“I dream high…” Jessica sang, her voice high and melodic.

Jiyeon glanced over at the SNSD member, who was busy studying her reflection in the mirror. She couldn’t help but find it little narcissistic.

Jonghyun called from the other side of the room, “Stop showing off, Sica! You know Krystal and I are better singers than you, anyway!”

Jessica shot the blonde-haired artiste a glare, but Jonghyun just smirked at her and stuck his tongue out. Then he caught Jiyeon’s eye and winked flirtatiously. Jiyeon barely suppressed a shudder. What a flirt.

Did she really have to work with these people?

They were all meeting for the second time, to practice their first single, Dream High. All of them were waiting for their last member, Im Jae Bum, to join them, who till now had not met the group yet.

Krystal grumbled, “Where the hell is that punk, anyway? Doesn’t he have any respect for his sunbaes? How can he keep us waiting like that?”

“You keep me waiting all the time we’re together, anyway.” Jessica pointed out, but Krystal ignored her older sister’s quip.

Junho looked over from where he was stretching, “Jaebummie’s a really busy rookie. He and JR have got tons of CF and show offers.”

Before anyone could say anything else, the door flew open, and a handsome blonde rushed in, bowing and apologizing profusely, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I’m late, sunbaes! I didn’t mean…the filming was extended…I’m so sorry!”

Jessica and Krystal eyed the newcomer coldly for a moment before turning away and ignoring him, clearly displeased. Junho, on the other hand, bounced over to the younger man, “Hey JB. How’s JR?”

“The kid’s fine. He was just complaining that he hasn’t seen you 2PM beasts in ages.” JB answered with a smile.

Junho laughed and ruffled JB’s hair playfully. Jonghyun pushed off his seat, making his way over to them, and JB immediately bowed low, “Annyeonhaseyo, Jonghyun-sunbae. I’m JB from JJ Project.”

Jonghyun smiled, friendly, “Course I know who you are. And you don’t have to be so formal with me. Unlike a certain stuckup princess I know, I don’t mind juniors speaking to me in banmal.”

Jessica snapped, “Are you insinuating something there?” But Jonghyun just coolly ignored her.

JB smiled at Jonghyun’s words. He glanced around the room at the other occupants; Krystal and Jessica were still ignoring him, talking to each other in voices too quiet to be heard. Then his eyes fell upon Jiyeon and his smile faded slightly. The T-ara member averted her gaze at once, staring at the floor.

The door opened again, and the TVXQ members strode in, with the Presidents right behind them.

“Sit.” Lee Sooman waved to the idols. They took their places before the Presidents; only Krystal and JB, the youngest in the room, sat on the floor.

“We’re here to inform you of your roles in the group. Your debut will be in a month and a half’s time. So you better be well-prepared. I expect nothing short of the best from this group.” Sooman spoke up first, leaning back in his chair.

“Yunho, Changmin, if you two would take over…?” Jin Young indicated to the two TVXQ members to step forward.

Yunho cleared his throat before speaking, “So, all of you have been specially picked to join Invincible. You are amongst the best in the industry, which is why you have been given the privilege to join Invincible. Even though we’ve assigned you roles in accordance to where your talents lie, such as Jonghyun being the main singer and so on, but all of you are still brilliant in both dancing and singing, and we expect exceptional performances from you.”

JB was stiff as he heard these words. He glanced about nervously, but Junho just leaned over and whispered to him, “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine.”

Jonghyun stretched, “Oh, just get on with it, hyung. You know we’re awesome enough to do it anyway. At least, I am.”

Every other person in their rooms rolled their eyes, while Jonghyun just smirked.

Changmin hid a smile at Jonghyun’s words, “All right then, let’s not nag like old grannies anymore. The leader will be…” He paused, looking up at the members. Jonghyun’s body was tense, as was Jessica’s as they both waited in anticipation. The other members, however, leaned back, having no desire nor expectation to be made leader.

“Jessica Jung.”

Jessica gave a smirk of satisfaction, whereas Jonghyun frowned, whining, “You’re kidding! I’m so much better than her, why the hell is she the leader? I’ll do a much better job!”

“Enough.” Lee Sooman interrupted, shutting Jonghyun up at once, “We chose Jessica because she’s not only older, but also more experienced than the rest of you, hence she is also more qualified than the rest of you to be leader.”

Jonghyun looked like he wanted to argue with that, but Sooman’s face was so stern that the SHINee member just settled back into his seat, his expression rebellious.

“Jessica will also be the lead vocalist of the team. As for Jonghyun, as the second most experienced, he will be the vice-leader and the main vocalist of the team.”

Junho snorted, muttering to JB, “Jessica as leader and Jonghyun as vice-leader? That’s a sure recipe for disaster.” JB hid a smile at his words.

“Junho will be the main dancer, lead rapper and lead vocalist, while Jiyeon will hold the position of lead dancer, main rapper and the female visual of the group. Krystal will be the main vocalist of the group, while JB will be the main dancer, main rapper and the male visual. Now, although Krystal is younger than JB is, but she is also much more experienced than JB. Hence, the maknae of the team shall be JB.”

The members of Invincible nodded, none of them having any problems with the arrangements.

Changmin clapped his hands together, “Excellent! Now, have you guys practised the debut song we gave you? Dream High?”

The rest of the members nodded, but JB shifted uncomfortably. Krystal glanced coldly at him and spoke up, “The rest of us have practised, except for this maknae here, who’s been busy at filming, apparently.”

JYP frowned at Krystal’s words, “JB. I thought I gave you the song before to practice on your own?”

JB nodded, “I’ve practised the song on my own, but not with the other members yet.”

JYP nodded, slightly mollified. Sooman, however, frowned, “I hope this won’t continue. We only have a while to your debut, you should get as much practise as a group as possible. If JB were to keep missing the sessions, then-”

“His filming is already ending soon, so there won’t be such cases in the future.” JYP interrupted. He met Sooman’s eyes, challenging, and the tension in the room seemed to increase tenfold. Kim Kwang Soo held out a hand, “Let’s focus on the issue at hand. Since JB’s filming has ended, his schedule won’t be as busy. So he’s free to attend the future meetings. Since we’ve established that, then we should just leave the team to practise on their own now. After all, the team needs as much practise as they can.”

The two other CEOs hesitated, then nodded. The three of them got to their feet, “Changmin, Yunho, we’ll leave you two to go through the choreography with them.”

The two TVXQ members nodded. As the CEOs left the room, Yunho clapped his hands together, “Let’s get started, then!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nearly two hours later, the team finally took a break. Yunho clapped JB on the shoulder, “Nicely done, rookie. You got the choreograph perfect in such a short time. That’s pretty amazing.”

JB blushed at the praise and dipped his head, “Thank you, sunbae.” Yunho smiled. He turned to Junho and Jiyeon, “Not bad, you two. You’ve almost got all the choreography right.”

Junho and Jiyeon smiled widely at Yunho’s words.

“You three go for a break. You’ve done well.” Changmin told them. The three of them strode back to their bags to grab some water. Then Changmin turned to the remaining three of the team.

Jonghyun was slumped on the floor, while Krystal and Jessica were panting hard, leaning against the walls.

Changmin folded his arms, “The three of you have amazing vocals, much better than JB and Jiyeon, and perhaps even Junho have. But that doesn’t mean you guys can just focus on your vocals and allow your dance skills to slip up, you know.”

The three of them didn’t even reply.

“You guys have to do a lot of practise to catch up with your three teammates. They’ve got the choreography memorized and they can already do it perfectly, not to mention they’ve got the feel of the dance and can do it with perfect charisma. Of the three of you, Jonghyun is doing the best, since he’s managed to memorise most of the dance. Krystal, Jessica, you guys have only memorized about three-quarters of the dance. I know you all have busy schedules, but you have to practise a lot for the debut. You can’t afford to screw this up.”

Krystal nodded, chastised. Jessica, too, bowed his head. But Jonghyun glanced rebelliously at the mirror, but he didn’t say anything either.

Changmin glanced at the clock, “All right, we’ve got to go for our next schedule. You guys keep practising with your teammates. If you have any problems, just ask them for help. Make sure you get the dance memorized by the next time we meet.”

With that, the two of them left. Jonghyun muttered something under his breath before saying out loud, “Making us ask some juniors for help…what do they take us for?”

Jessica and Krystal glanced at him but did not respond. After a moment, Krystal said quietly, “It’s true we couldn’t keep up. We just have to do better next time.”

Jonghyun snorted, “So what if we can’t keep up with them in terms of dancing? Our vocals are so much better than them, without our help the team would crash!”

JB, who had been about to open the door, froze as he heard those words. He half-turned to glance at Junho, whose face was equally stony.

Jessica sighed, “We’re a team, we shouldn’t be talking about them like that. Besides, their vocals aren’t that bad. Just not as good as ours. Just like how our dancing skills aren’t that bad, just that we’re not as good as them.”

Jonghyun opened his mouth to retort, but Jessica interrupted, “Enough. Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

The door was thrown open, and Junho, JB and Jiyeon strode in. Junho’s expression was cold as he stared at the three SM artistes, while Jiyeon and JB just looked uncomfortable. Jessica and Krystal, too, shifted uncomfortably, while Jonghyun also looked slightly unnerved when he realised that they had heard what he had said.

JB murmured to Junho, “He’s just feeling upset, let’s not make a big deal about this.”

Junho gave a curt nod. Jessica hesitated for a moment before clearing his throat, “All right, guys, let’s get started.”

And they began to practise again.  

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I'm sorry for the late update guys! I've been really busy with my exams and block tests, and didn't get a chance to upload...I'll be uploading my other stories soon, so look forward to it!

So, we're into the first chapter only and the problems start appearing. As you can see, a distinct line is being drawn between the SM artistes and the other three already, and tensions are rising.

Jonghyun might seem a little like an , but it's because he's actually very confident and self-assured. In his own team, he may not be that bad a dancer, but he's not the worst, and he's not been told off by his seniors like this. It's an especial blow to his pride that he's considered 'worse' than Junho, Jiyeon and JB - they're all his juniors, and JB is just a rookie, not to mention he's like a stranger to them. Jonghyun can actually be quite nice, but it's only after he's really gotten to know the people in question. He also has a rivalry with Jessica, but that will come into play in later chapters.

Jessica and Krystal are also quite stuckup, since they've received nothing but praise in their own companies. Krystal is the focus of her group, while Jessica is also quite a big deal in SNSD; hence, neither of them have been scolded in such a manner by their seniors. Like Jonghyun, they're offended that their seniors think they can't do as well as the other three rookies. However, they aren't as pissed off about it as Jonghyun is. Krystal is less pissed off because she's actually the more reasonable of the three, and she can actually see from the TVXQ members' perspectives and understand their criticisms. But she still feels upset. She's also kind of mean to Jiyeon and JB, because she considers them her juniors, and expects a certain level of respect from them. She treats all the other members quite well, except for these two juniors. That's the way she is, selfish and a little demanding, in the sense that she doesn't show much respect for others, but expects respect from others, but also quite understanding and nice once people get to know her.

Jessica is almost as level-headed as her sister. She may not completely agree with the TVXQ members' praises, but she knows that, as leader, she's supposed to keep the team together, and she's doing her best at that. She is also slightly mean to JB and Jiyeon, because she doesn't know them well, since they debuted much later than her, and because they are her juniors, and like Krystal, she expects a certain level of deference from them.

Junho is a nice guy sort of person- he throws out witty remarks and is quite funny. But, like the three above, he has a very strong sense of pride, and so he's actually the most upset by the SM artistes words. He's also very supportive of his juniors; you can just see it from the way he treats JB. 

JB and Jiyeon, as the youngest and least experienced, are also the most nervous amongst the seniors. They don't dare to offend their seniors, but they can't be expected to just take everything lying down, can they? There is also a certain something between them...but that'll come into play later ^^ 

So, please wait for the next chapter! And remember, subscribe and comment!