A soft sigh left Tayler’s lips as she recalled her phone conversation with her friend. Candace had been quite animated, even through the phone when she explained the situation to her, and Tayler had been hesitant to agree to anything her friend had suggested. Still, here she was, waiting for her crew, and the mentioned individuals to show up. She had sent a text to Li explaining the situation, thankful that the other girl would be the one relaying all the info to the rest of her members.

Tayler looked up to the sound of chatter as Li and Catherine walked in, already deep in discussion about the current situation. Both girls were in jeans and graphic tees just like she was- simple casual wear.

“Hey.” Both girls looked over at Tayler as the latter got up from her seat to greet them.

“Hey,” Catherine replied cheerily. “Been here long?”

Tayler shook her head as Li added, “So what do you think about this whole thing with 2PM?”

Tayler shrugged. “I dunno really. What do you guys think?”

At that moment the door opened again and two more girls walked in. The contrast was obvious with one girl coming in with heels and a mini-skirt, while the other in was in a ratty shirt and jeans: Yujin and Lara, respectively.

“Are we really going to team up with those kids?” Lara asked, pushing Tayler a little to the corner to sit in the booth next to her.

“Kids?” Yujin answered, taking another free seat and running her fingers sideways through her bangs. Her hair was dyed red and fell past her shoulders. “They’re hot, in case you're blind.”

Lara rolled her eyes and readjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. She had decided to wear her frames today. “Well, as long as we split the prize out evenly then we can call it a deal.”

The sound of the bell chimes on the door distracted the group for another moment, and the last two members walked in.

“Just got off my shift,” Seulmi said. “We’re not late are we?”

Li shook her head and pointed at a seat, “No, we were early.” She then turned to the other girl, “Jisang-ah, I’m surprised you didn’t forget today’s meeting.”

Jisang shook her head, “Almost. I still don’t think teaming up is such a good idea. What are the chances of us winning anyway? It’s a real competition, with real judges.”

“I think it’s a great idea.” Catherine spoke up, straightening her back. “I really think we can win this competition, we just have to work extra hard!”

Lara scoffed. “You are aware we still have to dance with those boys right? How do you even know if their ethics coincides with yours?”

“I have no idea what you just said, but I say yes to teaming with 2PM,” Yujin replied, examining her nails.

“You’re only saying that cause you like eye-candy,” Lara commented offhandedly.

“Who doesn’t? Unless your ovaries have dried out. The point is-”

“The point is if we’re going through with this or not,” Li calmly cut off Yujin’s remark before more trouble could arise. They were meeting up to make a decision, and it was not a time to be arguing.

“What do we really even know about them?” Tayler spoke up.

“Aren’t you friends with one of them Tayler-unni?” Seulmi asked, giving the older girl a questioning look.

Tayler merely shrugged in response. “Not really, Junsu-ssi was more of Candace’s friend than mine.”

“Well, they’re pretty popular underground, you guys all know that,” Li said matter-of-factly. “Seven guys, I think they’ve danced together as crew longer than we have-”

“They have,” Catherine cut in. “So it’ll be a good experience for all of us if we dance with them.”

“That doesn’t tell us much,” Jisang said.

“I think she forgot the part that they also like to flash the audience,” Lara commented dryly. “Probably makes up for whatever lack of skill they have, or maybe it’s to attract girls with no minds.”

“What about none of the above? Consider the flashing a service to the world.”

The table quieted and turned towards the source of the voice, and there stood three members of 2PM, the one in the middle, the shortest of the three spoke again, “So, hi.”

The girls stared, and Catherine quickly broke the silence. “Hi! I’m Catherine. Where are the rest of your members?”

“Busy,” the same one replied with a slight shrug.

“I’m Nichkhun, this is Jay, and Junsu,” Nichkhun interrupted with a slight bow, shooting Jay a quick look.

Catherine sent introductions around their table and each girl stood up for an awkward bow at their name. Li quickly interrupted and suggested they sit, and all ten people were now seated as they went over the finer details of 2PM’s, suggestion.

Nichkhun pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket and smoothened it out on the table. “The auditions for the competition will be held in two weeks, that’s about enough time to get a short routine done. The rules require pair dances in several genres of dance, and all of it should be displayed in the audition routine. If we get in, we can agree on an equal partition of what prizes we get, however, a certain percentage needs to be cut before splitting.”

Li nodded her head in understanding. “What’s the cut-out for?”

“Band-aids,” Jay replied nonchalantly.

“Band...aids? What?!” Seulmi gasped, looking curiously at Jay.

“Miscellaneous crew components. You are aware of how this is going to be arranged, right?” Jay answered, still leaning back and relaxing in his seat.

Li took a deep breath before speaking, but Catherine spoke first, “Crew components? What arrangements are we talking about?”

“Studios, music-”

Catherine held out her hand for Jay to stop speaking. “We have a well equipped studio and several mixes to work with. Our studio would be just fine to accommodate all of us.”

“No offense,” Junsu started. “But your mixtracks need some work. Don’t worry about the music anymore, we have someone to work magic on it. I’m sure your studio is sufficient, how’s your soundroom?”

“It doesn’t matter how good their studio or soundroom is,” Jay muttered quietly to Junsu. “Those two are not going to budge, and we need them both.”

“You assume too soon that we’re agreeing,” Lara said, crossing her arms on her chest.

“Well we are,” Yujin answered, then she turned to Li. “Aren’t we?”

Li nodded and folded her hands on the table, “We’ll give your studio...and your...band-aids a chance, we’re dancing together, but if we find your facilities not to par, we’re moving to our studio, no questions asked.”

Jay smirked and opened his mouth to speak, but Nichkhun laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him before replying to Li’s conditions. “I’m sure you’ll find our studio more than satisfactory to your needs.” He smiled, eyeing each Closed Formation member steadily, holding their gaze for a few moments each.

“Yes, I’m pretty sure we will,” Yujin agreed, a tiny smile playing on her lips.

“Great, it’s a date,” Jay replied casually as he got up, the rest of s following suit.

“Wait! How are we going to contact you?” Catherine asked, furrowing her brows in worry.

“Junsu has your number right?” Junsu nodded and Jay continued, “We’ll text. Nice meeting you.”

Li opened to argue, but Nichkhun quickly interjected, “We’ll contact you ahead of time, so hopefully it all works out.” The other two were already out the door, and he quickly flashed a polite smile before following them out.

“Is this really a good idea?”  Jisang asked once the boys were gone, her eyes still on the door.

“Don’t pretend you’re not interested Jisang-ah,” Yujin replied bluntly with a smirk.

“You sure don’t try to keep those thoughts to yourself,” Lara commented wryly, giving her friend a sideglance.

“Tayler-ah, how well do you know Junsu-ssi?” Li asked, trying to ignore the commentary to her left.

“Not really well, he was more of a friend’s friend. But he’s nice guy,” Tayler replied.

“So what do you think?” Seulmi asked, not really directing her question at anyone in particular.

“It sounds like a great idea,” Catherine stated with a smile.

“I second that,” Yujin butted in. “Plus, you can’t tell me you’re going to turn down an offer by guys that dance and look like that.”

“Down girl,” Lara said with a hint of a smirk on her lips.

Jisang gave Lara a puzzled look as Yujin’s head snapped up, glaring daggers at the girl in question. She was about to reply when Li swiftly cut in.

“Guys? Can we stay on topic?”

“They’re cute,” Tayler quickly agreed. “But I think we should pay more attention to that the fact that we all need to work together for the competition. We might need more time.”

“Maybe if we practice everyday? I’ll try to make it work with my schedule. Would that be enough?” Seulmi suggested.

“Everyday? For, what, at least four hours with extremely attractive guys? I’m not one to complain,” Yujin answered. “Besides, that blondie is hot.”

Lara nodded her head in reply. “For once I actually agree.”

Jisang’s head bobbed up and down at the comment and Tayler smiled, the only expression that betrayed her similar thoughts. Li merely shrugged and breathed out a smile, thankful that everyone was finally agreeing. Catherine was grinning, glad that they had come to a decision, even if it had been based on gender attraction in the end. Why not? The boys were good dancers, and it didn’t hurt that they were nice to look at. This would be an interesting experience indeed.

[A/N]: Finally right? It's been a while, we're both caught up with other projects (plus school in my case) so this hasn't received the right amount of love it deserves, but worry not, it hasn't been forgotten.

So, our 7 presently chosen girls have been revealed! It's a little crowded, but we wanted to introduce everyone at the same time. If you paid attention, one of the cameo's has already made an appearance (in the previous chapter, as well as this one) and will most likely pop up then and again later on. Take note that static and I do pay attention to feedback, and thankfully our girls haven't disappeared on us. Don't forget, the dynamics of the group (including our cameos) is ever changing.

It's all in the details =]

Now for some shameless advertising - static has a new project starring OneDay plus various other artists and OCs.
If you like action or suspense/mystery, check it out: Catharsis Factor