JENNIE
When my pen presses to the paper, I have every intention of writing about my grandmother and how she dedicated her life to Christianity, but somehow Lisa's name appears in black ink.
"Ms. Kim?" Professor Song's voice says gently, though loudly enough for everyone in the first row to hear.
"Yes?" I look up, and my attention is immediately brought to Marco. Why is Marco here?
"Jennie, I need you to come with me," he says, and the annoying blonde behind me makes an "oohhh" sound like we're back in the sixth grade. She most likely doesn't even know who he is, that Marco is the chancellor of the college.
"What's going on?" Jisoo asks Marco as I get to my feet and begin to gather my things.
"We can talk about it outside." Marco's voice is unsteady. "I'm coming," Jisoo says and stands as well.
Professor Song looks at Marco. "Is that okay with you?"
"Yes, she's my daughter," he tells him and our teacher's eyes go wide.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that; she's your daughter too?" pointing at me, he asks Marco. "No," Marco says tersely. He appears panicked, which is starting to scare me.
"Is Lisa . . ." I begin to ask, but Marco guides me out the door with Jisoo behind me.
"Lisa's been arrested," Marco tells us as soon as we get outside. I can't breathe. "She's what?"
"She's been arrested for fighting, and for vandalizing campus property."
"Oh my God" is the only thing I can think to say. "When? How?" Jisoo asks.
"About twenty minutes ago. I'm trying my best to keep this matter within the campus jurisdiction, but she isn't making it easy." Marco hurries across the street, and I nearly have to run to catch up with him.
My mind is racing: Lisa, arrested? Oh my God. How could she get arrested? Who did she fight?
But I already know the answer to that question.
Why couldn't she just keep her cool, for once? Is Lisa okay? Will she go to jail? Real jail? Is Rosé okay?
Marco unlocks his car's doors, and the three of us get inside. "Where are we going?" Jisoo asks.
"To campus security." "Is she okay?" I ask.
"She's got a cut across her cheek and another on her ear, or so I've heard." "You 'heard'? You haven't seen her yet?" Jisoo asks his stepfather. "No, I haven't. She's throwing a fit, so I knew it would be better to get Jennie first." She nods her head in my direction.
"Yeah, good idea," Jisoo agrees, and I stay quiet.
A cut across her head and face? I hope she isn't in pain. Oh my God, this is all so crazy. I should have just agreed to spend the entire day with her. If I had, she wouldn't have even been on campus today.
MARCO ZOOMS DOWN several backstreets, and within five minutes we're parking in front of the small brick building that houses campus security. There's a No Parking sign directly in front of where he parks, but I suppose parking wherever you like is one of the perks of being the chancellor.
The three of us hurry inside the building, and my eyes immediately start scanning for any sign of Lisa.
But I hear her first . . . "I don't give a fuck, you're nothing more than a douche bag with a fake badge! You're basically a mall cop, you fucking prick!"
I follow her voice and turn down the hall in pursuit of her. I hear Marco and Jisoo on my heels, but all I care about is getting to Lisa.
I come to where several people are gathered . . . and see Lisa pacing back and forth inside a small cell. Holy shit. Her arms are behind her back in handcuffs.
"Fuck you! All of you!" she yells
"Lisa!" Her father's voice booms from behind me.
My angry girl's head snaps to the side, to where I'm standing, and her eyes go wide immediately. Her face is split open just below her cheekbone, and her skin is sliced from her ear to the back of her head, her hair matted with blood.
"I'm trying to contain this, and you aren't helping!" Marco barks at her daughter. "They have me trapped in here like some fucking animal. This is bullshit. Call whoever you need to call and get them to unlock this shit!"
Lisa yells, attempting to tear her hands from the cuffs. "Stop it," I say to her and scowl.
Immediately, her demeanor changes. She calms a little, but is no less angry. "Jennie, you shouldn't even be here. What kind of genius fucking idea was it to bring her?" Lisa hisses at her father and Jisoo.
"Lisa, stop it now. He's trying to help you. You need to calm down," I say through the bars. This doesn't feel real, talking to her while she's literally in a cell in handcuffs. This can't be real. But then again, this is what happens in the real world. You get arrested if you assault someone, on campus just as anywhere else.
As she looks at my eyes, I imagine she sees the pain I feel for her right now. I want to think that's why she finally gives in, and softly nods and says, "Okay."
"Thank you, Jennie," Marco says. Then he warns his daughter, "Give me a few minutes to see what I can do—in the meantime you need to stop yelling. You're making this worse for yourself when you're already in a load of trouble."
Jisoo looks to me, then to Lisa, before following Marco back down the narrow hallway. I hate this place already; everything is too white and black, too small, and it smells like bleach.
The campus security officers that sit behind the desk are immersed in their own conversation at the moment, or at least they've begun pretending to be since the chancellor of the school showed up to deal with his daughter.
"What happened?" I ask Lisa.
"I got arrested by campus security," she huffs.
"Are you okay?" I ask her, desperately wanting to reach through and wipe her face.
"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. It's not so bad as it looks," she answers, and examining her, I can see she's right. I can tell from here that the cuts aren't deep. Her arms have light red streaks on them, mixing with the black ink to form a rather terrifying sight.
"Are you upset with me?" Her voice is soft, a thousand degrees from where it was moments ago while she was screaming at the police.
"I don't know," I answer honestly.
Of course I'm upset with her, because I know who she fought . . . well, it isn't hard to guess. But I'm also worried about her, and I want to know what happened that led her to be in all of this trouble.
"I couldn't help it," she says, as if that justifies her actions.
"I told you before I wouldn't visit you in a jail cell, remember?" I frown, looking around the cell she's in.
"This doesn't count, it's not a real cell."
"It looks real to me." I tap on the metal bars to prove my point.
"It's not an actual jail; this is just a bullshit holding cell until they decide to involve the real police," she says loud enough for the two officers to look up from their conversation.
"Stop it. This isn't a joke, Lisa. You could be in a lot of trouble." Hearing that, she rolls her eyes.
That's the problem with Lisa: she hasn't quite realized that her actions have consequences.