Chapter 16: Freestyle and Holding Hands

 Chaeyoung knew freestyle was all about improving and proving how fast you could think and word your rhymes. Of course, the part in which you left your opponent speechless was important too. But she also knew it was good to be always prepared. That's why Yoongi and her were brainstorming some useful words, just in case.

 Yoongi was writing everything down on a little notepad, Chaeyoung knew she wouldn't be able to memorize them but at least she would have them fresh in her mind.

 Revolution, pollution, trashy rhythm, diction, remade beat, ABC. Those were some of the words Chaeyoung could remember they wrote.

 She felt a little uncomfortable knowing Mina was right next to them, just staring and not making a sound. She glanced to her right and sure enough, there was Mina smiling at her, Chaeyoung smiled back.

"Okay, this should do" Yoongi said putting down his pen "Wanna join everybody? 

 Chaeyoung turned her attention back at Yoongi and nodded and they made their way to the bleachers.

"Hey, kid, good job out there" Jeongyeon smiled at her and Chayeoung couldn't help but smile back.

 She wouldn't admit it out loud but she was extremely happy her sister decided to go. Not only it made her feel a whole lot more confident, even if it did make her a little nervous, she was happy she could show Jeongyeon how good she was at something. School wasn't exactly her strength... But rapping was. At least she hoped so.

"Oh my- You are so cold, minutes ago you were all screams and cheers for her" Nayeon rolled her eyes and launched herself at Chaeyoung "You did great! You should have seen yourself, looking all cool on the stage" Nayeon smiled.

 Chaeyoung laughed and hugged the older girl back.

"What? You want me to crack her bones like you are doing right now?" Jeongyeon asked sarcastically.

"It's call hugging, you-!"

"Alright! Enough you too!" Jihyo said loudly, hand in the air to make her point clear.

 Chaeyoung glanced at Mina, still trapped in Nayeon's hug. She saw her biting her lower lip, trying to stop her laughter, which made Chaeyoung giggle.

"By the way, you were amazing lion-cub" Jihyo smiled and winked at her.

 Chaeyoung smiled back.

"That's my Chaeng!" Chaeyoung heard someone saying.

 She looked around and found Namjoon smiling at her. She smiled brightly and walked towards him. He raised his hand and Chaeyoung high-fived it.

"You have a little of time before the freestyle rounds start, but make sure you are backstage"

"You think I passed oppa?"

 Namjoon chuckled.

"I know you passed"

 Chaeyoung felt her cheeks blushing, she smiled.

"Chaeyoung-ah!"

 She laughed when she saw Hoseok, Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook jumping all over the bleachers until they reached her. They congratulated her (loudly) and then jumped off to who knows where.

 She shook her head and chuckled.

 She smiled and thank Sana and Momo when they congratulated her. She noticed Sana was extremely cheerfully, social and extrovert compared to Momo who shyly and softly complimented her. And of course, there was Tzuyu who Chaeyoung couldn't help but feel a tiny bit awkward around after what Mina had told her. Which got her thinking.

 Sana and Tzuyu kissed. Moonbyul and Yongsun kissed. What the heck was going on and why the heck were girls now suddenly kissing each other?!

 Chaeyoung shook her head from left to right. She knew it was wrong. People always said it was wrong. But honestly she didn't feel like it was wrong, she was just shocked of knowing people who did... the wrong.

 However, regardless of whatever awkwardness she felt around Tzuyu, both ended up laughing together at Seokjin's lame jokes.

"Hyung! Stop it!" Namjoon begged.

 Chaeyoung glanced at her side were Tzuyu was sitting and laughed even more. For a minute she forgot about how nervous she was, until Yoongi "kindly" reminded her she had to stay focused and not to forget about going backstage. 

 That's when all the anxiety came back to her. She stopped laughing and unconsciously turned to look at Mina. To her surprise, Mina was staring at her, once their eyes met Chaeyoung swore she saw a tiny hint of blush on the girl's cheeks. She smiled, Mina smiled back.

 They spent some time just talking and laughing while they waited for the competition to start again. Although Chaeyoung tried her best not to, she felt a little awkward around Tzuyu because of what Mina told her. But once she noticed how uncomfortable and lost the girl looked she forced herself to push all her thoughts aside and talk to her.

"You're Tzuyu-ssi, right?" She asked.

 Tzuyu looked surprised but nodded. Chaeyoung smiled.

"Mina-ssi told me we are the same age, feels good not to be the youngest here" She chuckled.

 She could tell Tzuyu was shy but thankfully that didn't stop the girl from trying to make small chat.

"You know a lot of Korean" Chaeyoung said surprised.

 Tzuyu chuckled.

"Seriously, are you sure you are a foreigner?"

 "Shi" Tzuyu said with a straight face.

 Chaeyoung stared at her, confused.

"What?"

 The taller girl started laughing and Chaeyoung couldn't help but join her.

"Yes in mandarin" she explained in between giggles.

 "Kid, we should get going, they are going to call everybody soon" Yoongi said.

 Chaeyoung nodded. She looked at Mina with curious eyes, "you coming?". Mina nodded with a tiny smile. Chaeyoung smiled back.

"Get going, I'll make the stupid boy on the DJ booth didn't mess up your last track"

"But I'm not in the finals" The shorter girl said confused.

 Yoongi looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Yet, you're not in the finals yet"

 Chaeyoung smiled at the floor.

 Mina and her started making their way backstage. Chaeyoung feels butterflies on her stomach, she plays with her fingers and swears her feet became heavier. 

 She's nervous.

---------o---------

 Nayeon isn't exactly sure of why or how it happened, but once she notices her head resting on Jeongyeon's shoulder, she blushes. But instead of letting go, like every normal human being would do, she clung even harder to the girl's arm. 
 
She's not letting go anytime soon. Jeongyeon's shoulder is way too comfortable, besides the younger girl doesn't seem to mind it.

 Nayeon ignores Jihyo's confused stares on purpose. She's just as confused as her friend is. She can't understand what's going on, or why. The only thing Nayeon is sure of is she can get used to the warmth she's feeling while hugging Jeongyeon's arm.

 She watched as everybody chatted, laughing hysterically at the boys jokes and Jeongyeon's faces while trying not to laugh, which of course didn't work and everybody ended up laughing.

 Nayeon suddenly felt hungry. Sometimes she couldn't understand her stomach, how could it get hungry when she had eaten a few hours earlier?

 Still, she didn't pay attention to it because one: she had no money or knew any place to buy a snack or something, and two: she was sure once she let go of Jeongyeon's arm she wouldn't be able to be this close to the girl for a while. A long while.

 She wasn't risking it.

 That was until her hunger became seriously unbearable. 

 She tugged on Jeongyeon's arm making the girl turn to look at her.

"What happened?" Jeongyeon asked.

 "I'm hungry" Nayeon pouted and laid her head on Jeongyeon's shoulder.

 She felt, more than saw, Jeongyeon rolling her eyes. When the younger started moving she regretted saying anything in the first place, that was until Jeongyeon spoke up.

"Be right back" she said before leaving a puzzled and surprised Nayeon behind.

 Jeongyeon came back with a bag of chips which made Nayeon's face lit up. It wasn't exactly food but she was hungry and everything counted.

 She offered the bag to Jeongyeon but the girl shook her head and instead nodded towards the rest of the girls. Nayeon got the message and moved the bag towards them.

 Jihyo took some without hesitating. Sana was a little shy but grabbed some and thanked them. 

 Nayeon noticed Sana sharing her chips with Momo before taking one and feeding Tzuyu with it, making the girl chuckle.

 Nayeon chuckled too and moved the bag further so Momo and Tzuyu could reach it but both shook their heads.

"Come on, just take some" she insisted.

 Momo sighed and did as told, and so did Tzuyu.

 Momo's face lit up, Nayeon laughed and both started eating non-stop.

"I almost forgot the taste these things had" Momo said in a loud whisper.

 Nayeon shook her head and laughed.

---------o---------

 Chaeyoung and Mina were walking backstage when the younger girl noticed a familiar figure and another not-so-familiar-but-yet-familiar-enough one. It didn't take a genius to figure out the girl who's back was facing them was Moonbyul and Chaeyoung was more than sure that the other person was that girl she had seen Moonbyul with. And she had seen enough school mates making out to know what was going on. They were making out. 
 
Chaeyoung stood there for way longer than needed trying to process what she was seeing. She remembered Mina was beside her, she took a quick glance and notice the girl was as shocked as her. They stay there for a few seconds until Chaeyoung heard footsteps behind them. She grabbed Mina's arm and quickly dragged her and herself out of there.

 She was in the highest state of "what the have my eyes just seen!" she had ever experienced. She wasn't sure about Mina, and being completely honest she didn't exactly care at the moment.

 She had just seen two people making out in a dark corner.

 Two girls.

 She knew one of them.

 Moonbyul was making out with a girl.

 Chaeyoung's eyes opened wide.

 So that's what that Hyejin girl meant by "gay for Yongsun-unnie"... Huh
 She shook her head and forced herself to forget about it, but it seemed almost impossible. 

 Chaeyoung and Mina are silent for a while until Yoongi arrived.

"What's wrong with you two?" He asked.

"Huh?" Chaeyoung mumbled.

"You guys look like you just saw a ghost, something wrong?"

"Nothing" Both answered at the same time.

 Yoongi gave them of those "I don't believe you" stares which always made Chaeyoung nervous, and this time wasn't the exception.

"Anyways... Don't go anywhere, the DJ finally did something useful and told me the second half is about to start"

  Chaeyoung was extremely nervous. It didn't help that one of the MC's told her she was next, she started feeling even more nervous if that was possible.  She moved away from Yoongi and Mina, she needed to take a deep breath and relax, otherwise, she'll make a fool of herself on stage. 

"What's wrong?"

 She turned around and found Mina giving her this extremely worried look. Chaeyoung sighed defeated.

"I can't do this" she murmured.

 She hoped Mina hadn't heard her but she didn't have such luck.

 Mina frowned and walked closer to her.

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't do this, I just- I'll tell Yoongi-ssi I'm dropping out the competition"

 And she was about to do exactly that when Mina's arm stopped her and pushed her back in front of her. 

"Okay, listen... I know you might be nervous, but you just can't let that take over your head" She said.

 Chaeyoung stared at her without saying a word. She knew the girl was right but it was easier said than done.

"Besides you were amazing! I would have freaked out the minute I put a foot on there, but you didn't and