Maria

     I stood outside the arrival lounge, constantly checking my watch. It  was not that the flight was delayed, rather I was just early due to my excitement to see the girls again. It had been lonely living in the three room apartment all by myself for two months. Now I would finally  have company.
     The doors finally opened and people began to stream out. I stood on my tip-toes to catch a glimpse of the girls. After jumping up and down and pushing a few people out of the way, I finally caught sight of Eva's favourite knit peach beanie.
    "Eva! Lily!" I called out, rushing over to them and engulfing them both in a hug. They laughed, hugging me back tightly.
    "Maria! It's so great to see you!" Eva grinned, pulling my cheeks.
    "We missed you so much!" Lily added. I laughed, linking my arms through theirs as I lead the out of the airport.
    "Ready to see your new place?" I was excited to show them the apartment. The girls nodded, more excited than ever.
    *****************************
    The apartment was small but enough for the three of us. There were three rooms out of which one I had already occupied.
     "I call dibs on this one!" Eva ran to the room next to mine, pulling  her luggage along with her. Lily shook her head, chuckling at us, walking into the opposite mine. The three of us went straight down to getting ourselves settled.  The beds were made, the clothes were shifted from the bags into the closet and the kitchen was looked through but Eva was unable to find  anything unedible as I was the last person one could send for grocery shopping.
    "So what have you even been surviving on?" Eva asked as she pulled on a comfortable hoodie and slippers.
    "Take out I'm betting," Lily answered for me, smacking the back of my head.
     "No wonder you look starved," Eva shook her head, "Come on, let's go get some groceries. Lily and I have to buy our textbooks as well." I rolled my eyes, following them out. The grocery shop was a few blocks  down the apartment complex. I had plenty of time to learn all the routes over the part two months so I lead the way.
    Eva brought a bunch of stuff for grocery and continously rejected any offer of helping her pay.
     "You still haven't found a job," I argued, pulling out my wallet,  "Please let me pay for the groceries. You can buy your own textbooks."
     "Shut up, I got this," she argued back, glaring at me. Lily pulled my shoulder, telling me it was no use arguing. We went home with arms full of bags, both groceries and books. Entering the apartment Lily went to put the stuff away while Eva began counting the money she had in Wons.
    "Can we go shopping after lunch?" She asked, "My room is too bland. I feel like I'm in a prison." I nodded.
"What, no!" Lilly yelled at us from the open kitchen, "We barely have enough money, let our savings be transferred from our folks at least! Wait like a week, surely you won't die from the boredom."
Eva fell into thought as I began to protest, but then she held me back, "She's right. We're better off not spending the last of our Wons and ending up with nothing."
I was gonna argue more, my impatience kicking in, before Eva asked me a question and I gave in, "You met up with Mark yet?" Eva smirked.
     "Nope. I have been planning a special surprise though, grab that envelope there." I pointed to the white envelope on the coffee table. I grinned, pulling out three passes from it. "Front row tickets to the boys fan meeting two days later... and they don't have a clue."
    "You little devil."
     "So, Lilly? You gonna dress up smexy for Youngjae oppa?" I sneakily asked, and barely missed a spoon very accurately coming towards my head from the kitchen. I laughed, throwing my head back.
*********************************
    I  ran a nervous hand through my tri-colored hair, I looked down at the  denim skirt I was wearing picking at the rolling Stones logo sewn on  it. I had matched it with a black crop top, a snapback with BOY written  on it in bold letters and black chuck Taylor's. Eva had put on a dress  with blue body and white skirt with peach heels and had her blue beats around her neck, her white blazer sat over her crossed legs. Lily had on  a dress as well with a black body with a criss cross back and pale pink skirt. Her hair was up in a bun and she was wearing black leggings and low heeled pumps.
    The  room was crowded already and the three was sat right in front of the  stage. The lights dimmed before the cheers began and faint outlines of the boys could be seen. Their newest single, Fly, began playing as the lights slowly began turning on and the boys were in their positions. A smile slid onto my face when I saw Mark throw a discreet nod towards the three of us. Eva seemed to have caught it too and she chuckled. As the song came to an end I let out a rather loud, 'Knight Wang!' This completely caught Jackson's attention; he looked baffled as the three of us waved at him. Mark had to crouch down because he was laughing so hard now.
    "1, 2, 3."
    "Come  and get it, Got7! Hello, we are Got7!" The boys chorused. We cheered along with the fans and Eva slipped in a whistle as well. The fan meet went along and soon it was time for the fans to picked out at random to  join the boys on stage for a game or two as the MC explained. They passed around a box filled with the numbers of seats on them and each member was told to pick out two. The box was passed around once and every member picked out one first.
"Let's start with the oldest and go to the youngest." JB advised and Mark opened up the paper in his hand.
"Mark Hyung has..." BamBam said  before doing a drum roll on his thigh.
"16F." Mark announced. The numbers went on picking out people randomly around the hall.
"Yugyeommie, what's your number?" Jackson asked, throwing an arm around the Maknae's shoulder. He slowly opened up his sheet of paper and read out.
"Aren't you 5A?" Eva hissed, elbowing me hard. I looked down at the ticket in my hand and cursed, quickly standing up and going forward to the stage. Jackson offered to help me up the stage, as he did with the other fans. The box was passed around the second time and I stood in line  along with the other six fans. This time they began reading out in the order they were standing. JB was the first one and read his out, and it turned out to be Eva. I placed a hand on my mouth the stifle the giggles, sharing a knowing look with Jackson and Mark as the leader dashed forward to help Eva up to the stage.
"Don't say a word." She hissed at me in English and and I held up my hands in surrender. The last one to pick out was Junior and I caught Lilly's relived expression on not being picked. She was kinda awkward on a stage. Still, I kept my gaze on her, since she wasn't getting away with it that easily..
"Okay, ladies. Please tell us your names and your favourite Got7 member." The MC told, and Eva and I were at the end of the line so we were the last ones.  Jackson and BamBam were pouting because no one had choosen them.
"Hello everyone, my name is MinHee and I pick Jackson and BamBam." I said.
"Why? Why'd you choose them?" Mark asked once the two had released me from the hug every bias gave to their fan.
"Because  no one chose them in the first place." I replied and Jackson's face turned to that poker face expression as I bursted out laughing. BamBam threw his hands up before dramatically walking off stage. Yugyeom held out a hand and I high fived him.
"I'm kidding; BamBam, I love your fashion sense and Jackson... well... you're funny I guess."
"You guess?"
"Okay next," Junior interrupted.
"Hi,  my name is Eva and my favourite member is Mark." The skinny boy grinned  pulling Eva in a hug. Once that was done the MC announced that  apparently there will a game of musical chairs. So the twenty one of us  were huddled around fourteen chairs in a circle. Eva was in front of me and Youngjae behind me but Jackson squeezed himself and Jb between me and Eva making sure the leader was right behind her, for some reason.
 I shook my head at him; he was hell bent on getting the two together, even though they barely even thought about each other. The music began and the circle moved. Jackson turned around, walking backwards and mouthing the words to the song, making weird gestures and facial expressions.  He was playing and joking around with Youngjae who was right behind me. I rolled my eyes at him, purposefully stepping on his foot. He stumbled a little before catching himself.
     "Turn around Knight Wang," I hissed, grabbing his arm and turning him around. He sighed, sulking as he walked behind his leader. Youngjae seemed to be enjoying the game, humming happily.
     The music suddenly came to a halt and everyone scrambled to grab a  chair. I ducked under Jackson and grabbed the chair before he could sit on it, smiling sweetly at him. Jackson pouted, moving to the other side with the other five people who were unable to find a seat. Apart from  three fans, the other disqualified persons were JB and Bambam. I waved at them before turning around to find Eva two seats down, winking at me. I winked back as the music started up again.
     After four more rounds, Yugyeom was the winner and he was given a crown  to wear. The MC the announced that the next game would be of his choosing. Yugyeom grinned and announced a dance competition which got a lot of protests, having transition to an "Aegyo" challenge. The ones whose agyeo he'd like would be the winner of the  game. The glare he got from his leader, who he called up first, was murderous. Cheers rang out around the hall and Eva and I hooted  along with Jackson. JB sighed in defeat before singing the agyeo song.  More shouts were heard as a red-eared JB made his way back to the group, sulking.  Junior patted him on the back before going up next.
     I was second last and after me was supposed to be the turn of a very nervous Eva. The mere fact that hundreds of eyes were going to be on her was enough to make her very anxious. She had always been like this, and she was way worse than Lilly. I patted her back and gave her an  encouraging smile as I went for my turn. I heard a few cheers and a  whistle from Eva as I got ready to show off my aegyo. I gave Yugyeom a shy smile while tucking a lose strand behind my ear and started to sing the agyeo song as well. Yugyeom's face turned beet-red and he looked to the ground, motioning that it was Eva's turn. I winked at him as I joined the others who had their turn before.
     Eva walked up to Yugyeom and gave him a nervous smile and sang the Giyommi song. I cheered along with Jackson and Bambam and from the corner of my eyes I saw Lily jumping up and down, cheering loudly as  well. Yugyeom blushed hard and Eva quickly walked up to me, hiding her red face in her hands.
     "Never again," she hissed as I laughed, patting her back. Mark winked at us from behind JB who gave us both a small smile. I nudged Eva to straighten up as Yugyeom stood up to announce the winner. With a red face and a shy smile, he praised JB's agyeo for fun before announcing that he liked my agyeo the best. Eva hooted with the rest and pushed me forward. I grinned, hugging Yugyeom who gave me the crown and moved to the crowd, careful to keep away from his leader hyung who would surely  murder him.
********************************
    During the fanmeet, I had luckily been able to slip my Korean number to Jackson with the order that he was to pass it on to Mark. After the  event was over, the three of us trudged back home, laughing and joking about everything that happened at the meet, but exhausted.
    A week passed in these days that went by quickly, for college and homework and whatnot. We sat at the living room table on a Saturday night, an exact week after the fanmeet, eating Mac-and-Cheese, cooked for us by Eva. We were discussing how only Lilly had a decent job among us, and Eva expressed her concerns, since now we had a lot of savings sent to us by our families too.
    "I need to find a job as well," Eva sighed, as my phone began to ring.
     "You'll find one! No need to worry," Lilly patted her back as I looked at the caller ID. It was an unknown number. Assuming it was Mark, I answered it but instead of Marks soft voice, Jackson's deep voice greeted me.
    "Hey, Maria!!" I could practically feel the excitement in his voice.
    "Hi Jackson," I grinned, "Do you need something?"
    "Not exactly," Jackson replied stupidly before I heard an 'oomf' and some shuffling noises.
    "We actually have a proposition to make," this time it was Mark speaking. I sighed, putting the phone on speaker.
    "What kind of propositon?" I inquired as we began to hear crazy yelling from the other side of the phone.
     "Just put us on speaker!" Eva ordered, using her 'mother' tone. A few grumbles of agreement were heard and Lilly rolled her eyes.
    "Boys," she muttered, "Never using their brains."
    "Okay, so we have a proposition," Bambam said before the boys began to shout again. The three of us sighed.
    "Is there an adult we could talk to?" Lilly asked sassily.
    "Hey, I am an adult!" Mark defended.
    "Let me rephrase Lilly's question," Eva spoke up, "Is there a person with a working brain we could talk to?"
    "Here!" we heard a distant voice before the boys began to grumble again.
     "Yah! What's all this noise!" the voice of a very pissed of JB came  from the phone. I giggled, waiting for the boys to rececive an earful from their leader.
    "We were going to tell the girls about the propostion-" Jackson began to explain before I cut him off.
    "I hear that word one more time and I'll kill all of you," I threatened.
     "Give me the phone," JB tiredly demanded, "Hello, Maria. These guys wanted to come over to meet you all after our practice, if that's alright with you."
     "Um..." I looked up at the girls with an eyebrow raised. Eva and Lilly had frowns on their faces, and I was going to say no before catching a smirk on Eva's face.
  "You can but you all will have to help us in settling in," Eva replied, "We're going shopping for our apartment tomorrow and we'd be absolutely honored to have all of you help us." Sarcasm was evident in the last sentence. There was silence on the other end before we heard discreet mumbling.
    "I'm in!" We heard Bambam excitedly yell out, making us all laugh.
    "Well, fine then," JB replied after a few more mumurs. I high-fived the girls.
    "Well then, see you tomorrow!" Lilly called out, going back to her food.
    "Hold on!" I shouted before JB could hang up, "Whose number is this?"
    "Jackson's" JB replied easily, "I'll have him text you all our numbers as well."
    "Bye! See you tomorrow!" I told him happily before hanging up.