“Why isn’t she here? I’m tired of waiting already!” Min said as she kicked a small rock by her feet. We had already been waiting for eight minutes, and you could see that it wasn’t the first time Min had been annoyed by this, as she frustrated started tugging her newly dyed blond, short hair. The little rock almost flew above the ground until it hit Fei’s pink and black schoolbag. The bag was lying on the ground as Fei’s head was almost inside the entire bag, searching for something.

“Maybe she overslept?” was Fei’s only response, as she pulled her light brown hair, and the rest of her face, out of the back-bag. She was holding a hair elastic in one hand, apparently the thing she was looking for, and a pack of mint bubble-gum in the other hand. She threw the pack at Min, who easily caught it and started ripping of the packaging before she put two pieces of gum in . She started chewing both pieces with open mouth, as if she was letting her frustration out, and began making popping sounds with the gum. “No need for an excuse- late is late” she said, before she threw the pack at me.

I was sitting on a swing, as our location right now was a playground near our high school. There weren't much on the park, which had trees neatly planted around it. Other than the swing I was sitting on, there was a small sandbox and a red children's slide. Slowly dangling my legs back and forth, I barely caught the package that was flying towards me. I didn’t really like the taste of mint. It was too strong for my taste buds, but in my 16 years of living I had never said no to a piece of candy- and definitely not gum for that matter. I happily took a piece of gum and slowly started chewing the strong flavour, before I threw the package to its rightful owner. Fei, now with a high ponytail, had decided to wait while sitting on the grass. She had her schoolbag placed in front of her legs, so nobody could steal glances under her black skirt. Though there were no one on the playground on this chilly October morning, except the three of us, all wearing our black, blue, white and grey school uniforms. Fei easily caught the bubble-gum with one hand and took a piece herself, before we heard light footsteps coming towards us.

“Hey guys!” Suzy said with a smile on her face as she was finally standing in front of us. “Sorry I’m late, my mom-“

“YAH! You..! Forget it let’s just get to school now!” Min interrupted and started walking, almost running, in the direction of the school. “Sorry. I’ve got gum if you want some?” Suzy quickly said before she started searching through her pockets, but Fei stood up and tapped her shoulder with an apologetic look. “I already gave her a piece. Better get here on time next time!” Fei giggle as she started running after Min. I jumped of the swing and grabbed my black schoolbag, before I quickly ran after the two other girls. “Hey! Ya, Park Miya, wait up!” Suzy yelled as she started running for the second time of the day, and I slightly looked back at her with a smile. “I can’t wait all day, you know!”

“Aish, why can’t Mr Kim just let it slide this time?” Min moaned and angrily kicked the door to the girl’s washroom open, which we all entered and stood in front of the mirror, while Suzy went inside one of the toilets. “You know, Min, you’ve been late to almost all of Mr Kim’s morning classes since the school-year began, right? It’s only fair that you should take responsibility for your actions, as he said” Jia honestly said while looking at her reflection, as she was putting on my lip-gloss. Min quietly grunted while looking at Jia, she knew Jia was right, we all knew that. Jia was the most fair and diplomatic out of the five of us, and even though we we’re all friends, Jia had been my best friend since elementary school and I knew the best that she had always been this way. We heard a flush as Suzy stepped out of the toilet and Min stared at her. “If only you hadn’t been late” Min annoyingly said as she started walking but immediately bumped into a person, and almost fell to the floor.

“Watch where you’re going!” a high voice said and without looking we could all recognize the voice. Krystal held a hand to her head while glaring at Min from top to toe. “Or are you going to blame someone else again?” Krystal raised her voice and the four other girls by her side started giggling.

“Excuse me? You’re the one who always blames your boyfriend for even the smallest mistake. Why don’t you just run over to him, like a little dog and start his face as usual” Min responded while making small gestures with her hand.

“Minyoung-ah, don’t be jealous just ‘cause Jimin’s mine- I’m sure you’ll find someone who will do anything to make your ungrateful happy.” Krystal scoffed, and Min’s lips formed a small line as her face turned a slight reddish colour.

“Judging from the look of Minyoung’s face, you’ve hit a bull’s-eye, Krystal” Victoria said with a smirk.

“We both know..” Min took a small step towards Krystal, tilting her head a bit “that I could easily get Jimin, if I tried” Min finished and a daring smile had formed on her lips, as she kept eye contact with Krystal.

“You won’t.” Krystal’s words were firm, but even so her voice was slightly shaking.

“Not if she wants to hit the bottom of the list, for the next month.” Luna who’d kept silent the whole time finally spoke, and it wasn’t for nothing, that she was being called their leader. The list was no joking matter, and the fact that she’d said it with such determination sent a shiver down all of us. I bit my bottom lip, looking from Min to Luna, as the tension in the washroom was raised suddenly. Finally Min looked away before she shoved past an insulted Krystal, and Jia quickly grabbed my hand as the five of us all left the washroom again.

With a loud bang, Min slammed her tray on the table, sat down, and began digging in the warm food from the canteen. The canteen was big, really big, since the school had a lot of students who all gathered here when the break started. The canteen itself was pretty plain, black and white, with matching, uncomfortable tables and chairs. It looked more like a prison cafeteria than a canteen for high school students.We all sat and silently started to eat the unrecognizably foods that were on our plates, until Min finally erupted. “I can’t stand that girl! That Krystal, she makes me so..!” Min tightened the grip on her spoon, and Fei put her index finger to her lips, hushing Min. “Even so, keep your voice down!” Fei said in a low almost whispering voice.

“Was Luna serious about.. You know the thing she said?” Suzy asked. She had barely eaten any of her food, though Suzy never really ate the things the canteen served- her taste was more high quality and expensive.

“Maybe? It’s hard to be sure.” I answered, torn between trying to comfort Suzy and not wanting to lie to her. The first time Luna had made a threat like that, people thought she was ridiculous, but she soon showed everyone the things she was capable of, and honestly; I was a little afraid her. Or maybe just the things she could do.

Suddenly the noise in the canteen was raised, and we started hearing mumbling, giggling and small squeaks from other girls. After going to the school for a little over a year, the five of us knew exactly who was coming. The school knew them as a group of six handsome, young guys, who called themselves BTS, but we thought of them more like a gang- one more dangerous than the other, always making trouble. They walked through the place as if they were kings, until they finally stopped at a table right in front of ours. Their leader, known as Rap Monster, wasn’t just feared and admired on school ground, but was apparently also known underground as an extremely talented rapper- hence his alias. With just a slight nod two of the boys, Jung Hoseok and Jeon Jungkook, grabbed one of the two seated boys at the table and almost threw him away. The boy who went in our class, Kim Jongin, was confused and insulted but knew that there was nothing he could do. With heavy steps he walked towards our nearby table and sat with us, yet we barely noticed him. All of our eyes were fixed at the scenario in front of us. All six of the boys sat down with the originally seated one, Oh Sehun, and started talking casually as if he wasn’t even there. One of the boys, Jin, took Sehun’s tray and started throwing peas and other vegetables at him. When Sehun tried to stand up Park Jimin, who was sitting next to him, put a hand on his shoulder and simply held him down, and patted his head when he stayed seated.

“Jimin, that little rat!” Min’s voice was only a small whisper, but loud enough for us at the table to hear it. “Poor Sehun..” Suzy held a hand to , and it looked like her eyes were getting teary. Fei couldn’t look at the scene anymore and she glanced at all of us before she spoke. “We can’t just sit around, do some-“

“There’s nothing we can do. It’s against the rules.” I looked at the person who cut of Fei’s talk, and it was no other than Jongin. He had his eyes locked on the other table and the boys, and I saw him clenching his fists so hard, his knuckles almost turned white. Sehun and Jongin weren’t just close friends; they were practically one person split in two pieces. They were the perfect example of “opposites attract” and right now it wasn’t just Sehun who was suffering, but Jongin too. “It’s that damn list, it always has been!” he continued, and he was absolutely right.

“Today you are the best of friends, tomorrow you are each other’s worst nightmare. Who can’t be trusted, and who’s worth your company? Who will step on you while you’re lying down, and who will reach out a helping hand? Introducing The Black List; the perfect chance of knowing who.”

When our class had first gotten the text message around eight months ago, everyone thought it was a joke. We couldn’t stop laughing at the weird message, sent from an unknown person but as soon as people saw their ranking for the month, their opinions changed. Why not try it out? Everyone thought. At first it was just vague teasing, nothing hurtful or serious intended. Sadly, there are always those few ones who can’t see real from unreal, and always have to take everything to a new level. I personally think that it all started from misunderstandings, but what do I know? I’ve never been at the top or the bottom of the list and it’s said that the feeling of being there is a whole new world. To explain it simply; if you’re at the top, you’ve got all the power. If you’re at the bottom, you’re screwed. Of course with great power, comes great responsibility, and that’s why the list so kindly had 3 rules that must be followed by everyone:

1. For one month, the person whose name is written on the top of the list is Master. The person whose name is written on the bottom of the list is their Slave. And the Master may do with their slave as they wish.
2. For one month, all else except Master is forbidden to have contact with the Slave- the Slave is an outcast- unless access to have contact is given from Master. If one fails to obey this rule, they will have their name written on the bottom of the list for the upcoming month.
3. The last day of the month, everyone will have 24 hours of voting on the person who they wish should be next month’s Master, and the person who they wish should be next month’s Slave. Votes are only valid if one writes two different names: one name for the one they wish should be Master, and a different name for the one they wish should be Slave. Each person has one vote.

And that had been the start of all the upcoming madness. No one had ever intended to follow those rules, but if they wanted to play the game, they had to do it properly. After the first month literally 1-2 students left from our class each month, and no other students except the ones in our class knew why. Not even the teachers. Things had just gotten out of hand and escalated way to quickly for any of us to follow along. Now only 18 students left in our class, everyone feared being placed last on the list. I myself was terrified but most of all I was curious. Who was the person who had made the list, and why?

As I felt a hand on my shoulder, I snapped out of my trance. Thinking about the list always made me drift off to all sorts of imaginations, and I had before spent hours contemplating the whole idea. I looked up and saw Jia’s face as she was still staring at the boys. “Let’s go, or we’ll be late for class” she said walking away with mine and her own tray. I nodded but stayed seated as the only one, unable to look away from what was happening before my eyes. Jin who was currently on top of the list, placed his and the five other boys’ trays on top of Sehun’s, as he stood up and said “Sehun-ah, be a good boy and put our trays away, will ya’?” The other boys smirked annoyingly and started walking away when Jin suddenly pointed at a pile of schoolbags by the table. “Oh, and bring all our bags with ya’. Going 3 floors up to biology would be too hard on our backs, so you do it for us.” He finished and the boys started laughing and joking between each other until they were out of sight. I looked back at Sehun who was now carrying seven back-bags filled with books. He walked out of the canteen slowly and with his back bent, and I felt sorry just looking at his struggling face. I stood up and walked towards him, but bit my lower lip as I got near him. Closing my eyes I quickly ran past him, and up the stairs as the bell started ringing. I was sorry, I really was but being at the bottom of the list was a hell I wasn’t ready for. Not yet at least.

We had been sitting on the school rooftop for almost 30 minutes, before Sehun finally showed up. Jongin stood up immediately at the sight of Sehun, and gave him a small hug. In reality none of us were supposed to be near Sehun, so seeing him here together with the five of us and Jongin was quite surprising.

“What are we doing here again?” Min asked annoyed. Right now her mom was probably home and waiting for Min to arrive, so she could scold her for being late for Mr Kim’s morning class. Min didn’t want to waste any time, and just get through it all quickly.

“I have a plan” Jia answered, and crossed her arms with a small yet confident smile. “The perfect plan to stop the list.”

So that's it for the first chapter!

Please leave a comment on what you think, and I'll be sure to post the next chaper as soon as possible!