Chapter 2
Jennie was 12 years old when she realized she was different…
Jennie stood in front of her closet with a bag in her hand, shoving clothes in. “You do realize we’re only staying one night, not moving in, right firefly?”. Jennie didn’t seem to hear the comment as her entire focus was now on which pajamas to pack. Lisa looked at her from her spot on the bed where she was sitting. She looked amused at the other girl’s conflict. Lisa got up and walked over to her, picking a pair of pajamas that she had given to her for christmas and handing them to Jennie. “Take this, that way you’ll be thinking of me”, she told her, her usual smirk adorning her face. Jennie rolled her eyes at her best friends’ antics before packing them in her bulging bag and closing it.
“You didn’t forget to pack anything, right?” Jennie asked Lisa. “Yes mom, I have everything right here”, Lisa answered, picking up her bag which was lying on the floor. Jennie looked at the rather empty looking backpack in her friends’ hand and raised her eyebrow questioningly. Lisa laughed at her expression. “I promise I have everything I need right here. Just because I didn’t pack my whole closet doesn’t mean I’m missing anything.”
Jennie still looked unconvinced but she let it go. “Fine but I’m not bailing you out when you realize you’ve forgotten something”
“Girls, we’re leaving now”, Jennie’s mom voice came from downstairs. Lisa quickly grabbed her backpack and ran down the stairs, Jennie following a moment later after she quickly shoved another pair of pajamas in her bag.
It was the birthday of a girl in their class and she had invited all the girls to a sleepover. Lisa had wanted to skip out on it but Jennie had been extremely excited, imagining a scene out of all the sleepovers they had seen in movies and Lisa had been unable to say no to Jennie when the shorter one used her puppy eyes on her. Lisa had pointed out that it wasn’t technically her first sleepover since they both stayed at each other’s house more often than not but Jennie had insisted that it wasn’t the same thing. That´s how they ended up sitting in the backseat of Ms. Kim´s car, one girl almost bouncing with excitement and the other one wishing they were back in one of their homes watching tv like they usually did on the weekend.
Ms. Kim stopped the car in front of an impressive-looking three story house painted a light bluish color. Jennie jumped out of the car and grabbed Lisa's hand, dragging her to the front door. Ms. Kim chuckled as she stepped out of the car at a slower pace, following after her daughter and her best friend. Jennie frowned at her mother, embarrassed at her insistence on accompanying them to the door as she wanted to meet Mina’s mother before leaving.
The three of them waited on the porch for a few moments until the door was opened by Ms. Shon. “Hello, you must be Ms. Kim. I’m Wendy, Mina’s mom” the kind looking woman greeted with a smile. “Hi Wendy, call me Joy, Ms. Kim sounds too formal”.
“Would you like to come in for some coffee Joy? A few other moms are already in the living room” “I would love to” she answered, smiling knowingly down at her daughter who had been adamant about nobody else’s mother accompanying them. “You girls can go down those stairs, the other girls are already there”, Wendy told the two girls, pointing at a staircase on the other side of the room. With one last wave, Wendy and Joy walked off towards the living room, leaving the two girls alone.
“Well, let’s get this over with then” Lisa joked as she started walking towards the stairs. She quickly realized something was wrong at Jennie’s lack of response, as that was the point where she would usually start scolding her for not taking it seriously, which would then end up with Lisa nodding seriously at Jennie’s words while inside she would be fighting the urge to pinch the other girl’s cheeks and make fun at her adorable attempt at glaring.
She quickly turned around and saw Jennie starring blankly into space. Jennie’s excitement had turned into nervousness and she was currently running different scenarios in her head of ways she could get out of it. Faking feeling sick so she could go back home seemed like the easiest of all the ideas that popped through her head and she was just trying to decide whether to fake a headache or a stomachache when she felt a warm hand slipping into her own.
Lisa knew Jennie well enough to know what was running through her mind at that exact moment and she refused to let her go through with it. While she herself had no interest in spending the night with a bunch of girls which she saw every day but almost never talked to, she knew how excited Jennie had been at the opportunity to get to know the other girls better. She knew Jennie could be extremely shy when it came to meeting new people which is why they often spent their afternoons together at one of the two girl’s houses. Jennie had tried starting conversations with other classmates at Lisa's urging but her natural shyness always got in the way and ended up with her running away before anything could really start. It was how Jennie had gotten her nickname, as Lisa had claimed that she was just like a firefly. Glowing and brightening up everything around when it was just them but quickly shutting down whenever someone else approached. This time, however, Lisa would not let Jennie ruin something she had been so excited for.
Lisa's grip tightened on Jennie’s hand, instantly calming her down. She waited quietly until Jennie seemed ready and then walked down the stairs together, their hands never leaving each other.
They entered a large room and stopped in awe of it. A huge plasma tv hung on one wall with a large, L-shaped couch facing it. Beneath the tv laid what was probably every single gaming system in existence. A few wooden shelves hung besides the tv holding what looked to be an impressive collection of video games and on the other wall laid a huge bookcase holding what looked to be every movie that had come out in the last 5 years at least.
The girls were laying out their sleeping bags in a circle formation in the large space between the door and the couch. “You’re here”, Mina exclaimed when she noticed them standing there. “We’re just setting out things down before we start, you can put your things down there” she told them, pointing at a space left in the circle. Jennie walked over and started taking out her sleeping bag when she noticed the guilty smile that Lisa was sending her. “You forgot your sleeping bag, didn’t you?” Jennie asked her unimpressed. “Hey, I’ve only slept over at your house before and we always share the bed” she defended herself. “And what, did you think we would all squeeze into one bed?”
Lisa simply shrugged helplessly. “I guess we’ll just have to share then”, Lisa said, smiling brightly at Jennie, unbothered by the turn of events. Jennie simply sighted trying to feign annoyance but both her and Lisa knew she didn’t really mind.
A little while later, the girls gathered in a circle as Mina proposed playing a game of Truth or Dare. The game started only lasted a few rounds and it seemed like all of the truths were basically asking which boy from their class did they think was the most attractive. Jennie couldn’t understand the other girl’s excitement as she had never really thought about things like that. Lisa seemed to be having fun and was participating happily which was more than what Jennie had expected after she had basically had to begged her to come to the sleepover.
The game ended after the food arrived, Mina’s mother carrying the various boxes of pizza down to the basement for them. They sat in the couch and put on the first twilight movie as they ate. Jennie had never watched the movie before and she couldn’t help but think that it was the type of movie that she and Lisa would watch just to make fun of it. The other girls seemed to be enjoying it thought and Jennie found herself almost drifting off as she felt Lisa's soothing fingers massage her hair while she laid her head on the taller girl’s shoulder.
A while later, after the movie ended Jennie sat up eagerly, thinking it was finally time to play some video games. Unfortunately, the girls had other ideas. Mina had them seat in a circle as an intense debate about who was more attractive between Edward and Jacob began. “Yeah, well at least Jacob doesn’t look like a recently painted white wall”, Rose exclaimed angrily after Olivia had said that Jacob’s tan looked more orange than the sun. “Well I don’t know about you guys but I could barely take my eyes of Edward whenever he came on screen” Mina said. Some of the girls agreed with her while the others said the same thing about Jacob.
As the chatter continued, Jennie was confused when she realized that she had spent the movie watching Alice instead of either the werewolf or the vampire like the others. She reasoned that it was simply because her personality reminded her of Lisa's and Lisa was her best friend so it made sense for her to be thinking more about Alice like that.
Her explanation made sense to her until Lisa moved next to her so that she was leaning against her and the familiar butterflies started in her stomach, a feeling which she had become accustomed to long ago but that now held a much larger meaning as realization washed over her like a cold wave. She didn’t stare at Alice because she liked her personality or her character, she starred at her because she felt the same attraction for her that the other girls felt for Jacob and Edward.
Jennie was pulled out of her thoughts as the girls started getting up, changing into their pajamas. She took the pajamas Lisa had chosen for her out of her bag along with the other one that she had packed at the last minute. She wordlessly handed them to Lisa whose expression had turned slightly alarmed as she searched through her own bag for a pair of pajamas which she had never packed in the first place, before going into the bathroom to change. Lisa accepted them with a guilty smile and waited for her turn to change.
Jennie came out a few minutes later and exchanged a quick smile with Lisa before hurrying to her sleeping bag and getting into it. The last bits of chatter died off as the girl’s steady breathing filled the room, indicating that they had all fallen asleep already. Jennie starred at the roof as her thought were all over the place, thinking back on the huge realization she had made about herself earlier. Her thoughts were cut off the sound of the bathroom door opening. Jennie heard Lisa's quiet footsteps walking towards her. She wordlessly scooted over, making space for the other girl in her sleeping bag. Lisa quietly made herself comfortable next to her, wrapping her arms around Jennie’s waist. It was only a few moments later that Jennie heard Lisa's breath even out as sleep overtook her. They had slept in that position hundreds of times before but something about this time felt different to Jennie now that she knew her true feelings. Comforted by the familiar warmth of Lisa's arms, she soon fell asleep as well.
The next morning, Ms. Kim came to pick both girls up. They dropped Lisa at church on the way home, as her parents were really religious and refused to let her miss Sunday mass. Upon arriving home, Jennie ran to her room to unpack, thoughts of the day before running through her mind.
She had had fun and she was happy at the opportunity to get to know the other girls better but in the end, she realized that it didn’t beat the feeling of pure happiness and contentment that she got laying on her bed with Lisa, watching cheesy romance movies on Netflix and making fun of them or sitting on her roof starring at the stars and making up stories about all the crazy things the stars have witnessed throughout the years, each trying to make up the craziest scenarios trying to out weird each other, trying to win the unspoken contest of who made the other laugh the most.
But most of all, it didn’t beat the warm feeling that enveloped her whenever the two were together, a feeling which she finally understood.