The day of our first group activity finally came. After logging out, I dragged my feet downstairs.

“What are we going to do tomorrow?” I needed to prepare myself mentally for what was to come. 

“Wake up early and bring your swimsuit.” the headmaster or Stephan as he wanted to be called told us.

“I don't have one.”, I told him.

“You don't have what, Aki?”

“Don't call me Aki! And I don't have a swimsuit.”

“We'll buy you one...Aki.”

“Don't shorten people's name at your own convenience!”

“Aw! Don't be angry... Aki!” My face twitched. I really wanted to hurt him.

“Are we going to the swimming pool?” Jacob intervened before my will crumbled and I use a frying pan to his head.

“It's a secret.”

“I want to stay here! You said we could do the group activity in the living-room.”

“Did you actually believe that?”

Juvenile detention was looking better and better. After all, I was just a kid, they wouldn't keep me long, right? I had attenuating circumstances. He was begging for it. Before I even took a step towards the Plague as I called him, Jacob and Elliott jumped between us.

“We should go to sleep early.” Jacob grabbed my arm and dragged me away. 

On Saturday, as we drove along the highway, I still felt irritated by this conversation. I concentrated on the scenery out the window. Not like there was anything to disrupt my contemplation, no one was uttering a word. A few hours later, I finally knew where we were headed. We were going to the beach or more precisely what passed as a beach nowadays.  

With the sea level rising, a lot of people found themselves living on a fast receding coastline.  It wasn't weird to see houses in the water or to have a road lead directly into the sea. As such, the place where we went was in the middle of an old town. The shoreline was paved with buildings. Sand was but only a dream from the past. 

When we arrived there, rain was falling heavily. The waves were too high to allow swimming. I looked at the Plague with a smirk.

“What are we supposed to do now, oh great headmaster?”

“No need to be sarcastic. It was supposed to be sunny, the weather guy said so.”, he said in self-defense.

There was so many things I could say about that but I chose to refrain myself and only laugh at him. He threw me a murderous look.

“So let's head back.”,  I suggested as no one said anything.

“No, we're already here so we're staying. We were supposed to have a group activity and we'll have it.”

“We were only supposed to spend at least two hours together and we already spent four just coming here. I say the requirements for group activity are already met.”

“I think that as far as we're here why not visit the shops. The trip wouldn't be useless then.”

“Great idea, Tomas.” I looked at him with narrowed eyes. The guy was nearly invisible at home. He didn't talk much and he was mostly out. What crept up his backside to participate now? The decision taken, I followed everyone inside the shops.

“Why don't you do something about that appearance of yours, Aki?”, the Plague asked me out of the blue.

“Don't call me Aki. And my appearance is just fine.” They all looked at me like I had a problem with my head. But what angered me more was that even Malcolm was looking at me that way. The guy who dressed up as a nerd stereotype found my clothes lacking. Could my day get any worse? Yes, it could. They dragged me into a clothing store. 

“I don't have money.”, I warned them.

“Don't worry, I'll pay.”, Stephan said.

It was so nice of him that I couldn't prevent myself from making him regret it. I searched for  the most expensive piece of clothes the store had. I asked for a size to the clerk. That was a mistake if the look they sent me was any indication. 

“There's no way that's your size.”, Jacob gave his opinion. I didn't ask for it. I knew it wasn't my size. When I shopped for clothes, I always took a size or two bigger than what fit me.

“And that shirt doesn't suit you at all.” Elliott chimed in.

And then, every last one of them started given his opinion about what suited me or not. I rolled my eyes. They were embarrassingly loud. I moved away and pretended I didn't know them. 

I was browsing the racks looking for even more expensive clothes when from the corner of my eye, I saw something suspicious. I meant someone suspicious because it was my dear former teacher wearing a wig and hiding behind a clothing rack.  

She was crouched and staring at Stephan intently. She didn't even seem to notice that I was there. She put her hand into her shoulder bag ready to take out something. She was trying to be stealthy but she was so bad at it that it was ridiculous. She was clearly hiding and spying on him. I shouldn't interfere. It might come back to bite me but it was too irresistible.

“Mrs Johansen!” I shouted waving at her with a big smile on my face.

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She looked like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes grew big, she became white as a sheet and she was shaking her head like she was denying something. Everyone was looking at her. Her face was priceless. I should take a pic.

Stephan gave the clothes he was holding to Tomas and went to speak to her. She squeaked loudly and she bolted for the door in panic. Too bad, I didn't have the time to take a picture. 

“Was it really Mrs Johansen?”, Elliott asked me.

“Yep. She had a wig on.”, I said pleased with myself. 

“Why did she run? Is she still ashamed about the video?”, Tomas inquired.

“No, she was just spying on the Plague.” I explained to them, “She had a wig on and she was hiding behind a clothes rack looking your way. When I called her, she was crouching trying to approach and hear what you were saying.”

“Why did you call her? If she was truly spying, we could have caught and questioned her.” Stephan asked  after he came back from chasing her.

“Because it was fun. Did you see her face? I want this, this and this.” I took clothes out of the rack, dropped them in his arms and went to wait at the checkout. 

I should try to hide my smile but it was hard, this day was looking up. Too bad it didn't last.

After buying even more clothes they thought would be good for me and forcing me to wear them, they decided that I needed a haircut.

“Oh hell no!” I didn't opposed too much for the clothes because it wasn't my money they were spending but I drew the line to my hair.

“If you agree to a new haircut, I swear that I'll grant one of your wishes.” Stephan tried to bribe me. I wasn't stupid though. The guy was as trustworthy as a dog eyeing a steak. 

“And I'll believe that because?”

“I'm trustworthy.” The looks the five of us gave him said it all. “Okay, I might have played around a little bit with what I said and did but you can trust me, I swear.”

“Hmm...” I shook my head. “I want proof. Tell us a secret about you and I'll believe you.”

“I don't have secrets.”

“Well, I don't need to have my hair cut.”

“Okay, okay, I get it. You ask a question and I'll answer.”, he finally replied.

There was so many things I wanted to ask but currently I was just too curious about his determination.

“Why do you want to cut my hair so much?”

“Your hair just bugs me out.”

“Yeah, us too.” Elliott chimed in. The others nodded in approval.

What the heck was their problem? What gave them the right to criticize?

“Now that I've answered your question...”

I debated giving him a taste of his own medicine by refusing to do something I agreed on. But I didn't want to be like him. I wanted to show that I was better. I went to the hairdresser with them in tow. 

I regretted my choice as soon as we got there. For a bunch of guys, they were acting like a bunch a girls. They had an opinion on every haircut the hairdresser proposed. It wasn't trendy enough. It was too classy. It was too girly. It was not enough this or not enough that. And of course, no one asked for my opinion.

Since they had moved in, it had been awkward between us. We didn't really spend time together other than me and the Plague arguing but now, they were acting like they'd been best friends forever. I looked them on with disgust. 

A good fifteen minutes after we came in, they were still arguing. I rolled my eyes at them and told the hairdresser to just trim my hair. 

“Could you do something about those bangs?”, the Plague told the hairdresser. 

“Yeah, they're ugly.”, Tomas added. I preferred it better when he was silent.

I didn't say anything as the hairdresser did his job. After everything was done, I looked at the mirror. A gorgeous girl with a disgusted face was looking back at me. I bemoaned my fate. Thankfully, I could still wore my glasses.

Before I put them back on, the Plague plucked them from my grasp, dropped them, and them stepped on them.

“Oh sorry! I'm such a klutz.” The four idiots snickered. “Thankfully, you don't need them to see.”

I jumped at him and screeched like an enraged animal. I'd had enough. I would love to say that I did a lot of damage but he easily subdued me. A black belt in karate and hours of training became totally useless as he pinned my arms behind my back.

“Okay, okay, I'm sorry I went too far.”

“I'm going back home.” I yelled.

“Let's have lunch and then we'll go back, I swear.”

“I am going home! You either drive me or I'll walk!”

He sighed and this is how our first group activity ended with me sullenly sitting in a car and the others looking guiltily at me.

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