Chapter 2
Dear Diary,
I have ten minutes until it's time to go into evaluations. I don't know why, but I'm extra nervous this time around. Normally I do feel this anxious, but I can tell that this evaluation is extra special. Group one came out from the room all sobbing. From rumors I heard, it sounds like one of them had actually been cut from the program. I'm not entirely sure how true that is, but if it is than that means we're probably close to the executives finally debuting a group!
Group two has been in for about five minutes now and I can't stop shaking. I brought my bag with me into the waiting room, but I didn't think I would actually need it. But now that we're getting close to the finish line I can tell that we do.
Everyone on my team is a nervous wreck. Xiuying has been frozen in a corner since evaluations began. Sachiko is pacing the hallway and yelling at anyone who looks at her. Mali is getting torn apart by the popular girls, and Miko is meditating next to me. I think she's the only one who's actually ready for this evaulation in our group (besides me, of course).
Something about this moment reminds me of when I first met her.
On my first day at PREP, she was one of my original roommates. Everyone else has been changed out since then, and I don't remember much about any of them. But I remember her meditating on the floor in the middle of the dorm. My manager had looked at her, then at the girls who skillfully avoided her like this was normal. She had turned to me, said "Good luck," then left.
Miko had awoken after that and had given me a tour of the building. Every other sentence was some joke and she told me that if she ever debuted, her stage name would be Miso because Miko was "too ordinary."
We've been best friends ever since.
Now it seems like the last chapter is near. Or the first chapter, depending on how you look at it. If Miko isn't with me as we continue on, I don't know what I'll do.
Two minutes until showtime. I guess I'll see you on the other side.
Wish me luck.
~Rosy
Rosy closed her diary and stuffed it into her back. She looked over at the tiny, black haired Miko and tapped her lightly on the arm. Miko opened one eye and peeked over at Rosy.
"Showtime is in two minutes. I'll go round up the goobers," Rosy told her, then stood up and stretched. Miko nodded and closed her eye again, intent on finishing her meditation.
"Team three, we're on in two!" Rosy called, walking down the hallway to collect each of her roommates. She first went to the corner where Xiuying was frozen in, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pulled her over to stand in front of the door. Then she retrieved Sachiko before she could cause a fight with some older girls and placed her next to Xiuying.
Last was Mali, who was still being berated by the popular girls of team 4, Helena, Heejin and Jieun. Rosy was tempted to leave her to the wolves, but she realized that the executives wouldn't like if they came in with four trainees instead of five. So she squared her shoulders and walked over to the "Plastics" of PREP.
By the time Rosy made her way to Mali, she was already a sniffling mess and the populars had moved on to reapplying their make up. Rosy took one look at Mali's running mascara and realized that she was probably a lost cause. Mali spotted Rosy and ran over to her, nearly tackling her with a hug before Rosy sidestepped.
"Rosy, I can't do it!" Mali cried when she had righted herself. "They're right, I'm terrible at performing! I want to go home!"
Rosy sighed, then walked over to Mali and put her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. Rosy was the oldest of their dorm by only two months, followed by Mali. That put more responsibility on her than she would've liked, but it had grown quickly apparent to her that she was the only one who could do it. Some insults thrown by the older girls weren't enough to get her to ruin her makeup, and she wasn't one to get stopped by stage fright. So she plastered a fake grin on her face for Mali and practiced the leader role she had been rehearsing for years.
"You're here for a reason, Mali. The company saw something in you when they let you train under them," although what it was that the company saw in her wasn't apparent to Rosy. "You know this choreo. You know your parts. All you have to do is smile, perform, then take whatever criticism you're hit with and use it to better yourself. I know you can do it."
Rosy could hear the defeat in her own voice. She knew this girl was beyond saving. However, Mali straightened and grinned.
"You're right, I can do it!"
Rosy handed her a bag of tissues from her pocket. "You have thirty seconds. Try to salvage your makeup, would you?"
Mali gasped and grabbed the package, then whipped a mirror out of her own pocket. She headed over to the door, frantically trying to restore her mascara. Rosy knew it was a losing cause, but she hoped if Mali focused on something other than the older girl's insults she could pull herself together enough for their performance.
As she turned to leave, a voice behind her startled her.
"Why do you continue to hype up those girls? They're not going to make it."
Rosy stopped and turned around to see Helena, the leader of the popular girls. She was tall, talented and the best visual in the entire trainee program. At their latest hair session, the stylist had bleached her hair, which made her resemblance to Regina George shine through even more. Besides her stood Heejin, a mysterious girl with dreamy vocals. Last was Jieun, who had only been training for three months but had already proven herself to be one of the best when it came to talent. She was an amazing all-rounder and everyone knew it. Each girl's beauty was insane, but Rosy also knew that they could be total jerks. She didn't understand why they were suddenly talking to her, and she wasn't sure if she liked the praise or loathed it.
"Well, they're on my team. If they screw up the evaluations, then I'll screw them up as well!"
"I don't understand why the managers have kept you in that team for so long. It's obvious that your entire team will be the first to be disqualified, except for you," Jieun said, looking over at Heejin for support.
Heejin stayed silent, an icy glare pointed at Rosy, who crossed her arms over her chest in what she hoped looked defiant enough.
"For your information, Miko is also really talented," Rosy said.
The corner of Helena's mouth poke up before she forced it back down. "Really? Which one is that again? The one who can't even make her way onstage by herself? The one who can only sing notes in her upper register? Or the one who can't figure out how to apply mascara?"
"None of them. Miko is the one with lots of hidden talents. Have you ever seen her act? She's amazing at it."
"But acting isn't part of K-Pop," Helena said. "She either sings, dances, or looks good."
"Well, technically-" Jieun began, but Helena shot her a glare.
"Hey, she can sing
and dance!"
Helena scoffed. "That's cute. But who are you comparing to, the other members of your dreadful team? That's not much of a comparison, sweetie. Anyone could do better than those clowns."
Rosy felt her face go red and she turned away before she attacked them. They had only thirty more seconds until showtime, and she had to make a good first impression. However, before she could leave, Heejin spoke up.
"I've seen her perform, and if you want my opinion? You girls only work well together. If the managers were to split up your duo, than you would both fail."
With that weighting on her mind, Rosy made her way into the conference room.
