---

Beep. Beep. Beep.


I groan and reach over to shut off the alarm clock that's sitting on the silver-painted bed stool.
So...it's morning huh? My first day with EXO....
Yesterday I realized that they weren't as bad as I thought they were. Maybe a little too cute and fluffy for my taste, but not bad.
They showed me my room, helped me unpack my stuff, asked me all sorts of questions about my life and myself. I talked to them about my parents, my sister, my school and what I study. They were really suprised to find out that I was a dancer, especially Kai and Sehun. Being the dancers they are, they decided to have a dance battle right then and there.
I accepted the challenge. I didn't win of course, because, 1. I was against proffesionals, and 2. They decided to dance to Overdose, since I told them I learned the choreography a couple weeks ago and practiced it for the past month. But, I mean come on...just because I learned it doesn't mean I'm an expert. It is THEIR SONG, after all. THEY practiced it and learned it first, THEY performed it and THEY have been dancing it non-stop all these months...not me.
So naturally, Kai danced his part MUCH better than me. But I wasn't bad. I just wasn't PERFECT. I did pretty good...Kai said so himself.

---

I looked around the room and realized how beautiful it really was.
The walls were a beautiful white, with pretty black stripes going up and down them.
They were filled with silver classical frames that had EXO posters, photoshoot photos and some even had some AMAZING fan art. Those were my favorite.
The right wall was covered with beautiful wooden selves, that were painted, yep you guessed it...silver. They were stacked with books upon books. Some fantasy books, some science, some romance, but mostly music and art ones.
Near the doorway was something really special though. There hanged a beautiful glass display that held all of EXO's albums ever made. But they weren't just any albums. They were the very FIRST COPIES of their albums. The albums that the band got to design and look over before deciding to publish more copies and making those ones the Official Album Copies. That's pretty cool...but because EXO hasn't really released a lot of albums, it's kind of empty. They only released like what, 3..or 4, albums...? I don't remember.
I get up from the big double size bed, with the black lace duvet and the soft matress, and walk over to the display to conferm how many albums there are.
1,2...2...only 2?? Why did I think they had more? That's right, my sis...wait, she spend over $500, ON 2 ALBUMS!!?? DID SHE BUY THE ONES MADE OUT OF GOLD OR SOMETHING?! No..there must be more..
I look down and feel utter relief when I see there's repackaged versions and about 4 extra albums and photobooks and stuff..thank god, she spent it on more than 2 albums. She spent it on repacked ver. and photobooks of...the same exact albums....
Way to go sis...
I sigh as I think of how crazy enough that girl is to spent her money on the exact same thing , just repackaged..
As I release a second sigh, the door suddenly swings open and hits me on my back. It drags me all the way to the wall and squishes me face onto it.
"Hello...? Red??" a familiar but worried voice whispers.
It's Kris.
We became good friends since last night and I suspect he feels responsible for me now. He is one of the leaders after all...right? That's what sis told me anyway. She also told me that he was cold...I need to stop listening to her.
Why is he whispering? Can't he see I'm flailing my hand behind the door? Oh wait...I didn't switch on the lights when I got out of bed. The room is still pitch black.
Can I possibly be THAT stupid? Yes. I can. He probably still thinks I'm in bed, fast asleep, and he's scared he might wake me up...
"Kris..." I silently whisper. He doesn't react. He didn't hear me. He's still holding the door handle though, and he's kind of crushing me against the wall with the door.
Why is this boy always crushing me?
Ok, time for new tactic. Scream his name. It might scare the hell out the poor guy, but because I'm afraid he might squeeze part of my life out of me again, there's no other way.
Here goes. I hope he at least falls backwards and not on the door. Then we'll have 2 dead bodies...ugh...
I take as deep a breath I can, which isn't easy because my stomache AND lungs are being sandwhiched in between a door and a wall, and shout.
"KRIS!!!"
My scream is immediately mixed in with another scream. Kris's.
He's fallen backwards from his fear ( thank god ) onto the hallway floor, his face covered with nothing but fear.
But when I come out from behind the door, his face relaxes.
"Oh it's you...why did you hide behind the door? Did you wanna scare me THAT badly?" he asks in Engish, a smile forming on his lips, his lungs slowly breathing normally again.
Ever since he found out I can speak English, whenever we aren't around the others,that's the only language we speak to each other. I really feel proud that I've managed to turn the 'cold' guy of the group, into the kindest member around. He's like my big brother. And we've only known each other for a day. Awesome. When I tell sis, she's either gonna love me, or hate my guts.
I help Kris up from the floor. He dusts of his clothes, and then looks at me like he just realized something.
" Wait...why are you awake? Do you know what time it is? It' s like, 5 in the morning!" He exclaims.
5 in the morning? Really?
"Kris, I get to school at 4 in the morning and stay there working until 12 at midnight sometimes...sometimes even later.." I tell him matter-of-factly. " 5 o'clock is nothing to me."
"Really?" he looks amused. "Well then, your schedule isn't much different from ours. We've been up since 3. So...since you're awake, wanna come and have something to eat?" he asks kindly with a smile.
"Sure." I say with an equally friendly smile.
I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I think I would like to continue being friends with Kris, even after this competition is over...I don't wanna lose contact with him.

---

When we walk to the living room/kitchen, I find all the members doing different things all around the place.
Suho and Kyungsoo are showing Lay and Tao how to cook pancakes (right now), while Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Chen are devouring whatever they cook up, even if it's bad. Luhan and Xiumin are watching anime and Sehun and Kai are dancing to Growl in the middle of the living room.
"Do you guys ever stop dancing? I mean,I swear this is exactly what you were doing yesterday. Do you ever sit down?" I ask a little impressed and annoyed at the same time.
"WHAT?? DID YOU SAY SOMETHING??" Kai screams over the music.
I motion for him to turn down the music. He runs to the laptop and pauses the music.
Sehun who had no idea what was going on because he was so focused on dancing, fell flat on his butt when the music stopped. We all started laughing, but I went and helped him get up, while giving an apologetical look.
Kai comes to my side, panting and asks what I said. ...what did I say again? I forgot...Oh yeah...
"I was asking if you guys ever stop dancing." I say while chuckling.
"Oh...yes we do actually..when we're eating. I mean you can't dance and eat at the same time right? It's dangerous." He answers cheekily, a grin creeping onto his lips.
"We could...if we were eating like chicken legs, or something you can hold in your hands and eat." Sehun adds, with a serious face, despite the stupidity of what he just said.
I just start laughing and pat them both on their heads and then let them return to what they were doing. Those guys though...
Kris leads me to were Kyungsoo is busy scolding Tao for burning the omelet he just flipped. Tao looks generally dissapointed, his normally laughing eyes curving downwards...as well as the corners of his mouth. Poor guy.
"Tao!! You burned it!! Now who's gonna eat it?!" Kyungsoo exclaims his eyes as big as an owl's. Normally that should be cute, but when paired with an angry expression, it's just scary. I feel sorry for Tao.
"Kyungsoo! You really think anything we made was actually good? The only reason why these guys ate the food is because they'd eat anything...especially HIM!!!" Lay points at the 3 members that are busy chomping away on the kitchen table and then lets his finger stop at Chanyeol.
"Well...that might be true..but we haven't served anything burned yet! Nobody would eat something burned! Throw it away and make a new one.." Kyungsoo said dissapointedly.
"I'll eat it." I say plainly while grabbing a seat next to Baekhyun on the table.
"Really? I don't think you should..you're our guest, you deserve something better th-" Kyungsoo starts to argue but I cut him off.
"Pfft!!! Kyungsoo, I might be a guest, but I ain't no prince. Plus, I've had worser stuff than burned omelet. Big deal. It's just black on the outside. Taste is still the same." I say with a soft look on my face. "You can't just throw it away. Tao worked really hard to make it and he will be devastated if you throw it away. So bring it here." I say while gesturing for Kyungsoo to bring the plate over.
He relactantly does as he's told. Meanwhile, Tao can't stop smiling and looking at me with thankful eyes.
I look at the plate in front of me.
This is supposed to be burned? It's not even black. It's just a little red on the outside and kind of black on the edges, but that'ss about it. I don't know about Kyungsoo, but at my house we call that 'extra crunchy'...NOT BURNED. He's such a perfectionist.
"You're kidding right?" I look at Kyungsoo with a look that says just that. I turn to Tao. "Tao, baby, don't listen to him!! It's perfect!!!" I say with a huge grin filled with dimples while holding two thumbs up in the air at the blushing boy.
"BABY???!" Everyone (except Sehun and Kai of course) suddenly exclaim suprised.
"Yeah...so?" I ask confused. Putting my arms down slowly.
"Why did you call him 'baby'?" Chanyeol asks confused.
"Because I was trying to make him feel better...is that wrong?" I ask, kind of scared now.
"In Ameican culture, it's ok to call someone 'baby'. It's a thing that everybody says,to their friends,coworkers,sometimes parents...it's normal and just for fun." Kris speaks up.
"Oh..." Everyone sighs.
"Ok then...I got kind of worried for a second..." Chen half-whispers as he continues eating his bibimbap.
"Why?" I ask, calm again.
"Because I was scared you were gonna steal him...from me..." he says seductive/cheekily.
"...just shut up and eat your rice..." I say coldly, after I realise what he's talking about.
He chuckles and does as told. I start eating my own omelet and am amazed at how GOOD it tastes. I shove some more in my mouth and then turn and give Tao a happy face with a wink and a nod.
He turns pink again and smiles shyly while giving me a thankful nod. I give him one more wink and then go back to eating the delicious omelet.

---

It's 4 o'clock now. We're sitting around and watching T.V., when suddenly Kris switches it off and announces,
"Ok, guys! Get up and get dressed, let's go. It's time for...well, showtime."
They all groan when realising they have to get up from there comfortable positions on the floor (and on each other) and now have to get dressed and run around the place.
I was sleeping on Lay's shoulder and had my legs in Sehun's lap when I was awoken by the sudden movements around.
"? What?" I ask sleepily and then yawn.
"Oh, sorry for waking you up, but we've gotta go now, we're gonna perform at M! Countdown tonight...you can go to your room and continue sleeping..." Lay says sweetly and apologetically.
"No, it's ok, and yeah I think that's a good idea...oh, good luck.." I remember to mention, while getting up and start walking to my room.
As I'm about to turn the doorknob, I hear Kris say ending a phone call.
"..mhm..yes. I'll tell him right away." Tell what, and to who, right away? Not me...right? Oh no, what did I do? Is it because I called Tao 'baby'? I start panicking. He can't have been talking about me...no..
My fears are confermed when Kris runs up to me and says,
"Hey. I just got a call from our manager. He says you have to come with us as well, they're gonna need you later for an interview with us." he states.
WHAT!!? What does he mean by interview..? Me? Interview? On national T.V.? ...crap.
"...why?" Is all I manage to weakly ask, as I feel myself start trembling all over the place.
"Because you're the fan who won this huge competition, hello? Are you forgeting that? Listen...I know you're scared...but unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it...CEO's and Competition's orders. Plus, the world wants to see who won this once in a lifetime chance...Don't worry..do you want me to tell them to sit you next to me..?" Kris asks sympathetically, trying to calm me down.
"....well..that would make things better..." I whimper, my heart pounding in my throat.
"Ok. Well we'll be waiting for you. Wear something nice, ok??" Kris gives me one last sympathetic look and then walks off to get dressed and ready himself.
Ok...calm down...calm down...clothes..clothes...go find something nice to wear. If you're gonna have to do this, you have to do it right.
Determined and kind of confident again, I march off to my room and try to find something to wear.
I look through my closets, suitcases, briefcases...
T-shirts, shorts,jeans,jumpers,jackets...no, I CAN'T GO OUT THERE WITH A T-SHIRT AND SOME JEANS....THE WHOLE GODDAMN COUNTRY IS GONNA WATCH ME!!!
Suit...I need a suit...
I run out of my room and try to find a suit....wait what? What the hell am I saying? Find a suit? How the hell am I going do that? What, is it gonna drop from the sky or something? I can't think straight..I think I'm having a panic attack...is this what sis fells like everytime she watches a K-pop video? Must be.
I just realized that I'm standing in the middle of the living room with a face like an idiot, and every single member that sits down starts wondering what I'm pretending to be, what I'm testing or what I'm dying from.
Then in walks Luhan. I take one look at him, and WHAM! The idea hits my in the face.
Borrow a suit from him. Yeah. That could work. We're roughly the same built and height. His suits will probably fit me.
I snap out of my daze and walk up to him. I must have walked a little harshly and like a crazy man, because the poor guy jumped a little when he saw me coming.
"Luhan?" I ask sweetly.
"Yes...?" he asks worriedly and kinda scared.
"Can I ...please...borrow one of your suits?" I ask carefully.
He's probably gonna say no. I wouldn't let some weirdo borrow my clothes.
But to my suprise, he nods and says,
"Sure! Follow me." with a bright smile.
So I do, thanking him all the way there. He justs smiles and opens the door to his room.
His room is painted a beautiful Dark Red color, kind of like my hair...I like it.
He walks over to a door that lies at the end of the room and opens it up. Inside is a long hallway that's lined with clothes along each side. Cool.
There's suits and shirts and hoodies and shoes, accessories, ties, jewelery...anyhthing to do with clothes and the latest in fashion as well.
"Pick whichever you like. You can get as many accessories as you want too. Enjoy." He grins before exiting the wardrobe an leaving me alone in Clothes Land.
Ok...lets find something...
I look around for a couple of minutes looking through grey ,green , shiny , long, short and rainbow suits...until my eye catches something.
I dig my hands into the suits hanging on the railings and pull one from the very back.
It's a beautiful bright-red leather suit. It looks brand new and hardly worn. The leather coat and suit pants shine beautifully under the wardrobe lights. This is the one.
I quickly look around for accessories that would match. I find a perfect pair of strawberry earrings and ring,along with some pretty black leather shoes that have big cloth strawberries on the front. That boy has good style, I'll give him that.
"Red!!? Did you find something yet? Or do you want me to help you find something?!" Luhan calls from the corridor.
"No, thank you, but I found something!!! I'll just put it on, give me a minute!!" I shout back.
"We don't have time for that!!! Just pack it up, you can get dressed at the studio!!! We're running a little late, come on!!!" He calls back sounding a bit worried.
"Ok!! Coming!!" I call back. I frantically grab a bag from the wardrobe and carefully fold the suit and lay it in. But then, I remember...I didn't put a shirt. I can't go on stage with just a coat! I quickly grab a black shirt from the drawer, throw it in the bag and run out the room, before they decide to leave without me.

---

When we got inside the building, I was overwhelmed by all the bright lights and screaming. And I didn't even go to where the audience is yet. I'm in the make-up and backstage room and I can hear them as if they're right in front of me.
While we were in the van, the manager gave me a script of the questions they were going to ask me at the interview. He told me to look them over and think about how I'm going to answer.
That's when I remembered to be nervous, and I didn't forget the whole ride.
And when I saw all the crazy fans and reporters, outside AND inside the building, my stomache decided to start drilling holes, to make way for roaches and butterflies and maybe dogs to enter and mess it all up. And by the time we managed to get to the backstage room, I was about ready and determined to die...this is gonna be some fun night, huh?
The staff told me to sit on the couch in front of the T.V. and watch the show, and that when it was my turn to go they'd call me and tell me.
The boys said their goodbyes and said they have to go get their make-up and hair done. But the only one who stayed, was Kris.
He run up to me, gave me a hug and told me everything was gonna be alright and that he talked to the director,and he agreed to change the seating so that I could sit next to him. Thank god.
Before he actually got up to leave, he pushed something into my right palm and winked, afterwards getting up and running to find the others.
I looked at my palm.
He gave me a pain killer.
Thanks Kris.

---

After watching, Super Junior, BIGBANG, Girl's Generation and BTS perform, a staff girl came up and told me it was time to get ready.
Get ready for what?? To die? Cause that's what it feels like.
She lead me to a white room where a lot of idols were getting their make-up and hair done, all of them sitting in hairdresser chairs and siiting in front of huge mirrors, some of them checking out their clothes, others their faces.
I looked around and tried to see if the guys were there, but EXO was nowhere...well, duh, they were here like, what , 2 hours ago? They're probably preparing to go on stage now.
The girl tells me to sit on a chair and wait until the make-up artist and hairdresser come. And with a smile she leaves. Alone again...abandoned...just like yesterday...
I wait for about 10-15 minutes and then I see a woman with pink hair and a man with dark blue hair walk up to me.
"Are you the lucky fan??" The woman asks excitedly.
"Y-Yes, maam." I answer shyly. She's very pretty.
"Oh! I didn't expect that! I thought you where part of a rookie group or something! Did they ever tell you that you're as handsome as an idol?!" she says quite suprised as well as overjoyed.
Did she really mistake me for an idol...really?
"Anyways, lets get your make-up done sweetey! I'm Pink by the way." She holds out her hand.
I take it and shake it while saying with a smile, "Red. It's great to meet you."
"Red? Oh, we're sure colorful tonight!!" she says while chuckling. I can't help but laugh with her.
She turns me around and starts putting foundation, eyeliner, mascara,eye shadow, and whatever other make-up onto my face.
When she's done she turns me around, so that I'm face to face with the mirror.
The millisecond I lay eyes on my face, my jaw drops...
I look amazing. She made my eyes look bigger with the eyeliner, cleared my skin with the foundation, and gave my eyes a beautiful red cherry color with the eye shadow...if I looked like an idol before, now I look I own the whole business!
"Thank you..." is all I can say. "Just...thank you.."
"No problem sweetey, my pleasure. now if you'll excuse me, I have to get Taeminny done." She says with sweet laughter and then she runs off to where Taemin is sitting next to me.
He just happened to turned around and see my face...and now, he can't seem to take his eyes of me.
He gives me a thumbs up and a wink with a grin from ear to ear, before he's turned around to get the same treatment as me.
SHINee is the last band I'm gonna live with...I better thank him when I see him...
The man with blue hair then approaches me and stares at my hair.
"Hm...so what do you wanna do with this?" he asks kindly while patting my head.
"Well...my hair is a bit long and I've been wanting to get it cut for some time...so.." I nervously say. It's true, my hair has grown a little since the last time I cut it, so it's time for a fix up. And what's better than getting a proffesional to do it?
"..Mhm.. I could do that..eh, do you mind if I dye it too?" He asks cautiously.
"What do you mean, dye? I like my hair color, and I don't wanna destroy it, if you don't mind..." I say defensively. He can't dye my beautiful red hair. If he does, I don't care who he is, I'm gonna crush his head. I love my hair color...
"No,no,no,wait...I-I don'tmean your whole hair, I only mean the bottom. You see, I'm gonna shave and cut it on the bottom and keep it nice and fluffy on top. There's no way I would dye this beautiful hair. Your hair color is a gift! This is coming from a proffesional...I wouldn't dream of destroying it. But you see, if I dye it black on the bottom it will make your natural hair color pop more on top ...understand?? He explains nervously.
I think about it...black wouldn't be so bad...paired with the red....
"Ok." I finally nod.
"Great! I'll go get my things!" He says happily as he skips away.
I bet that guy's named Blue...probably...

---

After I wore the suit and got my hair cut and make-up freshened, I looked pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.
They staff at the edge of the entrance to the stage comes and tells me to wait until all the members are seated, and when the interviewers call my name I can go on stage.
So this is it.....

Buddump.
Buddump.
Buddump.

The only thing I can hear, is my heartbeat...nothing else...nothing...

"-ed!! Red!!" The man shouts at me. "Red, come on time to go!!"
Ok....stay...calm...for the love of EXO...stay calm!
I hear the interviewers announce me, and I immediately start walking up the steps and step onto the glass stage.
I think that night was one of the loudest things I've ever experienced my whole life.
The second I walked onto the stage, everybody, the interviwers, the audience and even EXO started screaming and clapping for me.
Well, the members clapped for the first couple of seconds though, because after they saw the complete makeover I went through, they all froze and just stared at me like they saw a god or something.
Listen, I know I looked good with the make-up and new hairstyle and the suit and everything, but they didn't have freeze like that. And when I walked around the interviewers and sat next to Kris who was placed 2 seats away from where the interviewers where sitting,they still stared at me like idiots. Making me feel more nervous than I already was.
Stop staring. Stop staring.
All I could do was look at the audience and smile, while the interviewers started asking me questions.

---

The guys finally woke up from their daze and started answering the questions acting cute and joking around with me, which earned some screams from the audience.
Were they screaming for me or for EXO? Or maybe for both?
Anyways, we flew through the questions and because we had time to spare and the interviewers liked me alot, they decided to have a dance battle.
So what could I do??
I showed off my moves. I mean I perform all the time, so it was fine for me.
We danced to a lot of different EXO songs and made the audience go absolutely BUNKERS! No,
not BONKERS, BUNKERS!!!
They got up and danced with us as well.
I actually had a lot of fun...


When we were in the van and on our way back to SM, the guys couldn't stop complementing me and thanking me and hugging me. I just hugged them back and said I actually had a lot of fun. I thanked them from the bottom of my heart.
But my cheering and happiness was cut short, when I received a message on my phone.
It was from my teacher.
It said that I had to prepare a choreography to Jonghyun's 'Crazy', for my group, and it had to be ready...
in just 2 weeks...
Crap....

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