This camping is a ing mess.

Lia thinks whatever Giselle is trying to achieve here is just so not working. 

Don't get her wrong, she just joined this one because Giselle offered in their group chat (don't get her started as to how that group chat is still active when the presentation was long over) and tagging Karina telling her to bring that freshie she always walks home with every after football practice. 

Group 1 Literature

Aeri: Girls!

Aeri: And guy....

Aeri: Let's go camping this weekend!

Aeri: Winter already agreed. She's bringing Somi with her.

Aeri: @Karina, bring that freshie you walk home with after football.

Aeri: That Ryujin girl.

Julia: Why the hell are you talking about this here? Don't you have your own group chats? 

Aeri: Oh, cos I'm inviting you too, Lia!

Aeri: And Hyunjin too 😊

Aeri: Come on guys, it'll be fun!

Aeri: You can bring someone too, Lia. 

Julia: Nope, not coming. 

Karina: Ryujin just agreed, she's coming.

Aeri: Fantastic!

Julia: I'm bringing Ningning

Winter: nooooooo! not ning 😭😭😭

Julia: [image] [screenshot of Ningning agreeing]

Winter: [head banging on wall gif]

Hyunjin: Tent's on me.

-

Ryujin ended up being with Somi, both freshies bonding even though they're from different blocks. They clicked right away and Lia didn't know Ryujin got this playful side, surprising her yet again for another time. Both girls were helping out Giselle and Hyunjin set up their huge tent (apparently Hyunjin camps a lot with his sisters and brought this huge tent that can fit 12 people inside—might as well be a tiny house!)

Winter ended up with Ningning, the younger blabbering about why Winter never invited her, and she had to get it from Lia. They're setting up a makeshift table with the food, mostly meat they bought from the grocery store, fruits from a roadside fruit stand, and some seafood they're planning to grill with the meat later. 

And Lia?

Lia ended up with Karina. 

Lia backtracks on the past few days and thinks about where she went wrong.

—Flashbacks—

"Winter, don't you have that coffee shop thing during weekends?" Lia leans on her chair to look at the girl behind her, grabbing the attention of her seatmates. It was just a few hours of her receiving the chats, suddenly realizing Winter was supposedly not free on weekends.

"You know about Winter's coffee shop job?" Giselle asks, eyeing Winter feigning annoyance.

"Yeah, Winter mentioned it last time we were on the phone."

Giselle looks at Winter, eyebrows scrunched and pouting hard. "I gotta start calling you too. You just don't talk to me, Winter!" Giselle said, sulking.

"Tell me about it." Karina murmurs.

"What?"

"What."

"Camping's Saturday afternoon anyway. I can skip the Sunday shift." Winter answers instead. 

Lia nodded absentmindedly. "And Hyunjin is fine being the only guy in this?" Lia asks, looking at the guy sleeping behind Giselle. 

"He's used to it." Giselle shrugs. 

The days after Giselle sent that message went like a blur. It seems like everyone was excited about the camp (yes, even Lia) that they just can't stop talking and planning about it. Lia ended up adding Ningning in the chat because she keeps on whining about how Winter didn't want to tell her about the details. 

Group 1 Literature

Julia changed the name of the group to "Camping Buddies 🙄🙄"

Aeri: Aww look at you... 

Julia: Shut up.

Julia added Ningning to the chat

Ningning: Hellooooooooo! 🥰

Winter: whyyyyyyyy!!!

Ningning: Lia invited me. I'm coming. 

Aeri: While we're at it, @Karina add Ryujin here please. @Winter Somi too.

Karina added Ryujin to the chat

Winter added Somi to the chat

Somi: Oh there's a group chat! Thanks, Winter boo 😘

Ningning: 🤢

Winter: Ning Yi Zhuo!! 

Ryujin: nice, hello all 👋

Julia: Hello! 

-

The plan was simple. They'll meet up at the coffee shop Winter works at by Saturday afternoon. Hyunjin will drive (Lia is still not sure if this guy got a license) a minivan and would make a stop at the grocery store before they head out to the camping site called Summerwing.

As agreed, everyone arrived just in time for Winter to clock out—except Ningning. The girl was fashionably late, saying everyone was just too early. Winter kept on murmuring about how they shouldn't have invited her in the first place.
 

Giselle was leaning on the passenger side's door, waiting for the rest of the girls to load up their things. 

Lia sees Hyunjin on his phone who looks like he's so done talking to whoever is on the other line. 

"Is there a seating arrangement for this?" Lia asks no one in particular. 

"Winter sits with me." Somi rushed, placing her arm around Winter's shoulder.

Karina clears at that, peeking inside the minivan and sees the setup. Facing the road, there are two seats on the left side and one seat on the right with a space to walk through, then one seat for four at the back. 

The rest of them shrugged, never really bothering who they sit with. 

Somi and Winter ended up on the left's two-seater, with Winter on the window side. Ningning took the solo counterpart on the right. Karina sat just behind Winter, opening the window on her side. Ryujin sits beside Karina, waiting patiently for the rest to come in.

"Go on first." Lia offered Giselle, hoping the girl would take the window seat on the right which should leave her with no choice but to scoot over to Ryu—

"I'll take the passenger seat. I'm in charge of the music." Giselle says, opening the door and pulling the window down.

Lia looks at her amusingly, before ducking down to head inside the van as well. 

They spent another hour and a half in the grocery store, ending up buying too much meat, seafood, chips, and smores.

Half an hour from it was Winter chasing Ningning down the aisle to keep the girl from adding unnecessary items to their cart. No, Ning Yi Zhuo, we don't need a rubber duck for camping!

Karina shakes her head when she saw Giselle grabbing a stack of disposable water guns and food colours, hearing a "Color War" game being plotted in the girl's head. 

Karina grabs few pieces of Milky Way, unsure if it's still Winter's favorite bar. She finds out the answer instantly when she sees Winter excitedly asking who got the Milky Way, looking at Karina with puppy eyes when she said it was her. 

"I got those for you Min-min baby, I thought it's your favorite." Karina whispered whilst pushing their cart, looking at Ningning just in front of them.

Winter giddily thanked Karina, hugging Karina from the back excitedly. The action made Karina froze, still not used to thoughts getting quiet all of a sudden. Winter doesn't seem like she realized what she did and just went on and skipped happily on the a