it girl

- part three -

I check my phone and see that it's 2:20.

Entering the kitchen, I see the girls resting.

"We've got dance practice in ten minutes, get ready."

I put on sweatpants and a sports bra and wait by the door.

At 3:30, I send the girls to their social classes while I get ready for the meeting. I wonder what it's going to be about. I put on a nice shirt and a black skirt, fixing my hair and makeup before I leave for the meeting room.

Usually, I don't have a lot of say in the things JYP does, so I'm nervous about what this could be.

I make my way to the sixth floor, passing Lia from ITZY on my way.

We greet each other, and JYP himself opens his door, hearing us from his office.

"Hana! So nice to see you. Please, come in."

Lia says bye and I walk into JYP's office.

"This should be quick, have these papers."

I take the papers and follow him to the meeting room. Inside, there's a long table with men and women sitting around it, with the same papers I have. I bow and gently smile at them, sitting in an empty chair.

"So," JYP starts, "On your papers, you'll see the past sells of ice's albums. They've done very well, and I know the new mini album will sell greatly, too. I've decided to promote it a little differently, though. I just don't know how. That's why you're here." he gestures to the table.

I look down at the papers. We've sold about 500,000 copies of our first album (in South Korea), and the numbers only went up after that. We're looking at about 1.5 million with "you" if we play our cards right.

"Any ideas?"

I stare at my paper and clear my throat.

"What if we target Japan this time? About one-third of our sales comes from there, so we could do things to target our Japanese fans."

Everyone seems to like that idea, but no one knows how we should do it.

"'you' is recorded in Japanese on the album, right?"

"Yes." I respond to the lady across from me. "Korean, Japanese, and English."

"Okay, so you could perform it in Japanese in the tour? ice is going to Tokyo after Seoul, so we could probably add it into your schedule, just for Japan."

I nod. "That sounds good."

So we decide to add one song to the tour, just for Tokyo. We'll surprise our Japanese fans by singing the title track in their language, as well as Korean. Hopefully, that'll raise our sales and recognition in Japan.

"What did you talk about?" Ginger asks, tapping her phone screen.

We're back at the dorm, all in the living room, messaging mice on our individual bubble accounts. I reply to a message that says "Hana I love you!" with a heart.

"New promotion ideas. We're singing 'you' in Japanese when we go to Tokyo."

Cherry groans. "I already forgot my lines!"

I laugh, making a mental note to make sure everyone knows the song in all three languages that we might sing it in.

At five-thirty, So-hee knocks on our door. I'm happy to see her, she's been busy all day.

"Hey, girls. I ran down to the stylist room to get your outfits to go to Music Bank. We shouldn't see the paparazzi too much, but they'll get pictures no matter what, so you have to dress cute."

She hands us all bags with our names on them, just like earlier. We go to our rooms and change into our new clothes.

I'm in a brown plaid skirt and matching short top with a white mini cardigan to go over it. I slip on my white leg warmers and black chunky shoes, moving to the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. Usually, we get to do our own. We were taught how to do our own makeup before we debuted, so we only have it done for us if we're doing something special, like attending an event, or performing.

I put my hair half up and tie my favorite white ribbon into it, making a bow. I add one more layer of lipgloss and return to So-hee.

"Perfect." she says when we're all back.

We take the van to Music Bank, preparing to face the cameras when we pull into the driveway of the building.

So-hee turns to us from the front seat.

"Okay, we'll only stop for a second. We're on a time schedule."

We get out, waving at the camera. I turn to help Cherry and Dee-Dee out, and we all stand together once we get to the door.

I blow kisses and pose before turning and following So-hee into the building.

I've only been here once; for our debut stage. I see a woman approaching us and we bow at her. She does the same.

"Hello, girls. I'm the executive coordinator for Music Bank, Kim Yonju. Welcome to Music Bank, I'm very glad to be hosting your performance."

She takes us to the stage room, turning on huge lights.

"This is the stage. Cameras will be surrounding you, so don't let that mess you up. Just like your debut stage, the song will be in the background, just for backup. You will still sing, it's just there in case you mess up. You will not be lip syncing."

I nod. She shows us backstage. The makeup and wardrobe rooms are back there, as well as an extra practice room.

"When you're done, the lights will gradually shut off and when they're completely off, you'll exit through stage right. The cameras will shut off, but fans that came in real life will be here, so you'll need to wait until you leave the stage."

We run through the motions, skipping the dance and remembering where to go and when. We also practice what will happen if something goes wrong, or if security needs to step in for whatever reason.

We ride the van back to the dorms. I check comments and likes on our songs and I'm happy to see that the comments about the other girls are good. I have good ones, too, but not near as many. It's confusing to see how many hate comments and threats I get, and then to turn around and become the "most beautiful, talented person in the world."

Cherry sits down next to me on the couch and sighs.

"Hana, can I tell you something?"

I turn off my phone, sitting up straight.

"Of course."

"Well, when we were walking down to social classes yesterday, Ginger told me-" she cuts herself off when Ginger walks into the room.

"Hey." she sits beside Cherry and Cherry purses her lips.

After a few minutes, I stand up.

"Cherry, I need you to help me with something."

She follows me into my room and shuts the door.

"What is it?"

She sighs. "Ginger told me that before we went to Music Core, a staff member was being mean to her. She hit her when Ginger argued. Apparently, she was late to meet the rest of us after getting dressed, and someone had to get her."

I'm shocked, but I keep my composure.

"Thank you for telling me, Cherry. I'll keep an eye out for her."

She nods, and we return to the living room.

I know we won't eat dinner tonight, we know better than that. Our diets are stricter now that ever, even worse than when we were trainees. I take a shower and make sure we're all in bed by ten, except for So-hee.

"Goodnight." I say, turning off the light to Dee-Dee and Erin's room and setting my alarm for the morning.

(1,307 words)