On our first day we were split into three groups: Brains, Athletes, and Prodigies. I was in the Brains group, and was taken to a lab. I spent pretty much the whole day in classes, and the people in the Athletes group spent the whole day in the gym, doing sports. The people who were in the Prodigies group spent half the day with the Brains, half the day with the Athletes, and then also had some extra classes. One of the guys in the Prodigies group was Himchan. He was staying in the same dorm as me. I couldn’t really see him doing any physical stuff, he was one of the skinniest people I’d ever seen, and he had a pretty face that he clearly took great pride in. We were in the middle of doing an experiment when I felt someone behind me. “Hey, teacher told me to join your group.” It was Yongguk. I felt the need to punch something. It turned out he was a Prodigy as well, and he and Himchan seemed to be BFF’s by the end of the class. The bell finally rang, and everyone left, chatting excitedly, and linking arms. I felt a little depressed, and sighed. I hadn’t really made any friends yet. I silently gathered up my things, and headed over to the canteen.

From then on every day was pretty much the same. We would all eat together, then have classes, then eat together again, then sleep. I wasn’t particularly athletic, and spent most of my time in the lab doing experiments, or in the library. However, once a week we all had to go outside and do athletics. I was always hopeless, and trailed behind everyone else. I still hadn’t really made any friends. One day we were told that we were going to have a competition, and were split up into our dorms. Harry groaned. “But Sir! Youngjae’s going to hold us back!” The teacher sighed. “Deal with it Styles.” I could feel my face going bright red. I didn’t want to ruin my team’s chances of winning. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Daehyun. “Don’t worry, I’m not too good at sports either.” He smiled, and I smiled back. I wouldn’t say Daehyun was my friend exactly, but he was always nice to me. I still wasn’t exactly sure why he was here. He was of average intelligence, and had average sports skills. Himchan and Yongguk were Prodigies as well, but they were outstanding at sports and were very intelligent. I didn’t have too much time to think about that, as Yongguk was trying to organise us into an efficient relay team. He’d basically appointed himself as leader on day one, and nobody dared to argue, though Himchan helped him out most of the time. I liked Himchan, he was kind, but he could be really scary too. I don’t know what it was that I disliked about Yongguk. He didn’t shout, he wasn’t particularly angry. Maybe it was because he’d harassed me on the bus.

 “So Junhong goes first.” Yongguk said. “Youngjae can go second.” I nodded, and we all got into position. My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to pass out. Someone blew the whistle, and the race began. Junhong managed to get in the lead. He ran towards me and touched my hand, signalling it was my turn. I ran as fast as I could. I could see Harry in the distance. He was jumping up and down like a maniac. I was starting to fall behind, but I finally reached Harry, and collapsed in a heap. I felt like I was going to throw up or something. Harry was pretty fast, and our team ended up winning. Our special prize was a pizza. PIZZA. We’d been eating nothing but gloopy stuff for weeks now, and couldn’t believe we were going to get real food. Daehyun literally almost wet himself with excitement. We decided to eat it back at our dorm, so that no one would steal any. I took my slice and went to my bed. To my surprise Daehyun came and sat next to me. He didn’t say anything, and just sat there eating. I blushed. I was comforted by his presence, and realised how lonely I’d been these past few weeks.

I was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of someone crying. I could tell they were doing their best to conceal it, but it wasn’t really working. I got up out of bed, and saw that it was Daehyun. “Daehyun, are you okay?” He turned over, and I saw that his face was streaked with tears. He shook his head, and I climbed onto his bed to comfort him. I patted him on the back as he cried, not saying anything. I knew how he felt, we all did. I felt a pain in my chest. All of us missed our families. I yawned, I was so tired. I lay down beside him, and he seemed to calm down. “Thank you,” he whispered. I snuggled up to him, and then we fell asleep.

All of us bonded over the next few months. I stopped hating Yongguk, and became closer with Jongup, Junhong, Himchan, Harry, Onew, Rapmonster, and Obama, but Daehyun was my special friend. I finally found out why he was there. He could sing. And when I say sing I mean he had the voice of a fricking angel. I walked in on him practicing once, and was amazed. He realised I was there, and was embarrassed, but I told him how good he was and he couldn’t stop smiling. He made me sing too. I’d always loved singing, but I’d pushed it aside to spend more time studying. We sang together from time to time, and the guys in our dorm would listen. It felt good to be recognised for something other than my brain.

Everything was good for a while, but then people started to go missing. They would be called out of class, and then no one would see them again for weeks, or even months. It was pretty scary. One day Daehyun’s name was called, and it took every ounce of self-restraint I had to not start crying. I didn’t see him for about a week, and when he came back I hugged him so hard he nearly passed out. I asked him all kinds of questions, like why they’d sent him back, and what they’d done to him, but he couldn’t remember anything. I did whatever I could to find out more information; bribing officials, which landed me in the principals’ office several times, asking other kids who’d been taken away, but no one could tell me anything, and it was driving me crazy. CRAZY. I got sent to the principals’ office again that day, and ended up in solitary confinement, which wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Well, okay, I was left in a padded room in a straightjacket for 48 hours, but other than that it was okay. When I came back to the dorm, Daehyun and Junhong ran over to me. “What happened? What did they do to you?” They couldn’t stop asking questions. “Guys, I was only gone for 48 hours.” They looked at me in disbelief. Junhong looked at me, and the words he spoke horrified me. “Youngjae, no one’s seen you for two months.” It was like my heart stopped. Two months? How was that even possible? I sat down on my bed, trying to see if I could remember anything, but it was no use. Daehyun and Junhong patted me on the shoulder, and then left me to think. I paced around the room, and then looked at myself in the only mirror we had. It was cracked, Obama and Yongguk had been in a deep discussion, and Harry wanted them to shut up, so he threw a shoe and ended up cracking the mirror. This is when Himchan’s intense dislike for Harry began. I stared at my reflection. I was noticeably skinnier, no way I’d only been in there for two days. Then I noticed there was a strange lump under my skin just below my right ear. I couldn’t tell what it was, but I knew I had to find out. I found Daehyun and checked under his right ear. He had one too. “Youngjae, what the hell are you doing?” I explained about the lump thing. “Would you let me operate on you?” Daehyun looked horrified. “Look, I know you’re my friend and all, but I’d rather not let you near my head with sharp objects.” I sighed. Then I had an idea.

It hadn’t been hard to sedate Harry. I made an anaesthetic in the lab, and injected it into a muffin I stole from one of the lunch ladies, which I gave to him. Daehyun and I dragged him into our dorm. I sterilised the area around the lump, and started working. Daehyun had to look away, he wasn’t good with blood. I finally managed to get the thing out. It was some sort of microchip, but I couldn’t tell what it was for. A tracker, maybe? I’d have to try and sneak into the lab to get a proper look at it. Then we heard a knock on the door, and Himchan and Yongguk walked in. They looked at Harry, who was lying on the floor unconscious, and then to me, and then to Daehyun. “I’m not even going to ask,” Himchan said, and turned around to walk away. “No wait! Let me check under your right ear.” He looked at me like I was crazy. “It’s for science,” Daehyun added.

I checked Himchan, and all the other guys in our dorm, and we all had the chip. “Do you know what it’s for?” Jongup asked. I sighed. “My best guess is that it’s a tracker, but why?” The guys came up with all sorts of theories, but none of them made much sense. “Jongup, why would they want us to glow in the dark?” I really wondered what it was like inside his head. “Maybe they want us to go to Earth at night time and they want us to be able to see. Or maybe it’s a government conspiracy or something.”  What the purpose of the chip was continued to bother me for weeks, but eventually I moved on. I had other things to think about. Like our upcoming road trip.