Chapter 278: Field Day (1)
At Levi’s words, the bus suddenly calmed down as everyone’s head turned to face the blinking red dot in the previously hidden tiny swivel camera.
As people who had been constantly getting filmed for the last several weeks with all sorts of cameras, there was no way they would mistake what was happening here.
- No way
- Is this some type of surprise mission or something?
- They wouldn’t really do that to us, would they? It’s the middle of the night?
- Would they really fake a fire for a mission? That doesn’t make sense.
"They absolutely would." Ari’s voice rang out
Groans of frustration and anger could be heard as the contestants settled down, but one person continued standing.
"So this is a staged ting? Woke man out of his sleep for jokes?" Benjamin’s cold voice rang out in the quiet bus.
Since he usually slept in only pajama pants and a durag, leaving his upper body bare, his body was visibly covered in goose bumps from the freezing air blowing out of the bus’s air conditioning vents.
And rather than his usual smiling face, he looked quite upset with his eyes narrowed.
Benjamin walked forward and, as he stretched his long arms, his muscled back flexed as he grabbed the camera and forcibly tilted it down to face him.
"You lot think this is funny? After we had an actual fire incident last week, you want to stage another one in the middle of the night? Half of us are barely clothed. Are you bloody mad?"
Naturally, there was no response from the camera, but Benjamin didn’t care as he turned it and continued tapping the lens of the camera.
"There better be a good reason for this, Mr. PD. And since you’re probably monitoring this, turn the heat up. It’s bare cold in here. Unless you want the camera accidentally detached and tossed out the window? I’ve been meaning to practice my throws, yeah?"
The air conditioning immediately stopped blowing and Benjamin tapped it in satisfaction before returning it to its proper position.
As he walked by Ari, heading back to his seat, Ari gave him a thumbs-up.
"Very cool."
"I don’t know about all that, bruv. I’m just tired of their nonsense. You know my only pair of glasses got smashed in the rush? And I don’t even have my contacts in right now or even a shirt. This whole thing is just annoying and I’m tired."
Slumping into a seat with a sigh, Benjamin just closed his eyes tiredly, with his teeth chattering occasionally, and after several seconds, Ari took off his hoodie and tossed it over him.
When Benjamin cracked one eye open, Ari explained.
"You look cold, and my body runs really hot, so I don’t need it. Especially with the fur hat."
"I can tell. It feels like it came out of the dryer. Probably why you’re so skinny innit? Baking off all the fat."
Ari: ಠ_ಠ
You’ve sure got a lot to say for somebody whose teeth were chattering.
"On second thought, give it back. You don’t deserve it."
"What kind of person takes back a gift after being nice? Thanks, mate. I’ll make myself comfortable."
With a laugh that relaxed his tensed brow, Benjamin began trying to wear the hoodie, but as his arm got stuck halfway into the sleeve, he looked at Ari incredulously.
"Rah. Ari. What size do you wear? Primary kids? Toddler sizing?"
"Seriously, give it back right now."
"No, really. What’s this? It actually doesn’t fit." Benjamin waved the jacket that was dangling off his forearm like a rag. "Are you a piece of spaghetti? Ari and the beanstalk?"
"If you wanted to die, you should have said so. I’ll use the toddler-sized clothing to strangle you so you never have to worry about my size again. Come here."
As Ari began to climb over his seat to do as he said and truly strangle Benjamin, the British boy laughed before retreating to another seat.
"Big man, Jamie, hold him back. His body is overflowing with evil again."
"Y’all are on your own. I’m going back to sleep. Have fun."
With a sleepy yawn, Jamie put his bookbag against the window and began snoring as Ari did his best to snuff the oxygen from Benjamin’s lungs.
After messing around for a bit, the bus settled down, and they all fell asleep.
And when they finally woke up when the bus came to a stop, it was to see that it was still dark outside, with the only lighting coming from a few lamp posts outside a large building.
With hesitant steps, they all stepped out of the bus and onto the parking lot, and as they looked around, a group of floodlights suddenly came on, illuminating the entire place in blinding white light.
Squinting at the sudden brightness, all Ari could see was a large shadow that eventually resolved itself into the image of PD Ji-ho.
"Welcome to the Pop Star Academy Field Day! Contestants, aren’t you excited?"
At PD’s shout, all he got were blank stares of annoyance.
Unbothered by the less-than-enthusiastic responses, the PD shrugged before pointing at a table that was piled high with stacks of clothing packed in clear plastic wrapping and sneakers with the same wrapping.
There were five different colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple, and as the contestants stared between the table and PD, wondering what nonsense was going on, he began to explain.
"Many of you may have grown up watching ISAC, or the Idol Star Athletic Championships. We, as a production team, thought that we should give you a little taste of what idols experience, so we’re going to be having our own version here. Isn’t that great?"
No. Not at all.
Especially because you dragged us out of bed to do such a thing.
It seemed like everyone had the same thought as they just stared at him silently before mustering an enthusiastic response as the PD began gesturing for them to begin clapping.
"First, we’ll have you all put on these specially sponsored all-environment sneakers. Then you’ll grab a flashlight and enter the building for a special treasure hunt in the dark. Among the other prizes, such as special meal coupons, headphones, and more, you will be searching for different-colored armbands, which will be used to designate the captains for our field day events today. The captains get to decide their team members, so it’s a high honor, and the winning team gets special privileges. Since we need to capitalize on the darkness in the building before the sun rises for the main filming event, let’s get right to it! Please find your correct shoe size and put it on. Ah, I guess I should ask any questions?"
Benjamin immediately raised his hand, and PD Ji-ho pointed at him.
"Yes, Benjamin."
"You don’t think that there’s an issue with the way you brought us here? And will the production team be replacing my glasses?" the British boy asked in an uncharacteristically sharp tone as he stood there squeezed into Ari’s hoodie.
He had a lot more words that he wanted to say, but held his tongue because of the cameras.
"Ah, well, we thought it would be a fun, surprising way to get your blood moving in preparation for the day’s event. As for your broken glasses, you have insurance, don’t you?"
"Unfortunately, I’m not in England right now. So the National Health Service isn’t quite available, innit? And because of the fun surprise, I couldn’t even put in my contacts. This is not even my jumper."
"Hmmm, well, I’m sure we can come to an agreement about your glasses at a later time, so we can table it for now. As for the clothing, you’re getting changed soon anyway, right? Your vision...well, you’re young. It’ll be fine."
Before Benjamin could say anything else, PD Ji-ho pushed his own glasses up his nose before clapping.
"Get changed and get moving inside the building. Ah, before I forget, those who are under 19 years old, please take a seat on the bus. You can’t participate until 6 am due to those pesky labor laws. If the other contestants still haven’t found the armbands by that time, then you all can join in on the treasure hunt."
Then why would you bother bringing us?
Completely annoyed at the PD, Ari, along with the other minors, trudged back into the bus as all the other contestants went into the building.
Ari briefly considered staying awake and paying attention to what was going on, but at the thought of being considerate to a production team that was considerate to him, he leaned his head against the window and immediately went to sleep.
Author’s Note: Guys, I’m so sorry, I’m just getting home to my computer, and I asked my brother to update my Chapters for me, and everything is a mess TT_TT