There are many things Jennie has grown accustomed to over the years, but receiving unwanted attention is not one of them. She's very aware of the stares of other students as she passes by, hearing their whispers revolving around her; she knows exactly what they're saying and doesn't blame them for wanting to spice up their otherwise mundane lives.
She knows word spreads around fast, especially when the news involves physical fighting. Well, it's more along the lines of a one-sided physical fight that Jennie had wanted no part of; one of her classmates had hit herself and placed the blame on Jennie, resulting in where she was now: a new school in the middle of the school year.
Despite the fact that she's at a new school, Jennie's morning routine isn't very different from what it has been, with the exception of having to introduce herself to her new class and being assigned a seat next to a girl who looks very excited to have her as her new desk neighbor.
"Hi, I'm Chaeyoung, but you can call me Rosé," she says when the opportunity presents itself during one of their breaktimes before lunch.
"Jennie," Jennie replies with a polite, yet albeit awkward smile.
"How do you like our school so far? It's not every day we get new students around this time of year," the girl responds with a curious twinkle in her eyes. Jennie raises a brow at her cautiously.
It appears that word doesn't spread as fast as she had initially thought.
"It's alright, I guess," Jennie replies, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, if you find yourself alone during lunch, you can join my friends and I," says Rosé. "We usually sit outside by the soccer fields."
"Thanks," says Jennie, appreciating the other girl's kindness. Their break shortly ends soon after and class resumes.
By the time the lunch bell rings, Jennie finds herself following Rosé out to their designated location and sees two girls sitting in the distance.
"My friends are weird, but I promise that you'll love them," says Rosé before the two arrive in front of them. "I brought a new friend!"
"Hi," Jennie waves with an awkward smile. "I'm Jennie."
"Hi! I'm Jisoo," says one of the girls, her cheeks full of food. She does her best to smile while retaining the food in her mouth and opts for waving instead.
"She acts like the youngest, but she's actually a year above us so don't be fooled," says Rosé. Jisoo swallows her food and grins cheekily. "Moving on, this is Lisa. She's from Thailand."
"What's up," Lisa smiles as she waves coolly.
"She's one year below us," says Rosé. "And this is everyone."
Jennie nods as she and Rosé take a seat. She's not sure why, but she'd expected more people for some reason. It doesn't really matter though, because Jisoo and Lisa begin to ask Jennie questions of all kinds to get to know her. Jennie answers them to the best of her ability, although some questions seem more personal and should be reserved until later down the road of their friendship. Jennie's appreciative nonetheless, as the girls still seem to welcome her as one of their own. She's happy and feels content with her first day at this new school.
"Hey, look out!"
Jennie's content is short-lived when a soccer ball comes flying from the field, bouncing off of Jennie's head and causing the girls around her to gasp collectively.
"Oh my gosh, Jennie, are you okay?" Jisoo asks with concern, ensuring that Jennie looks okay before whipping her head to find the person responsible for kicking the ball.
"I'm fine," Jennie lies through her teeth, the throbbing in her head almost matching the level of embarrassment she feels.
"Whoa, sorry about that," says a boy as he jogs over. "Are you okay?"
"It's her first day here and she just got smacked in the head with a ball. How do you think she feels?" Rosé crosses her arms across her chest as she looks at him.
"It was an accident, I promise!"
"Yeah, it's fine, Rosé," Jennie replies, wanting nothing more than for this moment to pass. If the ground swallowed her alive in this moment, she wouldn't have minded; nothing felt worse than the embarrassment she was feeling right now and the redness she was sure was on her forehead was just the cherry on top. She can't even look at the boy responsible for her embarrassment right now.
"Fine," Rosé frowns and looks away from the boy. He hesitates before saying another apology and runs off to get the ball.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Lisa looks at Jennie with concern once they're left alone again.
"Well, other than my pride being a little bruised, I'm okay," Jennie nods.
The other three girls look at her with concern as Jennie continues to reassure them until lunchtime is over. The rest of the day seemed to go by rather quickly and Jennie was grateful to just go home and hope for a better day tomorrow, not that today was so bad other than having gotten hit in the head with a ball.
She exchanges phone numbers with the girls after school before parting ways with them and stands at the crosswalk, waiting to cross the street amongst other students. She's about to put her headphones in before a voice stops her.
"Hey, you're the girl I accidentally hit with my soccer ball earlier—sorry about that, by the way."
Jennie feels the embarrassment already settling in her stomach before she turns and looks at the boy's face for the first time. She does her best to maintain a face of indifference, but he's cute and Jennie's suddenly concerned that she must've looked like such a loser earlier.
"It's fine," says Jennie, unable to really meet his eyes. He gives her a small and apologetic smile as he stands next to her awkwardly, not saying much else. It isn't until the crosswalk sign lights up, signaling for them to cross that he speaks up again.
"I'm Taeyong, by the way."
"Jennie," Jennie smiles tensely. Why does he keep trying to talk to her? She really just wants to go home in peace.
"It's nice to meet you."
Jennie nods awkwardly as they walk beside each other. Why was he still next to her?
"Uh, I promise I'm not following you, if that's what you're thinking. This is just my way home," says Taeyong as he shoves his hands into his pockets.
"You're walking pretty close for someone who isn't following me," Jennie tries to sound playful, but it comes out rather sarcastic.
"Well, I usually walk alone but it seems like I've made myself a new friend," says Taeyong, grinning cheekily at her. Part of Jennie is glad that he didn't take offense to her prior statement but soon also processes his words and does her best not to blush. Wait—why is she even blushing?
"A new friend? Where?" Jennie tries to brush it off with a joke and Taeyong chuckles beside her. She subconsciously smiles as well.
"It's good to know you have jokes," he says. "What else do you have up your sleeve?"
Jennie raises a brow at him. He seems genuinely curious about her and Jennie decides it doesn't hurt to have some company on her walk home, opening up ever so slightly to him.
She doesn't even realize she's made it home until Taeyong arrives at his and the two of them come to a startling revelation that their homes are adjacent to one another.
"What are the odds?" Taeyong muses as he glances at Jennie. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, neighbor."
Jennie's not sure how to process this. She stands outside her door a little dumbfounded before collecting herself and heading inside. She's had a very eventful day and can't wait to just relax.
---
"Dance lessons? You're kidding, right?"
As if Jennie's day couldn't get any more eventful, her mother decides to tell her the news at the dinner table.
"Well, I was talking with some of the ladies at work and one of them said she put her daughter through dance lessons," says Jennie's mother, taking a bite of her food and chewing thoughtfully before swallowing to continue the conversation. "I think it'll be a good opportunity for you to make some friends outside of school. Also, you can be refined into an elegant and sophisticated young lady."
Jennie does her best not to roll her eyes at her mother. "Mom, I don't need to be elegant or sophisticated. I have basic manners and that should be enough."
"I signed you up for the beginner class that starts next week," says her mother, disregarding Jennie's grumbling. "It'll be every Wednesday from four to six in the evening and you're going whether you like it or not."
Jennie sighs.
"Is this because of what happened last month?" Jennie refers back to the incident at her old school with a frown on her face. "I told you that I didn't do anything wrong."
"I know and I believe you, I do," Jennie's mother sighs as well. "I just think it'll be good for you to find a hobby and make some new friends along the way."
"I made some new friends at school today," says Jennie, wanting to shift the conversation in a new direction.
"You have? That's wonderful!" Jennie's mother exclaims, doing very little to conceal her excitement. "Just so you know, dear, you're still going to dance lessons."
Jennie sighs, no longer feeling her appetite.
"If you wanted me to just get out of the house more, you could've said so," she says as she leans back in her seat, pushing her food around her plate.
"I didn't want to leave room for the risk of you getting involved in bad things out in the streets," says Jennie's mother. "Dance lessons will be fun, don't worry!"
Jennie understands that her mother's just trying to look out for her, but it admittedly can be a little much sometimes.
Once dinner concludes, Jennie decides that she needs some fresh air. She's not exactly thrilled with the idea that her mother decided to take it upon herself to sign her up for random things, but she appreciated her mother's efforts in trying to make her more social.
Telling her mother that she was going to step outside for a minute, she leaves her house and sits on her porch steps. The sun begins to set, but the world is still active with cars passing and some people exercising or walking their pets, everyone living their own busy lives.
People watching is a hobby I could do outside of the house, Jennie muses to herself as she brings her knees to her chest, hugging them.
"Hey, neighbor!"
Jennie snaps her attention to the familiar voice and sees Taeyong standing on his own porch, holding a bottle of water. He looks like he's coming back from an evening jog, dressed in a grey tank top and black basketball shorts. His hair is matted to his forehead, presumably from sweat and Jennie does her best to not admire the fact that he still looks pretty good despite the current state he's in.
"The weather's pretty nice during this time of year, huh?" Taeyong smiles before he takes a sip of his water.
"Yeah," Jennie nods, unsure if she should look away or not. She doesn't really know what to say and Taeyong doesn't continue the conversation for a moment.
"What are you doing out here at this hour? Just hanging out?"
"I guess so," Jennie nods again. She mentally scolds herself for her answer, knowing it doesn't necessarily make sense and leaves no room for Taeyong to continue their conversation.
"You're not big on small talk, are you?"
Jennie looks over at him, shrugging.
"I guess not."
"Something on your mind you wanna talk about?" Taeyong asks. He perches himself on the side of his porch so that he can face Jennie.
"Not really," says Jennie. She doesn't have to tell Taeyong anything, not that it's his business anyways. She does however appreciate his intentionality and the enthusiasm.
"You know, sometimes it helps to talk about things."
"It's not that important," Jennie shakes her head.
"Well, if it bothers you, then I'd say it's important," Taeyong shrugs.
Jennie looks at him carefully, looking for any signs of ill will on his face or body language. His eyes are round and innocent, but Jennie's just slightly hesitant to trust him so easily; she'd learned the hard way that looks could be deceiving.
"It's really nothing," she says after a moment of thought.
"If you say so," Taeyong says casually. Jennie appreciates that he doesn't press the matter on further, watching as he takes another sip of his water. "Anyways, I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Jennie nods with a small smile.
Taeyong smiles back and waves before heading back into his house. Jennie sighs, having a moment to herself again and decides that it's getting dark and she should head back inside. She goes straight into her room and tells her mother she's turning in for the night before closing her bedroom door. She plugs her phone in to charge and goes to wash up. She's had an eventful day and decides that she deserves the rest and relaxation.
---
A/N: ch. 1 of the rewrite is officially up! I hope you guys enjoy the story and I'll do my best to update (ideally) once a week, but we shall see, hehe. In the meantime, hope you guys are doing well and staying safe!
also side note (more like a random plug) but if anyone's on Tumblr and a fan of Haikyuu!! feel free to follow me on my side blog for random one-shots @ hqbbg ;)