend the whole festival with.

For the past week though, eating with Jennie's friends never stopped. They were quite busy, doing council errands and the likes for their own clubs, but they still always find themselves eating together at one table. They would talk about their day, their weird visitors, or even the frustration with the upcoming midterms.

"God the festival is so damn fun but why did the school disapprove to reschedule it? Who the hell would enjoy it to the fullest if the midterms is next week?!" Nayeon said one time at a random festival day

"We tried our best Nayeonnie~ Even Jennie was stressed about it. The headmaster keeps insisting on about how it's a tradition for every student to experience" Lisa answers her queries

She certainly enjoys their company. What with the banters and how she's slowly getting along with them well, especially with Jennie and Lisa. Lisa was very easy going, and she's very open minded and made sure Jisoo was never left out.

Jennie on the other hand, it was inevitable for them to get along somehow. They spent every spare hour they have around each other— eating lunch together, winter play meetings,  and studying at the library. It was to the point Jisoo felt guilty that she's spending less time with Chaeyoung, but the younger told her not to feel guilty, knowing her unnie gets to spend more time with her happy crush (And Chaeyoung got to spend hers with someone else whom Jisoo's very sure was Lisa). If she hadn't gotten along with Jennie after all that, then Jisoo might as well have been socially cursed.

Right now though, Jisoo was sitting quite timidly at lunch, because if there's one thing she didn't like about sitting around Jennie, it's the amount of men pestering their table every now and then.

Jisoo thinks Jennie was too nice. There were points when the younger was feeling very impatient with them— especially Kai, who every now and then would shove Jisoo out of Jennie's peripheral just to bother her.

Jennie doesn't have the gall to push them away though. They weren't exactly invading their space, nor do they stay long enough to be considered an annoyance. Well, sometimes. But they stood neatly on the thin border of being social and being a pest.

Not like Jennie can push them away anyway, when she's literally one wrong move away from potentially being bullied by Kai's fans. She has heard the stories. She has seen the stories. She's not about to become one of them, no.

Jisoo internally curses herself for being unable to do anything about it.

It was the late afternoon of the last day and everyone is getting ready to unpack and cleanup. Jisoo wasn't in any clubs, but she decided to help her class in cleaning. As she was peacefully dismantling the faux ramen shop table made with their class table covered in wood designed gift paper, she hers someone call out to her

"Jisoo, the student council president called for you" her classmate, Soojin, said. Jisoo couldn't help but perk up at the mention of Jennie

She immediately drops the wallpaper, heading straight to the door. Actually, she's been dreading to talk to her, knowing it was their midterms on Monday and she wasn't exactly sure if Jennie was still on about studying- but she was definitely hoping they'd study together, at least for one last time

"Hey Jisoo!" Jennie greets her brightly

"Hey Jen, what's up?" Jisoo greets her back

"Well, it's about our study period..." Jennie starts, and Jisoo didn't expect the one thing she's dreading to immediately haunt her soon as it could

"Hm? What about it?" Jisoo asks, trying her best to hide her anxious eyes behind her glasses

"I was thinking maybe we could study one last time?" The answer immediately sends a wave of relief to Jisoo. At least she could be better prepared for this one last time, before they officially part ways against her wishes.

"Oh of course Jennie! I'll meet you at the library tomorrow a—"

"About that..." Jennie cuts her off "The library's going to be full, and I can't really focus much with a lot of other people around me, so I was hoping we could study at my house?"

Jisoo's breath hitches. She tried not to think too much into it, opting with a "Yeah that's fine by me. Just write down the address!" She says cheerily

"Actually, can I just get your number? I'll text it to you and you can call me in case you get lost"

Jisoo's heart started to beat rapidly. She tried not to think too much into it, opting with a "Oh yeah, I'll write it down for you" and so she does, before handing it to the younger

"It's just us two at the house. My mom's gonna be there when you arrive but she's leaving as we study.  We do have dogs though, so we'll have to study at my room so you don't have to worry about the usual interruptions we have at the library." Jennie says, a bit excitedly likely at the thought of studying and mastering statistics

Jisoo's hands find the comfort of the door's frame as she found it for support, swallowing the lump in her throat that formed. She tried not to think too much into it, opting with a "That's no problem with me. I'll see ya then?"

"Yup! I'll see ya!"

Jisoo's left hand feels over her beating heart as soon as she saw Jennie completely disappear into the hall. She swallowed another lump in her throat that formed, still holding unto the door frame for support.

Getting Jennie's number?

Going to Jennie's house?

Meeting Jennie's mom?

HELL MAYBE EVEN GOING TO HER ROOM?

WITH THEM ALL ALONE?

Jisoo swore she almost collapsed at the thought, and it was even more embarrassing when her classmate Soojin looked at her with a raised brow telling her she's as red as a tomato. "Girl just go home. I don't want you to collapse and have everyone thinking I overworked you" and so Jisoo took advantage of the chance and left, not without tripping on her way home as she realized she had just gotten a text from Jennie, with her number on it.

+82******: Jisoo!!!!
+82******: It's me Jennie ☺️
+82******: My address is 16 Bell, XX, XX
+82******: You better show up cuz I really really really need you!! 😩

God, why do you want me to be gay so bad?