None of us clapped. We just tried to shake it off, as if we didn't feel unworthy to even be near him. A boy with reddish hair gently taps the short haired girl's shoulder, "I...I could even do better than that!" he says, sounding completely unsure of himself, "Right, Boram?" 

The short haired girl shoves him away, "Yah! Lee Taemin! You better stop being so clingy!" The boy, Taemin, rubs his shoulder and then runs back up to her, "Boraaaam...."

She shoves a finger in his face and he flinches, "Watch yourself, applehead." She says in a low, stern voice. Upon hearing her name called, the girl trots through the crowd and up the stairs. Taemin presses his hands into his face and looks after her, "I don't look like an apple..."

Auditions pass and pass and pass. Students pass, and fail, they jump for joy, and they cry. All of us are mere 'hopefuls', praying we don't mess this up. "Song Ji Eun?" My heart skips a beat. It can't be my turn already. But it is. "Song Ji Eun?" the speakers call again. I in a breath and slide my way through the crowd, keeping my head down. I can't fail again. Every agency I've ever tried out for has failed me. I've been rejected for every single one of the 5 auditions I did in the past month. Everyone told me I have no future. 

So I've decided to make my own. 

"Song Ji Eun?" the principle, a gentle looking man with round eyes and glasses asks. "Yes, that's me." I bow respectfully. He looks up from my audition papers. "You've tried out for....10 companies?"

I swallow down the fork in my throat. "Yes." I croak, then clear my throat, "Yes," I say again. I can just imagine the kids downstairs laughing at me. 

"I see. Well," he offers a hand to me, "please, start."

I shakily walk to the piano, and sit down. I set my fingers on the cold keys.

I breathe out, the sound is magnified in the mic. My breath forms a cloud in the cold air of the school building. "Hello," I try to raise my voice to the right pitch, though my english is a little iffy. "Yeogi icheon shibinyon iwol. Aju chuun....gyeoriiya." the piano notes come naturally, my fingers move with great practice. "yeogi nan ajik nomo jigo toeulgo dachigo jicheoso...ireosol himchuja opso," I in a breath, and try to sing louder, "geuchiman neon nal bogo utgeji-" my voice cracks in the cold air. Silence, nothing but silence. Oh no, I scream in my mind, oh no oh no oh no.  Nervous, I stop for a second, then try again. "Utgeji--" my voice breaks again, and I choke. For a minute, I'm in shock of myself. The note isn't even that high, I can hit it. I can. I've done it before. I prepare to give it a third try, but the principle ushers me over. I lower my head and walk towards him. 
"I have nothing special, right?" I say, not bearing to look at him. "I'm just another nobody, aren't I?" 

"Yes," he says, his honesty piercing me. Yet, he smiles. Smiles as if I'm his favorite person in the whole world. "You struggle to hit high notes, you're slightly out of tune, and while your piano skills are good, you just don't have what it takes."

I breathe a sigh and prepare to leave. 

"Yet."

"Excuse me?" I turn around.

"I said," he smiles gently, "you don't have what it takes...yet."

The other teachers look at him like he's a raving mad man. He taps my folders against the table and then his eyes meet mine, "Song Ji Eun...pass."

I raise my eyebrows and nod slowly. As soon as I'm outside the door, I jump up and down. I pull a pendant out of my shirt and kiss it. "I did it, Hye Sung sasangnim! I did it!"

"Wow, I love you're music! Thank you so much!" I can't help but bounce up and down with excitement from meeting my favorite composer, Song Hye Sung. She smiles sweetly and autographs my CD, then looks up at me. "Your name is Song Ji Eun?" I nod shyly. "I've heard of you," she looks down at my CD and writes something else other than her name. "You...have?" I ask shyly. "The girl who failed five companies in 1 month." She laughs. My heart sinks, even she would be ashamed of having a fan like me. "Yes..." I whisper. 

She holds the CD up to me, then beckons me closer. I lean in, and she pulls the string of a necklace over her head and on to mine. I look down at the golden pendant, with a K shape in the center. 

"...Why?" I ask, carefully taking the CD and pendant from her. She just smiles brightly and tilts her head, "I failed ten."

"It's all because of you!" I hold the pendant tight in my fist and jump up and down, "Thank you Hye Sung Sasangnim!"

[sasangnim=teacher/person you respect]

Back in the cafeteria, a girl approaches me. The one from earlier who yelled at the TV, I thought the appleheaded boy called her Boram. 

"I'm Boram!" she holds her hand out to me. I just look at it. She raises her eyebrows, "It's called a hand shake," she takes my hand and moves it up and down, "you do it like this."

"A-ah," I stutter, "I know."

"Nice audition," she says, raising her lips into a smile, "You play good."

"Play good?"

"Piano, stupid." 

Her comment sounds fiesty, but for whatever reason doesn't sting. It feels like she would call even the smartest kid that. 

"Thanks." 

"Aren't you even going to ask me what I do?" she says, sitting at a table. I follow her and sit in front of her. "I saw your audition," I explain, "dancing, right?"

"Not just any dancing!" she raises her chin, "I'm the best dancer there is!"

The appleheaded boy from earlier, Taemin, comes out of no where and slams into the seat next to her, "No, I'M the best dancer".

"Yah Lee Taemin!" she shouts. He giggles. Then he turns his attention to me, "I'm--"

"He's my annoying cousin, Taemin," Boram interrupts. "Better known as Applehead."

"Boram is better off as Bora...go?" He does a play on her name. "Yah! Applehead meong cheonghan baboya!"

[bolago=How about that?/What did you say?, meong cheonghan baboya=stupid fool]

"I do see it," you mumble. Taemin looks up at you, "See what?"

"You...as an apple." 

"Aish! Why does everyone say that!" Taemin complains and slams his head in his arms on the table. While he isn't looking, Boram gently picks up a pea between her two fingers, her long, black-painted nails holding it with ease. She stops before his ear, then shoves it inside. 

"AH!" Taemin jumps up from the table and puts a hand on his ear. "What did you do!!?"

"Nothing~" Boram cheers, and goes back to eating. 

"Yah! You put something in there didn't you?" He hits his palm against his ear feverishly, "I think I've gone deaf!"

"Yah," I say quietly. Taemin looks at me, "It's already out." I point to the green sphere laying peacefully on the wooden ground. 

Boram can't contain her laughter, "Pfffft," she giggles. 

"You guys seem a lot more like siblings than cousins," I shrug, scooping another spoonful of rice into my mouth. 

"Says who!" they say at the same time. 

------

"I'm going to introduce myself to the teacher," Boram says after lunch, standing from the table. "Dun uee hab da sam techer?" Taemin asks, his mouth full. Once again, Boram loses her temper and slaps him over the back of the head, "Yah! Don't talk with food in your mouth! Didn't Imo teach you better?"

[Imo(eemo)=aunt]

Taemin grudgingly swallows, and raising his voice he shouts, "I said, don't we have the same teacher!"

"Mrs. Oh?" Boram asks.

"Mrs. Oh." Taemin replies.

"What?!" Boram puts a palm to her face. "I can't believe this," she shakes her head. "I don't like it either!" Taemin barks. "Just...Just come with me," Boram sighs and grabs his arm, dragging him away from the table. I clean up Boram and Taemin's plates after they leave. Those two are so forgetful, I sigh, shaking my head. My audition flashes in my head, and a smile blooms on my face. I skip through a door and into an outside hallway. When I finally reach the other side, the door opens before I can open it and I run right into someone. "Yah!"

I recognize that voice. Sunggyu. 

"You again!?" Sunggyu snarls. In his hand is a coffee cup, which I suddenly realize he's spilled all over me. "My clothes!" I shout, holding them up to see. "Bikyo," Sunggyu says bluntly, and pushes me out of the way. 

[bikyo=move]

"What are you going to do about this?" I yell, my temper getting the best of me. He turns around and raises his shoulders and hands helplessly, "Nothing?" he says.

"What did you say!" 

"You ran into me," Sunggyu explains, demonstrating with his hands. "Therefore, it's not my fault."

"Yah!" I shout, but he just continues. 

"You got the coffee on yourself."

Anger boils in my stomach. That brat, who does he think he is? Just because he has a good voice, what makes him better than me? Huh!

He smirks at my fury, and tries to walk away. I swing my leg in the air, attempting to kick him. He hears the woosh, and ducks out of the way just in time. "Whoa!" he shouts, spilling even a dash of coffee on himself. My leg that was intended for his head, instead crashes into a window, shattering the glass. Luckily, I wore boots today. Otherwise my leg would be bloody by now. 

"oooooh," Sunggyu laughs, "you're going to be in so much trouble."

I delicately pull my foot own, glass falling from it. I raise my hand to cover my mouth. Can't I just run away? Oh no, this is bad. I'll be expelled before I even start!

------

I told you the chapters would be short!

For those of you who haven't watched Dream High 2 yet, here is the video of Kang Sora (Song Hye Sung) singing "Hello To Myself"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9LOHL33dkc