The past few days were nothing less than a nightmare. Rose was torn between the constant tormenting comments and the strain of masking Yoongi’s absence in class. There was no way that boy could handle anymore torture in his state, yet skipping classes were almost a certain, one way ticket to hell. From carrying him to class, to meal times, and to the roof, she was exhausted. Sure, she received the same ridicule and disgust from the girls in the locker room, but she no longer listened to them anymore. She no longer hid in the stall to cover her body in shame, she no longer cowered behind her friends when the comments lashed out against her ankles, she no longer cared for anything the girls thought anymore. Just watching Frida’s shattered face was enough, and she couldn’t stand back anymore. She had legs, she had feet, she had strength. That was enough to keep her forward.

    “Rose,” Eun Sung’s voice called quietly, “Can you carry the antibiotics today?”

    Nodding hastily, Rose slipped the two, small pills into the pocket of her blazer, “Is Frida-”

    Eunnie shook her head, “She’s still refusing to eat.”

    Swallowing hard, Rose set her shoulders back, “We’ll try again tonight.”

    She nodded and her lank, blonde hair fell about her face in a golden curtain. Her hair had remained untouched the past few days- in fact, not one of the three had even touched a flat or curling iron, eye makeup or concealer. There was no time or energy to be spent on such frivolous things anymore. “I smuggled some rice from last night into our room, so I’m going to see if she’ll eat that now.”

    Offering a smile, Rose held the door of the locker room open, “I don’t care what it takes. Just make sure she eats it.”

    Ushering Frida through the door, Eunnie gave a curt nod, “I’ll do my best.”

    Rose watched the two retreat down the hall, biting her bottom lip in worry. “Please get better…” she whispered before turning the other direction. Exhaling slowly, she looked up and started down the hallway to the cafeteria.

    “You!” a nasty voice broke her train of thought.

    Snapping her gaze up, she stared at the mob of girls before her in surprise, “Yeah?”

    The girl in front wrinkled her nose in disgust, and her face resembled a pug more than ever, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you, .”

    Raising an eyebrow, Rose attempted to brush past her, “Sorry. I’m busy.”

    “Tch,” the girl caught her arm, “Don’t you know who I am?”

    Shrugging, Rose tore her arm out of the girl’s grasp, “You’ve never introduced yourself, so no.”

    “Whitesnake,” the girl leered at her, “Do you think you’re that special because Minna’s with you or-”

“Honestly?” she stuffed her fists in her pockets, “It doesn’t matter to me who he hangs with,” smirking, she turned around to start back down the hall towards the cafeteria, “But I’m flattered you spend time thinking about me,” she glanced at the mob of girls, all gaping at her, dumbfounded, “Wow. I didn’t know I was this popular.”

“-” the girl reached out, ripping Rose’s pocket containing the pills.

Her eyes widened as she scrambled to scoop the tiny, white pills back into the palm of her hand, “Shoot…” she muttered, cringing as the mob moved in even closer.

“What do we have here,” the girl sneered, “A drug addict? I don’t think Jiminie would like-”

“Like what?” Rose shot to her feet, face void of any expression as she slammed her foot on the girl’s feet, “I don’t think he would like broken toes either.”

“You bi-” the girl froze suddenly as two figures appeared behind Rose, “J-Jimin?”

The mob of girls shuffled nervously. “Jiminie’s here?” one girl muttered breathlessly.

“He’s so perfect!” another girl swooned, immediately her original role in the midst of the mob.

“Oh- Kookie’s with him!” a third girl craned her neck to get a glance at the two boys behind Rose, “They’re both so-”

“What’s going on?” Jungkook frowned, gaze flitting between Rose and the girl.

“Oh! Jiminie! Kookie!” the girl pouted, “She attacked me! My feet may be broken because of her-”

Jungkook wasn’t listening. Instead, his frown deepened as he examined Rose’s blazer in concern, “How did this rip?”

Her gaze flickered over to the group of girls for a second before she shrugged, “I don’t know. I think it got caught on some trash.”

The girl’s expression burned into a glare as she started forward, “You b-”

“Danika,” Jimin drawled, swinging the girl towards him.

“J-Jiminie?” the girl, Danika froze at his touch, melting under his gaze, “U-um-”

He lifted her chin, examining her face, “You might actually have been pretty.

Blushing deeply, Danika smiled widely, “D-do you want to sit with me during meal times today, o-or free time?”

He leaned forward, smirking as the girl’s breath hitched in , “I would- if I liked you,” letting go of her, he stood back to join Jungkook and Rose, “But I don’t.”

“Now that’s just mean,” Rose pouted playfully, “I’m sure he doesn’t mean it,” she added, offering a smile at Danika.

Danika stared at the three in shock, “H-how-”

Jungkook glared at the group of girls causing the lot of them to step back in surprise and fear, “Don’t bother us again.” With that, the three their heels and entered the cafeteria.

“Oh goodness,” Rose burst into a fit of laughter, “That was gold!”

“You-you’re not scared?” Jungkook’s mouth opened in surprise.”

“How are you okay?” Jimin gaped at her as well, “They were just bullying you!”

Shrugging, she slipped into her seat in between the two boys, “Well yeah, but I don’t really care what they say anymore, you know?” the corners of curled up in response, “It’s not like words can have any effect if you don’t let them.”

Jimin shook his head, “And here I was, thinking it was my fault this was happening to you-”

Her eyes snapped to his, “It’s not your fault!”

“But-”

“No,” she concluded before digging into her pocket to retrieve the fallen antibiotics, “Oh! Yoongi needs to take these.”

Jungkook nodded, staring at the turquoise haired boy’s head, asleep against the table, “Uh… hey, Yoongi?”

The boy mumbled a groan in response, but nothing more.

“Um…” Jungkook cleared his throat, “You need to take your pills-”

He his hand out without lifting his head and popped the pill in his mouth, swallowing hard.

Sighing in defeat, Jungkook leaned against his hand, propped against the table, “He’s impossible.”

“He seems to be doing better,” Rose stared at the turquoise haired boy nervously.

Jimin nodded, “He’s grumpier than usual though.”

“Mentally, yes. He’s doing a lot better,” Jungkook shook his head, “Physically? Not so much. His body’s still in… a rough state.”

“Antibiotics aren’t enough to heal him at this point,” Jin whispered, leaning in.

“Is there anything we could do to speed it up? His recovery, I mean,” Rose bit her lip, “Frida’s not going to improve either until he does…”

Namjoon exhaled sadly, “I don’t know… we’d need medicine-”

“We can stop by the infirmary during class today to pick some up,” Jimin nodded, “We’ll get punished… but it’s the only way.”

“I thought it was always locked?” JHope frowned.

“It is,” Jimin smiled mischievously, “Except during class. It takes power to keep locks running throughout the day, and since we’re supposed to be in class, the officials just keep those rooms unlocked to save energy,” he leaned back comfortably, “The perks of being in a smaller camp, huh?”

“Smaller?” Rose frowned.

Namjoon nodded, “Barracks Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four are the smallest out of the twenty-five breeding camps. One, four, seven, nineteen, and twenty-five are the largest and most popular due to their location. If we were in one of those- let’s just say we’d be dead by now.”

Frowning, parted in confusion, “What do you mean?”

He shrugged, “Stricter rules- more people equals more security,” a sigh escaped his lips, “You don’t mess with the punishment either. What they have there is nothing compared to here. If you think this is torture, over there is hell.”

She stared at him suspiciously, “Did you-”

“Yeah,” he dropped his gaze, “I was transferred from Barrack Four to Twenty-Three a couple years ago.”

“Oh,” was all she said.

Jimin cleared his throat awkwardly, “So… uh… who wants to go with me?”

“ME!” JHope and Tae leapt to their feet in unison.

“No way,” Jin glared at the two, “You’ll get caught before you set a toe inside that place.

“Tch…” the two boys grumbled in defeat, sinking back into their seats.

“I can go,” Rose spoke quietly.

“Are you sure?” Jin frowned, “If you get caught you’ll-”

“If two of you are missing, it’ll be more suspicious than having two people from opposite sides of the room gone,” she folded her hands, leaning forward, “Plus, the rules here are more relaxed, right? If it’s me and Jimin, a girl and a boy, who’s not to say they won’t be okay with it?”

Jin pursed his lips, but nodded in agreement, “That’s true…”

Jimin nodded curtly, “After we get our schedules, meet me by the locker rooms,” leaning in slightly, he dropped his voice, “Come in a different direction though. We can’t afford to get caught.”

She nodded just as the doors to the cafeteria flung open and a woman in a the classic white lab coat marched across the threshold with a line of guards chasing her heels like dogs. Stopping at the center of the room, she crossed her arms and stared pointedly at the residents seated at the tables, “Your schedules are at the front. No skipping classes or you will be severely punished,” nodding at the guards to follow her back at out the door, she added the same last statement, “Don’t even think about being late.” She her heel and left.

JHope rolled his eyes, “Why does she even bother…”

“It’s her job, idiot,” Namjoon rolled his eyes.

“She takes it way too seriously,” Tae grumbled, sinking lower in his seat, “‘Don’t even think about being late!’” he mimicked in a high pitched voice, “, please.”

“Language,” Jin muttered, but his voice was drowned out by the chuckles rippling across the table.

“She’d kill you if she heard you say that,” JHope cackled.

“What, is she going to ‘punish’ me for that too?” Tae grinned wickedly before adding in a high pitched voice, “You there! Young man! No more restating the rules! That’s my job!” he then switched his voice back to normal, “Ah, calm down, old woman! I’m just taking your wise words to heart!”

The six boys (Yoongi still happened to be sleeping) doubled over in laughter and Rose cracked a smile, “She’d definitely kill you,” Rose added.

“Pfft, as if,” Tae winked at her, “If anything, I’d kill her first.”

“And how would you do that?” Jungkook grinned.

Leaning forward suddenly, Tae lowered his voice, “With my killer looks, obviously.”

“Aish,” JHope slapped him on the back suddenly, “You’re too much.”

***

    Rose peered about the corner, “Coast clear!” she whispered harshly, waving Jimin over. Just as he had said, locks were left unfastened, and the only buzzing of electricity could be felt from the white bulbs of light overhead. Each sharp intake of breath, each footstep that echoed perhaps a little too much caused her to freeze in caution. They were going to be caught; that was given. Yet, when they were to be caught remained undecided, and she could not afford to miss this opportunity. Yoongi needed the treatment as much as Frida need him to heal.

    “This way,” Jimin pulled her down the hallway, skidding to a halt before a polished white door bearing the number ‘347’ on its plaque. Scanning the hallways anxiously, he creaked the door open, “Good it’s-” he shut the door hastily.

    She frowned, “What?”

    “An official!” he pulled her back around the corner, “In there!”

    “What are we going to do?” her eyes widened.

    Biting his lip, he stared at the door carefully, “I could draw him out, while you sneak in… You won’t have much time though.”

    She nodded curtly, “I’ll be quick.”

    Inhaling sharply, he hurried up to the door to knock twice against the white metal. He fidgeted anxiously as a second passed… then two… then on the third second, the door swung open and a thin, weedy man stepped outside. Jimin’s mouth opened in surprise, “I- uh…”

    “What are you doing out of class?” the man barked.

    “Well… you see…” he swallowed hard, “I uh- I lost my friend.”

    “Are you sure this friend of yours isn’t in class either?” the man’s lip curled.

    Jimin shook his head, “N-no! We were… um… going to meet at the gym court, but I kind of lost my way there, so if you would help me get there that would be great.”

    The man pursed his lips, “Of course I would help you,” he forced a thin smile, ushering the orange haired boy down the hallway, “The gym is this way.”

    “Oh, thank you kind sir!” Jimin declared, sending a thumbs up to Rose as he disappeared down the hall once more with the weedy man breathing down his neck.

    Clenching her fists, Rose slipped down the hallway and through the door. Snapping it shut behind her, she groaned at the piles of various medicines stacked upon mismatched shelves. “Everything else around here is perfect, yet they couldn’t even fix this…” she grumbled, digging through a box of pill bottles. Her blood was running up and down her veins, and her mind seemed to flit from one thought to another in such focused precision she almost felt dizzy. Sighing, she pushed the box aside and moved on to another- then another, and then another after that. It was ridiculous how many antibiotics of any shape and color the camp held, yet not one was used. Reaching the back of the room, she dug through a pile of fallen papers until she reached the floor- and there it was. One last container of embalm for wounds. She held the medicine in her hand, biting her lip anxiously. ‘Pocket? No. It wouldn’t fit. Skirt? It would fall out. Simply carry it all day? Yeah, like that would work,’ she shook her head, ‘Oh well…’ stuffing it into her bra, she grabbed one of the tiny containers of pills and stowed it away in her pocket as well. She slipped through the door and didn’t even wait for it to snap close behind her as she took off in the direction of Jimin.

    Sliding against the slick white tiling of the floor, she turned the corner abruptly and broke into a sprint once more. The round, flat container of the embalm beat against her chest due to such movement, but as long as it remained hidden in its place, she wasn’t bother in the slightest. Her lips stung against the breeze, ragged and chapped from the constant biting in anxiety, and beads of sweat lined her pale forehead. Puffing her cheeks out in frustration, she pressed forward until the looming pair of metals doors veered into view. Her feet skid to a halt, and her breath hung in anticipation as she pushed the door open.

    Unlike the rest of the building, the gym held a color of dull grey- seeing as it remained unfinished. Metal pipes lined the ceiling, and the lights hanging gave off such little light that they cast even more shadows than usual. The gym remained frozen and bitter due to no heating of any kind, and simply crossing the threshold was almost exactly like entering an ice box.

    “Rose!” a pair of familiar arms embraced her, “I’ve been looking all over for you!”

    “Jiminie!” she spun around to meet his gaze, glancing at the weedy man smirking behind him, “I’m sorry I’m late!”

    Jimin gave a curt nod as an unspoken question, and when she nodded slightly in return, he spun around to face the thin man behind him, “Thank you, sir! You can leave now!”

    “Oh no,” the man suddenly grabbed hold of their arms, “You’re not staying out of class.”

    “But-”

    “Thought you’d get away without punishment?” the man laughed harshly, “Think again, kids.”

    Rolling his eyes, Jimin winked at Rose as the two were dragged down the corridor back to the dread classroom. “You tricked me!” he exclaimed in a mockingly, hurt tone.

    The man laughed again, clearly overjoyed with his fortune of catching the two out of class, “I did, didn’t I?” his beady eyes glistened as he mumbled in shakey excitement, “Now I’ll definitely get that promotion…”

    Rose scoffed, “So you’re using our expense at your benefit?”

    “Of course,” the man kicked the door of the classroom open rather enthusiastically, “It’s because you brats that I’m still here.”

    Sighing, Jimin rolled his eyes again as the pair were shoved inside the room, “Whatever, old man.”

    “What was that?” the man’s beady eyes bore into the back of his dyed orange head, “No matter…” the man turned towards the class, smirking at the expressions of shock holding the faces of every student, “These two were caught out of class. They need punishment.”

    The teacher rolled her eyes, “I can take it from here, Sampson,” she pursed her lips.

    Lip curling in suspicion, the man- Sampson kicked two chairs before Rose and Jimin, “So you’ll let them off?” he scoffed, “I’m making that mistake again, Lea.”

    “Whatever,” the teacher sunk in her seat, crossing her arms.

    “Up,” he ordered the pair before turning back to the teacher, Lea, “Where are the whips?”

    “Find them yourself,” she drawled casually, examining her nails.

    Scoffing, he tore through the drawers of her desk until he drew out two, leather straps. “You,” he barked at two boys near the front, “Up here. Now.”

    The boys shuffled up to receive the whips- grumbling, mind you- and stood in position behind Rose and Jimin. “…” one boy muttered under his breath.

    “On my count!” Sampson cried giddily.

    Glancing behind her, Rose met the eyes of Jungkook, Jin, Namjoon, Tae, and JHope, all staring at her in worry and question. Nodding curtly, she flashed them a tiny smile before turning back towards the front as the lashes began. “One,” she muttered through gritted teeth. ‘I’ll remember your face,’ she seethed, gaze flitting to Sampson’s overjoyed stature, ‘And you’ll regret it.’