Ahri expertly maneuvered herself on the snow with her skis. She dipped and leaped off the edge of a pile of snow. For a second, it looked as if she were soaring through the clear, winter skies. She landed gracefully on the snow, and gently came to a stop in front of a table of judges. The judges held up signs with the number “10” on them, and one of the judges even scratched the number out to write “11”.

 

Ahri smiled triumphantly as she turned towards the After School Club. Eunji ran up to her and hugged her with so much force that the two girls fell to the ground. When they got up, Eunji noticed a figure behind her, and she smiled teasingly at Ahri. She pushed her towards the figure, who caught her with both of his hands.

 

“You were amazing!” Baekhyun beamed at Ahri. “I didn’t know you skied so well!”

 

“Oh, it’s nothing much,” Ahri shrugged her shoulders and replied coolly.

 

Baekhyun looked at the snow beneath his feet and twiddled his thumbs. “Do you think you could teach me sometime? I mean, only if you want to, of course.”

 

“Of course!” Ahri replied immediately.

 

“Really?” Baekhyun’s entire face lit up as he took hold of her hands. “I’m so happy!”

 

This was the perfect moment for her to tell Baekhyun her feelings. She could do it.

 

“I have something to tell you!”

 

.::.           .::.           .::.

 

“What do you want to tell me?” Eunji’s voice brought Ahri out of her dream. The second year student rubbed her eyes and examined her surroundings. When she saw the familiar interior of the coach bus they were on, she remembered that the entire club was on their way to a ski resort.

 

“Hn?” Ahri mumbled.

 

“You were talking in your sleep,” Eunji scoffed and sat back in her seat. “Seemed like you were having a good dream by the giddy smile on your face.”

 

“Oh, it was,” Ahri said in a dreamy voice. She tried to supress the smile that was tugging at her lips, but eventually she broke out in a giggling fit as she hugged the small pillow that came with the seat.

 

“You’re so weird,” Eunji laughed and returned to playing FarmVille on her phone.

 

“What’re you guys talking about?” Minah poked her head into the conversation from behind the two girls. She smiled cutely as she stood on her tippy toes to get a better look of Eunji and Ahri’s faces. Ever since their meeting with Minah at Suho’s Christmas Ball, the three girls had become incredibly close. Minah was like the third person in their imaginary trio that was now no longer imaginary.

 

“Ahri’s just being her usual weird self,” Eunji replied, earning a slap in the shoulder from Ahri. Eunji whined in pain and rubbed the sore spot on her arm. Then, she looked up at Minah and asked, “How are things back there with the boyfriend?”

 

“Minseok’s fast asleep,” she giggled. “He was reading a book and before I knew it, he was knocked out.”

 

Ahri stood on the seat with her knees and turned her body so that she was facing Minah. She looked the first-year in the eye and whispered, “We’re so happy you could come on this trip with us.”

 

“Me too!” Minah chimed. “I have to thank Suho-sunbae later for letting me join you guys!”

 

“As you can see here, there aren’t many girls in this club so it’s really nice to have you here,” Ahri said with a kind smile.

 

“Have you skied before, Minah?” Eunji asked excitedly as she imitated Ahri’s position.

 

“Once or twice,” Minah replied as she looked up at the ceiling of the coach bus. “It was with my parents a couple years ago, so I’m a little rusty.”

 

“Well,” Eunji started as she puffed her chest out. “I’m qualified to go on the junior slopes. I go skiing every year with my family, so I’m pretty good at it. How about you, Ahri?”

 

Ahri laughed nervously and waved her hand in front of her as if Eunji had asked her an idiotic question. “Yeah, of course. Like, once or twice.”

 

Once or twice multiplied by zero, that is.

 

.::.           .::.           .::.

 

When they reached the ski resort, the first thing the club members did was decide who would be sharing a room with who. If Suho had it his way, everyone would have gotten their own room, but sadly the hotel didn’t have enough empty rooms so they were forced to share. Each room was equipped with a large bathroom, and had 4 single beds.

 

The 3 girls were automatically assigned one room. The 12 other members of the After School Club decided the room pairings using a random number generator (because they couldn’t decide the groups by themselves without someone getting all fussy *coughTaocough*). Each member was assigned a number between 1 to 12, and Suho used a random number generator to create a random string of numbers. Every group of 4 numbers, which corresponded to 4 members, were assigned to one room.

 

The groups are as follows:

1. Eunji, Ahri, Minah

2. Minseok, Jongdae, Luhan, Sehun

3. Kyungsoo, Jongin, Tao, Kris

4. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Suho, Yixing

 

Conveniently enough, everyone ended up with at least one person that they liked.

 

The 3 girls received their room key from the front desk, and made their way to their room. Eunji slipped the key in and unlocked the door to reveal a cozy looking room. Minah ran inside and threw her suitcase on the ground, then she jumped onto one of the beds and exclaimed, “Dibs on this one!”

 

“They’re all the same,” Ahri said as she gently placed her suitcase at the foot of the bed that she claimed as her own.

 

“Then you won’t mind if I take that bed you’re on?” Eunji wiggled her eyebrows at the second year student. “They’re all the same, right?”

 

“Well, I like how this one is close to the window,” Ahri said defensively. She hugged the pillow and gave Eunji the best puppy dog pout she could pull off.

 

“Stop with your aegyo, you know I won’t fall for it,” Eunji laughed. She plopped down on the bed closest to the washroom and stretched her arms out. “I’ll take this one then.”

 

Ahri stood up from her bed and waltzed over to the window. She placed her palms on the glassy surface and she stood in awe as she stared at the endless snow-covered hills that surrounded their resort. “It’s beautiful.”

 

“I can’t wait to ski!” Eunji declared energetically. She started changing out of her “regular jacket” to put on her “ski jacket”, which didn’t seem all too strange. But when she started changing her socks, Minah raised a brow at her.

 

“Why are you changing out of your socks too?” Minah asked curiously.

 

“I have to wear special ski socks,” Eunji said as if it were the most obvious thing. “Regular socks just don’t cut it.”

 

“Oh,” Ahri said under her breath. She stared at the simple, white socks she was wearing, and wiggled her toes ever so slightly. She didn’t know she was supposed to wear different socks to go skiing.

 

“It’s all in the socks, my friend,” Eunji said with confidence. “Not wearing special ski socks is like trying to play tennis with a badminton racquet.”

 

Ahri gulped at the statement. She shifted her eyes to Minah, who mouthed the words, “She’s lying” to her.

 

“Are you guys gonna ski right now?” Ahri asked.

 

“You bet! Kai and Sehun are probably already waiting for me outside,” Eunji exclaimed.

 

“You’re awfully close to them,” Ahri said suggestively.

 

Eunji scrunched her face up and looked at Ahri as if she had said something incredibly idiotic. “Well of course, they’re my classmates after all.”

 

“Hot classmates,” Minah chuckled.

 

“Hey, hey! Keep your eyes to yourself,” Eunji said through a smile. “You can’t be cheating on Minseok-subae now.”

 

“Pish posh,” Minah snorted and waved a hand in the air. “Minseok and I aren’t so petty that he’d get upset over me saying something like that. He knows I’m faithful to him.”

 

“How long have you guys been dating?” Eunji asked as she was tying the laces on her boots.

 

“Officially for a year, but we’ve known each other since middle school. I’ve always kind of had a thing for him,” she replied. As Minah recalled her middle school days and how she had admired him, her cheeks began to redden. “I honestly didn’t think he liked me back, so I was really surprised when he asked me out last year.”

 

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Ahri cooed. She took a seat next to Minah on her bed and cupped her cheeks with her hands.

 

“Do you ever get insecure? About your relationship, I mean,” Eunji said out of nowhere. She was surprised by her own question, because she didn’t exactly know why she had asked it. No doubt Minah had encountered several other handsome guys in the past, so why had she chosen Minseok? Of course the third year was attractive, what with his forearm muscles and all, but hadn’t she ever felt her heart waver?

 

Minah looked at Eunji with surprise, then she quickly looked up the ceiling as if it would give her an answer. “Well, sometimes I do. I think all couples experience that,” she started. Then, Minah looked at Eunji and flashed a smile, “But I trust Minseok.”

 

.::.           .::.           .::.

 

The members of the After School Club all gathered outside the chalet, dressed in warm clothing and ski equipment. A couple of the members had a snowboard at their feet instead of skis. Ahri spotted Baekhyun at the other end of the group with a snowboard in his hand. He was talking, and laughing about something with Chanyeol, who was wearing a pair of skis.

 

Ahri took one step forward in her skis, and nearly slipped. She dug the poles into the snow to keep her balance, then she slowly raised herself back up. She blew some of the hair out of her face and cursed herself for not having picked up skiing before. She quickly glanced over at Eunji, who was talking with Sehun and Kai. No doubt they were deciding which ski slope they wanted to start off with first. She looked over to the other side, where Minah and Minseok were looking at a map together and discussing which area they wanted to venture out to first.

 

Ahri was alone, and god dammit, if she didn’t make good use of this time, when would she? She trudged her way over to Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and flashed the two a friendly smile.

 

“Hey Ahri,” Baekhyun greeted her with a bright smile. “Have you skied before?”

 

“Yeah, like once or twice,” she replied with an indifferent shrug, despite freaking out on the inside. She didn’t want to seem like a total amateur at the sport in front of Baekhyun. When she recalled the dream she had on their way to the ski resort, she was determined to spend time with him during their trip. She was confident he had asked her that question because he was new to the sport too. Even if it took her all her energy to stand up properly, she was going to teach him everything she knew about standing on skis.

 

“Oh cool, what level?” Baekhyun asked. When Ahri looked at him with confusion, he rephrased the question, “Like, what slopes are you qualified to ski on?”

 

“Uh, what slopes are you planning on going on?” she asked nervously.

 

“I was thinking about starting with Black Diamond. I’m kind of rusty after all. After I get into the groove, I’ll probably move onto Vertigo, which is my favourite route,” Baekhyun replied. “Haven’t been on the intermediate slopes in a long time. It feels so nice to snowboard again!”

 

‘Black Diamond? Vertigo?’ Ahri asked herself. When she recalled Eunji telling her that she was qualified to ski on the junior slopes, Ahri’s eyes widened in realization. ‘Eunji is a junior skier, and Baekhyun’s an… intermediate snowboarder?’

 

Well, there went her dreams of teaching him how to stand on his equipment properly.

 

“I’m gonna go off first, I’ll talk to the both of you later. Bye!” he waved at her and Chanyeol. He turned around, dropped his snowboard on the ground and slid away smoothly.

 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol and Ahri shouted in unison. The two students looked at each other.

 

“I’m kind of new to skiing,” Chanyeol said sheepishly. “I wanted Baekhyun to teach me for a while, but he just left. Some friend he is, huh? Are you in the same boat?”

 

“Yeah, kind of,” Ahri admitted in defeat. There was no use in keeping the façade up in front of Chanyeol, so she told him how she had never gone skiing before.

 

“But you said you’ve done it ‘once or twice’,” Chanyeol pointed out her lie in her conversation with Baekhyun. “Why’d you lie?”

 

“I didn’t want to seem like someone who didn’t know what they were doing,” Ahri replied with a sigh. She didn’t know why she was telling Chanyeol this because he was Baekhyun’s best friend and if she wasn’t careful around him he might catch onto her feelings for him. She trudged herself forward to get away from Chanyeol. She’d have to start from square one, but she was determined to make her way to Black Diamond before their 3 days at the ski resort were over.

 

She was going to ski with Baekhyun.

 

Chanyeol trudged his skis and caught up to her. “Wait for me!” he yelled after her.

 

“What?” Ahri said with slightly annoyance. If she was going to start from the bottom and make her way to the top in less than 3 days, she couldn’t afford to lose any time. She was going to blaze through the beginner’s tests.

 

“You’re starting from the Greens, right?” Chanyeol asked.

 

“Greens?”

 

“The beginner’s tests,” Chanyeol explained. “I’m going to head there too.”

 

“Ok fine, you can follow me but you can’t hold me back, alright?” Ahri informed her classmate. Her eyes were filled with fiery determination, and Chanyeol gulped when she stared at him. He nodded his head quickly. Ahri nodded her head in approval and turned around to continue trudging through the snow. When she lost her balance and fell on the ground, Chanyeol slapped his forehead.

 

It was going to be a long 3 days.

 

.::.           .::.           .::.

 

“Woohoo!”

 

Eunji, Sehun and Kai raced down one of the junior slopes at fast speeds. Eunji was in the lead, and she quickly turned her head back to see how far she was in front of the two boys. When she didn’t see them behind her, she smirked triumphantly and bent her knees ever so slightly to increase her speed.

 

She passed the finish line and stopped herself. She fist-pumped the air and let out a cry of victory, but when she saw both Sehun and Kai standing before her with their arms crossed, she frowned.

 

“How? I was in front of you two though,” she pouted.

 

“Never look back,” Kai smirked. “You don’t catch things passing you by when you do.”

 

“Whatever,” she grumbled and slid in front of them. “Rematch?”

 

“I’m down for it,” Kai said. “Sehun?”

 

“Let’s do a different route this time though. Also, let’s make it a bit more interesting,” Sehun replied with a sinister grin.

 

“Interesting? How so?” asked Eunji.

 

“You know how on the way to Polar Pride we passed by a small cabin? I overheard some people in the hotel’s lobby talking about that cabin. Rumours say that the cabin’s haunted, and that you can still hear the voice of the old man who used to live there,” Sehun explained. He put his arms in front of him and moved them to imitate a ghost’s movements.

 

“So?” Kai scoffed.

 

“The losers have to check the cabin out,” Sehun said with a mischievous look. “Deal?”

 

“Why couldn’t we just have chosen something like the losers buy the winner lunch or something?” Eunji whined. She had a secret fear of haunted houses, and jump scares in general. People often told her she was strange because she didn’t mind watching horror movies, but as soon as she was put in a similar situation, she’d start screaming her head off.

 

“Why? Are you scared?” Kai asked in a slightly condescending tone. He raised a brow at her and crossed his arms in amusement.

 

“Pfffttt, no,” Eunji lied. “Besides, I won’t be the one who has to go in there anyway. That’ll be your problem to deal with.”

 

Eunji may have lost the previous match, but she was determined to win the next one. She’d have her sweet revenge, and the boys would be forced to explore the abandoned house. Eunji could envision her glorious victory, followed by the scared expressions of Sehun and Kai. She’d be standing outside of the cabin where she’d be recording their screams.

 

“Says the loser,” Sehun smirked at her. “It’s so easy to try and act like something you’re not.”

 

“Says the one who pretends he’s mute,” Eunji scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Who’s the pretender?”

 

“Hey, hey you know it’s because I just don’t like talking to strangers,” Sehun said defensively with a finger pointed at Eunji.

 

“Yeah, yeah and now you won’t shut up,” Eunji laughed.

 

“Please, you haven’t even seen his cuckoo side yet,” Kai said as he twirled a finger around his temple. “Especially when he’s sleepy, this guy does the weirdest thing. He hugs your arm lik-“

 

“Dude don’t tell her about that!” Sehun interrupted Kai abruptly, covering the other’s mouth with his hand. Whatever happened, Sehun did not want Eunji to know about the fact that he hugs people’s arms like he hugs a stuffed animal and calls them “mommy”. It was a secret that he desperately tried to hide from the world, and he felt like he’d rather die than let Eunji find out.

 

“Guys! If you don’t hurry up I’m gonna leave you behind!” Eunji called out to her classmates from afar. She hadn’t even heard the first part of Kai’s statement because she had skied away right before he said anything.

 

“Hey! No head starts!” Sehun shouted and removed his hands from Kai’s mouth. He immediately followed after Eunji, then Kai followed suit.

 

Kai couldn’t help but smile like a child as he chased after his friends. Without him even realizing it, he and Sehun had become accustomed to having Eunji around them. It was a strange feeling, to be so comfortable around a girl because Kai had never experienced the feeling before. Everything in the moment seemed tranquil, like the unmoving snow that laid at their feet.

 

Little did they know it was just the calm before a storm.

 

---

 

A/N: Ok so I really love writing about Baek and Ahri because they're so sweet and cute to write about right (I'm literally gonna get cavities by writing about them lol), but let me know if I'm writing about them too much i.e. does Eunji needs to be in the spotlight more or are ya'll satisfied with the current state of events? Let me know :)

\\ xoxo