Chapter 10

Rose’s mind was buzzing and fizzing with all these things in her head.

Who in their right mind would have the audacity to spread such a rumour about me and Lisa’s friendship, and say that we’re in fact, going out with each other. Who would waste their time to do that?? Thought Rose. And why did Jisoo sound like she related to what I said before? Is it possible … is it possible that she had … she’s been friends with Lisa before … and she liked her???

They had reached the queue at the cafeteria. Rose noticed that more kids were giving her odd looks, and bumping their friend’s arm and whispering to them, while looking at Rose.

No wonder the whole school knows about this silly rumour. With kids who love nothing but gossip, I guess it really isn’t hard for rumours to spread like an infectious virus of lies.

‘Hey Jisoo … who exactly told you about this rumour?’ asked Rose.

Jisoo suddenly looked a bit sheepish. ‘Well I … I overheard some girls talking about it in the bathroom this morning.’

Rose looked at her like one would look at someone who had just accused an innocent person of murdering someone, only because they had overheard someone else talking about it.

‘I know, I know. I know what you’re thinking,’ Jisoo said. ‘I knew it wasn’t right to believe what they were saying, because, well, I’m not stupid. I thought it was probably just a rumour. But then another group of girls walked in, after the other girls had left, and they started talking about you and Lisa and how two boys saw you at the hotel lobby making out or something. It seemed a bit imbecile at the time, but when I walked out of the bathroom, it seemed that this rumour was on everyone’s lips. So I believed them.’

Rose rubbed her temples, feeling more than annoyed. ‘Aish, some people are just so … so damn annoying!’

‘Um … Rose? I feel like I owe you an apology for how I acted earlier. I thought you guys were actually dating, and I – um, I felt a bit disappointed at you because I had advised you not to get too close with her and I felt like you’d completely ignored my advice. I get that it sounds stupid, and now that I think about it, it really isn’t in my place to order you to think and do stuff certain ways. You can make friends with whomever you want. I’m sorry again,’ said Jisoo, lowering her head.

Then she added quietly:

‘I just didn’t want you to go through the same pain as I did.’

Rose was about to ask what she was talking about, when a boy bumped her shoulder.

He was a pretty tall guy with broad shoulders, so when he bumped Rose, she almost toppled over. The guy noticed he’d bumped into her, but instead of apologising, he said:

‘Hey, aren’t you that girl dating Lisa?’

Rose wanted to grab the guy by the collar and scream into his face: ‘NO I AM NOT FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!! AND CAN YOU AT LEAST APOLOGISE WHEN YOU BUMP INTO SOMEONE??!!’.

But she remained calm, and instead of screaming in the guy’s face … she bolted out of the cafeteria, tore down the hallway, and dashed into the girl’s bathroom, where she locked herself in a cubicle.

A few moments later, Jisoo came running into the bathroom as well.

‘Rose? Rose? Are you in here? Are you okay?’ she asked, knocking on the cubicle’s that had their door closed. There were only two cubicles that were occupied, and Rose was in one of them.

Rose timidly opened the door to the cubicle and stepped out.

‘Sorry about that,’ she said to Jisoo.

Jisoo pulled Rose into an embrace, then pulled away and smiled.

‘It’s okay Rose. I get that you’re in a confusing situation at the moment, and I guess I wasn’t being much help this morning. I’ll make it up to you. How about we get something delicious after school? It’ll be my treat. How’s that sound?’

Rose was about to respond that she already had something planned after school, when the door of the other occupied cubicle opened.

And would you know? Walking out of the cubicle was Lisa herself!

Rose suddenly remembered that Jisoo always seemed very edgy whenever the word “Lisa” was used in a conversation.

Uh-oh. Please let this end well!

---

Lisa had been in the cubicle when Rose had come running in and slammed the door of another cubicle shut. She then heard the footsteps of another person, which came into the bathroom as well.

‘Rose? Rose? Are you in here?’ Lisa heard the girl say. And when she did, her blood sort of froze over. I know that voice too well … please let that not be Jisoo, she thought. Hang on. What’s she doin going after Rose? Is Rose okay? Has something happened?

Then she heard Jisoo offering to take Rose out to eat after school, and Lisa’s mind immediately went to: . Has Rose forgotten about our plan after school already?

Lisa didn’t wait to hear Rose’s response. She walked out of her cubicle calmly, acting like as if she hadn’t been eavesdropping on their entire conversation.

‘Oh, hey Rose,’ said Lisa, cooly.

‘Lisa?? Wh-what are you doing here??’ exclaimed Rose.

‘Um … peeing? Isn’t that what you do in a bathroom?’ joked Lisa, turning the tap on and washing her hands. She glanced up at the mirror to peak at Rose’s reflection.

Rose was covering her face with her hands, clearly trying to cover the flush crawling over her cheeks.

Oh gosh, I can’t believe I just asked the stupidest question of stupid questions to ask at the stupidest  of times! Aish, Rose! Can you not behave like a normal person in front of Lisa? Why do you always end up embarrassing yourself?? Rose thought.

‘Ah, yes, of course. Sorry, that was a stupid question to ask. I feel like I’ve been asking quite a few stupid questions lately, sorry …’ babbled Rose.

Lisa grabbed a paper towel and dried her hands. She turned to Rose and gave her a charming smile.

‘So are we still meeting up after school?’ she asked.

‘Yes, yep,’ responded Rose, nodding her head vigorously.

‘Sweet,’ said Lisa, and with that, she smiled once more at Rose, slid a quick glance at Jisoo, and left the bathroom.

When the door shut, Rose immediately heard Jisoo mutter something under her breath.

‘Are you okay, unnie?’ she asked, holding Jisoo’s arm.

Jisoo nodded, but she still had a frown on her face.

‘So I guess you’re taken this afternoon,’ she muttered. ‘… oh well. I’ll find some other day to treat you to something yummy.’

‘You don’t have treat me out unnie … but if you insist, then … yeah, okay. Sounds like a plan!’ grinned Rose.

Jisoo found herself laughing at what Rose had said. Seeing Jisoo laugh made Rose feel a bit lighter, but she still had a strange feeling sitting in her stomach.

Rose just couldn’t stop getting the feeling that something had happened between Lisa and Jisoo. Something bad. Otherwise Jisoo wouldn’t look like she had ate anger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every time she saw Lisa. Rose wanted to ask what was on her mind, but she thought it might be best to not push past that barrier yet. After all, Rose had only known Jisoo for a day.

---

School finally finished some 5 billion hours later. When the bell that signified the end of school, Rose grabbed her things and ran out of the class like her skirt was on fire. She bolted down the stairs at record speed, and was at the entrance to the school within 2 minutes. The coach was already parked by the curb, the driver standing at the door to the coach, having a smoke.

Then Rose saw one of the instructors walk past her and toward the parked coach. Upon seeing the instructor, the coach driver quickly threw his cigarette on the grass and stamped on it. Rose furrowed her brow in disgust. Littering is disgusting, she thought.

She stepped up to the coach door, ready to go in. The instructor saw her and came over to her.

‘Well, well, Chaeyoung. It looks like you’re on time today. I assume you learnt your lesson from yesterday?’ he asked with a smile.

Rose didn’t exactly know how else to reply, so she just nodded and gave a small smile. The instructor marked her name off the role, and she was allowed into the coach.

After what seemed like 5 hours (but really, was only 5 minutes), the coach finally departed from the school.

‘You okay, Rose?’ asked Jennie, who had noticed that the younger girl seemed a bit edgy and rushed.

‘Hm? Oh, yep. I’m fine. I just wish the coach driver would drive a bit faster,’ replied Rose.

‘Huh? Why? Are you in a rush to go somewhere?’

‘Well, no, not really. Lisa said she was going to meet me at our hotel and take me somewhere, so I don’t want to be late.’

‘Lisa? Wow, you guys seem to be suddenly BFF’s after she gave you that phone …’ said Jennie, sounding slightly annoyed.

‘What do you mean? Is there something wrong with being friends with her?’ asked Rose, wondering why both Jennie and Jisoo seem to find something wrong with being friends with Lisa.

Jennie shook her head, but didn’t reply directly to that question.

‘I’ve heard she’s mean,’ Jennie said after a while of silence.

‘Lisa, you mean?’

‘Yeah. Her. Heard she’s done some pretty wrong stuff.’

‘Well I don’t think she’s mean. I don’t know her too well yet, but I’m sure she’s not what everyone seems to think she is.’

Jennie shrugged and glanced out the window. ‘I don’t like her.’

‘Huh?’

Jennie looked Rose in the eyes and repeated what she’d said. ‘I don’t like Lisa.’

‘But why? Has she done something bad to you or something? You know you it’s not right to dis-like someone just because of some rumour saying their a bad person,’ said Rose.

I know. Jennie thought.  I know that I don’t know Lisa at all. But I don’t like her because … because she likes you. And … I hate that because … because I like you.

‘I just don’t. She gives me bad vibes,’ mumbled Jennie, crossing her arms and staring at the back of the seat in front of her.

Rose felt confused. Why did everyone seem to have some sort of grudge against Lisa? “Everyone” as in Jisoo and Jennie (everyone else seemed to like her).

The coach pulled up to the entrance to the hotel lobby. Rose jumped out as soon as she could, jumped into the elevator, and ran to their dorm. She spent 10 minutes trying to pick something nice to wear, but eventually just went with the casual outfit option. Then she dashed out of the dorm, and was in the hotel lobby within a minute.

Lisa arrived a few minutes after. Rose recognised her at once. She was all dressed up in fancy, branded clothes and accessories, it made her look like an idol or something. She waved to Rose, and Rose came rushing over, unable to hide the fact that she’d been looking forward to this moment since school started.

Playing it cool was just something she found hard to do.

‘Hey Lisa!’ said Rose, smiling from ear to ear.

There was something about Rose’s smile that made Lisa’s heart thump twice as fast.

‘Hi Rose. You hungry? I know a place ‘round here that sells great street food,’ said Lisa, slipping her arm around Rose.

‘Ooh! Really? Sounds good.’ Rose replied, trying not to pass out from the feeling of very close proximity with Lisa. ‘Let’s go!’

---

Lisa led Rose to a buzzing market, full of people and stalls. It was a market, where people mainly sold food, so there was a yummy scent of food floating around the atmosphere. One of the food scents smelt especially good, and Rose found that Lisa was leading her closer toward the location of the scent.

Five minutes later, Rose was sitting at one of the small tables that were placed around the front of the stall. Lisa was sitting opposite to her, smiling to herself at the sight of Rose eagerly eating the food they’d bought.

‘Mmm! This is – munch – delicious!’ said Rose though mouthfuls.

Lisa grinned. ‘I told you they were the best.’

‘You should try some too!’ said Rose, holding out her hand holding the fried chicken. She’d wrapped up the bottom of the chicken leg in a napkin, to prevent the spread of germs.

Lisa stared at the chicken in Rose’s hand for a while.

Rose gulped. Have I gone too far? It’s not like I’m trying to feed her like couples do; I’m simply offering her some chicken. I mean – she bought it, she should eat some, instead of just watching me inhale all this fried chicken!

Before Rose could withdraw her hand, Lisa leaned over the small table and took a bite out of the chicken leg Rose was holding.

Rose was surprised, because, as mentioned before, she had no intention of actually feeding Lisa.

Lisa took a moment to chew the bite-full of chicken she’d had, then she gave Rose a grin.

‘Mm! That is good! They didn’t taste that good before … hm, funny huh? Maybe they knew you were coming, Rose, so they decided to whip up a super yummy recipe, tehee,’ said Lisa.

‘Pfft, that’s silly,’ said Rose, feeling herself blush.

Suddenly, a person standing amongst the crowd of people in the market caught Rose’s eye.

That person wore a Gucci cap, and even more fancy branded clothes than Lisa. The person turned and for a second, they had eye-contact.

And Rose gasped.