Future Traded Yestoday

9

The guy who came to play with us during our free day has been occasionally pulled from class to join us. Not just because we need an even number, but we definitely think it's a whole bunch of trial rounds for him to join us.

We don't mind him coming around, we just feel bad that now he gets the same strange looks that we do in the hallways. And for that we just wished the people in charge would make up their mind quicker.

I think we'd all like him to stay, though.

It took what felt like a year for it to finally feel like he was joining our group. A new bed was moved into the room for the older guys while we were in class, but when we excitedly approached the guy about it- the Japanese guy sprinted at him and hugged him saying he was finally going to always be with his twin- he had no clue what we were talking about.

Thinking we had ruined the surprise, we went about the day pretending we hadn't said anything about it.

It wasn't strange for him not to be around during our school lessons, but when our vocal lessons turned into a mock photoshoot we thought he'd be there. Instead, we were met with a new guy awkwardly standing there waiting for us in what we assumed was the photoshoot outfit.

He stood there trying to pretend as if he wasn't very obviously nervous and awkward. The staff that had been brought in for the mock photoshoot cautiously watched our reactions, and one of them attempted to introduce us to our tenth group member.

So we completely ignored him and asked if the guy we had wanted to be waiting for us was going to be coming. We were told he wasn't, so we continued towards the rack of clothes for the photoshoot and handed each other our outfits, making towards the changing rooms.

The changing rooms were just a series of curtains to separate us from the staff, and at this point we didn't even care that we were changing in front of each other.

After helping each other make sure our outfits were straight and making sure we all looked good, our unspoken leader made us gather together. We had to be real close to each other because he started whispering, saying something along the lines of, "he's got the same dream as us," and, "we can't do anything about him joining us so we might as well be nice to him."

So we all took a deep breath, sucked it up and put on a smile even if it was fake. We were starting to perfect our fake smiles and they were getting pretty convincing.

Then we left the "changing rooms," ready for the staff to look us over to make sure we were wearing everything properly.

I was the first one ready, so I left the group and walked up to the new guy who we later learned is the same age as our Thai guy. I held out my hand for him to shake, introducing myself.

He smiled and shook my hand as the kid the same age as me teased us for being so formal. To combat the teasing, the new guy pulled me into a quick hug and whispered for me to just go with it because he needed a friend even if I was faking it.

After that we stuck with each other the whole mock photoshoot, and we all made sure to hype him up when he had some individual photos just so he could look a little less awkward. He wasn't the guy we wanted to join us, but he's really not that bad.

We were given some free time after the mock photoshoot once we finished looking over the final products, taking mental notes over our poses and facial expressions while also taking account of what the staff was saying.

Naturally, our free time was spent in the older guys' room, watching the new guy unpack his things as the kid the same age as me, the kid younger than me and the Thai guy played a racing game very aggressively. Though when the new guy started playing and let loose on his competitiveness, we all knew he was going to fit in just fine.