The camera crew sets up their things in the dance studio, recording the girls when something interesting comes up. The girls listen to their choreographer as he goes over the routines and how he is going to split them up and mash them together. Chaerin, who is the main dancer, paid attention the most. The choreographer, whom the girls decide to call ‘Hwan’, has trouble decided her position in the dance routines. She is main dancer, yes, but when it comes to U-Kiss, the main vocalist always gets the lead dance positions and the main dancer is usually placed at the back. She understands that and says it is okay.

            “Why must we cover ‘Tick Tack’ too? They just released that a few days ago!” EunMi says to no one in specific. It is true. U-Kiss released their Japanese single, ‘Tick Tack’, on the 17^th of December. That was four days ago. It is currently the 21^st of December.

            “It has a great dance to it, though,” Yoo Sawng states, looking at the girl with her arms crossed.

            “I brought food!” JunSeong says cheerily, walking through the dance studio door. The girls turn to face him with frowns upon their faces. They are hungry but they know this is going to be another long night. Food wasn’t exactly going to cheer them up, but it would fill their hungry stomachs for now.

            “Food!” S.Me says happily, trying to smile wide.

            “How about we film the girls a bit and ask them a few questions while they break,” the cameraman asks JunSeong, looking over his camera at him. JunSeong glances at the girls who are opening the packages and drinks speedily. He looks at the cameraman and nods.

            “That’s a good idea,” he says to him. He walks over to his seat and sits down, looking at the girls. He worries for them most of the time. He knows they are stressed like no other and are being overworked, but it has to be done! The pre-debut stage is a hard stage after all. You have to perfect your vocals for the song, your dancing to your dance routine, and you have to worry about looking perfect all the time. Since the girls are being filmed throughout this whole ordeal, they have to stay ‘idol-like’ and maintain a good, perfect image for fans. It’s what every group does on camera. The girls do show their real sides, but it has been altered to a certain degree.

            Each girl has an opinion concerning this whole ‘transformation’ and ‘pre-debut stage’. Vizio doesn’t mind it much and finds it amusing; thinking she can use it as acting experience for the future. Yoo Sawng is a strong, independent girl who follows rules – she does what the directors, CEOs, President, and her manager says. No ‘and’s, ‘if’s, or ‘but’s about it. She is concerned for the younger girls and their health, but as long as they are ‘okay’, she is fine. S.Me goes with the crowd and does what everyone else does, but has her worries about everything. She doubts things, but in the end her hopes are set high. EunMi wishes things weren’t so hard, stressful, and most of all…girly! She hopes things turn out for the best, but she knows not every rookie group goes far. Bae Kyon looks for the ‘good’ in the situation and feeds off of that – sometimes too much. She knows things will get easier and that all this hard work is worth it. Finally, Chaerin can care less about everything. She has had her doubtful moments and her happy moments, but she really doesn’t care what happens in the end – as long as Lilac is still together, she is happy.

            “Why does every group always eat chicken?” Chaerin asks, looking at her piece of chicken. “I mean in every show you see some group eating chicken. Then there’s Onew-ssi! He is like…obsessed with it and fangirls always overuse his love for it! It’s so weird and ridiculous!”

            Vizio and Bae Kyon chuckle while S.Me eats her chicken happily; EunMi and Yoo Sawng slowly shake their heads at the younger girl. What a nice thing for her to say in front of the camera.

            EunMi puts her hat back on after a few minutes and waves at the camera. She then grabs a piece of sushi (which is her favorite type) with her chopsticks and puts it in . She then pokes Vizio in the cheek with her chopsticks and waves them, grinning as she eats her yummy sushi.

            Vizio grabs her chopsticks and pokes EunMi in the cheek. She sticks her tongue out at the girl and then grabs some noodles from the container and stuffs them in .

            Yoo Sawng nibbles on her japchae. She smiles subconsciously at the food, being happy that she is finally eating after all these hours. She doesn’t notice the two girls across from her poking each other’s cheeks with their eating utensils – if she would, she’d yell at them. The camera focuses on her for a few seconds before moving on.

            “So, girls, what are your thoughts on this new mashup dance?” JunSeong asks as the cameraman hands him a list of questions to ask the girls. He reads over them as he waits for them to respond.

            EunMi says with a mouthful, “I think it will be hard work, but fun. U-Kiss has great dance routines and vocals. I hope we do well. No girly stuff!”

            Chaerin elbows her in the side and starts talking, “It is definitely going to be fun! I saw the video for ‘Tick Tack’ and it looks super exciting! Plus ‘Neverland’ is a pretty tough and powerful dance in my opinion. I hope we do well, too. Lilac fighting!”

            As all the other girls nod in agreement, JunSeong decides to ask another question. He knows to avoid questions such as ‘who is your ideal type’ and ‘what guy in the k-pop industry could be your ideal type’. He knew a couple girls would reject the question.

            “What are your thoughts on debut?” he asks them, looking up to see if they are paying attention – which is a ‘no’.

“Oh!” Yoo Sawng says, hearing the last word of that sentence. “Can you repeat that again, please?”

            He repeats the question while Yoo Sawng gets the other girls to actually listen this time. They do and they think for a second.

            “I think it is going to be a relief. Once that relief is over, we’ll get a short break and then more preparation. But all in all, I hope it is a great success and we do well. It seems such a short time, but then again, it seems so far away!” Yoo Sawng answers, looking at the camera and giving an eyesmile.

            “I think we all agree with that,” Bae Kyon tells the camera, not looking at it but instead just eating on a rice ball. Her eyes are glued to it as she eats it, which causes S.Me to go into a giggling fit.

            After several minutes of meaningless questions, EunMi falls over on Vizio’s shoulder asleep and Bae Kyon lies back, stretched out on the floor. Chaerin drinks her water and talks with Yoo Sawng about their new routine. S.Me pats her stomach, making a pouty face (signaling she is too full).

            “Done?” JunSeong asks, setting the paper on the floor beside his chair. He looks over at the girls. Yoo Sawng looks back at him, locking eyes with him. She realizes this after a second and looks away, eyes wide. She nods and he stands up. He walks over to the door to go and find the choreographer. After several minutes the choreographer and manager walk back and the girls clean up so they can prepare for their practice session.

            “My feet are killing me! Why did we have to put on our heels for this?” EunMi whines, stomping her foot and almost falling over.

            “We are going to be performing in heels. Well…all of us except Yoo Sawng unnie and Bae Kyonnie. They are tall so they are going to be wearing matching converse,” S.Me tells her and then takes a drink of water.

            “What time is it songsaengnim?” Bae Kyon asks their choreographer. She is trying to even out her breathing since she is out of breath. He turns to her and looks at his phone.

            “It is 3 a.m.”

            All the girls groan as they hear this. Twelve hours of photoshoots and seven hours of practice. This has surely been one of the longest days of the year! This kind of schedule is sure to go on for the next two weeks – it is a known fact, but somehow the girls wish that they can somehow perfect the mashup dance and song and get some rest.

            “When will we finish practice?” Chaerin asks the question that is on every girl’s mind. She is up by the cameras, waving at one of them and doing aegyo. S.Me walks up behind her and does aegyo, too, giggling. Both the girls are interrupted by the choreographer, who says,

“Perform one more time and we’ll see.”

            The girls line up one more time, forcing themselves to move even though their body’s ache. Most of them are used to the pain, except Vizio who isn’t as used to the training but still manages to deal with it.

            The girls have been given their parts: Vizio takes Hoon’s part, Bae Kyon takes Soohyun’s part, EunMi takes Kevin’s part, S.Me takes Dongho’s part, Yoo Sawng takes AJ’s part and Chaerin takes Kiseop and Eli’s parts.

            As the girls follow their performance routine, they make some mistakes, Yoo Sawng, Vizio, and EunMi all cursing under their breath when it is not their part to sing. JunSeong still hasn’t heard anything from the President whether or not the girls will be singing along, but until he knows the girls must sing along.

            As the girls finish the routine, JunSeong and the choreographer whisper to each other. They end with the last pose for ‘Neverland’ and then the twist in the music comes on as routine and they do their signature poses to end the song. Once they do that, they wait for the choreographer and their manager to speak. They stand their motionless and speechless, knowing they did mess up a few times. What would they say? Would they be finished for today>

            “You…” the choreographer starts, “are finished for today’s practice. Go home and get some rest and be back here tomorrow at 2 p.m.”

            What he says brings smiles to the girls’ faces and they bow and chorus, “Thank you!”

*********

            The girls wake up the next day at around 12 p.m. to eat something before heading to the dance studio. They go over their songs (English & Chinese versions).

            “I don’t get the point of making some of our songs in English. Is it always going to be this way?” S.Me asks and then throws her papers on the floor. “I am not good at English!”

            Vizio throws her papers down, too and nods, “There is no ‘yo’ in it!”

            “Unnie, you have Korean lessons at one. Maybe you should go ahead and go,” S.Me tells her in her Mandarin (which is much better now), picking up both of their papers. “Stop worrying about the songs for this second.”

            Vizio takes her paper from S.Me and nods. She waves at the rest of the girls and walks to the door to get her shoes on. After she leaves, Yoo Sawng goes into the kitchen to clean the dishes before they go. Their kitchen is currently in a huge mess.

            “Aish! We need chores around here!” she mutters to herself as she frowns at the huge mess. She turns to open the fridge and finds no food in it. She shakes her head and walks to the cabinets and finds nothing as well.

            “Hey! Why do you have so many unread messages from Eunkyo?” EunMi asks, sitting beside Chaerin with Chaerin’s phone in her hand.

            “Yah!” Chaerin yells, trying to grab her phone from EunMi, but EunMi sits on it.

            “Have you even messages Sungmin? You two are best friends! You aren’t even answering Eunkyo and she is your best friend, too! What the heck? It’s not like you have anything to avoid him over!” EunMi pushes Chaerin away from her and uses her feet and legs to keep pushing her away.

            “You’re avoiding Sungmin?” Yoo Sawng asks, walking back into the living room. She sits by S.Me and grabs the remote, turning the TV on. Chaerin stops fighting with EunMi for a minute to look at Yoo Sawng.

            “I’m not avoiding him. He hasn’t called or texted me. He could! Besides, it isn’t like we are in a relationship or anything! We are best friends! Best friends! We don’t have to talk every day.”

            “She’s avoiding Eunkyo, too,” EunMi says to Yoo Sawng, putting Chaerin in a headlock. “Something must be up.”

            “Let go of me!” Chaerin says, trying to break free of EunMi’s strong grip. EunMi just laughs at the maknae’s attempts.

            Bae Kyon walks in to the living room and sees the girls. She leans over the back of the couch to look down at EunMi and Chaerin. She sees the phone setting there, grabs it, and looks at the message on the screen. The two girls don’t even notice, but Yoo Sawng and S.Me do. They grin and stand up.

            “Hey, Bae Kyon, can you help me in the kitchen?” Yoo Sawng asks, trying to act casual.

            “Sure, Unnie!” Bae Kyon says, hiding the phone behind her back, still kind of confused. She isn’t sure why the other two girls are looking at her with evilness in their eyes, but she goes along with it. Yoo Sawng tells S.Me to stay and keep the girls fighting while she gets the phone from Bae Kyon.

            As Bae Kyon and Yoo Sawng walk into the kitchen, Bae Kyon hands her the phone. She sits on a bar stool and watches as Yoo Sawng goes through Chaerin’s phone. She still doesn’t understand what is going on or whose phone that is.

            “Who-“

            “Chaerin’s. Remember that Jeongmin thing?”

            “What Jeongmin thing?!” Bae Kyon says loudly, eyes wide. The scene of her falling and kissing Jeongmin pops into her head as she stares at Yoo Sawng.

            Yoo Sawng gives her a weird look when she notices Bae Kyon staring at her, “The thing where he wanted that date with Chaerin. Remember?”

            “O-Oh yeah,” Bae Kyon nods, faking a laugh. Yoo Sawng continues to look at her weirdly. Bae Kyon twirls her hair nervously as she stares at a rotting banana on the table in front of her. “Wh-when should we be leaving…for…um…practice?”

            Yoo Sawng thinks for a minute about the current situation. Bae Kyon acting weird at the mention of an incident with Jeongmin. She is still acting weird and stuttering. What is going on exactly?

            “Is something going on that I don’t know about?” Yoo Sawng asks her, setting the phone down in front of her.

            “Huh?” Bae Kyon looks up with doe-eyes. Her fingers stop twirling her hair and stays agape. “Wh-what-“

            Yoo Sawng starts counting on her fingers, “You are stuttering, twirling your hair, averting your eyes every second, and you are being nervous. Something is up. Tell me!”

            “N-Nothing!”

            “Tell me.”

            “No.”

            “Bae Ae Sook!” Yoo Sawng warns the girl, glaring. She is faking, but she knows the girl is too nervous to tell. She leans forward, continuing to glare and says again, “Tell me.”

            “Fine!” Bae Kyon says, putting her head in her hands. “You can’t tell anyone though!”

            Yoo Sawng smiles wide and nods, “I won’t.”

            “Fine. I-I…I ki-“

            “Where’s my phone?!” Chaerin yells at the top of her lungs.

            Bae Kyon stops and looks over Yoo Sawng’s shoulder towards the living room. You can hear EunMi laughing and Chaerin running around. S.Me runs into the kitchen and sees the phone lying on the table by the girls. She laughs and says to them,

“Hide it!”

            “Where is it?!” Chaerin yells again, running past the kitchen and EunMi following her. EunMi stops by the kitchen archway and looks at the three other girls. She raises an eyebrow and walks over to them.

            “Who has it?” she asks, smirking.

            Yoo Sawng holds up the phone and chuckles, “I texted Eunkyo back a long message and told her to text me on my phone later. I’m going to see why those two aren’t talking and what’s going on. Are you going to help?”

            “Hell yes I am!” EunMi says, smiling wide.

            Chaerin runs into the kitchen to find the girls smiling wide. She breathes heavily from running so much and leans against the wall. She looks at them, realizing that they have her phone. She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. EunMi smirks and grabs the phone, walking over to the girl. She holds it out to her. Chaerin hesitantly takes it.

            “Now, Bae Kyon-ah, what were you saying?” Yoo Sawng asks the girl.

            Bae Kyon just looks at the girl, blinking. She shakes her head and fakes another laugh. “It was nothing! Don’t worry!”

            That was close… Bae Kyon thinks to herself, sighing in her mind in relief. She wants to tell Yoo Sawng and the rest of the girls, but what would they think? It was an accident so they should understand…but something felt odd about telling them. Something also felt odd about the situation. She couldn’t quite describe it.

            “Let’s go. We have an hour before practice and we still need to rehearse our songs,” Yoo Sawng says, standing up.

            “No more English!” S.Me whines, following her.

*songsaengnim – teacher

*japchae – noodles with beef and vegetable, fried in soy sauce

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Truthfully, I wrote the ‘Star Golden Bell’ thing way before I did these past few chapters. Haha~ ^^; That is why it’s taking so long to write this stuff. I’m too excited for the interviews as well so writing about their lives and stuff just feels time consuming, BUT I have gotten back into the hang of writing it. So~ here you go~

As an author, I do wish I had more subscribers, but I’m not going to go and beg. Maybe I should do like that one girl and say I will update once I reach ____ amount of subscribers. Nah~ I’m content with you guys<3 :3

Did you all have a Happy Valentine’s Day or S.A.D? I slept all day…and then went on my roleplay all night. ^^;

So~ Tell me…and BE HONEST.

Rate the girls from favorite to least favorite in your eyes. Start from your favorite at 1 and your least favorite at 6. If you want, you can PM the results of your favorites list. But I am going to use this for the story, so I need to know~ <333