CHAPTER 190: WATCH YOUR SON (1)

"Ahhh, what a beautiful day to skip school, I mean to learn about the UCLA journalism program and tour this lovely campus." Rachel quickly corrected herself as she looked at her student tour guide, who didn’t look convinced in the slightest.

After all, this was the tour guide’s third group of teenage girls who had suddenly booked a school tour and somehow happened to want to know about the cultural festival and the group of boys that were performing at noon.

At least the girls in this group had the decency to ask good questions about the journalism program and other majors and had dutifully collected every single brochure, pamphlet, and flyer, rather than just asking if there was a good spot to view the stage from a high vantage point, if they couldn’t get a close enough location.

These girls had even taken photos and videos at every location, repeatedly asking the tour guide to recite the date and time.

"Right. Anyways, we’re back at the admissions office. If you’re heading to the festival, you’ll walk down this path, make a right, and then a left. The food vouchers you have can’t be used at the festival food vendors, but you can use them at any of the campus dining options. I recommend the dining hall since they have amazing pizza and wings today."

"Okay! Thank you!" Grace Choi bowed gratefully to the student guide while tucking the evidence that she would provide to her parents in case she got caught skipping school, before turning to look at the girls who had taken the tour with her.

One of them had previously said that her name was Rachel, and from her meticulous investigation of the Pop Star Academy Events(digital-stalking), Grace secretly recognized her as the ’Tararara girl’ who had screamed too early when Ari performed the traffic song that gave him the name ’traffic song boy’, while the other had said her name was Justine.

On Justine’s bag was an item that caught her eye: a fuzzy black LaFuFu monster doll with a painted white face, red lips, and a black star drawn over one of its eyes.

It easily reminded her of a particular somebody that she was here to see.

Now that the tour guide was gone, Rachel turned off her professionalism and asked Justine her pressing question.

"Are you a fan of Ari? Are you here to see the Pop star academy boys perform!"

"Omg! Yes! How did you know?"

"Your LaFuFu looks like his makeup. It looks really good!" Grace replied honestly.

Anyone who had seen the way Ari did his makeup in the early days would recognize it even if they weren’t a fan, because it had been the talk of the community for weeks and had been remixed every which way.

Hearing her compliment, Justine smiled brightly, "Thank you so much. I want to give it to him if possible. Ah, who are you a fan of?"

"Me?" Grace thought it over for a moment before replying, "I guess I’m a fan of Ari and Jamie."

"Ah, the black cat, golden dog pair! I support that too," Justine exclaimed as she brought out a golden coloured LaFuFu doll with a white cowboy hat, little blue jeans, and brown cowboy boots.

Black Cat Golden Dog was the underground phrase used for Ari and Jamie because some fans had a theory that they were close after analyzing their individual personalities and digging into the footage crumbs of the two together.

Since Grace knew the truth that they were incredibly close in real life, she nodded along.

And not wanting Rachel to feel left out, she smiled at her as well.

"How about you. Are you here to see the Pop Star Academy Boys perform? Are you a fan of anyone?"

"I am! I’m a fan of Ari and also William! I think he’s so handsome and princely. I want them both to debut so badly!"

"Do you guys want to go spend the vouchers, or shall we try and get a good spot to view the performance?"

"I have to save my voucher to show my parents so I don’t get disintegrated the moment that I get home." Grace immediately said, as she had planned several sequences of excuses she would use to reduce her punishment from being grounded forever with toilet cleaning duty for the rest of her life to only suffering for two weeks.

But to her surprise, the other two girls were in the same boat.

"Me too. My dad will murder me."

"Me three. My mom will probably send me to the underworld. "

The three of them looked at each other before they burst out laughing with tears running down their cheeks at the thought of how much trouble they were going to be in later.

She already knew the answer, but Grace still asked anyway.

"Skipping school?"

"Yep!" "Yep!"

"Glad we’re on the same page. Shall we go get good viewing spots?"

"Let’s do it."

Another broken laugh sounded out before the three girls dabbed their faces with the resolution to enjoy their day to the fullest extent, so that they would have absolutely no regrets when they were punished by their families.

*****

What a beautiful day to experience his favorite activity in the world...

Getting yelled at by his teammate’s mom while her kids stared in embarrassment, and an incompetent staff member stood around and acted as if they didn’t know what to do after causing the situation.

Ari glanced at Carlos’s angry mom, then at Carlos’s furious and slightly embarrassed face, and at their shocked teammates, as well as the people poking their heads into the room, wondering who or what the ruckus was about.

How had he gotten here again?

Oh, that’s right.

He went to use the bathroom, and on his way back, he was snagged by Kate, who rushed him into the room that his team was using as a waiting room.

There, he saw Carlos’ mom berating him while everyone just awkwardly watched, unsure of what to do.

Seeing Jamie look frazzled and Levi walking up behind Carlos and Carlos’ mom flinching as she took in the scowling, looming figure, Ari had interrupted the fun party, and was now the one being yelled at, which was good or bad depending on how you looked at it.

Good because Carlos was no longer being yelled at.

Bad because his eardrums felt like they were going to pop and he felt a sneeze coming.

But looking at his mom, it was clear where Carlos had gotten his good looks and amazing lung capacity from; his mom had barely taken a breath and was speaking in rapid-fire Spanish, and her dark brown hair and makeup still looked perfect even as she yelled.

As Ari began to daydream of random things, Carlos’ mom switched to yelling in English.

"You! Ariel or whatever! Are you even listening to me?"

"No, not really." The response immediately came out of Ari’s mouth before he could fully process what it was that she had said.

As she sputtered in shock, Ari snapped out of his daze and bowed his head in apology.

"Ah. Sorry about that. That was a reflexive response. Tia(auntie), let’s just say we’re both in the wrong and calm down, okay? Let’s go take a seat and have this conversation like adults. Okay?"

"Who are you calling Tia! I’m telling you-"

"Okay, Mrs. Rodriguez. I’ll be real with you. This is embarrassing. For me, you, and everyone involved." Ari coldly interrupted her, "You are too old to be yelling publicly to get your point across, especially to a stranger. So I apologize if it’s coming across rude, but you need to calm down and leave this room. You’re scaring the kids on my team. Lower your voice and take a deep breath."

As Carlos’ mom glanced behind Ari again, her mouth snapped shut.

Taking it as a good sign, Ari turned to meet the eyes of everyone else.

"Levi’s, with me. Jamie take Carlos somewhere quiet. If he struggles, use those muscles you like to brag about and hug him in place or something. When he’s calm, bring him to his mom. And the rest of you gawkers, you don’t have anything better to do? A performance to prepare for? And the staff? Hello? You’re letting strangers in? Can you take responsibility if something happens? Not that I’m accusing you of anything, Mrs. Rodriguez, I’m sure you’re usually a lovely woman, but they’re clearly slacking on protection, and some of us are minors. I highly doubt that they want to be the ones to explain if an incident does happen. I can personally assure you, I will sue for everything the program is worth."

"She said she was family." The staff member who had brought Carlos’ mom inside muttered defensively, and Ari glared at him.

"Tu es con comme un balai(are you dumber than a broomstick)? And I can say I’m the president of the United States. So what? Are those Pop Star Academy Staff and Contestant only signs suggestions? Can anyone just waltz in as they please after claiming to be family? Did you even check her ID? If it was an emergency? Or with the contestant she’s looking for to see if they want to see her? Huh? Why would you bring her into a room where kids were trying to prep for a performance? Are you crazy? Take her to a separate room!"

At Ari’s sharp words, the staff member who had brought Carlos’ mom had the decency to look embarrassed, if angry, and began ushering her and her children out, while those who weren’t a part of Ari’s team left as Kate gestured for them to leave.

"...why am I with you?"

Even though he was grumbling, Levi had obediently come over, and Ari nodded in approval.

"Smile."

Levi: ಠ_ಠ

"Don’t smile."

Levi: ಠ_ಠ

Seeing the unmoved scowl on Levi’s face, Ari gave him two thumbs up.

"Perfect. Keep that look. It’s very scary. Gets people to behave themselves. Let’s go."

It was a nice and intimidating face, and coupled with the buzz cut, all-black suit, and sunglasses, Levi looked like a professional security guard or even a secret agent.

Ignoring the strange look Levi gave him, Ari walked to the room the staff member pointed to and took a seat on the only chair across from Carlos’s mom, who had Gabriella, Luis, and Antonio standing behind her.

Gabriella looked as though she was about to die from embarrassment and burst into tears. Luis looked bored, and Antonio waggled his eyebrows at Ari, who waggled them in return before staring at Carlos’ mom.

"So. Mrs. Rodriguez, why are you here?"

Even though his tone was gentle because it was his friend’s mom, Ari’s expression was dead serious as he couldn’t understand why she would barge over here right before her son had to perform.