“And in the last few slides, we’ll show how it all comes together with the Wick motto,” Dave said. He looked at Jisu and motioned her to move on to the next slide.
It was the first time he’d actually looked at her during the whole IS presentation—the first time since he’d walked away the day before.
“Head, Hands and Heart. The three elements of the Wick motto. The Head represents the political ideals and movements that Jisu and I worked to publicize better through this project.”
Jisu and I. It was difficult to focus on presenting to the class when there were unresolved issues between them. Or at least for Jisu, they felt unresolved. For all she knew, Dave was done talking to her once the presentation was over. But at least in the moment, he was being civil.
“For example, the first labor union rally we attended had a modest attendance. The purpose of the rally—the Head matter—was the issue of unionizing. Which leads to the Hand.”
It was now Jisu’s turn to talk.
“The Hand represents the actual work and technical skills that go into exercising these political and cultural ideals, like unionizing and getting more people to vote. These images were posted across social media. They not only embody the ideals, but also the technical data we mined to determine how and when to post them for maximum impact.”
“Wow, some of these photos are really great,” Mrs. French interjected as Jisu went through each image on the projector.
“Jisu took most of them,” Dave said.
Was that a compliment? He was stating a fact, but also giving her credit. Jisu turned to him and tried to give him an encouraging smile, but he ignored her. Maybe it wasn’t an olive branch.
“And the last part of the Wick motto—the Heart,” Dave continued. “For this project, the Heart symbolizes our personal passions, which determined the kinds of events we attended and researched.”
“I picked the Feminism in the Digital Age art show at The Lab, and Dave picked the labor union meetings and rallies,” Jisu said and concluded the presentation.
Despite the tension between them, they had done a good job of passing the ball back and forth and completing their project without issue. Jisu turned to the last slide. The End.
“Good work!” Mrs. French said. “Jisu, you should send this presentation to the schools that have you wait-listed. It might help.”
Jisu nodded and followed Dave back to their seats. The next duo queued up and started their presentation. The class moved on, but Jisu had a hard time paying attention. Their big project was over and there was no longer any reason for them to talk to each other, unless she could salvage things.
“That went really well!” Jisu leaned to her left and whispered toward Dave’s direction. He seemed not to hear. “And we didn’t even go over fifteen minutes,” she said. “All the practice was good for something.”
“Yeah. Hopefully Mrs. French gives us a good grade,” Dave said before quickly turning his attention back to the front of the classroom.
Jisu also turned to the front of the classroom, exhaling with defeat. She sat mere inches away from Dave, but it felt like a million miles. Jisu liked him. She always had. Despite however he felt about her now, was their friendship really so weak that it couldn’t withstand one bout of miscommunication? Was this the end?
No. Jisu wasn’t going down without a fight.
“I didn’t know about you and Sophie,” she said to Dave. She didn’t care if anyone else heard or if Mrs. French had to shush her from the front of the classroom.
Dave kept his eyes forward. But he was listening, she could tell. He tilted his head toward her when she spoke.
“I didn’t know I could offend someone so much,” he muttered back.
“I wasn’t offended. I was just shocked. I thought you and Sophie were still together.” Jisu wished he would at least face her.
“I would’ve explained if you let me. But you just ran off. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Jisu slumped back into her seat. She felt helpless, like a deflated balloon. How else was she supposed to react, then? And she was here now, apologizing. Why couldn’t they at least go back to where they’d been before? Friends.
“What are you doing after school today?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Wanna go hang at DP?” Jisu asked as casually as she could manage. Maybe the approach was to gloss things over.
“Jisu.” Dave turned to her finally. “We’re done with the project. There’s no reason for us to hang out anymore.”
Her shoulders dropped and she blinked rapidly to contain the sudden burning sensation in her eyes. His words cut deep. They were the final blow to whatever remaining pride she had left. Was this how he’d felt when she’d run off? Was he doing this on purpose—to show how he’d felt? But how could he be mad at her? She hadn’t known what had happened between him and Sophie—he had never disclosed this.
“I mean,” Dave started. “I’m not going to force you to hang out with me. I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”
Dave looked nervous, and he kept his gaze on the ground, by her shoes, like he was too nervous to look up at her. Maybe he was afraid he’d jumped the gun too early. He really had. But he hadn’t screwed everything up. And maybe all he needed was a sign.
“Are you going to Tiffany’s party this weekend?” Jisu tried her hand one more time.
“I don’t know. It depends.” He finally looked up at Jisu. “Are you going?”
“Yeah, I’m going. It’d be crazy to miss it,” Jisu said. “You should go!”
Dave nodded his head, but he didn’t say anything.
Jisu was out of things to say. She turned her attention back to the presentation happening in front of the classroom. She stared straight ahead as calmly as she could, but she felt rattled. In her mind, she was flashing the biggest green light and waving the largest GO sign at Dave. She wanted him to see it. Was he seeing it?