Chapter 33

Jill Valentine

September 7th, the first day of my Senior Year. The end. I'll be starting a new chapter of my life in what? Ten months? Jesus, thinking about it is scary. I sat in Ms. Belli's class for the third year in a row, hanging out with Piers like usual. I look over to the class' door to see a black haired asian girl looking in. I hadn't seen her before, and she didn't look like a freshman. "Are you looking for me," Ms. Belli asks. Piers and I are both watching her. "Um, yeah. I think I'm in your advisory now?" "Oh! Chaelin Lee, you're Mr. Lee's daughter right?" She nods. "Come in! Come in! Guys, this is Chaelin! She's a transfer student from South Korea. Her father is going to be the new physics teacher!" Piers waves as he watches her in awe. I smile at him, he definitely has the hots for her.

She smiles and waves back. Aw, I ship it already! She takes a seat in the back of the class, trying to avoid all the other students I think. "You like her," I say smoothly back to Piers. "What? No! We haven't even met!" "But I saw that look. You want to meet her." He rolls his eyes. "And what if I do." I laugh and Ms. Belli moves to the front of the class talking about some kind of new opportunity for seniors that I probably won't do. She let us hang out for the next few hours. This is why I hate the beginning of school, it's just a waste of my precious Tumblr hours! Piers gets up. "Where are you going?" He ignores me completely.

Piers Nivans

"Hey." I smile at the new girl. She looks up at me from her seat. She'd kind of been sitting here zoning out since she'd came in. I thought I could be friendly, I don't know. She's cute and I'm sure she's lonely since she just moved from South Korea. "Name's Piers Nivans." "Chaelin." "Can I sit with you?" "Go ahead." She motions for the chair next to her. "Thanks. So, South Korea, huh?" I sit. "Yep, Dad got a job offer here so the whole family moved out here." "You're pretty good at english. You take a class or something?" "We move around a lot, liked in Korea first, then Japan, then France and then back to Korea, and now I'm here. I know all the languages." "Pretty impressive." I smile. She smiles back with a shrug. "How was France?" "Hated it." "Really? Most girls dream to go to France." "Well it sucks, everyone's snotty and smells pretty bad." I laugh and she's so serious. "What about you, Piers? What's your story?" I shrug. "I moved around a lot too. My dad works for the Umbrella Corporation, so he gets transferred to different facilities a lot. I was born in Nebraska, was there 'til I was ten. Then we moved to Chicago, then New York and then to Raccoon. I've been in Raccoon for two years now." "So you could show me around? Show me all the cool places in town?" "I'd love to!" "Your girlfriend going to be happy about that?" "Girl-huh-Girlfriend?!" She points to Jill. "Oh! NO! I mean, she's not my girlfriend, but she's a friend that happens to be a girl." She laughs. "I just assumed since you guys have been talking since we came in." "She's my best friend, and my neighbor so yeah we talk, a lot." "You like to talk, huh?" I laugh nervously, was I talking too much?

After we talk for a while the one question I saw coming was asked. "Do you mind if I ask about... uh... your arm?" I laugh, "Yeah! No, I'm fine talking about it. Car accident, two years ago." "Oh." She clearly doesn't know what to say. "It's not a big deal. I'm used to questions about it and working with only one hand." She smiles. The bell rings, and it's time to go home. "I should go find my dad," she says as she packs her books into her bag. "Oh, well. I'll see you tomorrow!" "Yeah, uh. Thanks for talking to me." "No problem, I was the new kid once too." As she walks away, Jill walks up to me. "So, how is she?" "She's really cool!" She flashed a big smile. "You're shipping aren't you?" "You know me so well."

I walk home with Jill. "So, Chaelin right?" "Jesus, can we talk about something else?" "Why? I thought you like her?" "Ok, listen Jill. We just met and I barely know anything about her. I'll need time before I decide if I like her or not." "Ugh fine! Wait, did we forget Helena?" "Oh shit!" I pull out my phone and see that I have twelve missed calls, all of which from Helena. I call her back as we walk. "Dickhead," she yells, "Did you fucking leave me!?" "Um, yeah..." "I hate you. I'm walking home, I'll beat you up when I get there!" "Looking forward to it." Jill and I reach the house and we decide to go into her's, giving me more time before Helena catches up to me.

"So, Chaelin..." "JILL! SHUT UP!" She laughs but I'm serious. "Well, if we can't talk about girls. How about guys?" "Jill, I will murder you." "Fine, fine. What about the football team then?" "What about it?" "You're going to try out right?" "Of course! You better be too!" "Of course!" I hear the front door swing open, looks like my time is up. "Piers!" Helena comes into Jill's bedroom. "How could you forget me at school?!" "He was thinking about the new girl," Jill sings. "Ooo do tell," Helena jumps onto the bed. She seems to not be angry anymore. That's a good thing. "There's a new girl at school, she's from Korea... What else do you want me to say?" "Is she cute?" "Uh, yeah." "Go for it!" "Jesus, not you too!"

A week passes, and regular classes had resumed. Football tryouts were after school today, so I was excited. Chaelin and I had become friends, I wouldn't say we were really close but we'd talk a lot. Jill and I sat next to each other in Calculus, and Chaelin had just walked in right before the bell rang. This was actually the first time we've had this class, come to think about it. Chaelin takes the empty seat behind me, she was shorter than me so I kind of hid her. "Hello Class, my name is Mr. Lee. You might know my daughter, Chaelin. She's in the back. Hi Chaelin. I'm sure you'll all like her." I hear her slam her head into the desk. When I look back I see her lift her head and do a small wave to the rest of the class. I laugh at her but she looks like she's ready to die of embarrassment.

Lunch comes around and Jill, Rebecca, Sheva and Helena are all sitting together. I was really the last guy in our group! Why did all the guys have to graduate!? "So Piers? Where's your girlfriend," Jill asks. "Shut up! I don't know. She's not my actual girlfriend so I don't keep tabs on everywhere she goes." Then I see her walk into the lunch room. She looks so hot. God Piers, you don't even know her yet! I'm about to call her over when I hear the worst possible thing called across the room. "Chaelin, why don't you come sit with us?" Excella and Ashley? Them? Why!? She's not like them! But they are very good at corrupting people, and now that Jessica was taken out of our school because of her little pregnancy thing, they were in need of a new member. Damn, I hope they don't take her away from me! She does sit with them though. "Shit," Jill yells. "What?" "We can't lose her to them!" "Well, I'm not going to call her over now." "I know, but we need to make sure she stays with you and remains a cool person and doesn't become a bitch like them." "I don't think she will. I mean, I've been talking to her and she doesn't seem like a bitch." "You never know with them, we can't let them get to her." Jill sounds like she's at war, trying to not let the other side get the upperhand. I mean, I guess its the same kind of thing.

After school, Jill and I head to the football tryouts. Helena came, watching from the stands while the two of us actually tried out. "Hey coach," Jill ran up to him excitedly. "Valentine! Hey, good to see you!" "You too coach, so what are we starting with?" "Uh... Valentine, there's a problem..." "What do you mean coach?" "A few other schools didn't like that you were on the team. They think that their team went easy on us because our running back is a girl." "Okay." "Well, they changed the rules... You can't play on the team anymore." "What!?" "Coach, you can't be serious," I interject. "I'm sorry, but it's the rules. You could be mascot again and practice with us... or join cheerleading." He points across the field to the cheerleader tryouts. "You can't be serious! I really can't be on the team!?" She looks crushed, this was her thing. She was the second best player on the team, behind Chris of course, but now that he's gone we have a pretty crappy team. "I'm sorry Valentine." "Damn, I guess I'll be the mascot again..." "Mascot and Co-Captain." Coach corrects her. "Co-Captain!?" "Yeah, I mean it's the least I can do. I feel bad you know." "Who's the other captain," I ask. "Well, you." "ME!?" I'm surprised. I have no arm and I'm not that important position wise. "Yeah, Chris got to decide who the next captain was and he chose you." "Really? Wow, alright. I'm not quarterback too? Am I?" "No, no. If you want that you'll need to try out." "That's okay. Can I keep kicker, without trying out? We all know I've got the best leg in the school." "Fine." I nod and the rest of the students that were trying out showed up.

Jill and I stood next to Coach as we watched the applicants practice and then in the scrimmage. "It really sucks that I can't put you in there." He says to Jill. She laughs, "It's okay. Being Co-Captain is pretty cool." I look across the field and see the cheerleaders. "Chaelin," I whisper as I see the girl doing a series of movements with her arms. "Huh?" Coach asks. "Nothing." I'm a little surprised she was trying out to be a cheerleader, she didn't seem the type. When practice ends Jill, Helena and I walk around the school and I see Chaelin sitting on the steps. Her eyes are closed and she's kind of dancing as she sits. I walk over, without telling Jill or Helena so they continue walking toward the house. As I get closer I can hear her better.

It sounds like. "Nega jalmotan ge anya. Naega isanghan geoya. Imi orae jeonbuteo nan junbi haenna bwa ibyeoreul." I think she's singing in Korean, but it sounds really good. "Baby I'm sorry neowa isseodo nan lonely. Saranghagin naega bujokhanga bwa. Ireon motnan nal yongseohae." I have no idea what she's saying, and she still doesn't know I'm here but she sounds good. I feel kind of weird so I couch, and she hears me so she rips out her headphones and stands up. "Hi." I smile. "Hey." "Oh! Uh. I heard you sing. Sounded good." I say nervously. "Thanks. Uh." "You're really talented." "Thanks, I used to sing back in Korea with some friends. That was one of our songs." "You sang professionally?" I say sounding pretty impressed. "No, no. Just for fun, and at some stores when they had karaoke and stuff. We wrote a few original songs, but we didn't perform them in public." "Well, it sounded good... I saw you trying out for cheerleading." "Yeah, well. I thought I'd give it a shot. Why not?" "I'm the Captain of the Football team." Wow, that was random. "Good for you?" She laughs a little with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, if you're a cheerleader you'll be cheering for me." Shit I sound like a self absorbed idiot! "I don't mean, I mean. Uh." She laughs. A car's horn goes off, and I look behind me at a small white car. "That's my dad. I'll see you in Advisory Piers!" She runs off to get in the car and I can't help but stare at her ass while she walks over.

"Piers, catch up!" Jill yells. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." "Why are you so slow all the time?!" "Jill?" "What, can we just go? I want to go home." "Are you okay?" She sighs and we walk. "Talk to me Jill." "I'm fine. I don't know what you're talking about." Whatever Jill, we walk quietly with Helena. We reach the house and she runs into her house. "What's up with her," Helena asks. I shrug and we head into my house. "I feel like we don't talk as much anymore." Helena says. "Yeah, you're always with Forest now we don't really have a chance to." "Well, we can talk now." She smiles. "What do you think is up with Jill then?" I ask. "Chris." "You're sure it's that simple?" "Yeah. It's Jill, isn't her whole existence about Chris? I hate to say it, but you know I'm right." I nod. "She's independent but she misses him." Helena's right, Chris was the center of her life from Sophomore year on. We move into my room and I look out my window and see Jill across the small gap. I wave to her with a small smile and she begins to cry. Jesus Christ what did I do? She puts down her shade and I'm so fucking lost.