"Jade, " my mom cooed as I was about to board the plane. "Be careful. You're 14, and going to a different country by yourself. Don't talk to too many strangers, ok? On the plane practice and learn new Korean words. I love you." My mom kissed my forehead and hugged me just before she pushed me off.

"Love you too, momma." I said as I walked off. "I'll be safe I promise. And I'll do my best. I will make you proud." I smiled and waved until I couldn't see her anymore.

"This is it." I whispered after I had settled into my seat on the plane. "This is my chance to make my dream come true. To finally become a singer at SM Entertainment. I hope it goes well."

I looked around at the other passengers. There was a man, probably in his late 20's or early 30's, sitting next to me. I saw mothers with their toddlers sleeping on their lap. Many people, that were mainly Korean, of different ages surrounded me.

I pulled out my Korean notebook and read over all my new and old vocab words, making sure I had them memorized.

I was so absorbed in my Korean that I didn't notice that the plane had already taken off.

"Bye America." I said after I couldn't see the ground any longer.

 

"Welcome to Seoul, South Korea. We hope you enjoyed your flight. Thank you for flying with us." Said a loud voice over an intercom. The voice repeated what she just said in Korean. She spoke so fast, but I could make out a few words here and there.

 

I stood up, stretched and grabbed my big purse that I had down by my feet.

"Alright, Jade. Take a deep breath and clear your mind of useless thoughts. Focas on this language and trying to get to the SM building in one piece." I said, getting a few stares.

"Oh, so you don't ever see a girl talking to herself in English on a plane that just landed in South Korea?" I muttered.

After rolling my eyes, I finally got off the plane and walked to pick up my suitcase before it got lost or taken.

When I reached the baggage claim, I was shocked to see the amount of people around it. I politely asked to get through, but either no one heard me from all the noise or no one could understand my accented Korean. Either way, I was starting to get annoyed, so I squeezed my way through the people, trying to get to my bright blue bag that had just passed by.

I eventually got through, without having too shove too many people out of my way. I quickly got out of that place and called a cab. I told him the address, and off I went.

 

When we pulled up to SM Entertainment I gasped. "Woah. This place is huge. Amazing. Oh. Here's your money sir. Tha k you for the ride." I grabbed my stuff, and slowly walked inside.

 

Inside the building, I was greeted by two security guards and the secretary.

"Hi. I'm here for the auditions. My name is Jade."

"Ah. Jade. From America. Take this name tag and got to the fourth floor. You will have to scan the name tag in on the door to open it. From there you will go down the the very end of the hall and take a left. You will need to go into the auditorium, which will be the seventh door to your right."

"Alright," I managed to squeak out. "Thank you. Oh. My suitcase...should I take it with me?"

"Oh. Right before you get to the elevator, there will be a locker room type room. The door should be open. But to claim a locker, use your name tag. The lockers that have a red dot on them are being used. No one will be able to open it, so all your stuff will be safe."

I thanked her again and then went to put my stuff away.

I nervously walked into the elevator, trying to remember all the directions. "End of hall. Left. Seventh door on my right." I chanted in my head so I wouldn't forget.

 

"Listen up everybody!" A tall man walked into the auditorium, filled with around 170 teens. "I will assign you all two mentors. A male and female. They will show you around and help you with your song and dance preporations. Some will be some of our singers and some will be staff. After I call your name, please walk down to the front and find out your room number. Your two mentors will be in that room. Pick up a map as you leave the auditorium and go find them. You will immediately start practice."

 

"Jade Ae. Your mentors will be Kibum from SHINee and Amber from f(x)." He announced my mentors after about 70 others were called. I stood up and walked to find my room number and grab a map.

"Key and Amber. My two of my favorite singers. I'm so lucky." I thought just as I was about to knock on the door.

I slowly walked in, holding my breath, and saw them. They were smiling and laughing with each other. When they say me, they stopped laughing and stood up to greet me.

"Hi, I'm SHINee's Key. I'm glad to meet you." He smiled the most breath taking smile.

"And I'm Amber. It's nice to meet you." Amber said, smiling. I hope we become friends.

"I'm Jade." I smiled and took a deep breath before continuing. "It's nice to meet you too."

"So, Jade, let's get to know each other. How old are you?" Key asked.

"I'm 14, 15 in two weeks."

"Why do you want to become a singer?" Amber asked.

"It's what I love to do. It makes me happy. It calms me, gets rid of any stress or pain." I said, trying to explain how it made me feel, with my lacking Korean skills.

Key smiled at me. We sat there for a moment in silence before Amber spoke up. "So, Jade, you'll be staying in my apartment with me. I'm the only one that lives there, so you'll have your own room."

"Yeah. Why don't you take her there now. She's probably exhausted, and since we have a big day, tomorrow she'll need some rest."

Amber, Key and I got our things and headed down silently. They had to pick up a couple of things from their managers, so we decided to meet in the lobby.

I got my suitcase from the locker room and went and sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby. I only had to wait five minutes before Amber came down, holding a couple papers and her keys.

"Ready?" She asked as she was approaching me.

"Yup." I answered simply while standing up and following her.

She lead me to a black corvette with a blue stripe on the top.

I gasped at her car. "This is your car? Woah."

"Yup. Gimme your suitcase. I'll put it in the trunk. Hop in."

I walked to it cautiously, and carefully opens the door. Anybody who saw me would look at me like I was crazy. I didn't want to hurt such a cool car.

The car ride was mostly silent. But it wasn't an awkward silence like it probably would have been with anyone else.

I finally broke the silence. "I was happy when I heard you and Key were going to me my mentors. You two have been my favorite two singers since your groups debuts."

"Really? Thank you.  I've heard you sing before. All us mentors had to watch audition tapes of some of the finalists. You were amazing."

"That means so much hearing it from you. I'm scared though. I'm scared that I won't make it. Or that I'll mess up."

"I think you'll do fine." She paused. "I felt the same way too. But once I got up there to sing, all my nervousness went away. It felt so right.  Ah. We're here. I'll carry your suitcase for you."

I followed Amber into her apartment with a big smile of my face.

"Here's the kitchen. Feel free to help yourself and get anything you want." She lead me around her place, showing me where everything was. "This is your room. You have a bathroom and a walk in closet all to yourself." She showed me my room last. "You can unpack and get comfortable. Get some rest, you'll need it tomorrow." She walked out of the room muttering something about Key.

I grabbed my suitcase and put my clothes in the closet and took a shower. I slipped on my penguin pajamas and feel asleep in my fluffy, warm bed.

 

The next morning, I was up at 4:30 am because I had fallen asleep at 6 pm.  Since Amber probably wasn't up, and we didn't have to go anywhere until 10 this morning, I decided I grab my laptop and notebook. I emailed my mom telling her everything that had happened so far and that I was alright. After I sent the email, I worked on my Korean and listened to some music.

 

My music is mainly Kpop; SHINee, Super Junior, f(x), SNSD, B1A4, MBLAQ, Rain, 2NE1, BoA, and EXO. A lot more artists fill up my computer too. I have some Jpop and artists from America on there, but very little. I have a few Lady GaGa, Kesha, Usher and Plain White T's songs on there but one or two by those four artists.

Around 8:30, I heard Amber moving around in the kitchen, so I went to get something to eat.

"Good morning. Sleep well? How long have you been up?"

"Yup. I've been up about 4 hours." I said after looking at a clock.

"Oh. Have you ate? I was about to make some pancakes. Want some?"

"Sure." My tummy growled.

Amber laughed. "What have you been doing for 4 hours?"

"Practicing my Korean and listening to music. I also emailed my mom to let her know I'm alright."

"Sounds...fun.. Who are some of the artists that you listen to?"

"SHINee, Super Junior, f(x)," I paused and smiled. "SNSD, MBLAQ, B1A4, FT Island, 2PM, Miss A, Wonder Girls.."

"I listen to all those artists too. We have a lot in common." She flipped some pancakes. "Tell me a bit about your family."

"My dad is Korean and my mom is half Japanese. I have lived in the United States my entire life. My dad is often away because of his work. I have an older brother and a 2 year old sister....errr....that's about it. I know know Japanese because I sometimes go to Japan with my mom for a week or two to visit her family." I thought for a second. "I know French and Spanish. I took them both in school for three years. And I'm pretty fluent in Chinese."

"Wow. Six languages at the age of 14. I'm impressed." We laughed. "How do you have enough free time to learn all those languages?"

"I honestly have no clue. Between schoolwork, watching my younger sister, guitar lessons, and playing soccer, it's amazing that I actually get sleep at night."

"Pancakes are ready~" Amber sung.

"Those look so good." My mouth almost started watering.

Amber and I ate quickly after realizing it was almost 9. We still had to get ready to go and get to their practice studio before 10.

 

"Ahh. Just in time. Key would have killed us if we were late." Amber said as we set out stuff down in a corner.

 

"Good. You're on time." Key walked into the room. "Girls, we have two days. One day to work on a song and half for a dance. The other half of the second day, we have to find an outfit and practice the song again along with introduction."

"Yes. So, Jade, since Key and I have heard you sing before, we have a few songs in mind that we think you'd sing very well. The first song is Lucky by Ashily. Second is Because I'm Stupid by SS501. And the last song is Shy Boy by Secret. I'm pretty sure you're familiar with all these songs, so they should be easy for you to learn."

"I listened to all three this morning." I smiled. "How are we going to chose?"

"You're going to sing us parts from each song. Well decide on one afterwards."

First I sang part of Lucky, and I know that song by heart, so I think I did pretty well. Then I sang Because I’m Stupid and finished with Shy Boy.

“You sang all of those very well, but you sounded most comfortable with Lucky. I’m gonna say you should do that song. What do you think Amber?”

“I’d say so too.”

For the next few hours I sang that song repeatedly. We worked on where I should breathe and making sure I hit all the notes right. By lunch rolled by, I had almost perfected the song.

“Why don’t we take a break and eat something for lunch.” Key suggested.

“Sounds like a good idea to me!” I exclaimed, happy to get a break from singing. My throat was starting to hurt from constant singing for two and a half hours.

“There is a restaurants on the second floor, so lets go there.” Amber suggested.

 

After a very delicious lunch, Key decided that I had the song perfected. He wanted to take me sight seeing. It was just Key and I going though. Amber had some schedules she had to do. She gave me an extra key to her apartment and told me to go ahead and go in once I got back.

 

He drove me around and showed me some of the town. We went to COEX mall and we walked around and bought some things. He bought me some clothes because he guessed that I didn’t bring very much with me, which was true. I only brought enough clothes for a week. He refused to let me buy anything though.

“Where should we go now? It’s 4:30, by the way.”

“I don’t know... Let’s go to a toy store. I want to buy something for my baby sister.” I said. “And something for my older brother, but I don’t know what to get him...”

“Alright. This way.” Key led me through the mall that seemed like a maze. It was filled with so many stores and people. I’ve never been to such a big mall.

“Wow. This is a huge toy store.” I said when we reached the store. “What would a 2 year old girl like...?” I said out loud, but to myself.

“Something colorful. Why don’t you get her a doll or stuffed animal?”

“I’ll get her both! Thanks for that idea. You’re the best!”

“I know.” He teased and smirked.

After looking through the dolls,  I finally settled on one that looked kind of like my sister; brown hair, big brown eyes and chubby, pink cheeks.

The stuffed animals were harder though. “There’s so many! I wanna buy them all!” I pouted. “Oh my gosh! There’s a dolphin one! It’s so cute!” I squealed and Key laughed.  “I’m getting this for me. And I’m going to get this bear for my sister.” I finally decided.

“Alright. Let’s go buy them. What about your older brother? Have you thought of anything?”

“No clue. I don’t have any idea on what he’d like... I’ll probably just get a shirt and beg f(x) to sign it. He’s a big fan of theirs.”

“You won’t have to beg. You just have to go up to them nicely and ask them.”

I yawned. “Really? Cool! Now I need to pick out a shirt...” I sighed. “ I’ll get him an f(x) one.” I said after much thought.

“I know just the place! I’m glad I’m wearing a disguise. The girls in that store are crazy fangirls.” He shuddered. “Stick close to me in there. If they happen to find out who I am, I want to get you out of there as soon as possible. There’s no way I’m going to be responsible for you, a future artist at SM, getting lost, trampled or anything else.”

“That’s scary...” I looked up at him.

 

“Oh my gosh...What is this place?” I asked half amused at all the Super Junior, SHINee, SNSD, f(x), BoA, and Exo merchandise along with all the other recording artists with SM.

 

“The SM fan store. They have everything from clothing to calenders to pillow cases to cups. Everything has our pictures on it or our band name. Scary, huh?”

“Yea... a little.” I admitted.

“One day you’re going to have stuff in here.”

“Yay...”  I said trying to sound a little thrilled. I failed.

We quickly made our way to the f(x) section. We found a shirt that I thought my brother would like and paid for it as fast as we could. We wanted to get out of that place as fast as possible. Any sane person would.

 

“Thank you for today Key. Thank you for buying me clothes even though I told you that you didn’t have to.”

 

“You’re welcome. Think of them as a present that few people ever get have from the Almighty Key.” I rolled my eyes and giggled.

Key had helped me carry all the stuff up to Amber’s apartment. Fifteen bags in total, filled with clothes that he bought me. I had only two bags of stuff that I bought. I sighed. Crazy man. I still couldn’t believe he bought me all that stuff.

“See you tomorrow. I think I’m gonna go sleep. Thanks again for today.”

“See ya, Jade.”

I went inside and took all the new stuff to my room. I put the stuffed animals and doll on the table by my bed and stated putting the clothes in my closet.

“Are you home Jade?” Amber called as she walked in 20 minutes later.

“Yeah! I’m in my room.” I replied, while still putting the clothes up.

“Let me guess. Key took you to the mall and bought you an insane amount of clothes?”

“That’s exactly what he did! All he let me buy is a shirt for my brother, a doll for my sister and two stuffed animals... one for me and one for her.”

“I had a feeling that would happen.” She laughed. “Did you have fun?”

“Lots! That mall is huge! I’ve never been to a mall that big.” There was a moment of silence. “Do you think that you and the rest of f(x) could sign a shirt for my brother? He’s a big fan.”

“Yea. Sure. Bring it with you tomorrow and I’ll get the rest of the girls to sign it.”

“Thank you!” I smiled then yawned.

“Want something to eat? I’ll make something for you real fast so you can go to sleep, miss sleepyhead.”

“Sure. I don’t really care what you make. I need to get the rest of these clothes up.”

“Is soup alright? Something warm would probably be good on your throat after all of today’s singing.”

“Sounds good to me!”

Amber left and I finished putting up my clothes.

 

 

 

Twenty minutes later, I had ate and taken a shower. Now I am curled up in bed. I grabbed my laptop and checked my email, hoping to have one from my mom.

 

 

“I’m glad you’re having so much fun! We all miss you and hope you see you soon. Love you!” Is all my mom had said. Maybe she’s just really busy. I clicked reply and told her about everything I did today. I left out the part about the presents, because I wanted them to be a surprise, and I haven’t gotten my parents anything.

After I sent the email, I had just gotten it turned off before I fell asleep.

 

I woke up to the sound of Amber’s alarm in her room. I looked over at my clock and saw that it was only 8 am, so I set an alarm on my phone for half an hour from now so I’d still be up early enough to eat and get ready.

 

 

“Jade! Jade you need to wake up! It’s 9, we need to go soon.” Amber shook me awake.

 

“Ok.” I sat up and stretched.

“We need to be quick. Key just texted me and said to get there at 9:45 instead of 10.”

“9:45?! Ok. I’m going.” I almost yelled while I jumped out of bed and ran to get dressed.

“We can stop to get a donut on the way to SM.” Amber said as she headed out my door.

“Kay.” was all I said in response.

This morning, I got ready in a record time; 20 minutes. I wore a new pair of skinny jeans and a black baggy shirt that Key bought me yesterday. I just put my hair in a ponytail, not wanting to do anything special because it’ll just get messed up while I’m learning whatever dance I am told to learn.

 

“You were almost late.” Key said with his arms crossed, standing in the middle of the room.

 

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I slept too late..” I apologized.

Key sighed. “It’s alright, just don’t let it happen again. Ok. I’ve already decided on a dance for you.” Key said, suddenly in a better mood.

“You have? Without talking to me? What is it?” Amber asked.

“Lucifer. She will impress the judges with the hard choreography.”

“That’s a really hard dance.” Amber said.

“I’m not a good dancer. It’ll take me a long time to learn.” I said.

“We have almost all day, besides, I’m a good teacher. You’ll be able to learn it in no time.” Key said, ignoring Amber’s comment.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to try...”

“That’s the attitude I’m looking for! Ok. Let’s start!”

 

It’s been three hours. Three hours of torture. The dance isn’t as hard as I thought it’d be, that’s not the problem. It’s Key. He’s a good teacher, but he has no patience.

 

“Key. It’s past lunch. Let’s take a break. Jade really needs it.” Amber said.

“Fine. But she’s almost perfect. Another hour after lunch and she should have it.”

I groaned. “Can we pick out clothes and do the introduction before I work on the dance again? Please?”

Key stared at me. “fine,” he finally said. “But you have to get that dance perfect later.”

“Yes sir!” I giggled. “Let’s go eat now. I’m starving.”

I skipped off to the restaurant with Key and Amber following behind me at a distance.

 

“They’ll want you to say your name, age, and to introduce yourself in as many languages as you know. Practice now.”

 

“Jade Ae. 14.” I said, then introduced myself in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, and then in Korean. Key sat there, with his mouth open shocked that I knew all those languages.

“Shut your mouth.” Amber elbowed Key in the side. “Flies will land in there.”

“I didn’t know you knew all those languages.” He said wide eyed.

“My mom is Japanese, so I’ve visited Japan several times with her and I took French and Spanish in school for three years. I’ve learned Chinese in my free time.”

“Amazing. We don’t need to work on that at all. That seemed perfect. So, now, we need to pick out your clothes. Follow me.” he said and led to me a big, dark room. He the light, and the room was filled with clothes and shoes.

“Woah.” was all I had to say.

“Something simple and comfortable...ah ha. This is it.” He pulled out a hot pink and black striped sweatshirt and found a pair of hot pink high tops that matched. “Wear this with a pair of black skinny jeans.”

“Ok.” I said still looking around the room at all the clothes.

“Come on. You still have an hour left of dancing.” He pushed me out of the room while he was still holding the shirt and shoes. “Oh, and you’ll get to keep the shoes and shirt.”

“Really?”

“Yup. Now practice your dance. I’ll be right back.”

 

“It’s perfect. You have mastered the dance. Now go home and get some rest for tomorrow.”

 

“Yay!”

 

The next day, I was so nervous. I was the 75th person to go.

 

There were five judges. They explained that they would give me 20 points each, up to five points for five different categories; clothes/makeup, introduction, the song, my dance, and what they thought of me overall.

Everyone had to stay and wait for the results an hour after the last person auditioned. I sat there alone because Key and Amber and all the other mentors weren’t allowed to come. For two hours I sat and waited in silence. Not a single person spoke in the room.

After what seemed like an eternity, a lady came out and put the top 20 name up on the wall. Three girls and three boys with the top scores would become trainees. Out of 170 people I had a small chance of being on that list. An even smaller chance at being one of the top three girls.

I waited until most of the others had looked at the list. I watched so many boys and girls walk away with tears in there eyes. I slowly walked up and looked at the list.

The very first name on there was mine. Jade Ae. I got 98/100 points. The highest score.

I was a trainee. I looked at the other two girl’s names and ages. 17 and 19 years old. So much older than me.

I stayed in the room, not knowing where to go. Eventually it was just us six who got in still in the room. The tall man came in and told us congratulations. He had already decided that the other two girls and I would become a group called STARS.

 

The second I saw Key and Amber, I ran to them and hugged them both. I started crying. “Thank you. I had the highest score. A 98/100. They said they were going to put me in a group called STARS with the other two highest scoring girls.”

 

“That’s great news Jade!! We’re so proud of you!” The said at the same time.

This is going to be the start of the best part of my life.