"Let's start again, at the top!" Helena called, to which everyone in the practice room groaned. Coach Park, their dance instructor, had surprised them with the execs idea for all of them to record a song cover. Which meant they all had a day to learn a new song. The other covers had begun being posted, and it was due to come out after the rest of them.
It had been quite the argument of deciding which song to do for the cover. Heejin, Helena and Jieun had all wanted to do a song from Mean Girls, to which Zara pointed out they only wanted that because they fit the model for the Plastics perfectly. Then Miko had pointed out that they had already done a song from a musical about mean girls.
Rosy had been the one to suggest the idea of choosing a different musical to do a song from. That had started the argument of all the girls fighting over which musical to do, as they all had different tastes. Except Xinyi, who was the only member who was not a theater kid. She had no idea what any of them had been talking about throughout any of this.
Finally, they settled on Hamilton. They figured enough people knew the musical so that it would be a popular cover outside the K-Pop fandom. As for the song, they chose "Non-Stop," which was Rosy and Miko's favorite song from the musical, so they eventually made the other girls relent and go with their choice.
Now Helena was making them rehearse way past their rehearsal time, which none of the girls were happy about. Along with that, she had completely hijacked the choreography job from Rosy and had kicked Zara from the leader position, which had been given to her when she was added from the group. Helena knew this. She just didn't care.
"Nope, it's break time!" Zara said, finally standing up. When Helena tried to protest, Xinyi cut her off.
"We're all tired. None of us are performing at our best anymore. A break is needed. We'll take five, then go back to it."
The younger girls happily ran into the break room as Helena stared down Zara and Xinyi.
"Well, excuse me for trying to help," she huffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"Um, this isn't exactly helping," Zara argued. "We're a mess. Rosy had the choreography, Helena. She was doing a good job before you took over. You have us running all over the place with no real idea in mind."
"Rosy is thirteen! She can't choreograph, she can barely tie her shoes!" Helena hissed.
"Age has nothing to do with it. Skill does," Xinyi pointed out. "Which you lack. You're a rapper, not a dancer. That's what you were chosen to do. You can't take over everything just because you want to."
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I'm not talented?" Helena hissed.
"No, I'm just saying that you're more likely to succeed if you stay where your talents lie. You'reโฆ Okay at dancing. But when it comes to choreography, well, that's on a whole new level. You're just not ready, darling," Zara said, trying to keep her cool. This girl had been driving her insane since she had moved in. She wasn't sure what it was about her, but just looking at her made her angry. She had tried to keep her cool, but she was finally losing it.
Helena didn't bother to respond. She just turned around and sauntered into the break room. Xinyi and Zara both shared an exhasperated look before following.
In the break room, the girls were all discussing costume ideas.
"I have a dress that looks like something they would wear back then," Miko said. "Maybe I'll wear that for the video!"
"Ooh, I know the dress you're talking about, and it would be perfect!" Rosy gasped.
"I don't have anything too fancy or something that looks like it would be from back thenโฆ" Jieun sighed sadly.
"It's okay, you can borrow something from me," Heejin said, then took a sip from her water bottle. Jieun gave her friend a smile.
Zara and Xinyi made the way to where their bottles were stored, ignoring the glare Helena was giving to them.
"You know this group isn't going to work out if we can't get along, right?" Miko asked, making the entire room go silent. She said this while looking at Helena, but then moved her gaze to Xinyi and Zara, making her point clear. Everyone stayed silent, unsure how they liked being called out by the maknae.
"She has a point, Helena-unnie," Jieun said softly, trying to calm her friend. "We have to work together. You can't try to control everyone. It won't work."
"I'm not being controlling!" Helena huffed.
Jieun and Heejin shared a look before mumbling vague arguments. Rosy watched the interaction in silence, keeping her eyes on Zara and Xinyi. Surprisingly, the two didn't look angry or embarassed at being called out. Instead, they looked at Miko and acknowledged what she said with a nod.
"You're right, Miko. We do need to learn how to get along," Zara said, setting down her water bottle before taking a drink from it. "Which is why this won't work anymore. We need to establish some positions here before things get out of hand again."
"Zara is the official leader for a reason. If anyone has any complaints about that, then you can share them now," Xinyi said, her eyes on Helena. Helena huffed but said nothing. Even she knew that no one would listen to her like they did Zara. She had an air of commandment that Helena would never have. Rosy also noted that Zara was a lot more calm and understanding then Helena, and she liked that about her.
"As the leader, I say we leave the choreography to Rosy. If anyone has questions about the dance, she's the one you go to. You guys can help create the choreography, but Rosy will be the one to put it all together. She's the only one with those skills, from what I have seen," Zara said. Rosy looked up at her, bewildered. She liked choreographing, and she knew she was good at it, but this high of an honor from the more experienced Zara? She couldn't believe it.
"That being said, I think we need to have a person for everything, if anyone has any questions. We have our coaches, yes, but they aren't available 24/7. Your group mates are. Helena, you're in charge of rap. But, you can be hard to work with sometimes."
Helena didn't bother to deny this, so Zara continued.
"Jieun will be our stand-in if it's needed. As for vocals, that will be Xinyi's job. Of course, your first person to go to will be the coaches. But if they are unavailable, any of these people should help. Or someone else in the group, but I know those I mentioned are in high positions for a reason."
Everyone nodded, unable to argue with Zara's wisdom.
"Now, let's go nail this choreography. We only have a day left, so we have to make it count!"
With a cheer, the seven girls all raced back into the dance studio for another session full of hard work.
