Always Something There to Remind Me (A Black Lightning Jen X Khalil Fanfic)

Chapter Five- Answers Needed

Chapter Five- Answers Needed

Jen's POV

A frustrated sigh from Anissa. "Jennifer Pierce, are you for real right now?"

"Okay, look, maybe I embellished the truth a little-," Jen started, hating how guilty this admission was making her feel.

When telling her family about the transfer semester, Jen had omitted one tiny little fact- the actual university she was going to. Her parents had been in a fight, so she had sweet-talked Jefferson into signing the release forms while masterfully hiding the name of the university in question. It was easy to do, since he was texting furiously back and forth with Lynn about who had forgotten to take out the trash.

Her family thought she was going to USC, and Jen had said nothing to dissuade them. Sometimes, little white lies came in handy, especially when you were going to spend four months at a notorious party university.

"You lied to us," Anissa said simply, and Jen's heart clenched miserably at the hurt in her sister's voice.

But she was focusing on the wrong thing, as usual, and Jen needed to get her back on track. Let high and mighty Anissa get mad at the omission later, right now there were more important things to worry about.

Nodding frantically, Jen said, "Yes, okay, I did, and I'm sorry. But the thing is, I talked to Khalil and-."

"You talked to him?" Anissa cut in, her voice rising into a banshee screech. Jen closed her eyes wearily as Anissa continued. One thing Harriet was gonna do was give a lecture. "Jen, last time you saw him, he tried to kill you! Now, I know you're gonna say 'that was Painkiller', but does it matter? That boy is poison! And weren't you the one who said you didn't want to see him again?" She paused and went off on another tangent. Jen could feel the suspicion emanating from Anissa's pores. "Did you know he was there? Is that why you wanted a transfer semester so bad, so you could go see him? God, Jen!"

Kneading her forehead with one hand, Jen exclaimed, "Anissa, no! I didn't know- how could I have known that he was here? I haven't seen or talked to him in three years!" Her voice dropped to almost a whisper, and she brought her knees up to her chest, suddenly chilly, as she said, "But I talked to him today, and- Anissa, he didn't know who I was."

"What do you mean?"

Rolling off her bed, Jen walked to the window and looked out at the dazzling skyline. The university dorms stood at the lip of the famed Akashic Valley, and from her window it looked like the entire city was at her feet. She should have been out there, dancing, getting lit and living it up. Life always found a way to screw her over.

She sank down onto the wide windowsill. "Like I said! He had no idea who I was."

Jen didn't want to think back and dwell on the politely aloof look sliding onto Khalil's face when she had turned to look at him for the first time. The shock of him not knowing her still clung to her.

"Did you- was it really him?" Anissa asked after a beat.

Jen sighed. Anissa was asking a whole lot of questions when it was Jen who had called looking for answers.

Rolling her eyes, Jen bit out a sarcastic, "Anissa. Really?"

Not Anissa trying to act like Jen wouldn't know her own ex-boyfriend, even after not seeing him for years. She snorted. The audacity!

"Okay, you right." Anissa had the grace to chuckle at herself lightly. "Tell me what happened."

Jen shrugged. "I don't know, we went to a bar-," she started, then grumbled impatiently as Anissa interrupted again.