Seoul Performing Arts Academy, hallway

"Could you move," Jiyeon elbowed past the students in her way, clearly pissed off. The underclassmen didn't have to be reminded twice; they parted like she was holding a knife.

And she might as well have been.

After stumbling upon Hyuna and Hyunseung-teacher planning out some provocative dance, she was informed that it was the very dance for Troublemaker, Kikwang and Eunji's subunit.

Would she just sit back? No!

"Excuse me," in her path was the class's maknae, Lee Hayi. She impatiently pushed her aside, making the girl stumble into her friend next to her.

"Excuse you." Ugh. The girl she despised most right now snapped in her face. "What makes you think you can push around people like this?"

"Because you're nothing, now get out," Jiyeon hissed, brushing past the unbudging girl.

Once she made her way outside of the building, she searched up a number on her phone that she hadn't called for a long time.

The call connected.

"Hello?"

"Hello uncle, it's Jiyeon. Remember that favor you owed us?"
 

Seoul Performing Arts Academy, cafeteria

"Are you okay?" Suzy helped Hayi picked up the lunch tray that had clattered to the floor, getting the attention of the kids at tables nearby.

"I'm fine, sorry you had to yell at her, Eunji unnie," Hayi apologized with a big frown.

"You're my friend, I would've yelled at anyone," the unnie grinned, helping the maknae get food to cheer her up. "Besides, she was getting on my nerves anyway."

"She was always on your nerves, wasn't she?" Suzy asked, "You two always looked...well, weird."

"Tense?" Hayi offered.

"Wow, you sure are observant," even Eunji didn't notice the mood - she just disliked Jiyeon.

Hayi switched up the subject suddenly, "Unnie, you need a  boyfriend."

"No she doesn't," Suzy's face tightened at the mention of a boyfriend. Eunji and Hayi looked at her curiously but she was suddenly in her own world. Everyone in the senior class knew how crushed she'd been when Ilhoon didn't tell her anything about his becoming a trainee but god knows how their relationship was. Suzy and Ilhoon were the unofficial it couple of the school.

"Where's Daehyun? Isn't he gonna sit with us today?" the maknae wondered.

"I...haven't talked to him in a while," Eunji admitted. It was true, ever since that sudden confession weeks ago she hadn't seen him much, and if she did, her instinct was to turn the other way and hope he didn't see her.

After his confession, she felt...aware. Aware of Jung Daehyun, all the time. Her senses were programmed to tune in every time he was within a mile radius of her. She couldn't talk to him yet; needed time to figure out what exactly was going on.

He was too busy getting ready for debut and was in the practice room until late now, so she luckily she never ran into him at the company or apartment building. She only saw him at school, but she spent all her time mentoring students in the recording studio.

Suzy excused herself to go sit with Jiyoung and Nicole, leaving Hayi and Eunji to sit by themselves.

"Did something happen between you and him?" Hayi asked worriedly.

She glanced around the cafeteria, and spotted the boy in question with his trainee members. At least he was making friends, unlike before, but...

Had the quiet boy in the back of the room changed too, like everyone else? Was everyone around her changing one by one?

Eunji looked back to the curious younger girl with a shake of her head, "No."
 

A clatter sounded near him, and he looked away from his precious seaweed soup for a moment to find the source of the sound.

There was Eunji, shouting at someone for Hayi, and like the unnie she was tried to cheer the young girl. It was a normal case of the Busan ahjumma being herself. Nothing had changed.

Why did I have to like her? He thought as he leaned back in his chair. If she was a weak, timid girl I could've maybe saved her from falling into a puddle on a rainy day or something like that and we would've fallen in love, but no, she always insisted on doing things herself and doing it alone. 

He wondered if she even appreciated his attempt to comfort her the other week. 

While busily preparing for B.A.P's debut, which was tomorrow, he didn't have time to talk to her. But the goal of his confession wasn't to get a response from her. It was to distract her from Kikwang's kiss, and if he occupied her mind with the fact that he liked her, maybe she could forget about the other guy like she wanted to. Man, how smart was he?

He patted his own back.

"You're weirder than me," Myungsoo who was clicking through pictures in his camera at the noisy lunch table chuckled. "Why do you randomly pat yourself on the back?"

Daehyun was reminded of Haeundae beach.

"You're a loser, you know that?" she had said.

"Might as well think out loud!" Woohyun grinned, using his chopstick as a microphone and holding it to his friend's mouth. "Well? What are your thoughts on our soon to be debut?"

"Nervewracking," he nodded truthfully.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our debut is nervewracking!" Woohyun announced to the table, getting a kick from Myungsoo. Daehyun took the opportunity to swipe his unguarded food.

"Ilhoon, something wrong?" Woohyun put his outstretched arms down at the sight of the sulky rapper.

"Park CEO said I have to improve," he sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I don't know how I can do that by tonight. There's a live performance tomorrow."

"Park CEO is one unpredictable guy," Myungsoo agreed, finally setting his camera down to socialize and eat.

As the conversation turned to the CEO, Daehyun's eyes drifted away from their table again and towards one farther away, where 3A's maknae was raising her brows in question, and Eunji's eyes swept the cafeteria...meeting his eyes briefly.
 

Later that night, Sound Entertainment conference room

With all the soon-to-debut trainees in the same place, there was sure to be an announcement.

"You think someone might be delayed?" Kikwang whispered to his partner, who inched away from him a little.

"Let's see," she replied briefly. The boy scoffed and sat back.

Eunji had been like that since the other week. Well sure, he was lucky to have gotten off without a punch or a slap, but it wasn't normal for her to say nothing at all to him about it, especially since she'd been so mad.

Also recently she'd been messing up the choreography and spacing out, and getting downright distracted. Was it because of the kiss? Nah, if it was, she already would've shouted at him, knowing her.

That meant she probably didn't care. What did that mean then? She really didn't like him anymore? What about the composing project; he'd read the lines over and over trying to decipher it. He was sure she liked him. And since he liked her too, it was a win-win if they got together. When they debuted, he bet their popularity would skyrocket. 

I mean, who could pass up a story like this? Childhood friends, partners, and lovers? Not to mention he was the only son of the Lee family! The media would go crazy!

"Let's get down to business," the CEO came in with a heavy sigh, not a good sign at all.

"What am I here for?" Even IU was present, though she wasn't supposed to debut again with all of Aura for another month.

"Hyorin, Ailee, your promotions will end next week. Troublemaker will be up next," the man looked to the co-ed subunit with a nod. "Now, onto why I called you all. We haven't decided leaders yet, have we? There are a few member changes."

All the trainees in the room held their breath. Surely Hyorin, Ailee, and IU wouldn't be switched out because the public loved them. That left Kikwang, Eunji, Daehyun, Woohyun, Myungsoo, Hoya, and Ilhoon.

Three very familiar faces entered the room.

The first came in with a small nod to everyone. The second greeted in a low bass-like voice, stunning the hoobaes in his presence. The third sneered at the trainees, but it changed into a poisonously sweet smile as soon as CEO Park and the staff were looking.

Choi Junhong. Bang Yongguk. Park Jiyeon.

"Jiyeon will be Aura's visual as discussed," a staff read off her clipboard.

Hyorin, Ailee, and Eunji shared confused looks - they were all thinking the same thing. Was there really no other purpose of putting Jiyeon into the group?

"Hyorin, you're the leader of Aura," the CEO nodded and moved on. "Yes, B.A.P was meant to debut as Bang Yongguk's group. It was a surprise, so we couldn't risk releasing it to the media yet. But B.A.P is a six-member group unfortunately. I'm sorry."

After a tense silence, he sighed, "...Ilhoon, you're out."
 

MBC Music Champion! recording, backstage

"And here we have rookie of the rookies, B.A.P! Who just performed their debut stage," the MC for today's Music Champion! led the cameras behind the black walls of the stage background and into the waiting room, the only part of backstage shown to fans and the most decorated. Compared to the rest of the MBC stage invisible to the fans, the waiting room was a paradise.

"Introduce yourselves please~" she held out her mic, with bold pink glittery lettering spelling out T-I-F-F-A-N-Y.

"I'm Yongguk," B.A.P's low-voiced leader smiled into the camera. The hoobaes took note.

"Hoya," their sub-rapper nodded.

"I'm Woohyun, in charge of aegyo," the vocalist raised two fingers in a peace sign and wiggled them at the camera in a cute manner. 

"I'm the visual, L," Myungsoo smiled just a little. He'd chosen his stage concept last night - the mysterious city namja.

It was Daehyun's turn. He smiled as charmingly as he could, as instructed. "Jung Daehyun, in charge of vocals."

"And I'm the maknae Zelo," the youngest finished.

"Now, there are quite a few unique names in B.A.P..." as MC Tiffany went on about Myungsoo and Junhong's stage names, Daehyun's eyes drifted past the camera a little, his attention caught by a group of people that had entered the backstage area.

"Please give B.A.P lots of love, everybody!" The camera light flashed and then switched off, and the MC sighed and moved away after thanking the producers.

"Let's go, we're done with recording," Woohyun placed an arm on Daehyun and Zelo's shoulders, wheeling them towards the exit, where Sanghyun hyung was waving.

"Wait, why are they here?" Daehyun looked back at the four following Hyorin and Ailee.

"CEO Park probably asked them to go be seen," Woohyun shrugged. "It's exposure. They'll be debuting soon anyway."

"Did they see us?"

"Probably not. Now come on, we're late!"
 

"Kikwang-ah..." the girl with heavily-lined eyes pouted as she leaned on his arm. "Why did we get called here too? I haven't even debuted?"

"For support," he shrugged. With Eunji next to him pretending not to notice, having Jiyeon around was uncomfortable.

"Ew, this place is so dirty," Aura's visual member cringed as she kicked a broken mic piece out of her path with her polished boot. "I've never seen past the Music Champion waiting room, and I wish I hadn't."

Eunji sighed internally. Another reason why folks like Jiyeon and Kikwang must not know the location and state of her apartment.

Speaking of the apartment, she spotted her neighbor and s introducing themselves for the first time. He looked in her direction while Myungsoo was being interviewed and again after the MC finished.

"Did he see me..." Kikwang heard his partner mumble, and followed her line of sight to one particular B.A.P member.

He didn't see me, she exhaled. He's leaving.

Though she tried to think about other things - like practicing for Troublemaker's debut, which was soon now that Femme Fatale's promotions were coming to an end - Daehyun's confession was pushing everything out of her mind! How downright frustrating was that?

The boy next to her was aware of her expression as she watched the brown-haired boy exit the backstage area with s, most likely to the next music show recording.

Jung Eunji wouldn't be distracted because of him, he looked at her out the corner of his eye as he nodded at whatever Jiyeon was going on about. I'm the only guy she ever thought so much about. Since when did this all change? What exactly did Jung Daehyun do? She's so distracted she set a new record of missed dance steps during practice this week.

Had he not caught and seen her face when B.A.P was mentioned, he wouldn't have a clue. But whenever an announcement came on calling the boy group trainees to practice, she would listen attentively. Whenever B.A.P stopped by to watch them practice, she'd tense up and step all over his feet. And whenever Jung Daehyun was in the vicinity, she would find a way to bolt right outta there.

Jung Daehyun needed to get out of the picture. 
 

Seoul Performing Arts Academy, Room 3A

The classroom door swung open and shut with a loud slam. The teachers all looked the same today - unhappy, unsatisfied, and upset. Jonghoon-teacher quietly passed out the individual test scores as Hyori-teacher waited for reactions with pressed lips.

A frown formed on Eunji's lips slowly. An 82%? That would surely lose some points and possibly a ranking spot. That is, if IU did well.

"Unnie, you don't look happy..." Hayi peered at the older girl's face trying to read her expression. She held out her own mediocre report card, whispering, "You did better than me!"

"These test scores have been the most disappointing thing  ever. Where are your minds at? We've all," the vocal professor gestured at the row of homeroom teachers, "taught you everything you needed to know this whole year, and reviewed it last week too. How does this happen?"

"What was 3B's average score?" Doojoon called from the back.

"62.8%," Hyori-teacher replied. The room was dead silent, until she revealed what they all wanted to know. "Your average is 61.4%. I don't know if some of you have been slacking, or we should job lock you all again..."

"Not the job lock!" Yoseob cried, leaping out of his seat. "Hyori-teacher, I need my job!"

"School comes first," she shot back. "So. Tell me what's going on."

"Maybe you should ask the trainees," Suzy muttered, crossing her arms. "Would the job lock even apply to them? They won't care if the rest of us get job locked."

Suddenly 3A's attention was on Eunji, Jiyeon, Kikwang, and Daehyun, the only trainees in the room. No one actually turned around and looked, but the side-glances didn't go unnoticed by the four of them. Since the practice hours at Sound Entertainment got longer and they spent less time with the class, the relationship between the trainees and the rest of the class was a bit broken. It had happened before with IU but on a lesser scale.

"Yeah," Jiyoung agreed, "aren't they in charge of the classes' grades?"

"A small drop from them is big enough to wipe us out," another student stood.

"Job lock them too if you're gonna job lock us!"

"Are they more important than us now? Is that how it is?"

"You're just jealous you were rejected," Jiyeon snapped in reply, startling the class into silence.

"Stop fighting," Hyuna-teacher spoke up from her place behind Hyori. "The trainees signed into what they signed into. They're responsible students. As for the rest of you..."

"That's not fair! You're just being harsh on us!" Suzy's grip on her score paper tightened. Several of her friends exchanged glances with eachother; this had something to do with Ilhoon, they were sure. "Why do they get special treatment?"

Hyuna's eyes met every single student's. "Who agrees with Suzy?"

The majority of the class raised their hands, some shooting up like rockets, some slowly after thinking it over.

"Fine," Hyuna shook her head, "since Headmaster Ma'll declare an emergency once she gets here anyways. You four trainees, follow me."

In a state of confusion and upset, Jiyeon, Kikwang, Daehyun, and Eunji grabbed their belongings and exited, in front of the classmates who didn't meet their eyes.
 

Meanwhile across the hall in room 3B, the students were in an identical situation.

"Have we been too lenient on you all?" Jong Kook paced around the quiet classroom, slapping his ruler on every desk, board, and flat surface in his path. "Or have you just not been following rules and doing your work, huh?!"

Everyone winced with every echoing smack of the ruler, even the homeroom teachers behind him. Ji Hyo stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding at him to just go back.

"Class, have you all been distracted lately?"

Jessica snorted in her back-row seat next to the bookshelf, "Ask the trainees."

Ji Hyo focused her gaze on the trainees in her class. It was true their grades fell a lot, but it wasn't only them.

"They didn't practice for the finals!" a kid exclaimed.

"They were always out and never came back for the class choreography practice!"

"They didn't help us at all!"

"This is why 3A always catches up to us!"

Hyorin, Ailee, IU, Junhong, Woohyun, and Myungsoo looked around as their classmates accused them of slacking.

As Jong Kook was about to bring the ruler down on the front desk, the door slid open with a resounding slam into the wall, and in came Hyuna-teacher of 3A.

"Trainees? Calling all trainees?" The dance teacher placed her hands on her hips, her sharp glare searching the class. "Follow me."

"What's going on?" Jaejoong asked, "Why are you here?"

"Collecting trainees," Hyuna said, to the curiosity of the others. When the group of trainees left, both classrooms erupted in buzz.

"What's happening, Hyori-teacher?" Hayi raised her hand.

"Because Headmaster Ma's coming back, we're going into the emergency education plan," Hyori shook her head after a moment of discussion with the co-teachers. "This means you'll all be split up by skill and job locked until your grades rise."

"No job?!" Yoseob wailed. "I was saving for Big Bang's tour!"

"I bet the trainees will still have their jobs though."

"Yeah, it's all unfair!"

"Being a trainee isn't a job, dimwit! The idols are the ones with the jobs!"

"What's the goddarn difference?!"

"You all should know. This school was built on funds from the public. Once someone gets a hold of your horrible scores, we're done for. Our reputation will tarnish, all of us," Lee Joon piped up. "So please bear with us."

"Bear with us? You're right," Hyori slapped her clipboard on the front desk. "Neither class did well. You all failed."

So we've got our final lineup for B.A.P and Aura! Did you guess right? How'd Jiyeon get in so easily? And what do you think will happen with class 3? I started this story planning on telling the class's story as a whole but ended up focusing on a select few more than I planned to ;; should I keep it that way?

more updates as soon I get can get on because i've been staying after school lately - end of the year = finals. And it's snowing here again! In May! D:

Thank you so much for commenting and subscribing!!