/N: The story starts off as the members introduces themselves. The year next to it is the year each girl auditioned and subtract that to the year they debut if you're not sure how much time each spent training.
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"Hello, my name is Han EunMyeon ." (2010)

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Yoo Jisoo." (2011)

"Hello, I am Kim Subin."
(2007)

"Annyeonghaseyo, My name is Achaea Aromdee." (2010)

"Hi, I am Rebecca Jo."
(2008)

"Hello everyone, I am Choi ChaeRin." (2009)

"I'm Li LingHua, nice to meet you." (2008)

"Hey my name is Liang MeiZhen." (2006)

"Hello, I am Lee Hyejin."(2009)

(2011) "Hi, I'm Cheong Nayoon." The girl smiled and bowed at the row of judges sitting at a narrow table in the wide empty room. A mirror covered the whole wall around her and the floors were shiny and made of black wood.

"Nice to meet you, Nayoon. What will you be doing for us today?" A middle aged man with wrinkles around his eyes greeted. Another nodded, slowly clicking and unlocking his pen.
Nayoon tried to block out the noise that increased her nervousness and tore her eyes from the rest of the three judges that were already writing something down.

"Well I will be singing a piece from...."

~~~~~

Rebecca closed the door to her dorm room as quietly as possible. Her other dorm mates were still sleeping and she didn't want to wake any of them. She made her way down the stairs to the main hall. Sneaking out at 4 a.m to practice has always been part of her schedule since 3 years ago when she got accepted into S.M. Entertainment. She just practiced better when it was just her, no instructors or the judging eyes of other trainees.

Rebecca walked down the hall towards the elevator and stepped in, fixing the deranged ponytail. The elevator doors were slowly closing when a hand shot out to stop it. A short dark haired girl with small eyes and a very youthful face rushed in.

She wore yoga pants and a sleeveless graphic tee, her dark hair was tied in a knot at the back of her head. Her face held a certain youth to it with no help of the fluffy cheeks and pouty lips.

Without a word, she walked in and stood at the front corner. The two girls shared no communication, the only sound was the soft piano of elevator music. Rebecca's eyes traveled to the girl's bag and saw a stitched on Chinese name tag.

''Meizhen"

Becca averted her eyes as a phone rung but peripherally watched the girl reached in her bag to retrieve it. Staring had always been one of Rebecca's problem. She would necessarily call it 'staring' or even refer to it as a problem. Rebecca just enjoyed people watching, she usually had to observe someone for a while - the way they walked, talked, or acted - to get an impression. The door opened and they both walked out going their separate ways. Rebecca followed the right hall down to her dance class and the jogger girl went left talking in hushed Mandarin on her phone.

"I'm just got from practice a few minutes ago and I'm heading home now, Baba."Jogger Girl assured.

"Why are coming from practice so late?! You know how we feel about that." A elderly male's voice said.

The girl smiled and shook her head at her worried father. "I've been training for 5 years, Baba, I'm okay. Most 14 year olds don't get this opportunity so I have to train and practice as much as possible."

She had explained this to him many, many times before.

There was a huff at the other end and some silence. "We...we just want the best for you, MeiZhen. And you're right, not many teenagers get these chances but you're Chinese. Not many foreigners make it." MeiZhen frowned at her father's words. Here we go again with the same doubt her father never hesitated to express over his daughter's career choice.

"That won't happen." Insisting didn't change the sullen tone in her parent's voice.

"Your mother and I have decided that..if you don't debut before your 17th birthday, we will be pulling you from S.M Entertainment."

Meizhen gasped and faltered in her steps. "But Ba-"

"No buts, you're missing out so many childhood memories. You are only 14. A kid your age should not be working this hard to be some superstar. What we've said is final. We love you, goodbye." The click at the end closed the conversation and Meizhen slowly put her phone back into her bag and continued to her dorms.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, making her bun come out, but she didn't care.

She was going to debut.

This was all she had.

~~~~~~~

S.M. Entertainment practice room was the place where trainees came to, well, practice. To sweat out their blood and tears, to make sure they debut or get better. Built up in a wide room with blue walls and a full mirror section. Set with shiny wooden floors that people pounded over and over, trying to get the steps right or perfecting.

To trainees around, this room is a place to dance, but to Achara, this was her peace haven. A home far away from home.

A pop song sounded through the walls and vibrated into the teen's spine. She listened to the pounding beat of Justin Timberlake and glanced up at herself in the mirror.

Clad in black tights and a thin purple tank top with a baggy black off shoulder half shirt pulled over it. She wore dark tennis shoes, perfect for helping her move smoothly around the floor.

Getting lost in the swaying and music, Achara closed her eyes, thinking about the beat and not the lyrics.

Achara was from Thailand, born and raised. It was when she was 6 that she realized how much dancing meant to her. And after watching a music video of the legendary kpop soloist, BOA, when she was younger,she knew that she didn't want to make much of her dance career in the land of Thailand. On her 12th birthday, she set out to travel to Seoul, South Korea to audition and train for this entertainment. She's spent 4 years trying to learn Korean language tp prepare fo debut, but you could only do so much while being in a foreign country with no one to help you out.

The beat hit and Achara started to execute the routines from today's training. Her instructor had told her that she need to work on how to be fierce but sharp through her movements. She'd rarely ever get any corrections on her dancing but when she did, Achara took it to heart.

The song ended and a slow song began to play, Achara running through that choreography with much ease.

Before she knew it, she had danced through 5 songs total. Exhausted, the breathless 16 year old fell to the floor and pushed down her socks. Her ankles were a bright red and she was sure they'd be swollen by morning. But at least, she had gotten a few more hours to dance. That's all that mattered.  Looking her watch, Achara realized that she'd been in the practice for approximately 8 hours total today, including trainee time. 
Like every afternoon, she couldn't even breath. If this is what it took to make it in the industry, she was willing and if she has to train harder than anyone else because she was a foreigner, she would.

It was all she'd ever known.

The door opened and the late duty janitor walked in with his mop bucket. "The dance room is closing for today and I'm about to lock up. Go home, its late." He said in a gruff voice. Achara knew the drill. Multiple times out of the week, she would stay late too caught up in dancing and the janitor woul