by Nara Noelle
When I left Idol House, I took slow strides in order to fully appreciate my surroundings—the palm trees, the warm breeze, and even the obnoxious seagulls. Though my life had gotten immeasurably more stressful after I dove headfirst into the world of talent shows, I never would’ve had the opportunity to visit anywhere half as picturesque as Starsaw Island otherwise.
Honestly, the lavish buildings and breathtaking scenery were probably what drew the less celebrity-obsessed viewers into each episode. Of course, it was undoubtedly shady and phony. While fans of the show were dazzled by the beauty of the island, the television crew was cherry-picking the scenes that would be just dramatic and juicy enough while not outright exposing how insufferable the pricks standing in front of the camera were.
Once I arrived, I sat down on a beach chair and stared into the horizon. Before long, I dozed off.
When I woke up, I was so sweaty I felt like a snowman melting to death. Since nobody else was around, I took off the sweatshirt I wore over my flimsy T-shirt. However, that wasn’t enough. I removed my sneakers, left them on the chair, and rolled up my pants.
Without wasting another moment, I dashed across the sand and dipped my feet in the ocean. As I listened to the waves toss, I saw a yacht off in the distance. Then I walked back to my chair for a second nap.
Sometime later, I jolted up. Ugh. I’d had a dream about Arang. Although I couldn’t remember every little detail, the image of him cradling me wouldn’t leave my thoughts. What’s more, he’d been running his hands down my very naked, very womanly body. Even though it was a meaningless dream, I couldn’t help but wonder if he might be somewhere close by.
Alright. I’d had enough fun at the beach. It was time to return to Idol House and grab a bite from the convenience store, then go to the library or something. It didn’t matter what I did. I simply needed to get my mind off Arang. Strikingly gorgeous and unexpectedly creative Arang, who had abs of steel and eyes darker than the night sky. God, why did he have to be such an asshole, especially after he made me feel like we were meant to be?
Since my feet were sandy, I picked up my sweatshirt and shoes, then headed to the nearest bathroom. While I was in a shower stall, I heard footsteps and nearly slipped over in shock. For a moment, I contemplated whether to turn the shower off. Then I decided it was too late for that. Besides, whoever had walked in had no idea I was the person standing behind the locked door.
“No. I’m not busy. What have I been up to? Well, I went yachting today,” said the man who’d entered the bathroom.
For a second, I presumed somebody else was with him and expected to hear a response. However, when I heard his voice again, I deduced that he was on the phone.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m working on it, Executive Song,” the man grumbled.
The last two words made me choke on my own saliva. Luckily, the man seemed too distracted by his conversation to notice. Once I caught my breath, I forced myself to crouch down and take a peep from the gap beneath the shower door. My legs shook as I imagined the man bending down and staring right back at me like a slasher movie villain. Nevertheless, curiosity had gotten the better of me; I didn’t stop.
Thankfully, no one was creepily waiting to make eye contact with me. However, I was just as paralyzed with fear as I would’ve been had that been the case. Rye was standing by the sink. He was holding up his phone with one hand and scratching his handlebar mustache with the other. Just a single glance at the mirror, and he could’ve spotted me peering at him from under the shower door.
I squeezed my eyes shut and bit the inside of my lip as I stood up properly. Rye had no idea I was here with him, so I was safe. Plus, he wasn’t going to stay in here forever. There was nothing to get worked up about.
“The students, well, they’re teenagers first and students second. Those boys are always finding new ways to entertain themselves—and the audience too.” Rye guffawed. “I guarantee you they’re going to lose their shit when they find out they get to have dinner with you to celebrate the end of this semester. At least, the ten students that make it that far. The eliminated contestants are going to be jealous. It would be hilarious if we got their angry reactions on camera.”
My mouth dropped open. For months—no, years—I’d been dying to know how I could meet Executive Song in person, preferably without anyone else around. After skipping class and mucking around at the beach, the answer had pretty much dropped from the sky and landed in my hands.
Ten minutes later, I left the bathroom as a changed woman, no joke. I was no longer going to let myself get distraught over my heartbreak or the constant bullying. There was no time for me to mope around anymore. I had a mission to complete and it was going to take a shit ton of hard work.
Chapter 29
Honey
An alarm clock going off at the wrong time is nothing unusual, right? It’s the kind of mistake anyone could make. Back in middle school, one of my roommates accidentally set her alarm to 2:10 instead of 7:10. The other girls totally flipped out—they went so far as to slash her bedsheets the next day. Of course, I didn’t enjoy waking up to beeps and screams either, but I thought they went too far over an understandable blunder.
Anyway, point being, I shouldn’t have been so damn disoriented over waking up to an obnoxious siren coming from a dynamite alarm clock at 3:00 a.m. Juno had slipped up. I could turn off his clock and head back to bed. It was no big deal. Until I remembered he wasn’t around anymore. There was also the fact that he used to own a plain white alarm clock, not one that was shaped like a bundle of dynamite sticks. Bloody hell. For a second, I thought it was a real explosive and considered jumping out the window.
I didn’t even bother to try and figure out who was responsible for this. There were so many suspects, and I was busy working toward my goal. Although I woke up feeling groggy hours later, I pulled the alarm clock apart, threw it into a bathroom trash can, and promptly forgot about the incident. Then it happened again. And again. And yet again. For four days in a row, I woke up at three in the morning.
Jesus, just how many alarm clocks did the asshat behind this prank have on him? On the fifth night, I decided I’d had enough. I was determined to stay up and see who the hell had been sneaking into my room.
This was easier said than done though. After hours of preparing for the upcoming assessment in the dance studio, not to mention the fact that I’d previously had four nights of shoddy sleep, I basically had to keep my eyelids pulled up with my fingers to stop myself from nodding off. Strangely enough, nobody came into the room. I wondered if it was because they could tell that my bedroom lights were still on through the slightest crack under the door. Once three o’clock came and passed, I vowed to keep my bedroom light on overnight for the time being and drifted off to sleep with a smug smile on my face.
As soon as I got up, I realized I must’ve smiled too soon. The bloody bastard had outsmarted me. My surroundings were pitch black and eerily silent. It was like I’d been put in solitary confinement. After I slowly walked around the room with my arms out, I managed to turn the light back on.
The curtains had been sealed shut with black duct tape, while every wall was covered in egg cartons taped onto cardboard boxes.
“Fuck,” I screeched, stomping my feet. “Where are you? Can you hear me? Fuck you!”
It was no use. I was completely alone. When I checked the time, I realized the shithead was probably having dinner. I’d missed my classes by spending the entire day in bed.
My body trembled with anger. For the past few weeks, I’d poured my heart and soul into the upcoming assessment. Every night, I came back to my room drenched in sweat with aching limbs. Although it would be impossible for me to catch up to the other students in terms of technical ability, I felt like I owed it to the Minis—the people who’d not only taken an interest in me but had gone as far as to create a fan club—to give the last performance of the semester my all.
This time, I didn’t want sympathy votes or brownie points
for being the quirky outcast. I was adamant about showing the world why my fans had given me a chance in spite of my flaws and earning myself a spot in the top ten. Childish attempts to interfere with my schedule and quality of sleep were not going to be tolerated.
Lucky for me, I still had one of the master key cards. The prick behind the prank probably thought he was brilliant for sneaking into my room. It was time for him to get a taste of his own medicine.
In theory, anyone on Starsaw Island could’ve been responsible for this situation. However, there were two suspects in particular that stood out to me. Two boys who relished in seeing me struggle more than anyone else and had friends who could’ve helped them out. Of course, the more dangerous and vicious of them was RJ, while Mas was his weaker counterpart.
I tapped my fingers against my window as I watched the sunset. Tonight would be a night to remember. I could feel it in my bones. Even though my “weapon” of choice was a seemingly dinky little nail plier I had lying around, I’d seen the girls at South Devil’s utilize the simple tool in numerous ways.
Whose room was I going to break into first? That was an easy choice to make. Hello? Mas lived down the hallway from me, while RJ’s suite was over in the west wing. Plus, I’m not going to lie, if RJ was a savage tiger, Mas was nothing but a cheeky tomcat.
When I arrived in front of Mas’s room, I took a quick glance around to make sure nobody was watching. Then I knocked on the door as if I were one of his friends coming by to hang out. Since it was Friday night, I presumed he was out drinking with his friends. Still, I got ready to dart down the hallway in case he did end up coming to the door. After knocking once more and waiting to see if there was a response, I fished my master key card out of my pocket.
Mas’s room was a freaking pigsty. Seriously. As soon as I stepped in, I realized any attempt to create a mess would have a negligible effect on the preexisting chaos. His roommate was an epsilon student who’d gotten eliminated during the first round of votes, so he had the entire place to himself, yet there wasn’t a single organized corner. Apparently, I was wrong to assume that a guy like him—with dozens of designer hoodies and limited-edition sneakers—would keep his stuff organized nicely. There were dirty white socks and even a silk necktie carelessly thrown into the pile of shoes next to the door.
After I walked over to his bed, I saw a big cardboard box and looked in it. Just as I thought, the dynamite alarm clocks were in there; he’d ordered them in bulk. I took out the remaining ones from their individual boxes, turned them on, and set alarms in thirty-minute intervals starting from five o’clock in the morning. Hopefully, he’d be back here by then. I proceeded to go to town with hiding the alarm clocks around the room—in every drawer where there was space, at the bottom of his laundry basket, and even under the spare mattress.
Once I closed the individual boxes to make it seem like they’d never been opened and put them back in the cardboard box, I chuckled to myself. I wasn’t quite done with him though.
Now, here was the million-dollar question. What was this spoiled, wasteful jerk’s most prized possession? From the looks of it, he seemed to own most things a teenager could want and money could buy. Additionally, since our digital devices had been confiscated, it wasn’t as if I could throw his phone and laptop out the window.
I mean, I knew what some of the most expensive items Mas had brought with him were. There was a Vacheron Constantin skeleton watch on his desk. While I was immediately drawn to it, my poor ass felt sick at the thought of breaking something so extortionately priced. If we’d been in Duvil, I would’ve been tempted to steal it off him and take it to a pawnshop.
Then I laid my eyes on his royal-blue alpha T-shirt and baseball cap. Unlike his designer clothes and accessories, these two items were placed neatly above his drawers with nothing flung over them. Bingo. I’d found two things worth more than their weight in gold, at least to him.
I didn’t waste another second before I took out my nail pliers and slashed the fabric.
“Evil bastard,” I hissed as I put the pliers down and began ripping the fabric apart with my hands.
Next, I attempted to tear Mas’s baseball cap apart with the pliers. However, I couldn’t cut through this as easily. Once I turned the baseball cap upside down, I went and grabbed a bottle of whiskey I’d come across in one of his drawers. After I opened it, I took a massive gulp before pouring the rest into his baseball cap. When the liquid started dripping onto the floor, I hurriedly scanned the filthy room as I tried to think of the best place to leave the baseball cap and T-shirt.
A minute later, I went over to the spare bed and lifted the mattress. It was where I’d placed the alarm clock that would go off last. The remains of his T-shirt and baseball cap could be my special surprise for him. I’d essentially set up a treasure hunt. Perfect.
When I got up the following day, it was around ten in the morning. I headed over to the dining hall without bothering to wash my face or change out of my pajamas. As I opened the door, two students came out. To my delight, there was nobody else left inside.
I took my time to grab what I wanted from the breakfast buffet. Those five minutes were bliss. However, just as I pulled off a banana from a bunch, the door swung open.
“Hamin motherfucking Han!” Mas barked as he charged toward me.
Even though I knew there was a ninety-nine percent chance of me being punched in the face, I smirked.
“How dare you,” he muttered, holding up a blue ball of fabric. Yup. It was his beloved T-shirt alright.
“You shouldn’t have messed with me,” I said.
“So you want to teach me a goddamn lesson?” he snapped.
“Why not? Someone has to do it,” I retorted with a shrug.
“Get down on your knees.”
“What?” My face burned. For a moment, I thought Arang must’ve been going around telling people I’d given him head back when we were stranded in a log cabin.
“Hamin, get down on your knees and apologize, goddammit!”
“And what? Kiss your foot too?” I snarled, feeling more ballsy upon realizing Mas wasn’t aware of what I’d done with Arang.
“Yeah. That too.” Mas snickered. “By the way, have you heard from your old pal Juno lately? I heard he can’t sing anymore. Hell, he can’t even talk properly now.”
“You did that to him?” I faltered.
“That’s right. And I can do it to you too,” he replied before roaring with laughter.
Was he telling me the truth? Had he been one of the two masked intruders? It wasn’t that I expected better from him. Duh. I knew he was a selfish, cruel prick. However, I just didn’t understand why he wanted to go after Juno of all people. Seeing as Juno hadn’t done particularly well in the first round of votes, I presumed Mas wasn’t jealous of him. Why did Mas do it then? Had there been some type of beef going on between the two of them? That didn’t seem likely either, considering the fact that Mas had been in the alpha class while Juno had been in the beta class.
“Don’t make me repeat myself. I told you to get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness!” Mas yelled, picking up the banana from my tray and waving it in my face.
“Wow. A banana. How terrifying,” I muttered.
He swiftly pinned me down on the ground and yanked my mouth open.
“Hey!” I shouted, grimacing at the taste of his grubby finger on my tongue.
“Eat up,” Mas hissed as he shoved the banana into my mouth.
I squealed as I tried to fight him off. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t even budge. Crap. Was this how I was going to meet my death? With a banana shoved down my throat. Really? My eyes watered once I felt the banana hit my gag reflex.
“What the fuck are you doing?” someone growled.
Within seconds, Mas was grabbed by the shoulder and pushed off me. When I got a look at the person who’d thrown Mas off me as if he were no heavier than a Chihuahua, I was at a loss for words.
“This is unacceptable.
Do you hear me?” Arang said to Mas, knocking him down onto the floor.
“O-Okay,” Mas stuttered, taken aback by the turn of events.
“Jesus, did you wake up this morning and decide you wanted to get kicked off the island today?” Arang sighed. “Dude, apologize to Hamin.”
“What? No,” Mas protested.
“In that case, why don’t we head over to PD Oakland and tell him you nearly killed another contestant?” Arang said.
“Fine.” Mas got up and turned to me. “I’m sorry I shoved a banana in your mouth, dude.”
“I hate you,” I said.
“Okay. Can I go now?” Mas asked Arang.
“I’m keeping an eye on you, Mas. This is the only second chance you’re going to get. You’ll be sorry if I so much as hear rumors that you’re stirring shit up.” Arang punched Mas on the chest. “Get the hell out of here before I change my mind.”
Mas scurried out of the dining hall like a goddamn rat crossing the street.
“Goddammit, Hamin,” Arang muttered as he offered me a hand up.
“Thanks,” I said, half-expecting him to lash out at me.
“Why does life have to be so complicated?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say that. I’m the piece of shit who should be apologizing. Hamin, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to do,” he groaned, cupping my cheek.
Although there weren’t tears flowing down his face, his eyes were filled with pain. I could tell that, deep down, a part of him was crying.
Chapter 30
Honey
I was a poor nobody. I was ugly. I was a friendless loner. Hell, people had called me countless different names that were far worse than any of those. However, there was one thing I refused to be. I was not a quitter, goddammit. Once upon a time, I’d been an invisible, neglected member of society. Now that I had my own following and access to opportunities thousands of other teenagers would die for, I had to make the most of my situation.