JENNIE

"It took longer than a month," I sob as Rosé finishes explaining how the bet came to be made. I feel sick to my stomach, and I close my eyes to get some relief.

"I know. She kept coming up with excuses and she kept asking for more time and she'd lower the amount she was supposed to get. It was weird. We all just thought she was obsessed with winning—like to prove a point or something—but now I get it." Rosé stops talking for a second, and her eyes scan my face. "It was all she talked about. Then, that day when I invited you to the movies, she flipped out. After she dropped you back off, she totally flipped shit on me and said I had to stay away from you. But I just laughed it off, because I thought she was drunk."

"Did she . . . did she tell you about the stream? And the . . . other stuff?" I hold my breath as I ask. The pity in her eyes answers me. "Oh my God." I put my hands over my face.

"She told us everything . . . I mean everything . . ." she says in a low voice.

I stay quiet and turn off my phone. It hasn't stopped vibrating since I left the bar. She has no right to be calling me.

"Where's your new dorm?" Rosé asks, and I notice we're near campus.

"I don't live in a dorm. Lisa and I . . ." I can barely finish my sentence. "She convinced me to move in with her, just a week ago."

"She didn't," Rosé gasps.

"She did. She's so beyond . . . she's j-just . . ." I stutter, unable to come up with a fitting word for her cruelty.

"I didn't know it was going this far. I thought once we saw the . . . you know, the proof . . . she'd be back to normal, seeing a different girl everynight. But then she disappeared. She's barely come around us at all, except the other night she showed up at the docks and was trying to get Hanbin and me to agree not to tell you. She offered Hanbin a shitload of money to keep quiet."

"Money?" I say. Lisa couldn't be lower. The space inside Rosé's truck grows smaller with each sickening revelation.

"Yeah. Hanbin laughed it off, of course, and told Lisa he would keep his mouth shut."

"And you didn't?" I ask, remembering Lisa's busted knuckles and Rosé's face.

"Not exactly . . . I told her that if she didn't tell you soon, I would. She didn't like that idea, obviously," she says, and waves at her face. "If it makes you feel any better, I do think she cares about you."

"She doesn't. And if she does, it doesn't matter," I say, and lay my head against the window.

Every kiss and touch have been shared among Lisa's friends, every moment on display. My most intimate moments. My only intimate moments aren't mine at all.

"Do you want to come back to my place? I don't mean that in a pushy or creepy way. I just have a couch you could stay on until you . . . figure things out," she offers.

"No. No, thank you. Can I use your phone, though? I need to call Jisoo."

Rosé nods at the phone resting on the console, and for a moment my mind wanders to thoughts of how things would be different if I hadn't blown Rosé off for Lisa after the bonfire. I would never have made all of these mistakes.

Jisoo answers on the second ring, and just like I knew she would, she tells me to come right over. Granted, I haven't told her what's up, but she's just so kind. I give Rosé Jisoo's address, and she stays quiet for most of the drive across town.

"She's so going to come after me for taking you anywhere but to her," she finally says.

"I would apologize for being in the middle of this . . . but you guys did this to yourselves," I say honestly. I do pity Rosé slightly, because I believe she had much better intentions than Lisa did, but my wounds are too fresh to even think about that right now.

"I know."

"If you need anything, call me," she offers, and I nod before climbing out of the car.

I can see my breath coming out in front of my face in hot spurts through the cold air. I can't feel the cold, though. I can't feel anything.

Jisoo is my only friend, but she lives at Lisa's father's house. The irony of this is not lost on me.

"IT'S REALLY COMING DOWN out there," Jisoo says as she rushes me inside. "Where's your coat?" she scolds playfully, then flinches when I step into the light. "What happened? What did she do?"

My eyes scan the room, hoping that Marco and Karen aren't downstairs. "That obvious, huh?" I wipe under my eyes.

Jisoo pulls me into her arms, and I wipe my eyes again. I no longer have the strength, physical or emotional, to sob. I'm beyond that, so far beyond it.

Jisoo gets me a glass of water and says, "Go up to your room."

I manage to smile, but some perverse instinct leads me to Lisa's door when I reach the top of the stairs. When I realize it, the pain that is so close to breaking back through stirs even more forcefully, so I quickly turn and go into the room across the hall. Memories of running across the hall to Lisa that night I heard her screaming in her sleep burn within me as I open the door. I sit awkwardly on the bed in "my room," unsure what to do next.

Jisoo joins me a few minutes later. Sitting next to me, she's close enough to show concern, yet far enough to be respectful, as is her way.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks kindly.

I nod. Even though repeating the whole saga hurts worse than finding out about it in the first place, telling Jisoo feels almost liberating, and it's a comfort to know that at least one person didn't actually know about my humiliation the entire time.

Listening to me, Jisoo is as still as stone, to the point that I can't read what she's thinking. I want to know what this makes her think of her stepsister. Of me. But when I finish, she immediately jumps up with an angry energy.

"I can't believe her! What the hell is wrong with her! Here I thought she was becoming almost . . . decent . . . and she does—this! This is so messed up! I can't believe she would do this to you, of all people. Why would she ruin the only thing she has?"

As soon as Jisoo finishes speaking, her head snaps to the side.

And then I, too, notice it: footsteps rushing up the staircase. Not just footsteps, but heavy boots slamming against the wooden steps in a frenzy.

"She's here," we both say, and for a split second I actually consider hiding in the closet.

Jisoo looks at me with a very adult seriousness on her face. "Do you want to see her?"

I shake my head frantically, and Jisoo moves to close the door just as Lisa's voice slices right through me.

"Jennie!"

Just as Jisoo reaches out her arm, Lisa bursts through the doorway and blows past her. She stops in the middle of the room, and I stand up off the bed. Not used to this sort of thing, Jisoo stands there, stunned for a moment.

"Jennie, thank God. Thank God you're here." She sighs and runs her hands over her hair.

My chest aches at the sight of her and I look away, focusing on the wall.

"Jennie, baby. I need you to listen to me. Please, just . . ."

I stay silent and walk toward her. Her eyes light with hope and she reaches out for me, but when I continue past her, I catch the hope extinguishing in her.

Good.

"Talk to me," she begs.

But I shake my head and stand next to Jisoo. "No—I'll never be talking to you again!" I shout.

"You don't mean that . . ." Lisa steps closer. "Get away from me!" I scream as she grabs my arm.

Jisoo steps between us and puts her arm on her stepsister's shoulder. "Lisa, you need to go."

Lisa's jaw clenches and she looks back and forth between us. "Jisoo, you need to get the fuck out of the way," she warns.

But Jisoo stands her ground, and I know Lisa well enough to know that she's weighing her options, whether it's worth punching Jisoo right now, in front of me.

Seeming to have decided against it, she takes a deep breath. "Please . . . give us a minute," she says, trying to keep her calm.

Jisoo looks at me and my eyes plead with her. She turns back to Lisa. "She doesn't want to talk to you."

"Don't you fucking tell me what she wants!" Lisa screams and her fist connects with the wall, cracking and denting the drywall.

I jump back and begin to cry again. Not now, not now, I silently repeat to try to manage my emotions.

"Go, Lisa!" Jisoo shouts just as Marco and Karen appear at the doorway.

Oh no. I shouldn't have come here. "What the hell is going on?" Marco asks.

No one says anything. Karen looks at me with sympathy, and Marco repeats his question.

Lisa glares at his father. "I'm trying to talk to Jennie, and Jisoo won't mind her own damn business!"

Marco looks at Jisoo, then at me. "What did you do, Lisa?" His tone has changed from worried to . . . angry? I can't quite put my finger on it.

"Nothing! Fuck!" Lisa throws her hands in the air.

"She messed everything up, is what she did, and now Jennie has nowhere to go," Jisoo states.

I want to speak; I just have no idea what to say.

"She has somewhere to go, she can go home. Where she belongs . . . with me," Lisa says.

"Lisa has been playing Jennie this entire time—she did unspeakable things to her!" Jisoo blurts out, and Karen lets out a gasp, stepping over to me.

I utterly shrink. I've never felt so naked and small. I didn't want Marco and Karen to know . . . but it may not make much of a difference, since after tonight they surely won't really want to see me again.

"Do you want to go with her?" Marco asks, interrupting my downward spiral.

I shake my head meekly.

"Well, I'm not leaving here without you," Lisa snaps. She steps toward me, but I cringe away.

"I think you need to go, Lisa," Marco surprises me by saying.

"Excuse me?" Lisa's face is a deep shade of red that expresses what I can only describe as rage. "You're lucky I even come here to your house— and you dare to kick me out?"

"I've been very happy with how our relationship has grown, daughter, but tonight you have to go."

Lisa throws her hands into the air. "This is bullshit, who is she to you?"

Marco turns to me, then back to his daughter. "Whatever you did to her, I hope it was worth losing the only good thing you had going for you," he says and then Lisa drops her head.

I don't know if it was the shock of Marco's words, or just that he'd hit a point where all the rage peaked and flowed out of her, but Lisa just stills, looks at me briefly, and marches out of the room. We all remain quiet while we listen to her walk down the stairs at a steady pace.

When the sound of the front door slamming cuts through the now-quiet house, I turn to Marco and sob, "I'm so sorry. I'll go. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"No, you stay as long as you need. You're always welcome here," Marco says, and both he and Karen hug me.

"I didn't mean to come between you," I say, feeling terrible for the way Marco had to kick his daughter out.

Karen grabs hold of my hand and gives it a squeeze. Marco looks at me with exasperation and weariness. "Jennie, I love Lisa, but I think we both know that without you, there isn't anything to come between," he says.