Your POV-SMent

Only a short while later you had to wake up from your nap and get out of the van. Still sleepy you didn’t even protest as Amber relieved you of your backpack before entering the building. Now that you were a part of the so called ‘elite’ you got to use some of the better facilities, which was a nice change.

Before you could even use them though there was a boring meeting in which you were given a list of expectations and rules. Unlike previously where you had no choice in what classes to take, now you had to opportunity to specialize and explore certain areas of interest. You could choose anything from Chinese folk dance to learning to play the drums.

The mornings it seemed would be devoted to individual study and the afternoons to academics, like foreign language and writing. The evenings then were when you would be given time to work on things as a unit. It being the first day they went easy on you, simply giving a tour and helping you get your classes picked out.

 It was difficult to narrow down what you wanted to take because your interests were far reaching however you managed to decide on hip-hop, song composition/producing, acrobatics, and acting. You were tempted to try Chinese ethnic dance until Victoria offered to teach it to you herself, having majored in it before coming to Korea. The only thing you had to do in exchange was give her the occasional guitar lesson. The arrangement was perfect and left the two of you free to take another elective.

It was lunch time by the end of all the administrative stuff and you walked down to the cafeteria along with everyone else. As you entered all of the people stopped eating and stood up to greet your group before returning to their meals. It made you feel uncomfortable when just yesterday you would’ve been considered one of them.

You and your friends found an open table as far from Jae-Hwa and her gang as possible. All morning long the older girls had forced the newbies to do little things for them, like fetch their water bottles and buying them snacks from the vending machines.  What frustrated you the most though was that all the instructors ignored it making it impossible to say no. For once you would’ve liked to tell them to go get it themselves, but apparently there was a hierarchy here and you were currently on the bottom of the food chain. Rather than make yourself a target and jeopardize your position you decided to swallow your pride.

Being surrounded by your friends at the table did much to improve your mood and by the end of the meal you were able to laugh along with everyone. The conversation itself ranged from a wide variety of topics and switched languages rapidly from English to Korean and back again with a little Mandarin mixed in. It was highly entertaining and you were sad when it was time to get back to work. You headed off to Korean with Amber and Victoria saying goodbye to Hara and Ailee.

Thankfully your Korean lessons hadn’t changed much, the only difference being that you now focused more on the interview process. It was important to be able to express your answers with the correct grammar and in a respectful way. There were too many scandals lately with idol’s words being scrutinized for slander. Before too long you met up with everyone again for literature and writing making the time pass quickly as you studied with your friends.

In no time at all it was the start of the evening session. This was the part you were most nervous about because it was the true test of how you would all work together should you form a group. You were separated into your floors and then assigned to either dancing or recording. The company wanted to see how everyone’s voices went together so they wanted to get you into the studio to lay down some demo tracks. Your floor consisting of Jae-Hwa, Jung-mi, Hyorin, you, Hara, Victoria, Amber, and Ailee, were assigned to record first. The 8 of you were ushered into the recording studio and given the sheet music to work from. For the next two hours you each recorded the parts separately and then listened as the producer manipulated the sound board playing with the voice combinations. Occasionally he would add a special effect like layering, an echo, or some drum beats. The whole process was fascinating to watch and you were ecstatic with the end result. It sounded like something you’d hear on the radio.

Satisfied with your work the producer gave you permission to trade off with the other group, who was currently working on dancing. You liked the new instructor better than Kyung-hee, who you always thought was a little mean and held grudges. This time it was a male in his mid-twenties by the name of Dong-Sun. He took you through a series of dance steps pausing along the way to make minor corrections before he let you perform it all the way through. Instead of interrupting when you made mistakes like Kyung-hee would’ve done he would wait till the end and give each person an individual critique. It was much more effective and less discouraging.

The only rough part of the night was when Jung-mi decided to get revenge for the morning. Whenever Dong-Sun wasn’t looking she would jab you with an elbow or bump you with her foot. One of the times you ended up crashing to the floor as your balance was knocked off drawing the attention of Dong-Sun. His eyes showed that he wanted to say something, but then he appeared to think better of it and turned back around. You couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed in him.

When practice finally ended you were sore all over and ready to collapse. Helping to clean up you grabbed your stuff  along with the others and headed to the door. Giving you a sense of Déjà vu you found your way blocked once again by Jae-Hwa.

“And just where do you think you’re going? Don’t forget it is your job to keep the studio clean.”

Having had just about enough you snapped at her. “Not that it is any of your business, but I’m going to go back to the dorms and get some well-deserved sleep. Maybe if I have enough energy I might make a snack and watch a movie with the girls. That is if that’s ok with you?”

Gone was the timid girl from this morning, who played the part of innocent hoobae, and in her place was the real you. Despite the fact that you knew it was going to make trouble for you in the future it was no longer possible to hide how you felt anymore nor did you want to. These girls needed to be taken down a peg or two and if you had to be the one to do it. So be it.

While Jae-Hwa struggled for words you felt your friends come up behind you and a gentle arm on your shoulder told you that they had your back. It was humbling to know that you’d found such good friends in such a short amount of time. In some ways they were closer than your family/ By having to endure the same hardships as you a special bond was formed. You were no longer afraid of anything Jae-Hwa could do to you.

“Why you little… I think that these punks need to be taught a lesson. Jung-mi go get the other girls I have a feeling they won’t be cooperative.” Jae-Hwa said as she finally found her voice.

You yanked Jung-mi’s arm hard stopping her from leaving. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you…”

“Why not?” She asked curiously.

Jae-Hwa not happy that her orders weren’t being taken care of grabbed Jung-mi’s other arm and a tug of war ensued. Reluctantly you let go not wanting to hurt her and watched as she jogged away. It wasn’t too long before she returned with more of Jae-Hwa’s cronies behind her. Some looked frightened at the possibility of violence, while a few looked positively gleeful. You noticed Mi-Na in the background with an indifferent look on her face similar to the one Hyorin wore.

Realizing you were greatly outnumbered you signaled your friends to make a break for it. Desperately you shoved passed a surprised looking Jae-Hwa hoping the other girls were following close behind you. Suddenly an elbow came out of nowhere striking you in the gut taking your breath away. Falling to one knee you struggled to quickly gain your feet again before another blow could hit you. Taking into account that the other girls were also the targets of elbows, feet, and fists you made a split second decision.

Instead of trying to force your way through you retreated back to the center of the room drawing the majority of the bullies towards you. As you passed Hara you tossed your cell to her and told her to press number 4 on speed dial. She looked ready to protest, but you quickly threw yourself into the middle of the fray fighting with all the skill that you possessed. Out of the corner of your eye you noticed your friends safely made it into the hallway and you were able to concentrate better without having to worry about them. Turning to face your knew attacker you prepared yourself to give her as good as she gave.

I hope they get help quickly…

Hara’s POV-SMent

“Press number 4 on speed dial…”

“Mel. What are you doing?” My question was drowned out by her fierce yell as she threw herself into the fight.

The only way I could help her now was if I did as she asked. As she drew the attackers towards her I grabbed the other girls and dashed for the relative safety of the hallway. Once there we ran around the corner and I whipped out her cell phone. I took me a few times before I was able to unlock the screen because my hands were shaking so bad. Quickly I held down the number 4 and waited for the phone to ring…

“Yoboseyo? Mel?” A man’s voice said on the other line.

“Hello. I’m not sure if you know who I am, but my name is Hara I’m a friend of Mel’s.”

“Oh Hara-ssi this is Taemin, but why are you calling me with Mel’s phone?”

I felt my breath catch in my throat. “Taemin-oppa oh my god you have to help Mel. There were bullies and fists and elbows. Big fight. I don’t know what to do.”

“Slow down Hara I can’t understand you. What about bullies? Is Mel in trouble of some kind?”

“Yes we were training today with all the girls for the first time and Mel was sick of their attitudes so she stood up to them. Naturally they didn’t take it very well and now there is a big fight going on. You have to help her.”

There was a short pause on the other line and I could practically hear Taemin thinking.

“Ok here is what you do. Have you met the dance instructor Dong-Sun yet?”

“Yes.”

“Good, go find him and tell him I sent you. He is a good guy and will be able to help.”

“Are you sure?” I asked skeptically remembering how he ignored the bullying earlier.

“Positive. Now hurry up and go find him. His office is on the third floor just off the staircase. Have Mel call me later ok?”

“Ok Thanks Oppa.”

Sliding the phone shut the four of us ran as fast as we could to Dong-Sun’s office shoving people out of our way if necessary.

I just hope he is able to help.

A/N: yay new chappie! I really like this chapter for some reason. Maybe because I have always been partial to action scenes. Anyways let me know what you think. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! -Sarah