JENNIE's POV
All I ever wanted was for Y/N Park to leave me alone.
It all began in the summer of 20xx, before the start of second grade. My whole family just moved from New Zealand to South Korea.
Mr. Kim: Here we are.
Mrs. Kim: Ha, ha. What do you guys think?
My mother said gesturing at the two-storey house before us.
Jisoo: I like this place.
Jennie: It's cool.
Jisoo: Uh, I wonder what color is my room?
Jennie: Let's hurry and see what's inside.
Mr. Kim: Hey, come on, Jennie. Why don't, uh, you and I go help unload the van...and your mother and sister here can get in the kitchen and start setting up.
Jennie: Okay, Dad.
For me, it was the beginning of what would be...more than half a decade of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.
As me and my dad were about to unload the van, a little kid came running to us, then the kid held out a hand for me to shake, which I obviously didn't.
Y/N: Hi, I'm Y/N. Y/N Park.
Out of nowhere this kid decided to lift one of the boxes inside the van.
Mr. Kim: Hey, hey, what are you doing?
Y/N: Don't you want some help?
Mr. Kim: No. There's some valuable things in there.
Y/N: How about this one?
Mr. Kim: No, no, no. Run home. Your mother's probably wondering where you are.
Y/N: Oh, no, my mom knows where I am. She said it's fine.
It didn't take long to realize this kid could not take a hint.
Mr. Kim: It's crowded in here with three people.
Y/N: I don't mind.
Of any kind.
Y/N: You wanna push this one together?
The kid named Y/N asked me.
Mr. Kim: Jennie, isn't it time for you to go help your mother?
My father said, signalling for me to excuse myself.
Jennie: Huh? Oh, yeah.
I mean, nothing would stop Y/N. I was about to tell them to get lost when the weirdest thing happened.
I couldn't believe it.
There I was holding hands with this strange kid. How did I get into this mess?
Then my mother came out, thank goodness!
Mrs. Kim: Well, hello. I see you've met my daughter.
Y/N: Uh-huh.
Finally, I did the only possible escape available when you're 7 years old. I hid behind my mother.
*Bell ringing...*
However, my troubles were far from over. The minute I walked into Miss Go Eun's classroom...
Y/N: Jennie? You're here.
...it was clear: School would not be a sanctuary.
Unkwown Schoolmate #1: Hey, Jennie, where's your girlfriend/boyfriend?
I was branded for life.
Unkwown Schoolmate #2: Hey, Jennie, why don't you ask Y/N to marry you?
School Girls [SINGING]: Jennie and Y/N sitting in a tree, K-l-S-S-l-N-G
My first year in town was a disaster. And the next three weren't much better. But finally, in the sixth grade, I took action. I hatched the plan.
Jennie: Kai. Kai, wait up.
Kai: Hi, Jennie.
I asked out Jongin Kim or mostly known in school as Kai.
Jennie: I was wondering if you wanted to go...
To fully appreciate the brilliance of this plan... you have to understand that Y/N hated Kai...though I never understood why.
Kai was nice, friendly and he had a...a nice smile?
Kai: At first, my mother wouldn't let me get my ears pierced, but I begged...
The idea was that Kai would eat with me...maybe we'd walk around together, and hopefully Y/N would lose interest.
Kai: But I still can't get the hoops till I'm 16.
Jennie: Oh, that's a shame.
Kai: So Chanyeol wanted to get his ears pierced, but of course his mother said no. So he threw a fit and smashed his Eminem Greatest Hits album...and he got grounded, so now he can't come to my pajama sleepover party.
Things were unfolding quite nicely.
Irene: What are you doing for your science project?
That is, until my supposed best friend, Irene Bae...took an interest in Kai herself.
Kai: I was thinking of showing how...
Irene: That's fascinating.
Loyalty gave way to desire and Irene, the turncoat...told Kai what I was up to.
Kai: Bitch.
Was what he said. He didn't take it well. Word got back to Y/N, and pretty soon the goo-goo eyes started again.
Only this time it was worse.
Y/N started sniffing me. That's right, sniffing me. What was that all about?
My only consolation was that next year would be different. Junior high, bigger school. Maybe we'd be in different classes and it would finally, finally be over.
-x-
Y/N's POV
The first day I met Jennie Kim, I flipped.
It was those eyes, something in those dazzling cat like eyes.
Y/N: You wanna push this one together?
Her family had just moved into the neighborhood...and I'd gone over to help them. I'd been in the van all of two minutes when her dad sent her off to help her mom.
I could see she didn't wanna go. So I chased after her to see if we could play a little before she got trapped inside. The next thing I know, she is holding my hand...and looking right into my eyes.
My heart stopped. Was this it? Would this be my first kiss? But then her mother came out.
Mrs. Kim: Well, hello.
And she was so embarrassed, her cheeks turned completely red. I went to bed that night thinking of the kiss that might have been.
I mean, it was clear she had feelings for me, but she was just too shy to show them. My mother said it was only natural. So I decided to help her out.
I was ecstatic as I saw her at school.
Y/N: Jennie? You're here.
I would give her plenty of opportunity to get over her shyness. I can do this!
By the sixth grade, I'd learned to control myself.
Then Kai entered the picture. Kai was nothing but a whiny, gossipy, backstabbing flirt. All smile and no substance. And there he was...holding hands with Jennie. My Jennie.
The one who was walking around with my first kiss.
My solution was to ignore him. I knew a girl of Jennie's caliber...would eventually see through a shallow conniver like Kai. It took all of a week. They broke up at recess. He didn't take it well.
Now that Jennie was out of Kai's evil clutches, she started being nicer to me.
Jennie: Hi, Y/N.
Y/N: Hi, Jennie.
She was so shy and so cute...and her hair, it smelled like strawberry. I couldn't get enough of it. I spent the whole year secretly sniffing strawberry...and wondering if I was ever going to get my kiss.
-x-
JENNIE's POV
Seventh grade brought changes, all right. But the biggest one didn't happen at school. It happened at home. My grandfather came to live with us and I would often find him looking outside the window. Mom said he became like that because he missed Grandma. That was not something Grandpa would ever talk about with me. As a matter of fact, he never talked about much of anything with me.
That is, until Y/N appeared in the local newspaper.
Jennie's Grandfather: Oh, Jennie. May I speak with you?
Jennie: What?
Jennie's Grandfather: Have a seat. Tell me about your friend Y/N Park.
Jennie: Y/N. That person is not exactly my friend.
Jennie's Grandfather: Oh. Why's that?
Jennie: Why do you wanna know?
Now, Y/N Park did not wind up in the local newspaper for being an eighth-grade Einstein. No, Y/N got front-page coverage because Y/N refused to climb out of a sycamore tree. Y/N Park and that stupid sycamore tree.
Y/N always thought it was God's gift to our little corner of the universe.
As I was walking home, I saw Y/N. Sitting at one one the sycamore tree's branches.
Y/N: Hey, Jennie. Wanna come climb the tree with me and my sisters?
Jennie: No, thanks.
Y/N: Jennie. Come up here. It's fun. You can see everything.
Jennie: I can't. My dad needs me to help him fix...a thing.
Climb up a tree with Y/N Park? I'd be dragged right back into the second grade. Jennie and Y/N sitting in a tree. Why don't you just make me eat pizza for the rest of my life?
Then even every morning, as we wait for the school bus to arrive, Y/N would be sitting there while reporting the bus' location.
Y/N: It's three blocks away. Two blocks. One block away.
Schoolmate #1: Like that's valuable information.
Schoolmate #2 I hate it when they do that.
Y/N: I think the tree looks particularly beautiful in this light. Don't you?
Jennie: If by "beautiful" you mean "unbelievably ugly," then, yes, I would agree.
Y/N: You're just visually challenged. I feel sorry for you.
"Visually challenged"?
"Visually challenged"?
This from a person living in a house that was the joke of the neighborhood? They had bushes growing over windows and weeds all over the place. It bugged my dad bigtime.
We were gathered at the living room as dad suddenly pointed out Mr. Park from next door.
Mr: Kim: Oh, there he is. The bricklayer who thinks he's a painter. That truck's not ugly enough in real life? He's gotta make a painting of it?
Jennie's Granfather: No, he does landscapes. Sells them at the county fair.
Jisoo: People say they're beautiful.
Mr. Kim: Landscapes? Let me tell you something. The world would have more beauty in it...if he'd do a little landscaping on that piece of crap he calls a yard.
Mrs. Kim: I feel bad for his wife. She married a dreamer.
Mr. Kim: Because of that, one of the two of them will always be unhappy.
I sat there listening to how the conversation would flow. As annoying as the yard was to my dad...it was nothing compared to how annoying Y/N Park was in that tree.
Y/N: Three blocks away.
Every morning we had to listen to the sound of Y/N's blow-by-blow traffic report.
Y/N: Two blocks.
Ignoring the annoying voice of Y/N, I focused my attention to Irene's blabbering about idol groups she had paid interests in recently. When suddenly, something happened.
Man: Listen, kid, I'm this close to calling the police. You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job.
Irene: What's going on?
Man: Either you come down...or we're gonna cut you down.
Y/N: You guys, come up here with me. They won't cut it down if we're all up here.
Irene: Bus, bus, bus. Here comes the bus, come on.
Y/N was frantic. They wanted to cut down their tree. I couldn't understand why that mutant tangle of gnarly branches meant so much to Y/N.
Y/N: Jennie, please.
I felt bad for Y/N.
Irene: Leave that weirdo.
But I wasn't about to cut school over it.
One afternoon, my grandfather talked to me. And the subject of our topic was...
Jennie's Grandfather: Why isn't Y/N your friend, Jennie?
Jennie: You'd have to know Y/N.
Jennie's Grandfather: Well, I'd like to.
Jennie: Why?
I asked in confusion.
Jennie's Grandfather: That child has an iron backbone. Why don't you invite Y/N over sometime?
An iron backbone?
Y/N's just stubborn...and pushy beyond belief. And has been stalking me since the second grade. Well, a person like that doesn't live next door to everyone. Lucky them. Then grandfather gave me the newspaper he was reading.
Jennie's Grandfather: Read this. Without prejudice.
Like I needed to know anything more about Park Y/N.
But then, Y/N wasn't at the bus stop the next morning. Or the morning after that. Yes, Y/N was at school, but you'd never know it.
I told myself I should be glad about it. I mean, isn't that what I'd always wanted? But still, I felt bad for Y/N. I was gonna tell them I was sorry, but then I thought, hey, no...that's the last thing I needed:
Y/N Park thinking I missed them.