Monday morning, when the ball rang signaling the short break in-between classes, Jennie strode quickly through the hallway. She pushed her glasses, which were slipping off, higher up her nose, wondering if her hair was already spilling out of the loose bun on her head. She had spent most of last night catching up on her school work and had barely managed to get three hours of sleep.

"Hi." Some girl Jennie didn't recognize crooned.

"Hi?" Jennie looked over her shoulder. She was the only person around, was the girl really saying hi to her?

When Jennie passed by Sooyoung and Yerim, who were standing by the vending machines, the two of them smiled at her.

"You looked fabulous." Sooyoung chirped.

Jennie managed a smile, confused about what Sooyoung was talking about. Was this another one of their schemes?

But as she continued walking down the hallway, Jennie realized she'd never had so many people smile, wave and say hello to her. This morning, when she walked from one class to another a small group of guys followed, whispering faintly about something.

When a hand shot out of one of the classrooms, Jennie let out a small shriek.

"Jen!" Jisoo who materialized at the door whispered excitedly.

"Hey." Jennie smiled, letting a small group of students past her.

"So did you see it?" Jisoo asked, batting her eyelashes and smiling enthusiastically.

"See what?" Jennie narrowed her eyes.

"Look." Jisoo started rummaging inside her purse until she pulled out a chunky fashion magazine and handed it to Jennie. Jennie reluctantly accepted it, puzzled.

"Page fifteen." Jisoo said, giving a small nod.

Jennie quickly turned the pages of the magazine until she got the page fifteen. She let out a small gasp.

A picture of Jisoo and Jennie posing on the couch and staring at each other intensely was plastered across the entire page. On the next page were a couple of smaller pictures that were taken during their modeling session with Beau a while ago, one of which was a picture of Jisoo on top of Jennie. Jennie smiled smugly, noting how attractive the both of them looked, especially on top of one another.

"Wow." Jennie exhaled, still staring at the magazine pictures.

Jisoo perked up. "They turned out great, didn't they?"

Jennie smiled. "They look amazing Jisoo. I just wasn't expecting them to use my pictures."

"Of course they were going to be used." Jisoo said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world then slid her hand into Jennie's and gave a small squeeze. "Well maybe that wasn't the original plan, but Beau was impressed by you. He would like it if you modeled for him again."

Jennie grinned and folded the magazine, putting it in her purse. "He's too kind, but I might have to pass on that offer. I barely have time to sleep with all the schoolwork and that play..." She sighed, and pushed her glasses up.

"The Drama Club? Phantom?" Jisoo asked and Jennie nodded.

Jisoo let out a chuckle. "You're taking that thing way too seriously."

"Well maybe," Jennie said, matter-of-factly, "You're not taking it seriously enough. Besides, I'm one of the lead roles, I can't let Mr Lee and everyone else down and ruin the play. The entire school will be watching."

"And by everyone else you mean Chaeyoung?"

Jennie froze.

"Huh? Uh...What do you mean?"

"She's helping you rehearse?" Jisoo said.

"Oh, yeah, that." Jennie said quickly and let go of Jisoo's hand to fix her bun which was getting loose. "Well yeah, Chaeyoung among other people as well."

Jisoo nodded. "So is she of any help?"

"Surprisingly, yeah." Jennie smiled and leaned on one of the tables. "She really knows how to get into character and all that. But I'm worried I might be a bad student."

"There are no bad students, only bad teachers."

"So you're admitting that that one time when you failed Chemistry in middle school, it wasn't the teachers fault?" Jennie narrowed her eyes playfully.

Jisoo rolled her eyes and let out a laugh.

"Okay, that was completely different. Anyway, I just hope Chaeyoung's iness doesn't rub off on you." Jisoo said, her tone changing slightly.

"Maybe it already has." Jennie chuckled, jokingly punching Jisoo's arm.
 

*

 

Jennie tugged on Kuma's leash when he stopped walking to sniff on something for the fourth time that day.

"Kuku, let's go!" She called for him and her dog quickly forgot about whatever it was that fascinated him this time and returned to his owner. "Anyway, as I was saying, dogs are just more loyal. Cats would run away the second you stop feeding them."

"Why would you stop feeding your pet?" Lisa, who was walking by her side asked.

Jennie rolled her eyes and then grinned. "You know what I mean."

The afternoon was cloudless and sunny, and it was the perfect day to take Kuma out for a walk. Jennie spent most of the past few weeks cooped up in her apartment studying, so this was a welcome change in her daily routine. Not to mention how grateful Hyelim looked, since she was completing this task every day. Jennie had a feeling that Kuma wasn't too obedient when he was with anyone else other than her.

"But that's what makes cats so great." Lisa continued the cats or dogs argument they were having. "They're independent! Not needy and clingy like dogs."

"Right. Having a clingy pet is not a bad thing, it means your pet loves you." Jennie replied, giving Lisa a knowing sideways glance.

"Hey, my cats love me." Lisa said defensively. "They just show affection in a different way."

"Yeah, by attempting to murder you if you give them a belly rub." Jennie said, then stopped when she felt Kuma's leash tighten. He had stopped once again.

"Kuma!" She called for him once again and caught a triumphant glint in Lisa's eyes.

"Don't say it." Jennie said, certain that the other girl was about to say something about how dogs have to stop and sniff every little thing.

But instead, Lisa started to swoon looking at something behind Jennie.

"Jen, look!" She exclaimed in a high pitched voice and pointed at where Kuma was standing.

A small white puppy was wagging its tail excitedly, putting its paws on Kuma, who was cautiously taking a step back every time the puppy approached him.

"It's so cute!" Jennie squeaked, approaching the puppy who immediately ran towards her. She scratched its head and it her palms, still wagging its tail.

"Kuku is jealous." Lisa laughed when Kuma placed his paws on Jennie's back, trying to avert the attention back to him.

Lisa squatted on the ground next to Jennie, playing with the white puppy as well.

"Do you think it belongs to someone? It has a collar." She noted.

"Oh, you're right." Jennie said, only then noticing the thin red collar which was hidden behind the puppy's curly fur. "Let's see."

Jennie picked up the puppy in her lap, trying to inspect the tag on its collar, while the pup was her hands.

"There's only an address engraved in it." Jennie said, now rubbing the puppy's belly. Kuma whined jealously behind her.

She repeated the address to Lisa, who looked it up on her phone.

"Oh! It's really close, just around the block." Lisa said. "We should return it."

"Yeah." Jennie said getting up and handing the puppy to Lisa. "I'll carry Kuma or else he'll die of envy."

"You know what, I'm not gonna say it." Lisa said and bumped into Jennie playfully as they walked.

They spent a few minutes walking with the dogs in their arms, Kuma resting peacefully on Jennie'