"Jiyeon." Someone shook my shoulder. "You need to get up."

Pain. I ached everywhere. My muscles were all cramped and fatigue and nausea swept over me.

"Jiyeon training starts in literally one hour. You need to start getting ready."

"Everything hurts," I mumbled, slowly forcing my limbs to move.

"That's what you get after drinking who knows how many bottles of alcohol."

I finally opened my eyes.

The lights overhead chased out the last bit of the dark, hazy cloud in the back of my mind. I was in an unfamiliar room. It was similar to my sleeping quarters with the girls, but instead of two bunkbeds, there were two single beds on either side— me lying in one of the beds.

Jimin was leaning against the wall right beside my head, arms folded and looking down with a cross look painted on his features. "You finally sober?"

Last night was a mess of bright lights, laughter, and a wild sense of freedom. My eyes widened and I sat up in bed too quickly. Blood rushed from my head and for a split moment my vision went dark.

I quickly blinked several times and then groaned. "Oh crap." I buried my face into my hands. "What did I do this time?"

"You only got dangerously drunk surrounded by several boys all over you that left little imagination of what you might've been doing before I found you."

Uh-oh. I stiffened at the low growl in his voice. Yikes. He was not happy.

I yelped in surprise and, yes, fear, when he lunged forward and slammed both hands into the mattress on either side of me, trapping me. His eyes scorched through mine.

"Don't ever do something like that again," he said, voice grating. "The Initiation night? With all the alcohol? That's just another part of the Initiation session. A test to see how much self-control and discipline you have. Those trainees who don't show up to class or are too hungover to properly complete training today are going to be sent home."

My eyes widened.

Before I could reply though Jimin straightened and tossed a pile of gray clothes at me. A fresh trainee uniform. "I snagged this off the rack. And I snagged this—" he placed my hairbrush and my washcloth on top of the trainee uniform— "from your room. Now get cleaned up and changed."

I realized how much of a mess I was. My hair was a tangled nest atop my head and my clothes from last night were rumpled and still reeked of alcohol. Blood rushed to my cheeks.

Stupid stupid stupid stupid Jiyeon. You just never learn do you??

Jimin himself was already yanking off his shirt, getting changed right in front of me to his own trainer uniform. I could tell he was still storming with emotions, barely reigning them in, and I winced as I recalled the sharp jealousy that had ripped through his tone.

I looked away, humiliation still burning my skin. Why was I always making such a fool of myself? Why couldn't I have been born as one of those graceful girls who could do no wrong?

My dressing took much longer as my sore muscles on top of my shoulder injury made it hard for me to slip on my clothes. The contusion on my shoulder was still brilliantly red. The gun hadn't broken anything, thankfully, however it had been determined it had definitely torn some important tissue.

By the time I was finally dressed, refreshed, and had tamed my hair Jimin had already gone out of the room and back.

"Breakfast," he said, tossing me an apple. "You're morning class begins in fifteen minutes."

"Jimin..."

"I have to go." Jimin grabbed his training gear. "Try and make good decisions today, will you?"

And then he left, the room still crackling with his barely suppressed irritation.

I groaned. I really done did it now.

~~~~~~~

"Jiyeon!"

I turned just as Krystal lumbered up. Her hair was at least tied back but her eyes were bleary and clothes still rumpled. It just made me realize just how much Jimin had saved my ass. I bit my lip. I hoped Krystal would make it through the morning session at least. "Hey. How you feeling?"

"I feel like a tank decided to stomp on me multiple times," she croaked.

There were about twelve trainees standing around me and still more trainees coming in, all of us in our uniform gray jumpsuits and designated numbers. My new uniform was number 24, painted clearly on my front. The majority of trainees were Outworlders; only a few were human like me. We were all standing in front of the doors to the designated training room of the day. A few were standing tall like me. Most of the trainees looked just bedraggled as Krystal.

"Hey Jiyeon! Krystal!"

Something inside me stiffened as no other than an orange Marked Outworlder bounded over to Krystal and I, grinning.

A hazy memory of his face brushing mine flashed through my mind.

Yuta looked fresh as ever despite having gotten drunk silly. His russet orange hair was brushed neatly back and his Marks glowed happily. Even his trainee uniform had been smoothed out of most of its wrinkles.

Krystal groaned. "I hate you."

Yuta blinked, bewildered. "What did I do? I just got here."

"You're way too energetic," she mumbled. "How are you so energetic?"

Yuta shrugged, unperturbed in the least. "I wipe out almost immediately after half a bottle. I just sleep off the alcohol."

"I don't think that's how it works." Krystal mumbled, rubbing her face. "At least stop smiling so much. It's hurting my eyes."

That only made Yuta grin wider and I chuckled at that, which drew his attention to me.

"Ah, Jiyeon." A pink dusting settled across his cheeks. "I want to apologize for last night. I hope nothing happened between us that you didn't want to."

My eyes widened. Jimin had said that he'd found me in the room just as I was about to kiss someone. The orange Marks from the hazy memories last night seared across my mind. I hadn't actually kissed Yuta had I?

"I, er..."

I struggled to find words but at that moment there was a shift of the group of trainees around me. Krystal lifted her head, getting on her tiptoes. She was about my height, maybe an inch taller.

"Huh. Is that our trainer? He's basically our age," she muttered under her breath.

I didn't know how I knew. I just knew. My stomach twisted in apprehension as I slowly followed where everyone's attention was drawn to.

My first trainer of the day was Jimin.

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Cover by @AasJing