Chapter 14.

"What's Lisa doing here?" Jisoo asked, pointing at the blonde who was approaching them quickly, visibly annoyed.

"I have no idea, she should be at her basketball practice now." Rosé replied. "Something happened, she looks mad."

Once Lisa reached them, she threw the gym bag off her shoulder and kicked it with all her force. Then she dropped on the ground, lied on her back and put her hands over her face.

"So are you going to tell us what's wrong or you'll just sulk in silence?" Jisoo teased. "And why aren't you at your practice?"

"I was. But the coach send me away."

"Just like that?"

"No. He had a reason. I... I fouled Joy. Several times. On purpose."

"What the hell Lisa, why would you do that?"

"She was the one that messed with Jennie earlier, okay? And when I saw her on the court with that annoying smile of hers, I just snapped. Stupid bitch." Lisa almost hissed the last two words.

Her friends glanced at each other understandingly. So that's what it was all about: revenge.

"Listen, I understand that you want to protect Jennie but..." Jisoo tried to be as prudent as possible with her words.

"...but you're doing it all wrong." Rosé finished the sentence.

Having her actions criticized by her best friends sparked a strange feeling of annoyance inside Lisa. She was just trying to do the right thing...

"Shit, do you two always agree on everything? It's getting annoying, who are you, twins separated at birth or something?"

Rosé and Jisoo exchanged astonished looks. "It's true that we often agree on most things-"

"Often!? When was the last time you disagreed on something?" Lisa pressed them.

"Our minds just think alike." Jisoo's sharp tone clearly indicated that this conversation topic was over. "Anyway, that's not the point. You can't fight with everyone who says something mean about Jennie-"

"I can and I will!" Lisa's white-knuckled fists showed that she meant it.

"Jisoo is right. It's a losing battle Lisa. It will only make things worse." Rosé persuaded her calmly. "It will only make Jennie more hated. You don't want that, do you?"

Of course Lisa didn't want that. Shit, maybe her friends had a point. She unclenched her fists.

"So what do you want me to do? Nothing? Just stay back and watch how..." Lisa's voice broke and she gulped. "How they bully her? Fuck no."

"Just calm down and listen, you... hot-headed renegade." Jisoo smirked. "People are instinctively afraid of the unknown, of the things they don't understand, it's our nature. And Jennie is like that, mysterious, different, difficult to grasp, reluctant to open up. So you have to make people UNDERSTAND her."

"Yeah, show everyone that what Jennie had experienced made her detached and distrustful of people, but despite everything, she can still be friendly, caring and supportive, in her own way."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Lisa realized that this was probably a more difficult challenge than fighting against the entire school.

"We'll think of something. The three of us. We're in this together."

"We are?" Lisa asked in surprise.

"Sure. You didn't think we'd leave you alone with this mess?" Jisoo smiled. "Besides, we already have something helpful, we both talked to Jennie about you."

Lisa shuddered. "Please tell me it's good news, please..."

"Well... it's kind of both good and bad. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"The bad."

"It's true that she avoids you. I invited her to my place for tomorrow, but she refused when she heard that you'd be there too." Rosé explained, her eyes staring at Lisa comfortingly.

"Shit. I knew it." Lisa looked down. "And the good one?"

"She's not mad at you."

"She's not? Then why would she-"

"There must be another reason why she keeps avoiding you. And we're not sure why... but we both got the impression that she was somehow... ashamed of something. Maybe something that happened on Saturday in the club? Are you sure you can't tell us more about it?" Rosé asked, but Lisa shook her head.

"No, I really can't. Damn, why would Jennie feel like that, it's me who should be ashamed, not her!" Lisa couldn't understand. Jennie saved her, she was a hero in her mind. "Why, Jennie, why?" the question echoed in her mind, but the answer was nowhere to be found.

"By the way, you should also apologize to Joy." Jisoo advised.

"What!? Hell, no! You must be kidding, I'm not doing that!" Lisa crossed her arms, her pride wouldn't allow that.

"Come on, the practice has just finished, just go to the dressing room, tell her you're sorry and explain why you did it." Rosé said. "It would be a really smart thing to do, people would actually appreciate you being this humble."

Lisa shook her head and sat motionlessly with her arms crossed and unapologetic look on her face.

"It would really help Jennie..." Jisoo added casually. Three seconds after hearing these words, Lisa's expression suddenly changed, she got up and without saying a single word she headed in the direction of the dressing room. Jisoo smiled triumphantly, put her hand up and hit a high-five with Rosé.