Shockingly, Mina's first day at camp had been relatively painless. 

Introductions had been beyond awkward, and it was definitely odd that they didn't have a designated counselor watching over them, but after that had been easy. The girls had all just gone back to their cabins, and in Mina's cabin, they didn't do much of anything. Sana, the one who seemed actually enthusiastic, was in the other cabin, so Mina and her cabin mates (Chaeyoung, Tzuyu, Jihyo, and Dahyun) mostly stuck to themselves. 

That was the only idea Mina could cling to in the morning when she woke up. Everyone else was still asleep and Mina breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe today would be just like yesterday, and because nobody was making them do anything, she could spend this month in peace and quiet. 

But suddenly, a loud bell tolled across camp. Mina heard the various groans of her cabin mates, shocked out of their slumber. 

"What is that?" Dahyun whined from the top bunk across from Mina. 

"Mmh. Probably calling us to the dining hall for breakfast," Jihyo answered from the solo bed. 

"What time is it?" Tzuyu asked groggily from the bed above Mina's. 

Jihyo checked her watch. "Eight AM." 

The other four girls groaned loudly, and she heard a few of them flop back onto their beds. 

But on the bottom bunk across from her, she watched as Chaeyoung slid out of her bed and directly onto the floor. 

"Are you okay?" Mina asked, getting out from under her own covers. 

"Mmh, yeah. Gotta get up. Food is food." She looked up at Mina and gave her a sleepy little smile that made Mina feel....something she couldn't quite put her finger on. "Why do you sound so awake?" 

"Were you already up?" Jihyo asked, putting some long pants on over her sleep shorts. 

"Y-yeah." Mina had gotten really into early morning studying over the past year. 

"God I wish I had a decent sleep schedule," Dahyun said, climbing down her ladder and slapping Mina on the back, all friendliness. Mina stiffened. "But in the dead of night, tiktok calls to me!" 

Tzuyu laughed. "I know exactly what you mean." 

The five girls made their way out of the cabin, quickly crossing paths with the other four in their group. 

"God, last night was so boring. I hope you all had a little more fun," Sana said. She was the only one out of the four who looked alive. Somehow, Nayeon's sunglasses seemed to cover even more of her face than they had the day before. 

"Nah. We were boring too," Dahyun answered. 

"Come on guys! We should at least try to have some fun together." 

Nayeon scoffed, and Jeongyeon eyes glared daggers at her. Mina grimaced, and the girls kept walking. 

By the time they reached the dining hall breakfast was already being handed out. Most of the young kids looked perky and excited, but Mina was glad to notice the older teenagers looked even more dead than themselves. 

"Pancakes!" Sana cried excitedly as the chef set their plates down in front of them. 

" yeah," Jeongyeon said, and the girls dug in except for Nayeon, who just poked at them with her fork. "What, are you on a diet or something?" she teased. 

"No, I just don't like heavy stuff in the morning. God," Nayeon answered, rolling her eyes. 

"Anyways..." Jihyo interrupted loudly. 

"What are we going to do today?" Sana asked cheerfully. 

We. Mina kinda hated the we. 

"I mean...what is there to do here?" Momo answered. 

"I got here super early yesterday so I looked around. There's...nature stuff?" 

"That might be nice," Chaeyoung answered. 

"Yeah, I mean, it's beautiful around here," Jeongyeon added. Mina tried to hide her grimace. 

"Ew, no way! I don't wanna get dirty, and there's bugs!" Nayeon whined. 

"There are bugs everywhere here. Even in the cabin. We are in the middle of nowhere," Jeongyeon answered. 

Nayeon pouted even harder. "This place is so gross!" 

Jihyo looked around the table. Most of the girls were wearing looks of both annoyance and agreement with Nayeon. 

"I also saw a building labelled art shack. There's probably stuff to do in there," Jihyo added. 

"That could be nice!" Sana answered. 

"I bet there's stuff for friendship bracelets," Chaeyoung added. 

That sounded way less miserable to Mina, even though she was thinking of sneaking out of the group anyways to go back to the cabin. And everyone else seemed decently enthused, so after finishing breakfast and putting away their dishes, they followed Jihyo out of the dining hall to the art shack. 

Mina looked around. This was probably her chance to make a break for it. But as soon as she stopped walking, Chaeyoung turned around. She gave her an expectant smile, like she was waiting for Mina to finish tying her shoe. 

Oh crap. There was no way she could leave now. So with a soft sigh, she jogged to catch up with Chaeyoung. At that, Chaeyoung gave her a bright smile, and Mina couldn't help but smile back. No ditching the group now, especially not when she noticed Tzuyu and Nayeon jog to catch up too. Maybe she hadn't been the only one with that idea, but it was definitely over now. 

As they walked to the art shack, Mina heard Nayeon groan. "This is so lame. There's really nothing to do here. There's not even internet." That made Chaeyoung pout, and Mina kinda understood Jeongyeon a little bit more. 

"We are at summer camp, Nayeon. Summer. Camp. What did you think it was going to be?" 

Nayeon just rolled her eyes and the girls fell silent again, gazing about the tables set outside and finally stepping inside the shack. 

It really was just a shack, similar to their cabins with two large, paint-splattered picnic tables set in the center. One of the counselors was sat at one with a group of little girls, showing them some sort of paint by numbers tile. The other table was set with a bunch of different arts and crafts supplies.

"Hey! Friendship bracelet string!" Chaeyoung said, grabbing a handful from one of the containers. 

"Do you know how to make them?" Sana asked. Chaeyoung just grinned and held up her bracelet-covered wrist. "Oh my gosh, show me!" 

"That actually sounds kinda fun," Dahyun added, and Mina agreed. She'd never made one before, even at school events with stations to make them. She'd never had anyone to give them to before. 

"Alright, I can show you guys. Everyone grab some colors and let's go outside."

The girls grabbed theirs, Mina taking a second to pick hers out. Normally she liked muted colors, but today she grabbed yellow, orange, and purple. With a smile, she followed the group outside. 

Carefully, Chaeyoung showed them all how to do the stitches, and in a few minutes, Mina had a handle on it. 

It was quiet at first, but then Jihyo looked up at everyone. "Is anyone homesick yet?" 

"No way," Sana answered. "My parents were way sadder than me. They started crying as soon as I got out of the car." 

"At least your dad didn't give you a lecture on sneaking into the boy's camp," Dahyun answered. "He said I'd get diseases." 

All the girls laughed, even Jeongyeon and Nayeon and Mina herself, almost screwing up a stitch on her bracelet. 

Nayeon laughed again a moment later, looking over at Jeongyeon. "How is yours so bad? It's not that hard." 

Jeongyeon scoffed. "Shut up." 

"Let me help you out!" Chaeyoung said, going over to her and looking over it. 

It got a little quiet again, a bit of chatter here and there, and Mina went back to work on her bracelet. Suddenly though Jihyo and Tzuyu, sitting one and two seats to her right, turned to her. 

"Do you like it so far?" Jihyo asked. 

Mina managed a smile, but it was kind of genuine. "Yeah, actually." 

"Me too," Tzuyu answered. "It's kinda awkward, because I know I can be a bit shy..." 

"Me too," Jihyo added. 

"Me three," Mina said, and the girls giggled. Mina smiled even brighter now. 

"But it's nice." 

"Everyone's pretty cool. Even them," Jihyo said, gesturing with her head over to Nayeon and Jeongyeon. 

"It's true," Mina said, and she meant it. Everyone was pretty cool. 

Especially Chaeyoung, Mina thought, just as the girl in question slid next to her. "How's yours coming?" 

Mina had noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Chaeyoung coming to look at everyone's bracelets. How sweet. 

"Pretty good, actually. I'm almost done." 

Mina showed Chaeyoung her bracelet, and Chaeyoung grew wide eyed. "Wow! It's so good. And so...neat. You've made these before?" 

"No, actually," Mina said with a little laugh, finishing the final stitch. She took a deep breath, in and out. She knew what she wanted to do with it, but wouldn't it be awkward? Well, the whole point of her being here was to make friends. Mina wasn't quite sure how to do that, so maybe this would be a good start. "A-actually...it's for you." 

"Really? Thank you!" Chaeyoung's voice was so excited, her smile so real, that Mina thought maybe her friendship plan had worked. "Can you tie it on me?" 

Mina flushed a little as she tied the bracelet on Chaeyoung's wrist. 

"Actually...I have one for you too." Chaeyoung pulled one out of her back pocket. It definitely had more strings than the one Mina had made, in pretty shades of cream and purple. 

Mina looked down at the picnic table. "You don't have to give me one just because I gave you one," she spoke quietly. 

"No, I made it for you!" 

"R-really?" Slowly, Mina smiled again, holding out her wrist for Chaeyoung to put it on. "Thank you." Chaeyoung tied it on, looking her arm over. 

"You have really nice wrists." 

Mina chuckled despite herself. "What?" 

At that, Jihyo and Tzuyu turned around. "Oh yeah, they are nice!" 

Now all the other girls were crowding around her, looking over her wrist. Mina was a little embarrassed, but she didn't want to crawl away into a hole and disappear forever like she normally did when people were looking too much at her. 

"Must be all the ballet," Momo said. "Ballet girls are always so pretty like you." 

"Oh my gosh," Mina said, staring at the grass. "No way. You all are prettier!" 

"Come on, all of us are gorgeous!" Sana said. 

"Agreed," Nayeon said, temporarily letting her sunglasses down to look at everyone. 

And everyone laughed loudly, going back to their bracelets, and Mina thought, maybe this wouldn't be so bad.