Chapter 18

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"Raven, get your backside up, you're coming shopping in ten" someone shouts as they knock on my door.
"But..." I groan, opening my eyes as I wriggle about under my bedsheets.
"You were the only one that got a decent night sleep. The others are still in bed so you're coming shopping with Manager Lee and I" the voice argues.
"Fine." I grumble, sitting upright. "Wait, can I have a shower?" I ask.
"Depends if, by the time you have a shower or not, you'll be ready in ten" the voice replies and I can virtually feel the shrug from here. I'm still too asleep though to process who the voice belongs to.

Getting up, I brush my hair into a high pony tail, apply a bit of moisturiser before heading into my closet. Picking out a pair of skinny black jeans and a flannel shirt, I then grab one of my smaller backpacks - yes, I have so many that there are multiple sizes - and put my purse, iPod and phone into it. If you hadn't noticed, I go nowhere without my iPod. Checking the time, I see that it's near 11 so I've had just under 8 hours of sleep. Not too bad I suppose.

I rush down the corridors, as quietly as possibly so that I don't wake any of the boys, before thundering down the spiral staircase. I, if I've estimated correctly, still have a few minutes left, so I head into the kitchen, raiding the cupboards for some forgotten food. All I find are a few healthy snack bars from a couple of weeks ago so I grab one of them - the chocolate chip one that is. Luckily they're still in date.

"There you are" Manager Lee grins as I approach. "Put your shoes on, your uncle's starting up the car" he instructs.
"I'll get revenge" I mutter, now realising that it was my uncle who woke me up.
"Yeah, yeah, just use it for bribes so he'll buy you a whole load of junk food. Come on" he grins, opening the door for me once I've got my shoes on and letting me pass.
"You know me too well" I chuckle.
"It's my job remember, now that I'm officially your manager as well" he reminds me.
"Oh my god, stop. Please" I cringe. "I'd forgotten about that. Ah, I'm a trainee" I say excitedly, opening the door to the car as we approach.

And yes, luckily it's the car and not the van. I've had enough of them for the past couple of weeks and I just wanna ride in a normal car. Especially since it'll be the van picking us up from school now and not the car due to the two additions on the school run - we wouldn't fit otherwise. Such a shame since I'm rather partial to the car.

"Lovely to see you my dearest niece" my uncle grins in the rear view mirror whilst I strap myself in, pulling out of his parking space and down the drive.

It takes around twenty minutes to the reach the shop compared to the five it'd take when I lived with my parents. There are some bad things about living in the forest - such as not having that many neighbours and always having to drive to get somewhere. It's about ten minutes the other way to the large village where we can pick up smaller things we need and about half an hour into the city.

However, after discussing with the two men about Seoul, SM, NCT and every other part of my trip, we eventually arrive. They seem glad that I enjoyed myself and am more than happy to be part of the company - despite all the hard work I'm gonna have to put in.

"Raven, pick up a trolley" Manager Lee calls as we pass through the entrance. I trail after them with it as we work our way through the numerous aisles. In actual fact, it works out quite well since it means that I can add whatever I want without them knowing. Fun times.

In goes the sweets. And the pringles. And the cake bars. Oh, and the pizzas. Well, ok, maybe I'm not that eccentric but there were definitely some bags of sweets and a couple of multipacks of crisps. And in my defence, my uncle gave me permission on the pizza since it'll be for my friends tomorrow. And there are several ones - quite large - because the boys will undoubtedly steal some.

However, some of the junk food was definitely less permitted. When it eventually comes to paying, I get some strange and slightly dubious looks from my uncle. A few subtle words reminding him about how he got me up this morning soon end these queries though and, with a few chuckles from Manager Lee, we're through the tills.

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