"I may not have a bed, but I need a place to store my things, so where can I put them?" Ari looked around at the occupants of the room.
As the room went silent with so of the other contestants looking away from him and snickering, Ari laughed sardonically before speaking coldly, "Let's try this again. I only have these two duffel bags and clearly don't have a bunk bed. Can I store my stuff underneath sobody's bunk bed, or should I go grab the caraman and repeat the question in front of him and the PD?"
At the subtle threat, 8 faces shot him angry glares, and one face looked slightly embarrassed, but Ari didn't care.
It was bad enough that the production team was making a contestant sleep on the floor, but for his roommates to selfishly take up all the room without giving him a place to put his things was completely unacceptable.
He knew he shouldn't pick a fight with the people he was rooming with, but he was a bit irritated that Suzuki Rei had put him in this position in the first place.
Plus, he wasn't one to take bullying without fighting back.
Ari t each and every one of their eyes with a fierce look until finally, a boy with tan skin and jet black hair spoke up while smiling apologetically.
"Alright, let's stop ssing with the new guy. You can put your stuff underneath my bed. I'm Vishal, by the way. Sorry about that."
"Thanks." Ari just slid his things underneath Vishal's bed and began spreading the sleeping bag on the ground in the suddenly chilly atmosphere.
Despite the room changes, he still planned on taking a nap.
At Ari's cold response that thanked one person and ignored the rest without even trying to be friends with them, the boys in the room began complaining.
"Wow, did you see how angry he got. He was going to snitch to the PD."
"Sensitive ahh kids these days. Can't take a joke."
"He's already a weirdo for wearing that strange mask with that outfit, and he's a sensitive snowflake who can't take a joke. Uhhh, get him out of here."
As they continued griping, Ari stopped spreading the sleeping bag out and stared at them.
"What was the joke?"
"Huh?"
"You said I can't take a joke, so I'm asking, where was the joke? Please explain it to cause I didn't get it. I want to laugh, too."
Ari t each of their eyes, and they were the ones who looked away first.
Exactly.
Because it wasn't funny in the first place.
They were just trying to ss around with him.
Clicking his teeth, Ari just tucked himself into the sleeping bag and fell fast asleep within seconds.
"Look at this weirdo, he just fell asleep in the middle of the room."
"How inconsiderate."
"How are we supposed to get past him?"
Harsh whispers sounded out, but Ari couldn't hear a thing as he was in dreamland.
The contestants of room F-1 stared in disbelief at the weird kid who took up the entire middle of the room with a bright orange sleeping bag and was fast asleep.
His whole body was tucked into the bag, and the only thing that was visible was a bright green plastic snail mask that clung to his face like an alien skin.
Overall, Ari looked like a strange caterpillar, and his roommates comnted as much before so of them began taking pictures of him.
"Guys don't do that." Vishal tried to stop them, finding the situation slightly uncomfortable.
"Why not? It's funny, and besides, if the caraman walked in right now, it would be captured anyway."
"Stop nagging, Vishal, we didn't get away from our parents to get nagged by you."
"Yeah bro, you're acting like my mooom."
Vishal glanced at his childish roommates before calling the most recent arrival by na to try to wake him up.
"Ari."
"What?" Like a zombie, the boy in the green face mask sat up and turned to stare.
Imdiately, the people who were recording him quickly put their phones away at the suddenly sharp green glare.
"Nothing. Go back to sleep."
"Kay."
The boy imdiately sank back down and was breathing in a soft, steady manner within seconds.
Seeing how easily Ari woke up when called, a few of the contestants in the room shot a rude glance at Vishal before chatting with each other or squeezing by to go visit friends in other rooms.
And 40 minutes later-
"Ari wake up we gotta go."
Ari imdiately snapped awake and glanced up to see Vishal reaching to shake him awake in the completely empty room.
"I'm up."
Vishal looked surprised before repeating his words.
"PD Park said we need to turn our phones in and head out."
"My alarm didn't go off?"
"I guess your phone died. Are you changing clothes?"
"No, this is fine yawnnn."
After a thorough stretch, Ari put his sneakers back on and stepped out of the room, noticing the crowd of boys milling about in different clothing than earlier.
So of them wore stylish 2-piece sets with their class shirts underneath, while others wore athletic pants with the class shirt.
The only thing was that they all carried shoes in their hands.
Seeing that everybody had an extra pair of sneakers, including Jamie, who had co looking for him, Ari grabbed his arm to ask.
"Why are you holding sneakers when you're already wearing so?"
"Hmm? Dance studios don't let you wear street shoes, so you need an extra pair. Don't tell you didn't bring any?" Jamie replied with a confused expression.
"I asked the PD what needed to be packed, and she just said black shoes for the uniform. How was I supposed to know that I needed a new pair of sneakers? I've never taken a dance class before."
"Don't worry, I also didn't know I needed a new pair of sneakers." Carlos winced from behind Jamie.
"Ugh another expense. I need them to start letting us play those gas with cash prizes." Ari muttered to himself.
"I know, right?" Carlos sighed with longing.
"Can you take to the store when you go grab your car, Jamie?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Do you need a ride too, Carlos?"
"No, I'm going to pick up my bike, but thank you, though."
The three of them chatted while following the stream of boys that went down the stairs, out of the building, and through the black tunnel into the warehouse-like building.
When they stepped through the main doors and another set of doors, they were in an open space with 100 chairs neatly lined up.
At the thought of sitting through another speech or arguing with sobody over seats, Ari just sat in the last row and waited for further instructions.
After everybody sat down and the caras were situated, 7 people went to the front of the room.
It was PD Emily with six other people.
Two of them were Larry and Selena, the judges from the previous rounds, but Ari didn't recognize the other four, but assud that they would be judges or trainers.
CLAP-
"Alright, kiddies. Be quiet so we can get started!"
At the sound of PD Emily's voice, the room beca dead silent.
"Good. Since we're all gathered, let introduce you to your judges and trainers."
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