Chapter 9

The next school day started out like any other school day.

The exchange group piled into the coach and took the normal route to the school.

Rose linked arms with Jennie and they both made their way into the school.

Rose parted ways with Jennie and went up the staircase that contained a billion stairs, which led to her classroom.

Rose walked through the corridor, wondering to herself why so many students kept shifting glances at her as they walked past, and muttering to themselves.

Rose didn’t think too much about it. Maybe I’ve sprouted a pimple or something… She thought.

She walked into her classroom with a smile on her face.

Like yesterday, a lot of the students were mucking around and being idiots. Rose saw Jisoo sitting by the side of the classroom, at her desk, by herself.  She looked up and saw Rose, who happily jumped over to the older girl.

But Jisoo didn’t smile.

‘Good morning unnie!’ Rose said smiling.

Jisoo didn’t reply.

Instead, she gave Rose a blank 3-second stare, and then glanced back down at her desk. Rose’s smile faltered.

‘Hey, are you okay? Did something happen?’ she asked.

Suddenly, a group of girls all barged into the classroom, disgusted and angry expressions plastered across each girl’s face. Some of the girls in the group waved and twirled their hair at the cute guy sitting at the front of the class. The one leading the pack however, looked dead-set like one of those torpedo’s that won’t stop until they’ve hit their target.

And here she was.

‘Ya, Newbie!’ the girl leading the clique said, marching right up to Rose, with the rest of the girls crowding around her.

‘Wh-what? Is something wrong?’ asked Rose.

‘You know what’s wrong,' she said, her eyes blazing into Rose’s. 'Is it true?' she asked, smacking her hand down hard on the table.

‘W-what do you mean?’ Rose stuttered, feeling nervous at the sudden confrontation.

‘Aish! You’re a real dumb one, you are! Play dumb all you like, but the whole school knows,’ she hissed.

Rose was seriously confused. By now, the entire classroom was dead silent, all the kids in the class focused on the dramatic scene unfolding in front of them.

‘I’m really sorry, but I honestly have no-idea what on earth you’re talking about,’ said Rose, trying to keep calm.

The girl crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

‘I’ll give you this newbie: You’re one hell of a good liar.’

And then Rose felt a sudden bubble of anger fizz and burst within her. She wanted to scream in this girl’s face and give her a sock in the nose.

Who does she think she is? Yelling and calling me these things when I’ve done nothing wrong! I don’t even know her for goodness sake!

Rose clenched her fists, but before she could lash out at the pack, Jisoo stood up abruptly.

‘That’s enough Sujin!’ she said, not in a loud voice, but commanding enough for Sujin to shut-up.

Sujin gave Rose one last glare and flipped her hair back. She leaned in and hissed in Rose’s ear:

“You’re going out with Lisa, someone you have no right to be with. You thought you could play dumb newbie. The whole damn school knows and if I find out that this bullsht rumour’s true, that you’re going out with the ravishing Lisa, you’re gonna pay real bad.”

And just like that, she waved for her gang to follow her and they all sashayed out of the classroom.

Once they left, some of the kids in the class gave Rose one or two odd looks, before resuming what they were doing previously. Rose turned to Jisoo to thank her for what she’d done, but something stopped her.

Jisoo was staring at Rose in such a way, it made Rose feel somehow guilty. Then she sat back down and continued reading through her math notes.

Rose was on the brink of bursting with confusion.

What on earth’s with everyone? Why’s Jisoo acting like this? And who the heck said I’m dating Lisa?! I barely even know her!

At that moment, all the kids horsing around the classroom made a mad dash to their desks in under 2 seconds.

Rose sat down too.

Exactly 2.2 seconds later, the form teacher walked in.

The whole morning seemed to go on forever. Either that, or literature was a real bore to Rose. She felt like she zonked out 5 times in the one lesson.

For the whole lesson, Rose kept glancing over at Jisoo, who sat in the desk next to her. She paid absolutely no attention to Rose, which Rose took as a gesture meaning, “don’t talk to me”.

So she didn’t.

Break time came around and Rose got up. She was hungry. She looked over at Jisoo who continued to study her notebook so intently, it seemed like she was doing it on purpose, as if, in fact, she wasn’t actually reading her book, but actually ignoring Rose.

‘Hey, um, Jisoo?’ Rose asked tentatively.

Jisoo looked up.

‘Do you, um, want to go get something to eat?’

Jisoo shrugged and stood up.

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They walked in silence for some time.

Rose was getting tired of this. What’s wrong with Jisoo?

They walked through a densely populated hallway (compared to the other jam-packed hallways that lined the school together). And for the first time that morning, Jisoo finally spoke.

‘Is it true?’

‘Huh?’ was Rose’s response. She hadn’t heard Jisoo’s voice for the whole morning, she was kinda startled when she heard it. ‘Um, I mean, what’s true?’ Why the hell is everyone asking me that??

Jisoo continued walking.

‘You and Lisa. That whole thing.’

Rose stopped. ‘No! Of course not! I barely know her for that matter!’

Jisoo stopped too, and turned to face Rose. ‘Really? Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure, Jisoo! I don’t even know why there’s this whole rumour going around about me and Lisa, when it’s not even true!’ exclaimed Rose.

‘So I take it that you’re not friends with her either,’ said Jisoo, almost in a demanding manner.

Rose looked at the ground. ‘Well, no, that’s not really true. I am friends with her. Sort of. We’ve just started talking to each other, so, yeah, our friendship’s pretty new. Is there something wrong with being friends with her?’

‘Well … no, I guess there isn’t. But I did advise you that it was best to avoid becoming too close with her. Like I mentioned before, she’s got a reputation, Rose. And not a good one.’

Rose suddenly remembered that promise she had made to herself the day before.

That she wouldn’t get too close with Lisa.

It hadn’t even been 24 hours, and she’d already dented her promise.

‘It’s not like I’m close with her, Jisoo. We’re just new friends, that’s all. It won’t escalate into anything major,’ Rose reasoned.

Jisoo turned to continue walking, and as she did, Rose thought she heard her mumble:

‘That’s what I thought too…’

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