THE TRANSFER STUDENT

Moment of Truth, Pt. 3

"What?"

"It's because of him, isn't it?" Jieun repeated herself, trying to stay calm. "You hate me because- You're jealous because we're close, aren't you?"

Yoojung stared at Jieun in shock.

Lisa kept quiet.

"Answer me!" Jieun yelled.

"You're selfish, Jieun," Lisa said quietly, staring directly at Jieun. "Up till the end, in your mind, everything is still all about you."

Jieun looked at Lisa, completely bewildered.

"You think I'd do all this just because of a guy?" Lisa scoffed. "I didn't have feelings for him, not one bit. I hate you because you took away everything I took pride in, Jieun. You took them all away."

"What?" Jieun frowned. "How did I-"

"That art project," Lisa continued. "That art project you barely cared for- Do you still remember?"

Jieun frowned. "Of course I do, it was-"

"We ruined it," Lisa said. "We ruined it, remember?"

Of course Jieun remembered. It was her very first art project in school. It was then that she had fainted in the class when she saw the fire, but it was also then that she had gotten closer to Jungkook.

How could she forget?

However, it was true that they had ruined it. They had gotten the lowest score in class... simply because it wasn't done well enough. They had practically just scraped a pass, but at least they passed.

"Well-" Jieun began.

"At least you still remember," Lisa cut in. "But you have no idea how much that project meant to me, Lee Jieun. Do you even know why we failed?"

Jieun frowned.

"It was because of you," Lisa said curtly. "It was due to the fact that you had to be out of action, that we weren't able to complete it in time. If not for you, I wouldn't have gotten such a bad art grade..."

"But, Lisa-" Yoojung intercepted. "It's just art-"

"To you, it's just art!" Lisa shouted. "To me, it was the only thing I enjoyed since young. I enjoyed drawing, painting, everything! It was my pride..."

"But I never knew-" Jieun frowned.

"Stop coming up with excuses," Lisa snapped back. "My mom forced me to quit art classes and take other classes instead so that I could get into a university of her choice. She also forced me into dancing, because apparently that could help my portfolio better than art. Art class was literally the only time I could be myself, my art grades were perfect since last year... But then, you came."

"Lisa," Yoojung frowned. "Can I just say something? That makes absolutely no sense, how is that Jieun's fault? She was new-"

"Of course it is her fault!" Lisa yelled. "One less person in a group project makes a lot of difference. Also, being new gives her no excuse. But on top of that, she felt no remorse. She even laughed when she saw our art grade... I was disgusted."

Jieun frowned. She had indeed laughed. "But I wasn't laughing at the grade! I was laughing at Yoojung-"

"Yeah..." Yoojung frowned. "I was telling a really funny joke-"

"Stop it!" Lisa rolled her eyes. "It still is your fault."

"Lisa, don't mind me," Yoojung frowned. "But I really think you're just venting your anger on Jieun-"

"No, I'm not!" Lisa yelled. "She ruined my art grade and she still had so many friends around her, supporting her! That's simply enough for me to hate her, is it not?"

Yoojung furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"I was so determined to get her out of school," Lisa continued. "It was already miserable without her, but at least my art grades weren't ruined and... people still cared about me a bit. Hoseok, whom I used to be close to, was starting to make good friends with Jieun too. Simply because I left so quickly after school, he began talking to her more-"

"You can't blame her for any of that!" Yoojung retorted.

"No, I can," Lisa insisted. "I hated her so much that I wanted her out of my life immediately. So... I targeted Jungkook. I felt like they were getting close, so I wanted her to have a taste of her own medicine. How it feels like to have something you hold precious to you be taken from you..." Lisa sighed. "But it didn't work. So I had to think of another plan, something that could get rid of her... at once."

"That's why you-"

"That's right," Lisa grinned. "I was the one who framed Jieun. I was the one put Hoseok's watch in her bag."