Despite what the day was suppose to bring, there was an unusual gloominess hanging around the town today. A cluster of darkened gray clouds hovering high up in the sky. Paired together with a chilling wind. It made the world outside look bleak. To anyone else it just meant that it was another day closer to winter. But to some the weather was a mirror showcasing the bottled up emotions buried deep down inside. Something that looked like it felt.

Jennie wasn’t aware that she had spent the last half hour gazing out the window. Spacing out. Her eyes focused on the hazy look taking over outside. Subconsciously wishing for the bright and sunny days of summer to come back. Her head lightly perched on her hands as she leaned slightly forward on her elbows. It was almost serene, had it not been for the obnoxious ringing of the last bell that decided to blare its ugly sound out at that moment. 

The noise finally reaching her ears, causing her to flinch and her hand to shoot over her heart. Eyes clenched shut. It would’ve been embarrassing if she weren’t seated in the far back corner of the classroom, out of everyone else’s view. Lucky for her.

After calming her heart and coming back to her senses, she stuffed the papers scattered on her desk into her bag and headed straight for the door. Ignoring everyone in her path. Exiting her last class seemingly drained of all her energy. 

She hasn’t been in the mood for much of anything lately. Especially after failing the quiz she had earlier in the day. Which unfortunately set tone for everything else to follow. Obviously, she wouldn’t know her actual grade until sometime next week, but she could already feel the failure deep down inside. She knew there was absolutely no way she was getting anything above an F. Of course it’s not her fault, knowing the history of some war that happened hundreds of years ago just didn’t seem like it deserved space in her beautiful brain. And at this point she was honestly just glad that she even remembered to put her name on the paper. Or so she hoped. That was probably the least she could have done. Giving it a second thought though, maybe it would’ve been better for her if she chose to leave her name off. Maybe then she’d have an excuse to use later to retake the quiz or something. But that thought didn’t linger much longer in her head as she approached her locker. Her bag beginning to slip off her left shoulder as she came to a stop. 

After what seemed like a never ending day, she was ready to be anywhere else but here.

Taking the cold metal lock into her hand; she lazily spun the dial to the right, then to the left, and then to right again. Sliding the dial around all three numbers that would unlock the giant metal cage in front of her. 

“Look I understand you might be having a hard time but you can’t expect to pass by choosing when you want to come to class. It doesn’t work that way. I might have excused it, if this were the first time, but you’ve been consistently skipping all year…” Hearing the abrupt banter, Jennie’s attention instantly gravitated to the room just across the hall from her. The one belonging to Mr. Tuan, her least favorite teacher.

Now Mr. Tuan wasn’t the strictest teacher at the school, no that title belonged to Mrs. Jung, but he could be very disciplinary. Especially if you weren’t one of his over achieving star studded students. Which wasn’t the case for Jennie, hence the reason why he was her least favorite teacher. Having had her fair share of run in’s with him before, she eagerly awaited to see who he was yelling at this time. Curiosity getting the best of her. 

And as if right on cue, Jisoo came trudging out of the classroom with Mr. Tuan trailing after her with his arms crossed and a scowl between his brows. “Kim Jisoo this conversation is not over…”

“Of course…” Jennie whispered to herself. Almost forgetting that Jisoo was the resident trouble maker. Still finding ways to uphold her reputation.

Mr. Tuan was clearly at his tipping point with her. Steam radiating off the top of his head. Jisoo rolled her eyes as she stopped to lean against the doorframe. Letting out a long sigh as she turned to face him again. Impatiently waiting for him to continue. Very routine. Obviously, not the first time she’s been on the wrong end of a conversation with this teacher. 

“If you plan to graduate then you seriously need make a change starting today, because I won’t hesitate to fail you.” His finger pointing directly at her as he towered over her much shorter frame. If this were any other girl in the grade, they would have probably been in tears by now, but not Jisoo. 

Taking a second to get a good look at her face Mr. Tuan could see the lack of emotion and care she was showing. The reaction catching him off guard. He hadn’t actually expected her to hold her composure like she did. But of course it’d take more than that for Jisoo to crack.

He cleared his throat while uncrossing his arms, realizing in that moment the lack of sympathy he was showing to her. Knowing how hard things have been lately. It was very rare for him to be this soft, but this situation was an exception. Even if Jisoo was one of his most difficult students. “Look Jisoo, I can understand that school might not be your top priority right now but you gotta keep it going. I know you have a lot of untapped potential. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen what you can do when you really set your mind to something. You know your capable of a lot more than you think. You just can’t limit yourself. As far as skipping classes goes, I’m willing to give you one FINAL chance to redeem yourself. Okay?” 

Refusing to give him a reaction, Jisoo remained silent as she kept her eyes locked on the ground. It was very apparent that her ‘do enough to get by’ attitude wasn’t holding up any longer. Like Mr. Tuan said, school was most definitely not her top priority, but then again it never really was to begin with. But he was right about one thing. When she set her mind to something, she really did do her best to put her all into it. Then again he was also wrong because if it didn’t go the way she wanted it to, it was easy for her to give up. That's where having your guidance came into to play.  

She let the words process in her head. One FINAL chance. It was strange but those three words actually managed to resonate with her. Giving her an extra dose of energy where she felt like she was lacking. At least now she knew he hadn’t completely given up on her.

Clearing his throat. “Well then, I expect to see you in class come Monday…on time Miss Kim?” All Jisoo did in response was roll her eyes. Before completely disappearing back into the classroom he stuck his head out once again. Making sure to get in one final remark. “Detention as well.” 

For a second Jisoo actually thought that she might get by with nothing more than this talk, but of course skipping classes had its consequences. What could she do? She expected detention from the start anyway. As she pushed herself off the doorframe, turning to leave down the hall she caught sight of Jennie staring back at her.

“- …” Jennie thought to herself as she quickly diverted her attention, turning her head back to her locker frantically trying to push the lock that was still in her grasp open, only to have it still be locked. Mentally annoyed with herself she spun the numbers around the dial again. 1 to the right, 16 to the left-

-“You know it’s not very nice to eavesdrop on other peoples conversations right?…” Quickly moving herself closer to the locker Jennie stood frozen. Pretending that if she didn’t move or say anything Jisoo would leave, like a possum playing dead. 

They hadn’t really spoken to each other since the day the spent together at the hospital. Which made things between them a lot more awkward. 

Instead they opted for subtle glances at each other as they passed by in the halls. And nothing more. Apparently you and Rosie had become their excuse to interact with each other. Which was stupid to say the least.

Jisoo furrowed her brows as she continued watching Jennie from behind. Slightly amused by the brunettes behavior. Leaning against the row of lockers she put herself in the girl’s peripheral view. Hoping this would force the girl to acknowledge her. The tactic worked because Jennie couldn’t ignore her any longer. As soon as Jisoo came into view her eyes glanced over at her. Completely out of her control. 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” Jennie let her shoulders drop. An apologetic look in her eyes. “It wasn’t exactly a private conversation, so I guess it’s not completely your fault.” Jisoo replied back shrugging her shoulders with a smirk.

“Well it sounds to me like you should probably step things up if you want to graduate. I mean you don’t want me to have to sit next to some random person for an entire graduation ceremony do you?” Jennie asked playfully nudging Jisoo’s shoulder. Jisoo’s eyes grew softer as she looked at Jennie who was giving her that signature smile of hers. That’s not something Jisoo expected to hear. “It’d probably be more peaceful for you though.” 

Remembering their promotion into high school, Jennie recalled sitting next Jisoo for the entire duration. The black haired girl constantly getting on her nerves. On purpose no doubt. Still she really couldn’t envision anyone else beside her. “No, that’d be too boring.” That spot would always belong to Jisoo. “Besides I kind of like having you around.” Jennie looked away shyly. Not realizing how sentimental her words sounded. It was eating away at Jisoo. How