Apple Hair

Chapter 7 - CORRIN🐈

"I thought someone broke into the car or something," Shar says, as she drives back to the company.

I take a bite of the steaming fried chicken. "Nope! Only the weirdness of the week continuing."

"Well count on me, you guys." Shar turns into the company parking lot. "I won't let nothing hurt you."

I dip my chicken into the gravy and try not to devour it too quickly. I have thought about going vegan quite a bit, since I love animals so much. But I can't give up cheese. And meals like these with the boys excite me too much.

"I see you guys found the book I wanted to give you," Shar says. "I got it for you guys since I want your story to continue and last for a long time. Keep writing in it—and don't stop dreaming."

"We won't," I say immediately. "I mean, we won't stop dreaming and we'll keep writing."

"Good," Shar says. "Now time for the rest of today's schedule. We have two hours of vocal practice, another four hours of dance, and then language class."

Before I let out a groan, I lean back and try not to think about how I only got a few hours of sleep last night. I stared at the ceiling for the longest time, trying to count sheep or tortoises or whatever I could think of. Eventually, I settled on dolphins. I kept seeing their eyes as I drifted in and out of restlessness.

So weird. But after today, I'll catch up on rest. I kind of have to if I don't wanna die.

*

Practice goes as usual. (It's weird though—there's nothing usual about practice). It always feels like a dream that we're all chasing after this goal together. The boys and I, running and running and running.

Leo Pak sends us a group message after language practice wraps up. David reads out the Hangul slowly, and I try to make sense of it.

"He wants to talk about our vision," David says. "I don't exactly know what he means, but he wants to have us in the conference room first thing tomorrow morning."

"Dude you scared me," Seiya says. "I thought he would want a midnight meeting or something."

"AWE cares about our sleep," Kaden says. "Somewhat."

As we wait for Shar to pull around the corner of the road, Van says, "We didn't hear any voice or anything today."

As I open my mouth to reply, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Some of the other trainees approach us, carrying soft drinks from the nearest convenience store. "Look who's waiting outside," one of them says. "The very special group of Apple Hair. Who even came up with that dumbass name?"

I think his name's Allen. I hate fighting, so I just stand and wait for him to walk past. He stays right in front of us though, along with his groupies. Eventually, Seiya steps forward. "Well we hope that when you get put into a group, you can pick a better name." Seiya puffs out his chest, probably without realizing. "We just want to train in peace, bro."

"Well, bro," Allen says, sneering. "I have a prediction. Your group will fall apart before the year ends."

Kaden takes the bait. Well, I know Kaden can absolutely destroy this guy. He keeps calm and points to the door. "Go practice more so you can get chosen. Then we'll take you more seriously."

Allen pushes past us and strides toward the company, like some kind of leader of the pack. Weirdo. His groupies follow him, and I try to laugh it off while they're gone. "Maybe this is what the voice meant?" I said. "Everything seems to be getting a bit tougher for us...."