Lie Again! Chapter 81

<Chapter 81. The Waves Head to an Unexpected Place Once Again (1)>

 

The bell signaling the end of the third period rang loudly. The doors of the classrooms lined up along the hallway opened all at once, and students poured out.

 

Jin moved her feet, following the wave of the crowd heading toward the lockers like a single ant caught in a massive migration.

 

– Make your waves, wake the world. Be strong, be honest, be…….

 

A girl’s clear voice, mixed with crackling static, flowed through the speakers.

This voice always echoed through the school during the break after the third period. According to rumors, they were still using a recording of a senior who had already graduated ten years ago.

 

– ……Go Crawford!

 

The 30-second audio always ended with a cheerful word of encouragement. Opening her blue locker, Jin moved her lips to mouth the now-familiar lines.

 

Go Crawford. However, unlike the bright voice that seemed to embody the Florida sunlight, Jin’s body had no energy at all.

 

‘What was I going to grab?’

 

Jin set down the books she had brought and stood still with her hand reaching out, unable to remember what she had intended to take out. Her head had been foggy all morning, as if clouded by mist.

 

She constantly spaced out during class as well. Even when she tried to focus on the lecture, she would suddenly come to her senses to find that the lesson had already moved far ahead. She had to glance at the person next to her to belatedly turn the pages multiple times. She repeated that in every class.

 

‘Is it because I didn’t sleep well?’

 

Closing her tired eyes, Jin stretched her neck from side to side, trying to shake off the grogginess. Fortunately, her mind seemed to clear up a bit. Her body, however, still felt slumped and heavy.

 

It was when Jin finally remembered the books she meant to grab and started stacking them in her arms one by one.

 

“Jin, Jin! Did anything fun happen yesterday?”

 

With the sound of hurried footsteps, a small body crashed into her forcefully.

 

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, Jin leaned against the locker to barely keep her balance. With one arm, she held onto the books that were about to spill, and with the other, she awkwardly wrapped around Joey, who was now in her arms.

 

“Hi, Joey. But what did you say?”

 

“I asked if anything fun happened while you were on a date with James yesterday!”

 

Joey’s blue eyes sparkled. Receiving her gaze full of anticipation, Jin blinked. Unfortunately for Joey’s hopes, Jin had only just been reminded that she had spent time with James yesterday. The thought, ‘Ah, that’s right,’ briefly crossed her heavy head.

 

“Like something thrilling! Heart-fluttering! Like, for example, a love triangle! Was there anything like that?”

 

At the third point, her voice dropped so low that Jin had to lean down toward Joey to hear her clearly.

 

“There was nothing like that.”

 

“What, I got excited for nothing. I thought… since he couldn’t come to school today because he was sick, I thought he was suffering from a broken heart.”

 

Joey, whose shoulders had been hyped up, slumped and grumbled. Her last words caught Jin’s attention.

 

He’s sick and couldn’t come? Who… 

 

Although a certain name wasn’t mentioned once in their conversation, a specific face kept popping into her mind.

 

Messy hair, loafers with heavily scuffed toes, a face redder than usual, and a low, raspy voice.

 

Jin hesitated before speaking up.

 

“…Who’s sick?”

 

“Butterfield supposedly has body aches. Isn’t that weird? The weather has completely warmed up now, but body aches? Unless he was running all night! It really sounds like a lie, right?”

 

Lowering her voice to a whisper, Joey continued to chatter her speculations, insisting that being sick was definitely a lie and that he must have gone somewhere else instead of school. Jin absentmindedly listened to her before barely managing to reply, “…Right.”

 

‘I’m a mess right now because of you.’

 

The gaze that showed hints of confusion, wavering back and forth, kept replaying in her mind.

 

Every time she recalled his unconfident appearance—the likes of which she had seen for the first time—what accompanied it wasn’t relief, but ridiculously enough, anticipation. A faint hope of ‘Could it be real this time?’ kept inflating her with false expectations.

 

But at the same time, a cold warning that she would get hurt again if she trusted him poured cold water over the embers. Like a virus penetrating a weak spot and the antibodies fighting against it, anticipation and pessimism battled it out several times a second.

 

Even though she hadn’t actually caught a cold, her head was throbbing.

 

* * *

 

Swoosh.

 

The water falling from the silver faucet hit the marble sink and splashed everywhere. Staring blankly at the shattered water droplets being sucked down the drain, Jin snapped out of it and turned off the water.

 

The number of times she spaced out kept increasing.

 

Jin pressed the wet, cold backs of her hands firmly against her cheeks. The touch of the chill seemed to bring her back to her senses a little. Jin stared intensely at the dazed girl in the mirror before letting out a small sigh.

 

But that was only for a moment; her dark eyes couldn’t stay grounded in reality and wandered back to last night again.

 

‘I like you.’

 

“I’m all about you…….”

 

Jin’s lips in the mirror moved silently along with the voice playing in her head. She couldn’t remember what happened after that.

 

“You seem to be having fun lately.”

 

It was because someone had interrupted.

 

Snapped out of her thoughts by the sharp voice of a girl, Jin turned her head, immediately meeting a pair of blue eyes.

 

Emily Gwen, who had been standing at the bathroom entrance with her arms crossed, walked over to Jin’s side, her sandals making a clack-clack sound.

 

“Are you talking to me?”

 

Without answering Jin, Gwen turned on the water and washed her hands. Then, with a haughty expression, she fixed her hair and stared intently into Jin’s eyes through the mirror.

 

A blue tweed two-piece suit and a matching headband—an appearance straight out of a teen movie that didn’t lose its shine even in a restroom.

 

On the other hand, the girl visible in the mirror only looked excessively pale and gloomy. The white sneakers she wore every day and the shirt she had just thrown on haphazardly looked incredibly shabby.

 

Why would he choose me over someone like her?

 

That thought briefly crossed her mind. However, Jin tried hard to ignore her confidence that was deflating like a balloon, refusing to avert her eyes until the end.

 

Gwen, who had scanned Jin up and down in the mirror, beautifully curled her lips into a sneer.

 

“You’re quite the player, aren’t you? So, is it James Wood, or Evan?” 

 

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

 

When Jin retorted coldly, Gwen bit her lip and let go, seemingly not expecting her to come back like that. She took her eyes off the mirror, turned her body toward Jin, and crossed her arms.

 

“…I’m friends with Evan. From a long time ago, so long that I can’t even remember.”

 

Jin momentarily let out a scoff at Gwen, who was acting childishly as if debating her right to be by his side. At that, the well-groomed blonde eyebrows shot up, and the wick inside the blue eyes ignited with a spark.

 

“But I just can’t stand seeing some girl who rolled in from God-knows-where suddenly show up and hurt him.”

 

Gwen spat out, emphasizing every single word.

 

“…You’re crossing the line.”

 

“No, even the word ‘hurt’ is ridiculous. Do you actually think you deserve him, standing around like that?”

 

Jin immediately stiffened her expression, but Gwen didn’t care and poured out even harsher words.

 

It was painfully obvious that her eyes had already flipped and she was spitting words out without a filter, but Gwen probably didn’t know. She had no idea that the last words she spat out, pointing her finger at Jin’s chest, had deeply pierced Jin’s long-standing worry, or perhaps, her inferiority complex.

 

An anger resembling shame began to crawl up and consume Jin from her chest. Why do I feel so small just because I’m next to you? 

 

Jin glared at Gwen with her entire body, but in truth, she was angry at herself. Angry at herself for not being able to fully trust him—wondering if there was an ulterior motive behind his confession last night or what his reason for liking her was—and for not being confident even in this very moment.

 

「Ah, I seriously can’t do this anymore.」

 

Korean suddenly blurted out in the small, quiet restroom. At the same time Gwen looked at Jin with wary eyes, water came pouring out of the wide-open faucet with a swoosh.

 

“Kyaa! Are you crazy?”

 

Water sprayed over Gwen like a bomb. It was because Jin had blocked the spout of the faucet at an angle with her palm, deliberately spraying the water.