It was beautiful out, as usual, and the girls were deciding how to spend their day in the dining hall at breakfast, as usual. 

"The pool?" Heejin suggested. 

"I'm sick of the pool!" Jiwoo whined. 

"But I wanna go in the water," Yerim mumbled. 

"Hey, wait a second," Haseul piped up. "You know how there was that little beach by the lake when we went kayaking? Let's hang out there!" 

"That's perfect," Vivi said affectionately. 

Since this was something they hadn't done yet at camp, the girls were excited. As soon as they finished eating they raced to their cabin, changed into swimsuits and grabbed snacks, and followed the path down to the beach.

Most of the girls were giggling and laughing on the path, running or walking slowly behind with their girlfriends. But Hyunjin walked at a normal pace, not saying anything. Her mind was somewhere else. 

Her heart almost physically aches, and it sure aches mentally. She didn't think she could take it anymore; how could she? As much as she had hated it, it had been easier when Heejin knew she was straight and made it obvious because Hyunjin hadn't been able to imagine she had a fighting chance. 

But now things were different. Now Heejin was hugging and kissing her sometimes. It had been Hyunjin's fault really for initiating most of these kisses, but Heejin had gone along with it. But now Heejin wasn't sure, but Hyunjin was. Hyunjin was sure Heejin was still straight and just confused by all of the stuff that had gone down between her and Hyunjin. But...no matter what, Hyunjin could not force herself to stop pretending that maybe, just maybe, there was a part of Heejin that had fallen for her too. 

Hyunjin didn't want to do this to Heejin. Yeah, maybe she was stringing her along a little bit, but did she realize? Was she doing it on purpose? Probably not. Hyunjin didn't want to have to ruin the amazing friendship they had built here at camp all over a stupid little crush. 

But Hyunjin couldn't just make it go away. She would have to take a break. Not forever, not even for the rest of camp, but for a while their friendship would need to be put on hold so Hyunjin could make her crush go away. She didn't want to...but it was for Heejin's sake, as much as her own. 

As soon as they got to the beach Heejin reached for Hyunjin to ask her to share a bag of chips with her and sit around, but Hyunjin ran off before Heejin could ask to go play with Yeojin and Yerim. Hyunjin just hoped Heejin didn't realize. 

~~~~~~~~~~

As Hyunjin ran past Heejin, ignoring her offers for chips and company, Heejin let out a deep sigh. Something was different, she'd known it last night and sheknew it even more today. 

Why was Hyunjin being so weird? Why was Heejin being so weird? 

It wasn't like Hyunjin to ignore her or not want to spend time with her. Usually Hyunjin was like a cat, pretending not to care about her but really just clinging on as much as she could. But this was different. 

Last night when she went to bed she had been sure Hyunjin liked her. But now, not so much. Why was Hyunjin changing her mind back and forth? Why was Hyunjin pushing and pulling her? Why was Hyunjin leading her on, only to change her mind days later? 

That wasn't even the whole question either. What about Heejin's feelings? Why did she even care if Hyunjin liked her or not? Why did her heart break at the thought of Hyunjin avoiding her? Why did those kisses with Hyunjin make Heejin feel like she had never felt before? 

Heejin sighed, finally just sitting down in the sand by herself, opening her bag of chips and looking up at the sky. She could use some rest. Maybe, she hoped, this would all just work itself out. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Everything around Chaewon and Hyejoo was so...loud. Yeojin, Hyunjin, and Yerim playing together. Heejin sighing dramatically alone. Sooyoung and Jiwoo tumbling around in the sand, Jungeun and Jinsoul laughing deep in the pool water, and Vivi and Haseul running up and down the cliffs. 

Chaewon and Hyejoo were quiet, as always, sitting on the edge of the shore with their feets in the cool water. The sound of distant laughter and the tide moving back and forth relaxed them into cool calm, just sitting beside one another with their hair blowing in the wind. The sight of Chaewon's bright blonde hair curling with Hyejoo's pitch black made her smile, just a little bit. 

"Can I say something stupid?" Hyejoo suddenly mumbled. 

"I'm sure it's not stupid," Chaewon answered quietly. "But of course." 

Hyejoo hummed. "I like it here. I actually like going to summer camp." 

Chaewon giggled. "Me too!" 

"I'm honestly surprised," Hyejoo said. "I did not think this could ever be my thing. But...I dunno. It's nice." 

"It is," Chaewon quietly answered. "But Hyejoo...why is that stupid?" 

Hyejoo shook her head and chuckled. "That wasn't the stupid part. What I'm about to say now is stupid." 

Chaewon giggled. "What is it?" 

"You know, I...I know I don't like camp because of the activities. Like...the activities aren't as awful as I thought they would be. But it's fun because I'm with all of you guys. I know, I know, it's so cheesy. But...I like all of you guys so much, and I usually don't like people. It's just fun to have a big group of friends." 

"I feel the same," Chaewon mumbled. "It's nice to feel like part of a group." 

Hyejoo turned to look at Chaewon. "I like all of them a lot. But...but Chaewon...y-you're my favorite. It's special with the other girls, but, w-well, y-you make it extra special." 

Chaewon flushed from her cheeks to her ears. She felt the same way about Hyejoo; the exact same way. It was fun hanging out with the other girls, of course, but when she needed a break, simple and quiet time, time to just feel safe, she always turned to Hyejoo. But she had no idea Hyejoo had the same idea. 

A thought flared up in Chaewon's heart; did Hyejoo like her? That was just how Chaewon felt about Hyejoo and she liked her so, so much she couldn't even stand it. Hyejoo could have just meant all of that in a friendship way, of course...but she could have meant it another way. 

Maybe...maybe Chaewon would have a chance. Maybe her dreams of getting to be with Hyejoo romantically weren't crazy. Maybe she would have a chance to be her girlfriend before the summer was over. 

Chaewon looked down at the sand. That was crazy. Even if Hyejoo did like her, knowing both of them, would either of them be able to admit. 

If she knew Hyejoo liked her...Chaewon might do it. She wanted it that bad. 

Hyejoo breathed in loudly and Chaewon realized she hadn't answered her yet, and she was probably getting even more embarrassed than she was before. 

"Hyejoo...I feel the same. I really do," Chaewon answered, looking up and giving her best friend a shy smile. And slowly, Hyejoo returned it.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: hello everyone! how are you all liking the fic so far? I hope you're enjoying it, I've gotten way more subs than I expected, to be honest. 

I've been loving writing loona and since this fic is more than halfway over, I've been thinking about what loona fic I'll write next! Here are my ideas thus far:

a. a silly medieval au where chaewon is a princess and hyejoo is a knight. it will be an adventure fic that features all of the same pairings as in this story but with a MAJOR hyewon focus. 

b. jinsoul goes to live in a casino for a month, and her and other teens have no supervision just running around a casino by themselves everyone will make an appearance but lipsoul will be the main pairing and viseul will pop up often too. a rewrite of one of my favorite but severely outdated fics i wrote like 5 years ago (if you ever read the exo fic the biggest little city by me you'll know the basic plot). i promise it's better than it sounds

c. you know those books for preteens where the girl has to leave in a beach town for the summer and falls in love and discovers herself? yeah this will be one of those. viseul main pairing but it will be very 1/3 plus yeojin centric and the rest of the girls may make very small appearances. 

I'll leave a poll below and PLEASE let me know which one you would like to read the most! it really helps me decide bc i always have so many ideas and no idea of which one to write. thank you so much for reading, commenting, and voting!