THE next day, the members were standing by their lockers and chatting aggressively about their rehearsal the day before. Mal let out a book, a pencil, and a small, white eraser from her locker and slammed it shut, then turned to her boyfriend, who seemed to be struggling with the lock.

"Here, let me help." she offered, noticing his frowning, annoyed expression. "Please don't get so worked up about these things."

"It's not that... Griffin keeps staring at you again."

Mal looked up, then noticed Griffin's jealous expression as he stared at each member up and down. He looked away and tried to hide his face as they all looked at him.

"Come on, Diego," he muttered, hitting Diego's arm to alert him. Diego reluctantly followed him out of the corridor, which made Mal roll her eyes. She hated that Diego didn't have his own opinion and was following Griffin around like some kind of sidekick, despite them being equally popular so Diego didn't have to stick around if he didn't want to.

"You didn't see me talk to them, did you?"

Felix sighed. "No, I know, baby. I just know that it makes you uncomfortable when people stare at you like that, and it makes me uncomfortable too. It just... Makes me upset, I guess."

"You don't have to be upset about anything, sunshine. He's going to get over us, or at least I hope."

Han stared at where Griffin was only a few moments before, then turned to his friends with a bright expression.

"Oh, so that's the Griffin guy you all keep mentioning!"

The couple nodded in dismay.

Just then, they heard a loud noise coming from behind them. Mal turned around slowly, only to be met face to face with Ava's frowning, angry face.

"I thought you told me you would be there for homecoming decoration!"

"I... Did?" Mal replied slowly. "Wait a minute. No, I did not!"

Ava's angry face changed into a desperate one. "It's literally a mess without you! Everybody keeps making different plans and they all keep messing things up! Joshua, Olivia, and Sabrina keep fighting with each other, Griffin keeps ordering people, including me, what to do, and keeps acting like he's the boss of the school. The boys agreed to make a dark, bad boy theme that looks shitty as hell and won't let anyone else suggest anything!" she exclaimed in a tired, exasperated tone.

"Ava, I already told you, these kids don't have any sense of interior designing and you didn't believe me!"

Ava rubbed her forehead in distress. "Please, Mal! It's just for an hour anyway, okay? Please, Felix? You guys will make the place so much better, I can feel it."

"Ava, I can't do dancing, singing, studying and homecoming decorating, I'm not a machine!" Mal exclaimed, feeling already defeated. She knew she couldn't win an argument with Ava whenever she wanted something. Ava had a way of getting what she wanted.

"Please, please, please? We're going to have so much fun together! Your friends are already on the list, so you don't have to talk to Griffin for long."

Mal ran a hand through her soft, straight hair for a moment. "Fine! But you better get both Griffin and Diego away from me."

Ava glanced at her for a moment, dumbfounded. "What did Diego do?"

"He doesn't have his own opinion, he's following Griffin around like a fucking dog! He doesn't stand up to bullies, he doesn't do anything important!"

Before Mal could continue her words, Ava muttered an 'okay' to calm her down. "I get it, I get it. I'll try my best."

She then engulfed Mal in a grateful hug, then patted Felix on the head along with the other members.

"Thanks, guys!"

Soon enough, Ava walked away with a satisfied smile over her face, leaving Mal to review her thoughts for a moment of regret.

"Did I just tell her yes?" Hyunjin nodded as Felix bit his lower lip. Mal groaned in annoyance, hitting her head lightly against the metal locker.

"What are we going to tell Chan..?" she asked. Felix grabbed her arm to pull her away from the locker.

"It's going to be fine, baby. We can do this."

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