You're My Target

Chapter 24

the weekend was over, and monday had arrived. Troy walked into school feeling great, still riding high after his date with Soyeon. he walked confidently down the hall. he was wearing the jacket Soyeon gave him proudly. Troy went to his locker, by his home room, while walking he noticed Qri talking to what appeared to be a boy from behind, with short dark hair. it looked as if Qri was fixing or playing with the students hair. Troy noted that this "man" was in a female school uniform and couldn't actually be a man. as he looked on curiously, he made eye contact with Qri. she waved at him casually. Troy smiled and waved back. the student with Qri turned around. Troy made brief eye contact with them, before turning to open his locker. he then quickly did a double take and looked at the student again. he thought he was mistaken, but the student was certainly Hwayoung, who had cut her hair really short!

Troy was totally shocked. Qri and Hwayoung walked over to him."didnt recognize me huh." Hwayoung said standing perkily in front of him.

"no, not at all." Troy said looking her over.

"is it too short?" hwayoung said running her hand through her hair. her long wavy hair was now almost as short as Troys.

"no, it looks really nice on you. i like it a lot." Troy said approving her change

"it does suit you pretty good." Qri told her.

"was there a reason?" Troy asked.

"i just felt like it i guess." Hwayoung replied. "wanted to try something new."

"well you look great." troy nodded. "and welcome back by the way. we missed you."

"thanks Troy." Hwayoung said playfully punching him on the arm.

"i'm gonna head to my homeroom now alright?" Qri said to them.

"okay." Hwayoung and troy said at the same time.

"say hi to soyeon for me." troy winked as he put his jacket in the locker.. qri just smiled.

"so how are you 2 getting along?" hwayoung asked as they walked to the homeroom door.

"good. good." troy said nodding his head up and down slowly. "we went out saturday and it was nice."

"i saw you were wearing Juns old jacket." hwayoung said, holding back a smirk.troy was about to sit down at his desk but stopped in his tracks hearing hwayoungs words.

"she said it was her.. fathers." troy said turning his head slowly to hwayoung.

"nope. it was Juns. i know youre gona say its too small to be his, but he was small like you before he got too buff to wear it." hwayoung said shaking her head.

"she.. gave me... juns.. jacket...." troy said in disbelef.

"no, im just kidding." hwayoung said smacking him in the back and then sitting down at the desk beside troy.troy looked like he wanted to throw up. "relax i sai dit was a joke. sit down." hwayoung said pulling him down to his desk seat.

"dont say things like that." troy said breathing heavily.

"and its not her fathers either, so she did kinda lie." hwayoung told him.

"actually hearing that makes me feel better." troy said sounding relieved. his face less tense. "i felt wrong wearing her dads jacket, you know?"

"i can see how you feel that way, but its a jacket she went out and got for you one day." hwayoung said. "not sure why she said it was her fathers."

"so, she got me a gift." troy thought, suddenly feeling happy.

"yup." hwayoung nodded.troy smiled. knowing soyeon got something for him, made him feel extra special.jiyeon came in the classroom, she was followed by some of her fanboys. she smiled and waved to hwayoung. hwayoung smiled and waved back, as jiyeon went to her seat.

"so you guys are cool now?" troy asked.

"yea, why wouldnt we be?" hwayoung asked him suspiciously.

"oh, no reason. forget it." troy said not wanting to reveal he was snooping on them in the bathroom that day.

"we dont have sit next to each other all the time. we aren't attached at the hip." Hwayoung said with a little bit of an attitude, flipping her hair.

"i know! calm down. i said forget it." troy said trying to ease the situation.they were interrupted by the bell ringing, signaling the start of homeroom/school.just then the homeroom teacher came in. he was followed by a female student, she was wearing a blue uniform, and her bright, almost orange hair was tightly pulled back in a bun...."oh yea, that's right. we got fresh meat starting today." Hwayoung joked, pointing to the new girl. Troy turned and his eyes widened to the point they hurt.

"alright everyone, we have a new student joining us today." the teacher announced to them.the student bowed graciously. "hello everyone, my name is Areum, its so nice to meet you all, and be living in such a nice new place..."

"no way..." Troy mumbled to himself in a stupor almost drooling. "is that..."

"troy, what is wrong with you." Hwayoung said slapping him in the arm.

"im looking forward to getting to know you all and becoming friends." areum addressed the room. "and if you are all like your classmate Troy then i dont think we should have any problem doing just that."
Areum was looking directly at troy.

Hwayoung quickly turned her head to Troy as well, giving him a wide eyed stare as well."nice to meet you Areum!" the class said together. Areum bowed again and found an empty chair to sit in.

"i don't believe this." Troy said flabbergasted.

"who is she!? how do you know her?" Hwayoung said hitting troy in the arm repeatedly.

"that's what i want to know!" Troy said coming out of his daze and swatting away hwayoungs hand.

"dont give me that." Hwayoung said. "shes an ex-girlfriend isn't she?" she looked at him with an angry scowl.

"i swear! i met her once before and she knew me but i have no idea how!" Troy said, he was checking to see if the new girl Areum was looking at him. she looked up and saw troy looking at her and waved at him with an big eye smile.

"oh great." Troy said quickly ducking and covering his head with his arms.

"something doesn't add up here." Hwayoung said rubbing her chin.

"just wake me up when the day is over. im gonna pass out." troy said wearily.

Troy refused to move for the remainder of homeroom. he was hoping this new girl "Areum" wasn't really in a new student and he was just dreaming. he couldnt reveal any suspicion he had about her, especially to Hwayoung, it would only fuel her beliefs, which troy was trying to put to rest. troy tried to convince himself it was all an over reaction, that this girl was just an ordinary, albeit strange, girl. but there was something about the look in her eye that gave troy a feeling that made him doubtful...after the rocky start to his day in homeroom, the rest of the day didnt go bad at all, just slowly with all that troy had on his mind. when the day finally ended troy got home to his apartment and sat up on his couch. he picked up the phone and dialed Mou's number. it rang a few times and he picked up.

"whats up?" Mou asked him, answering.

"have you seen Lt Chad at all today." Troy asked him.

"no , why do you ask."

"just wanted to see if you guys were monitoring any abnormal activity on your fancy scanners." Troy said.

"nothing new i guess. usually he will contact me if he notices anything. if you want i can have him contact you. cut out the middle man." Mou suggested.

"no, its better if i go through you. its been working like this, no need to change it or get sloppy." Troy replied.

"is there a reason why you asked about Chad, did you observe or find anything out?" Mou asked.

"i told you about a strange girl i saw not long ago right, well today shes apparently a new student on the school." Troy explained.

"so if shes new, she wasn't just a student you never noticed before.." Mou added

"yea, but she knew me by name and i dont know i just get a strange vibe." Troy thought. "and if you're getting odd readings it doesn't help my suspicion."

"so you think shes a target?" Mou asked.

"no, i think shes straight up 100% all natural Elementian." troy said boldly.

"that doesn't seem likely." Mou replied skeptical.

"and why not?" Troy asked.

"Troy elementians have lived in secrecy and seclusion for how long now? their existence is believed to be myth and/or legend, very few places anymore actually believe they exist or ever existed." Mou said loudly through the phone. "if more people were aware of them, then your devil-man rumors in your school and town wouldn't be rumors at all. they'd be 'there was a flaming elementian in town today'. do you really think a random actual elementian would show up out of the blue like this?"

"they would if they are after the same thing we are after." Troy said, having a good point. "they've done it before."

"well. you could be right about that but, i still don't know." Mou thought. "i think if they were here and after something, or should i say someone they'd be making moves by now. don't know if they'd be putting on a charade and doing all this..."

"Mou do we really have to do all this? couldn't we just stuff any potential mark we had in the trunk of a car or in the back of a van and take off?" troy said disgruntled.

"well, when you say it like that, isn't that what we are already doing?" Mou confessed. "when you had to gun down the last mark did you think we were gonna let him stop at home if he had come along peacefully? let him say 'bye mom and dad ill be home when these people are done experimenting on me like a guinea pig?'"Troy stayed silent."no we were gonna load him up take him back with us and pull you out right after, and that's that." mou said a bit coldly.

"i guess you're right." Troy sighed.

"you know im right. you know we have to do it this way. unfortunately we dont have the ability to pinpoint the target like say elementians might be able to. we have to do it this way, or should we just start shoving every person into a van? is that really what you want us to do Troy?" mou said harshly. keep your eyes on this new girl. elementian or not. and just continue to observe everyone. we're close to something i can tell. we wont mess it up this time either. ill let you go." Mou hung up the phone

Troy had taken what Mou said hard. he was fooling himself all along. lying to himself. he knew why he came, what would happen to Jang had he been taken alive. there wasnt going to be a happy ending no matter what. in fact troy started to think he did Jang a favor by shooting him. let him be remembered as a hero of sorts, instead of being taken away from his home in tragedy and treated like an animal and subject to whatever tests mou, chad and whoever had in store for him.troy had become attached to the people, the place. it wasnt just about his mission anymore. there was more involved at this point. troy wasnt sure what to do anymore, feeling like he had dug himself into a hole he couldnt get out of.