★★★★★★★★

Some forwords:

-I'm beginning college in a couple of days and my schedule is jam packed. i'm on campus all day. please keep this in mind

-the trailer is done! not fabulous, but still good. check the Foreword for the link.

★★★★★★★★

Popping two pills into and downing half a bottle of water, Yideun hoped her headache would go away soon.

“Feeling any better?” Kangta asked, dropping a cool towel onto the drum major’s head. Yideun thanked him, said ‘no, not any better’ and held the towel to her heated face. She felt Kangta sit next to her; the two watched the band learn more drill, the colorguard learn more routines, and the majorettes take a break. “Just relax for now,” Kangta told her, “We need to teach Heechul the ropes anyway.”

With a band the size of Neul Paran’s, it was hard for one drum major to conduct the whole band, so, on the back of the field (or wherever it’s needed), an assistant drum major stands, on a smaller podium than Yideun’s, conducting. That’s where Heechul came in.

Meanwhile, the girls and boys of the colorguard were working hard perfecting and learning new routines for the show. They were moving and running, dancing, and spinning, doing everything they could to keep up with the others and not make themselves a ‘weak link’.

Finally, after an hour of rehearsing, they were given a 15 minute water break. The group walked to where their water bottles and coolers were stashed with hardly half the energy they were just using. Hyunjae plopped herself down next to Byul, who was already trying to drown herself in water. The two, much like everyone else in the guard (no less the band), was covered in a sheen of sweat, hair sticking to their foreheads in clumps. Byul (and other members of the guard and band) was wearing a bit less than Hyunjae, who wore a thin t-shirt and shorts instead of a sports bra and spandex.

“Hey,” a new voice called. The two looked over and saw Hyukjae grinning back at them, laying on his stomach with his chin propped in his hands.

Discreetly, Hyunjae nudged Byul’s side, who only took another sip of her water before rolling onto her feet to go find Nichkhun. “Hey, Hyukjae,” Hyunjae said, voice wavering only a little, “H-how is the routine?”

“I like it,” Hyukjae said, pushing himself up to a seated position. He grinned over at the smaller girl and told her, “I heard there might be some dancing, couple dancing.”

Hyunjae, who was sipping her water at the time, put the bottle down and glanced at the other as if expecting him to continue. When he didn’t. she just said simply, “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Hyunkjae’s wolfish grin grew bigger, if possible. “I hope Jaejoong puts us together.” Hearing this, Hyunjae blushed, pink darkening her cheeks more, and Hyukjae seemed proud.

By the last run through of the night, Yideun’s headache had gone and returned. She took more pain medicine before climbing up the podium, calling together the band once again to their opening set. The whole band was there and ready in less than a minute, wasting no time. Kangta and the drill instructors mentioned a few things for the group to remember as they perform – some for the general use of everyone, some for specific sections or people. When Yoochun put a close to his little speech, Yideun took a deep breath and gave the first beats, to which the battery ‘dutted’ and the show began.

When the 7 minute show finished, the musicians and dancers came together at the 50 line to listen to Kangta’s closing words and memos, then moved to pack up their instruments, flags, rifles, sabres, or batons, took final sips of water, packed their drill books, undid their dotbooks, and prepared for the trek home. The drum major was no different. Yideun packed up her sheet music and water, saying goodbye to friends and began to head out.

Suddenly, Yideun heard quick, tired footsteps behind her. Turning around she saw none other but the pretty, long-haired freshmen boy. “Taemin-ssi,” Yideun called, pausing to let the other catch up to her. Taemin seemed grateful as he took a moment to catch his breath, tired from the three consecutive run-throughs and the whole day of practice, plus running full speed to catch up to Yideun. “Do you need a ride home or something?”

Taemin smiled at her. Straightening himself, Taemin pushed his sweaty bangs off his forehead. “No,” he told her, “I don’t need a ride, hyung is waiting on me. I… I was wondering…” Yideun thinks this is the first time she saw the younger boy every act shy, ever. He always seemed so confident…. “Can I call you noona?”

The familiar word snapped Yideun out of whatever trance she was in and stared dumbly at the younger. Taemin giggled and repeated himself. The word alone caused a pink tint to rise on Yideun’s cheeks, she was absently thankful for the shadows of night hiding her. “Umm… th-that’s…” Yideun stuttered, as she saw a flash of something – was it pride? – over Taemin’s eyes. “I… guess that’d be ok?” Yideun said after a moment, agreeing to Taemin’s request. At that moment, Taemin looked like a child in a candy store, bright and happy, like he hadn’t spent the last 12 hours under the beating sun. “Not at practice, though, ok?”

“Ok!” Taemin agreed, then glanced around to see if anyone was around. Everyone, by then, had already left or had passed them. The grin then reappeared on his rosy lips and Yideun felt almost nervous. Quickly, Taemin jumped closer to the drum major and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Bye~ See you tomorrow, noona!” he greeted, then practically skipped away, climbing into a car Yideun assumed belonged to Taemin’s nameless ‘hyung’.

Yideun’s skinny fingers gingerly touched the spot on her cheek where the freshmen had kissed her, feeling the heat in her face intensify. Sudden tiredness rushed over her, reminding her that she had to get home to rest before another rehearsal tomorrow.

Suddenly, the headache she had before wasn’t so bad.

 Before the morning run-through, Yideun popped two more pills into , willing her headache to go away. But as the battery began dutting to the beat her hands gave, and the band began to play, her head only throbbed to the beat instead of going away.

She knew Kangta was watching her – he’d been watching her ever since Tuesday, when she ran to the bathroom and dry heaved during lunch (luckily, no one else was around, just Kangta who followed her). After three days, Yideun could ignore Kangta’s stares, and conduct the band through the entire show time and time again. But her head still throbbed.

Soon it was the last week of band camp and the entire show was on the field, all save for a couple spots of routine by the colorguard and majorettes that weren’t complete yet, and for the flashy stuff that Kangta, Junsu nor Yoochun have agreed 100% on.

“You guys are doing really great,” Yideun said as one of the run-throughs was finished, the last one before lunch. Yideun then listed off some trouble spots that Junsu and Yoochun told her marching wise, some notes for the colorguard from Jaejoong, then dismissed the group for lunch.

“Still got the headaches?” Hwajae asked, biting into her apple. Yideun leaned against the cool band room wall, thankful that the throbbing in her head was over. Byul pressed a cold water bottle to the drum major’s cheek, and neck, only pressing it more firmly when the girl flinched. Yideun sent a glare her way, mouthing ‘abuser’ at her and rolling her eyes when Byul just grinned.

Before Yideun could open to either reply to Hwajae’s question, Hyunjae crashed next to her, practically flinging her body to the ground from a sprint. Yideun, like everyone else, was surprised at the girl’s speed, something she didn’t display on a regular basis during practices. “Yideun-ah, Yideun-ah!” Hyunjae shouted, forgetting all formality with her sunbae.

“Spit it out,” Byul said monotonously, pulling away from Yideun, placing the ice-cold water bottle in the drum major’s lap and then turning to talk to her boyfriend who looked more than pleased with the new attention placed on him.

“J-Jaejoong pl-placed me and Hyukjae together for the dance routine –” Hyunjae began, speaking through pants as she tried to catch her breath. Haneul interrupted with a ‘we know’, sipping on her iced tea. Hyunjae made a face at her, then turned back to the drum major. “Well, he just asked me out!”

Yideun’s dark eyes widened, staring at the younger with a new interest now. “Really?” she asked but before she could continue, again, Hyunjae interrupted her.

“We have a date tonight after practice.”   

“You should be sleeping after practice, Hyunjae-ssi,” Yideun said simply, reaching for the bottle Byul placed in her lap, conveniently ignoring the smirk Byul sent her way. Yideun sipped it, drinking more than half, loving the feeling of the cool water and its effects, also ignoring the pout Hyunjae had directed at her.

Pouting deeper, Hyunjae whined, “I will sleep! Just after my date with Hyukjae,” then added, “aren’t you happy for me, unni?” for an extra effect.

“Don’t be like that,” Yideun snapped, “you know I am. We all are.” Hwajae who sat silently, munching on her apple until then, jabbed her friend in the side with her socked foot. Yideun slapped the offending limb away, earning a chuckle from the other who just turned and began a conversation with Haneul. “Just don’t forget your commitment to the band,” Yideun continued, “You can’t let yourself slip just because you’ve got a boyfriend now.”

Waving away her unni’s concerns, Hyunjae promised she wouldn’t let anything effect her performance before jumping away to eat lunch with her newfound boyfriend.

It was, again, the last run-through of the night before the members could go home and relax for a couple of hours before they’d have to come back and sweat under the hot sun. but, this time, due to an unsatisfactory previous run-through, the whole band was forced to run the length of the practice field – not an uncommon practice, as they ran the same distance before basics and before the series of final run-throughs; to build stamina. The whole band was told to run, including the drum majors.

Usually, the activity wasn’t so tiring, but as Yideun made the second turn, she felt her body slow down, as if she had tons just added to her weight. Her head was spinning – swimming – and she felt short of breath.

“Noona,” a voice called, albeit quietly, and Yideun looked to see Taemin’s light brown eyes staring at her with a worried expression. Yideun half scolded him for calling her noona at practice, something she clearly told him not to do, but Taemin couldn’t bring himself to care about that. “Yideun-noona, are you ok?”

“mm fine,” Yideun slurred, knowing that even as she spoke her body was moving slower and slower. She was never this far behind in this exercise before…. Not being able to withstand the look of Taemin’s worried stare, she told him, “Y-you should go on,” pausing to take a series of short pants, trying to catch her breath and only making the look in the younger’s eyes worse. “…I-if you don’t… I’ll make sure J-Jaejoong punishes you.”

Taemin frowned and ran ahead, to Yideun’s relief, but didn’t go as fast as he could have, hanging back just a little so Yideun couldn’t make Jaejoong-nim work him harder and so that he could still be by Yideun.

Finally, the last turn came around and Yideun could slow down more without having to worry about it. She hoped by the time she made it back to the podium that she would have her breath back, that her chest would loosen and she could breathe comfortably without her fast-beating heart pounding against her chest. Suddenly, her vision doubled, tripled, and Yideun was having trouble figuring out which Taemin was real – when had Taemin gotten that close to her?

Suddenly it was really hard to keep her eyes open and to stand on her own two feet. She could hear Taemin talking to her, his voice sounding much further away than just a couple inches in front of her, more like he was speaking through water, when suddenly, Taemin was that much closer and she was falling. He was warm, his arms coming to wrap over her shoulder – one hand clasped at her arm – and….

“Noona?” Taemin called, lightly shaking the older girl who had just fallen into him. Yideun didn’t respond. “Noona!” he tried again, tugging at Yideun’s arm harder, then harder, and then harder yet, all the while shouting, “Noona!” his voice increasing in volume each time.

Taemin wasn’t sure when Kangta and Junsu appeared beside him, or when did Yoochun or Heechul, but suddenly Yideun wasn’t against him anymore, instead lying on the ground, head resting on Kangta’s arm. Her eyes were closed – like she was sleeping – her lips parted and very chapped, her skin paler than pale and Taemin felt almost guilty he didn’t force her to stop running, or that he hadn’t noticed sooner. “Noona…” Taemin murmured, reaching out to touch Yideun but his hand was slapped away.

Kangta looked up at Taemin with a hard stare. “Go get set.” Taemin opened his mouth to respond, only to have Kangta repeat himself, more firmly. Taemin cletched his jaw, but knew there was no use in making an enemy out of the director. So he his heel and left, making sure all his instruments were set before standing next to a drummer at his opening set. Once Taemin stood in his set, Kangta turned to Heechul and said, “Go start the run-through.”

Heechul looked up at him from the drum major’s unconscious form. “…but…”

“No buts,” Kangta interrupted, “Yideun will be handled. You go begin the run-through. Now.” Before Heechul could so much as think of a response, Kangta stood up, carrying Yideun’s weight like it was a feather, and walked away. Watching him lay the junior on the now-cool grass and check for any obvious injuries before pulling out his cell phone and calling emergency, Heechul was as satisfied as he could get before climbing onto the podium and holding his arms out.

“Nothing changes,” Heechul practically barked, sending a stern look to Taemin. “Injuries happen all the time, if this happened during a show, you can’t stop and stare. The show goes on no matter what, even if you think you might die. Survive for the show, then die later.” Glancing at everyone in the band, gauging their expressions, they’re eyes, he noted that some didn’t even seem worried, but it was for the better, he figured. “Let’s begin.”

★★★★★★★★

End of Chapter Two

★★★★★★★★