The four girls stood in a line with their heads down in shame. It was dead silent and all that could be heard is the sound of the trainee manager pacing back and fourth as the dance instructor stood leaning against the wall mirror with his arms crossed. “I don’t care how angry you are at each other and how many arguments you get into. But hitting will not be tolerated,” the trainee manager started as she glared at each girl everytime she walked past them.

Daeun raised her head and pointed at Seungmi who was on the other end of the line, “It was Seungmi’s fault!”

Seungmi quickly looked at Daeun with a frown, “No it wasn’t!”

“I don’t care whose fault it was! You never have the right to hit another trainee, you keep your hands to yourself Daeun. As punishm-“

The door clicked open and Taeah came in bowing awkwardly, “hi, sorry I’m late I overslept.” She quickly joined the line next to Daeun and the trainee manager sighed.

“As punishment, you’ll clean all the bathrooms on this floor.”

“But it’s dirty~” Daeun whined and stomped her feet a little like the child she is.

“Well maybe you’ll think about that before you lay your hands on someone else... Have a good rehearsal,” the trainee manager smiled sweetly then left the room. Taeah looked around in confusion as she went to put her bag down once the dance instructor told them to show him what they’ve been working on. She wasn’t sure what just happened but all she knows is she knows the dance like the back of her hand after rehearsing all night.

As the group of girls danced, it was obvious that they needed more teamwork. Taeah was dancing right on beat and powerfully while Erika, Seungmi and Yoonji danced in sync with each other but more sloppily than Taeah and they made minor mistakes, as for Daeun she wasn’t even trying at all and even purposefully bumped Seungmi while they were switching spots. This left the dance instructor speechless and let’s just say the feedback wasn’t the best, except for Taeah who got praised but was told to stay after to help Daeun since she was late.

Once everyone left, Taeah was left with Daeun who was in one of her moods. “So should we start?” Taeah asked the other who was frantically looking in her bag. “I can’t find it-.“

“Find what?”

My scarf!”

Taeah looked around before seeing the girls scarf wrapped around her ponytail, “it’s right th-“

“Did you take it? Its limited edition Gucci, do you know how hard that is to get?”

Taeah rolled her eyes then put in her headphones, since she already knew the dance, she might as well practice her song for the monthly evaluation while Daeun has a fit. She hasn’t been paired yet so she assumed that she would be singing alone, which was completely fine with her. As she started singing Daeun got more aggravated.

“Yah, I asked you a question. Have. You. Seen. My. Scarf!”

Taeah furrowed her eyebrows and started singing louder trying to drown out the girls voice. But the louder she got, the louder Daeun screamed until both of them were having a yelling match.

“Yah!” Both girls immediately got quiet and looked at the door to see the trainee manager standing there frowning.

“Are you crazy? I can hear you all the way down the hall. Both of you go clean the bathrooms now! And do it quietly!... please,” she smiled sweetly as she said the last word before leaving the room then Daeun scoffed. “And Seungmi called me a jerk.”

A few minutes later the two girls were cleaning the bathroom with yellow rubber gloves. Taeah was mopping the floor and Daeun was wiping down the doors of each stall which contained a few writings. “E hearts S? What is this, highschool?” She rolled her eyes before spraying the writings and scrubbing them off with all her might. Taeah didn’t even respond, she didn’t mind staying back to help Daeun dance but this was just too much.

“Maybe if you just gave me my scarf back we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Daeun mumbled loud enough for Taeah to hear. Taeah threw her mop on the floor out of frustrstion and stomped to Daeun who was in the stall then turned her around and pulled off the scarf which was holding up her ponytail. “Here.”

Daeun turned back around and looked at the scarf in Taeah’s hand, “you found it!”

“Maybe if you asked nicely before I would’ve told you,” she gave her the scarf before picking up the mop and continuing her job of cleaning the floor. Daeun smiled and waddled over to backhug Taeah making her groan in annoyance at the skinship. “Thank you unnie!” Daeun said cutely then gave the girl a friendly peck on the cheek, “I think this is the beginning of a great friendship.” Taeah quickly wiped her cheek, “can you get off me?”

“Oh, its nice to see you girls are getting along now,” the trainee manager said as she stood in the doorway. Daeun quickly let go of Taeah and they both stood side by side bowing slightly at her.

“I just came to inform you that you two will be paired up for the monthly evaluation.”

“What?”

“Yay!”

The two girls said at the same time with two completely different reactions.

“Yup, this is going to be interesting.”