[CONTENTID1]

PROLOGUE - Part II

LAND OF OPPORTUNITIES

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[CONTENTID2]

Written by AnnieWilson

5 Years Later

The last bell rang and I groaned. It wasn’t that I wanted to stay in class — far from it. The problem was that the bell didn't dismiss us, according to Professor Johnston. No, according to her, only her words could dismiss us despite the fact that she wasn’t legally allowed to hold us back. At least, I read online that she wasn’t. 

“No one is leaving until I get the last pencil back!” She shouted and a collective groan filled the room. “Quiet! Who borrowed the pencil? Own up and you’ll only receive a half hour detention tomorrow.” 

Aron — whose real name was Kwak Young Min but, hey, this was America — leaned over to whisper something in my ear. “I’m so ed. I have the pencil.” My eyes bulged out and I gawked at him. “I was going to give it back!” I eyed him suspiciously. “Eventually!” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Okay, maybe not. But still!”

“You’re the reason we’re being held back,” I hissed and he pouted, attempting to look cute. I growled at him and snatched the pencil from him, already knowing that he’d succeeded in getting my help. I raised my hand and Professor Johnston nodded at me. “I have the pencil, ma’am. I’m really sorry, I completely forgot I had it.”

She sighed and shook her head. “I expected better from you, Miss Oh. Half hour detention tomorrow. Sorry, I cannot show favouritism to any student. You did the crime, you must now do the time.” I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. It was a pencil — it wasn’t like I’d shot the president or anything. “I hope you understand where I’m coming from.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I mumbled, resting my head in the palm of my hand. She went on to lecture the entire class about stealing and the consequences of stealing. Once she was done and she’d completed her daily mission to ruin our lives, she dismissed us. The entire class packed their things away faster than the speed of light. I stood up and pinned Aron with a glare. “You owe me big time.”

He grinned and leaned over, brushing his lips against my cheek. “I’ll make it up to you, babe.” I made a face at him and rubbed the kiss from my skin. Aron was one of the flirtiest guys that attended Malibu International School — he also happened to be one of my closest male friends. Him, Jay Park, Tony Vega and Chase Coleman were the best of friends and made the ‘It’ group of the school. Their female counterparts included myself, Krystal and Jessica Jung, Amber Liu and Monica Lowey.

My father had been right when he’d said I’d make new friends. I’d never found a replacement for Jinyoung — after all, I’d made a promise — but Krystal was pretty damn close. She was my best friend here in Malibu, I could trust her with anything.

“Are you coming to Benji’s beach party?” Aron asked as we walked out of class. I frowned at him.

“It’s February,” I said.

“It’s Malibu,” he replied and I clicked my tongue, shrugging.

“Touché. Anyway, I have homework and studying to do,” I sighed and he threw his head back, groaning dramatically. “So do you. In case you’ve forgotten, we have a math test coming up.”

“So? We’re teenagers, Serena, we’re allowed to procrastinate and party instead of study,” he scoffed and I rolled my eyes. Since I’d moved to America, I’d been addressed as Serena — my English name. Aron nudged me. “Don’t be a nerd. It’s only one party, then you can go back and study all you want.” I sighed defeatedly and he grinned victoriously. “Yes! Come on, I’ll drive us.”

“What, it’s starting now?” I asked and he nodded, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the school. “Isn’t it a bit early?”

“Time flies when you’re drunk as ,” he shrugged. He grabbed my bag and threw our things in the back seats of his yellow Camaro. He opened the passenger door for me and I got in. He got into the driver’s side and started his car, pulling out of his regular parking spot. “Do you need to go home first and change?”

I looked down at what I was wearing and shrugged. At our school, there was not a uniform code. We were free to wear whatever we wanted so long as it wasn’t ‘inappropriate’. Of course, not many of the students paid much attention to that rule either. “I don’t need to change but I will need spare clothes and a bikini.” He nodded and we made our way to my house.

Since I was living away from home, I had my own place up in the mountains of Malibu that was staffed with maids, a butler who doubled as my chauffeur at times, a chef and the occasional pool cleaner and grass trimmer. Aron parked in my driveway and I told him to wait. I grabbed a change of clothes and took off the ones I was already wearing, only so that I could put on my bikini. I then dressed in the same clothes again but instead of the high heels I was wearing, I put on sandals.

I returned outside after informing my butler of where I was going and got into Aron’s car. “Alright, let’s go.” He swerved out of my driveway and we sped down the road, leaving the mountainous part of Malibu behind. We reached the beach a while later and parked near it, walking the rest of the way.

The music could be heard from miles away. The sun was still out and I swore when I realised I’d forgotten to take sunscreen. We made our way over to our group of friends and I nudged Krystal. She spun round and grinned, throwing an arm over my shoulders.

“Hey, gorgeous. What’s up?” she asked, pushing her sunglasses up so they sat on her head. I was about to answer when she cut me off, as she always did. “You’ll never guess what happened. Guess!”

“Well—”

“Oh, screw it, I’ll just tell you!” she interrupted and I sighed, shaking my head in amusement. “You know Megan James? She’s pregnant.” I smiled plastically. Truth be told, I had no idea who Megan whatsherface was. “With Johnny's child, too! Isn’t that insane?”

“Totally,” I agreed. I reached for my phone in my back pocket and checked the time. I swore under my breath. “I’ll be right back, I need to call my parents.” 

She pouted. “Lame! Forget them for today, just have fun. Come on, Serena.”

“They’re my parents, Krystal.”

“Yeah but you said so yourself that they’ve been acting mega weird,” she reminded me and I chewed my lip. She was right; it had been weeks, maybe four or five, since I’d had a proper conversation with either of my parents. My father had never been the talkative type but he started giving me shorter answers and getting angrier if I asked too many questions. My mother used to babble nonstop about how much she missed me and what I was missing out on back in Korea but she’d been getting quieter too. Still, up until two weeks ago I’d always gotten a reply from her whether it be on Skype, FaceTime, texts or e-mails. But I hadn’t heard anything from her since my birthday and I was getting worried.

I asked Sehun if he knew what was going on but he was just as clueless as I was. Shinye was also unresponsive, I hadn't been able to get a hold of her for the past month. 

“Still, I need to call them,” I declared and Krystal grunted, turning her back to me. I walked away from the group and dialled my father’s number. It rang and rang but he didn’t pick up. I called again, but still no answer. I called four more times but they were equally as hopeless. I decided to call my mother but she didn’t answer either, not even the eighth time. I then switched to Shinye and got the same results. Sehun — no answer. Jinyoung — unresponsive. 

“They must all be busy,” I mumbled though I doubted my own words. How could they all be busy at the exact same time? I concluded that they must have been having some kind of gathering and because I was all the way in America, I was left out. It hurt but I’d come to accept it a long time ago. I put my phone away and walked back to my friends. Krystal raised a questioning brow. “No answer.”

“Told you,” she snorted. Her expression then brightened. “Come on, let’s turn that frown upside down!” She grabbed my hand and dragged me to one of the beach bar huts. She slammed her hand down on the counter, drawing the bartender’s attention. She put on her flirtiest smile and flicked her hair over her shoulder. “We’ll have two candy apple margaritas, please.”

“ID?” he asked and she bit her lip, reaching over the counter to his arm.

“Do we really need them?” She purred the question. The male looked conflicted and she leaned her entire body over, planting a kiss on his lips. “Pretty please?” I was actually curious to know if this was going to work. I’d been served alcohol many times before — not that I partied or drank that much — but that was usually when I was accompanied by one of my guy friends who knew the bartender. I’d never seen a girl seduce drinks from one of them and I was interested in the results.

“Alright but…you weren’t served by me,” he mumbled and she grinned, nodding happily.

“Make them large…and really strong,” she added with a wink. He left and returned a couple of minutes later with two large glasses of candy apple margaritas. We thanked him and picked them up. “To getting drunk…and possibly laid.” I rolled my eyes but clinked her glass anyway.

I was not one to sleep around — I’d never even done it once before so much less with different people. I always stopped drinking right when I got tipsy. It was a good middle ground, in my own opinion. I took a sip from the drink and Krystal scowled at me. “What?”

“Down it,” she ordered. I shook my head and her scowl deepened. “Stop being a bore, Rena, and down it.” 

“I don’t want to get drunk,” I said. “I’ll stil