((a/n I wrote this entire scene while listening to Laboum's Aalow Aalow. On loop. For days. Chickacha!))

The school’s auditorium was dark, even with all of the lights on. Somewhere back in the annals of their school’s history, someone had decided it would be a great idea to paint the entire room black: the stage, the walls, the pit, even the upholstery of the chairs in the audience were a cheap black corduroy material. The only well-lit area was the stage itself, and the double doors at the front of the room, propped open to try and let some fresh air in.

With all of the stage lights on and all of the people milling about the room, it was already starting to get a little warm. Yoona had put all of these extra girls to work cleaning and getting the auditorium back in order after being unused all summer.  

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about being our own stage crew this time,” Moonbyul commented, flipping through the volunteer list in the middle of the stage. She did some calculations in her head, wondering how big of a production they might be able to pull off with this many helping hands.

“The one good thing about this,” Joy muttered as she scuffed at one of last year’s stage marks with her toe. There was no denying that they could use the help. Despite all the ‘interest’ in their school’s Drama Club this season, the part assignments had more or less ended up being settled as predicted, with the members of the club snagging most of the main cast parts while their classmates were left to find other duties in order to remain involved.

There were a few surprises, however.

“Why did you decide not to try out for Tony, by the way?” Joy asked Moonbyul curiously, giving the little greaseball a side-eye. “Don’t tell me that Slug chick scared you into chickening out.”

“Her name’s Seulgi!” came a protest from the wings. Wendy was losing a fight with a curtain rope a few feet away from their conversation. “Don’t be mean! You said she was actually pretty good.”

Joy made a show of rolling her eyes. “For a jock with exactly zero acting experience, I believe is the way I put it.”

Moonbyul pat Joy in the arm and Joy raised an eyebrow at the gesture. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She has a lot of natural chemistry with Irene.” Moonbyul just had to wink, much to Joy’s disgust.

“If it’s anything like your natural chemistry with Yongsun, this play is doomed- wait a second,” Joy said with with more than a little suspicion in her voice.

“Yongsun got Anita.” There had been no contest there. No one could pull off that feisty role with as much color as Kim ‘Acting Disease’ Yongsun.

Moonbyul nodded.

“And you tried out for Bernardo…” Anita’s antagonistic, yet charming boyfriend…

Moonbyul gave her a wide, cheeky smile, wrinkling her nose. Joy scoffed. She couldn't take anymore and exited stage left, bumping into someone in her irritation.

“Hey-!” she cried out.

“Watch where you’re going!” Yeri sneered up at her after being nearly run over.

“Watch where I’m going- who are you anyway?” Joy vaguely remembered seeing her sitting outside the Drama Club’s classroom during auditions, but didn’t remember her trying out for anything.

“I’m Seulgi’s agent,” the blonde proclaimed matter-of-factly.

“HER AGENT?!” Joy’s shrill cry echoed throughout the auditorium, bringing all activity to a halt. She had had just about enough of Captain Kang Seulgi and her legions of fangirls. She pushed past the shorter girl, even more determined to leave now than she had been before.

“Oh, hey, Joy-” Seulgi tried, coming up behind Yeri, but Joy didn’t even glance at her. Seulgi was certain she heard the redhead mutter something like ‘agent’ and ‘never in my life’, but she couldn’t be sure.

Seulgi was still in her workout clothes: a pair of dark sweatpants and a long baggy tshirt. Her hair had been hastily piled up in a bun and her wispy bangs still clung to her forehead from perspiration.

“Oi!” Moonbyul called her over, finally seeing what the fuss was all about. “You’re late, you know. Not a great first impression,” she said with a wink as Seulgi came over.

Seulgi smiled at her sheepishly. “Oh, I know, I’m sorry. Practice ran late, so I came as quickly as I could.”

Moonbyul pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow. “Practice? Like dance practice? You’re still on the team?”

“Of course she is!” Yeri scoffed, inserting herself into the conversation. “She’s their captain after all.”

Moonbyul crossed her arms appraisingly. “You’re going to wear yourself out between practice and rehearsals,” she warned.

“Don’t you worry about old Seulgi,” Yeri said, patting the dancer on the back bracingly. Seulgi coughed. “I’m managing her activities, and I'm even going to get a tutor for her!”

Seulgi quickly glanced down at the blonde. “You're going to what?!” Yeri was carrying this joke awfully far...

Moonbyul opened to add to that, but suddenly they were surrounded by no less than three girls from the stage crew.

“Seulgi!”

“Seulgi, I brought you a towel!”

“Don’t use that, she’s been dusting with it!”

“You can use my shirt!”

“Th-the one you’re wearing?” Seulgi asked in a distressed voice.

Suddenly Yoona clapped her hands a few times. “Alright, alright, let’s settle down now that we’re all finally here.” She hadn’t missed Seulgi’s exchange with Moonbyul, up there at center stage, and gave Krystal a pointed look. Krystal nodded back at her knowingly.

Yoona had decided she would be watching from the position of stage manager this season, seeing the need for someone who could lead the huge production crew without being distracted by having her own part in the play. She was out in the rows of seats with Krystal, who was taking notes.

“Can the crew come down here and have a seat please? I have a few scenes I want to get a feel for before we get too far into planning the backdrops.” She grabbed her copy of the script from her chair and flipped to one of the dog-eared pages as everyone who hadn’t been casted took their seats out in the audience.

“Oh, no,” Seulgi groaned quietly.

“What’s wrong?” Yeri asked.

“My script’s in my locker,” she explained.

“What? Why didn’t you bring it with you?!” Yeri hissed up at her.

“Aren’t you the one managing her activities?” Moonbyul teased snidely.

“Sh-she can borrow mine!” Wendy piped up.

Seulgi smiled at her in relief, and Wendy ran back into the wings to retrieve her script. Wendy quickly returned and handed the papers to Seulgi. From the opposite end of the stage, watching from the curtains, Irene rolled her eyes with a faint smirk.

The Dance Team Captain accepted them gratefully, but then paused. “Wait, what about you?”

Wendy hastily waved away her concern. “Oh, no! I’m your understudy!”

While Wendy had blown away the competition for Maria with the vocal solos, she was delicately deemed a little too expressive for the lead role and was offered the part of one of the foil characters.

“Or if you want, you can be Tony’s understudy,” Yoona suggested, as she flipped through the the cast list.

“Me? For Tony?” Wendy asked in surprise. She hadn’t even considered trying out for Tony.

Yoona looked up at her from beneath her brows. “We don’t know if Seulgi’s going to see this thing through or not, and now Moonbyul’s going to play Bernardo. If Seulgi doesn’t end up performing with us, I want to make sure we have a solid back up. It’s not fair to you, I know, but it’d really take the stress off of my mind knowing you could jump in if we need it.”

Wendy made a dismissive gesture. “Oh, no I don’t mind at all,” she assured her. “I guess I’m flattered.” Her smile was genuine and Yoona looked grateful. Wendy wasn’t sure if her services would be needed or not, but it was nice to know she could help alleviate some of Yoona’s concerns.

“Thanks, I knew we could count on you.”

“Oh, my understudy?” Seulgi was a little embarrassed. She was vaguely aware of what an understudy was, but didn’t realize a high school play required such insurance. These girls seemed to take their club rather seriously. It was intimidating in a way, and their fervor reminded her of the girls on her dance team.

Just what had Yeri gotten her into?

“Why don’t we read together, then?” Seulgi suggested with a warm smile, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with the smaller girl.

Wendy was sure she was going to faint clean away.

Just what had Yoona gotten her into?