THE LIGHT OF LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 35.

A surprised frown appeared on director Lee's forehead when two girls unceremoniously barged into her office, still visibly emotional, breathing heavily and their eyes still a little wet.

"Director Lee, I'd like to clarify something. It was me who's responsible, Lisa only confessed because..." Jennie sent Lisa a thankful glance. "Because she wanted to protect me."

Ms. Lee looked at them warily.

"What are you girls up to? This is a serious matter, it's not something to joke about. Now sit down and tell me exactly what happened on Friday night. Imagine that you testify in court: I want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, do you understand?"

Both girls nodded and Jennie spoke:

"We attended the concert in school on Friday and we left for a moment because I wasn't feeling well. Then Lisa and I argued about... something." Jennie blushed a little, but didn't mention Lisa's kiss. "Then I... blacked out. You see Ms. Lee, I have this medical condition, when I get really anxious, I sometimes lose control over my body. It rarely happens, but when it does, I have no control over my actions. That's when I must have gone to the cafeteria, vented my anger and caused all this damage... although to be honest, I don't even remember it."

"Do you have any proof of that? From a doctor?"

"It should be in my file."

"Just give me a moment." Ms. Lee typed the password on her computer. As a school's director, she had access to all students' files, including their medical records. She found Jennie's file and read it, surprised to see how many things were listed there. She saw Jennie's foster family history, how often she changed schools... And it her medical history it indeed stated that she suffered from multiple disorders and one of them were spontaneous blackouts... Ms. Lee looked at Jennie with compassion in her eyes, this poor girl must have been through a lot.

"I'm very sorry to hear that you suffer from it. It must be... a terrible experience."

"It is." Jennie replied faintly. "And Ms. Lee, I'm of course prepared to pay for any damage-"

"That won't be necessary. If it happened during one of your blackouts, I cannot blame you for that. It's not your fault and of course there won't be any punishment."

Both girls looked at her, pleasantly surprised.

"So it seems that we have solved the matter. Of course I will keep it all confidential, don't worry. I'll also make sure that everyone knows that Lisa didn't do it."

"Thank you!" the girls exclaimed at the same time, both relieved.

"Just one last question, I'm very curious about it: why exactly did you take the blame?"

Lisa shifted nervously, touched her hair above her ear and then her eyes turned to Jennie. Ms. Lee couldn't help noticing how much affection was in that look. "Ah, the power of young love." she thought.

"Nevermind. I think I know why." she said and smiled.

***

After barely speaking in the last days, Jennie and Lisa both felt the need to talk, or just to spend some time together. So they didn't return to their class, instead they went outside and sat on the grass, facing each other.

"Are you sure you're not overworking yourself, you look very tired." Jennie broke the silence first.

"Maybe I am a little bit. But I just want to get into this college so much. And besides... I knew I'd go crazy if I kept torturing myself thinking about how things between us got screwed up. So I needed something to take my mind off it."