Chapter Eleven

My days fly by within a blink of an eye as I now juggle school, my new friends, working at my dad's restaurant, and exploring as much of Seoul I can.

I want to get more acquainted with the streets so I don't have to depend on Google or Jay to get around, I know it must be burdensome to always take me wherever it is I need to go.

Anyways, it's Friday which means it's the day of the school's music competition. Everyone has been very enthusiastic about today and I think no matter how small the competition is said to be here, there's always a buzz in response.

Not many people are performing but I do know that Bora, the twins, a couple of Jayden's classmates, and someone from class 2-3 is taking part in this competition.

For whatever reason, Jayden's been silent, occasionally giving me worried looks whenever I talk about how excited I am to participate in the competition.

I've tried asking him what's wrong but he doesn't respond. Sometimes I could swear he's about to tell me something, but then in the next minute, he changes his mind on what he's about to say. I often wonder if his confusing behaviour has anything to do with the girl he's always on the phone with and if it is, why the hell am I involved?

Right now am backstage in the school's auditorium with other performers as we get prepared for the show to start.

I haven't spotted Bora or the twins since I arrived and I wonder if they're scheduled to go first, I'm the 18th person performing and I'm already getting nervous even though the show hasn't officially started yet.

"Lana!"

At the yell of my name, I turn to see Bora making her way through the crowd of students back here. The twins are struggling behind her as well, and as soon as she draws closer I take in what she's wearing.

She has on dark cut-off shorts and fishnets stockings that does great wonders for her long creamy legs, low heeled combat boots covered her small feet and she's in a snug, cropped sleeveless turtle-neck top.

She's also wearing a large military print jacket over her top and as she enthusiastically stops before me, her copper bronze hair which is pulled into a tight ponytail bounces behind her.

"Hey, I was just wondering where you guys were?"

"We were rehearsing one last time in the dance studio, you know… for privacy." She nudges my shoulder with a sly wink.

Bora teamed up with the twins to perform and no matter how much I try to get her to open up about what song they're performing, she never caves. She believes if anyone knows about their song it would get stolen.

The twins finally approach us with sighs of relief and I notice they're dressed similar to Bora in dark ripped jeans and leather duck lace-up boots. A black fitted tee covers their lean but slightly muscled body and the same military print jacket Bora is wearing is worn over their tee.

Running my eyes over them, once again I can't help but notice how ridiculously hot they are.

"So, what number are you?" Bora asks, and I turn to show her the circular sticker on the back of my crop-top.

Like Bora, I'm also in dark jean cut-off shorts but with knee-high suede boots and a white off-shoulder crop-top. A leather harness with an attached belt is also looped through my jean shorts, and wrapped around my midriff. I let my hair fall behind me in its natural curls and put on a minimal amount of make-up. "Your no.18, lucky."

"What about you guys?" She turns and I see the same sticker plastered to the back of her jacket. "No.7." I chuckle in amusement. "Hey, at least you're not no.1."

"Oh my gosh, perish that thought!" She fakes an exaggerated shudder. "I'm nervous enough as it is and we're only no.7, just imagining being no.1 makes me feel faint."

I laugh just as music blasts from the speakers, the cheering crowd of students flow to our ears and everyone quickly rushes towards the velvet curtain acting as a cover for us who stood back here.

We watch as Mr Fletch -the foreign, acting teacher- take centre stage with a microphone in hand. He talks a bit and makes everyone laugh before getting on with the show.

As I watch people perform one by one I start to have reservations about going through with this, I mean I've never really sung, except you want to count the occasional humming or singing in the shower.

Don't get me wrong, I know I'm not bad in the singing department but I don't believe I'm anywhere near as good as everyone else here. Most of them have probably been taking singing lessons since they were kids, plus they can read music notes and know how to match scales.

The only thing I'm confident in is dancing and walking the runway, and walking the runway doesn't help me here.

Unfortunately. I'm so busy agonizing over what the hell am going to do when Bora jumps enthusiastically by my side, thereby nudging me forward with a stumble.

"It's our turn now!" She squeals, and I turn to her with an encouraging smile, the queasiness in my stomach easing a bit as I let myself be distracted. "You still nervous?"

"Unfortunately, but, I've decided not to focus on that. Instead, I'll think about how I plan on kicking it on stage with the guys."

"That's the spirit." I grin, and turn to the twins. "Good luck out there."

"Please, we don't need luck." Daejung grins confidently, he moves to stand between Bora and his brother, wrapping his arms around their shoulder. "Now come on guys, it time to show everyone what we've got."

"Hell yeah!" Byung-Ho and Bora cheer simultaneously with raised fists before the three of them bounce on stage as soon as their names are called.