Eight: Florence - Periwinkle's Maturity
 

Wednesday July 3rd 2013 -- Jellyfish Entertainment Dance Studio
Seoul, South Korea
 

Eleven girls and four Jellyfish Entertainment staff members crowded themselves into the small dance studio that evening. The atmosphere was tense, full of anxiety and worries and the girls, one by one, stood in the middle of the studio to perform and recieve one last judgement before the official roster for the new girl group.

The week before everyone had been all sunshine and smiles towards one another, but in the last few days friendships were put on the backburner as the girls all focused on practicing. Day and night, there wasn't a single practice room that wasn't occupied by at least one of them; most notoriously, Chaebin hadn't gone home or to school in two days since she kept herself holed up somewhere in the company building to work on her dancing.

Although some of the girls had gotten reviews that weren't as good as they had wanted, they at least hoped that the president would be moved by their hard work and determination and not eliminate them.

Florence Baek watched carefully as Taeksoo danced to Lee Hyori's "U Go Girl" in front of the staff members. She didn't have to look, but she knew that Taeksoo's boyfriend, Hakyeon, was probably watching through the small glass window in the door. Hakyeon was always watching over her unnie when he was available and she found it pretty adorable.

"This isn't your best, Taeksoon," said Saeyeon when the girl was finished, instantly crushing the girls' spirit and further destroying the tense atmosphere in the room. "It was really good, but not your best. You played it very safe and I completely understand why. This isn't the time to take risks and make mistakes. So for what it's worth, you did a lovely job but I was expecting a little bit more out of you."

Taeksoo simply nodded, but kept her head down a bit as she took her seat back on the couch wiggling herself inbetween Chaebin and Jiwon. Chaebin instantly wrapped an arm around her and Jiwon offered her a small smile.

"Remember girls, this is your final evaluation," said Saejun, his voice neutral but his face stern. "This is your last chance to impress us so don't waste it. Florence, you're up."

Florence bit her lip but quickly scrambled to get up and take center 'stage' in front of the small pannel of judges. She bowed politely. Although there wasn't much of a need to have two years of training, she introduced herself out of habit. "Annyeonghaseyo, Florence Baek imnida. Today I'll be singing I'm Sorry by the Wonder Girls."

"Take it away," said Saejun. One of the staff members hit the play button and the room filled with the mellow, soulful song.

After taking a deep breath, Florence began singing. She tried to concentrate on everything she had learned in the last two years - breath control, diction, inntonation, pronunciation (because her Australian accent was constantly trying to sneak its way into her Korean). All of her hard work poured into the last three minutes and thirty seconds she had to impress the staff.

When the song was over, she left out a sigh of relief, happy to be done. But her moment of relaxation ended when she heard Saejun clear his throat.

"What... did you think?" Florence asked, nervously.

"That was very wonderful, Florence," said Saeyeon. "We could tell that you put a lot of effort into the song."

"You are the youngest trainee in this group, as well as the whole company," Saejun added. "And yet... day in and day out, I'm astounded by this high level of maturity you always display. Every time we evaluate you, you don't take what we say to heart, you just take and improve yourself. And I saw a lot of improvement today. You did a great job."

Florence was absolutely beaming from the positive comments.

"Thank you very much!" She said, failing to keep her composure.

She went to reclaim her seat on the floor, receiving pats on the back and light shoulder squeezes from the other girl. She felt happy and secure in her position in the group.

Author's Note

My laptop kept shutting down on me while I tried typing this (my battery legit dies after like 10 minutes off the charger. Grrrrrrrr... good thing it's almost Black Friday so I can get a new one!), so this is actually like the 4th incarnation of this. ㅜ_ㅜ Anyway! Congrats to Po [iwannahyh] and Blue's lovely maknae, Florence Baek! c: