Chapter 8: Reality Check

  “Lizzy Song! I know you can hear me! Open the door!” Lizzie gave a sigh of relief as she recognized the voice on the other side of the door.

                “It’s ok, it’s just Becky!” she told everyone. The atmosphere immediately changed. Skye slumped against the wall clutching her heart, Gina leaned against the desk, and the rest of them let out a huge sigh of relief.

                “You people are really cutting it close.” She said, heading towards the chair behind the desk.

                “What’s wrong, Becky?” Hee Sun asked.

                “Them!” she pointed at Eli and his friends. “If your mother finds out about them, she’ll have our heads!” Lizzy looked at her feet as she was being scolded. “You are engaged Lizzy! If your mother were to find out-“

                “I want her to find out! I don’t care what she does to me!” Lizzy stomped her foot. Becky could see that she was on the verge of a tantrum.

                “What are you talking about, Lizzy? You can’t date this boy!” she pointed at Eli. “How stupid do you take your mother for? If she finds out anything about who he really is, despite what happens after you decide to tell her or she finds out herself, she can and will make your lives a living hell, you know this, Lizzy!” Eli stepped forward.

                “Your engaged?” he scoffed. “When the hell were you going to tell me about this? Do you realize how stupid I look right now?” he asked her.

                “I’ve never met him, I don’t even know anything about him either.” She explained, blood rushing to her face.

                “So? You’re engaged, I now look like a home wrecker. That’s wrong, no matter how you put it, Hee Sun!” Eli’s voice rose as anger boiled up inside of him. Chaerin started forward, but Gina held her back.

                “Eli, please let me explain-“

                “No, you lied to me! How could you? I knew that you were a two faced bitch, but damn Hee Sun, cheating on your fiancé? I want no part in this!” he turned to leave.

                “It’s a bit late for that now,” Becky piped up. He turned back.

                “What do you mean?” he asked.

                “Brent has a vague idea of what’s going on. He tells their father everything. Her father will find out. He may not take disciplinary action because he may have you two resolve the situation. But if her mother finds out, she will slowly destroy you until you beg for mercy. She will drive you down until you are at your lowest point. That’s just how she is. But you’re in too deep now, think hard children. If you don’t act and speak carefully, this will end badly for each and every one of you.” She turned to Lizzy. “You know what’s at stake here, Lizzy, be careful.” She rose out of the chair and headed for the door. She turned to Eli.

                “Be careful, Eli. She will ruin you at all costs if you’re caught.” He nodded as she left the room. He turned to Lizzy. she was on the verge of tears, yet he felt no sympathy.

                “I don’t know what you’re crying about; it was your selfishness that got us into this mess in the first place!” Skye broke away from Gina and shoved Eli onto the floor.

                “Don’t you yell at her, you bastard!” she raised her fist, but Danny grabbed it before she could bring it down.

                “He’s right though. But that’s not important at the moment, what is important is what our next move is.” He pulled her off of him, and pulled him up.

                “Chaerin,” Gina stepped forward. “You and I should help the boys while the others stay with Lizzy, alright?” she reluctantly nodded. She motioned for the boys to follow her out of the room. She turned to the boys.

                “Alright, not that it really makes a difference from the original plan; we’re stuck together, so here is what I had in mind. We take a hobby or whatever, and we exaggerate it, and hone your talent to make your new backstory believable. Skye, do you think you could help make them legit?” she nodded.

                “Y’all need to keep your mouths shut in public, if anyone, ANYONE were to find out, we’d all be in hot water, understand?” they all nodded. She turned to Eli. “Especially you, bitch.” She walked up to him and got in his face. “If you insult her one more time, I’ll gut you like a fish, understand, bitch?” she grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him closer. He scowled at her.

                “I am NOT someone to be used. I only listened to help my friends, and look where that got me. I’m someone’s “other man”, it’s despicable. I ain’t promising shit if this is what she’s gonna do. You need to do a better job of talking your friend outta shit she can’t handle.” He pulled her hand off and shoved her away. Chaerin sighed and shook her head.

                “Look, I know Lizzy isn’t perfect, but if there’s one thing I understand about her, is that it’s almost impossible to talk her out of anything she sets her mind on. Believe me, I tried to tell her not to do anything, she wouldn’t listen to me.” She shook her head. “I will try to be more understanding, but you first have to understand ours.” Gina nodded.

                “Regardless, we need to agree on everything, so let’s just set this up and get on with it.” Danny piped up.

                “Fine, you ALL now go to YoungHwa High, you will ALL do some sort of extracurricular activity to solidify your new persona, your names won’t be changed, but you will all reside at one of our houses as transfer students, understand?” Gina crossed her arms and examined them. They all shifted uncomfortably for a moment, but nodded in understanding.

                “I’ll get to falsifying documents, you and Yasmin get to getting them settled in, aight?” Gina nodded. After a long discussion, they re-entered the room.

                “Is everything figured out?” Hee Sun came over to them. Skye nodded.

                “The plan is set into motion, now all we have to do is plan your party, honey.” Lizzy jumped for joy.

                “YAY! This is going to be so amazing! Come on, guys, let’s go!”   The next few days were intense. Filled with hours of decorating, the boys doing most of the backbreaking work, carrying tables, setting out chairs, hanging lights. The ladies, on the other hand, had the easy job of finding outfits for everyone, picking out the colors of the decorations, setting up the caterer, the DJ, everything that didn’t involve a ladder pretty much.

                “It’s actually really hard, you guys.” Lizzy explained. “We have to find EVERYONE’s outfits, they all have to match, to a certain extent, and they have to go with the decorations, the caterer has to be scheduled, a menu set up, the DJ need to be hired, given a set playlist, it’s all very hard work!”

                Finally, the big night had arrived. With Becky by their side, they were well hidden in the study when Hee Sun’s parents were around, if they were around. Her mother was off on a business trip, on what seemed to be every other week. Her father, worked long hours at the bank, and was almost never home. If he did know about them, he was being quiet about it. The boys were dressing into their suits about an hour before the party began.

                “Yo man, I ain’t feelin’ too good about this plan, you know what I’m saying? We could get into a shit ton of trouble for what we’re doin!” Teddy said as he tightened his tie.

                “Yea, but we ain’t gotta choice, thanks to Heejun.” Mikey piped up.

                “Look, I didn’t make Skye take you guys here, Lizzy did. I don’t necessarily want to be here either.” Eli finished tying his shoe.

                “Well, it’s now or never boys, prepare yourself, anything can go wrong.” Danny ruffled Eli’s hair as he passed by to help Hong Jun with his tie. There was a knock on the door. “Come in!” he called. The doorknob turned, and Gina entered the room.

                “Are you guys ready? Everyone is here,” she looked around the room. ‘For a bunch of grease monkeys,’ she thought, ‘they sure do clean up nicely.’

                “Yea, we’re good.” Teddy nodded. She smiled.

                “Alright then, let’s get going then.” She led them out of the room and towards the entrance of the grand staircase. They went off into pairs, Gina and Teddy, Skye and Mikey, Danny and Yasmin, and Eli with Lizzy. Lizzy turned to Eli.

                “Are you ready, oppa?” she asked. He rolled his eyes and grimaced.

                “I suppose.” She nodded.

                “Good. It’s time.” They walked forward and descended the staircase. Lizzy was wearing an off the shoulder champaign colored dress that cascaded down her torso and swept across the floor. Gina was wearing a skin tight glittering black mermaid-tailed dress. Yasmin was wearing a sweetheart top scarlet dress with a long slit down the left side of her dress. And finally, Skye was wearing an emerald green satin dress, with long sleeves, and a skirt that came down to halfway down her thighs.

                Eli could see Jace and Jessie in the crowd, smartly dressed in a black suit and a bow tie, and a Jessie was in a subtle yellow dress that came down to her calves. They seemed to be the most modestly dressed people in the room; the other people from school seemed to think they were on the red carpet. As they made their way to the middle of the foyer, the crowd parted to let them through. Lizzie stepped forward, clutching Heejun as she approached the circle of students.

                “Welcome everybody!” she greeted their fellow students, they roared in excitement, and immediately calmed at the sight of her raised hand. He had to give it to her, she may be manipulative, but she could command attention. But then again, her parents were also powerful people. “I hope you can enjoy yourselves at my 18^th birthday party! I’m so glad you were able to come. Unfortunately, my parents were unable to attend because of business, but that’s how it goes! Enjoy yourselves!” she walked away to the V.I.P. area with the rest of the group as the crowd parted and cheered.

                Later on, her birthday cake was brought out. They surrounded her and sang “Happy Birthday” as she blew out her candles. Before she blew them out, she wished for the one thing she had really ever wanted in the entire world. Afterwards, she sat on a throne, and opened her mountain of gifts. This event alone took about an hour and a half, with Gina, Skye and Yasmin helping her. As the party was about to end, she stood up and called for everyone’s attention.

                “As this night comes to a close, I would like to thank you all for attending and giving me such wonderful gifts, I truly appreciate it.” They cheered, and stopped suddenly as she continued. “I hope you all had a good time! Please take a goodie bag on your way out. My boyfriend Eli and I would like to show our appreciation in your attendance, and both of us wish you a safe trip home!” the crowd was full of puzzled murmurs, cheers, and whooping from immature boys and gossipy girls.

                ‘Well, if I wasn’t in deep shit already, she just solidified that now,’ he thought to himself as he was led back into the foyer. As the crowd began to thin, a stranger entered through the door.

                “Lizzy Song!” they called. She shot her head around to look at the door. The stranger smiled and began to walk forward.

                “So, you thought you could pull one over on me, did you?”

END OF CHAPTER 8