It really is a mystery how quiet and sporty student Kim Hyunjin ended up being part of a band. A band with a bunch of other girls that range quite a bit from her own personality and self-interests. Here she was walking to school with her bass guitar case on her back, her school bag on her right hand, and her sports duffel on her left. 

It was a lot of work managing so many things at once but Hyunjin wouldn’t change it for the world. Other students from school gave her curious looks as she walked by, of course they would, they knew who she was. She was already known for being the star track athlete but now after joining the band, her popularity had only increased exponentially. 

She tried her best to be polite and smile kindly at those who had enough courage to greet her but she was never good with social interactions. She never even had many school friends in the first place, just casual acquaintances with classmates. Looking back on it, Hyunjin had so many opportunities to make friends but always let them slide for being too shy. She shook her head thinking about how dumb she had been.

“Hyunjin!”

A sudden voice calling to her made her stop and look back. The accent was familiar and the hint of pink caught her line of vision first and right away she knew who the one responsible for saying her name was.

“Let me help you,” the older girl said simply and took the sports duffel bag from her before Hyunjin could even protest.

The bassist didn’t know why she could never say anything to the foreign student. She gave her a quick thank you and the two continued to walk together in silence. Awkward silence. It’s true that they were band mates but in actuality they weren’t that close.

“Do you have a race later today?” Vivi probably sensed the tension too so she tried to make friendly conversation in hopes of making the atmosphere more comfortable.

“No, just practice.” That’s it. Hyunjin answered shortly and killed the mood.

“When is the race?” Vivi tried again.

“The track meet is this Friday.” Once again her reply left no room for more dialogue. Why was she like this?

The Chinese girl didn’t seem to mind however. She preferred her short answers because it made it easier for her to understand. Talking to Hyunjin was like practice, and at the same time she noticed the star athlete wasn’t so good with conversing, so it was like killing two birds one stone.

This time Hyunjin tried to make an effort. “I know Fridays are our practice days but I was hoping if we could schedule it for earlier? I’ll talk to the others about it. I brought my bass guitar in case you guys want to just practice earlier this week right after school too. Or even lunch time is fine, I usually just go to the library to catch up on studying. I don’t think anyone wants to do before school starts, that’s too early. I don’t think I would be able to wake up at the crack of dawn either.” And that’s when the taller girl took a pause.

She locked eyes with the drummer and saw her eyebrows raised, surprised about the ramble the younger one had spontaneously gone into.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could speak more than one sentence at a time,” Vivi genuinely seemed amazed.

Hyunjin on the other hand looked away in embarrassment. Why was it that she couldn’t hold a normal conversation? She either always talked too little or too much. Can the ground just swallow her whole right now? Vivi noticed the look of regret in her face so to ease her worry she kept the conversation going.

“I actually have to work after school for the weekends so I might not make it if we decide to change practice to then. Lunch is fine with me, I just use that time to eat or have a quick nap. Mornings, yeah no.” She added a laugh to make her point. 

Hyunjin dared herself to look back at the pink-haired drummer and she felt instant relief wash over her. She soon found her laugh to be contagious so without being able to help it she joined the older one with her own fit of giggles. This continued until they reached school grounds as they talked more about nothing important, things they soon found they both liked.

Those around them could only gawk in amazement and admiration because it was a rare sight to see serious athlete, and quiet bassist, Kim Hyunjin and cool drummer, and foreign student, Wong Vivi laughing so carelessly and brightly, let alone laughing together. This moment would surely go down in school history.

“Okay that’s a wrap!” Jungeun called after the band finished the run down of their new song, Love Cherry Motion.

Haseul, their most loyal number one supporter and Jungeun's number one fan (as well as her girlfriend) clapped for them all. All the girls gave her a shy thanks in return. Haseul at this point should be considered their manager.

“Heejin, think that if we add a guitar riff right after ‘our story that starts today’ it would make more of an impact?“ Jungeun coolly asked the guitarist.

The owner of the pink electric guitar raised her eyebrows and the sudden change of arrangement. “What are you thinking of? Just anything?”

“I was thinking something like F, F sharp, E sharp, and C. Jinsol can you play that?” Jungeun turned and asked the other blonde.

The keyboardist did as told. “Like this?” She then played a tune in mind.

Jungeun frowned. “No, not quite." After some consideration she decided to step in. "Can I try?” 

She circled behind the instruments and equipment until the leader reached the keyboard.  “I was thinking something like this,” and Jungeun proceeded to play with Jinsol’s permission.

Hyunjin liked the sound, she really did, but she couldn’t fathom over it too much as she really had to get going. Looking at the wall clock nervously she got up and started packing her stuff before anyone else.

Vivi noticed Hyunjin’s hurry and got up to help her. 

“You can go, I can put this away for you,” she grabbed her bass guitar and started to put it in its case.

Hyunjin couldn’t let her do that. “No, I got it.” She reached forward to take the instrument away from the older girl.

Vivi then stopped her by placing her hand on top of hers. Heejin, Jinsol and Jungeun were too busy coming up with the new riff but Haseul was paying close attention to the two and smiled knowingly. The two stayed like that for a few seconds, not really saying anything and just trying to understand each other through looks.

The longer Hyunjin stared into Vivi’s eyes, the emptier her mind became so she looked away and let go. She let her have her way again. “Fine. Thank you, really.”

The bassist reached for her sports duffel bag that was by the door and ran out in a flash. If she was late to practice again the coach would make the whole team do ten extra laps around the field. She didn’t really care but the others did and she really didn’t to be murdered by fourteen other people.

The door closed loudly behind her and that’s what snapped the three band members out of their own world. 

Jungeun looked around before setting eyes on her girlfriend. “Oh? Where did Hyunjin go?”

Haseul shook her head at her lack of attention to her surroundings. “She went to track practice.”

Vivi finished