To All The Girls I've Loved Before - Jenlisa

Chapter 6

2013

She thought she would never really get used to it, but truth be told she was willing to take anything she can get.

It will after all take some time for Lalisa to learn about self-respect, but at 16 and with Ruby Jane sneaking into her house every so often and sometimes even spending the night, she couldn't care less even if she can't say hi to her in the hallways. Or at the restaurants where her friends frequent. Or at the mall, when Lalisa's attention gravitated towards her laughter and she found her and her friends nearby, and she wished she knew what's going through Ruby Jane's mind, wishing she's closer to hear her more.

Jennie. She goes by Jennie now, she forgot.

Jennie, whose reputation as a cool girl from New Zealand is important to her as she tries to breeze through her second year of high school, she said. She's not in the cheerleading team and cliques are important, she said. Being friends with freshmen, especially foreign students, could easily break her reputation, please understand, she said.

And she did. She did because she could never say no to Jennie, especially when the Korean found her alone the day they met each other again while the Thai was hiding in the library for lunch, the cat-eyed teen looking slightly dishevelled and manic like she was trying to find her everywhere. And when she finally sat down beside her and her cat-eyes softened to a way Lalisa remembers in those young summer days whenever she used to meet Jennie in the mornings and it's almost like the Korean's relieved to finally see her again, after a long night of not being together – it was so hard not to be reminded how being with Jennie felt like.

Like coming back to a home you've left for years - as cosy and as familiar.