Audio Blossoms

Chapter 2

"Hurry up, Rhodes. You're gonna make us late!" Astoria hollered at me. We picked her up on the way to the airport so her mother wouldn't have to take work off to bring her here.

"Calm your ta-tas, Tori. We aren't supposed to meet up with them for another 45 minutes." My mom laughed at our arguing. Moments later we sat down in some chairs where they wanted to meet us.

"I wonder who else from America is going into the trainee program? And why did they want to meet in one of the most crowded airports in Tennessee?" Astoria thought out loud. I hummed in response to her questioning and let my train of thoughts drift to random topics.

I was startled when I heard a lightly accented voice, "Are you Rhodes Talbott and Astoria King?" We all looked up at the man standing in front of us. He was most definitely from Korea but had no trouble pronouncing words with hardly any accent.

Astoria spoke up before anyone else could, "Yes we are, I'm Astoria and she's Rhodes. Are you the representative BigHit sent?"

The man nodded, "Now we need to discuss a few things before we get on our flight. I'm assuming you're one of the girl's mother?" He asked my mom.

Mom held out her hand for him to shake, "Yes, I'm Rhodes' mother and Astoria's aunt."

The man accepted her handshake, "So you're acting as both of their guardians?"

"Yes. I have partial custody of Astoria so I can make decisions in place of her mother."

"Okay so first, what they'll be doing as trainees. Rhodes and Astoria, along with other girls, will be training/competing for a spot in the new band BigHit is organizing. Over the course of a few months to a year, people will be slowly sent home, if they aren't deemed good enough to be in the band. If they do well and excel and get better during training, then they might make it into the band." The man looked at Astoria and I as if asking if we understood.

I nodded my head and spoke up finally, "We know this. We wouldn't have auditioned if we were too afraid of getting sent back home. We have prepared for this for a long time and are ready to face what will be thrown our way." The representative stared at me for a minute then nodded and continued explaining what will go down while we're trainees. Mom had to sign a bunch of stuff for Astoria and me.

After two piles of paperwork, lots of tears and hugs, and painful feet later, we were finally seated in our seats. I didnt do too good with flying or pretty much traveling any way my body wasn't used to.

I was gripping the armrests with my buckle tight and my eyes closed when Astoria seemed to notice me, "Hey Rhodes. Are you okay?"

I gave her a curt nod, "Yep, yes I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

I could hear the smirk in her voice, "Well you look horrible. Did you bring your motion sickness bracelet?" I pulled up my sleeve showing her that yes, in fact, I had it on my right arm.

"Tori, anytime I travel long distances or at high altitudes, I wear the bracelet." The BigHit representative didn't seem to be paying much attention to Astoria and I until the plane started to take off.

"Both of your belts are buckled?"

I started to feel lightheaded when I answered him, "As tight as I can get it without it killing me."

"Ah well, as long as you're buckled. You can take it off as soon as we get high enough."

I shook my head frantically, "No, I think I'll keep my seatbelt on." Mr. Rep dude was quiet for a second then just nodded.

Astoria put her hand on my arm after we finally leveled out and the pilot had spoke on the intercom, "Are you sure you don't want to take your seatbelt off? We are going to be flying for a long time."

"Yes, yes I'm quite sure."

A few hours later, sleep finally took over. I hadn't had much to eat or drink for the fear of throwing it back up. When I finally drifted, I awoke in a nightmare. I was on the plane but it was violently shaking and red lights were flashing. Looking around everyone was bent over in their chairs, not moving. I then notice an alarm was blaring. It was kind of like those big honking alarms.

"No, no, no! Please I can't die! Not yet. Please!"

Over the alarms I heard something. I couldn't make it out at first but it gradually became clearer, "Rhodes! Rhodes!"

I jolted awake, "Wh-whats going on?" My eyes darted around frantically. Everyone seemed to be okay. The plane wasn't shaking and there was no red lights or alarms.

"Rhodes? Are you okay?" Astoria asked me.

I drug my eyes over to her and sluggishly nodded, "Yeah, why? What's going on?"

"Well first we're landing soon, you surprisingly slept through the majority of the flight," she paused looking at me as if gauging my reactions, "And second, you are pale, sweaty, and you were mumbling something. Are you sure you're fine?"

I rubbed my face, "Yeah I'm fine, Tori. I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not really."

Just then Mr. Rep dude spoke up, to be honest, I kinda forgot he was there, "Sit back, girls. We are about to land."

"Yes dad," I grumbled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small smile grace his face. I wonder why that made him smile?

The plane started descending then. I gripped the armrests hard and swore I could see my breakfast floating behind my eyes.

The plane finally stopped and the passengers were allowed off. I held Tori's hand as she followed Mr. Rep dude off the plane. When we got into the airport, he turned around and spread his arms.

"Welcome to Seoul, South Korea."

______________________________________

1,026 words

Thank you for reading my story! Please vote and comment and follow me!

I hope you enjoy it lovlies!