Short Story Title: See You On The Next Trip

Chapter Title: Like this

So here you go guys, took me days to update since I was busy with my academics. Anyway, as always, please enjoy.

“I’m home!” Lisa yells as she take off her shoes and putting them right where she got it earlier.

Mrs. Manoban walks out of the kitchen with a mug on her hand. “How’s Jisoo?”

“She’s okay, just had a little food accident that’s all.” Seeing the nod as a response to her, Lisa made her way up to her bedroom. She could feel the tiredness of the day engulf her. She jumps to her bed, laying flat on her back. She heaves out a sigh as she stare right at the ceiling, blankly. “This is so dumb. It’s way too early to think too much about stuff Lisa.”

She closes her eyes, trying to recall the best parts of the day, bringing a smile of content on her face. “Don’t be so weird about it. It’s not like Chaeyoung or Jisoo haven’t done those things.”

“You’re talking to yourself again hun!” She heard her mother say.

She grunts, throwing her head back on her pillow. That night, Lisa convinced herself that the interactions with Jennie were just out of sheer friendship and the weird were nothing but an exaggeration of reaction towards someone she just met.

Exams is one of the worst part of being a student. Especially if you’re someone who didn’t study for it. Lisa, surprisingly, isn’t one of them. She studies pretty hard on her exams and that makes her ace her classes.

“Cognitive Psychology midterm is moved next week, Mr. Jung called in sick.” One of Lisa’s classmate said, making everyone celebrate with joy.

Lisa doesn’t really care at all, she just wants to go home and play. She started packing up and without saying good bye to anyone, she left. Lisa carried her bag on her shoulder as she step out of their department building. She saw familiar faces, people she had shared a class with or some schoolmate back in high school. She flashes a small smile just to make them sure that she acknowledges their presence.

Meanwhile, Jennie, who doesn’t really have anything to do for the day, decided to visit her friends’ at their school. She patiently waits for Chaeyoung, however, there’s still no sign of her. She was starting to get a little bit frustrated by the fact that she didn’t really think this through. Just a few minutes later, she spots a familiar figure and she automatically smiled.

“Lisa!” She yelled, grabbing Lisa’s attention and everyone who doesn’t even go by the name of Lisa.

Lisa turns to every direction, trying to look for the one who called her. She sees Jennie waving her hand frantically outside their university. She points to herself, asking Jennie for a confirmation.

“Yeah you! You’re the only Lisa that I know!” Jennied yelled again.

Lisa jogs towards Jennie’s direction, giving her a confused look. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to surprise Chaeyoung, her classes should be done by now, right?”

“It’s Friday, her classes doesn’t end until 6, did you even ask for her schedule?” Lisa says, trying not to laugh at Jennie’s disappointed face.

“I did...” Jennie smiles slyly, “I just forgot about it.” She added, rubbing the back of her head.

Lisa chuckles at the lame excuse. “Excuses.”

Jennie gasps faking to be hurt at what Lisa said, causing the other girl to laugh even more. “How dare you,” she says, smacking the girl lightly right on her shoulder. “Are you going home?”

“I’m about to, why?” Lisa replies, looking back inside her school, hoping to see Jisoo or Chaeyoung.

With a little bit of disappointment, Jennie looks at the same direction as Lisa’s then mumbles, “Nothing.”

Lisa peeks Jennie and felt the need to stay hearing that tad bit of disappointment in her voice, “I can stay and wait with you if you’d like...”

Hearing the offer, Jennie instantly looks at Lisa with a beam. “Really? Thanks!”

Lisa chuckles, “Yeah it’s only because you begged me to stay.” Lisa joked earning a light punch on her arm.

“I did not!” Jennie says with a chuckle following her sentence.

“Yeah you did,” Lisa teased earning yet another punch.

“Let’s not wait here...” Jennie spoke, her eyed wandering around the nearby stores. Lisa raises an eyebrow, asking for further information from Jennie, “Let’s go somewhere else and then go back once Chaeyoung and Jisoo’s class ends.”

Before Lisa could even speak a word, Jennie started dragging her far away from her school. “Is this like your habit? Because seriously I counted how many times you dragged me yesterday and it’s 30 times!”

Jennie immediately stops to face Lisa, she crossed her arms then looks at Lisa with a serious yet doubtful look, “That’s a lie...”

Lisa raises an eyebrow again, showing that she’s far from being intimidated with the look that she’s receiving, “No it’s not. Also, did you know that people whose habit is to drag someone have a tendency of becoming a kidnapper?” Lisa crosses her arms.

“That is so untrue.” Jennie retorts.

“I’m a psychology major, I study human behavior and studies said that not me...” Lisa whispers, making Jennie’s eyes widen. Lisa chuckles in triumph when she sees Jennie’s fear-stricken face. “Let’s go!”

Hearing the laughter escape from Lisa’s mouth, Jennie immediately punches the girl lightly.

Lisa laughs even more, “Hmm likes punching someone. Did you know—“

Lisa wasn’t able to finish her sentence when Jennie puts a finger against her lips to shut her. “Shut it, I don’t wanna hear it!”

Lisa laughs again, following Jennie to the store not far from her school.

“You go find an empty seat near the glass window, I’ll order for us so I can make sure I’ll be the one to pay this time,” Jennie shoos Lisa away, earning a childish grunt from the taller girl.

“Order me something nice okay?” Lisa says, before proceeding to look for a vacant seat.

After just a few minutes of waiting, Jennie arrives with a tray of two milk flavored ice followed by a crew who’s holding a variety of western finger-foods.

“That’s a lot Jennie, are you feeding a battalion?”

“Nope,” Jennie replies casually, taking her seat across Lisa. “I don’t know what ‘something nice’ meant so I ordered these.” Jennie says, providing invisible quotation marks when she imitated Lisa’s voice.

“So...” Lisa utters, waiting for Jennie to give her attention, when Jennie looked up, she continued, “How did you, Jisoo, and Chaeng meet?”

“Well, we were childhood friends. We used to hangout a lot, especially in school...” Jennie answers, taking a sip of her drink, “I remember one time, Jisoo fought with a student because the cafeteria ran out of chicken and there’s only one left.”

Lisa laughs as the picture of Jisoo fighting for a chicken flashed in her mind. “She must’ve fought real hard to get that chicken.”

“She did! She really did! She was even able to get some strands of hair before they were sent to the principal’s office...” Jennie laughs, remembering that part of her middle school experience. “...they had to spend a week of cafeteria service. But she got the chicken so it’s fine.”

There was a short pause between, clearly because Lisa didn’t know she was supposed to tell her own story. She only became aware of it when Jennie kicked her from under the table. Lisa grimaced, rubbing her shin as if it would take the pain away.

“Your turn,” Jennie says, taking a couple of mojos from her plate.

“I was bullied when I got here. But not extreme to the point where students will force me to eat inside the washroom, it was some sort of racial slurs that died down because Chaeyoung was brave enough to defend me and the country where I came from...” Lisa smiled when she remembered what it felt like to have a friend like Chaeyoung and Jisoo. She remembered how the two kept her away from her struggle and made her to what she is now. They took her out of her comfort zone and never left her side. “Jisoo had thrown shades and roasted everyone who bullied me. From then on the bullying stopped, we became friends and my mom was so thankful for them. Everything became so normal.”

Jennie smiles. She could feel the how happy and grateful Lisa is, for having two of the most incredible people in the world. “I wished I was there to throw shades at everyone who bullied you.”

Lisa stifles a laugh, “That’ll be epic.” Lisa’s gaze falls down to her food. She wondered how things would be like if she was here before Jennie left for New Zealand. She can’t help but wonder what happen if she met Jennie the same time she Chaeyoung and Jisoo. She wondered about everything.

The two started sharing their own experiences with the other two. Lisa shared how Jisoo had mistaken a professor for a student during their first day in college. And how Chaeyoung and Jisoo would randomly fight over something so petty like who would eat the last slice of pizza. Jennie, on the other hand, shared quite a few moments as well and somehow they were similar to Lisa’s. The two shared a couple of more funny moments before they fell into a serious conversation when Jennie got curious about Lisa’s major.

“Why are you taking psychology?” Jennie asks, making Lisa oddly quiet. Sensing something sensitive, Jennie quickly added, “You don’t have to tell me if it’s sensitive.”

Lisa smiled softly. She was actually contemplating whether she’s going to tell her or not. Somehow, she knew the latter would ask her why. She just didn’t expect it would happen. She looked at Jennie as if she was confirming if the girl could be trusted. It’s not like, it’s a secret, it’s just something Lisa doesn’t share with someone. Her eyes bore into Jennie’s and it ticked her to trust the girl. “Well, to be honest, I wanted to take Engineering. But when my sister took her own life, I wanted to pursue something that would help other people with mental health issues.”

Jennie regretted asking that question when she saw grief inside the girl’s eyes. Jennie wanted to know more. She wanted to know why her sister committed suicide. She wanted to understand because sh