Amber and Krystal were hiding in the back of Amber and Luna's closet on a neat stack of basketball shorts and tank tops. Krystal had cried off lessons the entire day, claiming illness, but Amber had known she wasn't sick and had been worried about what the girl was up to. Later, during Amber's free half hour, Krystal had taken Amber by the hand before she could locate an empty practice room, and had dragged her back to the dorm, into her room, then into the back of her closet for added secrecy. 

"What?!" Amber asked, a little freaked out. They'd had Team tests for the past two months sprung on them out of nowhere so she was understandably on edge. 

Krystal smiled a little and pulled a flip phone out of her pocket. 

Amber gaped at it. "Oh my god! Where did you get that?" 

Krystal's smile widened further. "There's this secret locker at the other end of the building where you do trade for trade. My sister told me about it. Apparently, it's been here as long as there have been trainees." 

"Trade for Trade?" 

The younger girl clarified. "You take something and you leave something," she explained in English. "I left a pack of cookies for this. I really wonder what was so good in there before this that a person left a cell phone. I've been checking since we got put into teams." 

Her eyes were glittering with excitement, but Amber was scared to get her hopes up. It had been so long since she'd spoken to her parents, but what if this were a trap? What if the secret locker was actually monitored. What if she and Krystal got kicked out for this. And what if the phone didn't even work. 

Krystal seemed to sense her worry. She reached out and took Amber's hand. "I already tested it. I called my sister last night, so I know it works. I never would've brought it to you if it didn't work." 

Tears formed in Amber's eyes and Krystal smiled at her indulgently. She looked so tough, but her heart was so soft. She cuddled up next to her and put her chin on her shoulder. "Go ahead. Call your parents. I need to have time to get this phone back in the trade for trade. It's an important item. We shouldn't be the only ones who get to use it." 

Amber nodded and huffed out an emotional breath, dialing the numbers through blurred vision. 

"Krystal!" 

They both jumped, the flip phone tumbling from Amber's hands. Krystal quickly picked it up and shoved it under the stack of clothing. 

"Where are you?!" 

"What do we do? Who is it? Sounds like SunYoung," Amber gasped, her heart racing. "What are they doing back?" 

"They're announced the results! Krystal!!!" 

Amber and Krystal's eyes met fearfully. "Results?" 

"Krysta-"

Krystal leaped toward the door handle at the same time as Amber and they ended up tumbling out of the closet ending up at SunYoung's feet. Sulli and Victoria could just be seen in the living room. A man in a dark suit was with them. 

"What are you two doing in there?" SunYoung asked, her confusion evident. 

Amber and Krystal were both breathing hard, were slightly sweaty, and red in the face from spending time in the hot closet. Amber quickly untangled her hand from Krystal's when she realized the man was giving them a hard stare. This looks bad, she worried. 

The younger girl latched herself to Amber's side again, unaware of the suit. 

"Results of what?" Amber asked hastily, trying to distract everyone. 

"Our team!!" SunYoung said excitedly. "It's us!! It's our team!!"

"What?" Amber stared blankly, trying to figure out if this meant what she thought it meant. 

SunYoung launched herself at Amber and threw her arms around her neck. "We're debuting!!!" Tears gushed out of the poor girl's eyes and Amber found herself on the verge of crying as well. Krystal wrapped her arms around her. 

"Oh my god!" 

Sulli and Victoria bounded toward them and they rocked in a giant group hug, nearly causing each other injury in their excitement. 

"You'll be staying here for the next few months," the man in the suit said, his dour voice putting a dampener on their mood. The pulled away from each other but still held hands. His eyes settled on Amber. "Debuting doesn't mean that your future is set. If you can't break it out there, you'll be back home before you know it." 

She shivered at his cold eyes. 

"So you still have to work hard. Twice as hard as you've been working. You're not going to embarrass yourselves or this company when you stand on stage for the first time." 

Amber's heart leaped into and started doing acrobatics. She felt sick. She wanted this. Right?

The man in the suit squinted his eyes at her. "You." 

"W-wh-" she croaked, unable to form words. 

"Come with me. I'll see the rest of you in an hour in room 438." 

Amber glanced uncertainly at her members. Her friends. 

"When I ask you to do something, you do it. Come with me!" 

Amber jumped, her hand twitching out of Krystal's. Victoria said something softly in Chinese, but Amber was so distressed her brain couldn't make her understand it. She followed the man reluctantly out of the dorm wing and into the hall of offices on the first floor. Around one corner then another one until she was in a room with five other people. She recognized her translator from the first day of signing a trainee contract. 

She wrung her hands together. Afraid. Nervous. She tangled her fingers in the hem of her shirt and sat when they told her to sit. They pushed a sheet of paper across the table in front of her unseeing eyes. 

"You're a lesbian, right?"