CH 3: April 13, 2012

I hate freshmen. They're so annoying, they know absolutely nothing, and this goes for my sister, too. 

I had been waiting in my car for maybe 10 minutes now, waiting for Lauren to come out. She kept rejecting my calls, but I still kept calling. 

“Hello?” She finally picked up. 

“Lauren, what the hell? I have been waiting for 10 minutes, hurry the hell up. You are not that busy.”

“I'm sorry, my bio teacher held me and Sarah back, we're co-”

“I don't care about your bio teacher. Hurry up.” I ended the call following this. I had been snappish and on edge since lunch, being snarky to everybody I had spoken to, then apologizing minutes after. 

I hated taking my anger out on other people, but it would happen at times, and I would always end up feeling like crap and apologizing. 

Lauren jogged out a quick minute later. Her shoulder length, black hair bounced on her shoulder as she slowed down. 

“I'm sorry, I was-” She started to apologize. 

“No, it's fine. I get it.” She got in my silver Hyundai silently, as did I. 

The first minutes of our drive were conversation free and slightly awkward until I spoke up. 

“Eomma is mad at me.” She turned to look at me. 

“Really? Why?” She questioned. 

“You remember how when I went to Korea I skyped you and I asked you to wish me luck?”

“Yeah, then you didn't tell me what you needed luck for.”

“Yeah. Well, I auditioned for SM.”

“What's SM?”

“You know what kpop is, right?” She gave a sound of affirmation. “Yeah, well, SM is, like, one of the biggest companies. They make groups and stuff.” She let out a gasp. 

“You auditioned to be a singer? And Eomma let you?”

“That's the thing, she didn't. And so somebody from the company called her today, and she found out.”

“Wait, does that mean you got accepted?” Her excited tone lifted my mood. Lauren would support me, Langston too, Appa maybe if I could convince before Eomma did. 

“I don't know. I hope so. Or I hope Eomma didn't scare them off.” She let out a soft “oh.”

We neared our house, deep in our neighborhood where most of the semi-to-very rich white people lived. My parents salaries allowed us to live a mostly easy life, which they had worked hard for themselves. 

“I'll back you up,” Lauren announced as we pulled into the driveway. “And I bet Langston will, too.”

“Thanks, kiddo,” I smiled as I took my trinket filled keys out of the ignition. I unlocked the door and stepped onto the beige concrete of the driveway. 

Lauren waddled close to me as we walked down the driveway to our back door behind the house. I took a deep breath as I neared the door. I tried to relax my body and rolled my shoulders as I put my hand on the knob. God, I was freaking out like I was going to war. 

“Just open it,” Lauren hissed behind me. I turned and scowled at her as I did what she told me to. 

The house was silent. The den light, which was the room the back door led into, was closed. 

We moved through the den slowly, then into the kitchen. 

There she was. Behind the island, she held a fork in one hand and a bowl of salad in the other. She set the bowl down as we neared her and slowly raised her fork to , deliberately exaggerating her movements. 

As she finished chewing, she let out a single command to the two of us who had been simply staring at her, frozen. 

“Lauren, go to your room. Lani, let's go to the study.”

Lauren hoisted her blue backpack over her shoulder and immediately began to tread out of the kitchen. So much for backing me up. 

The click clack of my mother’s heels against our marble floor was the only sound in the hall as we walked towards the conventionally soundproof study room. 

I nervously took my hair out of its messy bun and smoothed it out, along with the wrinkles on my shirt. My mom was always perfectly on point, never a single hair out of place; it wouldn't score me points to look like I had just got out of bed. 

We reached the mahogany door of the study room. Eomma’s manicured nails tapped lightly against the doorknob as she twisted it open. She held it open for me and I passed by her, careful not to touch her as I did. She entered the room after I did, slamming the door behind her. I winced in response to t