"Hey Hyemi!" Yuta said, smiling down at her. "And you're Jaemin, right?"

He nodded in response.

"Nice, can't wait to be teammates with the two of you!"

"You'll have to help me convince Hyemi first." Jaemin said, nudging her shoulder.

"What? You're going to turn down the All Stars team?" Yuta said with a disbelieving laugh.

"I, uh... I don't know for sure."

Yuta hummed in acknowledgment, thinking for a moment before offering her his hand. She stated at him skeptically.

"The two of you come with me, I have something to show you." Yuta said, nodding at her with a smile.

She took his hand as he pulled her to her feet, Jaemin standing up as well. Yuta gestured them to follow as he led them back inside.

"So, Jaemin, I'm assuming you're joining us, right?" Yuta asked as they walked through the hallways.

"Absolutely, it's an honor to be able to dance with you guys." Jaemin said politely, his voice wavering ever so slightly from nervousness.

"Oh, loosen up kid, I won't bite. I'm hyped to have you on the team, we're one big happy family, so you have nothing to be nervous about." Yuta laughed out. "Even Jaehyun. He's a bit cold but you'll get used to him. He's the reason our team does so well, even though he's tough."

"Good to know." Jaemin replied, shaking off his nerves with a smile.

"So, Hyemi, I'm sure a lot of people have been asking you this but, what's your hold back for joining us? We've never had someone turn us down before." Yuta asked, now turning to look at her as they continued to make their way through the school.

"I don't know just nerves I guess. You know that Taeyong is my brother and all his teammates are friends with me. Plus, my best friends from high school are all going to be on the team, I never really thought of the possibility of me being anywhere else."

"Hmm, I get it, but you'll have friends on our team too. I mean, I'd like to think you and I are friends, or at least we will be." Yuta laughed out. "And, you also have Jaemin."

Hyemi and Jaemin shared a look, his goofy expression making her giggle.

"You guys are the best of the best, I just.... don't know if I'm good enough."

"Well, you were definitely impressive at your audition, but there's always room for improvement, and I can say with absolute certainty that your dancing will improve with us. Our team is lots of fun but also lots of hard work. It can seem scary, but we'll make sure to get you to where you need to be. I honestly don't know if you'll be able to do that if your older brother is the one critiquing you." Yuta said with a genuine smile.

"Yeah I've been thinking about that too. There's a lot of things I've been weighing lately, my head is buzzing." She said with a laugh.

"Well, enough thinking because we're here."

Yuta was standing in front of a frosted glass door with a big smile. He scanned his card and the door unlocked. He opened it and allowed Hyemi and Jaemin to walk in.

The moment she stepped foot inside the room, Hyemi's jaw dropped.

The All Stars practice room.

It was a huge, state of the art rehearsal room. The floor was a high quality vinyl performance floor with mirrors lining one wall. There was a sound system and TV setup on one side with a lounge in the far corner. In the middle of the black floor was their signature gold star symbol, the words "all stars" written beneath it. She gasped as she looked at the far wall, seeing the trophies and medals lining the shelves.

"I'm not trying to pressure you or anything," Yuta said as he flicked on the lights. "But I thought it might be nice for you to see what our practice area looks like since you'd be spending a lot of time here if you join us."

"This is insane." Jaemin muttered out as he turned to Hyemi with wide eyes.

"Yeah, this is way nicer than Taeyong's practice room."

"Yeah...." Yuta awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "The school isn't supposed to give specific clubs special treatment but Jaehyun was able to work with the athletic director and get this room made for us."

Jaemin and Hyemi continued to take it all in, Yuta watching them with a smile.

"Well, start warming up."

"What?" Hyemi and Jaemin said in unison.

"You didn't seriously think I'd bring you here and not let you guys dance, right?"

Jaemin and Hyemi turned to one another, sharing a look before quickly taking off their dance bags and putting on their practice shoes.

"Thanks for this, Yuta!"

"Yeah, this is awesome!"

"No problem," he laughed out, walking back to the door. "I have a meeting to go to, but feel free to stay here as long as you want. If anyone comes by, just tell them that I let you in. Have fun!"

He flashed them one last smile before ducking out of the room and leaving the two of them alone.

"So... what do you want to do?" Jaemin asked, turning to her with a small smile.

"I don't know... do you like NCT"

"Of course I do! They're my favorite group! I'm not tasteless."

Hyemi just giggled as she pulled up 'the 7th sense' and started playing it over the speakers.

"Oh I love this song!" Jaemin exclaimed as he got into position.

"Me too!"

As the first verse began, both of their expressions changed. They moved in sync to the music, smiling every time they made eye contact. The two of them continued dancing with one another for a few more songs, and Hyemi was having a blast. Jaemin was undoubtedly an amazing dancer, and the two of them performed great together.

As they finished with "Kick it" a round of clapping erupted from the far side of the room, causing the two of them to freeze on the spot.

At far end of the room stood Yuta with the rest of the members of the team standing behind him, all clapping for Hyemi and Jaemin. Her face instantly turned red in embarrassment, same with Jaemin. The two of them bowed to the other members and quickly paused the music.

"We're so sorry, we didn't mean to cut into any of your practice time." Jaemin said quickly.

"Yeah, we'll get out of your way." Hyemi added with another bow.

"No, no dont worry about it!" Said one girl, stepping in front of the others. "Yuta told us that he had brought you guys here to dance and wanted us to come take a look."

Hyemi and Jaemin were shocked, both of them looking past the girl to see Yuta with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Yeah... I didn't exactly have a meeting. Oops"

The other team members just laughed, stepping forward to talk to them and introduce themselves.

"Hi!" Said the first girl who'd stepped up earlier. "I'm Sana! I'm a 4th year like Yuta. That's Momo," she said, pointing to another girl, "she's also a fourth year. This is-"

"Hi! I'm Chaeyoung and I'm a second year, it's great to meet you guys!"

"And I'm Sicheng, the other 3rd year along with Jaehyun." Said a tall boy, nodding over his shoulder to Jaehyun who was staring at the two of them with a cold expression.

"I'm Na Jaemin, can't wait to dance with you guys!"

"And I'm Lee Hyemi."

"Oh yeah, you're Mark and Taeyong's little sister, right?" Momo asked with a smile to which Hyemi nodded. "Makes sense that you're a good dancer, Taeyong is incredible."

"So we've got some time before next period starts." Sicheng said, stepping forward. "Mind if we join you for a dance?"

"You guys wanna dance with us?" Jaemin asked in shock.

"Why not?" Sana said, shrugging off her dance bag. "From what we've seen, you guys are great dancers! You'll fit right in with us! Right, Jaehyun?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"Sure, whatever."

"Great! Go ahead and pick a song." Yuta said happily, all of them putting down their dance bags as Jaemin quickly cued up EXO's Monster.

All 8 of them got into formation as the music begun. Jaehyun took center for most of the song and Hyemi couldn't deny how good he was. His whole energy lifted up the group and made them dance better. 

It was one of the first times Hyemi had dance with such a talented and connected group of people. It was the first time she really felt what it was like to dance with a team. All the members were so good and their whole vibe throughout the song was electric.

By the end of it, all the members hi-fived one another, tossing each other sweat towels and water bottles.

"Yeah, I think you two will fit right in with us." Yuta laughed out, getting nods of agreement from all the other members... even Jaehyun who nodded his head ever so slightly.

"Yeah you guys were great!" Sana added before checking the time on her phone. "Well, we've got to head to class but we'll see you guys after school!" She said picking up her dance bag.

"I'll close down here." Jaehyun said as the others also gathered their things.

"Thanks Jae!" They all called out as they left, leaving Hyemi, Jaehyun, and Jaemin alone in the room.

"I have to run to a meeting before next class, so I hope to see you at our practice!" Jaemin quickly said as he turned to face her.

The two of them hugged one another real quick before he rushed out of the room. Hyemi walked over to grab her bag when she heard Jaehyun clear his throat from behind her.

"So, will we be seeing you at our practice today?"

He was looking down at her with an expressionless glare, one eyebrow cocked as he waited for her response.

"Maybe, maybe not. But I had fun today, thanks for letting me dance with you guys. See you."

He watched her dip her head to him politely before leaving the room, leaving Jaehyun alone.

———
I hope y'all are liking this story so far!

Also, I just released another book, it's a Stray Kids Hyunjin-centered Royalty story called "Save You", so please go and check that out if you're interested!