Part Fourteen

Sometimes, the urge to choke and silence her two friends permanently would surface from within Jessica. Appreciation, amusement and frustration often went hand in hand when it came to those two.

Unfortunately, such times always ended in Tiffany and Sunny's victory.

"You'll lose your only two real friends if you kill us, Jessi. There's Yoongie and friends to entertain you, but you'd miss us. Definitely."

Jessica had grudgingly agreed when Tiffany first pointed that out. But that didn't mean her occasional desires of clobbering them went away.

Like now.

Explosive laughter, expelled with the slight hint of mocking. Her head had been throbbing the moment she got out of bed, the afternoon lecture killed her brain, and those damn evil cackles from the two of them weren’t doing it any good.

“Tone it down!” Jessica snapped, a hand plastered on her forehead, fingers trying to ease the throbbing.  

It fell on deaf ears and Sunny, with her head of short brown hair, toppled forward, face squished into her arm, laughing hysterically. Leaning on Sunny’s back was Tiffany, cackling uncontrollably.

“After you guys are done, explain what’s so damn funny.”

“Hello,” Sunny answered after a final round of chortling, “Hike and Jessica don’t appear in the same sentence, ever.”

“Hike!” Tiffany giggled.

“Just the image of a Jessica hiking with a stick-”

“What stick?!”

Gripping her bag, Jessica stomped down the urge to hurl it at the two goons, now doing an imitation of her stumbling during the hike. Instead, she hit both of them on the head with her palm.

“Don’t you have some kid to tutor?” Jessica said with exasperation and poked at Sunny’s arm.

“! Gotta go! Break a leg, sulky! Bye, lovely !”

With Sunny gone, Tiffany seemed considerably mellower. For a long while, the only sound was the scratching from Jessica’s pen as she wrote down a list of sorts for the hike. She really shouldn’t have agreed to Yoona but the killer ‘unnie unnie’ move had made its appearance after a long hiatus.

It was practically impossible to reject Yoona, no matter the request.

“You know, I think some alcohol would fit into that list of yours.”

Deep in thoughts, Jessica turned her head in shock when the voice jolted her back to reality. Tiffany  was leaning too close, her face millimeters away and Jessica felt her lips brush against Tiffany’s cheek.

“I know you love me, Jessi,” Tiffany patted Jessica’s shoulder, “but I can’t see you as anything more than a friend.”

Jessica pushed Tiffany’s head away, muttering a string of undecipherable curses. Tiffany was giggling, hard.

“Jess, I’m not a melon head.”

“God. Why are you my best friend?! Why couldn’t Sunny just take you away?!”

“Yeah, why can’t she?”

Jessica’s mouth clamped shut. It was the tone that sometimes appeared when Sunny became a topic between them. Often, Jessica would be lost for words and they would just slink into silence until Tiffany recovered. Whatever her two friends had or didn’t have, it was too complex for her to fathom. They were nothing like the superficial relationships she had dabbled in previously.

“I actually kinda know why, it was rhetorical.”

Jessica nodded and shifted her eyes back to her list. Because Tiffany had that little melancholic yet hopeful smile again and Jessica didn’t dare to look too long.   

***

The first meeting with Sunny was a little unusual, but by then Jessica was already accustomed to her self-proclaimed best friend’s antics.

That fateful day, she was forcibly asked and continually bugged to get to school three hours earlier, despite their lecture being in the late afternoon.

“Why on earth are we at the law school?!”

“Because~ We’re here to ambush someone!”

Jessica recognized, distinctly, that sly look on Tiffany’s face. The very first time she’d seen it had been that disappearing ink incident, sparked off by an obnoxious guy and some kind of harassment.

She would always remember the playful but dangerous tone Tiffany had initially, and her unwavering attitude and refusal to back off when the guy confronted them later. It was a story for another time but that particular incident had left a deep impression on Jessica.

It was a point which got Jessica thinking that maybe it wasn't that bad having this girl around.

However, this entire 'ambush' mission felt completely different from that time. The excitement and fluctuations in Tiffany’s voice and that strange twinkle in her eyes.

“Tiffany, that girl has blue hair. Are law-”

“Good eyes, Jessi!” Tiffany cut in with a thumbs up before running to that blue haired girl in a flash.

Before Jessica could react, Tiffany had pounced on the girl’s back and a shrill shriek rang out. Moving closer, she realized her friend had decided that it was the right moment to bite a stranger.

Crazy, oh my god.

Mortified and embarrassed, Jessica shielded her face with her palms. The idea of quietly disappearing from the crime scene suddenly seemed pretty tempting.

“! WHO-” Blue haired girl violently turned her head, trying to rid herself of the crazy animal biting into her shoulder, “TIFFANY?!”

“Hello, Sunny bunny,” Tiffany beamed snuggling into the girl’s neck.

“That ing hurts! What’s the bite for?!”

“You’re my prey, I ambushed you!”

A ratty looking girl walked by at that precise moment, sneering about Sunny progressing from boyfriend stealer to dating lesbos.

“Song Yemin, the source of all the supposed scandals,” Sunny eyed the girl’s back with a weary look.

“Who cares,” Tiffany grabbed Sunny’s arm, “Come meet Jessica!”

“You’re one of the victims who boarded the crazy pirate ship called Tiffany?”

That was Sunny’s first sentence to Jessica.

***

Time passed faster than Jessica would like. Yoona’s two weeks break from school arrived in a blink of the eye.

“Unnie~” Yoona was snuggling on Jessica’s lap, watching TV, and her breath tickled Jessica’s thigh.

An almost inaudible giggle escaped Jessica’s lips, “Yes?”

“Unnie… I know you aren’t really looking forward to tomorrow,” Yoona muttered guiltily, she had wheedled the older girl into it despite knowing how much Jessica disliked physical activities and the hot sun.

“I am, Yoongie. It’s spring. I can do with some exercise.”

However, sounded like Jessica was trying to convince herself rather than Yoona. She was dreading the bugs, the strenuous climbing, the sweltering heat and the wild animal. Logic mocked her for all the exaggeration. It was a wonderful spring weather and there weren’t really any dangerous wild animals around anyway.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to go on an outing with you… We haven’t done that in so long.”

“It’s okay, Yoongie, it’ll be fun.”

“You need to convince yourself more, unnie.”

Jessica chuckled and ran a hand through Yoona’s hair. Yes, she was unconvinced but she couldn’t deny herself of an outing with Yoona, they had both been too busy to really hang out together outside of the apartment. So, she’d go, even if the hike was Yuri’s suggestion and she’d have to share her cute little brat with the other girl.

“Anyway, I think a hike is too much for you, so we’re going to Ilsan Lake Park instead!”

“Have I told you recently that I really love you?” Jessica clapped, delighted by the change of plans and Yoona’s attentiveness to her discomfort.

“That picnic will be more comfy there, and maybe we can go kite flying! Oh, and let’s go cycling as well!”

Yoona grinned, gaze shifting from the TV to Jessica’s face. It’s gonna be fun, the expression practically declared.

As if worrying that Jessica was still unconvinced, Yoona turned to hug Jessica by the waist, “I promise, it’ll be fun!”

Finally, Jessica voiced out a more certain ‘okay’ and Yoona beamed into the older girl’s stomach. The warmth and closeness from hugging Jessica that way was intoxicating, so Yoona couldn’t bring herself to let go until much much later.

***

Yuri's strange girl.

This thought crossed Jessica's mind when she saw said girl waiting by her car at the designated time.

Standing there strikingly alone, looking down at her shoes, she was nothing like the person Jessica thought she knew.

Jessica stopped nearby, but not exactly out of sight.

Just to wait for Yoona.

That was the excuse resounding in her head. It was to wait for Yoona who forgot a change of clothes, surely.  But deep down, she knew the sight before her was too unusual and fragile for her to shatter so carelessly.

Not a trace of confident Yuri, hair tied back into a ponytail and looking like any other high school kid. Not Yuri the charming volleyball captain. Not Yuri the reliable and comforting kid.

Not really Yuri.

Jessica noticed Yuri's lips moving and tried hard to decipher them.

Squinting, it finally hit Jessica.

She's counting. Counting... Something.