The next afternoon, the nine girls were standing outside the art shack, watching art counselor Yoona give a presentation on how to throw down and mold clay.

"When you said we were smoking pot.... I didn't think this was part of the plan," Jeongyeon whispered to the group, glaring at Chaeyoung. 

"Well we are smoking pot!" Chaeyoung answered. "The pottery goes into the kiln when it's done, which releases smoke." 

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes to herself, and Nayeon rolled her eyes at Jeongyeon.

"What ever happened to cheerfully participating in the activities?" Nayeon asked, her voice sickly sweet. Jeongyeon didn't answer. 

But Mina was cheerfully participating. It had been a while since the girls had done anything that didn't involve physical activity... or kissing. 

"Okay everyone, I hope that made sense!" Yoona spoke. "Sadly, we don't quite have enough kilns for everyone to make their own... so get into pairs and trios and I'll hand out your clay!" 

Tzuyu immediately put herself at Jihyo's side, and Mina breathed a sigh of relief when Chaeyoung reached for her wrist. Sana, Dahyun, and Momo watched the rest of them, shared a giggle, and gathered together. It took Jeongyeon and Nayeon a few moments, too wrapped up in their pouting, to notice what had happened again. 

"Really? Again?" Nayeon cried. 

Sana faked a sympathetic grimace and shrug. Dahyun straight up snorted. 

"I just don't think you'll be very good at this," Momo explained. 

"As if those two would be?!"

"Alright ladies, take your seats, and I'll pass out the clay." 

Chaeyoung and Mina shared a smile and sat down on the small bench built into the pottery wheel (Mina trying desperately not to notice how close they were and that their thighs were touching). 

"I'm so excited; I love pottery!" 

"You've done this before?" Mina asked. 

Chaeyoung grinned brightly and nodded. "Yup. I think I've tried every kind of art there is. Just to see how it feels, you know?" 

Mina giggled softly; it was a lovely thing to see Chaeyoung so in her element like this. 

Yoona handed the girls their clay ball. 

"So what should we do?" 

"I dunno, you're the expert..."

Chaeyoung laughed a little at that. "Let's do a big cup, alright? So we have a lot of space to paint, but it's still easy."

She kicked the wheel so it started spinning and wrapped her small hands around the clay, and amazingly, it started to take shape. Mina could only watch in awe; Chaeyoung had never looked more beautiful. 

"Hey, we're supposed to be doing it together!" Chaeyoung grabbed Mina's hands and put them on top of the clay ball, putting her own hands on top of Mina's and starting the wheel again. Mina couldn't explain it, but she was breathless. 

They were quiet for a few minutes, but in that time, it somehow started to look like a cup. "Looks like you're a natural."

"It's just because I have your help," Mina answered. 

"Nah. You've got that... delicate touch." Chaeyoung looked at Mina then, and Mina had to force herself to look away for fear of Chaeyoung seeing her blush. 

But in that moment, her nail caught on part of the clay while her mind was turned, and suddenly a chunk of their perfect cup went flying into the woods. 

Mina gasped and turned to Chaeyoung, her voice quivering. "Oh my god Chaeyoung, I-I'm so sorry, I totally messed it up..." 

"Hey, hey," Chaeyoung softly answered, pinching the sides of their cup a little, until it was still usable with just a small divot on the rim. "The whole point of doing art stuff is to make it ours, right? And it can't be perfect and be ours. Now, it's actually art." 

Mina took a deep breath. Coming from Chaeyoung, that kinda made sense. "You're the expert," she answered with a smile.

At the wheel beside them, Tzuyu was also in the process of taking deep breaths. Jihyo's hands were also on top of hers, molding their bowl into the perfect shape.

"We're gonna have the best bowl," Jihyo said with determination. 

"Of course we are," Tzuyu answered, eyeing Jihyo up and down. 

"That's not a difficult thing to achieve." Jihyo laughed a little under her breath. "Maybe we won't be so good compared to Mina and Chaeyoung, but I know the other girls weren't listening to Yoona's presentation. I was though." 

"Yeah. And you're just good at everything." 

Jihyo paused, giving Tzuyu a sly grin and ruffling her hair. "You're such a good puppy." 

Tzuyu wondered if she could prevent a heart attack with mental willpower alone. 

"You're so cute," Jihyo continued casually, restarting the wheel while Tzuyu was frozen, trying not to pass out. "Like my sisters." 

Tzuyu realized, no, she could not prevent a heart attack with mental willpower alone. Because her heart sure was attacking her now. 

"I have two younger sisters, you know? And I've missed them so much being here. But now I have a third sister!" 

Tzuyu's mind drew a blank. 

"Tzuyu?" 

"O-oh, yeah." Tzuyu physically shook her head and laughed. To her ears it sounded uncomfortable, but she must have played it off well, because Jihyo just smiled back at her like normal. "Yeah. We're like...sisters. I'm your...um... little sister." 

"Awww." Jihyo ruffled her hair again and spun the wheel a little, cleaning up the edges. "Look, it's done! It looks perfect! It's gonna be way better than the other girls."

But for Tzuyu, the bowl was long forgotten. 

"There's not enough room for three on this damn bench!" Momo cried at the next wheel. 

"Sana, just sit on my lap," Dahyun said with a cheeky grin. 

Sana giggled. "Okay." 

Momo rolled her eyes as Sana wiggled her . "You two really need to get a room." 

"Not that again," Dahyun groaned, wrapping her arms around Sana's waist. 

"You're not a touchy girl like us. When two touchy girls get together-" 

"They do a lot of touching," Momo interrupted with an eyebrow waggle. 

"Shut up and let's actually do this pottery," Dahyun said, and they all shared a laugh. 

But Dahyun couldn't think of the pottery. She was a bit of a touchy girl, but she'd never been this touchy before. And Sana was so beautiful and fun and such a good kisser and-

. 

I mean, if everybody could see it, it had to be true, right? But Sana really was like this with everyone. She was fun and friendly and loved and liked everyone. Could she even like just one girl? Would she even like just one girl? 

"Dahyun, we're doing the thing!" Sana cried with a bright smile, putting her hands on the clay and putting her own over them. 

"Oh, my god..." Momo mumbled. 

Dahyun glared at Momo. "Don't talk like that anymore, okay? I'm serious." 

Both Sana and Momo turned to Dahyun with concern. 

"O-okay..." Momo answered. 

Dahyun took a deep breath, focusing all of her attention on molding the clay perfectly. Her focus was so intent that she didn't notice Sana's face fall too, worrying her lip between her teeth. 

"Wait, guys," Momo interrupted. Both Dahyun and Sana looked up at her with a start, pulled deep out of thought. "What are we making?" 

They all shared a laugh, and the mood was dispelled...for now. Dahyun knew she'd be thinking about it later that night. 

At the next wheel, Jeongyeon forcefully stopped the wheel. 

"This isn't going to work, okay?" 

Both girls sat as far apart as they could at the tiny bench, their clay ball split in half. But despite their trying, they couldn't get the wheel to work while making separate pottery creations, even after ten minutes or so. 

Nayeon sighed. "Fine, I guess." She threw her ball on top of Jeongyeon's, and Jeongyeon squished them together. Nayeon started the wheel again and the girls each cupped one side of the clay. Finally, it started forming a (lopsided) cup. 

"Oh my god, it's getting so ugly!" Nayeon whined. 

"Man, who the cares? As long as it doesn't have a hole or anything so we can use it. Not everything has to be pretty you know..." 

Nayeon paused for a long time, then cleared . "Fine. It doesn't have to be pretty. But it could be prettier." 

"I dunno what to tell you. You got stuck with me, I'm not good at this kind of ." 

Nayeon stopped the wheel. 

"What?" 

"I'm debating whether it's worth it to do the corny hand thing with you so that we can have a slightly nicer cup." 

Jeongyeon took a deep breath. "Fine. Let's make this cup slightly nicer." She shoved Nayeon's fingers off her side of the cup and put both hands on either side. "Put your hands on top of mine, tell me what to do, and don't ever speak of this again." 

Nayeon wordlessly put her hands on top of Jeongyeon's and kicked the wheel again. "See, this is the problem, you're, like, kind of, like, trying to break it. Just, like, be gentler, okay? Firm, but not hard." 

Jeongyeon took a deep breath and lightened her grip on the cup. And a few moments later, they had a cup in their hands. 

"Look at that. It's decent," Jeongyeon admitted. 

Nayeon nodded. "It's decent," she repeated.