"Liam Hemsworth?!" I exclaimed, my hand slipping on the handhold I was reaching for, causing me to fall, smashing up against the climbing wall.

Jung Ah, ten feet below me, gasped deeply, sighing when she realized I was alright. "Yes, Liam Hemsworth. And would you be careful, please?! You won't be doing any Hollywood movies at all if you kill yourself!"

I found my handhold again, stretching my leg out to reach the next spot. "Oh please," I said as I stretched, "I'm attached to a rope. I'm not going to fall."

"I don't need to be explaining your bruises to the director, either!"

"Oh, don't bother. Rat's a tough girl. Bruises would look cool. Instead, remind me again, who's playing Lawrence?"

"Liam Hemsworth."

I froze on the wall, then called down to the man on the other end of the rope, who'd been listening to the entire conversation with little interest, except for cracking a grin when I heard "Liam Hemsworth" and smashed against the wall.

"Coming down!"

I spoke each time I rappelling downwards, kicking off the wall. "By Liam Hemsworth... you mean... totally hot... hunky... blue-eyes-black-hair... Tiffany-thinks-Chris-is-hotter-but-she's-totally-wrong..." I hit the ground, turning towards my manager, "That Liam Hemsworth?"

Jung Ah opened to answer, but the voice that answered was totally not hers.

"You think I'm hunky?"

"Waaaaaahhhh-what are you doing in the climbing gym?! Y-y-you don't need to be here," I stammered, not meeting Liam's eyes and quickly grabbing my sweatshirt from Jung Ah to cover up the fact that I was only wearing a sports bra.

"I have one scene that I need to climb. I think the script said that you push me out of a building."

I felt my skin heat up. "Oh. Well. In that case..." I shook my head, clearing it. "Well, that's an embarrassing way to meet." I held out my hand. "Hello, I'm Queen Be. I'm playing Rat. It's very nice to meet you."

"And who's Tiffany?"

I bit my lip. "Oh, just one of my... friends back in Korea. Member of the Kpop group Girls' Generation. Anyway, I-uh... I'm proud to get the chance to work with you."

"Have you... acted before? I don't think I've seen you... before..."

I laughed. "I've acted plenty. I've been acting since the third grade. But professionally? I've done one Korean drama, one Chilean drama, a musical, and a whole bunch of music videos. I'm a singer-songwriter. Released a song in the U.S about a year ago, but Super Junior was the one that got popular instead of me."

Jung Ah pretended to text, but I knew she was taking pictures.

"I wanted to know who they got cast as Rat. I heard they were having problems."

"Yeah... but now they've got me. Troublemaker Queen Be, complete with singing and dance training. Now I just have to look like I'd be able to bruise a man's ribs."

He smiled, and I loved the way his eyes stood out, even though my heart didn't speed up at all. "You're really small to be bruising ribs."

"Never judge a girl by her size. I've done it before. Besides, the rat is the smallest animal in the zodiac, yet it's the leader. Why do you think that is?"

"Because it uses its brains?"

"More than that. It wants people to think that it's weak, that it's not a threat. That way, they're awfully surprised when it wins."

"You're the first person I've ever met to give a detailed talk about rats when she's just met me."

I shrugged. "Well, yes. I spend a lot of time with guys older than me. I kind of get used to keeping on my toes. Since I work in Korea, but I'm actually American. Just like you work in the United States, but you're actually Australian. Does that make sense?"

"Sure."

"Great! Want to climb walls?"

Hard as the training was, it was extremely effective. Within the month, I could see the definite curves of my arm muscles standing out from underneath the skin, straining out from under my t-shirts. I looked much different from my Eonnis at SM. They were beautiful, but their arms were slender and muscle-less, as was ideal. But I was in a movie as a tough girl. A street rat.

Over the course of our training period, I got really close with a lot of the rest of the cast. I found it extremely weird that we didn't have any getting-to-know-each-other games, so I arranged them myself. I introduced my fellow zodiac members to Apples to Apples, and then had karaoke night, which was difficult to arrange when I wasn't in Korea, and there weren't any noraebangs around. I actually had to ask the director for permission to rent out a club for a night.

I did my best to avoid Nick Jonas, I confess. I didn't find him attractive in the least, and, although I shouldn't, I find it easier to tolerate an annoying person if at least he's attractive. But no. He always asked too many questions. And the director would only let me arrange these kinds of things if I would let everyone participate.

"Okay, enough American pop music. I'm sick of singing about !" I yelled to the rest of the group. "How about some good old K-pop!" 

The general agreement from the Asian section of the club was enough to push me onward.

"Hey, Queen Be, why don't you perform for us? One of your songs is on there, right?" Karrin, a Japanese girl playing Monkey, asked with a grin.

I felt my cheeks turn pink. "Oh, come on, you guys. I'm an actress right now. Actress."

Karrina grinned, then started cheering. "Queen Be! Queen Be! Queen Be!" Soon a lot of them were cheering, goaded on by the party nature of the event. Xun Lin, a big, heavy Chinese man playing Boar, picked me up and set me onstage, much to my embarrassment.

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll do one song. It fits Rat, right? 'Strong'. You guys know 'Strong', right? It's the only one that came out in China, Korean, and Japan."

And next thing I knew, one of the guys had hit "play", and I was singing and dancing away, to one of the songs I was most proud in. And, just like I'd imagined, we were closer as a cast, even if I did make the other people a bit embarrassed. I was much closer with the Asian cast than I was with the three main characters. I guess we just had a closer common ground. It didn't matter if Liam was hot (which he was), my place was still in Asia.

Before I knew it, I was being surrounded by makeup and hair people, all determined to make me look dirty and unkempt, like the street rat I was. Well, my character was. 

I tried not to wince as my hair was teased, streaked with brown, and matted down. My face was shaded brown in spots to make it look like I hadn't washed in a while.

Finally I was released, to put on my "costume", a pair of loose Capri's and a tank top that fight quite comfortably. That was Rat's style. She didn't put effort into her appearance. And then, finally, my favorite part... my tail. Yes. That's right. I got a long, pink-gray, worm-like tail attached to my backside. Jealous? You should be. 

We actually started the filming near the end of the movie. We shot by location, getting all of the scenes that took place in L.A. done first, then moving to the next location and filming those scenes. I wasn't in the first part, since the main characters meet me in Hong Kong. I was, however, at the end of the movie, near the .

I went out to the filming area-- a part of L.A. that had been roped off for our purposes. I was one of the younger members of the cast, acting a character supposedly somewhere between fifteen and eighteen. Not that anyone knew what her actual age was.

"Wow... you look just like you did when you first came to Korea," Jung Ah commented, laughing. I glared at her, and she just laughed harder. "The dirt, the rips in the clothes... they're so you."

"Eonni, I'm going to kill you. I swear, I'm gonna--"

"Hey, Rat! This is your star scene! You ready?" The director shouted, snapping me away from the director.

"Yes, sir, I'm coming!"

"Rat?!" Lawrence exclaimed, "You're here?!"

"I'm here," I repeated, using my tail to whack an enemy in the face. "You're right, Andrea. Lao Ban didn't care about us. He wasn't trying to help us. He was using us. I can remember. I have the right to try."

I spun around, taking out one of our pursuers with a fist, then meeting Lawrence's eyes. as we ran. I nodded, knowing where he was looking. He tossed me the crystal, and I took off, Dragon watching my back, shooting spells at the creatures sent after us. I climbed, scrambling up the wall, swinging myself upwards. I would make it. I was going to make it...

Something grabbed ahold of my tail, yanking me backwards. I felt my hands ripped from the wall, falling backwards. Falling, falling, the ground coming...

I hit the cushion with a soft thud, jarring my back. I got to my feet quickly, stretching my shoulder muscles. "How was that?"

"Great job, Queen Be! Really, honestly amazing! That's the last of the filming for this week! You get a day's break, and then we're on a plane to Japan by Tuesday!"

I returned to my hotel room, falling backwards on the bed. I picked up the blanket I'd stolen from Zhou Mi, wrapping myself up in it, even though I was far from cold. I was completely overheated, but I liked the feeling of the blanket. Even the smell of it reminded me of him.

It was the same blanket I had woken up with when we were headed to my hometown in Wisconsin. I hadn't known whose it was back then. But now it seemed obvious. Of course it was Zhou Mi's.

I sipped a cup of tea, looking through my fanmail, and through more and more e-mails from companies asking me to be on their shows. I went on my LINE account, making funny commentary in response to messages from fans. More and more of them were coming from countries outside of Asia, especially ever since the movie had been announced. I was getting messages in Spanish and English, even some in French, fromall over the Western world. Maybe my dream to beknown everywhere wasn't quite so far-fetched. But I still hadn't reached my sunbae's level of success. Maybe when Twelve came out. Maybe then.

I looked at my watch, then got up, setting the blanket back on my bed. Jung Ah was in an English-language class for Koreans, and on our day off, the girls from the cast decided they wanted to go to the beach. Of course, my beach body barely held a candle to Shay's. But she wasn't invited. Shhhh...

We met up in Chinatown, starting our trip by buying all kinds of food items for our by-the-beach barbecue. I loved the feeling of haggling in the Asian market, a crowd gathering as I fought against a middle-aged woman to bring the price of a large container of beef cuts down from fifty dollars to twenty. Thirty. Thirty-five. Thirty. Thirty-two. Twenty-five. No less than thirty. Oh, come on, don't be like that. In Korea I could buy it for half that. Twenty would be like a gift. Twenty-five. Agreed. Twenty-five.

"Is it really that cheap in Korea?" Karrin asked, looking at the massive box of beef."

Ji Hye, playing Ox, laughed. "Not at all. In Korea, it would be twice what that woman was selling it for." She grinned at me. "She's better at it than my grandma is."

I shrugged, laughing. "Well, you know. You spend a few years as a dead poor trainee, and you learn how to drop prices."

We went into a spice store, a true Asian market, with daikon and whole ginger root, and red and black beans. 

"You know, I think people were taking pictures of you," Karrin commented, looking back over her shoulder. "When you were haggling."

"Were they really?"

"I think people recognize you..."

I bit my lip, looking around. "Well, I'm just a person. What's wrong with an actress doing a little bit of haggling? I want cheaper prices, just like everyone else. I send most of my money back to my family."

They shrugged, moving on towards the beach, hauling our load.

While the rest of the girls changed and ran into the ocean, I stayed back in my purple tank top and shorts, sunglasses over my eyes, while I set the grill up. A few beach towels down from me, a girl was looking for service for her phone. 

I flicked my hair back, making sure we had enough ice for the cooler. Behind me, someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around, flipping my sunglasses over onto the top of my head.

It was a teenage boy, probably only a few years younger than me. "Hey, you're Queen Be, aren't you?"

I nodded. "And who are you?"

He ran his hands through his curly blonde hair (I hate curly hair on guys), exhaling. "Wow, you look so..." he grinned at me. "Can I get your autograph?"

"I look so what?"

"Do you want to join me and my friends? You look like you're here by yourself."

"I'm here with a bunch of my friends, deary. I'll give you the autograph, but after that I think you should go back to your friends. You know, I like the beach just as much as the next person."

He smiled, handing me a marker and holding out his arm. I raised an eyebrow, then shrugged and signed his arm, watching him go. I wondered how many people were recognizing me. Since when did people in the United States know who I was?

Eventually Jisong (Horse) and Honoka (Dog) came running up, dripping wet, to take over the barbecue, so I could have my chance to play in the water. And tan. If Lela were there, she would have had a heart attack. But the Los Angeles sun felt great on my skin, and I just wanted to soak up rays.

I wondered what my friends were doing, back in Korea. Once again, they were in my home, and I was elsewhere. Why did it always seem to work that way?

"Hey, Queen Be!" I turned to see who had called my name, and Ji Hye was dumping a bucket of seawater over me, completely drenching my outfit. She ran away, laughing, and I got up, running after her.

"Those were my only dry clothes!" I yelled, while the rest of the girls laughed. I wondered how many guys could see my bra. Damn it.

After sufficiently pushing Ji Hye into the water, I went to the changing room to change into my bathing suit, a different one from what I had worn in Chile. This one was a light purple two-piece, with the top piece a triangular shape, wrapping around the back, where it tied together. I joined the girls, all in their bikinis, except for Ji Hye, who was a big girl, with large, blocky bones, built to be strong. She wore a one-piece, not trying to go for looks. She'd told me once that her parents had wanted her to be a wrestler, instead of helping out on the family farm. It so turned out, her family lived not too far from the Ahjumma I'd helped out during rice harvest season. We had good conversation about that. 

Every cast member had a story. Karrin was trained in acrobatics, quitting when she injured her wrist, and then went into acting. Jisong's first role had been in a horror movie, because her big, dark brown eyes were "creepy". Honoka used to weigh close to 250 pounds, but lost most of it when an ex boyfriend dumped her for being fat, and she had suffered from anorexia for years. It made my own starvation experience seem insignificant. 

Then there was Dragon, played by Xian Chun Ling. She was always quiet and reserved, but she was the most experienced action actress of those of us there. Not much older than me, about Krystal's age, but her first movie had been when she was ten. I had only started professionally acting when I was eighteen.

Yet I was the one with the biggest role. Rat was the charming, sassy leader who showed Lawrence and Andrea all of the misconceptions they had about the world, showed them the true nature of the thing they were pursuing, yet never let them get away, because she was still following orders. But behind all of that, she was a lost kid who didn't have a family outside of the Zodiac. She wasn't a main character, but I had to give the script writers some credit... Rat was a powerful character. And she was mine. Really, I had to do well.

"So... Queen Be, tell us about yourself," Ji Hye remarked, plopping down next to me, already a bit tipsy from alcohol. Everyone else had been consuming alcohol, but I was quite happy with my orange soda. Yes. Soda. Not "pop", not "coke", not "soda pop." Soda. I may have lived in a foreign country for a few years, but I was still from Wisconsin. Soda is soda.

"What is there to know? You already know that I'm eccentric, like weird games, and love haggling. What is there to tell?"

Ji Hye rolled her eyes. "Boys." Just the one word was enough to make the other girls start giggling.

I laughed. "Okay, okay, fine. So there's this one guy..."

"I KNEW IT!" Mei Jong (Snake) shouted drunkenly. "She does have a crush on Liam!"

"What, don't you?!" Honoka yelled back. "I myself wouldn't mind getting a hand in that--"

"No, not Liam," I interrupted, shaking my head and grinning. "Someone better."

That got their interest. They leaned in, waiting for me to continue.

"So this guy. He's the sweetest, most gentlemanly man in the whole world..."

"Aaaaayyyyyy," they all complained, throwing sand at me.

I shielded myself from it, laughing. "Alright, alright. I know what you guys are looking for." I leaned back on my hands, closing my eyes and smiling, as if I were imagining it. "Well, for one thing, he's tall. With these really long legs."

"Ooh, I like him already," Honoka remarked excitedly.

"And his face. High cheekbones and big, doll-like brown eyes so clear you could see your reflection in them. With skin... so soft and so clear... you'd just love to touch the skin of his cheek, to feel it under your fingertips..."

"I wonder how she knows that?" Jisong asked, but Karrin shushed her.

I went on. "And he has such thick, soft hair that you can't help but run your fingers through..."

"Yeah, run your fingers through and grab and pull when you--" Ji Hye began, but was shushed by the entire group.

"Oh, and my God, his shoulders... and collarbones..." I sighed for added effect, "shoulders that you could see the definition of every muscle, but not too much, not so much muscle that he looks bulky. Just enough. And collarbones sculpted so perfectly you could hold water in them."

"Yeah, but what about his abs? And his arms?!" Ji Hye asked, leaning towards me.

"I didn't look that closely."

"AAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY..." all the girls shouted, throwing sand at me. "How can you not have looked at his abs?!"

They stopped throwing sand when I was pretty well covered in it, and I brushed it out of my hair while Karrin fell forward, falling into my lap, picking herself up, and looking into my eyes.

"Well, just answer one thing... is he a good kisser?"

I opened my mouth to answer, feeling heat rise in my cheeks. Finally I just grinned, winking. "Of course he is."

I got back to the hotel and fed my cat, going to my computer to watch some videos, since I wasn't in Korea. But... hey... 

There was an article about me. "Queen Be Spotted Enjoying Some L.A. sunshine". I clicked on it.

Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Me in my tank top and shorts, much like I had worn in Wisconsin. Commentary? "Queen Be often keeps her wardrobe simple, especially when it's hot. But she's got definite curves, something this tank top doesn't even try to hide."

I bought it at a Goodwill for a dollar. Fashion was so weird.

Next picture, my ensemble completely soaked, my bra showing through. "Even more of a sneak peek, where we can see the fun-loving side. The cast seems to get along well, even to the point of embarrassing poor Queen Be!"

Me in my bathing suit. Me in the water. Me by the grill, barbecuing beef in my bathing suit, since my tank top and shorts were hanging from a nearby tree. 

Who the hell was taking all of those pictures?! The teenage boy who'd asked for my autograph? The girl a few beach towels away who'd been looking for service? Who?

There were similar articles about Chun Ling, who hadn't even said much the entire day. About how nice she looked in her bathing suit, about how tough she looked. Everyone else had minor mentionings.

I rubbed my eyes and closed my laptop, stretching out an arm to pick up my cat. "KyuMin-ah, do you think Mama is getting too popular? Do you think it's starting to get to my head?"

He meowed and tried to get away, and eventually, I let him go, frowning. "Maybe you're right. I'll have to keep that in check. You'd better keep any eye on me, at least until this movie's released. That's your job, KyuMin. Don't let me down!"

Was it already the end of September? Had it really been almost a month since I had left Korea to start this movie? And now I was on a plane to Japan, Tokyo specifically.

Finally back in familiar territory. Finally back in a place where I felt in control, where no matter how experienced or attractive Shay Mitchell and Liam Hemsworth were, they had to stay with me or be lost.

Of course, the first thing I did was to buy some Cinnabon. Then buy another one to split with the cast. Then onwards, to our new hotels, carrying my precious kitty with me, that almost everyone had fallen in love with by now. He was like the movie's mascot. Which was funny, because the cat isn't a part of the zodiac. Ever read/watch Fruits Basket? 

Of course, the real ones guiding the way were Karrin, Honoka, and Kiyoshi (Ram). 

"Oh my god... she really IS popular here," I heard Shay whisper when we walked by a poster of one of my clothing advertisements.

"You model for a clothing company?" Liam asked, glancing at the billboard before quickly walking past.

"Of course I do. American-based, trying to get more support in Asia. You think I'd wear clothes this fabulous if I didn't have them to tell me what's cool to wear?"

"I don't know about 'fabulous,' Q-B." he joked, trying not to grin too widely.

I paused, stopping the entire troupe, despite the people in the airport lobby, taking pictures of us. "Did you just call me 'Q-B'?"

"What? 'Queen Be' is hard to say over and over again."

"Okay, okay, we're not to the nicknames point. Not even Ji Hye or Karrin calls me Q-B. That sounds like you're calling me a quarterback. And believe me, I can't throw that far."

"Then what's your real name?"

"Hachimitsu. Niuwangfeng. Choi Minsung. Jageun. Minimin. Ahjumma. Melissa."

Ji Hye burst out laughing. "Jageun?! Ahjumma?!"

Liam and Shay looked at her like she was crazy, but the other Korean cast members were laughing, too.

"Are those nicknames or something?"

I shrugged. " 'Jageun' means 'short' in Korean. 'Ahjumma' means 'a middle-aged woman'. They're nicknames the members of Super Junior gave to me. Maybe when we get to Korea, I can show you why."

"Yeah, that's going to have to wait, Queen Be," the director urged. "This isn't a social hour. Time to move."

"Awwww, Shiljjang-nim, calm down a little! You can't have a good movie if we're all tense as stretched wire!"

He laughed, urging us along.

"Ima, Nihon ni imasu. Minna-san, Twelve wo mimasuka? Kyonen, wataachi wa Amerika ni ikimaa. Nihon ni ikimaa. Raigetsu, Kankoku ni ikimasu. Hong Kong to Pekin ni ikimasu. Twelve ni takusan machi ga arimasu. Watashi wa ureshiidesu. Twelve wa sugoidesuyo!"

I smiled to the camera, giving a thumbs-up. We were actually on set in Tokyo, in costume, ready to go, but the maintenence people were fixing a few things, so we had a few minutes to mess around with the behind-the-scenes camera.

"Actually, we're getting to the part where I get to push Liam out of a building," I commented, pointing up at the tower, where the window we were going to be using could just barely be seen, outlined in green tape to show we were using it. 

I snickered, pointing to where Shay and Liam were getting their acting instructions. "I love this scene. He tells me to let him go, so I just shrug and drop him out of the building. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Queen Be, this is not funny! And that laugh is creepy!" Shay yelled from across the set. 

"Actually... Rat! Come here!" the director shouted.

I walked over, bowing to the Japanese director that had joined him during our time in Tokyo. "Yes, sir, what do you need?"

"I think I want to change the way we're shooting this scene. I think it would be better if we gave you a few more lines here and there, to give your character more depth in the plot. So, instead, you're going to pretend to drop him out of the window, then actually do it on accident, then try to save him, but when you fail, shrug and try to look cool, because you know he won't actually fall. But the audience won't know that."

"Yes sir. Of course, Director."

I bowed again, going back to my waiting spot, shrugging to Liam. But out of the edge of my vision, I could just see Shay narrow her eyes at me. I figured that wasn't a good thing, but the director was announcing that we'd be starting the shooting as soon as Liam, Shay and I got to the top of the building. I didn't have time to worry about Shay's expressions.