Someone should explain to me why I'm not good enough.
Someone should explain to me why I won't be good enough.
Someone should explain to me why..

Why it still isn't my turn.

It was about midnight when the door to the quiet dormitory opened. In the dark, a young male no older than twenty shucked off his sneakers and tossed them ungracefully into the shoe rack that was littered with battered footwear. Some of these shoes probably belonged in a trash bin, but they were a little sentimental -- after all they were the proof of sweat and tears in a practice room. Hours spent doing not much more than living for a nearly hopeless dream.

Or maybe the empty wallets of trainees just couldn't afford new sneakers. That too.

The blonde sighed irritably and fell onto the mostly empty floor that was pretty much his living room. His other housemates and trainees had already gone to sleep, probably getting as much shut eye as they could before the 6am wake up call for their singing examination. This wasn't something that concerned the frustrated male though it seemed. It was his talent afterall, and he was sure he'd pass with flying colours as long as their judge wasn't that scary noona he pissed off two weeks ago. Even then she couldn't mark him down that badly right? Every move of theirs was recorded.

Picking up a stray bottle of water, Travis stuck the opening between his teeth as he leaned back against the white walls of.. since when did he started to think of this place like prison? When did his dream start feeling like a trap.. ? Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt that he knew, but he didn't want to think on it.

After about five minutes of sitting there with a blank expression, Travis' eyes wandered back over to his discarded shoes. "Six hours dance practice, three singing, and then four hours of language." He mumbled, the empty bottle of water dropping into his lap as he mumbled to himself. The door to the left swung open, and it was lucky his housemate wasn't like him, otherwise he was pretty sure he would've had to sing with a bruised eye later today.

"Oh hey Taekryong."

"Travis."

The older male rolled his eyes, but yawned and started his slow trek to the kitchen. "Go get some sleep. You're not going to even be a potential member of the next group if you look like a panda every morning."

"What next group? They already scrapped this one." Travis sighed a little, slowly getting to his feet and dragging himself into the open door. Shuffling, he turned and fell back first onto his bottom bunk, knowing his other two roomates would be fast asleep, and probably with music in their ears. They were all deep sleepers, which was good for times like this when Travis didn't feel like paying attention to his elder's advice. Instead, he pulled out his phone and flipped through the new articles on allkpop.

All the news about EXO, the celebrity dating scandals, the controversy over MV's.. The screen turned black and Travis covered his eyes with his forearm. Did the world just have to flush him with bad news right now?

Vaguely, he heard the door to their room close, and his elder clamber up to settle above him. Exactly six and a half minutes later, the room filled with snoring, and Travis rolled onto his stomach, staring blankly at the wall. As good as he was at sleeping, it didn't seem like his mind wanted to rest right now. Plus he hadn't even taken off his shirt yet.

His mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts. Thoughts very unlike him, he'd realize later. Thoughts about him deserving better. Thoughts about him not belonging here -- that this dream wasn't what he wanted to do with his life. He'd worked for five years for what? To be hyped up enough so that he'd work until his body cried in pain, and then be shot down while he was already doubled over.

"We've decided to scrap the group. It's image isn't right, and we don't think you're ready for the stage yet. I'm sorry."

"Sorry my ." The blonde buried his face in his pillow, wondering vaguely if he would suffocate if he would fall asleep like this. Then he thought bitterly to himself that he was already suffocating, so it didn't matter, and rolled back onto his back.

Someone should tell me -- when's it my turn.

My turn to debut.

"What's it like on stage?"

Travis' voice resounded through the room, and died quietly with no answer. Only a few of his friends could answer that, and none of them held his title of 'trainee' anymore. Slowly shutting his eyes, Travis murmured quieter.

"It's dazzling. When you first get up, the lights blind you, and you can't see for a minute.. and then everything darkens and you're scared for a moment, until the low murmurs beneath your feet turn into roars of applause."

The blonde turned to his side again.

"When you can see again, everything is bright, and there are flashes of light everywhere. No matter where you try to look, someone is staring right at you. Someone is cheering for you. Someone adores you."

Opening his eyes, he reached for his discarded phone.

"At some point, you realize you're dancing. You're sweating everywhere, and your skin shines like a dolphin's backside. But more than that, your heart glistens with light. Your body fills with music and heat. Your blood fills with adrenaline, and passion. Your voice echoes as far as forever."

A very familiar contact flashes on the screen, and Travis turns back onto his back, holding the vibrating device against his ear. Briefly, his mind went back to his shoes. His tattered, dirty, old, but very well worn shoes. His mind went to the new future that awaited those nasty old practice sneakers.

"Bae Taekryong you better have a good reason for calling me again at 12:30 in the morning."

"It's not about watermelons this time."

"Good. Now you've got about thirty seconds before I put the phone down and go back to sleep."

"Hear me out before you hang up 'kay?"

Travis could feel his lips smirking.

"I got one helluva crazy idea.."

a/n :: Finished the prologue featuring my character Travis~ So this is basically how the project got started and all. One frustrated trainee contacting his friend in the middle of the night after disappointment. I tried to make the ring leader character as vague as possible, so it won't interfere with any of the applications. Tell me what you think of my writing style, and what needs improvement~ I might make more teasers later on, but this'll be it for awhile since I want to wait for more applicants, and it's kinda hard to make a teaser for this kind of story without having chosen applicants first. I'll think of something though~ Anyway, Kae is out! Vacation awaits!

Thank you to all who have applied so far, and I hope to do my best in this story!