Chapter Text
★ Song: Lovers Rock by TV Girl.
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Eventually, their final class of the day ends and Jacquelin quickly packs their stuff into their backpack, not even bothering to organize. They look behind them, and see Qiu staring at them while tucking their books away in the same manner.
“Jackie, are you and Taihong exes or something?” They ask, causing Jacquelin to chuckle dryly, thinking they’re joking. However, Jacquelin’s eyes are full of curiosity and Jackie realizes they’re dead serious. “Ah, well… we never were a thing. It’s just hard for me to approach him.” They state, and Jacquelin nods to express their understanding.
“Normally, I don’t involve myself in other people’s business; you’re an exception because we’re friends.” They respond, walking to stand beside Jackie, and they realize that Qiu wants to hear more. Reluctantly, they decide to tell Qiu the real reason why they struggle to talk to the boy.
They sigh, “Well, I tried to befriend him back then when we first moved into Golden Grove because we had a common denominator.” Jacquelin clears their throat, “The common denominator was our interest in bugs. It’s stupid, right?”
Qiu shakes their head, answering their question with a no. “It’s not.” Jackie smiles at Qiu’s words, deciding to continue their statement. “Most people were disgusted by bugs, so I was really eager to talk to someone about them. I didn’t want to bother only you and Tamarack all the time.”
“I did talk to him, but I was very ‘in his face’ about it. I approached him, but I didn’t do it properly. I was a noisy kid—I still am—I’m trying to tone it down for some people now after that.” Jacquelin states blankly, but their expression was quite melancholic.
Qiu notices this and decides to tease them about it, “Sounds like you’re totally smitten over Taihong.” They smirk, and Jacquelin shoves them playfully as they sling their backpack over their shoulder. “Fuck off.” They grimace, and Qiu pats their back while holding a laugh in.
They look at the door, seeing Roxy stand outside of the classroom. Her expression was quite morose until she realized that the two were staring at her, and she beams while waving. “Hey, I’ve come to pick Qiu up.” She winks, and Qiu giggles at the dorky action before facing Jackie one last time.
“That’s my cue.” They smile, and Jacquelin mirrors their expression. Qiu quickly makes their way over to Roxanne, hooking their arm around her elbow. “See you around.” She beams, and they wave goodbye to her.
Jackie walks down the stairs alone, but their presence is acknowledged by Tamarack as she nudges them gently. They turn and give her a friendly grin, “Hey.” Jacquelin greets her, and the two stroll downstairs together.
“Me and Serenity are eating at the diner after class, do you wanna come?” She asks and they consider the offer, but decide not to go. “Sorry, I have to adjust my diet. Volleyball tryouts are soon and I need to bulk. Diner food won’t help me with that.”
Tamarack frowns, but understands her friend. “Alright, maybe we can go after your tryouts then?” She offers yet again, and Jacquelin agrees without hesitation. “That sounds great!” They exclaim, and the two friends giggle as she notices Serenity in the distance.
“Well, I need to go with her now. I’ll see you again sometime?” She raises an eyebrow, and Jackie nods while patting their shoulder. “Mhm, I’ll see you.” They say, before waving towards Tamarack and Serenity.
Jacquelin nearly leaves the school campus, but the boy they were talking about with Qiu earlier suddenly appears, startling them. They give Taihong an awkward look, trying to make a break for it. However—Taihong gently grabs their arm to stop them—before finally locking eyes with Jackie; they can’t escape from him now.
“Are you free today?” He asks, and Jacquelin nods, not knowing why. Taihong lets go of their arm and adjusts his glasses. “The project we need to work on today, can we go to my place for it?”
“Oh.” They chuckle timidly, remembering the scene from class earlier. “Yeah, let’s work on it.” Hesitantly, Jackie stands beside Taihong and they exit the school premises. It was a weird scene, seeing the two strangers who go to the same school stiffly walk home together.
Reaching the sidewalk, Jacquelin grabs the hem of Taihong’s shirt. They switch positions so that Jackie’s on the part that’s closer to the road. He’s unsure what the gesture was for, or what it even meant, but he didn’t bother to ask anything.
Funnily enough, Jacquelin was also unsure why they did that. They bite their lip awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. However, Taihong can’t help but stare at Jackie as if they were studying every detail of their face. The attention made them self-conscious, but they decided to joke about it.
“You don’t need to stare so much, I know I’m good looking.” Jacquelin sheepishly chuckles, trying to play it cool (and failing) even though they were dying inside. “I think everyone else knows that, Jackie.” Taihong reaffirms their statement as if it was factual rather than subjective. This causes Jacquelin to choke on their saliva and start coughing loudly, stopping the pair in their tracks.
“Uh… are you alright?” Taihong asks, patting Jacquelin’s back as they face away from him. The coughing stops after a few moments, and they sigh to clear their thoughts. “Mhm, I’m totally fine. Don’t worry.” They soothe his worries, and the two eventually reach Taihong’s house.
Entering the front porch, Jacquelin removes their shoes carefully and steps inside the house with their socks on. Taihong follows them closely behind and the two sit in the living room as he opens his laptop to check Mr. Murray’s announcement.
“You should see this.” Taihong cautiously places his laptop on Jackie’s lap, and they hold the side of the laptop to stabilize it, unintentionally placing their hand on his. Quickly, they take their hand back and just let him do the honors, acting casually.
Jacquelin sighs, realizing the project was no easy feat. “No wonder Mr. Murray let us work on this outside of class.” They scratch their head, the upper corner of their lip twitching. Taihong gazes at them, not saying a word.
Even though they were trying to let their guard down around Taihong, it was no use. They sigh, not even acknowledging the things Taihong was mentioning about the project; it all just became background noise to the thoughts in their brain.
“Jackie?” He waves his hand in front of their face, which causes Jacquelin’s body to jolt. They nod, giving Taihong a shaky smile. However, Taihong’s name being shouted quickly caught their attention, and they realized his sister was the one calling.
“Taihong! Your stupid bug escaped again.” Hongxue scoffs, placing the cage in front of the two groupmates. She quickly covers her mouth, realizing she broke the character she had at school. Fortunately for her, Jackie was way too enamoured with the praying mantis in its cage.
“啊？你还能找到女朋友?” She interrogates him rhetorically, and eliciting an almost silent groan from Taihong's lips. “They’re not my girlfriend.” He looks at her expressionlessly, and the tone in his voice matches his gaze. Jacquelin’s attention was immediately caught, and so was Hongxue’s. She grits her teeth, trying to act like nothing happened.
“I’ll leave you both to it.” She says, leaving the two alone again in the living room. Jackie quickly brushes off what happens, and inspects the bug again. They smile widely, admiring the praying mantis in its cage. “You still like bugs?”
Taihong nods, and Jacquelin hums. “We’re the same then.” They muse, and the two look at each other. Jackie’s smile disappears as they notice Taihong’s glare, wondering why he’s been so serious.
“I asked Hongxue about this.” He mumbles, “Do you hate me?” Taihong questions them, and Jacquelin blinks, unsure how the boy came to the conclusion. They shake their head, denying the accusation. “Of course not, I just don’t know how to approach you… but that’s for another day.”
“That’s good, because I want us to be on good terms.” He casually responds, and for the first time ever since they stopped talking, Jackie genuinely smiled; they didn’t smile to make the situation less awkward or for any other superficial reason—but because they truly felt happy—their cheeks hurt from the force of it.