"Umm... I'm..." I'm really getting flustered here. Why would this guy hit on me?

 

          "Hush, baby, it's Nana, right?" And he knows my name?

 

          "Wait... Then why did you ask?" I manage to croak. 

 

          "I wanted to hear it from your beautiful voice." I gulp. This dude's making me lose it. 

 

          "A...." I don't think I would be able to form legitimate sentences anymore, so I'm really thankful when my salvation comes - in the form of Sooyoung. 

 

          "Jinah!!! Oops... Nana! Hihi~ Ms. Kim says that you are free to go to practice noooowww!" She singsongs, entering the room with her arms swinging. She then sees the weird situation, and she stops. She frowns for a bit, then says, "Hey, aren't you Kris?" 

 

          "Yeah. Gotta problem with that?" His hand which has somehow found its way onto my chin drops to his side. 

 

          "You're the foreigner that broke all those girls hearts! Stay away from Jinah! I'm warning youuuuu!" Sooyoung says as menacingly as she can, while giving Kris the universal I'm-watching-you sign. 

 

          "C'mon, Jinah, let's go." She pulls my hand and leads me out of the classroom, but not before she gives Kris one last glare. 

 

         "I'm warning you, Jinah... Nana... stay away from Kris, okay? He's broken a lot of hearts ever since he got to this school." 

 

          "Really, like who?" I'm genuinely interested, why would such a heartbreaker flirt with someone like me?

 

          "Ah... I've heard that Minyoung, Hyunyoung and Sera have all confessed and were rejected. And... even Nicole. She gave him a letter but he said he doesn't date ugly girls."

 

          My first thought is that Nicole's prettier than I am. Sooyoung looks at me sadly, and we come to a mutual understanding. Whoever hurts our Nicole . I mean, its an unspoken code that friends really are a bit overprotective and defensive when it comes to their closest friends, and as Kibum would put it, we would whoop as*es for each other.

 

          "C'mon, let's go to practice." The monentary distraction we had is cut by the reality that we have training to attend, and we both forget about Kris for a while. As we're heading to the studio in the company van, I let my mind drift. 

 

          If Kris is such a jerk, then I should flat out reject him the next time he tries to get my number or something. I'm getting out of hand here... who says he's even gonna flirt with me again? I might not run into him anymore because I'll be doing my best not to get detention. Ever. Again. I want to spend more time with Joohyun and the band. I actually learn there.

 

          "You okay?" Sooyoung asks, snapping me out of my reverie. "You look like you were thinking of something important."

 

          "Yeah, actually I was thinking that I shouldn't ever land in detention again. I missed band practice and I almost missed training!" I vent my anger and immediately felt better. 

 

          "That's right. You shouldn't ever run into Kris again. Maybe you should go out with Minhyuk or something." Sooyoung says with a dismissive wave of her hand.

 

          "Minhyuk?" Where did that come from? "I only just met the guy! I mean, he's really really nice and also sweet but... what are you talking about?" 

 

          "I dunno, I think you'd look good together." Sooyoung nods her head definitively.

 

          "Um... no. I'm definitely not gonna go out with someone I just met. I don't think he feels that way about me either." Before Sooyoung can contradict me any more, we arrive at the studio. 

 

          As soon as we enter the practice room, Hyojung rushes forward to greet us. "What took you so long? You're wasting our practice time!" It isn't a nice greeting. 

 

          "Sorry, I got in detention for falling asleep in class. C'mon, let's just start practice." I say, hoping that she'll let it go.

 

          "Detention? That is not what an idol should be doing! We should've been practicing our splits and stuff right about now!" Ugghhhh... our 'leader' is adding too much stress to my day. 

 

          "Just shut up for a moment, will you?!" All the pent up annoyance I've been feeling today comes out. "I've been having a really crappy day, okay? So will you just drop it? Let's practice already, so we can get it over with! I mean, that's what you want right? So let's start already!" 

 

          Everything explodes when Hyojung slaps me hard on my cheek. "Don't you dare talk to your leader like that! Ever since day 1, all you've caused are problems!"

 

          "Stop it, Hyorin, Nana!" We both turn to the location of the stern voice (and my cheek protests). Our dance trainer comes up to us, and we both back down. 

 

          "Don't you both know that as a girl group member the most important thing is your GROUP?" She says to us, a scowl planted on her face. "Hyorin, as a leader, you should understand and help your members through their problems, not make them worse. Also, you cannot ever hit a member." I stick my tongue out at Hyojung but our trainer catches me.

 

          "And you, Nana, should know how to respect your leader. Now both of you, Lizzy, off to practice." When the stage names come to play, you know its serious.

 

          I don't want to be the scandalous problem child in our group, and neither does Hyojung, so we all scurry to our places. 

 

          "As you all know, we're planning to debut a 6-member girl group! Today we'll be having a 4th member! She'll be in charge of English communications for now and also her dancing is better than all of yours. Her singing and rapping are also good. " All of us perk up, excited yet nervous to see the new girl. She'll be new competition, yet a new person to work with as a teammate. 

 

          When she entered the room, Sooyoung and I gaped, and Hyojung just looked confused. Nicole?