Lisa

She walked away, and the crowd around me hushed, but I had nothing to say.

She didn't look angry or sad.

She'd given up on me.

"Give me your phone," I ordered Mino as I made my way through the crowd of hushed whispers and nosy-fucking-invasive eyes.

"Lisa, just leave her alone for now," he groaned.

All these damn people. Their eyes were on me, and there were even some hanging out the school's windows. Everyone had seen this, and someone had probably shot a video of Jennie tearing up my car.

My car. I groaned. I couldn't even look at it.

"Phone. Now." I held out my hand after we'd gotten some space.

He plopped it down in my hand.

"I'm going to look for her." I started dialing Jennie's number. "You stay here and go talk to the principal. Make sure she doesn't get in trouble for this."

Principal Masters was scared of Mino's father, and thank God for that. Mr. Caruthers wasn't just a lawyer. He was the guy whose cases were studied in law schools.

His weight kept us out of trouble, and now Jennie was going to keep her record clean, too.

I dug in my pocket for my keys.

"They're going to know about the video, Lisa. He'll keep her out of trouble, but he'll call her dad."

Shit.

"Fuck!" I growled, shutting up everyone around me.

Girls squealed and others backed away.

That's when I noticed I still had an audience, and for the first time in weeks, felt the need to hit shit.

"All of you," I bellowed, pointing my finger around me in a circle, "erase that video from your fucking phones! Now! If I see anyone with it, you're dead! Bitches included."

"Oh, Jesus." Mino ran his hands over his face. "Are you trying to get arrested?"

Fuck 'em all.

"If she shows up, for any reason, get a phone and call me." And I turned around and climbed into my nearly broken car.

I drove around for about an hour before I worked up the courage to call her father. He might hear it from the school, but he needed to hear it from me first. I'd been calling and texting Jennie non-stop, but it time to face the music.

Jennie's dad picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" he asked, confusion filling his voice. I had Mino's phone, and he didn't know the number.

"Mr. Kim? It's Lisa."

"Lisa?" he blurted out. "What's wrong?"

I almost laughed.

Mr. Kim and I texted. If I was calling, then he knew something was up.

"Jennie's fine," I assured him right away, but it felt like a lie. Physically, she was okay. "But something happened." I paused and then spitted it out. "It's probably a good idea for you to come home as soon as possible."

That tasted like vinegar, but there was no way around it.

Jennie needed her father right now.

"What the hell happened?" he barked, and I jerked the phone away from my ear.

I slowly and timidly, using the most sugar-coated language I possibly could, let him know that Jennie and I were having sex, a video was recorded of us at a Homecoming party, and it appeared to be sent to the whole school from my phone that I'd lost.

Yeah, I was going to be shot.

The heavy silence coming from the other end of the line had me cringing. I kept telling myself to shut up, because at any moment he'd reach through, grab my neck and squeeze until he killed me.

"Mr. Kim?" I squinted my eyes like I was bracing myself for a beat down when he didn't respond. "Do you have any idea where she might have gone?"

He was silent for a moment and then cleared his throat. "Maybe to the cemetery."

"Yes, sir. I'll try there."

"Lisa," he piped up again, calmer than I expected. "Find my child. Get her home safe," he ground out every angry word. "And don't leave her side until I get home."

I nodded, even though he couldn't see it.

"And then," he added, "I may never let you near her again."

My stomach dropped to my feet, and he hung up.

Driving into Concord Hill Cemetery was like stepping into a dream on shaky ground. I'd been here a lot of times before but rarely without Jennie.

Her mother was buried there, and it was where I'd realized that she was more than a friend. I'd brought a balloon to her mother's grave and stolen the fossil necklace that Jennie had left her mother from here.

Even though this place was tied to something painful for Jennie, I looked at it with good memories.

My heart started bouncing around my chest like a tennis ball when I saw her dad's Bronco parked along the side of the lane near her mom's grave.

She was safe.

I let out a breath and pulled in behind her truck, cutting the engine.

My boots ground the shattered glass under my feet from Jennie smashing my windows as I got out of the car, but I barely noticed.

My eyes were on her, lying on top of her mom's grave, forehead down to the ground.

I tried to put myself in her shoes.

Did I care that people saw me having sex with someone?

Yes.

Did I care that people saw my girlfriend's body? Not just her naked body but what it was doing to mine?

Hell fucking yes.

It made what we were doing dirty.

My chest ached, and I wanted to rip the town apart to find out who did this.

"Jennie." I couldn't do any more than whisper her name as I approached.

She tensed, but she wouldn't look at me.

Goddammit.

Jennie, we are climbing out of this fucking mess one way or another, because no one ruins us.

"Haven't you won, Lisa? Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Jennie, this is all so fucked up. I—"

She cut me off. "No! No more!" she yelled, spinning around and firing her loaded eyes at me. "Do you hear me? My life here is ruined. No one will let me live this down. You've won. Don't you get it? You. Have. Won! Now leave me alone!"

I lost my words. I lost my breath. My hands went up to my hair, and I tried to figure out how to get control of this. "Just stop for a minute, okay?" I held out my hands and calmed my voice.

"I've listened to your stories. Your excuses."

She got up and started walking back to the road. To her car.

"I know," I talked to her back. "My words aren't good enough. I can't explain any of this. I don't know where that video came from!" I shouted when she wouldn't stop.

"It came from your phone, asshole!" she shot back, twisting her face slightly back to me. "No, never mind. I've stopped talking to you." And she kept charging ahead.

She wasn't staying and talking this out. She was damn pissed and clearly wanted to be away from me.

"I called your dad!"

That stopped her in her tracks.

Jennie

I meant nothing to Lisa. Once again, she'd tossed me out like trash and everything she'd said and done to lure me in—to get me to love her—was a lie.

How would I survive the vicious taunts day-in and day-out? How could I walk down the hallway at school or look my father in the eye when everyone had seen that video?

"Do you see it, Jennie?"

"What?"

"The balloon." Lisa took my hand and pulled me across the cemetery. I tried not to think of what was underneath my feet as we crossed the graveyard, but all I could envision were gruesome zombies popping out of the earth.

"Lisa, I don't want to be here," I sniveled.

"It'll be okay. You're safe with me." She smiled and looked out over the meadow of gravestones.

"But..." I looked around, scared out of my mind.

"I'm holding your hand. What do you want me to do? Change your diaper, too?" she said sarcastically, but I didn't take it to heart.

"I'm not scared." My voice sounded defensive. "It's just…I don't know."

"Look at this place, Jennie. It's green and quiet." Lisa gazed around the grounds with a wistful look on her face, and I was jealous that she could see something here that I didn't.

"There are flowers and statues of angels. Look at this marker." She pointed. "'Alfred McIntyre born in 1922 and died in 1942.' He was only twenty. Remember Mrs. Sullivan said that World War II was between 1939 and 1945? Maybe he died in the war. All of these people had lives, Jennie. They had families and dreams. They don't want you to be afraid of them. They just want to be remembered."

I shivered as she led me deeper into the cemetery. We came up on a shiny, black marker adorned with a pink balloon. I knew my dad came here to visit, but he always put flowers on the grave.

Who had left a balloon?

"I brought your mom the balloon yesterday," Lisa admitted as if reading my mind.

"Why?" My voice shook. It was nice of her to do something like that.

"Because chicks like pink stuff." She shrugged her shoulders and made light of her gesture. She didn't want attention. She never did.

"Lisa," I scolded, waiting for a real answer.

She smiled to herself. "Because she made you." And she wrapped her skinny arm around my neck and yanked me into her side. "You're the best friend I've ever had, and I wanted to tell her 'thank you.'"

I felt warm all over despite the April frost on the ground. Lisa filled the emptiness and eased the hurt in a way my dad couldn't. I needed her, and thought for a moment that I'd like her to kiss me. But the idea quickly disappeared. I'd never wanted someone to kiss me before, and it probably shouldn't be my best friend.

"Here, take this." Lisa pulled her gray sweatshirt over her head and tossed it to me. "You're cold."

I slipped it on, letting the remaining heat from her body cover me with a shield of warmth.

"Thank you," I said, looking up at her.

She pulled my hair out from under the collar and let her fingers linger as she stared at me. My skin erupted in chills but not from the cold. What was going on in my stomach right now?

We both looked away quickly, a little embarrassed.

Despite everything, I could see the light in one thing. At least I'd given my virginity to someone I loved. Even though we were done, I had loved her when I gave myself to her. What she took from me was honest and pure even if she thought it was all a joke.

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Of course you did," I murmured, more to myself than her.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse. I thought that I'd have a few days to get my head straight before I had to deal with my dad. But the storm was going to descend sooner rather than later.

"Jennie, I didn't send that video to anyone. I didn't even record a video of us." She sounded desperate, but I still couldn't turn to look at her.

She continued, "I haven't seen my phone in two days. I left it upstairs at Tzuyu's party when we were listening to music. When I remembered later, I went back to get it, but it was gone. Don't you remember?"

I recalled her saying something about misplacing her phone that night, but we were all dancing, and it was loud. I must've forgotten.

I sucked in my cheeks and shook my head. No. She wasn't getting out of this. Her phone was pointed at the bed that night, exactly the position it needed to be in to record a video.

"You're a liar," I retorted.

While I couldn't see her face, I felt her approach, and I couldn't move. Why couldn't I just get out of here?

"I called your dad, because he was going to find out anyway. That goddamn, fucking video is out there, and I wanted him to hear it from me first. He's coming home."

My shoulders sunk. My dad would be home sometime tomorrow then. The thought both warmed and scared me. The fallout from this prank—I hated to even call it that, because it was so much more—would be embarrassing for my father.

But I needed him right now. No matter what, I knew he loved me.

"I love you more than myself, more than my own family, for Christ's sake. I don't want to take another step in this world without you next to me," she said softly.

Her sweet words washed over me, but they were like a hand that was just out of reach. I could see it. I wanted to take it. But I couldn't.

"Jennie." The weight of her hand fell on my shoulder, and I whipped around, flinging her off. Constant tears, anger, and weariness burned my eyes as I scalded her with my stare.

She ran a hand through her hair again, and I could see the worry lines on her forehead. "You have every right not to trust me, Jennie. I know that. My fucking heart is ripping open tight now. I can't stand the way you're looking at me. I could never hurt you again. Please…let's try to fix this together." Her voice cracked, and her eyes were red.

I told myself a hundred times today that she couldn't be trusted. She was a liar. A bully. But her words were getting to me. She looked upset. Either she was a really good actor, or…she was telling the truth.

"Fine. I'll play along." I took out my phone and turned it back on.

She blinked, probably confused about my sudden change of attitude. "What are you doing?"

"Calling your mom." I didn't elaborate and dialed Katherine.

"Why," she drawled out, still confused.

"Because she installed a GPS tracking app on your Android when she bought it. You said you lost your phone? Let's find it."