“Who, me?” I stare at the manager, his sudden declaration left me open mouthed.

“Yes you. Although you all may be surprised, don’t pose against it. This was a decision made by the board, it may only be temporary, and it has not yet been confirmed. So you must work for it- okay Bae Jin? Show me why you deserve it.”

He looks at me in a hopeful way as I nodded unsurely before bowing quickly, “Thankyou”.

His eyes then searched the silenced dancing studio, meeting those of my fellow trainees, “Do any of you have any queries concerning this matter?”

“But why did the board choose her?” One of them asks with her head down and arms crossed, her words spiteful but slurred from the never ending chewing of her gum.

“I have decided to test everyone of you, in areas you might not be comfortable with.”

“That doesn’t explain why she gets to be the leader though! We have worked our butts off even more than this chick. Now this just shows that it was not worth the trouble!” Another blurts out, a knot is slowly tied in my throat and my eyes become watery as these comments are being carelessly tossed about.
I lower my head to the ground and look at the rainbow laces on my old and worn out white canvas shoes, hesitatingly allowing tears to fall down to the wooden dance floor.

I hear the manager sigh and get off the wheely chair that he had been sitting on.
“If she can’t handle it then she will withdraw herself from the position, she doesn’t need you girls to help her.”

I peer up at the black haired man who had only just been placed in his thirties. He offers me a smile before turning and heading to the door.
“Have a thirty minute break, make sure to get a lot to drink- you can’t practice dehydrated. You have a lot to learn before becoming the group you are aiming to be.”

The heavy door closes behind his Nike hoodie and the room is once again left in silence, but only for seconds.

“Hae lee, let’s go to the common room, the guys might be there.”

“Yeah… let’s go.” The girl agrees to her friend, giving me a pathetic stare before grabbing her dance bag from the side bench, slinging it onto her shoulder as she exits the studio. The others follow her like zealous disciples.

Once the room return to its natural state of dull, ringing silence, I talk to myself in anguish.

“I guess that means that she doesn’t want me to come,” I kick my foot at the annoyingly shiny floor, not successfully leaving a mark on it, “I don’t blame her, she did try everything to bury me from the board’s eyes.”

“Ugh, why her?” I imitate them.

I pick up my purple jacket off the ground, pulling myself away from the daunting topic. Excavating the content of my pockets, I hope to find a few coins. Lucky enough I found a reasonable amount, enough to get a bottle of water from my only friend, the vending machine. So I venture out the heavy-weighted door of the soundproof studio.

“They make opening it look easy, or am I just too weak?” I smirk at my conclusion.