THE LIGHT OF LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 11.

The idea that she was a some kind a monster and that Lisa was afraid of her was engraved deeply in Jennie's mind. So during the next week she was even more gloomy than usual. She avoided Lisa like a plague, while trying not to be too obvious about it. And she noticed that Lisa was sometimes looking at her with sad, troubled eyes, which for her was an additional proof that the Thai girl was deeply disturbed by the events of Saturday night.

It was also quite clear that the attitude of other students towards her were changing. When she first arrived to school, everyone was curious about a new strange girl and she could even feel a lot of sympathy coming from her fellow classmates. Then the incident with Sehun, Daehyun and Kai happened when she read into their souls and exposed their secrets. Since then, the rumors of her being a weirdo chick started circulating and more and more students were looking at her with half-scared, half-condescending eyes.

For Jennie it was nothing new, the same things happened in every school she went to. The story followed pretty much the same script. At first she was treated normally, but sooner or later people would start noticing strange things about her. And that she rarely smiles and isn't really cheerful or friendly. Next she would be labeled as a weirdo and other students would avoid her, spread gossip about her and even be low-key scared of her. Then an overzealous parent would start a campaign to remove her from school because "she has a negative influence on the well-being of other students." And finally more and more parents would support it, the school administration would cave under pressure and Jennie would be moved to some other school.

Yeah, she relived it a few times already so she was sure it was going to happen again. And she wasn't even mad about it because, first, she couldn't really do anything to stop it, and second, she got used to it already. But constantly changing schools was tiring and she sighed, hoping that she could stay in this one at least till the end of the year. Realistically it wasn't going to happen though, she'd probably be moved in like three months. Maybe even two.

***

Lisa's heart dropped when she saw Jennie leaving the classroom because she could swear she could see tears glistening in her eyes. She wanted to follow her, but then decided against it. She went inside the classroom instead, the history class has just ended.

"What happened to Jennie?" Lisa's voice was trembling when she asked Jihyo about the brunette.

"Oh, hi Lisa. That's actually a pretty funny story, the teacher announced the groups for the end-of-semester group project and Jennie was paired up with Wendy and Joy. But they said they preferred not to work with her."

"It's not funny at all. And why the hell didn't they want to be in the same group with her?" Lisa still couldn't stop her voice from sounding all shaky. Jihyo looked at her apologetically.

"You know why, because she's... creepy."

The look Lisa gave her was something Jihyo had never seen before and she even shivered a little. Meanwhile, the Thai rushed to Wendy and Joy, who were just about to leave the classroom, giggling about something. Lisa got in their way.

"You're going to apologize to Jennie and do the project with her." she commanded and both girls looked at her, surprised.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Are we supposed to be scared?" Joy mocked Lisa. "Who the hell do you think you are? Jennie makes me uncomfortable and I don't want to be around her."

"What are you going to do, force us to work with her?" Wendy added with a provocative smirk. The entire class was now watching the confrontation. Lisa could see from the look on their faces that everyone was against her. She thought that her firm stance would make Joy and Wendy change their opinion but instead there she was, standing against everyone looking powerless and stupid.

"Why are you defending her anyway, you can't deny she's very weird." Sehun said.

"Let's face it, she's a freak." another voice agreed.

"I've had enough of her gloomy face."

"She's giving off this cold bitch vibe."

"I'm seriously afraid of her."

"Shit, maybe she's a witch or something."

The accusations were coming from everywhere, almost making Lisa cry. She knew Jennie wasn't exactly popular but she haven't realized until that moment how hated she was.

"How many of you lost their parents?" she asked quietly and some of the students looked down in shame. "Because Jennie did. She may not be the friendliest person but it's because she suffered a lot. A lot more that each of you can even imagine. And if you can't see that..." she raised her voice. "...then you're just a bunch of entitled assholes!" Maybe she shouldn't have said the last sentence because the faces around her turned angry.

"Why the insults Lisa?"

"Why are you like that?"

"Yeah, what the hell, why do you care so much about the freak?"

"What's gotten into you?"

But Lisa didn't care anymore, in her desperation she found inner strength. She looked around her with disdain like a queen looks at her lowly peasants and growled coldly:
"Fuck you all."

The strangest thing was that Lisa felt almost calm when she left the class. She didn't even care about the furious stares that chased her. Because she just found a worthy goal in her life. It first occurred to her when she helped Jennie overcome her anxiety attack. A sense of purpose was born inside Lisa then and now it took a concrete form. She had to protect Jennie at all cost, shield her from hate, defend her with all her strength. "I'll be your guardian Jennie. No one will ever make you cry again, I swear. It's my responsibility now." No other thought has ever been clearer to her.