it girl

- part four -

In the morning, we go to the stylist's room after just brushing our teeth and hair.

It's eight o'clock; we perform at eleven.

We put on our outfits that we tried on yesterday, and get moved to the hair and makeup room.
We all get more or less the same makeup, with subtle changes. For example, my eyeshadow is light pink and Windee's is glittery white.

My hair is curled and some clips are put in it. I'm one of the first ones done, so I wait on a bench with So-hee and Ginger.

"Are you excited?" So-hee asks her.

"Yes! I'm so nervous."

I laugh. "Remember, just keep dancing, no matter what. The beats will be in your earpiece if you get off track."

She nods.

We all get in the van and drive to Music Bank. We take the back way into the building so no one sees us, and we get our microphones, earpieces, and finishing touches backstage. When we get onstage, we run through everything once and make sure everything's right, and exit the stage to wait for Mice.

They start letting fans in at about 10:30. We have water set out for us and the cameras are turning on. When we enter the stage, we wave at Mice and smile as they cheer and shout for us.
I get in the middle stage, where I'm assigned to be in the dance, and search for my fancam camera. When I find it, I smile in that direction and make a mental note to look in that specific camera when I'm not in the center.

The lights become brighter and we wave to Mice again before getting into position. Our music starts are we're off.

Everything goes well, we perform our title track and b-side, which only takes about ten minutes.

Backstage, I let the stage staff take off my microphone. I watch Ginger get hers off, but it's a stage staff, not JYP staff.

"Alright. Girls, if you exit the back way, there will be bodyguards and your manager waiting outside."

I follow behind the girls as we leave the building. We aren't allowed to stop and let fans take pictures of us right now, but we'll take some to post at the company.

Back at JYP Entertainment, we change back into lounge clothes and So-hee takes our performance outfits back to the stylist.

"언니, have you seen the video?"

I sit on the couch as Dee-Dee plays our stage video. I'm pleased with everything, especially how good we sound live. It's taken a lot of practice to get it perfect.

"Since we performed today, do we still practice tomorrow?"

I think.

"So-hee hasn't given me a schedule yet, so probably not. No one missed any steps in this, either."

We return to the video and I watch myself pose as the ending fairy. I look flawless, per usual, but I could've done with a little more hairspray.

Someone knocks on the door four times and Cherry goes to open it. So-hee enters the dorm with a small basket in her hands.

"Hana, take this to your room please."

I take it from her hands, noticing that it has a "DIOR" label on it.

When I return to the living room, So-hee has six envelopes in her hand. She hands one to each of us.

"There's your monthly payment. The rest of it is in your personal bank accounts."

I take the money out of the envelope and go put it in my purse. We're payed more than what's in the envelope, but in our contract, we decided how much would be put in the bank every month, and how much we would get directly in cash.

I put my $400 in my purse and avert my attention to the basket sitting on my bed. I take some pictures of it and then take out some of the tissue paper. There's a light brown handbag with my name engraved on the bottom right. I also take out three shades of lip oil, blush, and perfume, and four different hair clips. I take pictures of it all and send them to So-hee to post on my personal Instagram story, then put it all away and pin the note on the cork board above my dresser.

"Hana! Come quick!"

I rush out of my room at the sound of Erin's voice.

"What? What is it?" I'm relieved by the smile on her face as she reads a letter.

"ice is hereby invited to perform at the Major Asian Music Awards on November 17th!"

I squeal and jump up and down with her. Last year, we were still a rookie group, but now that we're steadily successful, we get to be with the older, more experienced groups.

"I can't wait." Ginger smiles.

"I'll look into a choreographer for the performance." So-hee says before walking to her room.

We'll have to do a mix-up of our songs with extra beats and a different dance. It's usually what they do at MAMA.

"Who's going to be there?" Cherry looks at me and I think before naming some groups that I know for sure will go.

"It sounds fun." Dee-Dee claps her hands.

"I'm nervous already." Windee adds.

My stomach growls. "We'll do great. How about we order fried chicken to celebrate?"

Everyone seems to be happy with that, and I'm starving, so I pick up my phone and order chicken from the nearest place.

(926 words)