summary: julie meets her first friend at the new company.
warning(s): bad-mouthing, trainees are a bit mean and fake with 13-year-old fetus julie lmao
author's note: when the evaluator calls julie's full name, i wrote it 'jang' bc zhang romanized from korean is jang, and that's how korean ppl called her in school and in the company; so whenever u guys see 'jang' is that. italics mean english speaking!!
"I think she came from JYPE," Soomin, one of the trainees, told. "Jiyeon told me she heard PD-nim saying that she's gonna be some kind of partnership between the two companies. They think she's some kind of young multitalented artist genius."
Jennie stayed silent for a moment, observing the younger girl as she danced and sang energetically to 'Baby, One More Time' by Britney Spears.
"She's very good." Kim replied, dumbfounded, seeing her friend roll her eyes.
"She's not very good, Jennie, she's just a spoiled brat who thinks she's better than all of us just because two of the three biggest companies are interested in her." Soomin said, gesturing with her hands. "I bet Park Jinyoung and Yang PD-nim are in love with her or something, that's why."
"Have you talked to her?"
"Of course not," the girl scoffed, as if it was obvious. "She's pretty, though."
Jennie raised her brows, "Why are you saying such things about her if you didn't even talk?"
"Rumors spread quick, alright?"
She spoke for the last time, clapping falsely as the song came to an end.
All of the trainees watched as Julie breathed with difficulty, smiling shyly before bowing to them and the judges, who returned the action.
"Jang Julie," the male evaluator called her name, making her widen her eyes.
"Yes, sir?"
"First, congratulations for your first evaluation here in YG Entertainment," he started, receiving nods from the other teachers there. "We want to say that we are extremely happy to have you as one of us."
"Thank you, sir." Julie replied, bowing lightly as everyone chuckled at her cheeks becoming even pinker.
"Now," the man suddenly became serious, the friendly smile on his face long gone as he looked down at the papers on the table, tilting his head to the side to get a glimpse of the other judges' results as well. "Your singing final score was 8.1; you have a very wide vocal range and your voice is quite adorable, but you still need to work on your breath while dancing."
"Yes."
"Speaking of dancing, your final dancing score was 7.9; you're not a strong dancer type, which may not be good for what we're looking for the new girl group, but I think you're smooth and sharp in every move." He told, seeing her nod politely at his remarks. "Your JYP Entertainment rap teacher said you are considerably good at rapping, even if it's not your forte and she sent me a few videos. You must know rapping is our forte here in YG Entertainment. Forget about everything they told you about not needing improving your rap, you have to."
"Yes, sir."
"You lack stage presence." He simply told. "You're singing a potent song but your face says nothing, you don't flash a smile or a smirk, you don't change the dynamic in the choreography because you just feel like it when performing. And this is bad, very bad. PINKPUNK needs powerful singers, powerful rappers, powerful dancers and powerful performers, you get that?"
"Yes." She nodded, lips trembling from embarrassment from the looks, whispers and giggles she could hear.
"If you want to be successful, suck it up and be better at every single time. You got a 1, you can be better, you got a 10, you can still be better." The man stated, ignoring completely the one single tear that streamed down her cheek, the one she quickly wiped. "You also need to improve your Korean, you sound like a foreign."
Julie pouted involuntarily, almost whispering, "I'm Japanese-Taiwanese, sir."
"So?" He raised his brows. "Does it look like you're in Japan or in Taiwan to you?" She shook her head embarrassedly. "Right, no. You are in Korea, you are a future K-idol, and if you can't handle it, maybe you should go back from where you came, at least there you can speak the language."
Julie felt her cheeks burn from embarrassment, biting her lower lip as she looked down at her feet, getting in every detail from the sneakers covering her feet as she refused to look at whoever people that was there, trying her hardest to hide the tears.
The trainees, the judges... she didn't feel like dealing with either of them.
"Not so multitalented anymore, huh?" Soomin smirked, whispering quite loudly in her friend's ear.
Jennie didn't reply, she just looked at the new girl, catching her expression.
She could almost feel the burning sensation inside her throat and the pooling round her eyes for Julie, who simply stood there, waiting, if anyone had another thing to say.
Jennie understood her, she had been there not even a year before. And she would say Julie's case was worse because she was in two companies, getting bashed by the judges, by the trainees, improving, studying, training, all twice. Without counting the fact that she was not even Korean.
The poor girl must be exhausted, she thought.
And the dirty looks, whispers and giggles from the other girls, who had also been in her place a few years prior, was not helping at all.
"Okay, you are dismissed. Next."
"Thank you." Zhang said in a low, almost whispery, voice, bowing one last time before sitting back on the floor everyone was, except a bit distant from them, as she fidget with her fingers until the end.
And Jennie caught that.
***
It was already night, late, we could say. All of the other trainees had already eaten and went to their dorms, except for Julie.
She was given the mission to look for a dorm for herself, but it seemed like everyone already had their respective roommates, except for her.
It was almost funny how each one of them had their reasons not to share a room with her, even the ones who didn't have a roommate at all. "We snore a lot, you wouldn't like it" or "I'm sorry, we're like sisters and we've been sharing this room for ten years" or even "We're a couple, sorry."
She seriously thought of giving up this and coming back to being an only-JYPE trainee. At least there she had friends, or a dorm.
Julie knew the trainees at YG didn't like her at all, she had heard the worst to the most incredible stories about herself she couldn't even imagine the things they said without her being close enough to hear.
Spoiled brat, the privileged, mean girl, feels better than everyone... and the fact she only hung out with Momo and Sana for meals did not help her "YG trainees' hater" image.
Plus, there was no foreign girls except for her and some Thai chick called Lalisa there, who didn't seem to like her either.
"Can I sit here?"
The sweet voice coming from above made Julie look up to see who possibly was that lunatic that was talking to her.
Her eyes met with the girl's and they both smiled shyly. She was shorter than her, but Julie was almost sure she was older. Her hair was mostly black, but a single thick strand of hair was bleached a yellowish shade of blond.
The younger girl nodded and she leaned one of her hands on the practice room's mirror quickly to sit on the ground, next to her, at a safe distance for two girls who had never exchanged a single word in their lives.
"I'm Jennie." She told, holding out her hand.
"I'm Juliet, but everyone calls me Julie." Zhang said, gladly accepting the older's attempt.
"What a pretty name!"
"Thank you."
Jennie chuckled, asking after a few seconds, "So, when were you born?"
"August of 1998."
"I'm your unnie, then!" Kim widened her eyes knowingly, giggling at the younger's confused expression. "Ah, it means I'm older than you. When a girl is older than you, she's your unnie, and when a boy is older than you, he's your oppa, okay?"
She nodded, "Okay, thank you."
"I'm fifteen, January of 1996." Jennie continued. "I think you did pretty good, don't be sad because of Minjun sunbaenim's words, he just can't express himself well."
"Thank you, unnie." Julie widened her eyes, trying to bow with only her head.
"Yah, stop saying thank you for everything!" She scolded jokingly. "I'm telling the truth!"
"Okay."
The Korean girl stayed silent, playing with the younger's strands of hair before speaking again, "Hey, do you want to share a dorm with me?"
"Huh?"
"I know you still don't have a dorm, the girls are too jealous of you to befriends." She said, giggling as she placed one of her fingers on her lips, indicating to keep a secret. "I wanted to know if you want to share a room with me and Jisoo."
"Okay."
Jennie chuckled, mentally taking notes of Julie's only words as she imagined she wasn't that much of a talker.
She suddenly stood up, holding out her hand, "Come on, get your bags, I'll show you where it is and you can choose your bed!"