Completely in a trance induced by food, Ari was led to a table in the back and quickly ate some food that he grabbed from the kitchen.
As he was gulping down his second bowl of rice, he noticed that Grace, the Korean girl his age he had seen the first time he came, had sat across from him and was staring at him curiously.
Her face looked quite bubbly, and she had minimal makeup on.
Her bleached blonde hair was pulled up in a loose ponytail, and she was wearing all black with an apron bearing the restaurant's name.
As she stared at him for several minutes, Ari blinked before greeting her.
"Hi?"
As soon as he spoke, it was like a damn burst and words came flying out at high speed.
"Grandma says that you're joining a singing show? And we're riding to school together? And you live in the church that Dad runs?"
"Something like that."
"Are you any good at singing? What happened to your face? Can you dance? Were you scouted, or did you apply? Are you actually pretty like grandma calls you? How old are you? Oh yeah, what's your name?"
At the barrage of questions, Ari blinked slowly before responding.
"I'm decent. Got beat up. Nope. Applied. Solid 8/10. Almost 18. Ari. Anything else?"
At his rapid-fire response, Grace blinked before smiling brightly.
"Wow. You actually kept up, everyone says I'm a certified yapper and speak way too fast."
"They're not wrong."
"Boooooo. You're not supposed to agree. Anyway, what idol survival show is it? I-lily-land, P-9999, Producer Valley?"
"Pop Star Academy: Project 777. You might not have heard of it."
"Oh my gosh, no way! Of course I've heard of it! That's the new one, right? Have you met any other contestants? Did you meet any famous musicians so far? Did you see BTZ? Or Red Roses? Golden Generation?"
"I don't know if it's new. No. No. No. No. And no. If I missed a question, the answer is probably no."
"Tell me everything about the whole process! Who did you meet? What did you sing? All of it."
"I don't think I'm allowed to do that," Ari replied dryly as he stared at Grace's crazed eyes.
"Not even to your favorite co-worker? Please~~"
"Granny Choi is definitely my favorite co-worker, followed by your Grandfather. His cooking is amazing."
"That's fair. Gramps is my favorite, too. When he makes food for the holidays, it's the best. Anyway, do you have social media? You should follow me." With complete ease, grace changed the subject.
"I don't have any. And no."
"Oh my gosh, really? That's so weird. Anyways, we should go to karaoke together with my friends and your friends since you're a good singer. I want to brag that I knew yo u before you were on TV. And also let me get an autograph, in case you make it….."
After spending about 10 minutes with Grace, who was clearly a capital (E), Ari felt completely more exhausted than when he exercised and ran a 5k.
She was like an endless fountain of entertainment news and trivia knowledge and switched topics every few seconds.
And amazingly, the conversation continued with or without his input, and he couldn't help but wonder how she never ran out of words. It had to be a special skill.
When she heard him mutter that, she launched into a whole other discussion and told Ari that she wanted to be an entertainment journalist so she could interview her favorite musicians and entertainers and learn their deepest, darkest secrets.
Seeing that crazy look enter her eyes once more, he could only say that her future looked very bright and wished her the very best, while vowing to stay far, far away.
By the time he finished helping clean the restaurant and the bathhouse, his social battery was completely dead, and he didn't want to interact with anybody.
He wanted to go to sleep, but he couldn't.
Instead, he logged on to the computer and began watching videos on how to make music, all the while singing the little car horn melody that had been created during traffic.
Occasionally, he would pick up a pen and paper and write down his thoughts, but overall, nothing was really coming together.
At 2 a.m., he finally went to sleep, only to wake up at 5 am to complete his Repeat Missions.
After a sleepy breakfast at the bathhouse, he was driven to school in the Church bus along with Grace, who continued to talk his head off.
When he arrived at his high school, Ari stumbled through the empty hallways, completely confused as to where everybody was.
Blearily seeing signs for a morning assembly, Ari walked in through what he thought was the back door of the auditorium.
Unfortunately, as he opened the door, he realized that it was the front of the auditorium.
And even worse, the door slammed shut with a loud THUD, causing everybody to turn and look at him, including the principal who was on the podium giving a passionate presentation.
Before Ari could duck away, the students started whispering loudly and pulling out their phones to record and take pictures of him.
"Ahhhhhh."
"Oh my goodness!"
"Dang, look at his face!"
"You think Princ got somebody to jump him to prove a point orr…"
Loud voices continued to whisper as Ari blearily tried to find an empty seat but they seemed to be all taken.
As he made the decision to go out and come through another door, he was stopped by a booming voice.
"Stop right there, young man. Come up here!"
"Me?" Ari looked up and around, fully hoping that the principal was talking to someone else.
"Yes, you young man. Don't be shy. Come up here."
Unfortunately, the principal was looking and pointing right at him.
With reluctance obvious in every movement, Ari slowly walked onto the stage, hoping that somebody or something would save him.
Instead, he was carefully helped by a teary-eyed female teacher to stand by the principal.
The principal was a large man with a shining bald head covered by a pink fedora and a large handlebar mustache.
He wore a tight grey suit that showcased all of his muscles, a pink bowtie and matching shoes, making him look….interesting.
Ari glanced at the students sitting in the auditorium, at some female teachers wiping the tears in their eyes before turning to look at the presentation on the large screen behind the principal.
Written in extra-large red letters
🚫SAY NO TO BULLYING AT LA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL🚫
"If you see bullying happening, say something, so your classmates, friends, or siblings don't end up looking like this!"
The large principal pressed down heavily on Ari's shoulders, causing him to almost tip over from the weight.
As the students' whispering became louder and the flashes from the phone camera became bigger, Ari couldn't help but let out a sigh.
This was one of the reasons he didn't want to come to school.
Because of the no mask and no hat policy, he couldn't cover up his injured face.
And there was no way he was going to paint his face white to go to school but maybe he should have tried to.
At least that way, he wouldn't be here.
Standing in front of the entire school and somehow becoming the poster child of an anti-bullying campaign.