Taking Flight

Photoshoot

Daia stared with dismay at the clothing rack before her. Brightly colored crop tops and high-waisted shorts hung under each of the girls names. She ran her hand along the sides, watching the rainbow of colors fall back into place. For each girl, outfits ere selected for them for a photoshoot. The plans were to have a group photo, individual, and a few of the members together. And Daia didn't want to wear anything that the stylists had picked out. The clothing all showed her midriff, and the shorts were super short! She wondered what the different between the outfits and a bikini were. Probably only the material, as they both would cover little of her.

She looked down at her current garb, a striped maroon shirt and blue jeans. The other girls had dressed more fashionable that she did, but the long-sleeved shirt was soft and comfortable to wear. Pulling down one of the tops from her section of the rack, she held it up to herself and looked in the mirror. It was a black and white striped tee with spaghetti straps, on top of it was layered a blue and white vest that also had thin straps. She sighed thinking about how much her bare shoulders would be shown, not to mention her stomach, as the tee was short.

"Oh No!" Mi Young in mock horror, behind her. "What are we going to do? The little princess' stomach will be shown, and not to mention her shoulders!!!" Mi Young continued to mock Daia, calling her names and slipping insults. Daia knew she was trying to start a fight, but she had never succeeded in the past, but she seemed to be gunning for it today.

Taking a slow deep breath, she hung the shirt back on the rack, and turned to leave the room. But, the taunting girl slid in front of her, blocking her path.

"Oh, you're not going to say anything? Is little princess upset or too shy to talk?" She mocked, in a baby voice.

"Mi Young, stop it." Daia said firmly, but it fell on deaf ears. Mi Young only smiled at finally getting a response from the otherwise calm girl.

"Where is the giraffe going? Are you going to run away and cry, like you did at Inkigayo?"

Daia closed her eyes as they began to water . She hated being called a giraffe and she hated confrontation. Mi Young seemed to have decided she was the one that would break Daia, causing her to have an angry outburst. Trying to not let Mi Young's words get to her, she pushed her out of the way, and walked towards the door.

But she felt a strong pull on her hair, feeling some of the hairs break loose. She turned around to see Mi Young holding onto a handful of hair, and grinning at it like a prized possession.

"Whoops" she said sarcastically.

Daia tightened her face and tried to calm herself down. But the throbbing pain on her head, only added to the angry she had for Mi Young. She felt like her whole body was burning with hatred, wanting to be released.

Without a thought, her hand struck out and made a satisfying smack on Mi Young's cheek. The girl stumbled back, crashing and falling into the clothing rack, knocking most of the clothes down, which tumbled on top of her. She held her hand to her face, eyes wide as she started at the brunette.

Daia stepped forward to see the damage she had caused. It had felt good to finally get Mi Young, although she had surprised herself by her action. Leaning down to the red-cheeked girl, she pointed a stern finger at her.

"I said, Stop it!"

At her words, fear seemed to flash by on the fallen woman as she sunk deeper into the rack causing more hangers to come off and land on her head, before tumbling to the ground and ringing against the tile. Daia's face began to relax from furrowed anger to a blank slate. What had she done?

"Hey. You two!" a voice bellowed from the door.

Daia turned to see Rosa, standing furious in the doorway, with her hands outstretched.

"What's going on here?" she queried, looking from Daia's blank face to Mi Young's terrified stare.

"Daia?"

Daia only shrugged a reply. She didn't know where to begin, to explain why she had attacked her. It had been something that had been building up from the day they first met. From the beginning, they had been at odds with each other. Everyday Mi Young had a comment to make, and everyday Daia just ignored. But her words had still echoed in her head. She couldn't take it anymore. There had to be an end to her bully's teasing and lies. Maybe now she would be quiet.

"Daia?" she asked again, but still got no response from the stunned girl. She turned to look at the other girl encased in synthetic fibers who bore the same stunned expression.

"She...She...hit me" Mi Young finally stuttered, pointing with her opposite hand at Daia.

"Daia!"

"She wouldn't stop teasing me! I couldn't take it anymore! I told her to stop and she wouldn't listen!"

"So you hit her?"

Daia shrugged a reply again, not wanting to talk anymore in fear that everything would get worse.

Rosa pulled Mi Young up to her feet and looked at her face. By now the redness had begun to fade, but a yellow tinge was forming on her upper cheekbone.

"Di, this is going to bruise." she commented, lightly brushing it, causing Mi Young to wince.

Right now, Daia wished she could run away or a least be invisible. She wanted to be free of this situation and not have to explain herself. Her action was wrong and uncalled for, but it had been the eruption of a year's worth of pent up aggression. At least, it was only a hard slap, and not something worse.

"Come here, let's go put some ice on this," Rosa said, taking Mi Young's hand and walking towards the door. As she passed Daia, she gave a sigh of frustration.

"I'll be back for you, this isn't over."

When the two girls were gone, Daia slumped onto a chair by the wall. She worried what Rosa would say when she came back. The two of them had gotten in a shouting match before, but this was the first time it had amounted to physical violence. Mi Young never gave her the chance to explain herself, she always just kept talking and talking trying to get a reaction out of Daia. And today she got it.

Soon Rosa came back in and sat by Daia on the floor.

"I know Mi Young bullies you all the time, and I know that you have done your best to take it... " she paused for awhile before continuing.

"...and honestly, it could have been me that hit her." Rosa confessed. She turned to Daia and gave her a pat on the back.

"It was only a matter of time before someone slapped her, I am just surprised it was you!" she chuckled and shook her head.

"Don't worry about Mi Young, she may be stunned for a while, but I think you really scared her, so she won't be bothering you for some time."

Rosa continued to congratulate her for standing up to Mi Young, but that she could have handled it differently.

"Next time she starts she bully you, tell me, and I will help you solve it, okay? 'Cuz you can't keep hitting her!" Rosa said playfully hitting Daia on the shoulder.

Daia smiled and nodded back.

"Great! Now let's go get ready. And I know about the problem with the clothes. Manager Kim and I talked about it and the stylists are willing to compromise. Right now I think our biggest problem is turning your frown upside down!!"

Rosa dove her hands into Daia's sides, who tried to squirm away from the touch, but ended up falling of the chair. Taking advantage of her fallen state, Rosa crawled over and continued to tickle Daia. She tighten her lips trying not to smile.

"I'll stop if you smile!" Rosa teased, this time moving up to Daia's armpits.

"Okay Okay" Daia said laughing, "I give in!"

"Then let's go defeat our stylists about the wardrobe, because what they picked couldn't even cover up Mi Young on the floor!" she replied, extending a hand to pull Daia up of the floor.

Together the two girls walked out of the dressing room, arm in arm, like best friends who could never be separated.