Didn't I post this already? Did this chapter dissapear? Or am I just derping again?

I'm so confused... anyways, ENJOY!!! :D

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Kelly woke up to the sound of the shower running. She rubbed her eyes lazily and checked her phone. It was 7am. She rolled over in the bed, pulling the covers over herself again and waited for Els to come out of the bathroom. Her stomach was turning a little and it wasn’t only because she was hungry. Today would be the first rehearsal for their performance at the award show and Kelly would be lying if she said she wasn’t feeling a little nervous. She lay down on her back in the bed wondering what today’s rehearsal would be like. They’d been given pretty much no information whatsoever on the matter so to her frustration, Kelly could only guess. She’d only been awake for a mere two minutes or so but her thoughts were driving her mad already.

What kind of dance will it be; powerful? Cute? y?! Who are we dancing with and oh my god, what will we be wearing?! I hope I don’t embarrass myself and they better not put me in heels because I WILL fall over!!

These were the thoughts that haunted Kelly as she tried to get herself ready. 

She felt a little better after hearing from Sen they’d be dancing with EXO. She felt like at least she knew these guys a little bit better.

The four girls arrived at the company cafeteria at around 8:30 giving them some time for a quick breakfast. Kelly liked eating at the cafeteria, not because it was particularly great food or anything, but it was free and therefor better than eating at the dorm. Also, the fact that you didn’t have to make the food yourself was nice, she thought. They took some bites of whatever they could hold down at 8:30 in the morning and went off to training.

Aside from the obvious subjects provided for trainees at SM Entertainment, like singing and dancing, there were other classes available teaching various skills, such as acting, etiquette and languages. These classes made sure people had the knowhow to represent the company well. On this particular morning, the girls headed off towards language class.

Even though their Korean had improved mostly due to living in Korea, it was undeniable the girls had benefitted greatly from the language classes given at the company. Even more fun, their teacher often praised them for knowing so many languages. This, of course, came from the fact that the girls were born in Europe, where they’d learned multiple languages at a younger age and definitely not because they were language-geniuses. Either way, being praised felt good so the girls happily spent the rest of their morning practicing French and being part of the ‘smart’ group of students for once.

In the afternoon the girls decided on etiquette class, an highly recommended class for non-Korean trainees, since it taught you how to act properly in certain social situations. The girls however, hadn’t been showing up there all too often because it was an extremely boring subject and also because their teacher was, to be quite honest, a little scary.

However, the girls knew they couldn’t just ignore this class entirely and so they shyly shuffled into the classroom. It was pretty obvious that few trainees enjoyed this subject. The room was almost entirely empty apart from two younger looking girls sitting at the other end of the room, and they didn’t seem all too happy to be there either. Kelly recognized the girls because they’d also been chosen to dance at the awards. They always seemed like really nice girls so Kelly walked over to the pair to say hi. The girls clearly remembered Kelly as well because the first thing they said to her was: “Oh my god! Please tell me you’re nervous too!”

“Oh um” Kelly began, a little startled. “I think we all are.”

She was just about to ask the girls whether they knew anything more about the performance when their teacher came in and told them to be quiet and sit down. Class was boring as usual and Kelly’s mind kept drifting off thinking about the rehearsal and she wasn’t the only one. The teacher started to notice that her students were even less attentive than normally. She kept nagging at them to actively cooperate and see the value in her lessons but no one seemed to be really listening. The butterflies in Kelly’s stomach were making it simply impossible to keep her head in class. At this point the nervousness had been replaced by excitement so when the teacher told them class was over she shot up with the rest of the girls and skadoodled right out of there.

It was now nearly 5 o’clock, so alongside the two girls from etiquette class Kelly and her friends went up to the third floor, where the studio was located. The two girls introduced themselves on the way. The taller of the two was a tom-boyish looking girl named Yeon Hee. She’d auditioned for the company three years in a row before getting in, mainly because of her dancing skills. Yumi, a really petite girl with a cute looking face had come to the company from Japan after winning a dance contest. It was no surprise these two had been chosen to dance at the awards. They were both simply amazing dancers.

“So any idea about what we’re going to be doing in there?” Kelly asked. Yeon Hee just shrugged and shook her head. “Nope, nothing.” Yumi answered pouting a little. “Gosh we don’t even know who we’re dancing with!” She bellowed in frustration.

“Oh but we found out about that.” Els interrupted happily, joining the conversation. “Well, Sen did actually, but she’s not paying attention because she’s texting Kris again.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder to where Sen was typing away on her phone, oblivious to the conversation before her. “It’s EXO.”

“Really? I thought they weren’t performing.” Yeon Hee said, opening the door to the dance studio. “Yeah” Yumi continued. “We figured it’d be SHINee since we saw them rehearsing so much lately.” They all sat down on a bench at the back of the room to wait for the others to arrive. Apparently they were early. “We thought it’d be SHINee as well at first.” Els said. “But then Sen found out from Kris.”

Both Yeon Hee and Yumi were looking at Sen now. Out of the blue, Yumi sprung up. “Oh! What else did he tell you?” she almost screamed, scooting closer to Sen, who was slightly confused as she hadn’t been following the conversation. It was obvious Yumi was excited. “Um… nothing really” Sen mumbled. “He didn’t know much about it either.” Yumi’s face fell in disappointment. She groaned loudly and went to sit back down next to her friend. “Don’t mind her. She’s just nervous.” Yeon Hee said reassuringly.

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Soon enough, the room flooded with more people and like Kris had said, the girls would be dancing with EXO. The last person to walk into the room was their dance instructor. He was a short, muscular man with a 24/7 serious look on his face. The girls hadn’t had much experience with this man before but his reputation around the company had told them that making mistakes around him was not an option. He was one of the best choreographers but also one of the strictest and most unforgiving. He’d brought a couple of assistants with him.

“Okay!” The instructor shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “My name is Noah! Now gather around me please!” Wow, this guy really likes yelling. Kelly thought. The girls did as they were told and got up towards the center of the room. Kelly wasn’t exactly planning on it, but due to unfortunate events, she was the one that ended up standing right in front of Noah. He stared her in the eyes and Kelly didn’t like the way he looked at her. It was like he was examining her or something. Then, he started yelling again. “Okay! I want everyone here to pair up! Quickly and practically! Do you understand what I mean by practically?” When no one immediately answered him, he grabbed Kelly by the arm and yanked her to the front of the group and practically pushed Kai on top of her. “This is what I mean! See?” He said; pointing out that Kelly’s nose was level with Kai’s collarbone. “Perfect height”

Kelly had barely been able to comprehend what had just happened to her when all of the couples were formed. She saw Sen with Kris. Of course. Kelly smiled to herself. Riki was standing with Sehun and somewhere at the back of the room she saw Baekhyun holding Els by the wrist. That last pairing she found a little weird since Els and Baekhyun clearly didn’t match up in height the way Noah intended it. She figured that was probably why the two were hiding at the back of the room. 

“Good!” Noah started up again. “Let’s get right into it!” He took out a remote and the music. It was some sort of a remix but Kelly recognized the song regardless: Shinhwa’s Move with me. She gulped. The theme of the performance had become pretty clear now. She watched as Noah and his assistants demonstrated what they’d be learning to do.

That is one y dance routine. Kelly thought to herself.  It didn’t look all too complicated at first but by the time the chorus had come around, Kelly wasn’t so sure anymore. There was a lot of ‘touching each other’ and ‘hip swirling’ going on and Kelly wondered not only whether she’d be able to move like that, but also whether she had the guts to move like that. The dancers swayed gracefully in and out of each other across the floor as the music progressed and after a little more than a minute, it was over.

The next couple of hours were incredibly intense. The girls had never before been expected to learn a dance so quickly and accurately but since there were only a few days before the actual performance, they had no choice but to push themselves harder than ever. It was all really overwhelming. Kelly felt like she had no idea what she was doing at first but luckily, Kai proved to be a fantastic partner. He guided her through all the steps and gave her tips on how to improve them and even though some of the steps were pretty intimate and awkward for Kelly, she felt like she could be doing a lot worse. Kai seemed to be in a great mood too, being able to show off his skills. She had to admit, the guy was a dance teacher’s dream. The only downside to dancing with EXO’s dancing machine Kai was that Kelly felt like Kai’s skills were putting even more pressure on her performance. She kept thinking it would have probably been better to pair people up according to talent instead of height but she kept shut and kept practicing.

Dance practice went on for almost three hours straight before they were allowed to rest for a few minutes. Kelly collapsed on the bench at the back of the room, too tired to even comment on how tired she was. Yeon Hee noticed and walked over, waving her hand in front of Kelly’s face. “You okay?” She laughed at Kelly’s barely audible grumble of a response.

“Jezus Christ, I think he’s trying to kill us!” Sen said as she dug into her bag for a bottle of water and sat down next to Kelly. “I’m just hoping we can pull it off in time for the show. We look like crap at the moment.” Yeon Hee sighed. Kelly knew she was right but she didn’t want to start thinking about the negatives because it would surely send her into a nervous breakdown. She looked over to Kai, who was still on his feet, still jolly as ever, talking excitedly to his co-members. DO on the other hand wasn’t looking very happy. He was sitting by himself drinking some water, staring at the wall. She figured he must be exhausted. She wanted to go over and talk to him but by the time she’d found the energy to stand up, Noah had started yelling at them to start practicing again.

By the end of the second round of practice, it was nearly midnight. Kelly was starving and sleepy and she just wanted to go home. It was at times like these that she was envious of EXO having a van to drive them everywhere. Chanyeol had suggested the girls rode home with them since their destination was the same but their manager had pointed out that four extra people in the van would be physically impossible.

She girls said their goodbyes to the guys and began their tiring walk back home. They made a little pit-stop on the way to buy some good old, unhealthy snacks. Kelly knew it wasn’t the best idea but today had been exhausting and they hadn’t eaten since lunch. Besides, with all the training they’d been doing over the last month, the girls had seen their bodies vastly improve; one little moment of indulgence wouldn’t mess that up.

They arrived at their building and were grumpy to find out the elevator was out of use. No one spoke but everyone groaned and headed for the stairs. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was so tired but Kelly barely noticed the figure coming down the stairs as she was coming up. She bumped into the figure and mumbled a quick sorry before realizing who it was.

“Kyungsoo, what are you doing here?” She asked confused. Els, Sen and Riki didn’t even acknowledge DO and walked right passed him in a zombielike fashion. “Um” the boy said, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t really know. I couldn’t sleep.” He walked down a few steps and Kelly automatically followed. “I guess I was going for a walk or something.” He continued.

Kelly looked at the back of his head in confusion as she followed him back down the stairs. She didn’t even really know why, since only a minute ago, all she wanted was her bed. She thought it was just so random. Why was this guy going out for a walk in the middle of the night? DO had looked kind of down during practice and she wanted to know what was going on so she decided to accompany him.

“You okay?” Kelly proceeded to ask as they walked outside together. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He answered. “Don’t worry. I just couldn’t really sleep.” They sat down on a bench at the front of their building. Kelly was happy to find out they wouldn’t actually be ‘walking’ anywhere on this walk. “I’m just nervous or something.” He sighed.

“We’re all really nervous I think.” Kelly answered, staring at the floor. “I know.” DO said. They were silent for a while. Kelly’s head began feeling light and she thought she might fall asleep right there. Though she decided that would be a bad idea; she didn’t want to fall asleep with DO for a second time.

“You must be happy having Kai as your partner.” DO said suddenly, looking at his feet. Kelly tried to process what he had said but the sleepiness was making her slow. Before she could come up with an answer he went on in the same monotone voice. “He’s the best. You’ll be really good together.”

That last comment had stuck with Kelly though. “I don’t know about that.” She retorted. “I’m not nearly as good as him.” Talking about it like this made the nerves get to her again and suddenly, she felt a pang of fear shoot through her. She sighed deeply then. “I just hope I don’t embarrass myself.”

There was yet another silence but then, DO raised his head up to look at Kelly. He was even smiling a little. “You’ll be great.” He said softly.

It’s not that Kelly believed his words or anything but they made her feel loads better nevertheless. She smiled, still looking at the ground at her feet. “Don’t you need your sleep?”

“Yeah” He said, already yawning. “I guess” He pushed himself up from his seat and extended his hand towards Kelly to help her up as well. They walked up the stairs together whilst cursing at the elevator and then, they said goodbye.

Kelly didn’t know how DO did it, but somehow, he was always able to make her feel like all the weight on her shoulders disappeared into thin air and she felt like she could just be happy. Still she felt like DO wasn’t his usual cheerful self. She reckoned that was because of the nerves though so she brushed the thought off of her shoulders.

She lay down under her covers again and lucky for her, she fell asleep pretty much instantly because the next couple of days would prove to be a challenge to say the least.

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