Chaeyoung was having a hard time concentrating on her piano playing since the girl who was playing the guitar three seats over was distracting her. The last thing Chaeyoung expected was for Lalisa Manoban to step foot in her music class.
She couldn't help but glance over at Lisa who seemed to be avoiding her gaze since she spotted her earlier. Lisa seemed to catch on very quick, glancing only at her music sheet a few times before she memorized how to play the chorus. Chaeyoung was still staring at Lisa when her fingers missed a key and threw off the entire class.
"Sorry," Chaeyoung mumbled turning red. She hated that the piano was the always loudest in the room so it was obvious when she made a mistake.
"It's alright, that's why we practice," Mr. Thompson said raising his baton conducting the class to start again.
Chaeyoung resumed her playing and looked at Lisa again and was surprised to find her looking back. Lisa gave her a little smile before averting her eyes back to her music stand.
The bell rang signaling the end of class and everyone scrambled off desperate to get to lunch. Lisa gathered her things and started to leave the room when Mr. Thompson stopped her.
"Ms. Manoban, can you stay for a while?"
Lisa gripped the strap of her bag impatiently. She wasn't going have time to eat lunch if this took long. 'Um, sure," she said reluctantly.
"Ms. Park, can you stay, too?" he asked before Chaeyoung could leave the classroom.
Chaeyoung looked at the teacher and then at Lisa. She had no idea what he could possibly want from the both of them.
"Yes, Mr. Thompson?" She stood beside Lisa who had once again avoided her gaze.
"As you know, we have a concert in a two weeks-"
Lisa couldn't help but snort and Mr. Thompson narrowed his eyes at her. "Is there a problem, Ms. Manoban?"
Lisa bit her lip guiltily. "Um, no, I just didn't know you guys had concerts."
"Well, we do, and considering you just joined us and are very behind, you have very little time to learn all our songs." He handed her a folder filled with papers. "These are all the songs we're doing but there's a lot of revisions."
Lisa frowned as she flipped through all the music. "I can't learn all these in two weeks," she said.
Mr. Thompson smiled at Chaeyoung who looked at him confused. "This is where Ms. Park comes in."
"Huh?" both girls said surprised.
"Well, Chaeyoung is the only one who knows all the parts considering she plays the piano, I want her to work with you on the songs so you can perform with us at the concert," Mr. Thompson explained.
There were so many things that could go wrong with this that Lisa had no idea where to start. "I think I can learn these songs myself," she said taking a look at the sheets again. "Chaeyoung doesn't have to help me."
Chaeyoung looked at her curiously. She was sure that Lisa would jump at the opportunity to work with her. "I don't mind," Chaeyoung said without thinking and Lisa looked at her surprised. "I mean," she cleared her throat. "If it helps you learn the songs faster, I don't mind helping you out."
"Alright then," Mr. Thompson said while clapping his hands together. "Thank you, Chaeyoung. You girls can go to lunch now."
"So do you want to meet after school?" Lisa asked once they left the classroom.
Suddenly realizing the situation she was thrown in, Chaeyoung became very nervous. "Oh, um, I have a student council meeting after school."
"Oh, right," said Lisa a bit disappointed. "Well, whatever time works for you, just let Jennie know."
"Why Jennie?" Chaeyoung asked as she stopped by her locker. It was kind of weird to be walking with Lisa without being hit on.
"Oh you know, so she can tell Jisoo and then she can tell me," Lisa said dismissively.
Chaeyoung couldn't help but smile at this. "And why can't I just tell you myself?"
"Well, um," she trailed off when she saw Jennie and Jisoo walking towards them. "Hey guys!"
"Hey yourself," Jisoo said giving Lisa a look. "What are you two up to?"
Jennie gave the same look to Chaeyoung. "Yeah, what are you up to?"
"We just came from music," Chaeyoung said putting some of her books away.
"I didn't know you took music," Jennie said to Lisa.
"Well as of today, I am." She turned to Jisoo. "Ready to go to lunch?"
Jisoo didn't say anything and shifted nervously. "Can I talk to you for a second?" She grabbed Lisa's arm and pulled her away from Chaeyoung and Jennie. Lisa looked at her confused. "Can we stay here for lunch?" she asked while glancing over at Jennie.
"You can invite her to come along," Lisa said rolling her eyes.
"I know, but Jennie has this irrational fear that she'll be late for class if she goes off campus for lunch. So can we please stay here?" Jisoo gave Lisa her best puppy dog eyes.
"Fine, but you're giving me half of your lunch. There's no way I'm eating any of that cafeteria shit."
Jisoo gave her a brown lunch bag. "I already packed you your own."
Lisa took the bag and looked inside. "Aw, you packed me Gushers." She took out the bag of fruit snacks and opened it. "You're the best, Jisoo!" she said in an exaggerated voice and stuffed the candies in her mouth. Jisoo just rolled her eyes and made her way back to Jennie.
Only when the four of them were walking to a table, did Lisa realize that she would be having lunch with Chaeyoung. They all sat down at a table and started to eat their lunch. Lisa remained quiet as she listened to everyone talk around her occasionally saying a few words. She could feel a pair of eyes watching her as she ate the ham and cheese sandwich Jisoo packed her. Lisa looked up and blushed when she saw Chaeyoung staring at her.
Chaeyoung quickly looked away and started to eat her own lunch. "Um, if you want, we can meet after my meeting," Chaeyoung said quietly.
Lisa perked up. "Sure, what time does your meeting end?"
"Four. Where do you want to practice?"
Lisa wanted to say at her house but she wasn't sure if Chaeyoung would be keen to that idea so she took the safe route. "Wherever you like."
Chaeyoung bit her lip in thought. "We can practice at my house. I only have a keyboard but I think that'll work. I mean it'd be nice to play on a real piano but the music room would be closed by the time I'm done with my meeting."
"Lisa has a piano," Jisoo chimed in listening in on their conversation. "Why don't you two just practice there?"
Lisa kicked her under the table and Jisoo jumped a little, glaring at her.
"That sounds like a great idea," Jennie also said. She too jumped a little.
"Um, if Chaeyoung wants to," Lisa said nervously.
Chaeyoung thought for another second. "I don't mind as long as Lisa doesn't."
"Oh no, I don't mind at all," she said eagerly. "I mean, yeah, we can practice at my house."
Chaeyoung smiled. "Okay, I'll see you then."
---
"'Lisa has a piano,'" Lisa mocked as she threw a pillow at Jisoo. She threw herself face down on her bed and groaned.
"What is your problem? I was doing you a favor."
"A favor?" She lifted her head up and glared at her. "Jisoo, things are so weird with us right now and we're being forced to work together. I don't want anything bad to happen." She picked up the folder of music sheets and started flipping through them.
"Oh come on, you've been waiting for something like this to happen for the longest time, are you telling me you're not going to try anything?" Jisoo asked skeptically.
"No, I'm not. I don't want to piss her off anymore. She knows that I like her and it still doesn't change anything."
Jisoo just shook her head and took the folder from her. "Why don't you just be yourself and maybe just maybe Chaeyoung will actually like you."
Lisa bit her lip. She hadn't told Jisoo about what Chaeyoung had said that night at the park. She didn't even know what it meant but there was no way she was going to get her hopes up. Things between her and Chaeyoung were so fickle that one wrong move can blow up in her face.
"Knock, knock," Mrs. M poked her head in Lisa's room.
"Hi, mom," Lisa said thankful for the interruption.
"Hi, Mrs. M," Jisoo said smiling. "How's life?"
Mrs. M stepped into Lisa's room and started to pick up a few stray clothes and put them in the hamper in the corner of the room. "Busy as usual. Do you mind if I talk to Lisa in private for a minute?"
"Sure, I have to get home anyways." She picked up her bag and made her way to the door. "You better call me later," she warned Lisa.
Mrs. M stood in front of Lisa's bed and crossed her arms across her chest. "I got an interesting phone call from your guidance counselor today," she started.
Lisa gulped and gave her mom a big smile. "Oh really? Did she say how great I'm doing in my classes?"
"Lisa," she said sternly. "She told me you were kicked out of art class."
"Okay, I know it sounds bad but don't worry, I'm already taking another class." Lisa smiled again hoping her mom wouldn't be too mad. "In fact, I'm having someone come over later today to help me catch up."
Mrs. M still looked like she could burn a hole with her eyes but softened a little. "I know, Mrs. Avery said that you're now taking music class. You better take this class seriously, Lalisa."
Lisa nodded vigorously. "Don't worry, mom. I am. We good?"
"Not quite." Her mother grinned. "I'm revoking your off campus lunches for a week."
"What?" Lisa frowned. "But, the cafeteria food is like poison. You don't want your favorite daughter to die, do you?" She pouted but her mother just shook her head.
"Pack a lunch." She kissed her on the forehead. "One week, Lisa and I'll know if you go to your Uncle T's."
Lisa pouted again as she watched her mom leave her room. She didn't really like the idea of waking up early and packing a lunch. The only upside of staying at school during lunch was that she'll see Chaeyoung. She smiled just thinking of her and checked her watch.
Chaeyoung was coming over to work with her in about a half hour. Lisa only hoped that she wouldn't screw anything up.