“Ch-cheongmalyo (really/truthfully)?” I said biting my lip.

Taehyung gave me a thumbs up and nodded enthusiastically.

Hoseok suddenly laughed, “If you sang with Jimin you would have reversed roles!”

“Ya!” Jimin said, hitting him in the arm, “That’s not very nice… How could you say I sound like a girl?” Jimin pouted.

Hoseok quickly looked over at me, checking my reaction, so I laughed; I didn’t want him to feel bad. But to be truthful, it kind of hurt. I felt out of place with a group of girls who all had cute, girly voices. I tried not to think about it.

“You should sing together,” Krystal said, seeming to think it was a compliment, “You would both sound really good together.

“Maybe some other time,” I said and smiled fakely; not that anyone could tell.

“Uh, yeah,” Jimin agreed awkwardly, “we should probably head out anyhow.”

I was glad for the suggestion. I had a good time, but I was suddenly feeling tired and we had school the next morning. Everyone else seemed to agree, so we all got up to leave. As we exited the room, I happened to see a flyer on the wall.

Could you be the next big K-Pop group? It read. I skimmed it, but didn’t have time to read it all. Instead, I pulled out my phone and took a quick snapshot.

“Coming?” Hyosung said, waiting for me at the back of the pack.

“Yep!” I answered.

“The only announcement I have for you today, class,” Ms. Jun said the next morning, “Is that Mr. Shin will no longer be working at our school.”

I saw a lot of puzzled faces in the room. When people started to whisper, I tensed up. A finger tapped my shoulder and I turned around to look at Jimin. He just smiled playfully and Taehyung leaned over and mouthed “fighting!” with a big smile. I couldn’t help but smile back at them.

I turned back around, surprisingly feeling much better.

“Why is he leaving?” someone finally decided to ask.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that,” she said. She smiled at me so subtly, I was sure no one else in the room even noticed. “Your new teacher will be Lee Joon. I expect you all to be kind to Mr. Lee, as he is stepping in during the middle of the school year.”

“Ne,” the class said in unison.

I was just so happy I would never have to see Mr. Shin again.

“Don’t you think our new P.E. teacher is hot?” Krystal said dreamily as she stretched.

Jungkook was next to us and he started laughing.

Krystal slowly turned her head his direction and glared at him. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing,” he said, but then he chuckled again.

This time, Krystal kicked his shoe, almost making him fall over. “What?!” she yelled at him.

“Please continue stretching,” Mr. Lee said.

“Ne, seonsaengnim (teacher),” Krystal said cutely and obediently went back to touching her toes.

“Great, now you made me get in trouble,” Krystal hissed at Jungkook.

“Sorry,” he said and laughed, “but you sounded like a 13 year old girl with her first crush.” He started laughing harder.

“Ya!” she said, shouting at him.

“You and you,” Mr. Lee said pointing at Krystal and Jungkook, “three laps around the gym. Now!”

“Ne,” Krystal said with a sigh. She shoved Jongkuk in an annoyance as they both started running.

“They deserve each other,” Elly whispered and laughed.

I laughed under my breath as we continued stretching. After we finished, Mr. Lee told us we were going to play a special game he had learned.

“It’s called Tennis Baseball!” He said, looking as excited as a 10 year old boy.

“I love Tennis Baseball!” I said, smiling at Krystal and Elly.

“What is it?” Elly asked.

“It’s just what it sounds like,” I said, “It’s baseball, but instead of a bat and ball, you use a tennis ball and a racket.”

“Sounds fun,” Elly said nodding.

I chuckled. “The reason main reason I like it is because it’s so much easier to hit the ball.”

Mr. Lee put us on teams and somehow all three of us girls got put on the same team.

“How is that fair for their team?” Jungkook said to Mr. Lee.

Mr. Lee just raised his eyebrows.

“Oh we’ll show you!” Krystal yelled back, “Don’t underestimate us!”

The three of us girls joined our team in the batting hut and waited our turn for us to be up.

“So I wanted to tell you something,” Krystal said carefully, “I hope you won’t be upset. I feel a bit bad about it.”

“What is it Krystal?” I said, looking at her with a concerned frown.

“I accidentally mentioned what happened between you and Mr. Shin to Hyosung. I realized that you hadn’t told her and I felt bad that I had said anything.”

“Oh it’s alright,” I said and smiled, “Really. I just didn’t have a chance to talk to her about it… it’s hard to repeat over and over.” I looked at my hands in my lap and then looked at her again. “Actually I should thank you. Now I don’t have to explain the whole thing myself.”

“Few,” Krystal said, wiping her brow, “I’m glad you aren’t upset. You really are an awesome friend!” She leaned over and hugged me tightly for a second.

I laughed. “Thanks. You are too!”

“Krystal, you’re up!” Hoseok said from the front of the line. He was on our team again as well.

Krystal stood up with a determined stare. “Time to kick that little brat’s !”

Later, sitting in one of my classes, I smiled when I thought about our P.E. class. Because Jungkook had made Krystal so mad, she determinedly helped us win the game, 10 home runs to 8. She was definitely a person who upped her game when she got angry.

“That’s it for today class,” the history teacher said, “we have a little bit of time left, so please continue studying for the test at the end of the week.”

Once the teacher left the podium, Hyosung turned around. “Hey,” she said, “I heard about what happened with Mr. Shin. I’m so sorry… why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” I said, “it’s just kind of hard to talk about…”

Hyosung nodded, “I understand. I’m always here if you need to talk though.”

“Thanks, Hyosung.” The bell finally rang and I grabbed my things. I was excited to get to dance practice today. I had some good news to give them. As soon as I stepped out of the classroom door, and arm suddenly wrapped around my shoulders. I looked up and saw that is was Jin. “Jin… what are you doing here?”

“I have class right next door,” he said, “so I thought I’d walk with you.” He flashed a smile that probably would have made half of the girls at school swoon, but for some reason it didn’t affect me.

“Okay,” I said, “but take your arm off me.”

“Aila!” Hyosung suddenly shouted down the hall.

I shook Jin’s arm off me. “Yeah?” I said walking over to her, “What is it?”

“I just wanted to know if you will be home late again,” she said and smiled.

“Yeah I will. Go on ahead,” I said and smiled.

“Okay, see you later!” She waved cutely and walked away.

Jin waved me over, “Come on, Aila!”

“I’m coming,” I said and walked back to his side.

As we headed to the classroom, Hoseok also ran into us. “Hey,” he said, “I’m coming too.”

“I have something big I want to share with everyone,” I said, smiling excitedly.

“What is is?” Jin asked.

“Uh-uh,” I said shaking my head, “I’m not saying it until I say it to everyone.”

Hoseok gave me and adorably pouty aegyo face and blinked quickly.

I laughed. “Sorry, it’s still a no.”

“Fine then, I’ll race you there!” Hoseok said, taking off down the hallway. Jin quickly ran after him as well.

“Wait!” I said laughing. I started running after them, glad that I had tennis shoes on. They raced through the door a few seconds before me.

“You caught up fast,” Hoseok teased.

“Well I was always one of the fastest runners in my class,” I said.

“Aila has something to tell us about!” Jin said as the three of us walked in. I smiled inwardly when they all turned to look at me expectantly. I felt like they had all adopted me. I was now an unofficial member of the Unsuited Seven.

“What is is?” Jimin said, looking at me with begging puppy eyes.

“Here,” I said and laughed. I pulled a paper out of my bag and handed it to him. “When we were at the karaoke place the other day, I happened to see this flyer.”

Jimin instantly looked at it, but before he even had a chance to read it, Jin towered over him and snached it out of his hands. “Ya!” Jimin said, “Just because I’m short doesn’t mean you get to do that!”

“It’s for a K-pop group?” Jin said, scanning the paper.

I nodded. “Yeah. I looked up more information, and a representative from one of the  big three companies is going to give the winner a contract with their company. But until the day of the contest, no one knows which company it will be.”

They all took their turns looking at the paper, but no one said anything.

“What is it?” I said, looking at their doubtful faces.

“We’d have to have access to a recording studio,” Hoseok said, “We’d also only have two months to write an original song, record it, and choreograph a dance for the performance.”

“But isn’t this your dream?” I said, “Even if it’s difficult, you should work your hardest towards your goals.”

“Aila is right!” Jimin said excitedly, “this might be our chance!”

All of the guys looked at each other. “I’m in,” Taehyung said, “What have we got to lose?”

“Ne!” the others agreed. I was surprised that even Yoonggi and Namjoon seemed to like the idea.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help,” I said.

Hoseok frowned. “You weren’t planning on joining us?”

I shook my head and smiled. “This is your dream, not mine.”

“What is your dream?” he asked.

“Moreugessoyo (I don’t know),” I said, “my dream used to be coming here to Korea, but I guess I need to find a new one now.”

“You will,” Jimin said. He pointed to everyone, “we’ll all help you.”

“What kind of image should we have?” Taehyung said, holding his chin and checking his appearance in the mirror.

“Princes?” Jin said, standing straight.

“That’s princess for you,” Taehyung teased and shoved him playfully.

“How about aliens from a different planet?” Taehyung joked, staring out into space with a blank look.

“Too overdone,” Hoseok said.

“How about rebellious school boys?” I said, “That’s what everyone at school thinks you are. Why not play off of it?”

Jimin grabbed my shoulders excitedly. “Genius!” he said, lifting his hands to the ceiling and looking up. I chuckled at how dramatic he was. “Then you’ll be in charge of looks,” he said to me and smiled.

“I will try my best,” I said.

“What about the rest?” Jungkook asked, “who should work on what?”

“Yoonggi, Namjoon, and Hoseok definitely should do the composing part,” Jin said, “they have the most experience.”

“Agreed,” Jimin said.

“And Jimin and Hoseok can work together on dancing,” Jungkook added.

“And Aila,” Jimin added.

Everyone looked at me again. “Jimin, no. Really, I have no experience with dancing.”

“But you are still good at it!” he said, “you could help us come with some ideas.”

“I guess I will try,” I said feeling nervous.

Taehyun was suddenly next to me, poking my arm. “I want to see these dance skills he keeps talking about.”

“Najunge (later),” I said.

“Yagsoghae (promise)?” he said, poking me again.

“I promise,” I said and nodded.

“The rest of us can help out wherever we can,” Jin said, continuing the discussion.

Jimin smiled excitedly. “Looks like we have a plan.”

The next morning, as I got ready for school, I realized I was really looking forward to our dance club meeting, now dedicated to the competition. We had made all the plans the night before, so next we had to start working on our performance.

“How’s school going?” Yongguk asked. Usually we just rode the bus, but for some reason he had insisted on taking us to school that morning. “Are you getting settled, Aila?”

“Ne,” I said and smiled, “I’ve already made a lot of friends, including Hyosung that is.” I looked over at her and smiled.

“I’m glad you are getting along,” he said, “my sister can be a bit spoiled.”

“Ya!” Hyosung said cutely, “Oppa is so mean!”

I just chuckled.

“Well here we are!” Yongguk said as we pulled up to the school. We both got out and walked over to his driver’s window. “When do both of you have some free time?” he asked.

Hyosung and I looked at each other. “This weekend maybe?” I said.

“Good. Reserve a day for me,” he said with a smile, “you two are just so popular that I have to make a date to even spend time with you!” Both of us laughed. “I’ll see you tonight. Have a good day!”

“Bye!” we both said and waved as he drove away. Once he was gone, we made our way to our classroom.

As Hyosung slid open the door, I could hear a lot of commotion in the classroom. I wonder what’s going on, I thought with a furrowed brow. But when I stepped inside I could see.

Someone, or a group of “someones” had written all over the chalkboard and all over the table top of my desk. A pile of shredded, crinkled paper sat on it, apparently what was left of my textbooks, and when I looked up and the chalkboard, I realized it was covered in obscenities about me. Right in the middle, in huge letters it read: Go back to America you !