Siren

- Ground vs. I-Land -

[Korean, Mandarin, English, Japanese]

All 12 of us gather on the couches, preparing to watch the Grounders practice video on the TV. K and Heeseung sit on either side of me, both boys laughing as I impatiently rush the group to settle down. 

I focus completely on the screen when Sunoo appears on the screen, waiting to see how worried I should be. 

"Wow, he's really good." I say, leaning back in my seat. Sunoo's voice is stable as he sings, I glance at Heeseung as we watch. I can tell that he's becoming more nervous as we watch, his expression matching mine. We've both got some serious competition if we're going up against Sunoo for the vocal test. 

Next, the practice video for their dance unit appears and I squeal happily, startling the boys next to me. I point at the screen like a child who's just spotted their favourite candy. 

"Nicho!" I say, bouncing slightly in my seat. I watch as my brother, Niki and Hanbin dance. I'm practically vibrating with excitement, my leg bouncing as I stare at the screen. K puts a hand on my knee to stop it from hitting his leg, I try my best to stay still until the end of the video. 

When the video ends I turn to K and narrow my eyes at him.

"You better give it your all." He smirks as he sits forward, his face close to mine. 

"Of course I will, love."  I'm surprised when he calls me 'love', staring at him for a second. I laugh quietly when I realize that he's teasing me. I feel Heeseung's hand on mine and I turn to look at him, his eyes focused on K before he looks at me. 

"We should go practice." He says simply, I nod my head. A few of the other boys stand as well, leaving the sitting room. Heeseung and I walk down stairs to the big practice room, practicing for the rest of the day together.

When we have 1 day left until the performance, Seon and K ask all of us to gather in the big practice room. Sunghoon looks anxious, making me wonder what's about to happen. 

"What if we change the dance representative?" Seon says slowly, looking around the group. My head snaps up at the suggestion, my eyes wide. I look at Jay as he sits beside me, my eyebrows furrowing. 

"There was an idea that we should change Jay with Sunghoon." Seon continues, I glance at K to see him avoiding my gaze. Jay's eyes are almost hidden under his bucket hat, not fully hiding his sad expression. 

"Let's figure out who will be the best and choose who will be the best representative." Seon looks around at each of us again, I put a hand on Jay's arm. 

"Where did this come from?" I say suddenly, my voice sounds scarier then I mean it to and I can tell that a few of the boys are startled by the change. I aim my question at K, knowing that he's the dance unit leader. He finally meets my eyes, chewing his lower lip. 

"We're just thinking about all of us, we need to have the best people representing us for this test." I don't look away from K as Seon answers for him, I keep my hand on Jay's arm as the boy rolls his neck. I look at Sunghoon to see him sitting with his head down, clearly not entirely happy with the way conversation is going.

"Did you guys talk to Jay about this before bringing this up?" I ask, finally looking at Seon. He stares back at me, the tension rising in the room. A few of the boys shift uncomfortably, I can feel my face warming as I hold eye contact with the boy across from me. 

"No, we thought that we should talk it out as a group." Seon responds, I can't help but scoff. 

"Why are you even a part of this conversation?" I ask, my anger rising. "You aren't one of the representatives, it should be a conversation that these four have." I motion to the three dance unit members and Sunghoon.