Chapter 7: In Which the Fun Begins

“I remember walking through that wall of people,” Evan said, reminiscing. “I always wondered why they were cheering me to my death.” It was all Evan could think of after waking up only recently. He was completely bored of the ceremony, and by the time the end came, he was ready to complain about the amount of people and how he felt now that he had experienced that first year of college, “It’s not too late to turn back, guys… Leave while you can. Don’t walk in that tunnel of people. Oh, too late. Aiden, Andy, and Damien are coming guys,” he commented with his lips pursed. So much for saving innocent lives…

            As Evan had said, Aiden, Andy, and Damien were approaching them. Aiden seemed to be the saddest to be leaving his mom, waving to her as they parted. However, Andy was much more excited and didn’t even look back to say farewell to his parents again; he felt that walking through the tunnel of people was one of those moments that an individual shouldn’t look back to symbolize adulthood in some way.

“So, what happens now? We’re supposed to have dinner with our advisors, right?” Andy asked as they joined the upperclassmen company. He liked his advisor thus far, so he really didn’t mind eating with him and the other classmates. He was sure that Damien felt differently, though. Damien was completely uncomfortable with introducing himself and holding conversations with other people…

“That’s right. We eat with our advisors, and then we’re free to get some shopping done!” Aiden declared with his fists placed upon his hips, obviously excited about his plans.

“Shopping? Since when did we decide to go shopping? Aiden, we have enough food at the house you know. And we just said that you’re eating dinner with your advisors. /You/ just said that,” Evan replied, not particularly interested in participating in another shopping adventure of sorts. He really loathed grocery shopping…

“Did I say that we were shopping for food?” Aiden raised his eyebrows with a grin, “Andy and I had discussed getting him a haircut and all once he was separated from his parents, so he’s got an appointment tonight. Also, Damien needs a phone, and we need to go clothes shopping. That’s what we’re doing tonight. You don’t all have to come if you don’t want to…”

Evan and Jin exchanged glances when Aiden finished explaining what he had already decided on doing, and with a heavy sigh, Evan agreed to accompanying the group, “Alright, alright, it’s better than grocery shopping...” Aiden was obviously going to be disappointed if one of them didn’t go along with the plan.

“There’s a haircutting place open this late? Interesting… You don’t suppose they take walk-ins, do you?” Rapmon asked curiously as he ran his right hand through his jet black hair. “I was thinking of dying my hair soon, and I might as well do it tonight if we’re going there anyway.”

Aiden gave a small shrug, “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible. This place is open later than most haircutting salons, and the later it is, I’m pretty sure less people go. I think you could get yours done.”

            Damien was completely confused by this point. Aiden explained the plan very well, but Damien had been given no knowledge about this plan at all. I’m getting a phone??  “Uh… My apologies for interrupting, but you mentioned me getting a phone… I can’t get a phone. They’re expensive enough back home, so I’m sure they are just as expensive here. I don’t have money for that.”

            Aiden waved his hand back and forth to dismiss what Damien had said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it covered. You need a phone so we can all keep in touch. Oh, speaking of which, the rest of you have phones, right?”

            The others looked from one to the other, each of them nodding or giving proof of their mobile’s existence before Aiden was positive Damien was the only one without one.“Okay, so once we get Damien’s, we’ll all add each other’s numbers. Oh, what time is it?” he asked himself as he reached into his jeans’ pocket and checked the time on his iPhone 6s.“We should get going. We’ll see you guys later. Do you want to meet back at the house?” The upperclassmen all nodded in response.“Great! I’ll text Rhodon when we’re done so you guys can be ready when we arrive.” He informed them before bidding them all farewell and gesturing for Andy and Damien to follow after him.

            While the freshman were eating with their advisors and their classmates, the upperclassmen were hanging around the house attempting to kill time. They waited at the house for an entire hour and a half before being notified by Aiden that their meetings with their advisors were finally over.

“Oh, hey. Aiden texted; guess we should grab our shoes and a jacket, huh?” Rhodon said, yawning at his seat on the couch. He looked over at Evan, who was fast asleep on the sofa next to him “Hey, Evan.”

            Jin cleared his throat when he overheard Rhodon, and he used his index finger to tap the side of his head as an indication that Rhodon needed to think about what he just said.

            Rhodon offered Jin a confused glance, wondering what he had said wrong. It’s not like he spat out a cuss word or anything, right? He had to ponder what words he used before finally realizing it wasn’t about anything he said, but rather something he didn’t say. “… Oh. Right…” He had totally forgotten that they were incorporating their Korean vocabulary already and were supposed to include formalities for those who were older in the household, “Hey, Hyung. Wake up, will ya?” he asked as he shook Evan’s shoulder, “The others are going to be here soon, so we should probably go ahead and get in the car or something…” he stated before shaking his head as he returned his eyes to Jin. “Seriously, how does he sleep all the time? He slept during the ceremony, didn’t he?” he asked as he even closed his eyes and cocked his head to the side to pretend to be Evan.

            “You know… most people say things about other people before they wake them up so that whatever they have to say won’t be overheard.” Evan remarked without even moving a muscle in his eyelids. “Besides, I only slept ten minutes at the ceremony. Maybe fifteen. And I only fell asleep five minutes ago,” he insisted as he finally sat up and rubbed his eyes.

            “… Point taken. I apologize if I offended you,” Rhodon commented uncertainly, suddenly regretting his comment. He hadn’t meant to be mean or anything; he was really just commenting on it because he’d never seen someone nap so much. Even Aiden was wondering if he was sick, but Evan insisted that he simply loved sleep.

            “Rhodon, how could I be offended when all you said was that I sleep all the time? I’d have to be really sensitive to be offended by something like that,” Evan scoffed with a grin. To make sure his housemate would be confident that he took no offense, he even nudged his shoulder playfully, “You called me ‘Hyung’; You gave him the look, didn’t you Jin?” he chuckled before glancing at his other housemate who raised his eyebrows in response.

            “I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Jin asked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and pretended to busy himself on the device to show Evan that he was going to ignore him.

            Evan laughed and stood up, gesturing for Rhodon to follow suit. “You’re serious about this whole thing, huh? Alright, I’ll try my best to go along with it, but just remember, it takes a while to form things into a habit,” he pointed out before pulling out his cell phone, “By the way, I’m assuming Aiden is planning on separating to do all this shopping stuff, so just in case, we should probably exchange all of our numbers and then just add Damien’s later. That way we’re not cramming to get everyone’s numbers later. Here, Hyung, put yours in my phone,” he said as he handed the device into Jin’s hand. Jin in turn handed him his own phone for him to insert his number as well.

           Rhodon was about to participate in the number exchange as well, but he soon realized that Rapmon should probably be notified that they would be leaving soon.           “Hey, Rapmon Hyung!... Rapmon Hyung!... HYUNG!” Rhodon shouted as he began to even search the house. Where did he run off to?? We need to get ready! He checked Aiden’s bedroom first and then the master bedroom, where he found Rapmon sitting against the wall with earbuds in. His phone was plugged up to the outlet he sat next to, so that must have been why he remained in the bedroom. Though, there were plugs in the living room as well…

            Rapmon removed one of the earbuds and raised his eyebrows at Rhodon, having seen him walk into the room, “What’s up? Time to go?”

            “Uh, yeah just about. Aiden texted—Wait, is that my charger? How did you even know where to find that?” Rhodon asked his friend with surprise lacing his voice. His eyes stared at the chord, certain that it was his only because of the Snoopy sticker that remained on the charger.

            “Oh, yeah, sorry. Mine’s not working, and I knew you had the same phone as me, so… It was easy to find. We were around each other quite a bit last semester; trust me, that’s enough time to know that you always have it in your backpack in case your phone dies,” Rapmon replied with a grin in Rhodon’s direction, “So we’re leaving soon?” he asked as he stood and pulled the cord out of his phone to stuff the device into his pocket. “Let’s get going then, shall we?” He quickly passed Rhodon and blocked him from exiting the bedroom door, using his long arms and legs to do so. He could easily block just about everyone in the household from getting past him, except Jin of course. He and Jin were very close in height…

            “Oh, come on Hyung! We have no time for this! The others are going to be here anytime now. Move your lanky body out of my way~,” Rhodon complained as he tried to push the six foot tall giant out of the doorway.

            As soon as Rhodon began pushing, Rapmon was quick to move out of the way to allow his friend to fall to the ground in the hallway. With a laugh, he stepped over Rhodon and continued on into the livingroom to join the other upperclassmen, only looking back once he had come to a stop. A grin remained plastered upon his face as he watched Rhodon hurry after him. “You’re holding us up, you know. We could be out the door by now…” he tisked as he crossed his arms.

            Rhodon jogged through the hall towards Rapmon and practically pounced him to reach up and give him a nuggie to the head, “I’m holding us up?! Who was the one sitting in the back room with his headphones in going ‘nanana na na’ and not listening to others when they call for him?” he asked as he even mimicked what he thought Rapmon looked like when bobbing his head to the music. “Have you ever seen yourself when you try and move to the beat of something? Your facial expressions are like this…” He made a pained expression and scrunched his nose as he bobbed his head back and forth.

            “Wait, wait ,wait, correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t he do hand movements as well. Like this?” Jin pointed out as he waved his hands about in random gestures and hand signs.

            Evan scoffed at Jin’s hand movements, grinning in an attempt to keep his laugh in, “Hyung, that’s not a rap sign… That’s sign language for ‘I love you’,” he sputtered as he shook his head. He extended only his pinky and index finger out with the rest of the fingers clumped together towards the palm of his hand, “Look, this is the ‘rock on’ signal, which isn’t used in rap by the way.” He then lifted his thumb so that only the middle and ring fingers were pointed in, “This is what you were doing. You were basically telling us all that you love us in some kind of rapping gesture. If you can call it that,” he laughed.

            Jin laughed when he came to understand what Evan was explaining to him, and he raised his hand to his face to hide the embarrassment he was feeling. Did I really just do that? “I don’t know anything about rapping, so forget that ever happened. Please?” he asked of them as he brushed past them to reach the door so they could leave.

            “Forget that? Pffft. Fat chance.” Rhodon laughed as he followed all of them out the door to the car. “It’s okay, Jin. I have a feeling that there will be much more embarrassing moments to come. After all, in a house full of strangers, embarrassing things happen all the time.”

            “For real. I mean, when I first saw Evan, he was running around in his boxers! I’d be surprised if he wasn’t embarrassed when he saw that I had arrived,” Rapmon chortled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

            “Whoa, whoa, whoa… First off, if you’re going to talk about something like that, you should at least be accurate. I wasn’t running around, I was walking to the bedroom. Second of all, the only reason I left the bathroom without putting all of my clothes on was because the others told me that they were in a hurry to get all of their showers in before you newbies arrived,” Evan defended himself jokingly. Normally, he would be quite embarrassed to have such things brought up and probably wouldn’t take the situation so lightly, but for some reason, he found Rapmon’s comment to be humorous and friendly enough that he only felt slightly embarrassed.

            As the four of them continued to laugh and joke with one another, the three freshmen could be seen running back to the house, competing with one another to see who would reach the driveway first. Damien came in first, putting his track skills into use, and Andy just barely slipped into second before reaching the driveway. The three of them panted as they finally reached the upperclassmen, and while Andy and Damien were only just barely out of breath, Aiden’s breathing was much heavier.

            “Man… I need to workout more,” Aiden commented as he bent over and placed his hands on his knees in an attempt to calm himself down. He didn’t really exercise that much, and it was definitely showing.

            Andy laughed as he patted Aiden’s back with encouragement, “If it helps, you and I both lost to someone who is carrying a 15 pound backpack,” he breathed as he shook his head and finally looked in Damien’s direction. “How did you run so fast with that thing on? I know I was exaggerating about the weight, but it really is heavy.” Earlier he had to move Damien’s backpack so that he could push his chair in all the way, so he was fully aware of its weight.

            Damien merely grinned in response as he brushed through his hair with his right hand and shook it out, not particularly liking how his sweat was making his hair stick to his forehead. “It doesn’t feel that heavy to me. The main issue with it when I’m running is just how big it is.”  

            “I tell you what, if you had run away after you had given me your backpack, I would have dropped it to go after you. That’s too much work,” Evan commented as he nodded towards the house. “You should put it in the house before we go. Aiden can lock the door so there’s no chance of someone taking it.” He reached his hand out for the backpack and offered a small smile to try and ease whatever concern he might have of giving up the bag.

            Damien’s grin subsided when Evan instructed him to leave his bag behind. Jin had really helped him see that he didn’t always have to have it in sight, but it was still hard to leave it behind. Everything he owned in this very bag… As important as it all was, he was beginning to trust these people. Evan is right… I need to leave it behind. It would be there when he returned, and he had to believe that. He allowed a smirk of sorts to appear on his lips as he pulled his arms out of the backpack straps and finally reached out to hand it to Evan. Once in position, he allowed one of the straps to practically fall into Evan’s hand, which made Evan work harder to pull the bag back up to put over his shoulder due to the momentum gained by the bag.

            Evan winced as he heaved the bag onto his back, but he did not seem amused by Damien’s playful gesture. Is it really necessary to make the backpack seem heavier than it really Is? The kid offered an expression that made him appear completely guiltless, too! “Don’t even pretend to be innocent; you did that on purpose. Just remember, we live in the same house, kid.” he scowled before gesturing for Aiden to follow him to the front door. He kept calling him ‘kid’ because in his eyes, he was the youngest. Ever since he chased him down, he couldn’t help but see him as an innocent, helpless international kid. If he couldn’t call him maknae, he would call him ‘kid’ until he proved Damien wasn’t really 18.

            Once Evan had placed the backpack inside, he left the house and watched as Aiden locked the door, before questioning him about the advisor meeting he had just attended. “Who’s your advisor? Do you like them so far?”

            “Uh… Well, his name is Nolan Cox. I don’t really want to judge him too quickly, but I don’t really get a good vibe from him,” Aiden replied seriously. He didn’t like to base people on their first impressions, but his advisor was not exactly what he had hoped for thus far.

            “You have Professor Cox? Man… Good luck with him. Try to get on his good side if possible; once he dislikes you, there’s really no way to make up for it.” Evan offered Aiden advice due to his own experience with the teacher. He had had him for an English class the previous year, and he definitely didn’t ever want a repeat of that class.

            Their discussion was cut short once they realized they needed to choose who was going in what car, and within minutes, they departed from the house with the hair salon as their first destination. Upon arrival, Aiden led all six of his housemates inside and immediately approached the business’s desk to speak with the beautiful, middle-aged brunette sporting a nametag on her grey blouse with “Jamie” printed on it. “Hey, Jamie, how are you? It’s been a while… Listen, I wasn’t able to make another appointment, but one of my other friends is in need of assistance. Is there room for him to get his hair done now as well, or should we come a little later?” he asked casually, presenting himself as a regular customer (which he was).

            “Aiden! It has been a while, hasn’t it? Let me check the schedule real quick. I know it doesn’t look busy now, but sometimes people show up late to their appointments; you know how it is,” Jamie replied with a bright smile as she followed her finger over the right page of the scheduling book. “Let’s see… No one is scheduled with me except Andy Cimabue until half an hour from now. Lisa is free as well, so we can take him, no problem.”

            “Great! Also, I have to leave while they’re getting their hair done, but if you finish before I return, don’t let them pay, okay? I’ll pay for their fees when I get back.” Aiden grinned before gesturing for Andy and Rapmon to follow Jamie, and Lisa, a black-haired girl about the same age as Jamie, who had just approached the desk. “Have fun! I’ll see you guys when I get back.” he grinned before turning to the others, “You guys are okay with staying here until Damien and I get back, right?”

            Jin let out an exaggerated sigh and offered a sassy roll of his eyes, “Aiden, are you serious? You’re going to leave us here for 30 minutes to an hour? What are we going to do while you’re gone? We can’t possibly entertain ourselves.” He shook his head and tsked.

            Aiden smirked in response, appreciating Jin’s sarcasm. “Don’t fear, we’ll be back soon.” he joked as he waved and gestured for Damien to follow after him.

            Rhodon laughed and offered a small wave to Damien and Aiden both as they left the hair salon before he took a seat in the waiting area between Evan and Jin. “Well, this is definitely going to be something else.”

            “Yeah, I can’t imagine how Damien’s going to react when he starts trying to work his new phone. I bet Aiden will get him a smartphone, considering this day and age, you know?” Evan replied as he slouched in his chair and watched Andy and Rapmon from afar. He was a little curious as to how their finished hair would look.

            As the three of them continued their conversation in the salon, Aiden took charge of Damien for the time being and was trying to give his new friend as good of an experience as possible in the Verizon Wireless store he had driven to a few blocks away from the salon. “Okay, so with this being your first phone and all, let’s look around a bit, and I’ll give my advice whenever you need it, okay?”

            Damien nodded as his eyes trailed off to the far side of the room where the devices lined the walls. He approached them slowly, uncertain as to tell whether or not one of them would be a good phone. Something small will do, right? He only needed it for communication… His eyes fell upon a small, black flip phone after he had seen its price. $49.99 was pretty inexpensive for a phone, so it was worth looking at, right?

            “No, no, no, no, no. No. Okay, change of plan. If you’re about ready to buy a cheap, old, $50 dollar flip phone I have no choice but to step in. I promise you, that think would break within a few months because it’s so cheap,” Aiden intervened. “Come on, I’ll show you what device I’m going to get you.” He lead the way down the aisle until they reached the smartphones, and he promptly came to a stop once he stood in front of the same model as his own phone. “There. An iPhone 6.”

            Damien was surprised by Aiden’s reaction, but because he knew Aiden was much more informed about phones than he was, he couldn’t disagree with anything he had to say. However, upon the sight of the iPhone 6s, Damien’s eyes widened at the price and even the size of the phone. “But this is…” he began to disagree, but he soon realized that disagreeing with the price probably wouldn’t get him anywhere. If he said he didn’t like the model, that would probably persuade him more. “Um… I don’t know, it’s a little big, don’t you think?”

            “Too big? Huh… Yeah, I guess it’s a little bulky. Some people don’t like that in a phone. How about an iPhone 5s? It’s a little smaller.” Aiden pointed at the device that was nearby to their left.

            Damien was still uncertain about its price and size, but it felt wrong to be so picky about what someone else was buying for him… Aiden seemed disappointed enough by the fact he didn’t want the iPhone 6. “Well… Okay. I guess that one’s all right, but it’s a lot of money… I’ll pay you back as soon as I can, but right now, I really don’t--”

            “Don’t worry about it. Seriously, Damien. If I didn’t want to do this, I wouldn’t have offered,” Aiden replied seriously as he pointed towards the phone cases. “Let’s go pick you out a phone case.” He followed Damien to the direction he had pointed and began to scan the cases as he finally decided to strike up a more serious conversation. “So… I know this is sort of random, but I’ve noticed a few things that have been bothering me lately. I wanted to say something sooner; it’s just that I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable in front of the others. You remember when we walked with Andy to Papaleno’s and we all told him our ages? You claimed you were 18, but I know for a fact that you’re only 16. Ms. Byrd told me a bit about you in our exchange of emails…” he stated, though he was quick to continue on when he realized that Damien obviously felt he was upset with him. “I don’t blame you at all. I’m not gonna lie, if I were in your shoes, I’d probably say the same thing to a group of strangers. The thing is, I don’t want you to have to lie in order to feel like you fit in. It doesn’t matter what age you are anyway; your personality is what will determine a friendship. So, do me a favor and try to be your true self. We’ll be living together for a year, and hiding who you really are for that long can make someone go seriously crazy.” He offered an honest smile. “Oh, and one more thing. Don’t tell them your true age just yet. I actually want to see how long it takes for them to find out how old you really are; for now you’ll continue to play as my hyung,” he stated excitedly.

            Damien didn’t know what to think about all that Aiden had to say… How does he know I did it to fit in? Why is he not upset? Damien felt guilty at first, but Aiden’s words eased his concerns. Aiden was even willing to play along with the lie until the others found out, as though this was some kind of game! A smile appeared on Damien’s lips as he nodded.“Sorry… And thank you. The thing is… I’m pretty sure some of them already know I’m the youngest,” he admitted as he returned his eyes to the phone cases to continue looking. Somehow he felt relieved that at least one of them knew the truth.

            “That’s true, but do they have the proof? No. They can be as suspicious of your age as possible and still really wouldn’t be able to disagree until they have proof. Let’s just see how it plays out,” Aiden replied with a grin as he watched Damien pick out a simple red phone case. “You like that one? I guess there really isn’t much of a variety, is there? All right, let’s make our purchase and get the heck out of here,” he said as he received the case from him and then approached the employee.

            After nearly 20 minutes, the two of them were finally out the door with Damien’s new phone, its case and charger, and a phone plan to go with it. Once in the car, Aiden was quick to grab his car charger adaptor and plug it into the port before opening up the package that held Damien’s charger and plugging it in. He then inserted it into the phone and handed it to Damien to hold. “I don’t know why, but mobile stores always give you a phone that’s nearly dead,” he said as he turned the key in the ignition to start the engine and pulled out of the parking lot to return to the hair salon.

            As Aiden parked the car and exited the door, he gestured for Damien to stay inside. “I’m pretty sure they’re done by now, so I’ll just go in real quick. You can stay here; I’ll leave the engine on,” he said before hurrying inside the salon. However, as he was entering the door, he accidentally ran into someone who was exiting, and he was quick to apologize only to glance in Jin’s direction. “Are Rapmon and Andy done?” he asked as he finally looked ahead to search for his friends where they had been seated before. Rapmon looked like he was nearly done, but Andy was nowhere in sight! “Where’s Andy?”

            Rhodon and Evan shook their heads as they began to laugh while Jin just grinned and pointed towards whatever was behind Aiden.

“Dude, Chim Chim is right there. He saw you had arrived and was ready to greet you at the door, but instead you gave him a timid apology and didn’t even recognize him!” Rhodon cackled.

            “Huh? Really?” Aiden asked as he turned around to see that Andy was indeed standing there, laughing as well. His dark, red-brown hair was significantly shorter and styled in such a way that his forehead was showing and his bangs were neatly yet wildly styled to the right. The look suited him, but it was definitely something to get used to, “Whoa. Sorry I passed you like that, but I really didn’t think that was you. You look completely different! Well… everything above your shoulders at least. Your outfit should have told me it was you.” Aiden laughed with a hint of embarrassment present in his voice. “I guess I’ll just have to get used to both yours and Rapmon’s change of hair. Speaking of which, what color did Rapmon decide to dye his hair this time?”

“Blonde. He’d have to bleach it to dye it to another color anyways, so he decided to keep it blonde for a while and then change it whenever,” Evan replied as he nodded in Rapmon’s direction, “Looks like he’s finishing up now.”

“I don’t know why you always look so different when you dye your hair, even though I’ve seen it change so many times.” Rhodon stood and stretched from his seat when his friend approached.

Rapmon grinned as he pulled out his phone and used its camera to get a second look at his new hair. “Yeah, trust me, it’s weird to see myself in different shades, too,” he said as he grabbed his sunglasses that hung on his shirt collar and placed them on the bridge of his nose. He laughed at his own comment and action combination, proud of himself for finally being able to make a pun on the spot. Puns weren’t exactly used so frequently in Japan, so it was something Rhodon was sort of teaching him. Sort of.

            Andy, Aiden, and Rhodon practically burst out laughing as Aiden approached the desk to pay for the haircuts, but Evan looked more disgusted than anything. He despised puns, and the fact that Rapmon, of all people, made a pun both surprised him and made him shudder. He only hoped he didn’t have any more up his sleeve… As for Jin, he seemed to be perplexed by what was so funny. He didn’t exactly get the pun because he was a little too focused on the hair topic and didn’t even consider the fact that sunglasses were also referred to as shades.

            Rhodon noticed Jin’s confusion, and he was eager to explain it to him even though he couldn’t stop laughing to do so, “You don’t get it? Sunglasses are also called shades right? So he was talking about his hair and –“

            “I think he gets it now, Rhodon. Explaining the shades was probably enough,” Evan interrupted as he placed his palm over his face to display how annoyed he was. Puns… They just drove him nuts.

            Jin gave a long nod as Rhodon began to explain the shades. That really was all he needed to know to understand the pun, and he grinned once it sunk in. It was amusing to him, but not as much as it was to the others it seemed.

            “Alright, guys, let’s get going. I left Damien in the car, so we probably shouldn’t be chatting so much and keeping him waiting,” Aiden stated as he gestured for all of them to leave the hair salon. He waved goodbye to the employees and then followed after the group before he realized he hadn’t told Rhodon where they were headed, “Hey, Rhodon!” he spoke up when he noticed he was already starting up a conversation with Damien through the car window, “Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that we’re headed to the mall in Richmond. You know where that is, right?”

            Rhodon had been eager to speak with Damien about his new phone, so he was the first one out of the salon to speak with him. Once Aiden had his attention, though, he was quick to respond, “Yeah, I know where that is. No problem. I guess we’ll see you guys soon then.” He said as he offered a brief wave to Damien and then headed to his own car so they could get all of this shopping over with. Damien hadn’t even turned his phone on yet, so it’s not like he was in the middle of a great conversation or anything.

            The 15 minute car ride flew by, more than likely because Rhodon and Aiden were speeding, just a little. Once parked in the mall’s lot, Aiden led the entire group into TJ Maxx’s entrance to begin their clothing search, and he felt the need to brief them on the plan. “Andy, Damien, come here.” He waved them closer to him so he wouldn’t have to raise his voice. “Okay, so half of us can disperse to go with Andy and half with Damien to make this a little faster. You guys can pick out whatever clothes you feel suit you—the dressing rooms are pretty easy to find with all the signs hanging up on the walls. Hm… then again, I want to be with both groups, so scratch that. We’ll stay together. Oh… and don’t worry about the price.” Aiden did believe the trip would be a little faster to split up simply because Damien and Andy would more than likely have different styles, but his desire to participate in this shopping experience with both of them completely overrode that thought.

            Don’t worry about the price? Jin, Rhodon, and Evan had all held a conversation at the salon while Aiden and Damien were gone, and Evan had discussed the possibility of Aiden’s family being rich simply because of the evidence. The cost of the monthly piano tuning, the cost of a new phone and a plan to go with it, and the cost of the haircuts would usually bother a person when it all added up. And now he was telling Damien and Andy not to worry about it… The three of them exchanged looks with each other, finding their belief to be confirmed by this point. Even Andy and Rapmon seemed to be contemplating the matter, though Damien didn’t seem to be putting any thought to it. His eyes were too busy scanning the store that he probably wasn’t even listening to Aiden.

            With their thoughts on the matter still lingering in their heads, the group finally began searching through the clothing in the store. Several minutes were spent picking out clothes, and those that Andy and Damien particularly liked were taken to the dressing rooms. One outfit after another, the group of boys either gave them a thumbs up or thumbs down; sometimes they even held a discussion about an outfit if there was disagreement. However, there was a point where Aiden had to step in to speak to Damien about the outfits he had chosen, “Um… Damien, I think there’s something we need to clarify with you.” He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he seemed to struggle with his words. “Look… Your outfits are all nice. And I mean, really nice. And… that’s the problem. All of your outfits consist of jeans and button up shirts, cardigans, or polos. You even looked at the suspenders in the back of the men’s section. You know what style looks nice, and you look great in these outfits. Because of that, I want to inform you of something… Wearing these clothes will make you stand out. I promise you. I mean, you scream international student to me, and I know a lot of people that are always really eager to speak to internationals. So, if you want to stand out, buy these clothes. If not, I can show you what to wear so that you blend in.”

            Damien listened to Aiden carefully, uncertain as to whether or not he wanted to wear these clothes. He liked England fashion. He liked all of the clothes he had picked which he could never afford to buy in the first place. However, if he really would stand out wearing these clothes, he wasn’t sure he wanted to purchase them. He definitely wanted to blend in to avoid unnecessary interactions and stares. “Alright… How do I blend in?”

            “Well, first of all, pick two of those outfits you like; you can use them for nicer occasions. So go ahead and hand me what you want to keep.” Aiden replied, watching as Damien looked at the clothes to decide which outfits to pick. Once he finished, he then waved for Evan and Andy to stand up and join him in a line. “Okay, second of all… All three of us are Americans, right? I mean, we’ve lived here all of our lives. We all dress differently because we come from different areas, but we actually have a lot of similarities. The thing is, you’ve got a variety of looks to choose from. You can choose Evan’s look and wear converse and ripped skinny jeans with a hoodie of sorts...You can choose my current look and wear sneakers, sweatpants and a regular t-shirt, or you can choose Andy’s look and wear cowboy boots, jeans, and a plaid t-shirt. Andy’s clothes are generally worn by people who farm or are from the southern states. Of course, you can mix things up, but I would try not to be too fancy all the time,” he suggested. Aiden had noticed that Andy had been trying on clothes similar to his and Evan’s styles, so he guessed that Andy didn’t really care for the clothes he currently wore.

            Damien looked the three of them over and also observed what Rhodon, Rapmon, and Jin were wearing and noticed all of them actually wore quite similar things. It seemed that the three internationals were also aware of what clothes should be worn in the states, or clothes that were normally seen. Perhaps in their countries, the clothes were normal as well. With a nod in Aiden’s direction, he left the changing rooms to find more clothes and left the others to talk amongst themselves.

            Evan ruffled up his hair and yawned as he returned to his seat next to Rhodon and spoke up to Andy, “I’ve noticed you’ve picked a variety of sweatpants and gym shorts. Do you exercise a lot or something?” he asked as they waited on Damien. Jin and Aiden had left to help Damien, but Evan was feeling less than motivated to continue shopping at the moment.

            Andy stood against the wall across from the three occupied seats located directly across from the dressing rooms. He nodded in response to the question and smiled sheepishly as he did so. “Yeah, I guess I do. I went to the gym back home every other day, and I really didn’t have the proper clothes to do it. I had to rewash and wear the same outfit every time, which was kind of annoying, you know? Anyway, my parents didn’t really care much for these kinds of outfits so I never had the chance to buy more.”

            Rapmon grinned as he pulled his eyes away from his iPhone5 to gaze up at Andy. “You sound like me. Every time I leave my house I do something my parents wouldn’t approve of. My hair, my clothes, my attitude towards life—I change everything when I leave home because I don’t have them around to force me into things. You seem to be doing exactly the same thing, am I wrong?”

            “Not exactly. They’re not as controlling as you make it sound. I can wear what I like and for the most part make my own choices; they just like to make comments on everything I do to change my mind. You know, kind of like guilt-tripping because they think they know what’s best for me. I love them, and I know they love me. It’s just annoying sometimes. That’s why I was so excited when I first came here,” Andy replied as he ran his fingers through his newly cut hair; he still wasn’t used to how short it was!

            “Makes sense. I’ve found that college is a new start for many people. It’s really a time for you to discover yourself. So I suggest that every one of us try to be as true to ourselves as possible this year in particular,” Rapmon suggested as he closed the case to his phone and placed the device in his pocket.

            Evan couldn’t agree more with Rapmon’s comment… Last year he barely became involved with anything or anyone, and he found it difficult to be who he was because of his introversive nature. He basically hated college because he spent most of his time alone doing homework or something. This year, he wanted to do something different. He recalled that moment in the car he shared with Rhodon and how alive he felt. Evan had felt so relieved when he had broken out of that cage of silence and anxiety. He wanted to feel that again and again until it was no longer just a moment, but instead a lifestyle. A smile came to his lips at the thought, and as if he had suddenly become energized, he stood and nodded his head to the side in the men’s section direction to gesture for the others to join him. “Let’s go help Damien; I’m not sure we should leave this all up to Aiden and Jin,” he joked as he left the area to find the three of them.

            For the rest of the shopping trip, the seven of them searched for clothes at different stores and even school necessities before going on to buy groceries and returning home by 10:30 p.m. While some were already eager to go to bed, Aiden had one more thing that needed to be discussed before the morning…

            “So I know some of you are really tired after everything we did today, but we’ve kind of got a long day tomorrow as well… I mean, not all day, but a good few hours at least. In the morning at 7:30 or so my mom will be here with a moving truck that has all of the furniture we need for the rooms, and we kind of need to discuss who will be rooming with who so we can sort out the rooming situation and all,” Aiden informed them as he removed his shoes from his feet at the door.

            “Oh, I forgot we’d be moving furniture tomorrow… I can’t believe it will be Sunday already.” Jin remarked as he took off his shoes as well and made his way to the bathroom so he wouldn’t have to wait in line to get in later. “I don’t mind being anyone’s roommate, so just let me know who it is later,” he asked of Aiden as he entered the bathroom and closed the door. He liked all of the roommates so far, so he honestly didn’t mind anyone. He actually preferred Rhodon mostly because he knew him more than any of the others, but he knew Rapmon and Rhodon would more than likely choose each other.

            Sure enough, Rhodon piped up after Jin left to claim Rapmon as his roommate, “Rapmon hyung and I can room together, right?” he looked to his friend who nodded in return.

            “I’ll room with Jin hyung,” Evan said as he pulled off his hoodie and shook his hair out. He had slept in the same room as Jin for the past few nights, and so far none of his sleeping habits bothered him. He didn’t snore, and he didn’t move around that much. He was a very promising roommate. Plus, he wasn’t terribly hyper or anything, and their closeness in age gave them another similarity.

            “Alright, that leaves the three of us to room together. Is that okay for both of you?” Aiden asked Andy and Damien. He wasn’t surprised that the youngest were all thrown together, but he didn’t mind at all.

            Damien nodded in response. He was glad to be separating rooms because he wouldn’t be bothering Evan during the night anymore. He honestly was beginning to like all of them, but so far he felt most at ease with Aiden, so this rooming situation was perfect!

            Once Andy agreed as well, they all separated to prepare for bed due to the early morning duties. Evan assisted Damien and Andy in carrying clothes to the backroom to hang them up or fold them; Aiden had actually bought quite a bit for Andy and Damien both because of their lack of clothes… Once they placed the bags down on the floor, those who weren’t in the bathroom helped fold or hang up the clothes to get it done faster.

            “So, Damien… do you know why we’re moving everything in at 7:30 and not any later?” Evan asked him, hoping to simply strike up a conversation with him that seemed completely normal. He felt as though Damien was still tense around him, and he wanted to change that. For the most part; messing with him was still fun.

            “Um… I think… Perhaps it’s because the freshmen have a schedule (sheh-dule) to keep to. I’m almost positive that there’s a church service or something that we’re required to attend,” Damien answered uncertainly. He wasn’t sure if he was remembering it correctly or not...“If that’s what we have to do, then I believe it starts at 10:00.”

            “I think he’s right about the whole ‘shedule’ thing. Don’t you remember going to a required church service during orientation?” Rhodon commented with a grin as he joined their company, jokingly mocking Damien’s pronunciation of ‘schedule’; he had never heard it pronounced like that. He couldn’t deny that he liked the British accent, though.

            Evan laughed a little. “It sounds weird hearing someone with an American accent say ‘shedule’, so please spare me.” He shook his head before glancing over at the grinning Damien. “I’m pretty sure most of us have only ever heard the British accent through things like Harry Potter or British television, so it’s honestly kind of cool to hear it first-hand. I’ve heard accents from Africa, Japan, Korea, and essentially all of America, but I’ve not heard any from Europe really,” He informed Damien.

            “Yeah, I think we can all agree with that. I haven’t seen many Europeans attend Berea. I haven’t heard you speak much yet, but when we get comfortable enough for you to do so, do us a favor and be patient if we don’t understand you. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to if you’re speaking quickly or using British slang, you know?” Rapmon said as he folded a pair of shorts.

            “Yeah, I’ll try to be clear, promise,” Damien replied, though he wasn’t exactly sure how he couldn’t be clear. He thought he spoke very clearly already, so he didn’t know how he was going to be clearer than he was now. He really didn’t even know what words were a part of British slang and what words weren’t…

            “Anyway, I’m pretty sure you’re right… The first Sunday was definitely a required church service. I guess I’ll get up that early, as much as I’d rather not,” Evan sighed as he hung up a couple of shirts in the closet. Why was he even doing all this work right now? He was ready to lay down… “Oh, that reminds me. Do you like taking showers in the morning or the evening, Damien?” he asked as he raised an eyebrow in his direction.

            Damien gave Evan a confused glance as he pondered how to respond. He knew that answer, didn’t he? He was pretty sure he had questioned him once… “Um… morning I guess.”

            “Great. Wait until 6 a.m. to take a shower this time, will ya? It’s completely unnecessary for you to get up in the middle of the night just to freshen up. You lose sleep, and unfortunately so do I,” Evan suggested to him. It was annoying that he kept waking up to find him missing, but he really was concerned that he wasn’t getting enough sleep.

            Damien opened his mouth to reply, but he quickly closed it and nodded. He really just needed to try and be quieter when he left his bed apparently… As much as he’d love not to interrupt his own sleep, he still wasn’t comfortable taking showers with strangers running around the house. Besides, his own body woke him up at different times throughout the night; he wasn’t using an alarm or anything!

            “Oh, speaking of which… You can use your phone as an alarm, too, so you can go ahead and set it to 6:00 a.m. if you want. Though, I’m sure we’re all going to have alarms going off as it is. Yours might not be necessary,” Rhodon remarked thoughtfully as he pulled out his phone to check his own alarm.
            Damien watched as Rhodon slid his thumb across the screen to reveal the password entry screen, as he pressed 4 numbers, and then as he searched for the alarm. He himself had no idea how to use a phone, but he really didn’t want to admit it to the other housemates. And why should he have to ask for help if he could just observe them instead?

            “Oh, hold on a sec, we still need to finish exchanging numbers. Damien, open up your contacts so we can all put our numbers in.” Rapmon gestured for him to get his phone out of his pocket.

            Damien nodded and hesitantly reached into his right jeans’ pocket to pull out the device and open it for the first time. He copied Rhodon and slid his thumb across the screen to open it, but to his surprise, there was no password to punch in. He figured it was simply because he had yet to add a password, so he continued to search for wherever he might find the contacts in his phone. Obviously he was looking for an icon, but what did it look like? He stared at the screen, reading each icon available only to find that contacts wasn’t a choice at all! “Where..?” he questioned allowed as he looked up at Rapmon with confusion evident in his facial expression.
            “You’ve got to slide to the next screen, kid,” Evan answered for him as he reached over and slid his index finger across Damien’s screen to reveal even more icons that were not available on the first page.

            “.. Yeah, I just thought it would have been on the first screen…” Damien replied sheepishly, pretending as though he knew how the phone worked. He wanted to learn this on his own to spare himself the embarrassment of asking for help all the time. Once he spotted the grey icon with the silhouette of a person and “Contacts” written below it, he tapped it and watched as it opened up into “All Contacts”; obviously it was currently empty, though…

            “Here, I’ll put my number in,” Rapmon said as he reached over and gently removed the phone from Damien’s hands to add his contact into the device. He typed in his name, scrolled down, and then typed in the number before handing it over to Evan as he spoke to Damien, “When we’re done putting our numbers in, make sure you send us all a text so that we have yours. It’s just easier that way.”

            “Oh, are we exchanging numbers with Damien?” Jin asked as he finally joined the group after preparing for bed. His pajamas consisted of a rather large black t-shirt and black mario pants, and in his arms he still carried the clothes he had worn for the day.

            “Yeah, we’re just passing the phone around. Where’s Aiden?” Andy asked as he typed in his contact and then handed the phone to Rhodon.

            “How would he know? Jin was the first one in the bathroom, remember? He was just taking his sweet time making sure he looked perfect for bed.” Rhodon pointed out with a laugh. “Aiden’s in the shower. I heard the water as I was passing by to join you guys.” he answered as he then passed the phone on to Jin, who received it with a sheepish chuckle.

            “I did not take that long. Besides, I look perfect no matter how long I take in the bathroom. It’s one of the perks of being me.” Jin defended himself as he brushed his hair back with his free hand and struck a pose for a few seconds before laughing it off. He knew he wasn’t that handsome and that it was completely untrue that bathroom time didn’t matter, but… ah, who was he kidding? He was totally perfect.

            The entire group roared with laughter, but Rhodon was the first to speak up and comment on his friend’s behavior, mocking him as he copied the pose more dramatically.“Hello, I’m Jin Hyung, and I believe myself to be the most perfect person in the world. Bow down to this face of greatness,” he joked only to receive even more laughter.

            “If you look perfect no matter what, I guess you don’t even need an allotted bathroom time, right? That makes it much easier on us,” Rapmon cackled as he watched Jin’s face fall into a look of dismay.

            “Now hold on.” Jin threw his clothes on the ground and pointed at Rapmon as he attempted to stop his own laughter. “Just because I look perfect does not mean I don’t need to use the bathroom at all. I deserve just as much bathroom time as everyone else.”

            “Don’t worry, hyung, we can always buy a mirror for your bedroom,” Evan further as he finally hung up the last shirt and picked up all of the bags the clothes had been in. He then faced the rest of the group and gestured towards the bathroom attached to the current master bedroom they were in, “Who has to take a shower? I’d kind of like to get in there before I get stuck behind someone who takes forever…”

            Their laughter soon calmed once Evan posed a more serious question, and Rhodon, Andy and Rapmon each raised their hands in response. “Alright, I’m going in then.” Evan said more to himself than anyone else as he took his leave. He didn’t mind staying up late, but he’d rather just get the bathroom preparations over with so he could at least lie down.

            Jin picked up his clothes once more and set them near his suitcase which he still had yet to unpack, just like everyone else. Without having assigned rooms and furniture, there really was no point in unpacking… Thankfully things would be much more organized after moving in all of the furniture tomorrow morning; Jin was extremely grateful for this.

            Over the next several minutes, those who would be taking their showers in the morning prepared for bed before the others were able to take their showers. Rapmon was the first to hop in the shower, leaving the rest of them in the room to either make an attempt to fall asleep or wait for everyone to finish up, and once Aiden returned, Rhodon switched with him.

            While Jin was on his laptop to read or write a few emails, the others were either sitting or lying down in their makeshift beds as they texted or played games on their phones. This was the perfect opportunity for Damien to discover how to work his own phone, and he was not missing out on it. He observed the housemates around him to see who the best candidate was for his secret mission, and as soon as he saw Evan lying on his stomach as he opened up his phone, he knew he was the current best choice for him to watch due to his positioning. Damien sat himself down on his bed with one leg crossed over the other, facing his pillow, and he allowed his eyes to sneak a glance at Evan’s phone to watch his every move. To his dismay, all Evan did was click on a blue and white ‘F’ icon, and then he just scrolled through whatever application it was. Damien had seen others use this app before, but it was still a mystery to him. He really wanted to try it one day…

            With little to no information being gained from Evan’s phone surfing, he stood and sat himself next to Andy, who seemed to be very absorbed into whatever he was doing on his phone. Instead of taking the passive approach this time, Damien decided he should probably say something so that the fact that he was sitting next to him wouldn’t make his mission totally obvious. “What are you doing?” he asked as he leaned over to see that Andy was playing a game of sorts. The game was a color wheel with a little symbol present in each color, and similar to a game of roulette, the wheel was spun and landed on a color. Apparently this opened up a page where a question and four possible answers could be seen; it was just like a trivia game one could play on a board game!

            “It’s an app called Trivia Crack. Aiden and I started playing against each other yesterday,” Andy replied as he carefully read the question given to him from the pink/entertainment section: ‘How many children does Jennifer Lopez have?’ Options: ‘none; 2; 3; 1.’ Andy seemed to consider this for a moment, but he didn’t take too much time in selecting 1 because he knew he didn’t know the answer. Sure enough, the screen told him it was incorrect and highlighted 2 as the correct answer. “Man, I know who Jennifer Lopez is, but how am I supposed to know how many kids she has?” He shook his head and looked over at Aiden as he waited for him to finish his second round. “He beat me last time. He knows a lot more about the entertainment industry than me,” he admitted with a sheepish grin. He didn’t want to lose to Aiden, but he was very unlucky with these spins.

            A few minutes passed before Aiden could be heard two beds away from them saying how unfair some question was. It must have been something he really had no knowledge about… Andy pulled up the page once more once it told him it was his turn, and he looked over at Aiden with a roll of his eyes. “You’re disappointed and yet you already have two categories fulfilled? I have zero,” he laughed as he spun the wheel once more. This time the spinner landed on the green/science category: ‘What happens in chronic hypertension?’ Options: ‘Blood becomes thick; Walls of heart become thick; More red blood cells are produced; People lose appetite’ Andy groaned a little as he tried to decide which answer to pick, knowing fully well that he’d be running out of time. He was about to randomly select an answer when Damien interrupted him in the process…

            “It’s the second choice. The walls of the heart become thick,” he said as he pointed to the option.

            Andy was going to question Damien to make sure he was certain, but with time of the essence, he quickly chose the second option and was surprised to find that it was correct. How did he know that? “Whoa, thanks a lot. That’s one category down!”

            “Hey, you can’t have Damien help you; that’s cheating!”Aiden complained as he watched the two from a short distance away, “How could you betray me like that, Damien hyung? Evan hyung, lend me a hand will ya? If he gets a partner, I should have one, too, don’t you think?”

            Evan didn’t even take his eyes off of his phone as he lazily responded to Aiden’s request, “Eh… It’s too late to be playing those games, don’t you think? If you don’t know one, ask it aloud and maybe I’ll help,” he replied with a yawn. He didn’t feel like moving now that he was in bed and having to think at this hour was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

            “Okay, okay, I can do this one. Damien, if you know it, don’t tell me,” Andy insisted as his eyes scanned the screen. ‘Which state uses ferries as a major form of daily transportation for work commuters?’ Options: ‘Illinois; Idaho; Washington; Texas.’ After a few moments of thought, he finally clicked on Washington to reveal that his answer was correct. “Yeeeah, we’re tied now Aiden!”

            Jin listened to their bickering and excitement as they played and shook his head as he listened to them use ‘hyung’ in their conversations. He had accidentally forgotten to tell them that it was supposed to be used with their last names, but honestly it was mostly because it sounded weird with American names sometimes. He was definitely going to correct their usage of the term once Korean class started, but at least they were starting to use the term more often…

            The game continued on between the two of them, and for Aiden’s sake, Damien kept quiet. Though, there were times when he would make small gestures to Andy to tell him the answer without Aiden knowing. At last the time had come when the winner was announced and Andy couldn’t help but to be as excited as ever! “Yes! Finally! I’m rising up; you better beware, Aiden. Soon enough I’ll be the one ahead!”

            “I’m still winning 3:1, so you might not want to become too full of yourself,” Aiden warned him casually as he closed out of the app and turned off his phone. He was definitely ready for bed.

            Andy chuckled as he closed out of the application as well and then selected the green and white icon with a word bubble on it. This opened up to his messages, and he was about to open up a message from his mom when he realized Damien was still looking over his shoulder. He turned his head to look at his roommate and shyly spoke up to him, uncertain as to how he should confront Damien. “Um… this is kind of a message from my mom, so…” he trailed off, feeling a little embarrassed.

            Damien really hadn’t meant to infringe upon Andy’s privacy; all he was meaning to do was to learn about the general functions of the phone. When Andy spoke up, he was taken out of his thoughts, and he immediately became anxious and embarrassed from the confrontation, “S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you; I kind of spaced out a bit. Sorry…” he quickly apologized as he stood and returned to his bed next to Evan. Okay, so he was kind of caught. And suddenly, he was feeling as though this was not a good way to go about things. Maybe he’d just play around with his phone until he figured it out…

            Andy watched as Damien left the spot beside him, and he found himself sort of regretting what he had said. He didn’t mean to make Damien feel bad! Hopefully he wasn’t offended or anything… Hesitantly he returned his eyes to the message from his mom and read it over before giving a quick response. She was just wishing him a goodnight and hoping his time at college was going well so far, even though his classes had yet to start. When he realized Rapmon had returned to the room, he stood and finally switched with him to finally take his own shower; hopefully there was still some hot water left!

            It wasn’t long before all of the roommates had finally finished getting ready for bed and were beginning to settle down in their respective spots. The quieter ones of the group had fallen asleep in no time and were followed later by the restless and simply too energetic ones.

            The following morning, the first alarm sounded off at 6:00 a.m. All of the roommates stirred in their beds, some of them trying their hardest to ignore it while others were ready to get up and start the day. However, Damien was the only one out of all of them that was still fast asleep. It was as though his mind hadn’t registered the sound at all.

            “Turn it off… 15 more minutes…” Aiden complained as he rolled over and pulled his blankets over his head to block the sunlight that had begun to shine through the window. He didn’t want to be awake this early, and he knew that he himself had time to spare to stay in bed.

            “Who’s taking a shower first?” Evan asked in a mumble as his eyes remained closed. If he opened them, he knew he wouldn’t be able to return to sleep as easily as he would otherwise.

            “Wasn’t it Damien?” Rhodon yawned as he sat up in bed and rubbed his head. His eyes were still adjusting to the light that fell into the room, so he was squinting to see who was already awake.

            “Damien… Damien, go shower…” Evan muttered, assuming he was already awake by now. “And someone turn off that alarm, will you?” he asked as he raised the sides of his pillow to block his ears from the sound. He really hated high pitches upon awakening...

            Jin drowsily reached over and grabbed his phone from beside the wall next to him, and he slid his thumb across the screen to finally silence the sound that was emanating from it. He stretched for a few seconds before he, too, sat up as he looked over at Damien, “Is he awake?”

            “I don’t know how he couldn’t be; your phone sounded like a fire alarm going off…” Andy replied, though he wasn’t ready to move either. He let out a deep sigh, wishing they could sleep in longer; school wasn’t in session yet, so waking up so early seemed a little unnecessary…

            Rapmon groaned as he pushed himself off the floor and ruffled his hair, only to avert his squinting eyes over at Damien, whose blankets were practically kicked all the way off of him. His arms hugged his pillow, and knees were bent almost to his chest. This position looked completely uncomfortable in Rapmon’s eyes… “Damien, wake up.” he insisted as he reached over and gently shook him. Damien’s left hand pushed Rapmon’s away and his body turned over onto his back, but it didn’t seem as though he had woken up at all.

“Is he really not waking up?” Rhodon asked as he stood up and carefully walked over his other housemates, this time without falling or stepping on anyone. He sat himself beside Rapmon and reached out to poke Damien’s face. “Damien~,” he called as he proceeded to even mess with his hair. Damien’s facial expression turned to one of annoyance as his head shook to escape whatever was messing with him, but again, he did not wake. “Man… he sleeps like a rock. Let’s pick him up; maybe then he’ll wake up.”

“Nah, I don’t think that’d work,” Rapmon disagreed before leaning over and gently slapping the boy’s cheeks. “Come on, Damien, we’ve got a lot of work to do today,” he prodded.

Damien’s eyebrows knit together, and again his hands pushed Rapmon’s away. However, this time he finally began to wake up. He turned his head from side to side as his eyelids fluttered open to adjust to the light. When he realized that Rapmon and Rhodon were staring at him, he sat up and quickly rubbed his eyes before offering a confused expression towards his roommates, “What happened..? Did I sleep in..?” he yawned.

The two of them exchanged glances and then looked back at the so-called third youngest, “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’d say so… Listen, it’s now seven past six, so you might want to get in the shower so that Evan and Jin can take theirs as well,” Rapmon replied.

“Shower..? I already took my shower…” Damien replied sleepily as he shook his head and gently slapped his own cheeks to wake himself up.

Evan’s eyes slowly opened only to glare up at the ceiling above him. Did he not have a conversation with him about this last night? This was the third night in a row that Damien took a shower when everyone was sleeping, and he seriously needed to realize that sleep was important. Not to mention, he himself now had to get up earlier than he had expected to in the first place. Wait… Jin still has to take one as well. “Hey Hyung… go ahead and take yours first. I’ll wait…” he said, as though it was a privilege to be able to take a shower first.

Jin was completely aware of the reason as to why Evan wasn’t willing to take his shower first, so he didn’t bother arguing and just went along with it. He was already awake anyways, so he might as well. Reluctantly he stood and picked out his clothes for the day from his suitcase before leaving the room to freshen up. The rest of the members slowly began to get ready as well the closer the time got to Aiden’s mother’s estimated arrival time. Aiden was the last to get up because he cared less than the other members did about his mom seeing him in a sleepy and unkempt state. The time did arrive quickly however, and soon enough, his mother was at the door with a moving truck in the driveway waiting for the boys to remove its contents.

“Good morning, mom. Thanks for bringing the truck this early…” Aiden yawned as he ruffled his hair with his free hand while the other remained in his left pocket. He had had time to dress and everything, but his hair and mind were still kind of a mess at the moment.

“No problem, pumpkin. Still taking your time getting out of bed, I see…” Ms. Valentine smiled as she reached up and fixed her son’s hair. “I’ve got to get going to work, so I’ll be back for the truck around five tonight. You boys be careful and have fun,” she said as she hugged him and kissed Aiden’s cheek. She handed the truck keys to him, waved to the others who stood waiting behind Aiden, and then left as soon as she had come. It seemed as though she had a very busy schedule…

“All right, let’s get to work then. I’m ready to get these rooms set up,” Rhodon said excitedly as he followed after Aiden to the truck. Though all of them were rather reluctant to be moving things at this early hour, they made their best effort for the move-in. The seven of them carried in desks and chairs, dressers and lamps--everything one might need in a bedroom. Obviously, the hardest part was bringing in the bed frames due to how large they were. The boys had been working for an entire hour moving around furniture. Even Aiden’s bunk bed had been moved from his room to the master bedroom because there would be three of them staying in the same room. The longer they worked, the more worn out some of them felt. Particularly Evan. Towards the end of the move-in, he had climbed into the back of the move in truck and lay on one of the mattresses that was conveniently laying there for him to fall back on. The mattresses were the last things left to bring in, and this was a part of his celebration for that fact.

“Guys, he’s finally fallen!” Andy exclaimed to the others as they exited the house for what seemed to be the 50th time. He carefully tugged on Evan’s ankle as he laughed. “Hyung, we’re almost done. You can make it.”

“What do you mean he’s fallen?” Aiden laughed as he joined Andy’s side to witness Evan’s body sprawled out on the mattress with his eyes shut. “Pffft. Did anyone bet for him to last this long? I think mine was 30 minutes.”

“I bet an hour. How long has it been?” Jin asked as he checked his watch to answer his own question, “Oh, I was close! It’s been an hour and ten. That should still count, shouldn’t it?” he asked hopefully as a grin came to his face at the sight of their housemate.

“Of course that doesn’t count. None of us win,” Rapmon stated as he watched Andy hop into the moving truck.

“Wow, thanks for believing in me guys. It’s a pity none of you got money off of me,” Evan remarked lazily, not even budging or opening his eyes when he felt the truck move due to Andy.

Andy motioned for some of them to join him in the truck and then gestured for them to go to each corner of the mattress and pick it up with Evan on it since he wasn’t paying any attention. One-by-one, Rhodon, Damien, and Aiden got into the truck to help Andy in his evil deed, and though Jin and Rapmon were silently protesting from the sidelines with several hand motions and shakes of their heads, the younger members proceeded to pick the mattress up.

“Whoa, hey! What’re you guys--” Evan cut himself off when he realized the four of them were actually doing a pretty good job at carrying him out of the truck. At first he was going to shout at them to put him down, but his mind had quickly registered that this could be a good thing. He didn’t mind being carried into the house at all. “You guys are stronger than you look, I’ll give you that…” he said as he placed his hands behind his head to show how comfortable he was.

“Alright, guys, when we get to the door, we flip him. We can’t take the mattress in without turning it anyways,” Andy suggested with a laugh, trying to get a different reaction out of Evan. He hadn’t expected him to let them carry him!

“Whatever you do, just don’t let the mattress touch the ground until we get inside. It doesn’t need to get dirty already…” Jin asked of them as he and Rapmon followed after the group.

“Whoa, we are not flipping this thing over. Just do me a favor and let me off easy, will you?” Evan asked, suddenly becoming uneasy about the whole situation. The last thing he wanted to do was to be thrown on the ground without being able to prevent it.

Once they reached the door, Andy jokingly pretended as though he was dropping his end of the mattress, but he was quick to catch it before Evan fell off and hurt himself. A grin still remained on his lips though. “Okay, time to get off. We’ve got to take these in.”

Evan glared at Andy for giving him a small heart attack and making him think that he would hit the ground, but he willingly lifted himself off of the mattress to allow them to continue carrying it into the doorway on its side. It was fun while it lasted, but boy was he ready to get Andy back if he had fallen.

The rest of the moving had finally finished up once the last mattress was brought in, and with everything set up and with only half an hour to spare before it was time for the freshmen to get ready for church, they all finally began to unpack and at last settle into their new home for the next year.