It’s not so often that anyone gets picked out to sing by themselves during voice lessons, but today is Friday. And there’s something about being some hours away from the weekend that makes Ms Jung a little more spontaneous. Usually we all just do intense vocal exercises for a good while and then maybe sing the same song while she hovers around to each of us and tells us what we’re doing wrong. But after the vocal exercises, she points to Choi Jinae, asks her to stand in the middle of the room while everybody else sits down on the floor and tells her to “Show me what you got!” in poorly executed English.

Even when you’ve been singled out like that though, you can’t expect the other conceited students to actually listen to you. I guess that helps calm the stage fright sometimes. Jinae’s fellow Prey (and my closest friend here) so I put on the most cheerful expression I can pull out of myself and lightly tap my fingers together in a way that it looks like I’m clapping but no sound comes out to block her singing. She’s got this really soft voice so I’m not surprised when Ms Jung asks her to sing louder. I have to check with myself too if she’s actually singing or not but it takes about two seconds for me to hear the lyrics of Only Hope leave . It’s a dreamy kind of voice that’s just really relaxing to listen to but when I shift my eyes to my right briefly, I can already see some other students pretending to fall asleep. I roll my eyes though I know they’re never going to see it anyway.

Ms Jung makes her sing it at least three more times until she’s satisfied with the performance, volume and all. Then Jinae plops down beside me and we watch as Ms Jung gets two more students to do the same thing.

It’s around six in the evening when we’re dismissed but both Jinae and I know that we won’t be on our way home until at least seven. We exchange our goodbyes anyway since we’re separating already. Jinae’s Wolf-for-now has Rap with Mr Lee while mine has Dance class with Mr Jo. Both classes are on the same floor but there’s a problem when your Wolf is Kim Jongin.

He normally goes by ‘Kai’. It’s one of those “Don’t-call-me-by-my-real-name-or-I’ll-hurt-you” situations. Out of all the Wolves I’ve had to be slaves for, working for Kai would be one of the most annoying, unless you’re Prey to a multi-talent - don’t even get me started on those guys. The thing is that he usually has Dance after school but I have to be there when he finishes. The dude’s locker is all the way downstairs at the other side of the school, so my mission-impossible is to run all the way down to his locker (all Prey are expected to know their Wolf’s combination, and stealing is out of the question), grab a towel and an extra shirt and run all the way back up to wait at the door of his class within the time span of five minutes. Sure, he could just bring all these himself in the first place but he prides in torture.

So in five minutes more or less, and in a panting, sweating mess, I’m leaning on the wall outside his class clutching on the towel and shirt for dear life. Note: Preppy school shoes are not suitable for running. And if that whole routine wasn’t enough, the weight of my backpack on my shoulders was really starting to drag me down into oblivion. I rest my head back onto the wall for a bit and wait for my breathing to sort itself out again. But then the faint sound of beats, and music, and footsteps cease suddenly and it doesn’t take long for the students to start piling out.

Most of them act like I’m not there, but a couple of the other Wolves – Yixing and Minseok – send either glances or smirks my way. I count all the students that walk out until I hit ten and Mr Jo strolls out along with them. That’s when I start tiptoeing inside to find Kai (also in a sweaty mess) gulping down a bottle of water.

“Well, look who missed me.” He teases, screwing the cap back on his empty plastic bottle.

There’s also this other annoying thing about Kim Jongin; his attitude. He kind of has two sides to him. And I don’t mean “Oh, when you first meet him he’s really shy but if you get to know him more he’s actually pretty okay.” No. I’m talking about two different personalities, almost, that just show up when they want to, and you’re never going to know which one he’ll show you at any time. One day, he’s cold and blunt, but the next day he can be a complete sarcastic jerk. I guess he’s the latter today.

“Toss ‘em to me.” I throw the towel and shirt in his direction the best I can and he catches them easily. “You throw like a girl.”

“I am a girl.” I roll my eyes, avoiding seeing that smirk of his.

“Whoa there, little Mouse.” He drops the bottle to his side and throws one of his hands up mockingly. “We both know how dangerous that kind of attitude is around here.” He starts drying himself with the towel before I have to turn around and look away.

“Aw c’mon Mouse, you’re missing the show.” I can tell he’s tugging off his sweated-out t-shirt by now to replace with his fresh one. I really don’t understand the pleasure some of the Wolves get out of teasing people, and how is one so confident to undress in front of someone?

In the next twenty seconds, Kai starts to notice I haven’t said anything for a while and I hear him scoff.  I wait a little bit longer until I turn back around, just to be safe and make sure that he’s done changing. He takes a moment to stare me up and down, and I imagine he’s thinking something along the lines of “This girl, really.”

“Let’s go.” I follow behind him, picking up the bottle and his backpack along the way. With all this weight, I’d think that everyone carries bricks to school. I really don’t know how I survive the trek to the outside of the school building but somehow, I do. But I’m a little dazed by the time we reach the front gates, and the rest of the wolves are there gathered like they’re about to attack somebody.

I see Jinae and some other Prey among them and kind of raise both my eyebrows at them as a replacement for actual communication. Like real Prey, though, I try not to make a sound and avoid any sudden movements, pretending not to hear any of the obnoxious blabber that leaves the Wolves’ mouths.

“Hey Kai, tell your little pack rat not to get too carried away this weekend. We’re switching Monday.” Luhan chuckles, though I fail to see the humour in anything he said.

“Who gets who?” Kai asks.

“New recruits start Monday. They get first pick then, just to get them used to it.” Chanyeol explains.

“I’m not a piece of meat,” I want to say. But I don’t and end up just sighing.

It’s maybe around seven fifteen when they finally stop talking and dismiss all us Prey. I get home about ten minutes after that, eat, change, and do whatever. The good thing out of all of this is that we get days off too. No Wolf wants to be caught dead hanging out with Prey during the weekend unless it was for manipulative purposes. Such a situation doesn’t really happen a lot so besides having to do twice the amount of homework (yours and your Wolf’s), you can basically do whatever you want the rest of the weekend.

Here’s to what we call ‘freedom’.

^.^

Update~ First chapter. Umm yeah. heh.