Lisa's POV

Never binge watch a series on a Sunday night. My head is throbbing. Just in time for our Achievement Test.

I can already hear the nagging voice in my head saying "hey , instead of watching an entire season of Riverdale, you should've reviewed for the test!"

I swear it almost sounds like Jennie.

Speaking of, I haven't seen her yet. She wasn't there during the morning assembly. I'm sure because if she was, I probably would've heard her yelling at least once. 

I'm on my way now to the locker room. Whoever said it was a good idea to place the locker room in a building separate from the classrooms should rot in hell.

I was just passing by the vending machine when I heard murmurs.

"Did you hear the news? She's back."

"What?! No wonder I can't find Jennie anywhere."

"Do you think she knows?"

"Why else won't she come to scool?"

It was followed by silence so I took it as a chance to proceed inside the locker room.

I saw Jisoo and Rosé at the center of the room obviously startled. 

"H-hey Lisa!" Jisoo greeted me while Rosé gave me an awkward smile.

"Hey guys..." Should I ask them what they were talking about? I am curious about it. But it sounded like a conversation no one else should have heard. 

I opted not to ask anything. I'll just pretend I didn't hear anything.

After Rosé redeemed composure, she asked, "By any chance, did Jennie tell you why she's not coming to school?"

"We've been trying to contact her the entire weekend but she wouldn't answer our calls or reply to our messages." Jisoo added.

I shrugged, "I haven't talked to her since the conference."

I do understand why they're worried. It's so unlikely for Jennie to be absent even just for a day. I don't think any kind of sickness or disease can keep her from going to school.

I took all my stuff from my locker then the three of us went to our classrooms. They even invited me for lunch. I hope they find out what's up with Jennie and I hope she's not in trouble.

I arrived in our classroom 2 minutes before the second bell rings. Something feels odd. Everyone is quiet but I can feel the tension around the room.

Mrs. Chan entered the moment the bell rang. She's not alone. A girl stood beside her who I assume is a new student.

"Class, I have an announcement to make. I think some of you already know Ms. Jeong here," She pointed at the girl beside her, "She is the new addition to our family so I expect everyone to treat her well like you treat each other."

The girl stepped forward, "Hello classmates. I'm Saoirse Jeong and I'm hoping we can all be friends."

She scanned the room. It looks like she's looking for someone. 

The brief introduction was immediately followed by the distribution of our test papers. Saoirse is excused for today since she's new so she just sat there and played something on her phone.

---

"I swear if Calculus was a person I would track him down and beat him up." Rosé said while scanning the menu.

We decided to eat at Jo's Steakhouse, the newly opened restaurant across the university.

Jisoo placed the menu down, "I'd choose Calculus over Physics any day."

I opened a new topic before Rosé could respond. I've had too much acads, I'm not in the mood to hear anything related to it.

"Have you guys heard from Jennie?"

They both sighed. "Still no response. I'm really starting to get worried." Jisoo said with her forehead creasing.

"Maybe we could visit her later. Is she staying at their house or the hotel?" Rosé suggested. Great idea. 

I should also come. I have to give her the notes our teachers made us copy earlier. Can you believe that? We just took a 50-item test for each subject then they made us copy notes afterwards.

Jisoo shrugged, "I don't know where she is. We could try going to both but I don't think she wants to see anyone right now."

They exchanged meaningful glances and I have no idea what they're thinking. Maybe the thing they were talking about in the locker room this morning? 

After ordering, it took 10 minutes for our food to come. Great, I'm starving.

"Hey guys," I called them in between bites, "by any chance, do you know who Saoirse Jeong is? She's our new classmate and Mrs. Chan said some people already know her so I'm assuming she's not really new to this school."

Rosé slightly choked but was able to recover instantly. Jisoo turned to me, "She was already a student here before. She left to go to New York back in 8th grade and no one heard from her ever again. Not until now."

Oh. I wonder if she's the girl they're referring to at the locker room this morning?

"She doesn't seem to have a lot of friends though. No one in the classroom talked to her the entire morning."

Rosé shifted from her seat, "Okay here's the thing. I'm gonna tell you something but please don't talk to Jennie about it," she started. "Saoirse and Jennie were bestfriends back then. They were inseparable. One would think they're twins or something."

"I often get jealous before because Jennie spends almost all her time with her." Jisoo added before sipping her iced tea.

"What happened?"

"No one actually knows what happened but one day they had this really big fight that Saoirse tweeted Jennie's huge secret and the next day they yelled at each other in the cafeteria. It was pretty intense. After that, Saoirse left and Jennie never spoke about her again." 

Jisoo turned to me, "We're worried what she might feel when she finds out Saoirse's back."

Now it's starting to make sense. That's why Jennie didn't come to school. Maybe she already knows Saoirse is back. But how bad was the fight that Jennie would miss a day in school to avoid her?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: 

Saoirse is pronounced as "ser-sa" :)