Walls

Torture

Yo's POV

Dance practice, painstaking make up application, constant picture taking. It was never-ending. This whole competition was just one horrifying torture method employed by the university to break the freshmen. We'd all soon be blubbering fools, driven to madness.

After getting my make up done for an incredibly long period of time, I went to speak to Ming, who teased me about walking out of the bathroom naked and seducing Pha and Forth. As if. I wish I had that capability, but seduction wasn't really in my wheelhouse. Awkward and constantly embarrassed, now that I could pull off with practiced ease.

When Pha walked in the room, he ignored me, as usual. Forth had come over to talk to us, he even brought me a water. But instead of advising me to be handsome and strong like Ming, he told me to be cute. Is that really how he saw me, cute? Of course. Pha was handsome and smart. Forth was cool and sexy. Ming was charming and confident. I was just a cute little kid.

Determined to do my best, I was confident and focused during the video and smiled happily when it went well. The photos were harder because Pha came over looking like his handsome self and making all the girls giggle and whisper and stare his way. Which made me embarrassed, because he was watching me. The more embarrassed I was by him being there and all the attention he brought with him, the more unnatural my smile looked. Finally the photographer told me to take a break and he took some photos of Pha instead.

Pha just stood there posing by looking around indifferently. He didn't even bother to smile. Why couldn't I just stand there and be admired for doing nothing, like he does? I'm ugly and he's hot. That's why. I want to drown my sorrows in some pink milk, but there's never any around when I need some.

"Don't worry about it N'Yo," Pha said, sitting next to me. "You looked fine, that photographer was just too picky."

I thought he said he'd never lie to me? That didn't last long. Oh well, I'd take the pity I was offered and make it work for me at least.

"P'Pha, would you mind getting me a pink milk?" I asked, allowing myself to sound upset. "Everyone else is too busy and I'm really thirsty."

I think my whining worked to my advantage because he went to get my drink. I was smiling as I thought about pink milk when the photographer suddenly started snapping pictures like crazy and yelled out, "That's the smile I was looking for N'Yo!"

After I had been embarrassed (photographed) enough, I was finally released. I went to the beach with Ming. We took some fun pictures, and played in the waves for awhile before he ran off to pack. I had packed this morning and left my things in the back of Forth's car. Forth said he would take Ming and I home so that I wouldn't have to ride in the bus. All I had to do was sit here and enjoy the beauty of the ocean until it was time to go.

"N'Yo," Pha walked up to me, a soda in his hands. "I couldn't find any pink milk, so I got you a soda. Why didn't you wait for me?"