Life is full of dreams. I never thought you'd become mine.
"Alright! I'm going to call out names! Those whose names were called are going to go downstairs to the large studio!" my teacher, Ms. Poetry, said.
My name is Grace and I'm 15 almost 16 years old, have golden blond hair, crystal blue eyes, am a little over 5 feet tall (yeah, I'm very short), was a former high-level gymnast that committed fully to dance when I was 13, am muscular, have two younger sisters who are also in dance. I would definitely say that I'm very pretty, I owe it all to my mother.
I was with my age group, 15-18 plus Abigail, who is 14, and the 11-14, which my younger sister, Liberty is in. We had just finished warm-ups and stretching and were waiting for instructions on where to go for our first class of the day.
"Listening ears open! Abigail, Savannah, Paris, Darianna, Faith, Vivienne, and Grace. You are all going downstairs to the studio." Ms. Poe (that's her nickname), said. The studio we were going to was used for rehearsing entire shows. It had large carpeted stairs used for sitting on while each piece would go.
We all quickly gather our things, water bottles, dance bags, and phones before heading downstairs with Ms. Poe.
"Why are we going there?" I asked, curious because we didn't usually go to the studio for class.
"Oh, just a quick change of schedule." she answered nonchalantly.
"Ohhhh, okay." Dari said.
"Are we learning a new dance instead of having a class?" Abi asked from the back.
"Not really. It's sort of like learning a new dance." Ms. Poe replied vaguely, still looking ahead as we walked down the long hallway to the studio. We all exchanged looks because of Ms. Poe's response.
"Have you heard about the rumors that BTS is in the US somewhere?" Faith asked me as she walked beside me. Abi, Faith, and I are huge fans of BTS, so we all keep track of the K-pop band's latest news.
"Really?" I exclaimed in shock. "They don't have any concerts or interviews planned, right?"
"Not that I know of." Faith replied.
"I heard the name BTS." Abi accused sarcastically, approaching us from behind. "What about BTS?" she asked as she walked on the other side of me.
"The rumors about BTS being here in the States." I informed her.
"It's crazy right?!" she exclaimed. "We'll find out eventually what they're up to if they actually are here sooner or later."
"I guess so. But what could they possibly be doing? Taking a vacation?" I suggested.
"Maybe." Faith surmised.
When we reached the studio doors, Ms. Poe held the door open and we all walked in, Ms. Poe closed the door behind her once we were all inside. She set her binder, phone, and handheld speaker down. We all shrugged off our bags, and put our phones and water bottles down before walking to the middle of the floor.
"Ooh, it's a little chilly in here." Faith shivered while rubbing her arms.
"It's always cold in here." I grumbled.
"And Mrs. Gabrielle isn't even here all the time." Savannah interjected. Gabrielle is the director of our studio, and always has the A/C super cold.
"What song are you gonna play?" Paris asked Poetry.
"Oh, you'll see." she glanced up with a smile from her phone. The mini speaker then said, "Bluetooth connected." Ms. Poe pushed something on her phone and then the song came on.
Abi, Faith, Dari (who isn't as big as a fan of BTS as we are, but still likes their music), and I jumped up when we heard the distinct beats of BTS's 'Butter' song.
"Smooth like butter, like a criminal undercover." We all started jamming to the lyrics. When it came to the chorus we all started doing the dance moves because we had memorized the choreography from watching the music video so much.
Once the song ended with the 'Get it. Let it. Roll!" we all started laughing but stopped when we heard the door creak open. Assuming that it was another teacher just coming to check and see how we were doing, we just gave a slight glance at the head peeking around the door.
It wasn't someone we knew so we did a double take. And who we saw was something out of a dream or our own imagination. The face was a face we would recognize anywhere.
The person had short black hair and an eyebrow piercing; it was none other than BTS's golden maknae Jeon Jungkook, in the flesh, looking at us with a greeting smile. "Hello." was all that he managed to get out before Dari, Abi, Faith, and I started to freak out.
"OMG, you're Jungkook. A BTS member! We are huge fans of you!" Abi gushed.
"This is crazy." Dari said in shock.
"Somebody pinch me I must be dreaming." I said breathlessly. I let out a yelp when Faith gave me a pinch.
"He's real alright." Faith exclaimed.
Jungkook walked in and in our absolute shock, the other six members of BTS came in. We all started squealing in shock and rushed up to them.
"Yo, this is so cool. I'm trying not to fangirl right now and squeal, but eeeh!" Faith squealed.
"It is so amazing to get to meet you guys!" I exclaimed as I shook their hands.
"Nice to meet you guys too. I'm RM or Namjoon. This is-" RM, BTS leader, said and then gestured to Jimin but I cut him off.
"You're Jimin." I pointed at the smiling angel of BTS. "You're Jin, worldwide handsome. You're Jungkook, the golden maknae, you're Suga, you're J-Hope, the sunshine of the group, and you're V." I introduced for all of them; they all smiled in surprise and bowed slightly. Practically shaking from excitement, I asked, "So the rumors are obviously true! Why are you here in the States?"
"So you guys know us." J-Hope started with a pleased grin.
"Know?! We are HUGE fans of yours!' Faith gushed. "And why are you guys here! At our studio!" Faith exclaimed.
Namjoon, aka RM, gestured to J-Hope, "Well, J-Hope was scrolling through YouTube because he was bored. And just kept scrolling. That was when he happened upon one of your music videos. He was interested so he clicked it. He watched your dancing and was so impressed that he showed the rest of the members.
"We decided" Namjoon continued, "that we wanted to visit you guys and offer you guys spots as new members of our band." Say what now? Offering us spots as BTS's new members! Talk about one in a million!
"What!" Dari shouted and put her hand over her mouth to contain her excitement. "Sorry, but you're joking, right? You can't be serious?"
Namjoon laughed, "Oh, we are VERY serious. You guys are very good dancers and we just couldn't pass up on an opportunity like this. We have actually been looking for new members but haven't had much luck until we saw your video."
"This is insane!" I said, still in disbelief.
"It'll definitely be an adjustment, but if you all agree, it will be the adventure of a lifetime." Jin said in a little broken English. Namjoon probably coached him on that sentence.
"Wait, but we have to talk to our parents first." my excitement left me when Dari said that. I was almost positive that my parents would never allow me to go.
"Don't worry, we already talked to your parents, signed documents, got passports ready, and have gotten everything else that might be needed." Namjoon informed us.
"Oh my gosh, so my parents said yes?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, they did." Namjoon nodded with an enthusiastic smile.
"Yay!" I jumped up and down in the air. Turning to Paris, Savannah, and Vivienne, I asked, "Isn't this awesome?"
"It is for you guys, but Paris, Vivienne, and I decided already that we're not going. We feel like that lifestyle isn't for us." Savannah said solemnly.
"What?" Faith cried. "But we're a team!"
"I know, we'll miss you guys so much, but we really can't." Paris said apologetically.
We all went into a big group hug; when we withdrew from the embrace, Savannah, Paris, and Vivienne grabbed their stuff and left the room, leaving us with the members.
"So, why don't we gather around in a circle and tell us about yourselves." Namjoon suggested.
We nodded quickly and gathered in a circle, all of us sitting down. Everything was still too crazy to believe but then Jungkook, my favorite member of BTS, sat beside me. I tried to hold back my surprise but a small gasp escaped my lips.
Jungkook chuckled and stuck out his hand, "I heard in America, it is formal to shake someone's hand when meeting first." he said in broken English.
I shook his hand and I could hardly believe that Jungkook was holding my hand. "Uh-um, nice to meet you too. And you are correct."
Jungkook grinned that grin that I adored so much, looking very pleased that he was right. Releasing my hand and turning back to face the rest of us, Jungkook waited for us to introduce ourselves.
Suga pointed to me, "You go first."
"Me?" I pointed to myself, just trying to confirm.
"Yes, you." Suga replied, seemingly confused that I thought I was mistaken.
"Oh, um, hi, my name is Grace. I'm 15 years old."
"My turn now?" Dari asked, who was sitting beside me; Suga nodded. "Hi, my name is Darianna. I'm also 15 years old."
It was Faith's turn next, "Hi, my name is Faith. I just turned 18 years old." and V, who was sitting beside her, shook her hand. Faith looked a little pink from the fact that her bias, V, was actually touching her.
"Hi, my name is Abigail. I'm 14 years old"
"Ok!" Jimin said suddenly, making me jump a little.
Jin laughed when he saw me, and said something in Korean. Namjoon translated, "Jin said that Jimin does that a lot, and he found it really funny that you jumped."
I blushed and nodded my head; Jimin leaned forward a little and smiled that innocent, angelic smile that I loved. I waved my hand slightly before looking at my hands in my lap.
"Tell us more you." Jimin asked in broken English.
"Oh, ok, um. Well, I'm a former high-level gymnast. I started dancing here because I wanted to improve my dancing abilities when I was 10 and when I quit gymnastics when I was 13, I committed fully to dancing here. And I've been homeschooled all my life, so yeah." I smiled sheepishly and gave two thumbs up.
I noticed how Namjoon's mouth dropped when I said, high-level gymnast. Namjoon translated once I finished and I saw how all six members' mouths dropped when he finished translating. Jungkook nudged me, "Are you serious? Can you do-" he stopped because he didn't know the word for ariels. He beseeched Namjoon and Namjoon said slowly, "Ariels."
Jungkook turned back to me and said slowly, "Ariels. Do ariels?" he asked.
I nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, I can."
"And they're really good too!" Dari added.
"You show us some time." Jungkook said before turning to Dari.
She pointed at herself and he nodded, "Well, I'm also homeschooled, except for a co-op I go to every Friday. I did soccer, and cheerleading before I started dancing about six years ago. That's it."
"I've done dance ever since I was little and I've been at this dance studio since it first opened about ten years ago. I'm homeschooled and I have seven siblings." all of their eyes widened when Faith said she had seven siblings. "And I'm the middle child."
"Oh, that must be hard." Namjoon stated; Faith shrugged with a smile, "I'm used to it."
"I've been doing dance ever since I was little as well. I am not homeschooled and I have a younger sister. And my parents are divorced." Abigail said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that." Namjoon said sympathetically.
For the rest of dance, we talked, and Namjoon explained how things were going to be and what it meant to become a member of BTS, and the significance of it.
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