Chapter 6:
        Welcome to the Blacklist   

Indigo's P.O.V

         Just the thought of yesterday's events made my blood boil. I looked up at my reflection and vigorously brushed my teeth, preparing for yet another day at the fabulous St. Rose Academy. Pshh. When I came home yesterday and tried to clean off the mustard and sauce off my uniform, the stains just got worse. Mr. Yong came to our house this morning to pick mine and Haley's up, offering to bring it to the dry cleaners for us. He said for us to wear our school gym uniforms for today, claiming he already talked it out with all our teachers, and said we'll be getting our uniforms back before school tomorrow morning. The only down point is that the gym uniform was highly unattractive: white, oversized plain T-shirt and very loose navy blue sweatpants. Sigh. 

           After getting dressed, I slipped on my sneakers (have to match my outfit, right?) and tumbled down the stairs and out the door. Today was the first day of our korean language classes, which means I'll have to be in the building by six AM. I heard some rustling behind them, then a tap on my shoulder only to see Haley trying to catch her breath. Like me, she was also in her gym uniform, and seeing her after a run reminded me of your freshman gym days. Oh, the horror. "You. Should. Have. Waited." She said in between breaths. After regaining her posture, she added, "Dang, you walk fast!"

          I chuckled sheepishly and replied, "Mianhae~" Soon, we were off to school together, talking about different things ranging from the topic of how y we look in our clothes to what we think we'll have for lunch. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the front gates- but everything appeared eerie and deserted, not to mention that the sun wasn't even out yet so the street lights illuminated the hauting vibe.

         "Must be because not a lot of classes run at this time," Haley concluded with a nod, then straightened her back and stepping into the school. God, I couldn't help but thing we were stepping into a horror film. It was hard to believe the bare, silent hallways would congest withs students in little more than an hour. We hunted our classroom down, and once we were about to enter, my phone beeped. Right, need to silence that! I pulled it out of my pocket, only to see a text from Aaron.

               Stall the teacher, me and Asher forgot about the korean language class!

I shook my head, why am I not surprised? With a quiet laugh, I replied:
                Aniyeo :p Work things out by yourself, I'm in enough trouble as it is

Aaron:

                                  Huh? 

I replied:

                       Google translate it, have to go, bye!

            Quickly shoving my phone into my bag, I scurried into the classroom and took a seat beside Haley before the teacher could come in. As we've learned in America, we'll have to -kiss our way to the top along with working hard, so you know we were sitting up front and personal with the board. We heard high heels echoing from the walls of the hallway before a middle aged woman stepped in. She wore a tight bun, not a strand out of place, and had glasses hanging from her neck. She didn't even spare us a look. Ekk gag, she gave off more cold than an air conditioner. Haley and I hummed a "good morning~" to her, only to gain a groaned response. Immediatley, she pulled out her attendance sheet and got to work.

          "Indigo?"

          "Here."

          "Haley?"

          "Present!"

          "Aaron? ....Asher?" She looked up from her clipboard upon hearing no response, and narrowed her eyes. Her sharp gaze fell to us.

        Hastily, I answered her unspoken question. "They overslept, but they're on their way." As if on cure, they entered in the most disheveld state I've ever seen, and unisonly exclaimed, "HERE!"

         The teacher cleared , and with a weak english pronouciation (better known as engirsh) said, "May I remind you that lateness is not tolerated. This school is not a playground where you can easily come and go as you plase." The two boys bowed apologetically, then she gestured them to take their seats. Stumbling on their way, they quickly took their seats behind us and the teacher began her first lesson.

         The bell wrong exactly one hour later- even though it felt like a decade. My head throbbed with all the new vocab our teacher jammed into my skill. I mean, yeah, I always wanted to learn Korean- but talk about extremeties. Before we could wish the teacher a nice day, she gathered her things and walked out without sparing a farewell. Wow, um, awkward. As if in sync, we all sighed in relief, then looked at each other and laughed. "And I thought our Physics teacher back in New York was bad," Haley chuckled as she stood up from her seat and stretched her arms. "Gotta go to my next class, later!" She quickly collected her things, flashed a smile at me, waved at the boys, then scurried out the room. Ah Haley, the attendance freak. I stood up as well, then turned around to look at dumb and dumber.

        "I'm going to class as well, you two better as well!" I wagged my finger with the warning.

        "Araso Umma~" Aaron teased and stuck out his tongue. I blinked in surprise, staring at him as if he grew another head. Asher had the same look. "What, we just learned that!" Blink blink. "Shocker, I know how to pay attention," He said sarcastically with a playful roll of his eyes. After a few seconds, Asher and I broke out into laughter, and Aaron couldn't help, but crack a smile.

        "See you later, namjas~" I grinned, and they both gave each other a confused look, then scracthed their heads trying to remember what 'namja' means. With a laugh, I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out.

        Halfway to my next class, I remembered I needed my textbook, which I left in my locker. Luckily, my lock was only a turn away, so I was able to make a quick and easy detour. Aha! There it is! I skipped towards locker number 1224 and spun the lock while humming a random melody. With the 'click' I pulled the locker door open only to have an ear-piercing, horror scream into my face. A bloodied mask popped out as well, making me jump back from the startlement. Unfortunately, I lost my balance and fell back onto the tiled floor. Asher suddenly came and offered his hand. Shakily, I took it and he pulled me up, then went towards my still screeching locker. He ripped the mask out, found a small speaker behind it, then tore it off and threw it on the ground.

      Following the incident, a few malicous laughs came from behind. I was about to turn around, but Asher placed his hand around my shoulder and leaned closer to me. "Don't, it's not worth it," He whispered. I took a deep, shaky breath and nodded. Well, at least now I was awake. And now that I am... I noticed that Asher was standing really really close to me. I slowly turned my head towards him only to see him looking down at me with a concerned expression. "Are you okay?" I nodded again, then my eyes fell to his hand on my shoulder. He followed my gaze, then immediatley retracted his hand. With a loud clearing of his throat, "Well, um, see you later then." He stepped back and walked away, and it wasn't until he was out of sight that I remembered I needed to thank me. My chest was still rising and falling rapidly with my adrenaline pumping... but was it because I was still scared? Maybe being pranked on wasn't so bad...
     AISH, INDIGO TORRES, SNAP OUT OF IT! I finally snapped back into reality and remembered that I still had to get to class. I quickly reached into my locker and pulled out my textbook, which was covered with some gooey, yellow substance. There was a note attached to it, 'How do you like your eggs? Better be quiet, or else I'll scramble them for you.'  

 With a roll of my eyes, I wiped whatever egg yolk I could away from the book, then made my way over to class.

        Lunch time came around the corner, which I somewhat dreaded after this morning's events. I recieved a short, but firm lecture from my teacher after he saw my yolk covered textbook, and one of the girls from what's her face's gang was sitting in the back watching the whole thing. Even though they were getting me at my wit's end, I did my best to keep calm and move on. They're not worth it, they're not worth it. I don't know what everyone else's problem is, but there is no way I'm cowering in front of bullies like them.  not want to see the faces thoose girls. But I would let them get to me, they shall not bring me fear as they did to the whole school.

         I met up with Haley before entering the lunchroom. Everything seemed normall until the leader of that bully group appraoched us- mainly Haley. She shot a sweet smile, then linked her arms with Haley as if they've been besties forever. "Hey there! Wanna be friends? You seem like a good candidate!" Haley's face contorted with confusion and little bit of disgust, but the leader chick tugged on her arm hard and suddenly dragged her away. Before I could follow and demand what was going on, one of the girls, the one who was in my class earlier, stopped me in my tracks. "Watch it." She hissed. Then the corner of her lips pulled up on one side, "Oh, and I hoped you enjoyed your breakfast." She her heel and strutted away. Haley and her kidnappers were already gone.

         Aaron came up to me right after and asked worriedly, "Where did they take her?"

          I bit my lip and answered, "I don't know. I'm just as confused as you are." Someone then called him, and he gave me a sorry look before going back to see what that person wanted. With no other choice, I dejectedly made my way over to the lunch table I sat at the day before. 

         A tray landed beside me, and Jason lightly bumped shoulders with me while asking, "Hey, are you okay?"

        Am I really? They didn't do anything to me, but why did they have to abduct my best friend? I just gave him a small smile, and the rest of the lunch period progressed in silence.

       After school, I had pratice in the school's recording studio. I haven't seen Haley all day, so I just hoped for the best and focused hard on whatever task I needed to do. Today's focus was singing, which eased my tension a bit. My confidence slowly builded up as I made my way over to the studio. Singing would help release my stress, as long as I was alone-

       I opened the door only to see the vocal instructor reviewing a sheet of paper with Asher standing next to her. Both looked up as I entered, and I froze on the spot. "Oh yeah, the two of you will be sharing practice today. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier," The instructor told me with an easygoing shrug. Asher didn't look so surprised, maybe because he was informed earlier than I. But he did have the aura of awkwardness around him. Taking a deep breath, I nodded and stepped in, my self esteem crashing down like a tower of blocks. She handed me a sheet decorated with music notes and lyrics, and I sat on a chair with Asher taking a seat across from me. The three of us formed a small, close triangle. Just a centimeter closer, and Asher and I would be brushing knees.

        "Okay Indigo, start." I cleared my throat and opened my mouth, but all that came out was a squeak. The instrucotr shot me a look, then gestured for me to start again. I tried again, but my voice was shaky and nothing above a whisper. The next ten minutes played out like that, and she even started scolding me. When she finally got the hint that I was embarrassed in front of Asher, she exclaimed, "You're supposed to sing in front of thousands, maybe millions of people! And you can't even do it in front of your own bandmate?"

           Yes yes, give me a million- or even a billion- and I'll sing my heart out. So long as Asher's not in the crowd. I snuck a look up at Asher, but he was staring intently at the music sheet. 

         In the end, the instructor said I should work on my moves and come back tomorrow. After practice, Asher and I parted ways for a bit to get some things out of our lockers. I decided to wait for him since we were walking the same way anyway. On my way to the gates, I found a vending machine and suddenly my throat felt parched. After buying two bottles of water (Asher was probably thirsty too) I leaned against the gate and kicked a rock around while waiting. Hearing some laughter, I looked up to see him exiting the building. My lips pulled up into a smile on their own, and before I could raise my hand to call him over, I looked over to see who was beside him. He and Joo-Kyung were talking with broad grins plastered on their faces, and maybe it was just me, but some sort of bright radiance glowed around them. They looked so happy, like they were... suited for each other. In Asher's eyes, there was a sparkle, and everything clicked into place. I quickly hid behind a tree before they could see me, and they passed by without noticing.

        After making sure they were gone, I looked down at the two water bottles in my hands with a heavy sigh. Silly me to have thought that just because we were in Korea, things would change. The way he acted towards me certainly did. I guess I just upgraded on his friend scale. God, why am I such an idiot? My throat felt sore, but instead of drinking the water, I threw both bottles in the nearest trash can and made my way home. U.S. or S.K.- the place beside Asher will always belong to someone else.

Haley's P.O.V

    I laid on my bed with my knees propped up so that they could support the textbook I was reading. My headphones were plugged in as melodious voices spilled out of my phone and into my ears. When the current chapter of my class's study unit was finished, I closed the book and sat up. As the song continued to play, my mind wandered back to today's events- more specifically, lunch. Hee-yong, the 'leader of the leeches' as I like to mentally brand them, pulled me out of the cafeteria- not to apologize like a normal human being- but to ask me about Aaron. To her dissappointment, I said nothing. What I couldn't wrap my head around was the fact that she was interested in him. Wait- not that I care or anything! Well, he's still my friend, so I obviously wouldn't want him coiled up with a snake like her. I guess I shouldn't blame her, I did used to have a crush on him too. Used to, mind you. I really shouldn't care that much about this matter, but it kept tugging at my chest. 

    Shaking my head, I pushed any thoughts on the matter away. I have way too much school work to do, training fills in for any free time I have away from the books- the only time I see Aaron is right before bed. And right after I get up. Gosh! I exhaled loudly in frustration, laid back on my bed, and grabbed my phone to check Instagram. To my pleasant surprise, L.joe (of Teen Top- yes, it is law that I follow him on Instagram) uploaded a cute video of him asking for support on Teen Top's latest comeback. Kyahhh, so cute! I fangirled a bit in my place, then sighed with peace. Nothing like a y bias to cool thy troubles.

      Deciding to procrastinate a bit longer, I began to roam the Internet on my phone to catch up on all the latest updates. My fangirl feels spilled out even more when I scrolled through Allkpop, with a side of gasps at all the new breaking news. That made me wonder wow, I'm actually in Korea. I'm in the center of all this. Soon, with successful training, I'll be an idol. My face would be all over the news, I'll be singing alongside my beloved Oppas and Unnies, I might inspire little girls like me, I'll gain a voice so loud, everyone could hear. Oh my gosh- I could make a difference in the world and draw attention to important issues like deforestation and child labor-
      Amidst my excitment, my phone dinged with a message. It was an unfamiliar number. Curiously, I swiped to see the text.

                                                   Thanks for your help.

      For a second, I was confused until I saw that there was an attachment. I opened it only to see Hee-Yong posing with Aaron in the background, while they both drank from cups filled with bubble tea. I just stared at the photo, blinking a few times to let it settle in. Huh, daebak. The moron actually went on a date with her, looks like she didn't need my help afterall. With a deep breath, I simply replied: 

                                    That's great.

      It was about time for me to get back to my homework. After turning off my music, I threw my phone on the other side of the bed and pulled out my math workbook.

      By the time I was done with all my homework, it was already midnight. As I was putting my books away, Aaron came in.  He looked up at me in surprise, then asked, "What are you doing still awake?"

      I avoided his eyes and answered, "Homework." Still not looking at him, I picked up my bag and placed it next to the school uniform I prepared for tomorrow. I heard some rustling from behind, and I snuck a look to see he went into his closet- probably to change. As I was making my way to the bathroom, Aaron came out in his pj's. We met eyes, and he blurted out, "I just went to go get bubble tea after school by myself, and Hee-Yong saw me there. We weren't hanging out or anything like that. Don't let her get to you."

     "It's okay, it's none of my business anyway." I replied quietly before stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind me. Whether or not that was the case, I shouldn't really care. In fact... As long as Hee-yong treated Aaron right, and liked him with geniuene feelings, I have no right to stand in between them. Why Aaron had to justify himself was beyond me. Maybe he just pitited me because I used to like him, even though he would never see me in that light. Besides, Hee-yong had more than enough potentional to be girlfriend material- did you see the body on the girl? I self-consciously looked at my own in the bathroom mirror, suddenly feeling incompetent. Le sigh.  

    I washed my face for the night before leaving the bathroom. The lamp was still beside my bed, but closed on Aaron's side. With the lump of blanket on his bed, I assumed he was already asleep. I went over to my bed and closed the lamp, then curled under my covers. You know what, who cares about who likes who, who doesn't like who and all that? It's just a bunch of bull. Mother always said 'there will be no mess so long as you don't create, or get involved with one.' With the thought, I closed my eyes and willed myself to sleep. I had a math quiz in the morning, anyway.