Apple Hair

Chapter 12 - CORRIN🐈

Mrs. White stares at me as I go off on a high note, reaching farther than I ever had with my voice.

The other guys stare at me like I hit the most ugly note in the world. I stifle a laugh and try to play it off like I was actually just making fun of myself.

Diane squints. "Are you... okay, Corrin?"

That's weird. Mrs. White never asks me whether I'm okay. I must've done something really bad. Or did I?

I start to laugh fully now, trying to cover my mouth with my hand, and then my arm. I think about the medication I'm taking, that stupid white pill that makes me feel a bit dumb all around. The other guys don't take anything—except maybe Kaden. But that's different. The doctors can actually see that something's wrong with his back.

"I'll take you to the hospital," Van says. I can tell it's hard for him—it seems that he can't talk in front of others as easily as before. He says he met the ghost in the library. It's crazy how fast we believed him, how it could happen to any of us now.

"Your manager can," Diane says, turning the page on her music stand.

Really? "I'm just a little off, but not bad enough to go to the hospital," I say.

"You can't see what we see," Kaden says, bluntly.

I look to the other members for help. Seiya seems uncharacteristically solemn and David bites his cuticle with a bit too much care. Fine. Even though I think my symptoms are bullshit and that they'll go away, just like this ghost will, I can't go against five people at once.

Shar meets me outside, and we ride toward the hospital in mostly silence. The sun reflects off everything and feels hotter than ever. I imagine all of the guys sunbathing instead of practicing, and I try hard not to giggle. "Do you think something's wrong with me too?" I ask Shar.

She changes the radio channel, and all that comes through is worship music—something about God accepting you and your flaws. David would love it—he has that connection with Shar. "I don't think there's anything wrong with you," she says.

And we leave it at that.

As we approach Queen's Medical Center, I start to panic. I think someone might have implanted a chip in my brain, controlling me to do weird things. Do I really have control over my own life? Did I join AWE Entertainment out of my own free will?

Despite myself, I start humming. I hum one of the options Diane gave us for our monthly evaluation, but it turns into about a hundred different things as I forget notes and replace lyrics with random phrases that pop into my head.

Shar turns the radio down. "I don't know everything, but I do know this. You're gonna be okay. And you still belong in Apple Hair."

I kind of want to write down a whole new page in the book she gave us. Creating our story, the world that we want our fans to be a part of, gives me so much comfort. I want to let her know this in some way, but we're already reaching the hospital.

As Shar pulls into the parking lot for emergency, I think about the other guys and how they're probably killing it in practice. I know that we're meant to be five. I know that I belong, even though I've no idea how long I have to stay in the hospital.

Now that I'm an adult, I don't have to tell my mom that I'm going through stuff like this. I don't want to worry her. As a single mom, she already went through a ton.

"Do I have to stay overnight?" I ask Shar. I'm trying not to treat her as my mom either.

She just ties her hair up into a bun. "We'll see what the doctor says."