When I woke up, it was dark. And surprisingly, though my body ached, I wasn't as tired as I had thought I'd be. I guessed it was still dawn or so, since the window was not blasting me with light.

I didn't really think about checking the time until I accidentally moved my head in the clock's direction. Nine o'clock.

I smiled. It was only-- wait. NINE O'CLOCK?!

Last night, one of the dance instructors there to judge us had said that the principal was going to see us at nine sharp in the morning, and warned us not to be late. Uh-oh.

In a new record of two minutes, I zipped through the room for my clothes and zipped to the bathroom to do all that morning stuff. Then I zipped to the offices place, placed way too inconveniently at the other side of campus.

When I finally reached the office, everyone else was there, looking very much at ease. Was everyone all calm and collected, while I was a hurricane, ready to rip out into the room? I probably even looked like a hurricane, too, since I couldn't even properly brush my hair. Wait, did everyone else know the results, and they were calm because I had been ousted?

It turned out that this round, nobody was going down. I was really confused, obviously, but apparently some stuff happened with the boy participants that made all five girls needed. But nevertheless, the principal was going to announce the order anyways, for no good reason. Like, seriously, why?

Anyways, as expected, I was supposed to be last place. Park Sunyoung had won, and Hyojung-unnie was in second, the rest in the middle somewhere. In other words, if the boys hadn't had trouble, I would've been out, fallen, failed, crushed, squished out of existence in this particular survival competition.

Needless to say, I was beyond relief. And very scared as well.

As for the third mission, well, the smug guy wouldn't tell us. Apparently, it was a secret, and as it was a secret, we weren't supposed to know. What we did know was that we had to report back to this very office at four today. Goodness gracious, I do hate secrecy.

I spent the rest of the day until four fidgeting around. I fidgeted at lunch. I fidgeted at recess. I fidgeted and fidgeted until my friends became overly concerned and tried to bring me to the nurse's office. I fidgeted everywhere, so much that even if I didn't walk, I could get to all of my classes fidgeting. To make it worse, I had a lot of catching up to do in my classes that I had missed to participate in the Fall Showcase solo competition thing. Ugh. At least I had my wonderful Jiyoon and Suzy.

Speaking of Jiyoon and Suzy, Jiyoon was getting ready for her breakdance thing with her group, Suzy was getting ready for her solo (squee!), and we spent our spare time working on our MC Projects. So in other words, I really didn't have my wonderful Jiyoon and Suzy that day, or even the entire week! Why is life so hard?

Then came the dreaded 4:00. I was excused out of class and slowly, anxiously made my way for the dreaded third mission right in front of the principal in that cold, cold office. Why did he spend all that time coldly?

During the way, I met Hyojung-unnie, and we walked together, relieving ourselves from our nervousness by sharing it with each other. Finally at the office, the two of us entered cautiously and sat down next to each other in the row of five chairs. Yejin-unnie and Park Sunyoung were already there, and it was only Park Bom-unnie we were waiting for. A minute before four, she came in, looking just as nervous as I probably am.

The principal then looked up at precisely four, and smiled coolly at each of us, making sure to make eye contact. I shivered when his eyes met mine-- for some reason, today he looked downright secret-agent-y, if that made any sense. Probably didn't, like how I wasn't making any sense to me.

He grinned, suddenly mischevious. "Hello, talents. We will be counting your breaths."

I nodded gravely. It made total sense. Of course they would be counting our breaths--wait. What?

My confusion set in a bit later than the others, but at least it set in, with the confirmation that I wasn't crazy. Yet.

Thankfully, he elaborated further. "Whoever keeps their breath going at one go the longest wins."

Ah, the tried-and-true test, finally here to greet us. I smiled for the first time today, because this was something I was good at. I didn't know about Hyojung-unnie, but I had done this in class with the other girls, and emerged victorious. At least I knew that I wouldn't fail today.

They all gave us small strips of paper and a piece of tape, and we taped the paper vertically over our mouth by taping the end of the slip on our nose. In three, two, and one, we all started blowing.

For the first thirty seconds, nobody faltered. Then signs of suffering came out, and at forty-two seconds, a person was disqualified. I wasn't sure who, because, well, I was focused way too hard on my tiny slip of a too-bright pink paper.

After a while, I vaguely noticed that it was now only Hyojung-unnie and me left, steadily letting our papers float. I stole a glance at the small timer, which read 1:11:98. I almost stopped in surprise, since this was my new record, but managed to focus back to keeping my breath saved. I was determined to make my first win.

A/N: No excuse this time, either, folks. Again, sorry sorry! Time does go unnaturally fast when one does not think. Let us not dwell on my sins as a terrible author/writer, but focus on the positive. I'm going to really try to get back on track, everyone, with both this fic and my first one, as well as my ShineeEffects-central third story. In other words, tear myself away from YouTube and other fanfics and keep on writing. I've always felt guilty, after all, for neglecting this and that and generally all of my stories on AFF. Life's busy, and so's YouTube. Comments, subscriptions very much appreciated, and thank you to all for hanging on! :) And once again, I'm very, very, truly sorry. And it's not even remotely long! :(

Preview

Some seconds later, I had lost count, my breath was running out. It was getting harder and harder to blow, and I was now literally squeezing my lungs out trying to sustain my blowing. Sweat drops were starting to dot my forehead, and my eyes were getting dazy.

I let my last blast of air run out, and watched in slow motion as that pink paper floated gently down, before I gasped for air. My eyes slid over to the timer-- 1:49:24, a great new record-- before seeing how Hyojung-unnie was doing.

To my surprise, she was standing with the paper slip in her hand, looking content. I wasn't sure if she'd stopped after or before me; who had won?

The principal cleared his throat, drawing our attention. "The winner, everyone, is..."