Future Traded Yestoday

14

I can't tell if it's because our paths don't cross as much, whoever's controlling us doesn't want us together as much anymore, or if being on separate floors is enough to do this to us. Whatever the reason, we haven't seen the other portion of our group in what feels like forever.

We heard just not too long ago that the lineup for whatever they were preparing for had changed, replacing the guy from the other class with the guy who claims he's my dad. Most of our information comes from the Thai guy when we run into him at the dorm.

If we're even awake at the time he comes back.

The older Chinese guy has been, by far, a better supplier of information when he's been pulled for one of the projects. Apparently he's participating in the Chinese version of a song, but other than that, he's been stuck with us.

And when I say stuck, I mean we are stuck here. They don't allow us to go out very often and they've been reserving their resources for whatever the other portion of us is doing.

We've been brought to the gym a couple of times to work out and we have been brought to the practice room at least twice a week, but other than that we've been in the dorm.

At first we talked with each other a whole lot. We tried helping the older Chinese guy with his Korean as much as we could, but for the most part we just talked. Me, my best friend and the youngest.

Then we ran out of things to talk about and my best friend retreated back to his games on his phone and staying in our room. Which left me and the youngest to play games in our shared space. The older Chinese guy would join us or do his own thing, but then we learned he could cook.

He tried teaching us a couple of times, but only my best friend knew what he was doing in the kitchen. At least I wasn't as helpless as our youngest.

Sometimes, when he could, the kid the same age as me would come from his dorm and hang out with us when he could escape. He didn't tell us much more of what was going on than what the Thai guy told us when we saw him, but we'd never complain about him coming.

Apparently some of the other guys were stuck in their dorm too.

Then one day, as we were busy beating each other at a racing game, the Thai guy came running into the dorm in the middle of the day. He never came back during the middle of the day.

He ran around excitedly, saying we were all going to watch the release at the school. He almost ran into my best friend as he came out of his room trying to see what was going on.

The Thai guy then ran into his room, came back with different clothes and a hat over his new hairstyle we may have teased him for at some point. He stopped running around when he noticed we were still watching him without moving, the game already having declared that we lost because of our distraction.

At this point he started dragging us up and telling us we're going to the school, but some of us had never changed from what we slept in, so we needed a minute to get ready ourselves. The extra time at least gave him a moment to have a snack. Who knows how much he's been able to eat with his schedule.

When we were finally ready to go, he practically dragged us to the elevator. The others were already in the building lobby ready for whoever was coming to get us.

Some of them had very interesting hairstyles now and there was no way we weren't mentioning it.

The same three vans that dropped us off here were what took us back to the school, everyone mingling together as much as possible so we could catch up. The guy who claims to be my dad was right next to me the whole time and I was glad for it.

Being told we were going back to the school didn't quite register in my mind until we got there. All I could imagine were all the stares we were going to get for even coming back.

Instead, as we ushered ourselves into the cafeteria, the student population that was shoved in there started celebrating. They pushed us to the front of the crowd where a screen had been set up for a projector, and the principal was standing right in front of us.

The cafeteria went silent as he started talking into a microphone, applauding everyone for their efforts to make this happen and ensuring this will be the start of something wonderful. It was at this moment I learned that the other students were being trained in directing, styling, and everything involved around performers.

The Canadian then came up behind me and put his arm around my shoulder and the other around the guy claiming to be my dad. The projector whirred to life and speakers were turned on, silencing the room more than it already was.

I didn't know what we had been waiting for to appear until it did.

A music video titled "The 7th Sense" started playing. Apparently the video had just been uploaded and we were watching it for the first time along with the rest of the world.

I couldn't stop staring at them on the screen as everything they had worked for was displayed. I knew the room around me was erupting in cheers as parts came up, but I only heard it once the song ended and it felt like the whole world around me was celebrating.

Here it was. Everything they'd ever worked for and dreamed of. And I couldn't be happier for them.

A few days later we were brought back to the school for the release of "Without You," all of us questioning why the really good Chinese dancer was on the bus. But it was beautiful and everything I hadn't expected because I had no idea what was going on.

And yet there it was, the start of our future we traded our previous lives for.