"Okay, let's try again," Aimee said and sang another note. "Laaa~"

"Laaah."

"No, this was way to low. The C is higher than that. It's like this," Aimee commented and hit the note perfectly again.

"Laaah," Sori tried moodily as she was visibly tired from all that practice. She didn't think that her singing could get any better, they were training in the small practice room for almost an hour already but she hadn't improved at all and started hurting already. Perhaps it was better to call it a day and leave now but somehow Aimee seemed determined to help her and she herself was feeling unwell about her voice, too. Someday she couldn't avoid singing in front of the public and she didn't want to be known as the girl who sang worse than Goo Hara.

"You can't sing properly when you are leaning against the door. Why don't you stand straight? Maybe you'll hit the note better like that. And stop with that face, I know you are annoyed but could you at least look happy that I'm here to give you advice?"

Sori rolled her eyes but complied. She cleared , closed her eyes in concentration and -

"Laaah."

"This was way to high. Unnie, if you are not even trying, I can't help you either," Aimee nagged, now slightly angered. Training was taking up a lot of her time and she had better things to do than assisting someone who looked not a bit thankful for her advices. She turned to leave but Sori caught the sleeve of her sweatshirt and stopped her.

"It's not like I'm not trying, I'm just tone-deaf," she said, trying to defend her annoying behavior for the past hour. Aimee knew that this was the closest to an apology that she would ever get from her moody friend so she just sighed and proceeded to help her.

"Out of these two notes, which is the higher one?" she asked and sang two random notes.

"The first one, of course," said Sori and scrunched her nose.

"See? You can't be tone deaf if you can figure this much out. You just have to listen more closely. Why don't you practice with one of the Main or Lead Vocalists or Seulyong-unnie instead? They could probably help you better at that, I'm just the Lead Dancer and my voice is probably the third  or fourth worst out of this group."

"Seulyong is meeting some friends today and I can't ask the others for help. They are practically strangers."

Aimee facepalmed herself. This was another bad trait of her's - she was too stubborn to ask for help. Aimee was an exception, of course, and Seulyong too, since they were already close before they were put into the group but with everybody else Sori remained her usual mocking, rude self who couldn't admit her weaknesses.

"But Sumin and Hyehyun are pretty nice and Yuntue also seems like she'd be friendly enough to help you."

"Well, you get along with anybody, of course they would be nice to you. Whenever I'm trying to be friendly they look at me as if I were a Zombie. And if I'm just being myself and state my true opinion they just give me these looks, as if I just said something offensive."

"Honestly, you DO look a little fake whenever you get all nice and friendly, it's kind of obvious that you're not that nice and generous. And your usual self is maybe a bit too uncaring and egocentric" - Sori gave her a glare and Aimee hastily continued- "Finding a  middle way would be good for you, you know, being blunt and all that but a bit more open about yourself and amiable."

Aimee shifted uncomfortably, Sori seemed obviously upset about the things she said. But Aimee didn't regret telling her this, after all she couldn't just sugar-coat this issue since it would affect their team work greatly. But Sori was offended and Aimee didn't want to argue with her any further and threaten their friendship.

"By the way, I heard your profile got uploaded today, how was the response?"

"Mixed. Most of the netizen think that SM Entertainment is pulling a prank on them and don't believe that I put any effort in singing. They kind of expect me to sing better at the actual performances."

Aimee realized that Sori was more concerned about her voice than she actually showed. She sounded hurt, almost bitter, speaking these words and even though her expression remained the same there was clear anxiety in her words. Debuting so soon probably took a toll on her. Aimee knew of Sori's competive nature and critism would have a greater effect on her friend, since Sori hated disappointing others' expectations.

"Don't be to harsh on yourself, even though your singing isn't the best you are still an outstanding rapper," she tried to brighten her mood.

"Bara is better."

The words were muttered, so quietly that Aimee could barely hear them. But she did and her teeth immediately bit on her under lip when she realized the actual meaning.

It seemed like they had a long way until their teamwork and group dynamics would be as good as she wished.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Okay, so this is Sori...

I changed her rapping twin from LE to Evol's Jucy, since I finally found out who actually made that rap cover of I don't care. I stumbled upon it on Youtube but the uploader herself didn't knew who rapped that and assumed it was jut some random Korean highschooler. In the end I found out that it was Jucy and I was really impressed, it seems like Stardom Entertainment has a thing for former rappers.

And half of the time I spend on the chapter I was actually just browsing images of Park Soojoo OTL

When it comes to books I love antagonists and characters that are kind of two-faced and are spiteful (Loki or Snape, anyone?). So I created Sori with the intention of making her rude and envious of the characters that are better than herself to spice things up.