The rest of my day is a gloomy blur. The fact that i have to share a room with Taekwoon the rest of my Junior year, which just started, is going to be a living hell. I let my head bang against my locker and let out a sigh. An overwhelming fear and anxiety take over. Feeling a presence next to me I slowly turn my head to see Ken’s bright smile. 

“Are you ready to go to your dorm?,” He asks pleasantly

“No.”

His smile turns into a frown as he crosses his arms over his chest, “Don’t need to be so crabby about it.”

“I’m sorry I just, I’m not looking forward to rooming with Taekwoon.”

We both continue to walk out of the main building into the dorms. Ken purses his lips together, seeming to be deep in thought. Until he breaks our silence. 

“You know, he’s not that bad. I’m sure if you don’t talk to him he’ll just ignore you!”

“Yeah, hopefully. “ 

“Or you could just blow him,” Hyuk says suddenly popping up to the side of me. 

I jump from his sudden presence and Ken just laughs. 

“Why does everyone think I’m gay here?” 

Ken and Hyuk share looks then turn back to me. Hyuk tries to hide a smile as he continues to talk, “You have perfectly glowing skin, quaff hair that’s died, and well you just kinda look like it.” 

I go to open my mouth in order to defend myself but Ken interrupts me, “There is nothing wrong with being gay.”

“Oh right, you’re with Ravi right?,” I state, turning the attention away from me.

Ken’s face instantly turns red and he looks straight forward. Hyuk has a wide smile on his face as he looks back and forth between the two of us waiting for someone to talk. Finally Ken gives in, “ No we’re not. Where did you get that Idea?”

“Well I just thought..... sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, he and Ravi hump like rabbits. I think I heard Ravi one time call him his toy,” Hyuk speaks up.

“SHUT-UP! HE DID NOT!” Ken yells over me, he then attempts to lunge forward to strangle Hyuk but I reach my arm out preventing it. 

“Hey hey, if Ken says there is nothing going on, then there is nothing going on.”

Ken continues to straighten his uniform “Thank you.”

I haven’t been here a day and these two have become attached to my hip. They even share personal details about their life. It’s surprising how nice they are, and open. Genuine friends. We continue the walk to the dorms, I try and forget the talk about Ken and Ravi’s secret love affair. 

As we approach the building I feel my jaw drop. I mean by now I should be used to the extravagant life these students live but seriously. The building looks brand new, like expensive apartments. We continue through the doors. The whole bottom floor is a lounge area, complete with pool tables, pinball machines, soda and snack vendors, and flat screens.

In the middle of the room is a huge bulletin board with a mass collection of notes and flyers. But what stands out the most is the familiar picture posted in the middle. It’s me.

I run over to the board a pull the flyer off. My picture was the main attraction but under it was a small article. “Meet Hongbin. Isn’t he cute? Come watch him get destroyed on the first day of practice, Tomorrow! Be nice to our newest little scholarship kid!”

I feel anger swell in my chest, the paper crumples in my hands. “That !,” I shout through gritted teeth.

Hyuk gently pulls the flyer away from my hands and reads it. Letting a sigh out he hands it to Ken. “Hongbin, don’t worry. It’s just a hazing. When I first joined the team they stripped me down to my boxers and tied me to a goal post.”

Hyuk and I both look at Ken who still has his signature smile on his face. 

“Yeah then Ravi put it in your ,” Hyuk said bursting out laughing. Ken is once again flustered. The two continue to go back and forth. Not knowing what to say I walk away from the board. Trying to prepare myself mentally for what I’m about to walk into. Slowly I make my way up the stairs. Hyuk and Ken follow close behind me. 

We get to our dorm rooms. Drawing a deep breath I prepare for what i’m about to walk into. I look up at the room number, 497.

I hesitate for a moment before putting my key in the lock, secretly hoping it wouldn’t work. Unfortunately, it did. Placing my hand on the doorknob I carefully turn it. Taekwoon and Ravi sit on the couch that is in the middle of the living room, playing some expensive game council Taekwoon’s eyes lock on me , he quickly puts the game on pause and throws the controler on the coffee table. 

“Welcome roomie!,” He says spreading his arms out.

I look around the apartment and try not to look too shocked. It’s just as nice as the rest of the school. Looking like it came out of a magazine. Taking a few steps forward I look around a little more. 

“Where is my luggage?” 

“Oh, I took the liberty of putting it in your room for you,” He said with a fake smile. 

I nod and begin to walk to one of the doors on the other side of the room. Ken and Hyuk wait behind me. Ravi stares at Ken, but he’s clearly ignoring it. 

“This one right?,” I say pointing to one of the doors.

Taekwoon nods, still keeping that fake smile glued to his lips. I continue without caution and open the door. As I take a step in I feel warm sticky liquid fall onto me, along with a bucket hitting me on the head. Taekwoon bursts out laughing and clapping his hands. 

“Really Taekwoon?,” Hyuk growls.

“What? He walked right into it!”

Ravi sits quietly on the couch eating a bag of chips. Clearly not wanting anything to do with this in front of Ken. I quickly think of a reaction. I start laughing with Taekwoon. All the eyes in the apartment turn towards me, questioning my reaction and if the bucket hit me a little too hard, “Yeah I did, you got me, good one.”

Everyone’s stair is still trained on me as I wipe the mysterious, green substance from my face. “Almost as funny as the goal post thing with Ken,” I add.

Hyuk runs to the kitchen pulling a towel hanging from the oven and tossing it over to me. I begin to clean my face. Taekwoon bites his lip thinking to himself. Clearly not the reaction he wanted, but what he doesn’t know about me is that i’ve dealt with people like him my whole life. Being bullied was my last schools favorite sport,“Oh, and i’ll clean this up too.”

“Seriously Hongbin, stay with me for a little while. Hakyeon is out of town, and then we can get the whole room thing situated,” Hyuk says.

The three of us sit in Hyuk’s dorm. We left my dorm after I got cleaned up, Taekwoon didn’t say anything to us. I throw another piece of popcorn into my mouth. “I’ll be fine.” 

“What was that back there? You just let him do that?” Ken questions. 

“Well, I’m usually bullied a lot so I guess in a way I’m use to it,” I explain as I play with a pillow, “Oh and another thing, thanks for being so nice to me.”

Hyuk and Ken look at each other then back to me. “Yeah, we’re friends now,” Ken declares. 

“So practice starts next week, what are you going to do about that?,” Hyuk asks.

Shrugging my shoulders I continue to pick at the popcorn. “Just go, play. I don’t know.”

Hyuk nods, “Well okay. So are you staying here or what?”

I think to myself for a minute. It wouldn’t be a bad idea, I guess I could talk to the dean about switching rooms. I’m sure he will understand but then again if I keep running away from Taekwoon it might make him more relentless. “No, I’ll be fine.”

Hyuk has a disapproving look, “Please , just for tonight.”

I look over at Ken who is holding the bowl of popcorn with a concerned look on his face, I turn back to my friend and let out a sigh, “Alright, just tonight.” 

Walking across the hall to my dorm I open the door. It’s 10:45 so maybe Taekwoon will be out partying or something. I open the door and see my tormentor at the kitchen island with a book open and homework over the table. He does his homework?

He looks up at me, just glaring. I nod at him and continue to my room. Opening the door I quickly grab the necessities for one night. After I speed walk out of the room, trying to avoid as much contact with him as possible. 

“Where are you going?,” he questions without looking up from his homework.

“I’m going to stay with Hyuk tonight

, since is clear you don’t want to room with me,” I say as my grip on my bags tightens, nervous for what he is about to say.

“Thank god,” He continues to scribble something down. 

Continuing to the door I go to leave but before I do I stop and add, “I’m also asking for a room transfer.” 

Taekwoon makes a face of agreement but then speaks, “Good luck with that, I already tried but hey they may listen to you.” 

“Wait, when did you ask for a transfer?”

“A week before you came.”

“Did you know it was going to be me?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you picking on me just to get me out of the room?”

“No, I just don’t really like new people.”

He’s being strangely relax, or it could be that he is just a straightforward person, “And I gotta keep up my reputation.”

“So you just pick on me to keep your reputation intact?” I scoff , turning around towards the door until I hear him say, “Run away all you want, little ”

My jaw tightens and I whip around, with heavy footsteps I approach the counter. Slamming my hands on the marble I demand his attention, which I get when he looks up from his book surprised. I feel the anger swelling but I try to keep it under control as I speak, “ Listen, I get it. You have a reputation, and if a crappy high school reputation means that much to you then go for it. And I’m sure you have some ed up child hood trama or something to make you this much of an abusive , and i’m sorry for that. But jesus. Take a break.”

His eyes narrow as he presses his tongue to his cheek. After a second of eye contact he nods his head, “I was wrong...... this is going to be interesting.” 

With that I quickly pull away from the counter, I could feel his stare boore into me as I walked away. Slamming the door was my response.

IT'S FRIDAY! And as promised here is an update! Double up date the first week, what?! I really hope you are enjoying the story thus far. Thank you so much for you comments and support, I really appreciate it. <3 See you next week!

- XOXO Your Author