JENNIE

"Jennie?" Big brown eyes stared up at me. My sister huddled in front of my door, her shining hair plastered to her face and shoulders. On her knees. No coat.

I dropped down in front of her and took her by the shoulders. "Baby, what's going on? What are you doing here? You're a day early."

She shook her head from side to side, a deer in the headlights. Jisoo wasn't supposed to look so scared and be so silent. I gave her a little shake. "You're soaked."

"I'm cold," she whispered. Her perfect eye makeup was smeared.

"Let's get you inside. Where's your coat? Did you drive here straight from law school?" I tried to hustle her to her feet, but she didn't move.

"I couldn't do it anymore. I had to get away."

"Do what? Get away from what?"

She bent her head, hiding her fairy-tale beautiful face. Mascara blackened her eyelids. "I thought maybe you'd understand. You're so confident. You're always yourself."

"Me? God, Jisoo." My voice broke. "No, I'm not. I'm a fucking mess."

Her eyes focused for the first time. "Honey? What's wrong?"

Swiping a traitor of a tear from my cheek, I squeezed her shoulders. "Not important. Let's take care of you. Come on, inside." I hauled her to her feet. "How long have you been here? Don't tell me you've been waiting long."

She shrugged. "A few minutes? I don't know."

I checked my watch. I'd been gone an hour and a half. Waiting for nothing outside Lisa's door, keeping Lucas's futon warm.

"It's okay," I babbled, unlocking the door and tugging her inside. "We'll get you all dried off and into some warm clothes. You can tell me what's going on, though I have a guess. I got kind of a weird phone call from that fiancé of yours today, but don't worry, everything's going to be all right—"

Next to me, Jisoo flinched. I took her arm to reassure her and stopped in place.

The hall light was on. I was sure I'd turned it off when I left the apartment. I'd practiced getting over my fear of the dark, these past few months; for some reason, this light filled me with more worry than my dark apartment ever had.

"Sana?" I knocked on my roommate's door. No answer.

A sudden hiss came from the living room. Petal shot out of the darkness, skittered between our legs, and scratched on my bedroom door.

"What's happening, kitty?" I whispered. "Is someone in there?"

Lisa? My heart jumped before it sank. No way she could have gotten in. And Petal wouldn't react this badly to her.

Jisoo gripped my arm. All her poise and polish was gone. She was dazed, and not about to take control of the situation.

I took a broom from the closet, crept to the door, and opened it. Petal dashed in, yowling.

My room was turned upside down.

My cheerleader uniforms were tossed on the floor, along with the gowns I'd worn to college formals. My closet was a mess. The drawers were yanked out of my desk and upended. Clothes spilled out of my open dresser, and makeup was smashed and scattered all over the top. A crimson lipstick scrawl slashed across my mirror: WHORE

The broom fell from my hands and crashed to the floor.

My sister's hands flew to her mouth. "Jennie, oh my God," she whispered.

"Go out in the hall, Jisoo." My voice shook.

"Absolutely not."

I crouched in front of the desk, scrabbling through the papers and bags of candy on the floor. Combing through the yanked-out drawers. Frantic, I searched again and again.

"It's gone," I croaked. A fist closed around my throat, dread creeping through me.

"What's gone?" She knelt next to me and grabbed my arm. "Talk to me."

"The money. Gone." I felt like I was going to throw up.

"What money?"

"I saved so much." I buried my face in my hands. "God, I worked for that money — She worked so hard to save it up for me, I know she did— Jesus Christ!"

"Who?" Jisoo leaned close, her eyes wide and wary. "Who's she?"

"I shouldn't have kept it here. I just wanted to see it and know it was real. I wanted to know I was strong enough not to spend it. God." I clutched my hair, fighting a scream. "That money was my future! I told her to take it back, but dammit, it was all mine. How could anyone—"

"Jennie, talk to me." Jisoo's voice took on some of its usual power.

"Now it's gone. I should have just spent it!" I said hysterically. I clawed through the crap spilling from my desk drawers. "And my Adderall — Jesus…"

"Since when do you take Adderall?"

"You really think I'm so confident?" I faced my sister. "I'm always myself?"

"Baby," she whispered, cupping my face.

"And now you're comforting me, after you came here all upset in the rain." Guilt seized me as I leaned on her. I pulled back and wiped my eyes. Above Jisoo was my window, which I'd left ajar for Lisa's visit. It stood wide open, the screen gone.

Jumping up, I raced to look outside. Below was the fire escape, slick with rain. Water splashed in huge puddles. No one was out there.

"Who would do this?" Jisoo turned, stricken. She stared at the scarlet word on my mirror, then pointed above my desk. "What's that?"

Pinned to the wall was the sketch Lisa had done of me on Valentine's Day. Naked, unashamed, sexy. Now the drawing had a long rip running from one corner almost to the other, splitting my body. The torn piece curled and flapped in the wet breeze.

Underneath it, the package with my bridesmaid's dress was ripped. The frothy pink fabric hung out.

They'd left my laptop.

"Kai," I whispered.

"Kai?" Jisoo spread her hands at the mess. "Your ex? He adored you. He would never—"

"Oh, yes, he would. He wants to ruin me. He told me as much today." I paced my wrecked room, taking stock.

"Jennie. Stop. Let's clean this up and then we can talk…"

"No. Don't touch anything. I'm calling the police."

"But Kai— How could he—"

"That's what I don't understand. He still has a key to my place, can you believe it? I never got it back from him. He could just walk in and leave. But the window— He must have heard you knocking and climbed out. You knocked, right?"

Jisoo hugged herself. "And rang the doorbell. A lot."

"You're still in your wet clothes. Put these on." I grabbed some sweats from my dresser. "I'll get you a towel, okay? I'll fix you a hot drink in the kitchen while I call the police."

"First tell me what's going on." Jisoo's voice rose, sharp like I'd never heard it. "I'm not dumb. You haven't been cleaning floors, Jennie."

"Please." I held out the sweats, urging them on her, because I didn't know what else to do. "I can't do this right now."

Her face crumpled, and it scared me even more than her raised voice. Like someone pulled a string and all her control unraveled. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Jisoo…"

"You were going to return that dress, weren't you?" She went to the desk and ran her fingers over the layers of delicate pink. "You should. Keep the money."

"What do you mean?" My stomach, already tied in a knot, twisted harder.

"I can't," she whispered, more to herself than to me. "I just can't go through with it."

"What?" I said blankly. "You can't go through with — the wedding? Part of the money I saved was for your bachelorette party."

"Good, 'cause that means you don't have to worry about it."

We stared at each other.

"Put these sweats on now," I ordered. "I'm calling the police."

Hammering echoed through the apartment. Someone was pounding on the front door.

"Oh no," Jisoo breathed.

I grabbed the broom again, rage flooding my body, and marched out to the hall. She followed.

"Jisoo, what it said on the mirror?" I whispered urgently between knocks. "It's true."

"What?" she gasped. "Jennie, you're not a— That's not true."

"Yes, it is. That's where all the money came from. I had an agreement with this someone — but it's not like that! I fell in love, and…she doesn't want me."

"Jennie—" My sister tried to pull my arm, and I shook her off.

"Yeah, that's right," I yelled, ramming the broom against the door as hard as I could. "Come back for more. You didn't get everything you wanted the first time? That's okay. The police are on their way."

There was an eerie silence. Then a deep voice said, "The police?"

I opened the door. Lisa stood on the threshold in a T-shirt and jeans, dark patches of rain on her shoulders. Only a couple hours had passed since she left my room, but her eyes looked more shadowed.

I set the broom against the wall. "The police aren't coming because of you," I blurted. "And I haven't called them yet. But from the way you knocked, I'm thinking about it. What is your deal?"

She reached for me, then dropped her arms. "I had to see you."

"So you pound on the door like a beast?"

"What do you expect right now?" She balled her hands at her sides, taking in Jisoo's soaked clothes and my pink raincoat. Our terrified faces.

I crossed my arms. "This is my sister."

Lisa and Jisoo stared at each other like they weren't sure who was the third wheel. Lisa wiped her wet hand on her pants and held it out.

"Lisa."

She shook her hand with a brief smile, her usual charm flickering and dying out. "I'm Jisoo."

"Jennie," she said more gently. "What's happening?"

"It's gone," I whispered. Her broad body went alert. "The money's gone."

"What?"

I thought I'd seen Lisa's intensity. It had only been a taste. Anger coiled her body, filling her up until it smoked from her skin.

"Her?" Jisoo whispered, her doe eyes huge. "She's that someone?"

"My room — someone trashed it." My voice dropped. "It has to be Kai, he has a key."

My sister took the bundle of sweats from me. "I'll go change." Glancing from me to Lisa, she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Lisa stalked down the hall to my bedroom. She halted abruptly on the threshold, taking in the wreckage. The mess of clothes and drawers, the ripped drawing. When she saw WHORE scrawled on my mirror, her eyes slitted.

She turned to face me. "You were stashing your money here?"

I nodded, suddenly sheepish. "Except what I spent on utilities and — other expenses."

"Goddammit, why didn't you put it in the bank?"

"I should have! But I wanted to see it. I wanted to — touch it. To know it was really mine. To know I had the fucking willpower to keep it from slipping through my fingers like I've always done. Go ahead, call me stupid. You can't hurt me any more than you already have."

A deep flush spread across Lisa's cheeks. For the first time, I was seeing her embarrassed.

"I would never call you stupid."

"Thanks. I feel much better now."

She came up close and rested her hands on my shoulders. "Jesus. You worked so hard for it."

I looked away. "You think I just did it for the money? It was never only about the money." Her hands were hot on my shoulders, burning through the raincoat. "And you worked so hard for it. You said you couldn't afford me. How'd you even save that much? What were you doing?"

"Babe…" The way the pet name slipped out, I knew she hadn't planned to say it. "It's not my money. It's yours. You earned it."

"Please don't."

She cupped my chin, her eyes flickering.

"I had a fantasy about you tonight," I went on. "You ran after me when I left your place, and — you hugged me. You just gave me a hug."

"Do you really want that?" She looked so surprised that my heart cracked.

"Yes."

She pulled me into her arms. I held her tight and buried my face in her wet T-shirt. The back of my raincoat crumpled in her hand.

"Jennie," she whispered, stroking my hair. As she rubbed her knuckles against my cheek, her ring moved over my skin, oddly soothing.

"Why didn't you answer your door?"

She tensed in my arms. "Because you don't want me. You think you do, but you don't."

"Great. Next time I want to know what I'm truly thinking, I'll consult you."

Brusquely, she cleared her throat and held me back by the shoulders. "What's with your window?" My curtains thrashed in the wind, framed by my stubbornly shining twinkle lights.

"I opened it when you came over, to make you feel at home. The thief took off the screen. And yes! I should have closed it when I left. I was a little distracted by the fact that someone had just —" I hugged my elbows, staring at the ripped sketch over my desk — "crushed my heart under her foot."

Lisa flinched. "You think your ex did this?"

"Who else? I saw him today. He said he was going to destroy my future."

"Motherfucker," she hissed.

"He posted a video of us online. From the night of Scene on the Green—"

Lisa gripped my desk chair like she was about to break it with her hands.

"The whole campus knows about us. Guys in your frat confronted me in the hall outside your room."

Her face went dark. "I'll deal with them later."

I dropped my hands and walked up close to her. "You didn't hear? We were right outside your door. They told me to leave, and you didn't even come out to defend my honor. I guess you don't think I have any."

Suddenly her mouth sagged. As if I'd slapped her with my words the way her frat bros had done to me. "I didn't hear you, Jennie."

"You had your fingers in your ears?"

"Headphones." She passed a hand over her face, her pale eyes going flinty as they flicked from the disaster of my room to me to the window. "Tell me where the lizard lives. I'm going to pay him a visit."

"I'll take you there myself."

Lisa's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth.

Jisoo tiptoed in, wearing my sweatshirt and leggings. She'd washed off her smeared makeup. Her skin was shining, flawless as usual, but her beautiful dark eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. She came to my side.

"Lisa?" She sounded dazed. "Why'd you pay my sister to sleep with you?"

She blinked at me. I folded my arms.

"I don't know," she said finally. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Rain flattened the grass as we cut across west campus to Kai's place. Striding between Lisa and my sister, my anger pushing out in front of me and to all sides, I'd like to say I felt safe. But safety meant pulling back, and that was the last thing I could afford to do.

When we reached Kai's apartment, I breathed in sharply. I hadn't stood on this doorstep since December, when I came to break up with him.

I knocked. Unlike my building, Kai's front door opened directly to the outside. Lisa and Jisoo stood well behind me, hidden in the shadows.

When I glanced back, Jisoo was huddled close to Lisa. Another sign that my sister wasn't herself. She wasn't in the habit of making herself small for someone. Lisa spoke quietly to her, and she straightened up and gave her some space.

My head whipped around at the pad of feet across a wooden floor. The door creaked open. Kai stood in front of me, barefoot, in a tank top and boxers, his wet hair slicked back. The beachy scent of his shampoo hit my nose, reminding me of all the times I'd borrowed it.

"Well, well, well." Surprise bulged his dark eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a smile that lurked at the corners of his mouth. He reached around to scratch his neck, flashing a glimpse of the inked feathers on his shoulder. "What brings you here?" He made a show of looking past me at the torrent of rain, but gave no sign of seeing Lisa and Jisoo. "On a night like this."

"I'd like my key back," I said coolly. "And my money."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He folded his arms and leaned against the doorjamb. "Did you come here to turn tricks? You're trying to earn some dough? I still have that thirty bucks in my wallet. Though I'm thinking it might be a liiittle high for you now. Your value's dropped, now that everyone knows what you really are."

"Just give me back what's mine."

"What, your reputation? Sorry, sweetie, you can't get that back. You think you'll ever have a normal relationship after trying to play hooker? You think I can save you now?"

Emerging from behind me, Lisa streaked past in a blur, shoving the door open. She gripped Kai by the shoulders and slammed him against the living room wall.

"Unlike Jennie," she gritted, "My patience is at an end. Where…is…the money?"

"What the fuck, man?" Kai gasped. Fear flashed across his face. "I told you, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Did you let yourself in her front door like you belonged there, or did you crawl in and out of the window like the reptile that you are?"

"I didn't do a damn thing."

"You violated her. You took what wasn't yours."

"And now you're pretending to care. How sweet."

Lisa yanked Kai away from the wall and threw him over the tan campus-issued sofa. Behind my shoulder, Jisoo gasped.

"I care a lot about what you did to Jennie. Let me show you how much I care."

Kai got to his feet, his face red, more humiliated than hurt. "What I did? What you did to her, asshole. What she did to herself."

Lisa grabbed him and pinned him to the wall again. "You shared our private business," she growled. "You spied on us. You broke into my girl's room, stole her savings, and tried to insult her when you don't deserve to lick her shoes. You will give her back what you took, or I swear to God, I will turn your fucking place upside down the way you did to hers until I find everything I'm looking for."

My girl? I stared at her. Kai struggled to get free.

"I didn't take anything. She's not yours. Wake up! You can't buy a girl and treat her like a possession. You're more fucked up than I'll ever be."

"The money's gone, so no one's bought anyone." My sister's soft voice came from the side.

Kai blinked, noticing her for the first time. His face flushed in embarrassment. He'd fallen over himself to impress Jisoo when he visited my family last summer. He shook it off.

"So someone did you a favor. Washed all your sins away," he snarled. Lisa squeezed his chin, and Kai's dark eyes spat daggers at her. "I don't know what the hell you're all up to, but I did not take that money."

Lisa rattled him. "Then who did?"

"I don't know!"

"You told the whole school about us. You posted a fucking video, you stole our privacy, you wanted to hurt Jennie. Someone robbed her room because they knew they'd find money. You're no innocent."

"No, but—" Kai swallowed. His Adam's apple bobbed. "Okay! I posted a video. But I swear I know nothing about the money. I have Jennie's key. I haven't used it since we broke up. I'm not a thief."

"How are we supposed to believe you?" My sister, who believed the best of everyone, crossed her arms over her chest.

Kai's eyes turned to me. Lisa still gripped his jaw, holding him motionless, and humiliation was written all over his pretty features.

I could see the truth on that face. We'd dated almost a year; I knew him. The only reason I hadn't suspected he was hiding things from me was that I'd been too busy hiding myself.

"I believe him," I said. "He's telling the truth." Lisa and Jisoo stared at me. "Just give me my key back, Kai. And then I never want to hear from you again."

"Fine." He squinted. "Tell your thug to let me up."

"Excuse me?" I asked. Lisa watched him impassively, not moving.

"Ask your — friend to let me up." I cleared my throat, and he added, "Please."

I nodded to Lisa, who let go of Kai, keeping a sharp eye on her. Kai brushed himself off and stomped to his bedroom. We followed.

When he opened the door, my stomach lurched at the sight of the familiar guitar in the corner, the red velvet curtain by the bed, and the desk with its oversized monitor and expensive headphones — a weird jumble of rocker and future executive.

I'd spent a lot of time in this room. Faked a lot of orgasms. And I'd touched myself in the low bed by the window, coming for real to the thought of Lisa, while Kai slumbered next to me.

"Let's take care of that video.'" Lisa's voice was all the more dangerous for being quiet. Her light eyes cut to the bed like chips of ice. "Is it still online?"

"Yeah," Kai muttered.

"Take it down. Everywhere. While we watch. If there's anything left, a single mention or comment, I'll find it and I'll come back."

Kai glowered, but he scraped back his chair and opened his laptop. Lisa loomed behind him like an animal waiting for a chance to snap. She inclined her head, expecting me to join her.

"I don't want to see." I found Jisoo's hand and squeezed it, or maybe she'd reached for me. Suddenly, amidst all the stress and chaos — mine and hers — I was so grateful she was here. "You watch."

A complicated look crossed Lisa's face. She nodded.

Whatever Kai had put up online, he took it down fast. Once he was done, he made a noisy show of going through his dresser, rattling drawers and raking through belts and loose change. Finally he came up with my key. He turned and gave it to me, and I stared at the image of his hand over mine. When I looked up, he was staring too.

"Sorry," he muttered, too low for anyone else to hear.

"Yeah." I glanced toward the bed where I'd lied to him so many times, then at the bruise forming on his sharp jaw. "So am I."

He nodded curtly, his skin flushing. Turning away to gaze out the window, he left the three of us to walk out of his apartment.

Outside, Jisoo huddled close to me. I already felt sick about the money, and seeing my sister like this, obviously broken, spread on a fresh layer of worry. I was grateful for Lisa's grip on my arm as we headed down the path. Her eyes glittered dangerously.

"Do you have your friend Lucas's number?" she asked

"Why, looking to buy? Maybe he'll give you a friends and family discount."

She held out her hand without a reply. When I gave her an oh really? look, she crooked one finger. Jisoo's head swiveled between us, her eyes round. This was obviously not her dynamic with Haein. Or any of the guys who'd fallen at her feet.

When I pulled my phone from my purse, a text showed up from Lucas. You wanted to talk? I handed the phone to Lisa, who dialed.

"This is Lisa," she said, utterly calm, as if Lucas would remember her by name from one stoned meeting. "That's right. Jennie's Lisa." She cupped her hand over her mouth. "Anyone ask you to buy Adderall off them tonight? No? Text Jennie if they do. Yep. Along with a lot of cash. Thanks." She hung up. "I'll get you home," she said to me and Jisoo. "Then I'm going back to Kappa Sig to ask some questions."

"Oh?" I tensed, and Lisa's fingers tightened on my arm.

"Only if you want me to."

"Do it. I don't have any fucks left to give."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. I straightened the pink raincoat, slick with water.

"Right now, Lisa, if you're giving me a choice between money and pride, I'll take the money."