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“Na na na na na na na nanana na na na na na NU A B O!”

Krystal finished her short performance and you burst out into applause. “Wow!” you exclaimed. “You’re amazing!”

She smiled bashfully. “You really think so?”

“Of course!” you praised. “The lyrics are so…deep! How did you come up with something like that?”

She shrugged. “Oh, you know. Do you really think I’ll make it?”

“They’d be stupid not to accept you,” you answered. Krystal’s singing audition was that afternoon, and you just knew she would blow them away.

Krystal sighed. “Thanks, Mary Sue,” she said. “You’re the nicest girl I’ve ever met.”

You grinned at her before the two of you decided to start paying attention in class, oblivious to the stares.

“Do you think she’ll do well?”

“Of course she will! She’s the best singer at Mordney High.”

Chanyeol opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the kitten that had clambered up onto his shoulder as it had begun pawing at his face. You grinned at the sight as he chuckled and picked it up into his hands so he could set it down. It immediately latched onto his fingers and started gnawing on them.

Today Chanyeol had the idea of volunteering at the shelter to play with the animals. You looked around at the small room you were in. There were meowing cats everywhere, climbing on posts and napping and playing with each other. Their purrs and cries filled your ears. It seemed kind of sad that they were here instead of in a good home, but you felt all warm and happy being around so many adorable animals. This was a good idea.

This whole dating Chanyeol thing was going extremely well. Every moment you spent with him, you were happy and carefree, and you really liked going out with him. The dates you went on together were always simple and fun. And you certainly liked the fact that you were finally dating someone of your own free will. Things felt…normal. Your life hadn’t been that normal in a while.

You were pulled out of your reverie by Chanyeol, who looked like he had been deep in thought as well as he played with the little kitten.

“Should we get one?”

You didn’t know if you had heard him correctly. “What?”

He looked up and met your eyes with a smile. “I kind of want a kitten,” he said.

Your mouth gaped open. “I mean… do you think we could take care of it?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “Why not?”

“Kittens are a big responsibility,” you fumbled. “I don’t know—“

He laughed. “It was just an idea.” The smile never left his face as he returned his attention to the kitten, which was getting rowdier by the minute as it had now wrapped itself around his hand and was kicking at his arm with both hind legs.

You smiled as well. When you thought about it, you kind of liked the idea of having a kitten with Chanyeol. Not right now though. You didn’t know if you were ready for a kitten yet. But in the future…maybe.

You reached forward and tickled the kitten, causing it to jump up away from its vice grip on Chanyeol’s arm. It mewed disgruntledly at you.

The next morning at school, as you and Jonghyun walked through the halls, you couldn’t help but notice Krystal crying at her locker, Amber and her sister Jessica beside her comforting her. Your super-best-friend instincts kicked in and you immediately rushed to her side to see what was up.

“She was turned down,” Amber explained for you, as Krystal couldn’t speak past her hiccupped sobs. Your mouth fell open. What? Krystal was turned down at the audition? Inconceivable!

“But,” you spluttered. “That’s impossible! Krystal’s the best singer at Mordney High!”

“Well she wasn’t the best singer at the audition,” Amber responded somberly.

“Shh,” Jessica cooed, Krystal’s hair. “It’s okay.”

“There’ll be other auditions,” Amber joined. “You always have another chance.”

“What other chance?!” Krystal cried. “I’m a failure! I should just turn in my application to McDonald’s today!”

“Krystal,” her sister said softly. “It isn’t the end of the world.”

“It’s the end of my world.”

“You’re overreacting.”

“You’re discounting my dreams!”

“You haven’t failed anything!” you cut in. “You just need to practice some more and try again. Don’t let this bring you down!”

Krystal sniffed and looked to you. “That’s easy for you to say, Mary Sue. Have you ever been rejected in your entire life?”

You thought back. You couldn’t think of any…wait, there was…no…

“That’s not important,” you dismissed. “What matters is that you decide whether you’re good enough, not some heartless, mindless industry who doesn’t care about an up-and-coming like you. Let this experience motivate you to be even better than you already are!”

Amber smiled at you. Krystal choked back a few sobs. “You really think so?”

“I know so!” You grinned at her. “You just need to get your mind off of this one and have some fun. Get your confidence back up.”

“How?”

Your smile widened as an idea came to mind. “Let’s all have a karaoke night tonight!” you suggested. “All of us. It’ll be fun!”

Everyone seemed to like that idea.

“Uh-huh,” Sunny started as the music started playing. “Listen boy.” She winked at Sungmin, who smiled back. “My first love story.”

She and Jessica both sang, “Ooh, woah-oh, ooh, woah-oh, yeah,” into their microphones.

“My angel,” Sunny continued the introduction. “And my girls,” she nodded toward you. “My sunshine.”

Then she and Jessica broke out into a cute bubbly song, even doing this cute crab-walking dance that you were sure you would fail miserably at, even if you weren’t wearing heels.

“Wow,” you heard somebody whisper. You looked past Chanyeol to see Baekhyun staring at the two girls singing, completely enamored by their performance.

“Um,” you whispered, leaning toward Chanyeol. “Why is Baekhyun at karaoke night again?”

“He really wanted to come when I mentioned it,” he answered. “I couldn’t say no to him. Besides, he’s my best friend.” He pouted at you, and it was just so darn cute, you didn’t know what to do with yourself, so you just melted.

“Okay,” you squeaked, and he grinned.

Sunny and Jessica finished their song, and they received a very enthusiastic standing ovation from Baekhyun.

“That was amazing! You’re so amazing!” he said, clutching his hair like he just couldn’t contain himself.

“Aw, thanks!” Sunny responded, while Jessica just raised her eyebrows.

“You’re so pretty,” he sighed. He made you think of a puppy.

Sunny patted his head and smiled brightly. “You’re too cute.”

Baekhyun melted at the compliment, and his gaze followed her as she went to sit back down next to Sungmin, who looked less than pleased at the moment.

“What was your name again?” Sungmin suddenly asked.

“Um, it’s Baekhyun,” he answered meekly.

“Why don’t you sing a song next,” Sungmin suggested, gesturing toward the karaoke machine. “Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun suddenly looked a little flustered. “Oh, I don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “I mean, I haven’t really… I’m not much of a singer,” he finally managed to choke out.

“Nonsense,” Sungmin responded. “It’s not like we’re trying to impress anyone, right?”

You and everyone else nodded encouragingly at Baekhyun. “Yeah,” Krystal agreed. “It’s just for fun.”

Baekhyun considered it for a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”

He chose a love song from the list, and when he opened his mouth to sing, he let out a voice that would make angels swoon. (You inwardly congratulated yourself on that poetic description.) Everyone in the room was in awe, staring at Baekhyun with gaping mouths as his smooth voice circled around them. Except for Sungmin, who was just sort of… glaring? He seemed angry, but you had no idea why.

“Wow, Baekhyun, you’re a really good singer,” Sunny cheered when the song was finished.

Sungmin scoffed. “It was alright,” he muttered.

Baekhyun grinned at Sungmin and held the microphone out to him. “Maybe you’d like to go next?” he offered, smirking slightly.

Sungmin accepted the microphone, sauntered up to the karaoke machine and sang the best love song that karaoke machine had to offer. It was titled “Love Song.” Based on just this information, the identity of the song’s artist was ambiguous, but it didn’t matter. As he sang, he performed mostly to Sunny, but every once in a while he’d shoot a pointed look in Baekhyun’s direction. You didn’t really know what that was about. When he finished, he and Baekhyun exchanged identical smug smiles and the mic was passed on to Krystal, who brought you and Amber up to all sing a fun song together.

As you performed, laughing along with the other two girls and those who were happily watching, you were really pleased about the night’s turn out. You decided you should suggest group outings like this more often since everyone was having so much fun together.

Jonghyun watched everybody else having fun at karaoke night, putting on a smile to hide the tension he was actually feeling. He shouldn’t have been feeling this way. It was just that Key was sitting next to him, and normally that isn’t a problem, but since that argument they had, or whatever Jonghyun cared to call it, things had been a little bit tense between them, and well… All he wanted was to hold Key’s hand!

Their hands rested next to each other on the couch, almost touching. Just almost. If he would only move his fingers just a little bit, just touch his hand. He willed it to move, but always when he felt he was just about to finally do it, he lost his courage, and his hand remained where it was, and Key’s where it was, and nothing happened between them.

Suddenly, Key brought his hand up to run it through his hair briefly and then set it back down on the couch. Closer to Jonghyun’s hand. He felt his heart beat a little faster when Key’s fingertips just barely made contact with his hand.

Hold his hand.

Why won’t you do it? Just touch his hand!

Just move your hand, wiggle your fingers, do something! Please!

Key stood up then, accepting the microphone from Amber—Jonghyun hadn’t noticed that they finished their song—and Jonghyun’s heart sank a little bit. He had missed his chance. Feeling a bit dejected, he put his hand in his lap and stared forlornly down at it.

“Hey,” Key said to him, causing Jonghyun to look up. He was met with Key’s smile. “Get up and sing with me.” He took hold of Jonghyun’s hand and pulled him onto his feet.

Jonghyun couldn’t help but smile and feel just a little giddy at the moment. Things were okay right now.

You sighed as you entered your quiet, peaceful house. This was the perfect night out. It was just what everyone needed. Krystal’s confidence had shot through the roof it seemed, and she had earnestly thanked you for everything just before you all parted ways.

You yawned, rubbing your eyes as you shuffled into your bedroom. It wasn’t until you had changed into cozy pajamas and gotten ready for bed that you noticed the envelope on your nightstand. You froze in place and your heart began hammering. You really didn’t want that to be real. Quickly, you rushed to grab it and stuff it into your drawer without reading it, then jumped beneath the covers, wishing all of the messages would stop.

You weren’t sure when you managed to fall asleep that night. You were exhausted by the next morning.

At the lunch table, before everyone had shown up, you were trying to stay awake, munching on a pickle in hopes of gleaning some shred of energy from it. Krystal was the first to rush to the table, joining you and Jonghyun and Amber and Key, excitedly slamming her palms on the surface of it. You all stared at her questioningly, but she just squealed loudly. Apparently she couldn’t even articulate what had caused her to be in such a state.

When she had finally calmed down enough to speak, she broke the news. “I got discovered!”

You all blinked at her, silently urging her to elaborate. She sighed, her smile splitting her face in two, and sat down exasperatedly.

“There was a talent scout at karaoke night last night! He heard us all singing, and he approached me after we were done and offered me a spot in the company he works for!”

Everyone was extremely excited by this news. “That’s great!” you exclaimed.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Mary Sue! Thanks for pushing me to do better.”

“Good thing you had the idea to go out to karaoke,” Amber mused, grinning.

Krystal sighed again. “I guess I’ll be really busy from here on. I won’t have a lot of free time, what with training schedules now.”

Amber smiled and her hair. “Well, we’ll be okay,” she said. “We’ll just have to squeeze in as much as we can in the time that we have.” They both laughed.

You had zoned out for a second there, and now people were laughing. “What?” you asked, perking up to pay attention to the conversation again.

Amber’s head swiveled to you and gaped open as she faltered for a second.

“What?!”