Wonyoung grew up receiving a lot of love, not only from her parents and older sisters, but also from her childhood friends. For as long as she could remember, it had always been the three of them: Wonyoung, Hyewon, and Yena. Their parents had known each other since middle school, and it was only natural for their children to grow up together. The timing of the children didn’t go quite as planned – with Hyewon and Yena being of the same year but a four-year difference with Wonyoung. However, that didn’t stop the three from becoming inseparable.  

 

“I can’t wait to go to middle school!” Wonyoung exclaimed as Hyewon and Yena walked by her either sides with ice creams in their hands, “I’ll be able to wear a uniform like unnie did!”

 

Hyewon smiled affectionately, “Have you thought of what school yet?”

 

“The same school as Hyewon unnie and Yena unnie,” Wonyoung sang as she chomped away at her ice cream cone, “Wherever unnie goes, I’ll go too.”

 

Yena laughed, “Yah you can’t follow us forever.”

 

Hyewon shot her friend a glare, “Of course, she can.” She looked down at Wonyoung and smiled, “We’ll always be around for you, okay?” 

 

The youngest nodded with a bright smile that both Hyewon and Yena would protect with their lives. The older two had brothers, so Wonyoung was like the little sister they never had and they would do anything within their power to keep a frown off their little ball of sunshine.

 

“Don’t even think about getting a boyfriend,” Yena threatened suddenly as the thought hit her – Wonyoung was about to enter “that stage” of her life.

 

Wonyoung laughed as she watched Yena pout beside her, “Don’t worry unnie… I’m not interested in dating.”

 

Yena stopped abruptly, causing the other two to stop as well. She looked at Wonyoung and narrowed her eyes, “You say that now… but you never know what will happen.”

 

“How about you then, unnie?”

 

There was a pause, and maybe a choke but Yena shook her head. “No. No, I’m not dating,” she replied.

 

Maybe Wonyoung was entering “that stage” of her life, because hearing that made her insides a little fuzzy and her urge to just burst into a grin was barely suppressed. She started walking again, the last few bites of her ice cream cone in hand. 

 

Hyewon let out a chuckle, noticing the subtle skip in Wonyoung’s steps. “Are you that excited to enter middle school?” she asked.

 

Wonyoung nodded, “Yep!”

 

“I’m serious,” Yena warned again, “Be careful of who you date.”

 

“Don’t worry, unnie!” Wonyoung assured, “I already have someone in mind and they would never hurt me.”

 

Yena perked up, “What? Who? Who is this person!?” She was panicking, “Hyewon did you know about this?”

 

Hyewon shook her head, “Nope.”

 

Wonyoung raced up ahead and stuck her tongue out teasingly at Yena, “Just someone I’ve known for a while.”

 

“Yah!” Yena yelled, “Who is it!?”

 

“It’s a secret~” Wonyoung continued to tease.

 

Now that she was watching the two from a distance, Wonyoung realised how much they had all grown up. Hyewon had always been complimented for being a pretty baby, and she grew up to not disappoint. It was no surprise why so many girls envied her at school, and so many boys confessed to her. And then there was Yena, who was always there to make them laugh and do the dumb stuff. She had always been an energetic kid, and continues to be the only one that glued the three of them together in terms of stamina. Yena was caring and charming. Wonyoung only recently understood what “charming” meant, and Yena was the definition.

 

Wonyoung loved the times that they spend together, and wouldn’t want anything to change. But, Wonyoung was growing up too now and who knows what could happen from now.

 

Nothing will change, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transition into middle school was a breeze for Wonyoung. She easily gained the love of her peers and teachers within the first few days of classes. And, it didn’t even take long for her to start befriending some of those from the grade above. Wonyoung had a large social reach by the end of the first semester, and that when she realised receiving so much love was never supposed to be as easy as when it was with Hyewon or Yena.

 

“Just because you’re a little pretty and popular, doesn’t mean she can go rejecting everyone. Don’t you think her standards are too high? Don’t get too cocky just because you’ve got a few friends here and there.”

 

Typical. It was a waste of her time to bother with the jealousy and drama that goes around in middle school. Everyone was going through a rough patch with puberty kicking in, and Wonyoung understood that. It wasn’t like she was having the easiest time of her life either.

 

“So, they’re like practically in university now then.”

 

Wonyoung nodded, “Yeah.”

 

Yujin, who was a grade older, was one of the only people Wonyoung ended up opening herself up to. It was a chance meeting and Wonyoung was forever grateful for her unfound confidence in track, which led her to embarrass herself in front of the whole club, ultimately failing the try-outs. Yujin stuck around though, laughing at her hilarious attempts at hurdles. “What a waste for such pretty legs,” she would joke.

 

They hit it off right away and began to spend their lunch breaks together. Wonyoung would visit Yujin on the field whenever she had time and walk each other to the bus stop after school. It was nice having a friend she could trust. So many kids their age would be hung up on the superficial stuff, it was hard to navigate at times.

 

“Wow, that’s kind of cool. I don’t have any childhood friends like that.”

 

“Yeah, it is kind of cool I guess,” Wonyoung smiled just thinking about the stupid things Hyewon and Yena bicker about sometimes. The more time passes, the more Wonyoung would start to think that she was becoming the adult of the trio.

 

Yujin nudged Wonyoung and flashed her toothy grin, “Yah. Let’s go to the arcade after school today.”

 

“Suddenly?” Wonyoung chuckled at her friend’s spontaneity.

 

“Finals is basically over,” Yujin reasoned, “Why not celebrate a little?”

 

Wonyoung shrugged, “Yeah why not. Let’s go.”

 

“I’ll see you at the main gate then!” Yujin, as if on cue, jogged off to class as the bell rang throughout the school indicating the end of lunch.

 

Wonyoung nodded as she waved her hyper friend a “see you later”. Sometimes Yujin’s energy really reminded her of Yena, but she didn’t have time to think about that with a test right around the corner. She walked her way back to her class and sat at her desk, patiently waiting for their teacher to hand out the exam papers. A little smile crept onto her face as she reviewed the subject in her head, remembering the strange tips Yena gave her over the phone: “If all else fails just roll a pencil or something. Also, that teacher really likes C so tick lots of Cs.”

 

“You can start now.”

 

The teacher’s voice cut her flashbacks short as she turned the paper over and started working her way to what would be accepted as a “good” grade by her family. She wasn’t too worried though, she studied everything she needed to and her grades have been steady so far. It was a smooth ride for Wonyoung as the clock hands ticked its way to the end of the hour and a half allocated.

 

It was the last class, so Wonyoung rushed off the moment the teacher collected the papers and dismissed the class. “You’re early,” Wonyoung commented already seeing that Yujin had arrived at the main gate of their campus.

 

Yujin smirked, “I’m not the star of the track team for nothing.”

 

Wonyoung scoffed, “You just left the exam early because you didn’t know anything, right?”

 

“You do know I’m your unnie, right?” Yujin bit back.

 

“Oh…” Wonyoung walked off without sparing her friend another glance, “I forgot about that.”

 

“Yah!” Yujin called as she tried to catch up, “You and your stupid long legs!”

 

“Sorry, am I too fast for the star of the track team?” Wonyoung teased back.

 

Yujin never let it go on their trip to the arcade. Whenever there was a chance, Yujin would make it into a race and Wonyoung simply played along because it was funny seeing the older girl get so competitive over nothing. They hadn’t even started to play any arcade games yet, and Wonyoung was already prepared for an emotional ride.

 

“Ok, what should we play first?”

 

Wonyoung looked around and her eyes landed on the cutest soft toy she had ever seen in a claw machine. She wanted to leave it for last though because she knew her stubbornness won’t allow them to move on until she had caught the toy she wanted.

 

Yujin followed her friend’s line of sight and smiled, “You want a toy?”

 

Wonyoung simply nodded, eyes still glued on the machine.

 

“You know that stuff is a scam, right?”

 

She nodded again.

 

Yujin sighed, “Okay. Let’s go get you a toy by the end of tonight.”

 

Wonyoung’s eyes lit up and she jumped with joy, “Really? Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah, we’ll take turns,” Yujin nodded as she walked up to the machine with Wonyoung following closely behind, “Which one did you want?”

 

Wonyoung pointed enthusiastically at the soft toy that called out to her, “The duck!”

 

Yujin was concentrated, as she stared at the duck – its position, and distance from the drop point. She analysed everything and deemed that there was indeed a chance for victory here. Now, she was fired up. There was no game she couldn’t beat, “We’re getting that duck.”

 

Maybe it wasn’t going as originally planned, and Wonyoung was honestly ready to give up and move on. But, she wasn’t the problem anymore – it was Yujin. She should’ve known Yujin’s competitiveness knew no boundaries, whether it was a game of luck or a one hundred metre sprint.

 

“I don’t think we’ll get it…” Wonyoung commented for the nth time within the solid hour they had been attempting to rescue the duck.

 

Yujin didn’t respond as she carefully manoeuvred the claw around the box, stopping it above the duck (which had now been flipped with its sticking out from the messy pile of toys). She murmured a little prayer before pressing the big round button. They could only observe now as they saw the claw drop down, and grip onto the duck’s .

 

“Please…” Yujin really was praying now.

 

And just like that, the claw slipped off.

 

This was a breaking point for Yujin, and Wonyoung saw it coming so before any violence broke out she took a hold of her friend and dragged her away. “It’s okay,” Wonyoung comforted, “You can come back next time.”

 

Yujin narrowed her eyes at the duck from across the arcade, “I’ll get you one day.”

 

Wonyoung wasn’t so sure they had another chance anymore, as she watched two girls approach the same machine. One of the girls was clearly more excited than the other, pointing at the duck just like Wonyoung did. Considering how many times they had played that