"Haunters." The room grew quiet so suddenly that it might as well have been the world has stopped spinning. "What have you been doing in that hall?" The room grew colder than ever at this. "Why didn't you protest? Why?"

Nichkhun sat at the main row in a dark, square room with no windows, crossing his arms across his broad chest. The place chosen by himself has been a good location for the Hunters' occasional meetings. He craned his neck to look at the rows of seated teenagers, mostly Caucasians, and grinned.

Tiffany, standing before all the teenagers including her own boyfriend, glowered at him. "And what are you laughing about, Thai Horvejkul?"

Nichkhun grinned wider. It was hilarious the way she'd call him 'Thai Horvejkul' whenever she was mad. He stood up and went up to her. "Because you're mad."

Tiffany narrowed her eyes at him. "You smiled because I was mad?" She could see Nichkhun's pale features clearly; his slightly tanned skin, his crescent-shaped eyes which matches hers, his arching eyebrows, his gangly posture and his ridiculous grin.

Nichkhun exhaled slowly and stopped laughing. He stood beside her now, and he addressed the Haunters, which was a name he gave the members of the most feared group in California School of Music. "Didn't you hear what my girlfriend was saying?" He eyed all of them. "Answer her, now!" 

There was a faint murmur across the room, and he banged on the table loudly. "I said answer her, you stupid morons! Starting from you. What's your name?" He pointed to a kid to his left; a tiny Latin boy with curly hair. 

The Latin boy stood up and cleared his throat. "Mick Carisio."

Nichkhun walked toward Mick and banged on his table with the palm of his hand. "Were you at the hall just now? When that fat principal was talking?"

Mick shrugged. "Yeah, I was there."

"Did you protest when that putrid principal called my girlfriend's name?"

Tiffany strolled over to Mick and dragged her boyfriend back toward his seat. "Mick Carisio," she drawled. "Ignore my boyfriend. He has seriously hurt his head somewhere. So, did you protest when you heard Van Hughes called Kim Taeyeon's name?"

With a surprised look, Nichkhun asked, "Not your name?"

Tiffany frowned at him and turned back to Mick. "Did you?"

Mick shook his head. "I didn't think about it, sorry."

Tiffany stared at him for a moment and grabbed him by the collar. "You," she bared her teeth. "You're not my supporter. Out!"

Mick looked surprised for a moment, but then he shrugged nonchalantly and walked out of the room leisurely. Tiffany turned to the other teenagers and said, "Anyone else?"

Nobody moved. Once again, Nichkhun had to drag himself out of his seat to rescue his girlfriend. "Are you guys deaf? Get lost if you didn't support her. If you don't at this instant, I'll punch the snot out of your sorry nose. Now move!"

Slowly, one by one, the teenagers began filing out of the dim room. Nichkhun watched, horrified, as the number of Haunters decrease before him and he had stood there helplessly.

"H-h-hey..." he began, but the boys didn't seemed to hear him. When the sound of squealing chairs came to a stop, he can actually count the number of Haunters left. Four. He recognized his best friend, Jozef Voss, a half-Arabian, half-American junior who was so bad at singing that Nichkhun has had the urge to shake him, but he couldn't because he was his friend and also a member of Haunter.

He could also see two American boys with blonde hair whose name he didn't know, and a tall Asian kid sitting cross-legged at the last row.

He stared at them for a full minute before his dry lips. "You guys... You did protest for my girlfriend?"

Jozef nodded curtly. "I did. I called her names and booed when that hag called her name, but nobody seemed to have noticed me."

Nichkhun glanced at Tiffany. She appeared to be smiling at Jozef. "Thank you, Joe."

She turned to the blondes. "And you two?"

One of them stood up and grinned mischievously to the other. "Er, well, we didn't, but we wanted to sit here for a little while to see what happens. Guess you caught me." He sniggered.

The other boy laughed and Nichkhun made his way toward them, a killer look on his face. Before he reached them, however, the boys had fled, leaving Jozef and the Asian kid sitting.

Tiffany shook her head in disbelief. "You?" She asked the Asian.

The Asian stood up awkwardly. "I... Did not protest."

"Then why didn't you get your fat off?" Nichkhun screamed.

He stared at the floor. "Well... I didn't know why you dislike the Korean. You are one too, Tiffany." With that, Tiffany sprinted toward him and kicked him at the stomach. He pinned him toward the wall and whispered in a low voice. "You," she snarled. "How many times have I told you that I am no Korean?"  she spat out the last few words. "I'm an American."

The Asian shrugged and continued, "I don't know why you hate her. She's such a pretty and feminine lady, and I know that she's only a freshman. I joined Haunter just to be part of your group so that I won't get bullied by your filthy members. But what you did was beyond horrible. Bullying a girl who has done nothing to offend you. I hate to say this, Tiffany, but I think you're lower than a beggar." Tiffany stared at him, shocked. "You cannot sing, you cannot play instruments, you cannot dance... All you have ever done in this school was bullying and scaring students. Do you have any idea that you'll hurt them by doing so? Are you jealous that they can sing well and you cannot, so you bullied them with force instead?" 

Tiffany could just stared. Nobody has ever talked to her like that before. Nobody. She continued to stare even when the boy stood up, walked toward the door and vanished behind it. Still, she stared. And she knew that her boyfriend and Jozef was staring, too. 

Finally, after a moment of stunned silence, she whispered to herself, "What was that?"

Jozef stood up, straightening his shirt. "I think he's right. You shouldn't bully that girl anymore, Tiff. I'll still be your supporter, but don't inflict hate and pain on others." When nobody answered him, he set his jaw and walked out, leaving the eerie room, which was now empty apart from Nichkhun and Tiffany.

She spoke silently without looking at her boyfriend, "Was that a dream? Nick... What just happened?"

Nichkhun seemed speechless and she walked out of the room, Nichkhun trailing behind her. She turned and regarded her boyfriend, "Don't follow me, Nick. I need to be alone." Nichkhun didn't protest, he just nodded. 

***

Tiffany walked toward the Italian garden, where the Environmental Department students had planted plants and decorated the place with an Italian style. She sat on one of the white flowery benches and rested her head against her palm. 

She had sat there for more than two hours, but still she didn't move. Her muscles ached but she didn't care. Three hours. Three and a half. She thought of the moments with her fellow Haunters, when they'd had meetings and discussions together. She thought of the laughter, the tears of joy and the pride they'd had when they had broken someone's arms or legs. She felt horrible and hated herself instantly. She thought of...

"Yo, Big Lady!" 

Tiffany jumped. She turned sharply and saw two shadows looming behind her. She couldn't quite make out who it was in the darkness, but the accent gave it away. Tiffany stood up and walked up to Krystal. Siwon was standing beside her, both holding a luggage of some sort.

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Tiffany eyed both of them suspiciously. "Are you two running away?" 

Krystal threw her head back and laughed. "Tiffany, we're not freaks. We face problems, we don't run away from them." She grinned. "To satisfy your curiosity, we weren't running away. We were camping. Wanna join us?"

Tiffany made a go-away gesture with her right hand and said, "You go with your boyfriend. I wouldn't want to interrupt your sweet little romance."

Siwon nodded in agreement. "Of course not, that would be unwise. Shall we go, babe?" He smiled sweetly at Krystal and they walked off into the darkness. Tiffany shuddered. Flirty jerk! If Nick were like that, I would've barfed a million times when I was with him. 

She sighed and walked back toward the dorminity. On the way, she thought about the way the ex-Haunters would look at her tomorrow in the hallways. She thought about Nichkhun and her being powerless in this academy. She thought about the Paris trip this weekend. Two more days to go. Nichkhun would not be there with her and she'd have to face Taeyeon. Kim Taeyeon. 

She thought about Kim Taeyeon. That girl was soft but firm and she clearly had no friends here except for the vocal king, Baekhyun. Or was she in good terms with the vocal queen, Sunny, too? Vocal queen. Why hadn't she thought about it? Why wouldn't she be queen? Why would she let that Sunny... Ugh. She stormed into her room and banged the door. She set her determination. Her mind raced. I will win the 2014 Vocal Contest. I can and I will.