Summer, 2014

HAYI POV

“ Chae! What are you getting? Can we all share cheese fries? I was craving for them all WEEK! "

That's Lee Ahyoung, the loud, extroverted, ultra-fit tall soon-to-be Cheer captain. She can be fierce and kinda sarcastic sometimes, but she’s passionate, loyal and driven at the things she does. She has the biggest heart out of everybody I know and also a super high metabolism rate to match with that.

“ Um I’m not sure, ask Hayi? I’ve been eating junkfood all week. Can we go get strawberries later? I need to eat more fruit. “  

…And there we were, as awkward as could be, introducing our Cheer Squad’s ultimate belle, Jang Chaemin. Totally gorgeous, pale skin, big eyes, petite frame, sensible and hardworking, all the things men desired about a girlfriend.

And that’s my squad right there, my cheer squad literally and well, my bestfriends since middle school. We were sitting in a diner, getting food after a long day out at the beach. This was our usual chill day, it was either relaxing on the beach, cheer training or studying at one of our houses. It always fascinated me how the three of us who were all so different in personality and stature came to become besties.

Ahyoung, the girl who lived life louder than anyone, Chaemin, the popular introverted pretty girl who didn’t even need to try and me, Hayi, your average, shorter-than-average girl with 2 polar opposite best friends. I’ve always thought I stood in the middle, I was extroverted but not as loud as Ahyoung, and was occasionally complimented by people for being pretty, which made people in school compare me to Chaemin.
Chaemin always outshone me, for good reasons of course. I somehow clicked more with Ahyoung, as we both liked to speak our minds and do crazy things. Secretly, I think we both have always been a little envious of how effortless it was for Chae to be liked by guys, or people in general. She exuded charm just by standing in a corner, and every month she had a handful of guys she had to reject. She always did it gently, and both Ahyoung and I thought that for a girl who had to do this routinely, it was admirable how she still managed to be ever so sincere in letting down her admirers. Chae was a pure hearted girl and we found it in us to be protective of her.  

I looked over Chae’s shoulder to spot her opening a new Twitter DM before closing the chat with a sigh.

“ Oh goodness, Chae. Who’s the next guy you have to slowly let down now, hmm?”

I felt quite bad for Chae sometimes, because she always looked so heartbroken when she had to reject boys, as if she were the one with her hopes dashed.

“ Kim Hanbin. He’s a senior, I think... He talked to my sister while they were collaborating on a theatre project and started messaging me on Twitter last week.”

Chaemin looked a little panicky. I could see the inner-debate within her to reply this guy immediately.

“ Oh my gosh Kim Hanbin? I’ve heard of him and he’s known to have a lot of girls surrounding him all the time. Don’t reply to him immediately. You can reply him after a couple of hours, let him be bored by your slow replies and slowly lose interest in you.”

Well-connected Ahyoung knew how to interact with people the best, and of course, she had information from people in school. I’ve heard of Kim Hanbin before. He was the Theatre Club president. I’ve seen him perform gigs in school parties with his band. Their songs had pretty awesome self-written lyrics. He followed me on twitter last month. Most people in school followed the three of us on social media, so it wasn’t an odd thing to do. He replied some of my tweets before too, I think. Hanbin had an artsy, boy-band-member vibe going on and was always caugh