Chapter 1 (1/1)

The car smoothly comes to a stop in front of a large illuminated hangar owned by the family of one of the senior students. From my side of the window, I can already see some of the early-birdie students with their luggage propped beside them while Mom’s side shows the long stretch of the wide tarmac. A yawn escapes my lips and I’m reminded that it was only quarter to six in the morning, not really my style of wake-up time.“Be careful, alright?” Mom reminds me for the umpteenth time since this morning. Apparently, she’s very much worried for me because it’s the first time that I’ll be away for a week on my own. “Call us after you landed on your destination.”I smile at her. “Don’t worry, Mom, I’m a big girl now. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen on a summer camp aside from running out of marshmallows for smores?”She laughs before ruffling my hair and saying, “I should have offered one of our resorts instead; it’s much safer there.”“Too late now,” I shrug with a grin. “I’ll just send you a photo once we get there; I heard it’s a gorgeous mansion on a virgin remote island somewhere in the east.”“Owned by the Kims?” Mom asks.“Yep, Taeyon’s Dad won the votes against the other places offered for our camp,” I say. Mom and Dad are too busy that time to join the Parents and Teachers meeting to offer one of our resorts.Mom sighs but before she could open her mouth to voice out her regrets again, a tap on my side of the window interrupts us. I turn and see Do Kyungsoo’s smiling face as he waves at us.I roll down the window and greet him, “Good morning, Kyunggie!”Kyungsoo is a childhood friend of mine and the one I’m closest to among my circle of friends.“Hi, Youngjoo,” he greets me with his signature heart-shaped grin before shifting his gaze to my Mom, “Good morning Mrs. Song.”“Oh, good morning, Kyungsoo,” she greets back, obviously charmed by my best friend’s cuteness again, “Haven’t seen you in a while.”He bashfully rubs the back of his neck and say, “A little busy with school.”“And your weekly culinary and baking lesson,” I add teasingly with a snicker which earned me a blush from his squishy cheeks, “You see, Mom, our Kyungsoo here wants to perfect his skills in the kitchen.”“Well, it’s good for him since they own a chain of restaurants,” Mom says to me before turning to Kyungsoo. “Do your best, dear, and do drop by our house when you have time. I’ll look forward to your cooking.”“Sure, Mrs. Song,” he nods and smiles sheepishly before opening my door. “Let’s go?”I lean over and kiss her on the cheek before getting off the car. “I’ll miss you,” I say before closing the door as Kyungsoo gathers my duffel bag and one small suitcase from the back seat. “Please, look after her Kyungsoo,” she says. “You know how clumsy she gets sometimes.”“Mom!” I whine as they both laugh at me.“You can count on me, Mrs. Song,” Kyungsoo says with a deep chuckle.“Call us okay?” she reminds me again, “I love you!”“Love you, too, Mom! Bye, drive safely!” I wave her goodbye and watch her drive away.I retrieve my duffel from Kyungsoo and sling it over my shoulder but he insists that he carry my suitcase.“You only have a backpack?” I ask him as we walk towards the hangar where the other seniors wait for the others. I’m amazed that all of his clothes and stuffs are able to fit in his rather large and heavy-looking backpack. “How were you able to fit your things in there?”“It’s called talent, Youngjoo ,” he winks playfully at me.“You should totally teach me some tricks,” I ride along his joke and we both laugh.As we stand on one side of the hangar slowly filling in with students, another yawn escapes my lips making my eyes teary. We are fifteen minutes earlier than the call time. A few minutes had just passed and boredom is already killing me but since I’m not yet in the mood to talk, I opted putting on my headphones before pulling out a lollipop from my pocket. I close my eyes and bop my head along Tori Kelly’s Dear No One, sucking on the sweet candy for less than a minute before it is rudely yanked from my mouth. My eyes snap open as I hastily pull off my headphones and search for the culprit.“Good morning, sweetheart,” Jackson Wang greets me with a mischievous smile on his lips that are now around my lollipop, wisps of his platinum blonde hair peeking from under his black snapback with big bold letters that spell S-W-A-G written across it.I scowl at him and say, “Remind me again why I’m friends with someone like you?”“Because I’m wild, sexy, hot and simply irresistible,” he winks at me before adding, “And most of all, it’s because you love me.”“That’s so freaking cheesy so I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” I deadpan before pulling out another lollipop from my pocket. From past experiences, I am now an expert on how to ignore Jackson’s silly attempts on flirting with me.Jackson is another part of my circle of friends, the biggest flirt of the group— a flirt since birth. I don’t exactly remember how I’m friends with him; it’s just that one day I woke up and found out we’re already hanging out together. People say that we’re an odd group because we all have nothing in common besides studying in East Sky High and belonging in rich families— which I actually agree to.“Didn’t you miss me?” Jackson asks me, batting his eyelashes in cutesy. “No,” is my flat answer before popping the candy on my mouth.He gasps dramatically before pointing the stolen lollipop accusingly at me. “Oh my stress! Are you having a secret affair with another man?! Are you cheating on me?!”I roll my eyes and Kyungsoo is the one who answers for me. “There’s nothing and no one to cheat, Jackson,” he says like he’s talking to a five year old. “Have you taken your meds? You’re being delusional again.”I have to snicker at Kyungsoo’s jab while Jackson crosses his arms and pouts sulkily. “You are so mean, Kyunggie,” Jackson whines before a hand smacks him behind the head. “Ouch!” he whips his head angrily at the offender, ready to lash out, but the moment he sees who it actually is, his eyes widen and I bet, if he has a tail, it would surely be between his legs by now because standing in front of him is the one and only Krystal Jung with one of her perfect eyebrows raised high.“Got a problem, kid?” she asks icily and when Jackson only shrinks back and whimpers in response she let out a smug smile before walking over to me. “Isn’t he too noisy?” she sweetly asks me before latching onto my arm with a sugary smile. “Good morning, my dear Youngjoo!”“Talk about bi-polar,” Jackson murmurs from his place beside Kyungsoo who just smiles in amusement. Unfortunately for him, Krystal heard him.“You sayin’ something, Jackson?” she says menacingly, making Jackson dart behind Kyungsoo before he squeaks out a small “Nothing!”Krystal is like that to all of the males who make moves on me everytime and although Jackson is part of our clique, he’s not exempted from her snarky side.“Thought so,” she says with a roll of her eyes before turning back to me, her pretty eyes twinkling again. “Oh yeah, Youngjoo, we’ll be roommates, okay?”“Sure,” I say with a shrug and an amused smile.“Oh my gosh! I’m so excited!” she squeals.Krystal and I are the only girls in our odd group. To be honest, I don’t have any idea how we ended up being friends because we’re the total opposite. While she’s an absolute stylish chic, I’m more of a shirt and jeans kind of a girl. She’s a party girl while I’m more of a home-buddy. She breathes fashion and shopping while I breathe books and novels. She’s got a boyfriend (a handsome college boy named Kyuhyun) while I’ve been single since birth. She’s the cheerleading captain while I’m always at the bleachers during games. We really have nothing in common but strangely, we gravitated towards each other after that one time I saw her crying under a tree when were still in middle school. That time, I offered her a handkerchief to dry her tears which she refused at first, but after I told her that I didn’t use it yet, she finally accepted it. She had a small wound on her knee and because I don’t have any bandage with me during those times, I pulled my silk hair ribbon and tied it on her bleeding wound. I smiled at her and left her alone with herself after I made sure that she’s okay. I thought that that was the last time I’m going to see her but I’m proven wrong because the next day, she approached me on the cafeteria while I was eating with Kyungsoo and claimed that I am her new bestfriend which really surprised me and our whole grade because apparently, Krystal was really popular among the students and I’m just…another face in the crowd. So, that’s how our friendship began.“Good morning, Earthlings!” a deep booming voice resonates throughout the hangar and even without looking, I already who the noisy person is.Every head turn towards the entrance as a brown-haired hyperactive kid strides in along with another tall boy whose face is concealed by his large jacket hood, almost as if he’s embarrassed being seen walking alongside the other boy who’s wearing a mega-watt smile that would make the sun want to hit the gym.“Mark looks like he wants to climb in a hole and die,” Jackson snickers as the two newcomers approach us.“No shit, Jack, I really wanna do that right now,” Mark Tuan grumbles under his breath as he pushes the hood off his blonde hair that is a shade darker than Jackson’s. He drops his suitcase beside ours and he looks exhausted already. “Taehyung’s energy is draining all of mine.”“How come you sound so tired this early in the morning?” I ask him.“I bet Mr. Genius is up all night finishing the science report given yesterday by Mrs. Kang,” Krystal guesses and when Mark only glares at her, we all know that she is right.“But isn’t the deadline, like, three weeks from now?” Kyungsoo says as he shot a disbelieving look at Mark.“That’s nothing to be surprised about, Soo,” Jackson says as a matter-of-factly. “That’s Mark Tuan for you.”“Hey guys! What’s with the gloomy aura?” Kim Taehyung, one of the energizers of the group, asks as he stands beside us and when I say stand, I mean he keeps on rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet— this kid can’t really stay still to save his life. “Have the aliens sucked all your energy?” then he snaps his fingers, “Oh, do you think aliens are true? What about ghosts? Do you think there are ghosts on the mansion where will be staying? Do you want to go ghost hunting with me, guys? Come on, I’m sure it’ll be fun!”His randomness is surely sucking all my energy.“Anyway, where’s my twin?” he asks pertaining to the last person that would complete our circle. They are not really blood-related twins but they are kind of look alike, especially their weird but absolutely cute rectangular smiles. Their hyper activeness also matches each other and they think alike most of the times that’s why they are dubbed as the “Twins”.As if on cue, Taehyung’s ‘twin’ comes strolling in, waving energetically at us.“Okay, here comes another overly-excitable puppy,” Kyungsoo says and I couldn’t agree more.“Yo people, Byun Baekhyun in the house!” he hollers as he walks towards us and I almost face-palm as he shoots hearts at the girls and fist-bumps the boys he passes by.“Why am I friends with these people?” Krystal groans beside me and I can’t help but giggle.I look around my friends and wonder if we really are an odd mix; Krystal, the It-Girl and cheerleading squad captain; Kyungsoo, the quiet, all-rounder and ever caring bestfriend; Jackson, the flirt but absolutely a loyal protective friend; Mark, the cold, aloof and mysterious closet geek; Taehyung, the child-like, whimsical random kid; Baekhyun, the social-butterfly, mischievous, prank-loving boy and then there’s me, the average girl who loves food, novels and music.Yep, there’s no doubt, we really are an odd mix.It’s already six in the morning and almost every senior and teachers are already present. Near the entrance I see our student council body huddled in a loose circle together with the teachers, perhaps finalizing everything before we set on our journey. The theme for this year’s summer camp is yet to be revealed as it is being organized by the student council body, though the seniors had also a participation in the planning by submitting our theme-suggestions to them. It’s different every year and it’s up to the council to pick out the most unique, interesting and fun theme among the proposals.While Krystal is busy on her phone, Kyungsoo is busy keeping Baekhyun and Taehyung in check like a mother with her two naughty children. Jackson is busy annoying the hell out of Mark who keeps on pointedly ignoring him while I keep myself busy with my music and my lollipop.A few minutes later, Kris Wu, the future successor of Wu Airlines, steps in front and announces that the private planes are all prepared and ready. We are going to use three of their private aircrafts, two for the students and one for the faculties. Everybody whoop and cheer as excitement ripples among the student body. Even the ever-cold Mark Tuan cracks a smile, the enthusiasm of the others seeping through him as well.“Okay, everyone, up, up, up!” one of our teachers claps her hand with high-spirit. “Let’s get this camp started!”“This will be fun,” Mark says, slinging an arm around me with one of his rare smiles.“Definitely,” Jackson stands on other side of me, “Especially with me around,” then he winks playfully at me.“This camp better be fun like you say because I didn’t pay a large amount of money to die of boredom on some isolated island,” Krystal says.“Don’t worry; we’ll make everything fun,” Baekhyun butts in, “Right, Tae?”Taehyung grins widely, showing rows of perfect pearly whites, as he put his thumbs up.“Uh-uh, I don’t think somebody would like your idea of fun, Baek,” Kyungsoo frowns, probably remembering the last coffee-prank the ‘twins’ did on him for fun.“Oh come on, Soo,” Baekhyun says before turning to all of us, “Everybody likes my idea of fun, right guys?”I roll my eyes and scoff, “You and your twisted idea of fun.”* * *To say that the flight is uneventful is an absolute lie of the year because it is rowdy all along. Pieces of chips fly here and there and it seems as if almost everybody can’t stay in one place. I am sitting between Krystal and Mark while Kyungsoo is unfortunately left to sit with Taehyung and Baekhyun on the row behind us. Jackson is on the seat across the aisle from Mark with two other guys from the soccer team named Luhan and Sehun. He’s friends with them because he is a new recruit on their team.There are no teachers to keep peace and order because they have their own plane— which now I realize is purposeful. Some of the student council members who are in the same plane as us seem to tolerate the ruckus— in fact; some of them even join in and I can only watch helplessly as I try to tune them out with my headphones.Beside me, Krystal is comfortably leaning against the window with her earphones plugged in and a cute pink mask over her eyes. She’s good at escaping reality. On my other side, a sleeping Mark has his hood pulled over his bowed head. I got uncomfortable in his position and thinking that he might get a stiff neck, I carefully rest his head down my shoulders. He stirs a little and I pat his head gently as he snuggle and finally find a comfortable position.I can’t really bring myself to sleep like them so I continue watching my surroundings until the captain announces that we are about to land. Everybody has enough sense to go back to their seats and fasten themselves. A few more minutes later, we have officially landed on our camp site.I wake my friends up and gather our things before piling out of the plane.However, what we see as soon as we set foot on the ground is something that never once crossed our minds.“Holy mother of cheesecake!” Jackson exclaims from beside me as his face mirrors the same look of astonishment, confusion and horror on all of our faces.I feel someone gripping tight on my hand before I’m slightly pulled back and behind Kyungsoo’s figure who is a head taller than me.“What’s happening?” Krystal whimpers as she comes up behind me, clutching tight on the back of my jacket.I could only shake my head as my voice fails me in fear because in front of us stood about twenty persons, faces hidden in scary phantom masks. But no, it’s not the mask that freezes me in terror but the sleek intimidating rifles in their arms that are all poised and aimed straight at us.This isn’t fun at all.