“He’s trying to kill me!”  Staring at the computer screen I groaned loudly and pulled at my hair trying to push back the urge to fangirl.  Why was it that pre-debut pictures always made me go crazy? 

“Who’s trying to kill you?”  My best friend since I moved to Korea called from the bathroom.  He had been in there for over an hour fixing his hair in preparation for the new job he had been given for the semester for course credit.  He hadn’t even told me what it was but he insisted I came for the first day since I didn’t have classes in the mornings on Mondays.   

Sighing I looked back at the laptop and nearly let my fangirl side escape.  I refused to acknowledge that he was starting to creep his way up my bias list to almost Seungri status.  Darn Block B and their amazing songs and awesome members and wonderful outfits and pictures and oh damn it there I go again.   “Minhyuk is trying to kill me!”  I waited for a response and pouted a bit when I didn’t get one.  Closing the laptop I opened the door and found him laughing as he brushed his hair for what I was sure was the millionth time.  “Yah don’t laugh at me this is serious!  That dimple loving boy is trying to wreck my bias list and it’s driving me crazy!  Oh it’s all rainy and gloomy outside let me show you this pre-debut photo that is freaking gorgeous but I think it’s really bad.”  I threw my hands up in frustration when he laughed louder.  “Skyler this is not funny!”

He held his finger up and took a few deep breaths.  “I’m sorry boo it’s just you’re so cute when you get a new bias.  Not like you love BB and 2NE1 any less for getting into a few new bands.  Actually I glad you did now I have someone to spazz over MBLAQ and U-kiss with!”

Temporarily distracted I smiled and leaned against the doorway.  “Yang leader is the best and your arguments are invalid.”

“No my y man G.O will forever win with his honey voice your argument is invalid.”  He snapped his fingers at me and I rolled my eyes before flicking a hairband at him.  Honestly I love Skyler so much if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have adapted to life here so well.  While I was able to get along fine my first time because I stayed with a family coming for college had been terrifying, exciting, but terrifying.  If the boy that was supposed to dorm with Skyler hadn’t been homophobic I never would have met him.  He looked so desperate posting up flyers asking for anyone to be his roommate and since I was living off campus because my scholarship didn’t cover room and board it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 

Pouting I shrugged and smoothed out some of the wrinkles on his shirt.  “He may have a honey voice but we all know that Seung Ho is the appa and G.O is the umma.”

“Shoot he can be my umma any day.” 

A disgusted look crossed my face and I smacked his arm.  “Sky you are so disgusting get out here with that mess!”  Plugging my ears with my fingers I my heel and back towards the living room where my laptop and water looked so inviting though I knew the process from before would just start over. 

“Oh don’t be a baby we’ve talked about worse.” I shrugged in response as he took a seat next to me on the couch.  “By the way have you decided on a bias for BEAST yet?”

I stiffened up for a minute before shrugging and pulled up my laptop to show him the picture of Minhyuk that I was talking about.  “Can I not just spazz over all of them?”

“Well sure but you know you have a favorite you just don’t want to admit it.  I say that Kikwang or Doojoon are totally your style.”  With the mention of Kikwang I froze up a little.  I hadn’t told Skyler the reason why I had randomly decided to get into BEAST.  After all it wasn’t exactly every day you told your best friend that you just happened to sit next to a famous idol and he just happened to convince you to try listening to his band’s music and talked nonstop for two hours about everything under the sun.  Especially to Skyler I loved him to bits but sometimes he could overreact. 

Putting my laptop in his lap, I stood laughing a little bit.  “My style huh?”

He nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah you like good dancers, singers, and actors right?  I remember you going crazy over that boy in my dance class freshmen year because he could do all three.”

Blushing furiously I playfully kicked at him. “You promised to never bring that up again!  But fine if you get to have Dongwoon and Yoseob then I get to steal both as well so there.” 

Skyler eyed me carefully, “And we share Junseung?”

Grinning I nodded, “Is there any other way to love Junseung properly?  Now finish getting ready if you expect me to come with you then you need to hurry your up.  I’ve been ready for near half an hour.”  Pushing his forehead with my index finger I walked over to the small kitchen we had to get a thermos of coffee ready for both of us. 

“I’ll finish as soon as you pick a favorite in BEAST!”

“Come on I already picked one!”

“But there has to be one you stan the most it’s like a rule.  Like how you think GD is super y but you still stan Seungri more.”

This boy never quits does he?  Sighing I filled my purple thermos and his red one completely ignoring his question.  Granted both of them were y but I knew Kikwang better but at the same time I felt awkward saying that Kikwang could be my bias.  “What about you then?  You have two.”

“Yes but Yoseob is my favorite!”

Okay now I know what the boy is up to.  Laughing I grabbed both thermoses and headed back over to Skyler a knowing smile on my face.  Handing him the thermos I lightly poked his forehead.  “I know you’re nervous and all but stalling and making yourself late won’t help.  So either you get dressed or I’m dragging you there as you are right now.” 

Skyler shot up and covered the top of his head with one hand.  “No!  My hair isn’t even perfect!”

“Then hop to it!”  That finally seemed to put the needed motivation in him and he ran back to his bedroom to finish getting ready.  Sipping on my coffee slowly I tried to think of a way out of going with him.  As excited as I was with the possibility of meeting any one famous for some reason I wasn’t as excited as I should be.  Probably because I knew that Skyler would try and make me dance and I hated, absolutely hated, dancing in front of people.  Except for in clubs or with friends then I didn’t care as much. 

Less than ten minutes later we were out the door and down the street waiting for the bus to get us to the job.  A place he refused to reveal to me until we actually got on the bus to take us there.  When he did I understood why he was hesitant to tell me.  Freaking Cube Entertainment?  Seriously?  How in the hell did he get so lucky?  Smacking his arm instantly I scooted closer and shoved him once more.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Yah don’t hiss in my ear it makes me think you’re gonna kill me.”  He cowered away from the look in my eye and rubbed the back of his head.  “I was told not to tell anyone and I knew you’d freak out and say no if I told you and you know I can’t survive the first day of anything without your help.”

“Jesus what am I your wife?”

“Yes you are don’t you remember who put that pretty rock on your finger?”  With a roll of my eye I looked down at my right hand where a silver band with a pink heart rock rested on my ring finger.  Sure it wasn’t the correct hand but then again not a lot of the stuff that Skyler and I did was the norm.  Skyler and I had joked that we were married in our own weird way because of it. 

Laughing I slung an arm around his shoulder and kissed his cheek.  “Of course my dear husband it’s such a pretty ring.  But I’m still going to kill you for not telling me where we’re going.”

“Oh don’t be grumpy you know you would go anyway.”  Not wanting to admit it directly I stuck my tongue out at him and he chuckled lightly.  “See so hush and just enjoy the wonderfulness.”  He leaned back against the bus seat and closed his eyes trying to get a few minutes rest before we arrived. 

I really wish he hadn’t.  The entire time I was worried about running into Kikwang.  What happened if I did run into him?  Would I have to tell him a secret?  I promised that I would but would he even remember that little deal?  There was no way I was going to admit that I wanted him to remember though.  Oh God what if he does and he mentions something in front of Skyler?  Death by stuffed animals I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night for a few days for fear of my life.  “Maybe I should have told him.”  I mumbled, picking at my skirt.

“Told who what?” 

Jumping a little in surprise I turned to find Skyler awake and fixing his hair just as we reached the right stop.  “How in the world can you do that?”

Skyler stopped stretched and looked over confused, “Do what?

Rolling my eyes I waved my hand in the air, “You know wake up right before we have to get off.”

He shrugged before standing and offering his arm to me, “I’m just that good.  Now to our first day on the job!”  Excitedly he dragged me off the bus and to the front door of the company before I could even admire the building or realize what he said.

“Wait ‘our’?!”  He shushed me while heading to the front desk humming happily.  “Don’t shush me!  Is that why you insisted I wear something nice even though I wasn’t doing anything?  You evil little bi-” He covered my mouth with his hand and introduced us politely with a bow to the receptionist who directed us to the seventh floor. 

As soon as we got in the elevator alone I twisted his arm behind his back despite his protest.  “Now you’re going to tell me what is going on before I hit you.” 

“I was going to gosh you’re so violent,” Letting him go he brushed off his blazer jacket and turned to me with his arms crossed.  “Well you know how Minji sunbae is one of Mr. Lee’s favorite students?  Well there are seven different composers that were scouted by Cube and Minji sunbae suggested you.  If you survive their elimination process then they’re taking you on as an intern.”

For a moment I was completely stunned.  Why would Minji want to make sure that I was part of the seven that were selected?  There were so many others that were qualified especially at our school.  But maybe they needed a foreigner to even some things out?  “Hello?  Earth to Anais, are you alive in there?”  Blinking rapidly at his snapping fingers I looked up at Skyler who now looked somewhat concerned, “You alright girl?  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but I know you would have found some way to run away.”

He was right, as usual.  “Don’t be silly,” I stepped out of the elevator and offered my arm to him “let’s get those jobs best friend.” 

Laughing he looped arms with me and we headed towards the office we were told to report at.  The other potential interns were already there.  Well not all of them, only three other composers were there and two other dancers were there.  You could tell who was who rather easily actually the composers carried their case with them and ink stained some of their fingers.  Self-consciously I glanced down at my own ink stained hands and wondered if the ink that made it on the page was half as good as the others in the room.  Skyler patted my shoulder before heading over to the other dancers and greeted them politely.

 Figuring I should do the same I stood next to the tallest of the three composers and bowed a bit before introducing myself.  As per the typical reaction they looked shocked for a moment at my Korean before introducing themselves as well.  The tall one with short black hair was Jonghyun Chan a fourth year student, the other girl with light brown hair was Woohee a first year student and the shortest was Kevin a first year student as well who added in English he was from the States.  He looked relieved to find another fluent English speaker but I wouldn’t mention that out loud.

As soon as I told Kevin and Woohee that I was a third year student the atmosphere suddenly became stuffier and they bowed once again changing their language to be a little more formal.  They seemed surprised by my smile though, “You can talk to me normally I don’t mind really.”  I couldn’t help but notice that Jonghyun didn’t look too pleased with what I said and I could have sworn he mumbled something about foreigners but I paid no attention.  I was used to it by now. 

When the others came in, three more males that introduced themselves as Daniel, Hyungbin, and Chinho and the dancers a man who I wasn’t sure as to what his name was and a woman stepped inside drawing everyone’s attention.  “Good you all made it on time so none of you will be eliminated today.”  They were really trying to eliminate us already?  I regretted being so casual with the others now this wasn’t about making friends it was about getting that internship.  “As you know this will be an elimination process, and you must work hard to survive.  Each one of you will be paired with a different mentor who will, by the time this is over, help you to create a portfolio.”  He gave a meaningful look to each group, “Which you will present to our hiring staff and they will determine if you’re an intern or not.”

He let us whisper among ourselves for a few minutes.  I didn’t really pay attention I was far too busy having a mini freak out to even think about complaining to myself.  What if I got kicked out the first round?  What if I make it all the way to the end and then I fail?  And why were they being so strict about this anyway?  Okay I’m mature and a damn good composer I can do this I can do this.  “Now then talk to Hyul Bin she’ll tell you who you’re to be paired with and any questions that you have I have a meeting to go to.”

As soon as he left the room the poor woman got bombarded with questions and demands to see their mentor right away.  Kevin hung back for a second and we wished each other luck in English and while I felt that the chance to grow close was there I wasn’t sure if I would take it.  Maybe after all this was said and done.  Hanging back I shuffled over to Skyler who looked just as scared as I was.

“So what do you think?”

“I think we’ve got some long hours, blood, sweat and tears ahead of us.”

“And we’ve still got our classes to worry about.  Wait!  What about my classes?”

“All our classes got moved to after we leave here at five and then we can come back afterwards.”

“You’re so lucky I’m not trying to kill you right now.”

“Trust me no one knows better than me my dear.”

“Yeah you better.”

“Let’s just get our mentor’s names I’m sure you’ll thank me for this later.”

Snorting, I trailed behind Skyler towards the woman.  She looked disheveled and tired now after answering all the questions and it wasn’t too hard to notice her stiffen up again as we came over probably expecting some onslaught.  But when we bowed respectfully and asked for our mentors’ information I nearly giggled at the shocked look on her face. 

“Oh foo I’ve got a girl, Park Iseul.”  I couldn’t help but laugh at Skyler; he was probably hoping to find some cute guy would be his instructor.  He would never stop complaining about how he hated being single.

Rolling my eyes I punched the up button for the elevator, “You’re ridiculous even if you got a guy what makes you think he’d date you?”

Scoffing, he flipped his hair and smoothed out his shirt slowly.  “Pft because no one can resist this.”  Okay I wasn’t going to deny that Skyler was good looking.  Having the body of a dancer, perfectly cut, short hair and being able to pull off that loved city boy look so well made him quite the eye catcher.  Of course he always felt awkward when it was girls that would hit on him.  Laughing at the thought he smacked my arm and stepped in the elevator.  “Bah who cares what you think you’re a girl.” noting my dark glare he stepped back a bit, “Anyway, who is your mentor?” 

Glancing down at the paper I shrugged a bit, “Lee Chin-hwa, and apparently, he speaks English.”  At the bottom on the card they had scrawled as an afterthought, or the persons print was really bad, that he could speak English.  Not that, that mattered anyway I was perfectly fine speaking Korean all day every day. 

Skyler must have noted my disgruntled expression and patted my shoulder comfortingly as we stopped at a hallway intersection.  “Come on they’re just trying to be kind.”

“I know.”  But I couldn’t stop the sigh from escaping.

“I’ve got to go this way so I’ll see you at five then?”  Nodding I looked around to see if anyone was there and gave him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek before heading for my mentor.  Honestly I wasn’t as nervous as I felt I should be meeting the person who I was supposed to work closely with for the next few months.  I was more worried about not being able to spend the full amount of time here. 

The last door on the left marked recording studio 7-B4 had two males inside, both appearing to be immersed in their task and for a second I nearly turned around and left.  But remembering that I had to interrupt or appear to be late I slowly cracked the door open.  Neither of them seemed to pay attention and instead continued to work on the song.  “Excuse me,” I bowed deeply, “I’m Anais Crawford I’m your new student.”

The taller one, wearing a cap and comfortable sweats stood and bowed just a bit, “Neh Hyunbul said you would be coming. This is Ahn Soshi he’s another composer here that you’ll be working with.”  Automatically we exchanged bows and Chin-hwa placed a hand on my shoulder, “Okay first task wear something more comfortable tomorrow.  You’re going to spend a lot of time hunched over and in the studio you’ll need to be more comfortable than that.  But brownie points for trying to get on the bosses good side.”  Straightening out I saw his smile though I wasn’t quite sure if it put me at ease or not.

~~~~~

What is with this world and wanting to plan everything out?!  I stared at the schedule we had put together it was just like class.  He was going to give me crash courses on everything that he knew and we’d start planning out trips for inspiration and actual writing time.  I felt twitchy with my whole weekend disappearing but I guess, like Skyler said, sooner or later I’d have to adapt to what the world wanted even just a little bit. 

He finally dismissed me twenty minutes after five and I reached the lobby to find a tired looking Skyler half asleep on one of the couches.  Kicking his foot, somewhat impatiently he shot up groaning in discomfort.  “Yah why’d you wake me up?”

“We’ve got class to get to and we need to get dinner before we go to class boy.  Now up!”  Grabbing his shirt I dragged him up and towards the door ignoring his mumbles.  “We’re going to get coffee don’t worry.”  The second we got outside I wished the ground would swallow me up whole.  There was Kikwang with the rest of s walking straight for us conversing about who knows what.  Moving out of the way quickly I watched as Kikwang walked right by and didn’t even look my way.  Of course he had forgotten me so why was I annoyed by something I figured would happen?  Sighing I turned back to the street and started to drag Skyler towards the bus stop.

“Anais!”  Turning I found Kikwang with his upper body out the door staring at me in amazement and out of habit I waved at him with a sheepish smile.  He was about to step out but Doojoon pulled him back inside after a bit of struggling and I breathed a sigh of relief.  While I was pleased he hadn’t forgotten me I could feel Skyler’s confused and annoyed gaze on me and that would not have been pretty. 

Turning once again I saw a now wide awake Skyler staring at me in disbelief, “Okay what the hell was that?”

Blushing furiously I rubbed the back of my neck and mumbled, “I’ll tell you at dinner.  Just don’t get too mad at me okay?”

“I make no promises.”