9th July 2014

Gayoon had always known what it was that she wanted to do with her life when she grew up; it wasn't a question of whether it would ever be possible, it was a question of when the right moment would arrive. That moment had come in April 2012, when she had been spotted by an SM Entertainment scout at a school function when she was singing. She had been urged to audition to enter the company and had, luckily, got in. She remembered the day very vividly - she had met Hyojin, the lead rapper from Sigma, there the same day and the two had swapped email addresses to keep in touch. So when Jimin said that she had been Gayoon's first friend in the company, it wasn't exactly true.

Jimin, though. She was always around Gayoon, either chattering endlessly on about something completely unrelated to what they were doing at the time, or complaining about something. Usually, she only complained about things that directly affected her, like her outfits (she usually didn't like them), or her make-up (something about it wasn't done right) or else things that the other members had said (Eunjung and Subin often told her off). But lately, the main vocalist had been bugging Gayoon about her position in the group.

"Gayoon-ah," she said in a quiet voice as Polaris bumped around their dorm on the day of their debut stage on 'Show Champion'. "Do you really think you were given the right role? I mean, the way I see it is you have a much better voice than Eunjung. We all know that the only reason she was made lead vocalist is because she's the leader, and personally, I think you'd do a much better job at both."

"Unnie, the management decided this for a good reason," Gayoon replied, not quite agreeing with herself even as she said it. She didn't like to gossip behind people's backs, but it seemed that it was Jimin's favourite past time.

"They can be wrong. Look, we all know that Eunjung had to be given extra training because her voice wasn't up to scratch - that's why we all ended up  being partnered with EXO in the first place! The rest of us didn't even need the extra help,"

"We benefited from it, though," the blonde put in, pursing her lips as she tried to choose between a stripy red shirt and a plain shirt for the trip to the recording studio.

Jimin sighed, picking out the red striped shirt for her member. "Gayoon. There's still time to ask the managers to reconsider our positions. I'm just trying to look out for you, that's all."

Gayoon sighed and pulled the shirt on. "I know. Thanks, Jimin."

An hour and a half later, with what Jimin had said that morning still ringing in her ears, Gayoon glared at Eunjung across the stage that they were meant to be performing on. As it was, the managers were angrily spitting out corrections to Chaerin (she had been in the wrong place at least four times in their latest rehearsal), hands flying in all directions as they attempted to drill the choreography into her head. Eunjung, meanwhile, approached Gayoon.

"Hey, Gayoon-ah. Listen, I just want to say this before the managers do because they're being pretty hard on Chaerin over there-" 'Why don't you help her and stand up for her, then, as you are meant to be our leader?' Gayoon thought viciously. "But you're a few steps out on the second chorus. You're meant to be hitting the step forward on the first beat, not the second. And you were slightly out when you sang your high note in the bridge." The leader wiped a hand over her face, risking her make-up, obviously exhausted and stressed. "I'm not nitpicking, but they'll give you hell for it, so I just wanted to be nice-"

"You call criticising everything I do being 'nice', do you, unnie?" Gayoon asked sarcastically before she could stop herself. Seohyeon, who was the closest to the two, looked over curiously. 

"I'm sorry?" Eunjung asked politely, confused.

"It's just that you're constantly telling me I'm doing things wrong! In the studio, in the practice rooms, and even now. If I was doing it wrong, the manager-nims would have come over to yell at me too!" The blonde vocalist was really getting into her stride now, every little thing that had gotten to her since before they even debuted pouring out in a torrent against the redhead.

"I'm not always telling you that you're doing things wrong, Gayoon-ah," Eunjung put in calmly. "We all give each other constructive criticism. You point out when I go wrong, too, and I'm thankful for it,"

"But you're nearly always wrong! I don't know how you even got to be lead vocalist!" Gayoon exploded. Everyone in the room turned to look at the idols. Eunjung in a hurt breath and held her hands together to stop them from shaking.

"We all have an equal amount of responsibilities in the songs, no matter whether we're vocalists or dancers or rappers," she said quietly. "We're all trying our best, and it's my job as leader of Polaris to make sure everything is running smoothly-"

"Well, you're not doing a very good job," Gayoon interrupted snidely. "Are you? Seeing as none of us can stand you."

"Hey, that's not true," Seohyeon put in timidly from the side, ever the mediator. 

"This isn't helping anything," Subin added. "Let's move onto our next rehearsal so we can get this all done and go home. You're tired and hungry and we all need a rest-"

"Subin unnie is right, Gayoon," Eunjung told the blonde, her voice low. "Let's just forget this ever happened and go home."

"You know what? Jimin's right," Gayoon spat, disgusted. "You are rubbish at being a leader, and as a lead vocalist, you . You didn't even deserve to be accepted into the company as a trainee, let alone debut in such a high rank. You should just go back to your precious England and the rest of us would be a lot happier!"

Silence met the heated words until their main manager stepped in. 

"Girls, stop this right now. Get into your places and film this performance and you can rip each other to shreds when you get back to the dorm. Now!" he added when nobody moved, clapping his hands together twice.

After one more rehearsal, Polaris finally managed to move onto the filming portion of their debut stage, which was filmed in a box set not unlike that of EXO's 'Overdose' comeback stage on M!Countdown; after two attempts, the managers and staff were finally happy with a cut and they were allowed to go home. The whole time, though Gayoon and Eunjung didn't so much as look at each other.