“Rose, are you serious?” Jennie said, hopping over a moss-covered fallen log and heaving her breath. “Every single rock? Seriously?”

Rose was dressed in name-brand hiking gear and was perched on top of the sixth really big rock that the girls had crossed on their way up the mountain. She had just dyed her hair a strawberry champagne color and even curled it, knowing full well that they were going on a camping trip and not to a summer at the Hamptons.

“Just one more!” she shouted and then gestured for Lisa, who was holding her phone, to take a step back. “Get the whole forest in the shot, I want it to look super nature-y!”

Jennie groaned and slowed to catch her breath. Sweat stuck to her forehead and she fanned herself with her hand. “Jisoo, how much further to do have to go?”

A little further up the path, Jisoo was covering her phone screen, trying to shield it from the sun and she figured out just where the hell they were. Down at the base of the mountain, a park ranger told them that if they just followed this path, they would get to the camping grounds in about two hours. That is, if they hiked at a steady pace and didn’t stop to take pictures every time they passed a giant boulder. 

“Um, I think another mile?” Jisoo said. She took her cap off her head and fanned herself with it. “Or, maybe two? Three?”

Jennie marched over and took Jisoo’s phone from her hand. They both started zooming and un-zooming the map only to later find out that their mobile signal had cut out about half-way into their hike and it wasn’t loading anymore. They had to break out a paper map, and they spent another few minutes trying to figure out how to use it.

“This is fun!” Rose chimed, climbing down from the giant boulder. She twirled like a ballerina, throwing her arms around. “Ah, the air smells so fresh, we’re hiking and doing cute friendship things. This was such a good idea.”

“It’ll be even better once we figure out where we’re supposed to set up camp,” Jisoo said. 

After that heart-to-heart with her father, Jisoo decided that she was going to reclaim her time and reclaim her dream. No more moping around and feeling sorry for herself and her lot in life. She was turning a new page. And the first thing she wanted to do was climb this mountain that she’d lived beneath her entire life. For once, she wanted to be on top of it. 

Getting her friends on board wasn’t part of the plan, but it was a pleasant improvisation. She had gotten them all on the phone in a four-way call so they could catch up. Jisoo just happened to slip he plans to go camping into the conversation, and soon it turned into a girls’ trip. She was beyond happy to see them all again, but she was reminded just how chaotic things could be when they were all together. Not that she minded too much. If she was going to get lost in the woods, she’d rather be lost with her friends. 

Lisa took to the hiking pretty well. She was always the sportier one of the four, and she’d already saved Jennie from a garter snake twice (though she insisted they were harmless) and pulled a branch clean off a tree to use as a walking stick. She was also the one constantly calling back to the rest of them to hurry up while she attacked hills and rocky paths with perfect ease.

Jennie was trooper, even though they could all tell she wished they had decided to go to Jeju Island or something. She wasn’t a very outdoorsy person, but she kept up with the hiking alright. All those hours she spent at soul cycling classes probably helped with her stamina. 

Rose was doing surprisingly really well for a bourgie rich girl who wore her most expensive yoga outfit for the hike. She didn’t even look tired at all, hopping from one big rock to the next, taking selfies and vlogging.

Jisoo’s father insisted that she take their family dog, Dalgom, with them. For protection, he said. But about fifteen minutes into the hike, the damn pup was already exhausted. Jisoo had to carry him the rest of the way up. He looked at her with sad, judging eyes while she and Jennie tried to figure out their map.

A hike that was only supposed to take an intermediate hiker two or three hours ended up being a six hour hike. In that time, Rose managed to take pictures of herself sitting on eight really big rocks; Lisa had sang through the entirety of “Bohemian Rhapsody” ten times; Jisoo had to stop their hiking party at least a dozen times to let Dalgom pee only to realize that he wasn’t really even peeing but just rubbing his on random trees and bushes to mark his territory. She had to pick barbs and leaves out of his fur every single time. They even passed another hairy, shirtless, sweaty hiker who helped them find their way back to the right path and then tried to poach Jennie’s phone number. 

Jinyoung used to hike this with his entire family? Jisoo thought just as the day sank into the afternoon. She tried to imagine being ten years old and making this journey. Knowing how she was as a ten-year-old, she probably would have complained the entire way and beg to climb back down after just twenty minutes. 

It was nearly three o’clock when Jisoo started swatting at mosquitoes that were flying toward her face. She stepped behind a line of bushes and found a clearing. She let Dalgom down and he started to sniff at the ground and then whine. She heard the waterfall before she saw it.

“Guys!” she called back to the group. “I think we’re here!”

Jisoo loosened her grip on Dalgom’s leash as he walked over to the edge of the water to drink. In the forest clearing, the air was much cooler. The ground was rocky but level and the water came gently up to her feet and spilled into a stream on the other end. A steady stream of water fell from above a low cliff-face. The water was clear and cool. 

“Ugh! Finally!” Jennie said, pulling up beside Jisoo and catching her breath.

“Ooh, it’s so pretty!” Lisa said, pulling out her phone to take a picture. Rose wasted no time at all in stripping down to the bathing suit she wore under her clothes and jumping into the water. Lisa followed after her.

Jisoo laughed at the two of them, splattering around in the water. Jennie took her shoes off and chose to wade in gently while Jisoo bent down and gave Dalgom a pat on the head before picking him up and following Jennie in. 

“We should do this more often,” Rose said, holding her thermos of soup close to her chest. Jennie, mouth stuffed with marshmallow and chocolate, nodded in agreement.

Night had fallen. Instead of going to where people usually camped, the girls decided they wanted to stay by the waterfall. So they unfurled their tents and set up camp there. Crickets sang around them as they huddled close to the fire. 

Jisoo was holding Dalgom in her lap while she shared a blanket with Lisa. Summer was fading fast and the cold was blowing in at night. She was happy to have her friends to keep her both accompanied and warm. She didn’t realize how much she missed them in the three months since they all went their separate ways. She didn’t realize just how much she’d come to love them in the years they spent together at college.

Friends didn’t come easily to Jisoo. Classes in college lasted about four months per semester, and it took her that long to get comfortable with any new person in her life. People always left before they could leave a lasting impression on her or her life. But if the six hours she spent struggling up this mountain with these girls taught her anything, it was that this friendship was here to stay.

They spent hours talking about how hard it was to find a post-grad job; the outrageous demands of their landlords and landladies; parents nagging them to get jobs or get married soon; how cute Park Bo Gum looked in his latest drama; the pros and cons of dating a co-worker and starting an office romance; the possibility that Bran Stark was actually the Night King; their first impressions of each other when they first met; the proper way to cook samgyeopsal at a restaurant; and a thousand other trivial topics in between.

“I really need to find a job,” Jennie said, leaning against her arm. “Student loans are going to s