We’ll take off the sand bags that dragged us down
Get ready, crouch down and run
From last place, we became 2nd place
I wanna be #1 from this tight race
{Seventeen~Ah Yeah}
 

KIARA'S POV

I slammed the taxi door shut behind me after paying the driver. Wow....

I took out my phone and texted Josh Oppa.

Kiara: Oppa! I'm here^^ Where do I go?

Joshua: Come in through the main entrance. It's up the stairs. When you come inside, don't say that you're auditioning for Seventeen's Show. We're supposed to pick a girl who's auditioning for Pledis Entertainment at the open auditions today. 

Kiara: Then what am I supposed to tell the receptionist?

Joshua: Tell her you're auditioning for Pledis Entertainment...you're okay with becoming a trainee, right? 

 Kiara: ...whut?

Joshua: Are you okay with becoming a trainee of Pledis Entertainment? I know you've enjoyed singing and dancing ever since you were little, so I just assumed that you would be okay to audition...

Kiara: NONONONO!!!! I WILL AUDITION! OMIGOSH! 

Joshua: LOL. OK. Then go inside and tell the receptionist that you're here for the open audition. She should lead you to a large room with some other kids. I don't think lots of people are auditioning this month, so we'll probably be able to see you soon^^

Kiara: OK Oppa! I'll see you soon^^

I took a deep breath and climbed the stairs of Pledis Entertainment. I stepped over the threshold and looked around the lobby. This place seems kinda familiar...but I'm not sure why...

"Annyeonghaseyo! Can I help you?" asked the lady behind the desk.

"Ah, annyeonghaseyo! I'm here for the Pledis open audition." I said as her welcoming expression transformed into a surprised one.

"JiYoungie? Is that you?" she asked as she stood up.

"Ah...I think you might have the wrong person...I'm Kim Jihye." I said as I watched her expression turn to a disappointed one.

"Ah...sorry. My friend JiYoung disappeared a couple of years ago, and you look really similar to her." she said as she came out from behind the desk.

"Let me show you where the audition is held." she said giving me a smile.

"OK!" I said smiling brightly as I followed her through the double black doors that led to a long hallway.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"I'm Lee SunMi. I've been working here for around 5 years now. 3 years as a trainee, and 2 as a receptionist." she said.

"My friend JiYoung was a trainee here with me and three other girls. We were supposed to debut in a group called D1amondZ, but with JiYoung's disappearance, everything was canceled and we were all let go." she said shaking her head sadly.

"Oh....I'm sorry, SunMi." I said giving her a sympathetic look.

"It's okay. But you really do look a lot like our JiYoungie." she said as we turned a corner.

"Do you think that I'll be able to pass the audition?" I asked SunMi as I saw her try to wipe away a tear discreetly.

"Well, it depends on your singing or dancing ability. But looks? PD-nim would definitely say yes. JiYoungie was chosen because she was the prettiest out of all the kids who came to audition and because her skills were exceptional. Well, here we are! Good luck on your audition!" SunMi said as she waved goodbye.

"Thank you, SunMi!" I said as I waved back at her.

I turned around to find myself in an almost empty room with four girls and three guys huddled together in a corner of the room.

I approached them slowly and found them playing rock-paper-scissors.

"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Sumi, you lost!!!"

"Aw, come on! JungHo, that's not fair! You cheated!'

"Shut up SeYoon! It's not like you didn't cheat last round!"

"As if! SeYoon didn't cheat! You and DiNa cheated and I saw you with my own eyeballs!"

"Guys, stop fighting! Sheesh! Do you wanna practice for the audition or not?"

"Stop acting like you're all pure and innocent, Minho!"

"Ummmm....excuse me?" the seven heads turned around and looked at me.

"Is this where we're supposed to wait for auditions?" I asked as the girl named Sumi looked me up and down.

"Yeah, we're playing rock-paper-scissors to do a mock-audition here for practice." said the Minho guy.

"Hey! Let's introduce ourselves first! Hi! I'm Park AeRa, nice to meet you!" said a tall girl with a bright smile.

"Annyeong! I'm Kim Jihye." I said as I gave the group a shy smile.

"Hi! I'm Cho Minho~" 

" 'Sup. I'm Cho JungHo. a.k.a. Minho's older brother."

"Yo. I'm Yoon SeYoon."

"Hi! I'm Choi DiNa."

"Hello~ My name is Hong Meizhuan. I'm Chinese." 

"We were trying to decide the order in who's going to 'perform' first for our mock-audition, but nobody wants to go first." said JungHo.

"I can go first if you want me to." I volunteered as I put my jacket and bag down on to a chair.

"Okay! Then the order is decided!" AeRa shouted.

"Jihye's first. Then it's Meizhuan, me, DiNa, SeYoon, MinHo, Sumi, and last, but not least, JungHo." she said with a triumphant look on her face.

"The 'stage' is over there." Meizhuan pointed to the area that had been cleared of chairs, jackets, and bags.

I walked over to the "stage" and stood in the center of it.

"Annyeonghaseyo! My name is Kim Jihye and I am 15 years old." I said doing a 90* bow.

They applauded and AeRa gave me a thumbs up.

"Did you come with any family today? Are your parents waiting outside?" Sumi asked with a snobbish air.

"Actually, no...my parents died in an accident back in California..." I said sadly as I looked down at the floor.

"Sumi! Omigosh! I'm so sorry!!!" DiNa exclaimed as she ran over, gave me a quick hug, then ran back to her seat.

"It's ok. I don't really remember what happened." Lies.

"Ok. Then, what will you be doing for us today?" asked SeYoon as he flipped through an imaginary clipboard.

I stifled a laugh.

"I will be performing Apink's Remember for dancing and Infinite's Bad." I said with a bright smile.

"Okay~ You may begin whenever you're ready." said MinHo as he scrolled through his phone looking for the song.

LOL. These kids are pretty fun to be around.

MinHo gave me a signal to get started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n4Ft0PMeqY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQeTCWL2OKs

"Wow....she's really good." I heard DiNa whisper as Sumi glared at me.

She really reminds me of someone....I wonder who it was....

After I finished performing, they handed me the slips of paper that they had written their thoughts about my performance on.

I read them as Meizhuan set up for her 'stage'.

Meizhuan~I really liked your performance, Jihye! I hope you pass the audition!^^

AeRa~Jihye! OMG! Your voice was literally goals. I'm so jelly~haha jk I hope you pass your audition~^...^

Sumi~ Your voice was in the wrong key. Are you tone-deaf? And get your dancing right. You didn't make the point moves "alive" enough. 

SeYoon~ Your voice is literally perfect. I don't have anything else to say because if I say anything about your dancing, you'll think I'm a ert ㅠㅠ

DiNa~You sing and dance like an angel!!! OMG. I kennot even... I hope you pass your audition<3^^

JungHo~ I like your  voice. I don't have anything else to say.

MinHo~Plz don't tell hyung...*whispers* I'm an Apink fanboy. I LOVE YOUR DANCE PERFORMANCE SO MUCH. OMG! YOU LITERALLY COULD JOIN APINK AND NOBODY WOULD SAY ANYTHING BAD BECAUSE YOU'RE THAT GOOD<3333

LOL. I love MinHo's comment the best. Meizhuan performed After School's Because of You Acoustic Version, which was apparently arranged by Josh Oppa.

She was in the middle of her performance when a Pledis worker walked into the room.

"Annyeong! You guys must be the kids who are auditioning for Pledis today, right?"

We nodded as we stood up. 

"PD-nim will be watching the girls first since we're in need of more female trainees than male trainees at the moment. Will Kim Jihye, Im Sumi, Park AeRa, Choi DiNa, and Hong Meizhuan please follow me to the audition site?"

Audition SITE?  What is this guy talking about?

The five of us stood up and followed the Pledis worker down the same long hallway that we had first come through and out out the doors.

I gave a shy wave to SunMi as we left the building.  She waved back to me, but froze when she made eye contact with Sumi.

Sumi gave her a condescending look and stalked out.

The five of us boarded a bus and were taken to the MBC Dream Center.

Woah....

The five of us followed the Pledis worker like ducklings following a mother duck.

We walked down a hallway and in to a conference room with our name cards on the table.

"You can wait here until your audition." the guy said as he left the room.

We sat there awkwardly for a little bit and then I started to laugh.

Hearing me laugh, Sumi immediately scowled at me, and was interrupted by the rest of the girls laughing along with me.

"What's so funny?" Sumi asked harshly. "This isn't a laughing matter JIYOUNG."

I stopped laughing.

"Why is everyone calling me JiYoung? My name's JiHye." I said surprised that Sumi would know this JiYoung girl too.

"Sureeeeeeee. Of course you're 'JiHye'." she snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Why do you not like me Sumi? What did I ever do? I only met you today!" 

"You don't remember?" she asked with the same look as Wonwoo had given me this morning.

"Remember what? I don't know who you are, and I don't know who this JiYoung girl is, but I'm not JiYoung! I'm Kim JiHye!" I said getting frustrated.

The atmosphere was getting really tense and Meizhuan patted my back comfortingly.

Right as DiNa opened to say something, the door opened and a guy wearing a pair of glasses walked in.

The four girls immediately stood up and bowed their heads in greeting, so I jst copied them.

"Annyeonghaseyo Han Sungsoo PD-nim!" they said loudly.

ohhhhhhh. So this is the chairman of Pledis.

"Annyeong. So, the five of you are auditioning for Pledis?" he asked scrutinizing us carefully.

"Im Sumi. You're here again. Nice to see you after 5 years. And JiYoungie? Yah! Kim JiYoung! Why did you disappear right before your group debuted? Do you know how much trouble that brought to this company?" he said sternly towards me.

I saw Sumi smirk out of the corner of my eye.

"I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong person. My name is Kim JiHye and I haven't been in Korea since I was 7 years old." I told him as Sumi's triumphant smirk turned to one of hatred.

She really acts like someone that I know....

He looked at me harder. 

"Wow...you really aren't JiYoung! I'm sorry, you look a lot like a former trainee that we had a couple of years ago." he said.

"It's okay. The receptionist and Sumi-ssi mistook me for this JiYoung-ssi too."

Hearing that, he gave Sumi a suspicious glance. 

"Well, it was nice to meet you JiHye-ssi." he looked around at the rest of the girls.

"Today, is a different kind of audition." he said loudly.

"Today, you will not only  be judged by me and the other normal judges, but by special guest judges too." he said.

My eyes widened and I turned my head towards Meizhuan who had the same reaction as me. No way.....he wouldn't be talking about THEM....would he?

"Those special judges are a newly debuted boy group that is having a comeback soon." he said proudly.

"We will be looking for your star abilites and depending on those abilites, you will move on to the next round."

I looked around the table at DiNa and AeRa who were holding on to eachother in excitement.

"Those who pass the  first round will automatically become trainees of Pledis Entertainment." We applauded at this.

"However, there will only be one person who will pass the second round." we looked at him in confusement.

"The lucky girl who will pass the second round will be rewarded with a special advantage in promoting herself as a Pledis trainee." 

Meizhuan and I looked at eachother with excitement.

"Since you girls probably can't wait to audition, we will announce the order of the auditions. It will be in alphabetical order. The order will be Kim Jihye, Park Aera, Im Sumi, Choi DiNa, Hong Meizhuan. I'll see you at auditions! Jihye-ssi? Please follow me."

I followed him out the door and across the hallway to a room with two other judges waiting inside.

"Please introduce yourself formally." he said as he sat down in between the other judges.

"Annyeonghaseyo! I am Kiara Jihye Kim from Los Angeles, California. I am 15 years old and I currently do not attend a school because I just moved here." I said with a 90 degree bow.

"Nice to meet you Jihye-ssi. What will you be performing for us today?" asked the lady next to Han PD-nim.

"I will be dancing performing Lovelyz' Hello." I said nervously.

"Okay, you may begin." said the man on the other side of Han PD-nim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVSKAhCxpWY

At the end of my performance, I bowed and stood still waiting for their judgement.

Han PD-nim let out a huge sigh.

"Well, Jihye-ssi....."

srry for the ish updateㅠㅠ

idek why this turned out this way...

anywho, comments are appreciated^^

~lurv da one and only sarasquirrel^...^