Groans left bodies that lay lifeless in their beds. After leaving the practice studio, the girls spent most of the evening fighting. Heather had been upset at how everyone acted, especially when it came to the scandals. They knew how much she liked Ren; she wasn’t even going to deny it now. But that was something she wanted to keep a secret, something that only the members and herself knew about. She just wanted to be good friends with him for the moment, establish a relationship that could grow and maybe one day grow into something.

“Girls! Get up!”  Hoyeon, their manager, called as she opened the door to the dongsae’s room. “Come on, we’ve got a schedule to keep.”

The girls groaned again, shifting in their beds to cover their heads. Jenny walked in then, dressed and very alert. As the leader, she knew she was the one who was responsible for waking up the other members. She moved between the beds, shaking the slim frames of each member. One by one, they sat up in their beds, looking like zombies.

“Up!” Hoyeon called again. The girls got up this time, moving very slowly. Still asleep, the girls moved through their dorm, washing up, dressing and eating the breakfast that had been delivered to them. After a few hours, the girls were packed up and ready to go. It was day one of shooting for their show, but they weren’t looking forward to it. Not if it meant getting up at ungodly hours in the morning. The location was two hours away which left those that were still tired, to sleep on the ride. But those that were awake spent the time talking about Heather and her crush on Ren, because it was fun to do.

When they finally arrived at the destination, Heather was the first to get out. She was pissed. After half an hour of sleeping, she finally woke herself up and was greeted to her unnies talking about her and her little crush. She couldn’t believe that after yesterday’s fight, they still couldn’t get it in their thick skulls that nothing was going to happen between her and Ren and she would rather just everyone forget about it, than to have them continue to talk about.

Through her frustrations, she ran right into Baekho, who caught her before she could fall onto the ground. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked worriedly, steading her carefully. She looked up at him and gave him a fiery glare before pushing past him. She felt a little bit sorry, for one that was rude of her and for two, it wasn’t Baekho she was mad at and she shouldn’t have taken her anger out on him, but it was too late to take it back now. So she headed a little ways down, and sat on a public bench pouting.

“What did I do?” Baekho asked, looking to Ren and Minhyun then, before looking at the remaining members who were blushing from the sight.

“It’s not you Baekho.” Jenny said and bowed to them. “It’s us. We were teasing Heather and apparently we went a little too far and upset her.” She said.

“Wow, you guys really do like to don’t you?” Minhyun asked. He thought it were odd. What could they possibly be teasing her about that would make her so upset and how come her unnies didn’t have more concern for her feelings. Sure he teased his hyungs and maknae, but they all knew when to stop and not take it too far. Maybe they didn’t know what the limit was.

“Ren, can you go talk to her?” Tiffany asked politely.

“No! No scandals!” Baekho suddenly said. He grabbed Ren’s arm and pulled him against him, holding him tightly.

“Scandal?” Ren confused.

“How is that a scandal?” Seyeon asked. “Heather’s really mad at us and doesn’t want to talk to us. Someone else needs to talk to her.” She explained.

Baekho stared at them, mouth forming different words, trying to think up a comeback. “It just…is.” He said.

Ren rolled his eyes at Baekho and pushed the other off of him. “You’re stupid.” He said before turning and heading to the bench Heather was sitting on. He didn’t understand Baekho and his thought process, but the other was his dear friend and he still loved him, despite his flaws. As he grew closer, he slowed his walk and made his way carefully to the bench. He knew they were teasing her, but about what, he didn’t know. And the display of anger she showed to Baekho, who hadn’t done anything, worried him. He didn’t want to be the brunt of her anger as well. He sat down, leaving enough space between them so she would feel comfortable, but close enough that they could hear each other over the hustle and bustle of the people and cars.

“Heather.” Heather looked up surprised. She hadn’t noticed the other’s presence, so lost in her own world. She was plotting to get the others back and to make them stop their teasing. Seeing Ren though, it surprised her. Why would he come? She had been expecting Jenny, or even their manager.

“Oppa?” she asked, and looked around. “Are we shooting?” she asked. She didn’t see the cameras and she was glad for that. She would have been very embarrassed if her emotional outburst was caught on camera.

“No.” Ren answered, cocking his head as he stared at her. “Tiffany wanted me to come talk to you.” He said and watched her look away then. “Your anger…it confused us. What’s going?” he asked carefully.

Glancing back at him, she thought on how to answer. Certainly she wasn’t going to tell him what had been discussed. Her unnies wanted to place her and Ren in situations where they were alone and could be romantic and maybe things could happen. That was something she wanted, but at the same time…it wasn’t. It would ruin what little relationship they had and she didn’t want things to get awkward between them, especially when they had a show to shoot.

“They were being mean is all. Teasing me.” She said and sighed. “It’s nothing to worry about. And I know I was rude and it wasn’t Baekho oppa’s fault either.” She said. She knew she would have to apologize to him.

“Ah, that’s understandable. I get upset too when my hyungs are being jerks, which can be all the time if they’re not careful.” He said and grinned. “That’s why I put them in their place!” he said and nodded his head. Heather laughed at that. “So, are you going to be alright for today’s outing?”

“Yeah.” Heather said and nodded as she thought on it. “I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t want to damper the mood of the outing.” She assured him. Ren smiled at her and nodded as he stood.

“Great, then let’s get back.” He waited as Heather got up and was going to start walking, but for some reason, her body language was telling him that there was something else on her mind. “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked again. Heather looked up at him and frowned.

“Actually…” she trailed off. “Oppa, we’ve known each other for a few months now and I’m friends with the others, really good friends with Aron oppa, but I just feel like I don’t really know you that well. That out of everyone, you’re the person I know least and I don’t have a good friendship with you.” She said. That was something Ren hadn’t expected. But as he thought back on their friendship since they met, they really hadn’t interacted a lot. He interacted more with Seyeon than with Heather. Strange how he never noticed that.

“You’re right.” He said and grinned. “Well this is our first outing; why not spend it getting to know each other. Aron hyung talks a lot about you and I want to know you too.” He said.

Heather felt her heard fluttering in her chest. She didn’t know why she expected Ren to shoot her down, she just did. But Ren wasn’t that kind of person and she was glad for that. Now they would get to know each other better and maybe progress into something more. She had her doubts though; because it was playing right into her unnies plans, but what could she do about that but just accept it.

“Yes, let’s do that!” she said and laughed. “Aron oppa is crazy.” She said and started walking with him. Ren laughed at her commented.

“Very. You should see him in the dorms.” Ren said and sighed. His hyung, forever a child in an adult’s body. What were they going to do with him?

As they approached, the other members took notice in their arrival. Jenny smiled and pulled Heather into a hug, holding her close.

“Unnie is sorry Heather. Forgive her okay?” Jenny asked. Heather leaned into her and sighed. She pulled back and slowly nodded.

“Okay. I forgive you.” She said and smiled.

“Alright, is everyone here?” Hoyeon asked as she walked to the others. “Great, so we’re going to start the shooting. We have four camera people, so we’re going to split you into four groups. Your mission for this outing is to go out, have fun and to bring back a memorable souvenir. The group with the best souvenir will be today’s winners.” She said.

“And what do we get for winning?” JR asked carefully.

“To be the MCs for the next show. You’ll be able to decide to what you want to do and where you want to go.” Hoyeon told him. The group cheered, each hoping to be on the winning team, ideas racing through their heads of where they want to go.

“Oh, Ren and Heather can pair off. It would be cute if the two maknae’s spent the time together. They could have aegyo wars.” Tiffany suggested with a grin.

“No!” Baekho protested.

“Yeah, we couldn’t do that; people would start thinking of scandals.” JR said.

“Once again, how is that a scandal?” Seyeon asked, arms crossed.

“Because she’s a girl.” JR countered.

“And? Viewer rating will go sky high!” Tiffany said. “Ren’s attractive and so is Heather; they’ll be dying for something like a scandal to happen.”

“No, we should stick with the same gender.” Baekho said, backing up JR.

Heather stayed quiet and just looked away. The way the two were protesting was very hurtful. To her, it seemed like they didn’t want her to be around Ren, even though her unnies gave off good points on why they should be together, or at least, why they could split into co-ed groups.

“Stop it hyungs.” Ren said and frowned. “You’re not being fair. It would be alright if JR was paired off with Jenny noona.”  He pointed, glaring at them.

“It’s okay oppa.” Heather said causing the other’s to finally look at her. She didn’t bother to cover up her hurt face. She had been planning to apologize to Baekho for her anger, but now, she didn’t want to. He deserved because of how he was acting now. And she wanted him to know that. “They’re just jealous.” She answered, making the other’s mouths drop open.

“Hey!” Baekho said.

“Enough!” Hoyeon finally said and sighed. “I’ll settle this.” She said. “Ren and Heather are paired off.” She said sternly and dared anyone to back talk. When she received no protests, she smiled.

“Jenny will be with Aron, and Tiffany will be Baekho and Seyeon will be paired off with Minhyun and JR. Now, no more protesting, you have your missions, go and have fun.” Hoyeon said and sent them off. The groups hesitated for a moment, looking between each other before they started off in their own directions.

Heather walked with Ren and sighed. Okay, so after being hurt, her heart was healed by being with Ren in the shooting.  So maybe it was going to be okay after all. They would have fun with each other, learn more about each other and grow closer. The day was starting to look up!

“Yah! Ren, Heather, wait up!”

Heather groaned and shook her head, sighing heavily. Baekho’s large mouth just ruined the whole day. Apparently this guy just wasn’t going to drop this whole scandal thing? Why? Was he really jealous? Heather hoped not, she really didn’t like the other that way. She felt a hand grab hers and she was tugged away.

“I said stop!”

Her feet started moving and they were running. This was the last thing she wanted to do. Honestly, what had she done to deserve such punishment?