Chapter Text
Sophia Laforteza, 22 years, student of UCLA, from Manila, PH
“My name is Sophia Laforteza.” A girl with black hair that went down to her shoulders and soft but serious brown eyes said. She had on small silver earrings and a white fur coat over her plain shirt. “I’m twenty years old and I’m from Manila, Philippines. I study at the LA University of California, and I’m majoring in Theatre.” She gave a pearly smile to the camera, “I’m glad to be on season one of DREAM ACADEMY.”
An alarm is blaring loudly as the sun rises. A pale hand reaches over from underneath light pink covers to frustratedly turn it off. “Unnie, it’s so loud.” The girl who turned off the alarm mumbled. She had long straight brown hair and clear skin and was wearing a light blue pajama set.
“Sorry, Yoonchip!” A girl with dark black shoulder length hair said. She was wearing a lime green pajama set as she sat up in her bed, throwing off her purple covers.
Jeung Yoonchae, 15 years, high school student, from Seoul, KR
“Sophia’s my roommate in the house. The others say they feel bad because I wake up early from her alarms. It doesn’t bother me, I have to get up early anyway for school.” Yoonchae yawned, itching at her hair a b. She’s still in her off-white blue checkered pajamas as she continues. “She takes morning classes so we wake up around the same time. Well, I guess she gets up a few minutes before me.I don't mind.”
“It’s okay, unnie.”
“Once I take my shower I can go make breakfast.” Sophia offered as she walked over to the walk in closet and rummaged through it to find her outfit for the day. She’d forgotten to pack it the night before so here she was, wasting time trying to throw something together like an idiot.
“You don’t need to, I can cook my own.” Yoonchae quietly said as she sat up and put on her fluffy blue house slippers, already making her way out of their shared room.
As she opened the door, Megan passed by her, already headed past the two’s room and downstairs. “No, I love her cooking. Soph, can you make breakfast? Please?” She spoke quickly. Yoonchae tried not to scoff.
“Can’t you make your own food–” Yoonchae’s quiet remark was quickly cut off by Sophia.
“Yes, of course I can, Megs. I’ll start when I get out of the shower. Be down a bit.”
Megan Skiendel, 17 years, high school student, from Honolulu, HI
“See? That was unnecessary. And then Lara tells me I’m the one who should chill out, she was being bitchy to me first that time.” Megan mumbled, still in her plain blue pajamas.
In the backggound, another girl's voice could be heard gently reprimanding her. “Don’t call her that.”
“I know, sorry. I felt bad about it as soon as I said it.” Megan quietly whispered as she shuffled in her seat. “It’s usually me who starts it, I guess. I don’t mean to be so icky to her, it just..” She furrowed her brows in frustration. After a moment she blinked and stood up, “I’m hungry, can we continue another time?”
Sophia had come downstairs quickly after her shower, her hair damp and her ears now fully bright, as the sleep had finally left them. It was a simple outfit, a white fluffy jacket, a black undershirt, and jeans. “Oh? Who made breakfast already?” She tilted her head curiously as she looked at the large dining area to see eighteen girls eating pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, and bacon. Well, most of them were. Nayoung was eating a salad that honestly looked pretty good.
Adela raised a hand as she took a bite of her pancakes. No syrup. “Me. You were in the shower and plus you have classes soon, right? I figured you should relax, since you’re having finals soon. Hopefully this helped a bit.”
Sophia’s mouth twitched as she tried not to smile too wide. Her boba eyes seemed to almost light up as she moved to take her seat next to Daniela. “Well, thank you for breakfast, Adela.” Her eyes were drawn to the empty seat beside her. “Where’s Manon?”
The air tightened just slightly and Daniela spoke up, as Manon’s roommate of course she’d know. “She’s not feeling well.” She said, her eyes carrying concern that she was trying hard not to voice.
There was a long silence before Samara raised a brow, not accursitory, more curiously. “Again?”
Daniela’s brows furrowed and her eyes snapped to Samara. “Yes, again. She doesn’t have the best immune system, so what?” Her voice carried a certain type of protectiveness that struck something in Sophia.
“Nothing, I was just curious.” She mumbled, her eyes narrowing slightly at Daniela’s aggressive tone.
Samara Siqueira, 17 years, high school student, from Rio de Janeiro, BR
“I just wonder if Manon pretends to be sick for more screen time, y’know? This is reality TV, the more screen time, the better. She gets to call off of her work to pretend to be sick, and then when we’re all gone, boom. More time.” She said, fixing her braids slightly and tucking one behind her ear. "And what's with Daniela? I know she and Manon were friends before this whole show or whatever, but she gets all defensive so quickly about Manon."
“She could go to a doctor, she’s always sick.” Lara suggested as she took another bite of her pancakes. “Sophia, can you drive us to school today? I don’t trust being in a car with Daniela.”
“Excuse me?” The latina piped up.
Sophia just gave a small chuckle, “You know I don’t have my license yet, Lara.” She said with a small smile on her face. It sucked, really. Since she’d only moved to America this year for Dream Academy, their reality tv show, she hadn’t yet had the time to get her license.
“I can drive us.” Megan suggested as she stood up, straightening her pajamas. “I have to go get dressed, but I can totally drive us.”
“No. Absolutely not.” Lara quickly said.
“What? Why not? I took you, Yoonchae, and Brooklyn on a drive last week! What’s so different now?!”
“Well, it’s simple, Megs. I don’t wanna die anymore. I only let you drive me because I thought the fear of death would take my mind off of Orlando,”
Karlee looked between Megan, Lara, Yoonchae and Brooklyn. “Is something wrong with Megan’s driving?” She asked, an amused smile on her face, shaking her head.
Brooklyn tensed at the mention and, suddenly, the empty plate looked really interesting. She moved the prongs of her fork around in the left over syrup and egg yolk, keeping her head down as she did so.
“She ran a red.” Yoonchae said after a moment of suspense. “And she kept looking at her phone to text her boyfriend.”
“What?” Karlee’s brows shot up.
“Thought it’d be worse.” Marquise mumbled. But then she blinked as she remembered Hinari and Ua were there and quickly tried to add on, “Still not good though, hah.”
“Oh wow.” Adela said.
“Sorry?” Sophia’s brows knitted together as she leaned forward, “What? Megan, don’t be a reckless driver. That’s seriously not a good habit to get into.” Her ears wandered to Yoonchae, Brooklyn, and Lara. “Why didn’t you three tell us the day it happened?”
“I’m not a snitch.” Lara said with a shrug and then blinked, feigning innocence. “Why’re you victim blaming us? You’re older than us, you’re supposed to be like my pseudo-mother.”
“Who’s the father?” Megan asked as she quietly slipped out of the room to avoid a scolding.
Ezrela hummed and nodded curiously. “That’s a good question, who is the father? And be more careful when you drive, Megan.”
Lara even seemed to have to pause for a moment to figure that out. She closed her eyes. “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
“There is no father, what are you guys talking about?” Sophia dropped the driving subject as she looked around, bewildered.
“Maybe it’s that Leon guy.” Marquise tried.
“No.” Sophia immediately shut her down.
“He is your lockscreen..” Emily mumbled with a shrug.
“No– wha– I’m not even going to entertain this. All of you get changed for school.”
“Oh, I know!” Lara shot up happily as it finally clocked in her mind. “Manon!” She winked at the cameras. Their manager had told them that it’d be good to start up some drama and fanshipping, well, in Lara’s opinion she was doing quite the job.
“Get dressed.” Daniela and Sophia both said at the same time. The camera conveniently zoomed in as Sophia’s ears turned red and her cheeks began to get a pink dusting coloring them. Sophia groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Teenagers.” Sophia mumbled.
Lara Rajagopalan, 17 years, high school student, from Dallas, TX
“I was just kidding." The teen girl mumbled. She was dressed in her school clothes already. A white hoodie over a white designer shirt, she had on white pants and a brow belt to top it off. “Plus, those two are like parents. Sophia’s all motherly and overbearing, I mean, she literally makes us breakfast and always pays for shopping sprees. And she gives life tips and stuff.” Lara listed off, lifting a finger for each thing she said.
“I mean, we only all moved in here last summer. Most of us didn’t read the full contract or whatever, guess who did? Ms. Mommy over there.” She continued, putting her chin in the palm of her hand and resting her elbow on her thigh. “And Manon.. Is the dad! She’s always busy with work or busy being sick. And she got mad about something once, I don’t know what, but she ran out the door all hot and bothered,”
“Don’t say that, Lara.” Sophia said from the background.
Lara waved her off absentmindedly, “Right. Anyway, she was pretty mad and was all scary. Total dad.”
“Lara, the rest of us have classes to go to, can we hurry this up?” Marquise's voice interrupted Lara’s confessional.
“Oh, shit, yeah. They’ll put me and Megs in detention if we’re late again.” Lara said as she stood up and grabbed the bag that had been out of frame on the floor.
“Why didn’t you just do your confessional later? You didn’t have to do it right after the moment happened.” Brooklyn’s voice could be heard asking somewhere off frame.
“Once I get home, I’m probably just gonna shower and go straight to sleep.” Lara mumbled dreamily, already thinking of her warm pillows and blankets.
“Ugh, I wish I could. I have dance practice after school.” Emily grumbled off frame.
“We have to go, Dani is waiting for us.” Sophia’s voice was the last thing that was heard before the scene ended.
“Have a good day at school.” Daniela said coolly as she dropped off Lara, Emily, Marquise, Yoonchae, and Megan. She saw out of her side mirror that Iilya had dropped off Ua, Samara, Mei, Brooklyn, and Hinari. Unfortunately, neither of them ever had room in their cars to drive Sophia to her classes. Mayoung, Ezrela, and Adela always offered to drive her but Sophia always declined apparently.
She took a breath and spared a glance towards the clock in her car. It was only 7:45. She took afternoon classes, as she was still in college as a Dance major. Which meant she still had a while until her classes started. She was thirsty, and she knew a starbucks up ahead. ‘Why not?’ She thought to herself.
The wait for her drinks was long, as it was early and she supposed people wanted to get a quick pick me up before work or school. She was sitting in her car, fingers drumming against her steering wheel as she waited for the person in front of her to finish up when her phone buzzed in the glovebox.
She stared at it and was about to pick it up when the person in front of her drove off. She’d look at whatever it was after she got her drinks. Two mocha latte’s. What? A girl needed energy, college work was no joke. She pulled over into the parking lot and unlocked her phone. It was a text from Sophia?
🫧 SOAPY🫧:
Hey
The bus hasn’t come, i think it broke down or something cause I’m on time
Or maybe it missed a route?
Idk but I kinda dont wanna miss or be late to any classes
With finals coming up and stuff
Can you pick me up?
If not its okay
I can ask someone else or walk
DANI:
Ofc I can
Don't walk you’ll just be exhausted and late to class
Hold on im On My Way!
On My Way!
Omfg auto correct
omw
🫧 SOAPY🫧:
Thanks lol