Author Topic: Story: Carol (Read 40049 times)

Braceface2015 · « **Reply #75 on:** 06. May 2023, 19:09:37 PM »

You've got two chapter 48's.

Sparky · « **Reply #76 on:** 07. May 2023, 21:23:06 PM »

Chapter 50 - Sunday

Whilst they were tired after everything that had happened on the Saturday, they weren't ready for bed when they got back, so the 8 girls spent some fun time working on a few musical ideas... Once more, Paige and Callum filmed things, but it was pretty easy, as no one was particularly moving around. Eventually, they went off to bed.

Carol woke at about 9am feeling surprisingly refreshed, and was surprised to find that she was actually one of the last of them to wake up. Clearly the exercise and excitement from yesterday had made them all sleep well. Knowing that she would be eating well at lunchtime, Carol had a very light breakfast.

By the time they had showered and dressed, Hon Su, his wife, plus Brian and Lisa had arrived, and they all went in the bus to the National Museum, where they were able to have a leisurely walk around. Whilst in concept it was like many other museums filled with 'old stuff', it was more interesting because the 'old stuff' was Asian, rather than European, and so a bit different. Linda and Carol both spent some time looking at the paintings on the second floor. Of course, they all enjoyed looking at the many items of craft and jewellery, inclusing the old crown.

It was a relatively short visit, but gave them an insight to Korea's history and culture.

Korea seems to work earlier than England - which is why their dance lessons started at 8am, but ended at 4... meaning that lunchtime was typically from 12 till 1pm... thus they had to get to their bus by about 11:45, to make it to the restaurant in time. When they got there, it was clear that this was a VERY upmarket restaurant. Mr Park Ben Jin and his wife had only just arrived themselves, and Yu-Eye arrived only minutes later: they were shown into a large private dining room, where there was a long table, with enough seats for all 18 of them!

"Hello everyone!" said Mr Park, "thank you all for coming along, I hope you enjoy the meal!". Mr Park and his wife had taken seats in the middle of one side of the table, and he asked the eight girls to sit close to him, so he could talk to them. The food was, as expected, delicious, and after the 'main course', but before any 'puddings' were brought in, Mr Park spoke to them.

"First of all, congratulations to Ahnjong, Min Jee, Taeyang and Yun Hee, for getting their first number one!" he said. "Then, I need to thank Carol, Jenny, Dianne and Linda - and the rest of you too - for coming over here: not only did jelly Fish make number one, but you ladies added your voices to the song, and made THAT a number one: so congratulations to you all too!". The 4 girls all nodded, indicating their appreciation of the thanks that Mr Park had just said.

"Now, I have a question for you: Carol, I believe it was your suggestion to ask to take some dance lessons: how are the lessons going?"

"Well, I think we are all thoroughly enjoying them. It's hard work, but we have learned a lot, even in just one week!" replied Carol.

"Absolutely," added Jenny, "I'm so glad Carol suggested it.

"Well, I had a talk with the 'Principal' at the school, and he tells me that his teachers have been very impressed with you too. He didn't think you'd take the dance lessons quite so seriously, but it seems you have been working very hard. He also says that the feedback from his teachers and students about your 'msterclasses' has been very positive too. But what he was most excited by was what you've been doing on a lunchtime in the hall... not so much your short performances, but talking with, and inspiring the other students. I think that, because you're all the same sort of age as the students, they are so much more willing to listen to you. So thank you... there is absolutely no doubt that you have already... how do you say it... 'earned your keep'!"

The four girls had big smiles on their faces: things were going very well for everyone.

"Now, I hear you turned down a TV appearance yesterday..."

"Yes, we've been busy since we got here, we need a bit of 'us' time, to sort-of relax, and be tourists for a day!" replied Carol.

"Absolutely, and I support your decision completely. However, we're working on maybe one or two TV appearances for you this next week, I am hoping that you'll be willing to do those? You probably don't realise it, but there has actually been a lot of interest in you all, and that then reflects onto Jelly Fish too: it's all good publicity for us all, and we all win from it!"

"I don't think we'll have a problem with that." said Linda.

"Fine with me too!" said Dianne.

"Thank you. I also need to thank Brian and Lisa for their hard work this week: we have managed to reach a preliminary agreement with your English record company to distribute each others records, which I think will help everyone concerned: I believe they already released your joint version of 'Roller Skates' in England."

"Finally, Yun Hee...". Yun Hee was a bit surprised to be singled out. "With a bit of persuasion from Carol and Jenny, I see you already have your braces! How are they?"

Yun Hee smiled, showing off her metal smile. "Thank you for letting me have them: they are still a bit sore on my cheeks, but I'm getting used to them!"

"That's good news... and it has been good to see the positive comments you've got online: Carol, Jenny, you were absolutely correct in what you said, and I'm so glad you brought it to my attention! So, finally, I just want to thank you all for taking the time at very short notice to come over to Seoul: please enjoy your third week here, next week!" said Mr Park.

With his 'formal speech' done, he turned to the 8 girls. "I hear you are all getting on together very well...." he said.

"Yes, I think we are!" said Linda. "I'm so glad we have been able to stay in the apartment next to them, it has let us spend a lot of time together, something we wouldn't have been able to do if we'd been in a hotel!"

"So, tell me, are you being musically inspired, either by the girls, or by being here in Korea?"

"Well, I certainly have been!" said Linda, "and I'm pretty certain the others have too. Even last night, we were all just messing about, singing and playing..."

"Would you be interested in writing another song for Jelly Fish, or maybe for one of our other groups?"

"A definite possibility. Any idea what sort of song you'd like?"

"Ah, now for that, you need to speak to Yu-Eye, which I'm sure you'll do, as I hear that she has other things that are of interest to you too!"

They all continued talking as they ate their deserts.

"To your liking, Carol?" asked Taeyang as they left the restaurant.

"Absolutely, the food there was excellent. Tell you what, I'm thinking I need to move here, just for the food!" said Carol, laughing.

----

In the end, they decided to walk in the Bukhansan National Park that afternoon, rather than ride bikes. They split into 3 smaller groups, and had a very gentle afternoon, enjoying being surrounded by nature. As they walked around, some people approached them, others were 'looking from a slight distance': in all cases, they took a few minutes out to let them take a few selfies, knowing full well that the publicity would be good for them.

Jenny - who was with Ben, Callum and her parents, and was accompanied by Min Jee - met an English couple on the way, and they chatted with them for some time as they walked. Jenny enjoyed times like this, when she could almost forget she was a pop-star, and just chat with people 'normally'.

(9916)

Sparky · « **Reply #77 on:** 08. May 2023, 16:27:47 PM »

Chapter 51 - a day of many things, including a broken bracket!

In the first week of classes, the girls had run three masterclasses, sharing different bits of their experience: it seemed that these had gone down very well. Today, the Monday of the second week, they had a masterclass just before lunch, which they called 'Stage Etiquette', in which they tried to pass on their experiences they had gained from being on tour. Things like 'remembering the crew's names, if you can', 'don't forget to thank people', and probably most important 'remember that you are part of a team: so, for example, if you upset the sound guy, then expect your sound to be bad!'. The students, none of whom had yet 'debuted' (= had a live performance / had a record released), were grateful to receive these hints and tips. Yes, they would occasionally get visits from 'idols', but this wasn't the sort of thing they usually talked about!

-----

Just as they went for lunch, Jenny got a call from her dad. "Hiya. I've had a call from the radio station that does the chart show..." he said.

"Oh, they wanting us on the chart show AGAIN?"

"No, they are hoping you would like to do a 15 minute or so interview with you in the hour before the show..."

"But we're at class: if we need to go to the studios, it's going to wipe out half the morning and half the afternoon!"

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Dianne, who had overheard the last part of the conversation.

"Oh, the radio station wants to do an interview with us before the chart show tomorrow, and if we go to the studio, we'll miss half our dance classes!"

"So why don't they just come here?" suggested Dianne.

"Hang on, let me put the phone on speaker. Dad, did you hear that?"

"Yes, what you thinking, Dianne?"

"I'm sure we could use a practice room, get the station to send a simple outside broadcast setup, then we can do the interview from here. Maybe have a simple video call to the studio too, so we can see what's happening there..." said Dianne.

"Forget the practice room, we should do it in the main hall, let all the students watch and listen in.... all good training for them to see what goes on..." said Jenny.

"I can see a lot of sense in both those ideas," replied Jenny's dad. "Tell you what, leave it with me, I'll chat with Callum, the radio station, and your 'principal', see what we can do... nice idea there ladies!"

-----

"Oh, damn it!" said Jenny. The four girls were by now having lunch in the 'school canteen'.

"What's wrong?" asked Linda.

"I think I just broke off a bracket...". Jenny put a finger into her mouth to have a feel. "Yup, I've got a loose bracket... damn it!"

"Well, I know an ortho you could go to!" said Carol.

"Yeah, I'll have to get it fixed, it'd be at least a week before I'd be able to get it fixed back home. I'll give Yun Hee a call after lunch..."

After they finished eating, and before they went into the hall, Jenny called Yun Hee, and explained she needed to see the ortho, and could she, please, please, please, organise an appointment.

As with every other lunchtime, they went into the hall, and they decided that Carol and Linda would use a couple of acoustic guitars to sing the song they had sung for the open-mic night the previous week. The other students were pleasantly surprised to hear something quite different, and after they had played it, Carol suggested that they would just answer any questions that anyone had, which kinda kept the whole event much lower key than on previous lunchtimes.

They also suggested that there MIGHT be something a bit special happening on the Tuesday lunchtime...

Jenny got a call back from Yun Hee: she had arranged that Ji-Ho would collect the six of them after classes as normal, but would take them to the ortho, where Bong-Cha would be able to fix her broken bracket.

Just after 4, when they finished for the day, Ji-Ho was waiting for them outside with the nice limo: even though they had seen it before, a lot of the students were taking notice, and weren't actually THAT surprised to find that it was for the 6 English visitors.

"Hello!" said Ji-Ho. "I hear you need to go to the orthodontist again, but for you this time?"

"Yes, one of the brackets fell off my teeth, I need to get it fixed." replied Jenny as they got into the car.

"That's annoying: I had braces as a teen, and I remember losing a couple of brackets." commented Ji-Ho.

"You had braces? Cool! Anything special?" asked Jenny.

"No, just simple metal brackets.... Hey, is it any easier having braces when you're an adult?"

"Yes, I think it is. Hey Carol, what do you think?"

"Well, like you, I had braces as a teen, but I didn't really enjoy them, probably all the comments from the other kids didn't help. When I recently had to get a replacement retainer - one of my teeth had moved a bit - it wasn't a big deal at all... so yeah, I think it's a LOT easier as an adult. But that's true for so many things, even simple stuff, like having glasses."

"Well," said Dianne, "I'm impressed that Yun Hee was able to get you an appointment so quickly!"

"Funnily, that's almost exactly what I said to her. She just quoted back some song lyrics..."

"Oh, what lyrics?" asked Dianne.

"'Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?' Not really quite sure what she was on about though. Also said something about 'Bruce will probably know'. Anyway, all that really matters is that I got an appointment."

The traffic was busy today, so it took about 20 minutes to get to the orthodontist's office: Jenny loved the name: 'Sunshine Smiles Orthodontist'!

"I'll wait down here for you..." said Ji-Ho. As they all got out of the car, Carol realised that this was actually the first time they had been somewhere and done something in Seoul without someone else being with them, someone who could act as a translator. It was a bit of a scary feeling. Of course, having been here a few days before, they knew where they were going, so it wasn't quite so bad.

"Ah, I assume one of you is Jenny." said the receptionist as the six of them walked in.

"Yes, that's me! I'm here to see... Bong-Cha?"

"Yes, that is correct, please, go and sit in the waiting room, she will be with you soon.".

"Oooh, this is a nice place, better than the old place I went to when I had braces" said Dianne as they all walked into the waiting room. "Yes, VERY nice... clearly not NHS!"

"You know, I have no idea if they do free braces for kids here in Korea, but this place is definitely private!" replied Carol. "Actually, Jenny's ortho has a quite nice office - but he's private too!"

"So, do you think this ortho lady will be ok with me videoing you?" Paige asked Jenny. Paige had brought up the main bag with the cameras in.

"I'm not sure, but I suspect she'll be ok. Leave it with me, I'll ask her"

It wasn't long before Bong-Cha came in to the waiting room. "Oh, I wasn't expecting so many of you!" she commented. "Hello again, Jenny, I believe you have a broken bracket?"

"Yes, I do. Maybe I should introduce everyone?" said Jenny, explaining who everyone was. "So, Paige is filming the band while we're here in Korea: would you mind if she filmed us while you fix my bracket?"

"That shouldn't be a problem. Come on through... there's space for you all, if you want to come and watch!"

Mishil got a pleasant surprise as they all walked in.

"Hello again, Mishil!" said Carol, who happened to remember her name. "We're all here today..." and she introduced Dianne and Linda. "This is Paige, she's going to be filming what's happening, and Callum, well, he's Jenny's brother, and does all the tech stuff for us, and is helping Paige!"

"So, it would be good to get the whole thing, so where's a good place for me to be, with a tripod?"

"If you go just THERE, that will give enough space for Mishil to get to me." While Paige set up one of the main cameras, Callum got a couple of GoPros out too, giving one to Jenny, the other to Carol. "Just turn them on, leave them running, and point as needed!" he explained.

The rest of the team stood back, out of the way.

"So," said Jenny to camera, "I broke one of my brackets off at lunchtime, so we've come to Sunshine Smiles Orthodontist to get it fixed... it's the same place where Yun Hee came to get her braces." Jenny turned, and the camera followed her: "This is Bong-Cha, she's my orthodontist today, and Mishil is her assistant.... so, shall we do this?"

"Of course. Jenny, please sit in the treatment chair." Paige followed Jenny as she sat in the chair, and Bong-Cha reclined the seet back. "So, where is the bracket that came off?" Jenny pointed, and Paige zoomed in, as Bong-Cha's finger touched then moved the disconnected bracket. "Have you had a bracket come off before?" she asked.

"Yes, I lost one at the beginning of my treatment, but nothing since."

"Ah, good, so you know what I'll need to do.... I guess I ought to explain for the camera... I'll start by taking off all of Jenny's upper ligatures, then remove the archwire. I'll need to clean the tooth, to make sure there's no old glue there, then I'll need to find a new matching bracket, and glue that on. Then I'll replaces the archwire, and put on new ligatures... you ready to start, Jenny?"

"Yes, go on...."

Mishil passed Bong-Cha some lip-spreaders, pretty much the same as Jenny's ortho in London used, and put it into Jenny's mouth. Carol was next to Jenny, and used her GoPro to get some close-up pictures of Jenny's mouth. Bong-Cha very quickly used a long pointed tool to remove the ligatures from Jenny's top teeth, then pulled out the archwire, with the broken brackets still on it.

"Jenny, if you like, I could change your lower ligatures to match the new top ones - these ones are already a little stained."

"Uh hu!" grunted Jenny, also nodding. No more than a minute later, Jenny's lower ligs and archwire had also been removed. Bong-Cha removed the lip spreaders.

"Would you like to brush your teeth while the archwires are out?"

"Do you have floss?"

"Yes, of course."

"In that case, definitely!!!". Bong-Cha pressed the button to bring the chair back to a sitting position, so Jenny could get out. She got her toothbrush and paste from her bag, then went to the sink, where Mishil gave her the floss.

Callum was there with the second camera, so Jenny turned to it. "If you've ever had braces, you'll understand what a joy it is to be able to floss your teeth normally! Normally the archwire is in the way, and you end up either threading the floss through yout braces, or use a tiny brush thing. Back home, I have a water pic, and that's great, but NOTHING beats having a proper floss like this!" said Jenny enthusiastically.

As Jenny enjoyed flossing, then brushing, her teeth, Callum stood back a bit: if this bit was included in a program, the viewers probably wouldn't be wanting to see all the gory details!

Finally, and with a large smile on her face, Jenny turned again to Callum, and the camera: "That feels so good!". Callum managed to get a great shot of Jenny's teeth, with metal brackets but no archwires or ligatures. There was, of course, one tooth with a missing bracket.

While Jenny was brushing her teeth, Bong-Cha had found a suitable bracket. As Jenny sat down, she explained: "It's not identical, but close enough".

"Why can't you just re-attach the old bracket" asked Paige.

"It's not easy to remove all the old glue from the bracket: in this case, the glue fractured on the surface of the tooth, leaving it all on the bracket. So, we use a new one, they aren't particularly expensive." Bong-Cha held the two brackets up for Jenny to see, and Carol used her camera to try and get a good shot. "It's not perfect, but it's very close - are you ok with that, Jenny?"

"It looks close enough to me, and I doubt anyone will notice... well, apart from maybe Ben!"

Jenny lay back in the chair once more, and had the lip spreader fitted again. "So, first of all, a good clean: I'm sure Jenny already brushed well, we need to do it a bit better!" With a small brush and some paste, she gave the surface of the naked tooth a good clean, then rinsed it well. "Next I etch the tooth surface: that gives the tooth a microscopically rough surface, to make sure the glue will stay on this time!"

"Whose fault is it, when a bracket comes off?" asked Paige.

"I never blame anyone, it just happens. Jenny probably accidentally hit it or bit on something. The glue may have already been starting to fail, maybe the tooth wasn't prepared properly originally, it's hard to tell. Some kids get all upset and worried because a bracket has come off... they shouldn't, it happens, and whilst it takes a few minutes to fix, it's not normally a big deal. Of course, if someone's not being sensible about what they eat, that's something different, but it doesn't happen often!" While she was speaking, she had been etching the tooth, rinsing it, and had just put some glue onto the tooth. She picked up the replacement bracket, and placed it on the tooth. Before using the UV lamp to cure the glue, she inserted the archwire. "I just want to make sure the bracket is in exactly the right place, the archwire will make sure it is." she explained.

All the while, there were three cameras pointed at her mouth: Paige's, Carol's, and the one that Jenny had. Getting her bracket fixed would probably be the best documented bit of the whole trip!

Bong-Cha removed some excess glue, then used the blue-light wand to cure the glue on the bracket, then double-checked that it was fixed firmly.

"So," said Carol, "I reckon you should have the same ligs that Yun Hee has... That way, you can be braces buddies!". Jenny tried to laugh, but it was difficult with the lip spreaders in, but she nodded enthusiastically, and gave a thumbs up too.

Mishil remembered the colours Yun He had, and got them out. Everyone watched as best they could as Jenny had a set of bright neon-coloured ligatures put onto her braces.

"What do you think guys?" asked Jenny moments later, when her lip-spreaders had been removed.

Jenny got her phone out, took a picture, which she posted online: "New bracket, and new ligs! I hope you like the look! Off to see my braces-buddy, Yun Hee!"

(9999)

Sparky · « **Reply #78 on:** 10. May 2023, 01:16:52 AM »

Chapter 52 - A bit more time at the ortho

"Your treatment is going well, Jenny!" said Bong-Cha, "I'm guessing maybe another six months to go?"

"Yes, about that!" replied Jenny. "They are a lot better than they were, but there's still a few tiny things that aren't yet right." Jenny got out of the treatment chair, and joined the others.

"While you are here, it would be very remiss of me to not offer to take a quick look at the teeth of the rest of you... Ok, I won't be able to treat you, but it might encourage you to go to an orthodontist when you get home..." suggested Bong-Cha. "Carol, why don't I start with you?"

"Well, my teeth are fine, my ortho - ok, well really Jenny's ortho - said so. But I don't mind you taking a look! I guess I'd better take my retainer out..."

Carol took out her retainers, sat in the big seat, and Bong-Cha reclined it back. "So, you recently had treatment?"

"No, it was several years ago, as a teenager, but recently I spotted on tooth had moved a tiny bit, that's why I got the new retainers: I broke my old ones!"

"May I see your retainer?" asked Bong-Cha. Carol passed them to her. "Ah, I see, so your ortho used a spring to move your canine back into position....". Bong-Cha fitted Carol with a lip-spreader, and spent a minute quickly looking at Carols teeth, asking her to bite, and move them.

"Yes, your teeth look really good! You've looked after them well, and I would say that canine is back in it's proper place again. I'm glad you went to see someone to get that fixed! And I don't think I need to tell you about wearing your retainer, do I?"

Carol got out of the seat. "Go on, Linda... get in the chair!"

"Oh, all right!". Of course, Linda had never needed braces as a teen, so had never been checked out by an ortho before. With Linda now lying back, Bong-Cha asked if she had ever had braces, to be told that she hadn't.

"In that case, I'll have a better look at your teeth...". With a fresh lip-spreader inserted, and Linda now lying back, Bong-Cha carefully looked at her teeth. A few minutes later, she sat her up again, and removed the lip spreader. "You are very lucky, Linda, you have very good teeth, and they are naturally lined up well. Yes, there are maybe one or two very minor things that could be done, but if you are happy with them, I'd leave them as they are, they seem to be very stable. So, who wants to be next?"

"That will be Dianne..." suggested Carol. Dianne, didn't move. She knew that her teeth - specifically her lower front teeth, had relapsed: her lower wisdom teeth finally started to errupt about 3 years ago, and had clearly moved her lower teeth a bit. "Go on, Dianne, it won't hurt..."

Whilst Dianne was rather apprehensive - her memories of her treatment as a teen were not good - she realised that she couldn't ignore the problem forever, so reluctantly sat in the chair. "Before you ask: I had a load of braces when I was about 12, pretty much everything I could have had. By the time I was about 15, they were fine, and they were fine until my wisdom teeth came though....". As she was explaining, Bong-Cha reclined the chair.

With yet another lip spreader inserted, Bong-Cha could see that whilst her upper teeth were generally ok, her lowers were suffering a lack of space, and had started to twist. "Yes, as you say, your top teeth aren't too bad, but these lower front ones are a bit crowded. I know you won't want to hear this, but you really should visit an orthodontist when you return to England, and have this treated. The first thing is that you'll need your third molars removing, and then you'll need braces... it might be that you can get this fixed with invisible aligners... I guess it depends if you want to be like Jenny and Yun Hee or not!"

Bong-Cha turned to Callum - Paige was still behind the camera - "would you like me to check yours?"

"Why not" he replied. As he sat in the chair, he explained that he had never had braces before, and whilst his teeth weren't 100% perfect, he was ok with them, and they never seemed to have moved at all. Bong-Cha, lay him back, and with lip-spreaders inserted, examined him, asking him to bite, and move his teeth left and right, then forwards and backwards.

"As you said, they aren't quite perfect, but if you're happy with them, I'd leave them as they are: as you say, they are all in nice stable positions, and your jaws are big enough that your third molars don't seem to be causing you any issues."

"Well, that just leaves you, Paige, want to be checked out?" said Callum, as he got out of the chair. "Pass the camera to me...".

"I'd actually rather you didn't film me..."

"Ok, I don't think we actually NEED to film your check-up, do we?". Paige sat in the chair, and opened her mouth: she had a lovely set of whiter-than-average straight teeth.

Without being prompted, she explained her history: "I had brackets, but before that I had a twin blocks for a bit. I still have clear retainers, and wear them twice a week at night, and they still fit ok!"

Bong-Cha hardly spent any time at all checking her teeth: if her retainers still fitted her well, then her teeth would be as good as they looked!

(10141)

Sparky · « **Reply #79 on:** 15. May 2023, 17:00:05 PM »

Chapter 53 - Dinner, fans and a new fun song

"Hey, Yun Hee, come take a look - Jenny has matching ligs to you now! You're officially braces-buddies now!" called Carol as they walked into the Jelly Fish apartment. Paige had guessed that something fun would happen, so her camera was all ready. Jenny smiled, then so did Yun Hee: whilst slightly differently arranged, their lig colours were the same.

Yun Hee high-fived Jenny: "Yay, braces buddies!" said Yun Hee. "Where's my phone?" she asked noone in particular.

"Here..." said Ahnyong, picking it up and taking it over to her.

Yun Hee unlocked the phone, then took a selfie of the two of them: she had learnt well from Jenny about making lots of fun posts online.

Pictures taken, Jenny went to Ben, kissed him, and let him have a look. "Yes, definitely bright, probably the brightest you've ever had. But they DO look good!"

"So, what's the plans for dinner then?" asked Carol.

"Well....." answered Taeyang, "I believe Brian and Lisa are going out with Hon Su and his wife again, so it's just the 12 of us. We definitely need to eat out, there's no-one coming in to cook tonight. Ah, yes, Do-yun and Ha-ru will be with us again too, just in case...."

"I have an idea, how about we go to Myeongdong?" suggested Ahnjong.

"Yes, we must take them to Myeongdong!" replied Min Jee.

"What's at Myeongdong then?" asked Carol.

"Well, as well as a load of shops that are open till late, there's all sorts of places to eat... Let's go there, and decide what to do when we're there, shall we?". Taeyang called their driver to let him know their plans.

"Umm, we're likely to be recognised if we go there," commented Yun Hee, "so I guess we need to plan in some time for that?"

"Yay, Yun Hee, I'm proud of you, you're starting to think like us!" said Jenny. "So, thinking out loud... an hour or so to eat. Food places close when?"

"Mostly around 10pm..." replied Yun Hee.

"Sounds like there should be plenty of time, let's get there and eat, and then look around and meet with any fans after that? I'm kinda in the mood to chat with some of our fans...."

They were ready surprisingly quickly, and their bus took them to Myeongdong. As ever, they told their bus driver what sort of time they would be needing to return, and that they would call him in plenty of time. As they got off the bus, Yun Hee grabbed the guitar they had decided to bring with them, and put it over her back.

For a change, Callum and Paige decided not to take the larger cameras, instead taking all the Go-Pros, keeping one each, and passing others to Ben, Mike, and Carol. "There's plenty of battery and storage, so just turn them on and film everything..." said Paige.

Rather than just find a restaurant, they decided to try out different bits of street food as they wandered around. Ok, maybe not quite so 'up-market' as eating in a restaurant, but it was fun and it was different, and much of it certainly looked a lot healthier than what you might find in an equivalent English market!

"Oh, my goodness, guys, you HAVE to try some of this!" said Carol, who had just bought 'something' on a skewer. "It's amazing!"

There was one stall selling what was clearly grilled squid, but none of the English visitors were brave enough to try it. "It's actually quite tasty". Dianne went for a fish dish. Taeyang had a sausage on a skewer, that had a spiral-cut potato on it, all in batter and fried.

"What's that then?" Carol asked Ahnjong.

"It's called 'Bindaetteok'... it's a sort of 'bean pancake, this one has onions and prawns in, and the sauce is just onions and soy sauce... try some!" Everyone enjoyed trying bits of each others food.

Having eaten quite a bit of savoury food, they decided it was time for some sort of desert. Having found a stall that did ice-cream, Carol asked Taeyang to explain a couple of things that were of offer.

"Well, this one is called "Ice cream honeycomb bungeoppang". The Bungeoppang bit is the pastry bit that holds the icecream," (what we might call the 'cone'), "On the top is raw... I think you call it 'honeycomb'".

"Yup, I'm having one of those!" said Paige. As the stall-holder made it, she filmed it on her camera. "Wow! It's lovely!!" she said. Next they found a stall doing churros, so a couple of them had churros with ice cream. Jenny got something called a 'Hotteok', a strange sort of fluffy pancake, hers had sesame seeds and syrup inside it. Callum got a ice cream filled waffle, while Ben tried a sweet bread, in the shape of a turtle, and Dianne bought some doughballs made of rice, and apparently made with wine.

"Hold on a moment..." said Jenny. She had just spotted a stall selling those typically Korean coloured biscuits with a creamy filling. "Let's buy a load, and give them to any fans who join us." So far, probably because they were walking around the food market, they hadn't actually been approached by any fans (and part of that was probably because Do-yun and Ha-ru were doing their job - they had quickly learnt how to be very discrete in what they needed to do).

"So, what next?" asked Linda.

"I think we should find somewhere we can sit down, have a drink, and let some of our fans meet us." suggested Jenny. Min Jee and Taeyang had a word with Do-yun and Ha-ru, who seemed to be fairly familiar with the area.

"There's a bar not far from here, has a large seating area outside, sounds just right."

"Well, Min Jee, your idea of coming here was great!" said Linda as they got to the bar.

"Absolutely, the food here has been such fun, so many different things, and they just look amazing! Well, maybe not the squid...".

At the bar, they all sat down: it wasn't long before a girl came over to see what drinks they wanted.

"What's the stuff in small green bottles called?" Carol asked Taeyang.

"Oh, you mean Soju..."

"Yeah, that's the one, I'll have that!". Whilst the two security guys, Do-yun and Ha-ru, had soft drinks, the rest had either soju or beer. It didn't take long for the drinks to come. Carol took the top off her bottle, and was about to pour it, when Taeyang stopped her.

"Carol, you can't do that!" said Taeyang.

"Why not?"

"Manners. Tradition. Give it to me....". Teayang took the bottle from her, and poured it for her, and passed her the glass. "You see, you're not allowed to pour your own drink. Oh, and never drink the whole glass unless you want it refilling... just leave a little in it. And you drink the first shot like this..." Teayang took her glass in both her hands, turned sideways, and drank the whole shot.

"Ah, ok, in that case, would you like another?" asked Carol. Carol had noticed that Taeyang had used two hands to hold the bottle, so she did the same. Taeyang smiled.

"You're learning our drinking rules quickly!"

Having had their first glass of soju, Carol spoke to Taeyang. "Look, surely the owners of this place will not be too pleased if fans come and sit here with us, but don't buy drinks.... I have an idea." Taeyang and Carol went inside, and had a word with the owner: Carol would buy their fans drinks, so please ask them what they would like, and Carol would pay.

"That might cost a bit, you ok with that?"

"Look, you guys, or should I really say 'FY' have been paying for pretty much everything so far, so it's NOT a problem!" They went back outside, and after explaining to the others, Carol picked up the guitar. "Hey, anyone got their recorder with them?". No one did, so she got out one of her phones, and started recording. "Hey, you probably want to start the GoPro's too!". Carol started strumming the guitar, she clearly had a melody in mind. She paused, took another drink of soju, then continued.

"Braces buddies, braces buddies, Yun Hee and Jenny are braces buddies...." she started to sing, much to the delight of everyone. She repeated the same words. "Neon ligatures and silver brackets, they are braces buddies....". By now, both Yun Hee and Jenny were smiling, showing off their matching shiny multicoloured smiled. Carol played a bit more, as she tried to think of more words.

"Hey, pass the guitar over here!" said Jenny, who started to play a tune very similar to Carol's. "Braces buddies, braces buddies, Yun Hee and Jenny are braces buddies...." sang Carol and Jenny. "Neon ligatures and silver brackets, they are braces buddies....".

"She's my buddy, with the same sort of braces, all nice and shiny, with silly bright colours..." sang Yun Hee, joining in the fun. A few minutes later, Yun Hee took the guitar, and tried out the tune, tweaking it a little more, with many of the girls joining in the singing. By now, a few passers-by had stopped, and were looking at them, one had taken their phone out, and was videoing them. At a suitable point, Yun Hee stopped playing. "Come on over, and join us!" she said to them.

Two girls came over, rather hesitantly. "Are you.....?"

"I'm Yun Hee, this is Jenny, and that's Carol......".

The girls bowed. "I'm Jae, this is Binna... So you ARE Jelly Fish?"

"Yes, and these are the girls from England, CJDL." said Yun Hee, pointing. "Come, sit down, and have a drink with us..... She turned to the others who were still standing and looking - about 6 or 8 of them: "Do come over and join us!". They were clearly rather surprised: how often does a number one pop group ask you to join them?

Some of them came over, and spoke to Yun Hee in Korean. She smiled, and turning to Carol said "I explained that they need to have a drink, and that YOU are paying!".

"Thank you!" said the group of four to Carol.

"So, you like our new song?"

"Yes, it is nice... when did you write it?"

"About 5 minutes ago, as I played the guitar!"

As more of their fans came along, the original group spread out a bit onto other tables, making space.

"Carol! Jenny!" said a voice that they both recognised. "What are YOU guys doing here in Myeongdong?"

"Nabi! I could ask you the same! The girls brought us here to have dinner, and we thought it would be fun to meet some of our and their fans! Come and have a drink with us!" replied Carol, getting up and giving Nabi a quick hug.

"OMG, did you just say Nabi?" said Dianne. "Hey, is she stalking us?"

"This is my friend, Sook, she's the one I went to the Park Festival with..."

"Ah, ok... hi there, Sook, nice to meet you!"

"Nabi told me all about you guys!" said Sook.

"Good stuff, I hope?" said Carol with a smile.

Slowly the whole seated area outside the bar / cafe filled up, so a total of around 50 or 60 people. Everyone seemed to be very relaxed, probably because it was evening, and everyone there was over 18. As people chatted, our girls tried to move around a bit, giving as many people as possible the chance to meet them.

Linda ended up with a small group around her, while she worked on some words for the braces song that Jenny had started earlier.

And Carol enjoyed drinking the Soju... in fact, she was getting a little 'tipsy'. We can tell that from the texts she sent Tom. Whilst they started off as 'having a great time drinking with a load of fans here in Seoul', they turned to 'wish you were here...' and 'missing you!'.

"Ok, let's give this song a go!" said Linda. She started strumming the guitar, then sang the words she had written down:

'Braces Buddies, they are braces buddies... Yun Hee and Jenny are braces buddies... with matching metal braces.... and matching neon colours... they are a pair of braces buddies'. There was a short chorus, and a second verse too, and once they got going, loads of others joined in on the 'Braces Buddies' bits! At the end, she got a well deserved round of applause.

Carol stood up. "Nice one, Linda. Now, I'm thinking that we should all sing a song... if only there was a song that everyone knew... it's a shame we don't have a song in the charts..... half a moment, we DO have a song in the charts!" Everyone laughed. "Ok, so how about we... and by we, I mean us four in CJDL, how about we sing the first verse, the girls from Jelly Fish can sing the second verse, we can all sing the third verse, and as for the choruses... EVERYONE can join in with those!" Linda passed the guitar over to Carol, who started strumming. Paige, Callum, Mike and Ben had started recording on their GoPro's, all from different angles.

"Ok, ladies, are we ready?". Carol, Jenny, Dianne and Linda sang the first verse. Ahnjong, Min Jee, Taeyang and Yun Hee sang the second verse, all eight of them did the third verse, with almost everyone joining in on the choruses. At the end there was a lot of clapping and cheering.

When the noise died down, Nabi stood up, and spoke in both English and Korean.. "Hi everyone, I'm Nabi: I used to go to college with Carol and Jenny and Dianne, in England - they did music, I did maths, but we got on pretty well despite that! I actually bumped into Carol the weekend before last, and ended up spending the evening with everyone: and what a lovely bunch of girls and guys they are! I suspect that some of you aren't quite sure who everyone is, so maybe I should introduce them.... So, over here is Carol: a big thank you to Carol, coz I believe she's paying for our drinks tonight!!". A big cheer went up. "That's Jenny, and her boyfriend Ben. Then there's Dianne and her boyfriend... erm... Mike! Then we have Linda, the newest girl in the group, she was in the year below us. Over there, with cameras, is Callum - he's Jenny's little brother - and Paige: they both work for the band, and they are putting together something that might become a TV program about their visit here. And then, of course, we have Ahnjong, Min Jee, Taeyang and Yun Hee, who are the members of Jelly Fish!"

Nabi paused for a few seconds as people clapped. "Anyway, I just want to say 'thank you' to them for tonight, I don't know about you, but I've had a great time.. so thank you!!" Nabi bowed at the various girls.

"Actually, you missed two of our team!" said Taeyang, standing up. "Over there is Do-yun and Ha-ru, they are our 'security guys', but you have all been so well behaved that all they've had to do is sit and drink coffees!!! Guys, thanks for coming with us tonight, it's good to know you're here if we need you!." She turned back to their fans again: "But thank YOU all for sitting with us, we've had a great time chatting with you, and it's been so relaxed too. Before meeting the girls from England, I don't think any of us would have even thought about doing something like this, but yeah, it's been good. I guess all that's now left to do is pay the drinks bill!"

Taeyang went in with a tipsy Carol to pay the bill. "There's a lot of zero's there!" said Carol, looking at the bill. "Luckily I can remember that 1000 Won is under a pound, so I know it's really not that bad!"

----

"You ok there, Carol?" asked Linda.

"Yeah, I got a bit tipsy last night, didn't I?" said Carol looking at her phone.

"Yes, you did, but you behaved yourself ok... what's the problem?" Carol passed her phone over, and Linda looked at the texts that Carol had sent to Tom, and started to giggle. "Ah, yes, right.... definitely texts sent whilst drunk!"

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Sparky · « **Reply #80 on:** 15. May 2023, 22:47:00 PM »

Chapter 54

The four girls were in their dance class, so was Callum, although Paige wasn't, she had gone out to the toilet.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a guy (well, he could have been a girl!) came in: he wore a hoody, and had a mask over his face. In fact, the only parts of him that were visible were his hand and his eyes. The scariest bit was what he had in his hands: he had two small guns.

He shouted something in Korean. All the Korean students, and their teacher, went down onto the floor. He shouted something else, this time more angrily, then, without warning, fired shots at our four girls who hadn't understood what had been said, and were still standing. Jenny fell straight down, and they fired more shots at the others: this time, being closer, they hit their targets.

All four members of CJDL lay on the floor, with blood <redacted>, appearing to be very dead.

Callum, seeing what had just happened, shouted out, and he too was shot <redacted>, falling to the ground.

Paige was about 20 feet behind the guy, and was actually standing in the doorway - about to walk into the room - when the first shots rang out. She momentarily froze, then took a step back, and a couple of steps to the side, making sure that there was solid wall between her and the guy with the gun.

As she stood there shaking, she heard a second set of shots, then soon after that a third. She fell down on the floor, feeling very sick.

Whilst the room was sound-proofed, the gunshots were quite audible from outside, and other students ran off: the good news is that about 2 minutes later, 2 security guards arrived, with guns in their hands.

"There's a man in there with a gun...." sobbed Paige. The two guards looked at each other. One got ready to shoot, the other got ready to open the door for the first guard. Another shot rang out, this time from the guard's gun....

----

On the far side of the hallway was a man who looked to be in his 20s, reasonably tall, short red hair and a beard. Dressed in jeans and some sort of polo top, and actually not all that bad looking. On his back he had a rucksack, and he had something large on his left wrist.

"Oh, sh*t!" he said, "Not in THIS version of the storyverse too?" He pressed the yellow button on the piece of kit he had attached to his left wrist, and promptly vanished.

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Sparky · « **Reply #81 on:** 03. June 2023, 21:34:55 PM »

Chapter 54 (again!)

"Boy, am I happy to see you guys!" said Paige. She had just walked out of her bedroom, to find Carol and Linda in the lounge area.

"What do you mean?"

"I just had a terrible dream. You were at dance class, I'd just gone to the loo, and when I came back, this guy walked into the dance studio... he had two guns, and he shot you all d.....". Paige felt bad just thinking about it. "Then I saw this guy, in his 20s, reasonably tall, short red hair and a beard. Dressed in jeans and some sort of polo top, and actually not all that bad looking. And he pressed something on his wrist, and just disappeared..."

"When you say a guy with red hair and a beard, not like that guy who just appeared over there?" said Carol, rather surprised.

Paige turned. "Yeah, just like.... what the F***?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Bruce, and I must say that I'm also very happy to see that you guys are alive too..."

"What the hell are you doing here, in our apartment? And how come you were in my dream?"

Bruce held his hands up, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. "Ok, first question first. This thing on my wrist, it takes me between story-verses, and more recently, multiverses. I just left another story-verse, and it brought me here. The second question... your dream: how did they all die? Was it poison gas, a bomb, a guy with a bazooka, or a guy with guns?"

"A guy with guns... " said Paige, very confused.

"Yeah, that's where I just came from. I adjusted my 'gizmo' - the thing on my wrist that lets me jump - and since then I've been jumping between different versions of the same story."

"Stories? What are you on about?" asked Carol. It was just then that Ben, disturbed by the noise, came out of his bedroom.

"Who on earth are you?" he asked the red-headed guy.

"Hi, I'm Bruce, although some people call me 'The Story Wanderer'."

"The Story Wanderer.... why does that sound familiar?" Ben thought a moment. "Hey, do you know Danny?"

"Yeah, I met a Danny a bit ago... has a girlfriend who's a bigwig lawyer? You know him?"

"Yeah, he said something about you.... so why you here?"

"Ben, what you talking about?" asked Carol.

"Oh, you know Danny, Amanda's boyfriend. He met Bruce several months ago, although I did find it hard to believe his story. As I understand it, Bruce is on some sort of never-ending journey through the multiverse, or something...."

"Close. I started off travelling through the multiple story-verses, but recently it's been different version of the same story-verse."

"Story-verses?"

"Yeah, we don't really exist, this is just a story. And there's loads of other stories out there too."

"Oh, come one, you don't expect me to believe that do you?"

"Ok, let me see if I can show you... you got a laptop or a tablet?". Paige picked up her laptop which was on the table, and turned it on. "Ok, search for 'bracesforum.net'"...

"Yeah, got it...."

"Ok, go into the 'General' section, and do a search for 'Asian Braces 2'.. you'll probably need to go to the second or third page of the story before Danny meets Amanda... Hang on a moment, you said you're Ben?"

"Yeah, that's me?"

"You're going out with a girl in a band called..... starts with a 'J' I think..."

"Jenny.. what about her?"

"She proposed to you on stage, didn't she? And Danny and Amanda were there too...?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Go to the end of that story...."

Ben went to the last page, then back one.... Chapter 73, 'The gig'. It described EXACTLY the night that Jenny proposed to him, from Danny's perspective. It also described what happened backstage, after the gig.

"No way!!!"

"I'm sorry to have to tell you that we are all no more than characters in a story."

"In that case, where's OUR story then?"

"Ah, your story will only be there in OTHER story-verses, you're LIVING this story, if you see what I mean. So, back to where I came in: you're all still alive and unharmed it seems. Would I be right in saying that it's early Tuesday morning?"

"Yeah..."

"Ah, good, it hasn't happened yet then..."

"What hasn't happened?" asked Linda.

"You four girls in the band getting killed....". The blood drained out of Linda's face.

"Maybe I ought to tell you about my dream I had, then Bruce can fill us in." suggested Paige. "You four and Callum were in the dance studio, I had gone to the loo. As I came back, there was this guy in front of me, he went into the studio, while I was in the doorway. He shouted something in Korean, then before I knew it, he was shooting at you. Jenny went straight down, the rest of you were hit. I kinda quickly backed out of the doorway, and collapsed on the floor. Then there were more shots, then soon after two guards came and killed the guy, but it was too late, you four looked like you were dead, Callum was injured. And I saw Bruce over the other side of the hallway, then he suddenly disappeared, and that's when I woke up."

"Yeah, pretty much what I just saw. In the other versions, he came in with a small poison gas cannister, a bazooka gun, and a bomb - seemed to not be worried about killing himself. I wonder what he'll try to do today? I don't think it's anything personal, he was just wanting to 'do something' and in the last story-verse - the one that Paige dreamed about - you just happened to be in his line of fire.

At least we can do something to stop it today...."

"What's going on out h..... oh, who on EARTH is this?" asked Jenny, as she came out of the bedroom.

"I think maybe we need to get everyone out here, and explain what's going on." suggested Ben.

After Bruce explained everything, he added a simple question: "Hey, in every other place I've been, there's always been a link to braces, and someone who likes them. So my question is: which of you is it that has a thing for braces. Bruce wasn't the only one to get a surprise, when four hands went up.

----

Bruce watched on as 'the guy' walked in the front door of the academy. Bruce nodded at the small 'Special Operations Team' who were nearby to let them know that this was their target.

Moments later, the guy was surrounded by three members of that team, all pointing automatic rifles at him. "On the floor! arms and legs apart!". He quickly did as he was told. A fourth member of the team searched him, finding a couple of poison gas grenades in his small rucksack. Moments later his arms and legs were tied with zip ties, and he was carried away by the team: crisis averted in less than a minute.

Bruce walked over to the studio where everyone was waiting. "You're all ok, they got him..."

"Thanks Bruce!" said Paige, giving him a hug.

"Glad I was able to help. Look, I hope you all won't mind if I don't hang around, I get a feeling that I should be somewhere else....". He held up his left arm, then pressed the green button on the small bit of equipment strapped to his wrist: a couple of lights flashed briefly. Then he pressed the Yellow button. Moments later he had disappeared....

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Sparky · « **Reply #82 on:** 04. June 2023, 19:14:38 PM »

Chapter 54 (again again!)

"Hey, Paige, wake up!" said Linda, "You must have forgotten to set your alarm.

Paige jumped out of her bed, and hugged Carol. "Oh, Carol, thank goodness you're ok!" Carol looked very confused - mainly because she WAS confused. "I just had the weirdest of dreams, it felt SO real. In fact, I had a dream in my dream... ". Paige started to explain about it.

"I thought *I* was the only one who had too much to drink last night!"

"No, I didn't get drunk. Ok, hang on a moment...." Paige picked up her tablet that was charging next to her bed, went to the 'bracesform.net' website, and looked for the same story that she'd looked up in her dream: it was there, exactly the same as before. "Hey, you know the band's copyright lawyer, don't you? Amanda, and her boyfriend Danny? They were at Wembley when Jenny proposed.... Just read this..."

"No way!" said Carol when she'd read it. "Hey, did you say the guy in your dream was 'The Story Wanderer'? Take a look 3 stories above...."

Paige looked: the story was called 'The Story Wanderer'. She turned to Carol: "Hey, a quick question: do you REALLY have a thing for braces?"

Carol's face went a noticeable deep pink colour....

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Sparky · « **Reply #83 on:** 04. June 2023, 19:17:11 PM »

Chapter 54 (the REAL Chapter 54!) - New dance routine?

"Hello there, Min Jee..." said Paige. It was late-morning on the Tuesday, and the girls were still in their in dancing classe.

"Hi Paige, I thought it better to ring you, in case the girls were busy. Are any of them free?"

"Yeah, let me put you on speaker and take you to them. Guys, it's Min Jee on the phone, wants a word with you..."

"Hi Min Jee... Carol here..."

"Oh, hi Carol! We've had a call from the TV station about Wednesday night: they want us to perform 'Roller Skates', but were hoping we could do a slightly different dance routine for it."

"I guess we can do that, but when can we do it?"

"Well, who's teaching you right now?

"It's Park Sun Hee."

"Oh, she might be willing to help, can I speak with her?"

"Sure, just a moment...". Carol walked over to Sun Hee. "Hey, do you have a moment? I have Min Jee on the phone here, she would like to speak to you."

"Hey, Min Jee!" said Sun Hee, and she and Min Jee spoke in Korean. Finally, Sun Hee passed the phone back to Carol.

"So, what's happening?" asked Carol.

"Well, after you've had your break, you need to get Callum to show the class our dance routine, then Sun Hee is going to get them thinking about what we can do to change it. They all know what you guys are capable off, and it will be good training for them to have to think up a slightly different routine. Then we'll come in with you tomorrow, and we can all work together!"

"Sounds like a win-win to me! Great. So, see you guys tonight.

-----

"Ok, everyone, something a bit different next" explained Sun Hee, their dance teacher, after their break. "Tomorrow morning the four girls from Jelly Fish will be joining us: they are going to be on TV tomorrow night with the ladies here from CJDL, and they need to modify their dance routine. So, Callum will show us their current routine, then I want you all to spend a bit of time coming up with suggestions for changes that they will be able to so in just 2 or 3 hours of practice tomorrow."

Callum connected his laptop to the projector, and played the dance routine.

"I think we've learnt a lot this last week, and you have all seen what we can do, so I'm sure we can do something a lot better than that!" said Carol. "I'm thinking that Taeyang and the others will be able to do whatever we ask them to, it's just us you need to think about!!!"

The class were quite happy to be doing something different. Not just different, but 100% relevant: this wouldn't just be something they would do in class, Jelly Fish and CJDL would be doing this on TV.

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Sparky · « **Reply #84 on:** 05. June 2023, 18:05:30 PM »

Chapter 55 - On the radio

The radio station had taken up Dianne's idea of coming to the school to interview them. Late morning, Callum had helped them set up the small amount of kit needed on the stage, and had also connected it up to the hall's PA system, so all the students would be able to hear what was going on.

Brian had spoken with the 'Principal', who supported the idea completely, and had even organised some lunch to be ready for them all, after which the 4 girls were ready to be on the radio again. A table had been set up across the stage, with 4 chairs looking out at the students. The tech-op girl was on the end of the table, wearing headphones, as were the 4 girls. They spent a few minutes doing a full sound check, to not only ensure that the studio could hear all of the girls clearly, and that they in turn could hear the studios, but also make sure that, whilst the students there could hear what was going on, the PA wasn't causing any feedback.

"Hello everyone, we'll feed you station output, and our presenter will be with you in a few minutes to have an off-air chat with you." said a voice from the studio, which all the students could also hear. A few minutes later, another voice came through. "Hello, this is Gim Hyun, I will be interviewing you. First of all, can you hear me ok?"

"We can!" replied Linda.

"Great! Nice to talk with you again, we talked briefly on the chart show last week, but today we have a bit more time. So, I was hoping that we could talk about why you have come here to Korea. Obviously we will talk about your number one song, but I'd like to talk about what you're doing there at the KX Academy, as well as how K-Pop training is different from what you have in England. Is that all ok for you?" asked Hyun.

"I think that's all ok for us!" replied Jenny.

"Ok. Finally, can I just check I am saying your names right: Carol, Jenny, Dianne and Linda?"

"Your pronunciation is just fine, Hyun!" said Linda, "and your English is about a thousand times better than our Korean!"

"Oh, thank you. I think we'll have another song, then I'll talk to you!"

His voice was replaced by music, and several minutes later his voice came on again. "So, as promised, we are joined by the four members of the English band, CJDL, who are visiting us here in Korea. But they are not here in the studio - Jenny, maybe you could tell everyone where you are?"

"Hello there, Hyun. Where are we? We're on the stage in the main hall at the KX Academy, and not only am I sat here with Carol, Linda and Dianne, but there's a whole load of students here too!". Needing very little encouragement, the students all gave a loud cheer.

"It's good to hear so many happy voices there. So, Carol, could you explain briefly why you are here in Korea?"

"Sure. About three weeks ago, FY Entertainment called us, and explained that one of their bands - Jelly Fish - were at number 2 in the charts, with one of our songs.... and would we like to come here to perform with them on the TV chart show?". They all understood how important it was on these sort of occasions, to 'mention in passing' the names of the businesses that were 'sponsoring' them.

"Ok, but that all happened over a week ago now, so why are you still here?"

"Well, I knew about how your K-pop bands get trained, and I suggested that it would be good if we could spend a couple of weeks over here doing some dance training. They liked the idea, and suggested that, at the same time, maybe we could share some of our experience with the students here at the KX Academy!"

"And how is your dance training going? Maybe Dianne could tell us?"

"It's going really well: the teachers and students here at KX have been really good to us: it was a bit strange for them all the first day, but they are treating us just like normal students now."

"But surely you would have learnt dancing at your school in England? Jenny, maybe you can answer that question?"

Jenny explained the differences between how the idol academies worked in Korea and how bands in England generally had to 'do their own thing'.

"That was an interesting explanation, thank you. Let's take a musical break - I've actually got one of your songs lined up here, maybe you could introduce it for me, Jenny?"

The tech op lady quickly held up a piece of paper that she'd written the song title on, allowing Jenny to introduce it.

"Ok, can we talk about 'Sexy Yellow Rollerskates' next?" Hyun asked off-air.

"Sure. By the way, are you aware that it is actually Linda's first number one?"

"No, I wasn't: sounds like it's something we can talk about.... ok, we have about 2 minutes, I'll let you listen to the music." When the track finished, the presenter back-announced it. "So, back to the four members of CJDL... maybe you can all remind us of your names?"

The girls quickly looked at each other, nodding. "Well, I'm Carol"... "I'm Jenny"... "I'm Dianne"... "and I'm the 'new girl', Linda!"... "And we are CJDL!!". Linda had decided to give the presenter a useful 'hook' to talk about.

"Now Linda, I'm glad you introduced yourself like that: you haven't been with the group all that long, have you?"

"No, the band used to be CJD, so no 'L' for Linda. But I started working for the band last year, I was a session musician...." and she explained her story.

"So, Linda, I guess that means that this is actually your first ever number chart hit?"

"Yes, it is, but only because my voice is on it! It was originally written a bit before I joined the band."

"So, Dianne, maybe you can tell me a bit of background about the song?" Dianne explained that Carol and Jenny had written the song a while ago, that whilst it was on their first album, it was not one they played that much.

"So, how did Jelly Fish get to sing it then?"

"Jenny, I think you know more about that, don't you?" said Dianne.

"Yes, we had an email about 6 months ago..." said Jenny, and she went on to explain how they made a couple of minor adjustments to the song, and let Jelly Fish record it.

"So, when you first came over, and danced with Jelly Fish on TV, you were dancing to their version of the song... but I was told there's a story about when you went and added your voices to it?"

Carol laughed. "Ah, yes, THAT!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," explained Jenny, "We went to the recording studio after a day of dancing, and to be honest, I think we all wanted to go for a drink to help us wind down a bit. As we walked into the recording studio, Carol said something like 'I'll give it 2 takes and 30 minutes': she was wanting that drink!"

"And how long DID it take then?"

"We sang the song just twice, and I think they used our first take! And yes, we were out of there in about 20 minutes! It's a song we knew well, so it was really easy for us to do!"

"So that would have been about 10 days ago: the song was released on the Saturday, and was number one just days later..."

"Yes," replied Linda. "They had the chart program playing here, in the restaurant: everyone wanted to hear how their heros, Jelly Fish, were doing. People were a bit shocked when it was announced that it was down at something like number 15, but we'd been asked for a short interview again, so guessed that something was going on, and told them to keep the radio on."

"So, Linda, how did you feel when you realised that you had just made number one?"

"Oh, it was a great feeling, and I realised how the girls from Jelly Fish had felt the week before, when THEY made number one!"

"Now, I hear you guys are staying in an apartment near where Jelly Fish are: does that mean you are spending time with them?"

Carol quickly nodded, to indicate that she would answer the question. "We're actually staying right next door to Jelly Fish's apartment, so we spend a LOT of time with them. They are a lovely group of girls, in fact they organised a really great weekend for us this last weekend!"

"Oh, what did they organise for you then?". Carol nodded to Dianne, letting her answer this question.

"On Friday evening, we went to... Hondae? We had a look around the market, went to a nice Korean restaurant, and ended up at a karaoke place..."

"Oh, I would LOVE to have heard THAT!" interjected Hyun, "but do go on..."

"Oh, yes, the karaoke was great fun! Anyway, on Saturday morning we went on an e-bike ride, and visited some amazing bits of Seoul. In the afternoon, we did a bus tour, and also visited one of the temples here. Seoul is a facinating place, an interesting mix of old and new.... Then in the evening we had dinner in the tower!"

"Ah, yes, you HAVE to go there! It sounds like you've had a good sight-seeing day then?"

"Yes, then on the Sunday, after visiting the National Museum, we went out to that big park just outside the city..."

"Ah, you mean the Bukhansan National Park - another great place to go to! So, you have just under one week left, what do you have planned?"

"Well, I believe we're going to be on TV on Wednesday evening" said Carol. "I'm rather hoping that the Jelly Fish girls will take us out to one of your 'pop up bars'... I've seen them on TV, and I want to go to one! Anyway, I guess they might want us on the TV chart show again, if we're still at number one...."

"Yeah, come on, Hyun, are we still at number one this week?" said Linda, butting in.

"Yeah, we deserve to know!!" added Jenny.

"Oh, ladies, you KNOW I can't tell you that yet, you'll have to wait till later in the show!"

"Oh, I HATE people like you!" said Dianne, jokingly.

"So, thinking about music, has your visit inspired you to write anything new?"

"Definitely! I think all of us have been getting ideas..." replied Dianne.

"Great news. Ok, one last question, a bit of an odd one: I hear that Yun Hee recently got braces, and that you were partly responsible? Is that true?"

"It is, yes," replied Carol. "I was chatting to Taeyang, and she said that Yun Hee really wanted to get her teeth sorted out, but that FY had a 'no braces' rule. So Jenny and I - we both have braces at the moment - spoke to the band's manager, strongly suggesting that the management of FY needed to re-visit their stupid rules. And respect to them, they changed the silly 15 year old rule, and yes, Yun Hee now has a lovely set of braces! In fact, Jenny had to go and see the same orthodontist last night for a quick repair to her braces, so Jenny and Yun Hee now both have matching braces!"

"Yes, I saw the pictures online! Very cute! Well, ladies, thank you all for joining me today, it's has been a PLEASURE talking to you! Enjoy the rest of your stay here in Seoul!"

"We will," replied Jenny, "but just before we go, can I say a big thank you to FY Entertainment, and everyone here at the KX Academy for looking after us so well!". As Jenny said 'KX Academy', the students all cheered again.

"And do remember to keep listening, to see if you are still at number one... ". Moments later, a jingle played out, then music was playing again, and Hyun spoke to them off-air. "Ladies, thank you VERY much, that was really good. And thanks to all the students that are there with you too!". As the local tech-op cut the radio, all the students started to applaud: for most, it was the first time they had seen 'behind the scenes' of a live radio interview.

----

As before, they played the chart show in the main hall, with quite a crowd listening in. Carol had suggested that they should have a bit of fun, and dance along to Roller Skates. Of course, they had no idea where in the chart it was, so they were sitting on the edge of the stage, listening nervously. They were playing the number 5... then 4... then three.

"So, we had a lovely chat with the girls from CJDL earlier, and they were wanting to know where they were in the chart. Well, I can tell them that, at number TWO in this week's chart, just one position from number one, it is...." Music started to play. "Up 7 places from last week, 'Ive', with their new song, 'Kitch'...".

"Oh my god, that must mean we're STILL at number one then!!!" said an excited Linda. While the number 2 played, they got onto the stage, ready to dance.

"And I can now finally tell the ladies from CJDL that yes, Jelly Fish and CJDL are STILL at number one for another week!". As the music played, they danced their original dance on the stage.

Sparky · « **Reply #85 on:** 07. June 2023, 13:09:48 PM »

Chapter 55 - Croydon Radio

They had decided to have a take-away on the Tuesday evening, as Carol had arranged with Tom for them to do a live insert on Tom's show: evening in Korea, but early afternoon back in London. Brian and Lisa was with them all this evening, so dinner had quite a family feel to it.

"I DO like your food here in Korea!" said Carol. "I get the feeling that it's closer to your 'normal' food that the takeways we get in England."

"Apart from fish and chips!" said Dianne, "you can't really beat fish and chips from a decent chippie!"

"Ok, yeah, I'll give you that!". Whilst Yun Hee and Jenny would both be getting food stuck in their braces while they ate, Carol was able, of course, to remove her retainers to eat: they were currently sat on the table, next to her. There were two sets of eyes occasionally looking at them.... or was it three sets?

As they ate and chatted, Carol had been quickly messaging Tom, to confirm when they would be going online with him, on Croydon Radio.

Finally, with dinner finished, Callum and Paige set up the microphones and small mixer they had borrowed, to be able to connect up with Croydon Radio. One of the mics was a radio mic, which they would be able to pass around, the other three were on stands, and would be used to pick up the guitars and the singing. They also had a small speaker connected up, so they could hear what Tom said.

"Good afternoon, Croydon Radio..."

"Hi, I'm guessing that's Ravi, it's Carol here!"

"Oh hi Carol, Tom said to expect you to connect up." I should explain that they were NOT making a phone call, they had used some special 'online software' that let them do a high-quality link over the internet. "We just need to check the link... hopefully you are hearing me ok?" Callum, who was looking after the kit, gave a thumbs up.

"I'm told your levels are good here, you happy with me? If so, then we can quickly check out the other mics we have here...". Callum had told Carol what she needed to do.

"Your levels are really good, so go ahead."

"Ok, so this is our radio mic.... we'll be using this to talk, plus some vocals." She moved to the other mics, and checked them out, then grabbed one of the guitars, and played it briefly.

"Thanks Carol, that's all sounding really good. Who's looking after the sound at your end then?"

"That's Jenny's brother, Callum. Say hello to Ravi, Callum...."

"Hi Ravi, nice to chat, and the audio is sounding really great here, we just have a bit of a delay...." said Callum.

"Hi Callum. Yeah, nothing we can do about the delay, and by the sound of things, you know what you're doing there, so I'll leave things alone here, and leave you to keep the levels right."

"No problems with that!"

"Ok, Let me tell Tom that you're ready..."

There were a few clicks, then Tom's voice came on: "Hi Carol, how are you today?"

"Hi Tom. We're actually having some good fun here.... I'm sure you'll want us to tell you about it later?"

"Absolutely. So, I'm ok with that list you sent over earlier, we can work out the details as we go along. Umm, it's twenty past here, how about we start just after the traffic and travel news, so just after half-past?"

"That's ok with us..."

"Ok, so who's there with you today?

"Same as last time I think, so four Jelly Fish, four CJDL's, two boyfriends, two parents, and two others!" Tom laughed.

"Hello everyone over in Seoul!" called out Tom.

"Hi Tom!" they all replied.

"Ok, talk to you again soon...."

In the following 30 minutes, they chatted, and they played three songs, starting with an acoustic version of 'Sexy Yellow Roller Skates'.

One thing that was NOT mentioned at all were the texts that Carol had sent the previous evening...

(11689)

Sparky · « **Reply #86 on:** 08. June 2023, 19:55:15 PM »

Chapter 56 - A new dance

Today there all 14 of them went to the KX Academy: eight of them would be dancing and at least 2 of them would be filming. Brian and Lisa watched for a while, but then went and had a social meeting with the academy's 'headmaster'.

The other students had come up with some excellent ideas, and they decided to, at least in principle, try them all out. Some of the ideas seemed nice as ideas, but when they tried to actually DANCE them, it wasn't so good: of course, that made the whole thing a great learning exercise for everyone involved. But many of the ideas were really good, and most of them got included. One thing that our four girls appreciated was that the suggestions weren't over-simple, and whilst they were not over-complex either, they were certainly challenging.

A bit over an hour into the session they had pretty much worked out what they wanted to do, so took a break, then spent the next 2 hours practising it. And it wasn't just the 8 girls who were trying out the new dance moves, all the students joined in, making it a great dance lesson for everyone.

"Hey, guys, we were thinking of doing this dance at lunchtime, on the stage" said Carol. "I'm thinking we can do the first verse and chorus by ourselves, but why don't you then join in with us?" As expected, the students were very much up for it.

"Hey, Sun Hee, why don't you join us too?" suggested Linda.

They had one last run through the routine, with Jelly Fish and CJDL dancing alone to start with, then the others, Sun Hee included, joined in too.

"Hey, guys, before you go, we'd like to invite you along to a 'day out' we're arranging on Saturday. Numbers are limited, so it's just you. It's a sort-of thank you for looking after these guys!" said Taeyang. She passed out some bits of paper with the details on. "Can you let us know if you can make it please?"

"What's this about then?" asked Carol.

"Oh, we're all having a day out, a bit of a trip away from Seoul. The bad news for you guys, and us too, is that we will need to 'sing for our dinner'".

"'Sing for our supper' you mean? What do we have to do?"

"No big deal, there's a shopping centre that's got a special event on, we need to sing and spend maybe 30 minutes there. But there's plenty of time left to do LOADS of other stuff we're planning. Also, a couple of the groups that have apartments upstairs from us are coming along too... should be a fun day out for everyone..."

-----

"Hey guys!" said Carol over the hall's PA. "We're going on TV tonight, and will be performing a new version of our dance for 'Sexy Yellow Roller Skates'. And by 'we', I don't just mean the four of us from CJDL, I mean the girls from Jelly Fish too.... let's welcome them onto the stage!". Whilst the dance students, plus a few others who had spotted them in the restaurant, knew that Jelly Fish were there, many of the students didn't, and they received a load of applause as the came onto the stage.

"And whilst they aren't performing with us tonight, our classmates are doing to dance with us now... and that includes our teacher, Park Sun Hee!". As the many students in the hall applauded, the eight of them took up their positions, with invisible 'pretend microphones' in their hands. The other students were at the side, waiting. "When you're ready on the PA..."

With Paige and Callum using the 'big' cameras, plus Ben and Mike using the GoPro's, and all filming from different places, the song started: the eight girls mimed and danced the first verse alone, then the others joined them, and they managed to get it 100% right!

Sun Hee went over to the microphone. "Well, I expected Jelly Fish to do that just fine, but you four..." - she pointed at Jenny, Carol, Linda and Dianne - "if you had said to me, when you stared here last week, that you would be able to do that, I really wouldn't have believed you... VERY well done all of you, you've been great students!"

"Thank you so much!" said Carol. "Hey everyone, don't forget to watch us on TV tonight - I just hope we dance it as well as we did this lunchtime!

-----

They left the afternoon classes a bit early, so they could go off to the TV studios, where they would need to do a rehearsal. They had brought their clothes for the show with them: Carol had a bit of a surprise for everyone - she had decided to wear the 'Wednesday' costume that she had brought, and made a bit of fun of it in the show:

"So, Carol, I'm intrigued..." asked the interviewer, "is there any specific reason that you are dressed like this today?"

"Well, yesterday was Tuesday, tomorrow is Thursday, so that makes today Wednesday - so it seemed quite reasonble to me to dress as Wednesday!" The presenter, and the audience laughed. "But no, I just wanted to wear something a bit different for a change...."

"You have to admit, she does look good in it, doesn't she?" said Linda, which got some applause. Carol stood up, and did a quick spin around.

The interview went well, asking about what they were doing in Korea, but also asked them about their music, and how they had been inspired by their visit. Other guests joined the show too, and they all chatted for a while.

"So, Jelly Fish and CJDL, you have a joint number one right now..."

"Yes," replied Yun Hee, smiling, and once more showing off her silver smile. "CJDL originally wrote it, then we recorded it, then when they came here, they added their voices too. Our original version dropped out of the charts, and our joint version replaced it...."

"So, ladies, please go and take your places over on the stage....". The eight girls stood up and walked over to the stage area, collecting microphones on the way. "So, with their current number one hit, 'Sexy Yellow RollerSkates', it's Jelly Fish vs CJDL!"

(11808)

Sparky · « **Reply #87 on:** 19. June 2023, 17:42:28 PM »

Chapter 57 - Braces Buddies have a street meal

The good news from the girl's perspective was that they were NOT needed for the chart show on the Thursday evening, so after a really nice day at 'school' (ah, yes, they got a load of high-fives when they got there in the morning, clearly a load of the students saw them on TV last night!), they had a 'free' evening.

"Hey, Carol, want to go and find a Pojangmacha?" asked Taeyang.

"A WHAT?" replied Carol.

"That's what they call the tent placess that do street food, that you keep saying you want to go to..."

"Oh, yes, definitely!"

"Ok, well unless we can find a large one that's empty, we'll need to split up..."

"Fine by me! When we going?"

"Ah, not for a while yet."

"In that case, I reckon we should have some fun, and work on some of our new songs. Hey, Linda, you got the words you did the other night?"

"What, for 'Braces Buddies' do you mean?"

"Yeah, I think we should make a proper song out of it..." suggested Carol.

"Probably silly enough to get to number one!" said Paige.

"She speaks much sense!" said Linda. "Come on then, guys, let's have a look at it... Where's Jenny hiding?"

"Oh, probably snogging with Ben," said Paige, "He DOES have a thing for Jenny's braces..."

"Pardon?" said Linda, a bit surprised.

"Umm, maybe I shouldn't have said that..."

"But you did... so OUT with it! What makes you say that?"

"Well, I had a strange dream the other night, and.... "

"And? Come on, out with it, girl!" said Dianne with a big smile: this conversation was just starting to get interesting.

"Well, you see, Bruce is the story-wanderer, and he said that.."

"Story-wanderer? What ARE you on about?"

"Half a second..." Paige went off, and returned with her tablet. "So, I had a dream... in fact a dream within the dream too, and I met Bruce, who is in this story on this website...." Paige realised that she was either digging a big hole for herself, or was opening a big can of worms, she wasn't sure which. She decided to keep it short. "Ok, in my dream, Bruce asked the question about who out of us lot liked braces, and Ben was one of the four who raised their hands."

"So, because you dreamed it, it must be true?"

"Well, I already confirmed another one of the four...". She made sure she wasn't looking at Carol when she said that.

"And that was....?" asked Dianne.

"Sorry, my lips are sealed.....". Dianne picked up a cushion and threw it at Paige. Just then, the front door opened, and Ben and Jenny walked in.

"So, Ben, Paige had a dream, and as a result reckons that you have a bit of a 'thing' going for Jenny's braces." said Dianne. Ben stood there silently, and his face turned a bright red colour.

-----

"So, you guys still wanting to work on 'Braces Buddies'? asked Linda.

"Yeah, of course we do... hey, Jenny, Paige thinks we should release it as our next single, what do you reckon?"

Jenny smiled. "Well, sometimes novelty records do well, so I guess we could. If nothing else, it would be a fun song to play live." Jenny went over and grabbed one of the acoustic guitars, then passed it to Linda. "Want one, Carol? Or do you want me to do it?"

Paige quickly grabbed the camera, and as she didn't have time to set it up on a tripod, had to hand-hold it. Callum grabbed one of the Go Pros, and also started filming.

"Nah, I'll do it....". Carol went and sat next to Linda. "Ok, what we got so far?".

Linda propped up her tablet in front of them, and started to play and sing: "Braces Buddies, they are braces buddies... Yun Hee and Jenny are braces buddies..."

"Ok, hang on... are we ok using your names? Yun Hee I mean? I know Jenny won't mind!" asked Carol.

"Yeah, that fine with me." replied Yun Hee

Second time around, Carol started to play along with Linda: Jenny and Dianne stood behind the settee, so behind Linda and Carol, so they too could see the words, and also sang along.

"'Braces Buddies, they are braces buddies... Yun Hee and Jenny are braces buddies... with matching metal braces.... and matching neon colours... they are a pair of braces buddies'... we happy with that bit?"

"Yeah, I can't think of anything better. I'm thinking we maybe want a bit more of an intro. And do we want to make it a bit 'rockier?" asked Carol.

"Give me a guitar!" said Jenny...

The four girls spent the next hour or so working on the song. Whilst it wasn't THEIR song, the four 'Jelly Fishes' came up with a few ideas for it too. By the end, they had the basis of a new song. Yes, it still needed a load of work on it, but they could do that on another occasion.

----

"We all ready? The bus is ready for us if we are...."

All 16 of them (tonight, Park Hon Su and his wife had joined them!) went down to the bus, which took them into a part of Seoul where the Pojangmacha were popular. They had decided to split up into two groups of about 8, to keep the size of the group down a bit. Carol teamed up with Paige, Yun Hee, Min Jee, Jenny, Ben, Dianne and Mike, and found themselves a suitable Pojangmacha... it was a mess-tent sort of thing, the size of a maybe 2 or 3 gazebos. The side that was pushed up against the building had no tent walls, the other walls were simple canvas, although one of the walls did have a plastic window in it. Inside at one end there were six small tables, with plastic stools, at the other end was the food, and the cooking area. Paige started recording outside, taking video of the general area, then homing in on the tent, then going inside.

Yun Hee and Min Jee had a word with the guy running the place, and then they got three tables together, and all sat down around them. "We told him to start with beers for us all, and to bring over a range of foods for us to eat... so expect a load of food over the next hour, as he cooks it. It's going to be similar to what you've already seen in the markets. If there's something you specifically like, we can always ask for more. But first of all, anyone want to start with a soup?"

Almost instantly, 8 bottles of beer arrived, and Yun Hee ordered the 4 soups, which came just minutes later. Soon after, other foods arrived: things like gimbap, tteokbokki, sausages and so on, a mix of meat, fish egg and vegetable foods.

"What's this one?" asked Carol, referring to what looked like several slices of dark sausage on a skewer. "It looks a bit like 'black pudding' to me"

"It's called 'sundae', it's a blood sausage... try it, it's actually nice!" replied Yun Hee.

"Yup, black pudding! Yummy!" commented Ben, taking a couple of bits and dropping them into his dish. "Go on, try a piece...."

"And that looks like it's dakkoci, so chicken on a skewer....".

Carol took a piece of the 'sundae'... she wasn't quite sure what to expect. Had she been in England, and had been offered some black pudding, she would probably have refused, but she had learned that some strange foods they had tried in Korea were surprisingly nice. Over the next hour or so, a whole variety of foods were brought over.

The empty bottles of beer got replaced, then they started to drink some soju, in the small glasses. Unsurprisingly, Carol seemed to enjoy the Soju again, and was again getting a bit tipsy.

"Ok, Carol, hand over the phone...."

"What?"

"We all know what happened the other night after you had a few too many drinks....". Dianne grabbed Carol's phone: Carol did try and fight her off, but Dianne won. "Oh, dear, too late..."

"Oh, what's she texted?"

"I couldn't tell you THAT! Confidentiality clauses and all that...." replied Dianne, giggling. Yes, the booze was starting to affect them!

As they continued to drink, the pojangmacha owner came and spoke with Yun Hee. "I just told him that we're happy to have some deserts now..."

"OMG, this is lovely, what did I just eat?" asked Jenny.

"Probably Ho-tteok... it's a sort of pancake...". She took a piece and ate it. "I think you call it cinnamon?"

"Ah, yes, so it is!!"

Paige was also enjoying the food: she'd put the camera on a tripod, pointed it at their table (which conveniently meant it didn't see any of the other tables) and just left it recording, occasionally using a GoPro to do closeups of their food. "I now understand why so many Korean programs include food! I'm sure it's probably not the healthiest foods, I mean a lot of it is deep fried, but it tastes good....".

Jenny smiled. "Hey, have I got much food stuck in my braces?" she asked, "You have, Yun Hee!". Ben was, of course, enjoying the sight of two good looking girls with braces, and seeing them both with their colourful ligatures, and with food stuck in them, well that was a bonus!

A while later, they spoke to the other group, and met up at their pojangmacha, and had another drink... or maybe it was two, there. Finally, their bus came and collected them. Carol, Linda and Taeyang had all probably drunk a bit more than maybe they should: it wasn't too much of an issue for Taeyang, she could just sleep in, but both Carol and Linda needed an extra-strong coffee in the morning to wake them up, ready for their final day of dancing classes.

(12061)

Sparky · « **Reply #88 on:** 21. June 2023, 14:30:32 PM »

Chapter 58 - Last day at school

Today was their last day at 'school', so our 'team of four' asked for a special favour in their morning class: the class, including Sun Hee, their teacher, learned a brand new dance for one of CJDL's songs. Sun Hee had no problems with doing that, as it was very good practice for everyone to help work on a new dance, as well as dance it.

After having a light lunch, the four girls went onto the stage in the hall: the small PA team were ready for them.

"Hi everyone!" said Carol, "Well, today is our last day here: we've all had a GREAT time, it's only been two weeks, but we've picked up so much stuff, and I think we're all feeling a lot more confident in our dancing. So today, we thought we'd treat you with a few of our more recent songs, and for the first song I'd like to welcome our class up onto the stage, along with our teacher, Sun Hee: they are all going to dance along to a song we wrote last year, 'Autumn Love'."

While Carol was talking, the others were checking their instruments. Carol picked up the guitar, and quickly strummed it. "One... two... three..." said Carol quietly as they all started to play. Moments later the dancers started to dance, putting on a very acceptable performance. At the end, they all received applause from the other students.

Sun Hee went over to the microphone. "So, about three weeks ago, when we were told that four singers from England wanted to come and learn some dancing, we were very apprehensive. We knew nothing about them, and assumed that they probably wouldn't take things very seriously, maybe even cause disruption to the classes." She turned to the four members of the band. "Ladies, we need to apologise to you: from the first lesson you have all worked VERY hard, in fact putting some of the other students to shame... your actions in class have encouraged those students to 'up their game'. And then there's been the masterclasses you have given, and these lunchtime session, which our students have both very much enjoyed, and learned from. If ever you'd like to visit us again, you will be made VERY welcome! Thank you!". Then she briefly bowed, and the students applauded.

"Well, thanks everyone!" said Jenny. "It was Carol's idea to do this: it's been hard work for us all - especially for Carol this morning, after last night!". The students laughed, guessing what had happened. "But we have all learned so much! As for these lunchtime sessions, I think we have all enjoyed sharing our experiences with you all. Anyway, we said we would play some of our songs for you, so let's do that!". Jenny nodded twice, and hit the keyboard, the others joined in a bar later.

---

"Ok, for our last song, we're going to play you something new, that we were working on again last night." said Jenny. As she spoke, Carol and Linda put down the electric guitars, and picked up the two acoustic guitars that had brought with them. "It's nowhere near being ready to be recorded or released yet, but we thought you'd like to hear it. It was inspired by the fact that Yun Hee recently got braces, then I had to go and get my braces fixed: you may have spotted that we both have the same crazy colours on our braces. The song's called 'Braces Buddies'!"

(12233)

Sparky · « **Reply #89 on:** 24. June 2023, 14:10:07 PM »

(No chapter # for this one...)

So, back at the apartment, Carol got her laptop out, and checked the news.'. nothing that interesting, apart from an article about 'Chat GPT'

"Do you reckon an AI could write better words for a song than we could?" asked Carol.

"Could probably do better than ME," admitted Jenny, "but not better than you guys!"

"See what it does with 'Braces Buddies'" suggested Linda. "I'd like to know my competition!"

"Ok, let me give it a try...". Carol created an account and logged in. "Write me a new song about Braces Buddies" typed Carol. "Ok, that was scarily quick....." she commented as the words for the song came up in under 5 seconds:

(Verse 1)
In a world of metal and wires, we came together with smiles,
Four hearts intertwined, walking the extra miles,
Braces buddies, side by side, facing our fears,
Through the highs and lows, we wipe away the tears.

(Pre-Chorus)
Orthodontic woes, we've shared the pain,
But our friendship grew stronger, a lasting gain,
From the first adjustment to the final day,
We'll celebrate together in our own special way.

(Chorus)
We're the Braces Buddies, shining through,
Stronger together, me and you,
Through the awkward stages, we find grace,
Embracing the journey, with a smile on our face.

(Verse 2)
We've rocked the headgear and the colorful bands,
Laughing at ourselves, holding each other's hands,
In the orthodontist's chair, we found solace and support,
Braces buddies, we're unstoppable, our bond can't be thwarted.

(Bridge)
As we face the world with a metallic grin,
We know our beauty lies deep within,
Braces may be temporary, but our friendship is for life,
We'll cherish these memories, forever in our hearts, rife.

(Chorus)
We're the Braces Buddies, shining through,
Stronger together, me and you,
Through the awkward stages, we find grace,
Embracing the journey, with a smile on our face.

(Verse 3)
To all the braces buddies out there, don't be shy,
Rock your braces proudly, reach for the sky,
We're a sisterhood, a brotherhood, united and strong,
Together we'll conquer, singing this braces song.

(Outro)
Braces buddies, forever we'll be,
Bound by our journey, eternally free,
Through the laughter and the trials we face,
Braces buddies, our smiles will always embrace.

"Ok, that's worryingly good, but I don't think I need to give up song-writing just yet...." said Linda.

"Yeah, but keep the words, I'd like to try and write some music for it, could be something to include when we play live...." said Jenny.

News:

Author Topic: Story: Carol (Read 40049 times)

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Re: Story: Carol

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Re: Story: Carol

Sparky

Re: Story: Carol

Sparky

Re: Story: Carol

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Re: Story: Carol

Sparky

Re: Story: Carol

Sparky

Re: Story: Carol

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Re: Story: Carol