M I Y O U N G

Ninth grade seemed to blur by; it was already nearing the end of the school year.

Donghae and Seohyun became very close friends of mine and they came over my house almost everyday after school.

One day they came over and the topic of future jobs came up.

Grabbing a snack out of the refrigerator, Donghae ate with his mouth open, his words barely decipherable. 

"What do you plan on being when you grow up, Miyoung?" I blinked a couple of times. You see, I wanted it to be a secret that I was an SM Entertainment trainee.

"Um, what do you plan on doing when you're older?" I asked, trying to change the question around.

He shrugged, grabbing a bag of chips and ripping them open. "I dunno. My parents want me to take over my father's company and become the CEO, yaddayadayadda..." He said, looking bored. 

"Then what do you want to be when you grow up?" 

He his lips that were covered with salt and swallowed. "I don't really know. I just think it'll be one of those spur-of-the-moment kind of things. Maybe something will inspire me later on that will make me want to choose a certain path." 

I widened my eyes. "Wow, Donghae. Who knew you were so deep!" He laughed and pouted. "That's not funny!"

I gave him a wide smile. "You know I'm just kidding," He grumbled quietly. "Well it's not really easy to tell when you're telling the truth and when you're not." 

He looked at Seohyun. "Seohyun, what do you plan to be when you're older?" She looked up from her textbook and smiled. "When I debut I hope to become a famous Korean singer or idol. I think I might be chosen to debut soon." She grinned and looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

Donghae rolled his eyes. "I knew that! But what happens if you don't get chosen? What will you do?"

She put down her pencil and looked at him seriously. "I get asked that question a lot. All I know is that it is my dream to become a singer. If I don't make it but I know I gave it my all, that's fine with me."

I looked at her. "But that still doesn't answer the question." I pointed out. I was kind of interested to see what her answer would be; I've been pondering this question myself lately.

She chuckled. "If I don't make it I can just run my mother's flower shop."

Donghae and I snorted. 

"See? You do have a fall-back career." Donghae chuckled.

They both had to go home after that and I finished my homework and called Seohyun up.

"Hello?"

"Seohyun, can you and your mom come pick me up at my house? My parents aren't home from work yet."

It sounded like she was smiling. "Of course you can! We'll be there in around 15 minutes, arasso?" 

The line went dead and I patiently waited for her to arrive. After driving to the building we entered the practice room and began stretching.

Our instructor told us that we had to practice in front of a one-way mirror (someone on the outside can observe you, but you can't see them). We were puzzled as to why she wanted us to perform there.

Practice went normally and it was Seohyun and my turn to sing while dancing. I thought we did a great job and after the song ended, we gave each other high-fives and wiped the sweat off of our brows.

The door opened and in walked mister Lee Soo Man himself. All of the girls in the room including Seohyun and I bowed 90 degrees and muttered formal greetings.

Lee Soo Man signaled us to be quiet and looked at us intently. "Today I observed you all behind that glass. I've decided who deserves to be in the soon to be debuted group." All of the girls gasped.

"Out of this whole class of 30 students, only 9 will be chosen."

More gasps came.

"I will announce the lucky students... Hopefully you all tried your hardest."

He pointed at a baby-faced teenager, a very slim and tall girl, a short and cute looking girl, the best dancer in our class, a girl with deer-like eyes, the second best dancer in the class, and a girl whose name I think was Jessica. She also spoke English, like me.

He finally pointed to Seohyun, who fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. I sighed. I guess I didn't make it after all...

"...And you." He pointed at me and I gaped at him, my mouth wide open.

"...M-me?" I pointed at myself, looking around. He looked amused. "Yes, you."

"I get to be in the soon to be debuted group?!" 

"...Yes, you do..."

I screamed and ran around the room, giving hugs to the nearest people and shouting loudly. Lee Soo Man chuckled and quietly left the room while the other remaining girls were sobbing loudly. I walked around and consoled them a bit but gave my 'members' a big group hug.

"We're going to be debuting soon! Can you believe it?!" The baby-faced teenager said. She smiled widely at us. "Okay, I think we should all get to know each other. Let's introduce ourselves! I'm Taeyeon!" She grinned. She seemed like a natural leader.

Everyone introduced themselves and I think I learned everyone's names. 

Taeyeon, Yoona, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Soon-kyu "Sunny", Jessica, Seohyun, and myself.

We all gave a big group hug. 

"When are we going to debut?" I asked. Taeyeon shrugged. "I don't really know." Our instructor was cleaning up the place, smiling at us. "In around 4 years."

I gulped. "T-that's... a long time. What if Lee Soo Man changes his mind?"

The instructor smiled at us. "Trust me. He won't."