“Soojung-ah!” Jinri called out. “Yo Jinri wassup” Soojung replied in perfect English. “Hangul Soojungie, or else how will you ever learn?” Jinri told her shaking her head. “Sorry” Soojung apologised. “No problem” Jinri said shaking her head.

The two girls relaxed, tired after their respective dance practices. “So what’s on your training sched next?” Jinri asked. “Korean classes, what about you?” Soojung asked. “Vocal training. Hey! You might meet the new trainee. I wonder what he’s like” Jinri thought out loud. “A guy? I thought it was a girl who won” Soojung said her brow winkling as she frowned. “Won?” Jinri asked. “The new trainee got in by winning the dancing competition, didn’t she? Or he, I guess. Are you sure?” Soojung asked sceptically.  “That’s the word on the street. I don’t know anyone who has classes or training with new trainee so I don’t know what he is like” Jinri told her.

“but hey, he’ll be American. Just like you” Jinri pointed out. “He’ll be Canadian” Soojung told her. “There is a difference.” “Is it really?” Jinri asked. Soojung opened and then closed it. Did the difference really matter now that they were halfway across the world, struggling to ultimately integrate their identity into a culture not fully their own.

“Henry would have met him. Or even Joonmyun” Jinri told her. Soojung nodded unsurely. Joonmyun knew a lot of people but she wasn’t sure Henry would know him. Or her for that matter. But was it more likely him? Soojung looked at her watch. Looks like she was about to find out.

Soojung walked into class. She was just in time. The others gave her looks but it didn’t matter to her anymore. It had started when Sica had debuted in So Nyuh Shi Dae. The looks intensified as SNSD got more popular in South Korea and finally in Japan as well. She was no stranger to the comparisons either. Everyone watched her like a hawk, waiting to see if she would make it big just like Jessica had.

Her eyes automatically travelled towards the end of the class where she usually sat. She found the new kid, sitting in the back as well. There weren’t many people in this class. Many of the foreign trainees were Chinese and they had classes separately. So any new addition was noticed immediately. Also the short cropped hair helped. Soojung immediately stopped, staring because she realized that he was supposed to be a boy but was in fact a girl.

The teacher came in and she hurried to find a seat. She didn’t look the new kid’s way again, mortified because of the misunderstanding.

“It’s a girl” Soojung spoke up. “What?” Jinri asked surprised. “I know right? She looks so tomboy-ish. But she is a girl alright. The new trainee is a girl” Soojung assured her. “Well, I saw her hanging out with Henry earlier. I just assumed she was a guy too” Jinri explained sheepishly. Soojung nodded. Boys and girls trained separately as a company policy. And new trainee didn’t exactly mix in with new idols. Especially controversial ones like Henry or even Zhoumi.

“Do you think she’s Chinese too?” Jinri asked. “I wouldn’t know” Soojung confessed. “Of course not. But take a wild stab at it. Halfie or fully American?” Jinri asked. “Halfie naturally. When have we had a fully American trainee?” Soojung retorted. “Point” Jinri agreed. “She doesn’t look Korean though. Maybe she is Chinese, unless she is Thai” Jinri speculated. “Thai?” Soojung asked surprised. “Yeah. All the SuJu sunbae told me that there are a lot of fans in Thailand” Jinri told her smartly.

“Sunbae huh? You are totally a shoo in for the next girl group” Soojung said enviously. “I don’t think there will be a girl group in a while” Jinri told her. “Why? I thought Jonghyun oppa’s group will debut this year” Soojung remembered. “Nuh uh. They bumped Kyuhyun oppa up remember? He was supposed to debut with Jonghyun oppa’s group but he went out to SuJu instead. Rumour is that Taemin and Jongin will be added and they might debut next year” Jinri told her. “So maybe the year after then” Soojung reasoned. “They might want to concentrate more on BoA or SoShi” Jinri replied. Soojung shrugged. Jessica unnie agreed that SM had concentrated more on them than on Super Junior but Soojung knew better than to tell Jinri that.

“Well we still have time. Did you hear about that BB cream commercial’s audition? Are you going to go?” Jinri asked. Soojung nodded. “Yeah. I called them just yesterday. They asked me to come on Friday” she told Jinri. “You know that means no oily food till then right?” Jinri reminded her. Soojung nodded, groaning mentally. “And while you are at it, stop gorging on Ramen!” Jinri teased. “Hey!” Soojung exclaimed indignantly. Jinri stuck her tongue out at her and Soojung playfully hit her. When she pulled away she thought she caught a glimpse of the new kid pass by. But she shrugged it off, not thinking more into it.

Soojung looked around. There was no one there she knows really well. Jinri had gone for dance training. Feeling awkward, Soojung just plugged in her earphones. She hoped she would look busy and not out of place.

She looked around, wondering if she knew any of the other trainees present. She picked out a few new ones. She also recognised some of her sunbaes (trainees o