Sunny was upset. She only had one class with her best friend and that . At the same time it was a good thing for Sunny would probably focus better in a class with people she was less familiar with or pretending to be less familiar with.

But she decided that her final period would be her favourite period as she happily sat next to Taeyeon. She found herself not paying much attention to the lesson and moreso at Taeyeon who was incredibly focused. It was adorable how the girl bit her bottom lip and how her hand would shoot up in confidence every once in a while. Of course Sunny was stealthy about it and made she wasn’t staring and for good measure she answered a question every once in a while.

When the bell rang, Sunny grabbed Taeyeon’s hand and the two made firm eye contact. At once the two smiled at each other.

“You know I can feel you staring at me,” Taeyeon muttered shyly, trying to hide her blush by looking angry.

“It’s hard not to,” Sunny responded, pulling the other girl closer to her for a hug.

Taeyeon was still trying to get used to this more flirty side of Sunny and the whole concept of the two being in some sort of relationship. It was a feeling she missed and Sunny was a person she missed dearly. It had only been three days but she somehow felt like she and Sunny were together for a much longer period. It was so natural how their hands fit together so tightly, it was easy as breathing when the two hugged or were just in each other’s spaces.

Sunny enjoyed it too for it was her first time being in a relationship with her best friend. Taeyeon of course felt reminiscent of her relationship with Jessica while Sunny flourished in the new sensation. It amazed her how it felt like their relationship never really changed and yet went up an entire new level.

Sunny was also enjoying the stares they were getting. Many girls awed at their charm as a couple and she could tell several guys were jealous.

“You never told me you were this popular,” Sunny said as she and Taeyeon walked down the hallway. Taeyeon had to go to a Talent Show meeting with Sooyoung and Sungmin had to go to dance practice.

“What do you mean?” Taeyeon asked.

“Look at how many people are staring at us,” Sunny replied, subtley hinting at the surrounding stares.

“People just like my singing,” Taeyeon mumbled, “I think they’re all attracted to your hair. It’s probably brighter than the sun.”

Sunny laughed lightly at Taeyeon’s comment, “Maybe they’re just attracted to how cute we look~”

“They’re probably interested at how short of a guy you are,” Taeyeon teased, sticking her tongue out at Sunny. The now taller girl pouted before wrapping her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders.

“Still taller than you.”

Sooyoung was early to the meeting for the Talent show and had all of her papers ready. She felt good for she answered a lot of questions in class that day. She hoped Taeyeon wouldn’t take too long and that their meeting could finish as soon as possible so she could head over the dance practice. It excited her to be so involved in activities again, especially with the school year ending so soon. She also blushed at the thought of going to study alone with Sungmin the next day. Everything was pretty much perfect in her eyes.

Sungmin and Taeyeon walked into the music room and Sooyoung said her hellos and bowed politely at her oppa.

“You never bow for me,” Taeyeon groaned, shaking her head, “You stopped calling me unnie after freshman year too.” She sighed but smiled at Sooyoung who was smirking.

“What are you girls going to do?” Sungmin asked, appreciating the friendly atmosphere between Taeyeon and Sooyoung.

“Just technical and financial stuff for the talent show,” Taeyeon explained with a bored expression, “Practices are starting after the winter break so we’re preparing for that.”

“I heard you and Taeyeon will be doing a duet?” Sungmin then asked Sooyoung who was being adorably bashful around him.

“Oh yeah,” Taeyeon answered instead before pulling out some music sheets, “I picked three for you to pick between if you don’t mind?”

“I’ll be heading out then,” Sungmin added before he started to walk backwards towards the door, “I’ll see you later Sooyoung!”

“Ah, bye oppa!!!” Sooyoung yelled back.

When the door closed Taeyeon eyed Sooyoung suspiciously, “Oy, don’t go hitting on my boyfriend while I’m in the other music room with my choir.”

Sooyoung put her arm on Taeyeon’s shoulders, “Oh come on Taeng, like I would do that!” She sighed a little, “It looks like he really likes you a lot anyway.”

Taeyeon smiled to herself before slapping Sooyoung lightly on the shoulder, “Don’t sound too disappointed by that.”

Sooyoung tried to ignore the statement by picking up the music sheets Taeyeon brought in. There were three duets, two Korean and one in English. The English one enticed Sooyoung for it was by one of her favourite artists.

“There’s a duet version of this song?” Sooyoung asked, carefully looking over the English song.

“Yeah, Fany showed me a link to it about a week or so ago and I figured out the chords and notes for the harmonies. I’ll be playing the guitar and doing the harmony while you sing the melody, how does that sound?”

Sooyoung stared at the paper and felt a sense of excitement build up within her. She Will Be Loved was her absolute favourite song by Maroon 5 and although it was simple, it was beautiful. She frowned however, turning back to Taeyeon.

“Are you sure I can sing this? And with you?” she asked concerned. “I mean I know I have the face for the stage but I don’t know if I can sing on par with you.”

Taeyeon just laughed, “How can you be so confident and humble at the same time?”

Sooyoung just looked at her waiting for her answer.

“You can do this Sooyoung, the melody isn’t even that high and you’re more than capable. Plus it’s a duet so I’ll be singing too. What happened to that confidence we’re forced to deal with during karaoke?”

“That’s different,” Sooyoung whined, “This is in front of a bunch of people who haven’t heard me sing since freshman year and even then that was a group performance with Fany, Sica, Yuri and the rest of the girls.”

Taeyeon placed a hand on her tall friend to calm her down, “You got this Sooyoung. I think the only thing we need to worry about is your pronounciation.”

The two girls laughed at the reality that was Sooyoung’s sometimes poor pronounciation of English and hugged before going into their more serious meeting regarding the talent show as a whole. They could practice another day.

Nine of the ten Chodings were warming up in the empty drama and music room opposite to where Sooyoung and Taeyeon were talking. Sunny noticed that they were all wearing the same shirt and black sweat pants. Hyoyeon mentioned at lunch that she had to pay for a new shirt to match with them. It was a simple black shirt with THE CHODINGS in a special graffiti font on the front and the member’s name on the back in the same colour but simpler font. Sunny couldn’t wait until her shirt came in.

The practice started with five laps around the gym in a light jog. Sunny stayed close with Yoona and Yuri who had no problem chatting up a storm.

She couldn’t help but admire Hyoyeon who was joggin backwards at the front and pushing on her team. The members were completely enthralled with her and she looked like she wasn’t even the slightest bit tired. Sunny wondered if she was also the leader the year before.

“Hyoyeon-sshi looks really cool,” Sungmin pointed out when he found a moment to speak in Yoona and Yuri’s oh so exciting conversation.

“Doesn’t she?” Yuri replied a little more loudly that Sunny anticipated and a little more close. Sunny flinched a little and Yoona just laughed.

“Hyoyeon was a born leader,” Yoona added as the three finished their third lap, “She has amazing choreography, she knows how to get everyone’s attention and she makes everything fun. Everyone loves her.”

Sungmin nodded, seeing exactly what they meant from just the beginning of her practice. Hyoyeon was always charismatic, but a little more on the shy side back in middle school. It looked like she truly blossomed.

“You ever wish you were captain?” Sungmin asked Yuri. She just shook her head.

“Sometimes, I guess but being co-captain is just as important!!” she reassured Sunny and Yoona just rolled her eyes.

“I’m going to be captain next year!” Yoona declared proudly, “Im Choding taking after Kim Choding, it only sounds right.”

The laps were soon over with and the group did stretches. Sungmin noticed that he was the only guy in the group and started to feel a little uneasy. But then he remembered that that meant he couldn’t possibly be caught in the change rooms after.

Once the stretching was done, Sooyoung came in through the door and Hyoyeon immediately told her to do laps and stretching. While the tall girl awkwardly ran around the room, Hyoyeon announced that they had to do their routine, or well what they had of the routine so far for their two new members and the team enthusiastically replied.

Sungmin and Sooyoung sat side by side as the group went into formation. Hyoyeon used a remote to turn on the cd player and the group started.

The talent show was 3 months away and the group already looked pretty good. They were almost in sync and it was obvious who were the stronger dances. The choreography allowed each member to have their own little solo with of course Hyoyeon and Yuri having a long duo at the end of all their turns. The number was a mash up on five different songs and Sunny had a hard time believing the number was 8 minutes long for it seemed way too short. But they only got 5 minutes in for Hyoyeon was still teaching the rest of the number.

Sooyoung and Sungmin sighed at the amount of choreography they had to catch up on.

Two sweaty hours later the two managed to get three minutes of the choreography down. Not perfectly, but enough to keep up.

“You two learned pretty fast,” Yuri praised the two who were out of breath. Hyoyeon was with the rest of the group, perfecting what they had so far. “But in order for you guys to catch up in time I want you to do extra practices with either me, Yoona or Hyoyeon. We want to teach the rest of the dance by next week.”

Sungmin praised the God above for not having anything due for another two weeks.

Sooyoung praised herself for picking up the choreo so quickly and secretly enjoyed that she was spending so much time with Sungmin. The two exchanged words rather frequently while observing and working their butts off to catch up. It seemed so natural and easy for the two to talk and this made her happy.

“I heard you two will be studying tomorrow right?” Yuri asked as the three headed back towards the rest of the group.

“Yeah, I’m going to be helping this kid with her studies,” Sungmin commented, laughing lightly.

“Aish, I’m not a kid!” Sooyoung muttered upset at his words.

“If anyone’s the kid it’s Sungmin oppa,” Yoona piped in, forcing herself into the conversation, “I mean Sooyoung unnie has almost an entire head on him.”

“You be quiet!” Sungmin retorted through a wide smile, “As long as I’m taller than Taengoo that’s all that matters!”

Once the group was gathered together again they did some final stretches together before going off to get changed.

---

Tiffany and Jessica and the rest of the newspaper crew finally put all their papers together and so the two girls started to leave the school. As they chatted along in the hallway they spotted Taeyeon who was waiting outside of the room where The Chodings usually practiced. She was was leaning against the wall spacing out as usual. She didn’t seem to notice the two girls so they took advantage of the fact.

Shushing each other, Tiffany and Jessica managed a sneak attack on their best friend who in turn yelped and was tackled to the group. The two girls tickled their victim viciously and Taeyeon erupted in booming laughter that echoed down the halls and bounced back.

“Aigoo! What was that for?” Taeyeon asked through giggle fits and tears. Both Tiffany and Jessica were still on top of her as she lied defeated on the floor.

That’s when Hyoyeon, Yoona, Yuri, Sungmin and Sooyoung came out of the room to see the three girls on top of each other.

“Someone cover Sungmin’s eyes,” Hyoyeon immediately said upon seeing the three on the ground.

Yoona did that exact action when asked, giggling at her silly unnies who were now getting up to compose themselves.

“Is Hyunnie still around?” Yoona then asked as the 8 of them walked the hallway, “We’re not a complete set without her!”

The 8 girls silenced themselves as they listened carefully for any signs of life remaining in the school. Despite the many different activities going on, their group always managed to linger around way longer.

A few seconds into their silence, Sooyoung with her height and hearing advantage heard traces of a piano playing.

“She’s in the piano room!” she announced through loud whispers.

“Why are we whispering?” Sungmin asked as the eight of them started their journey towards Seohyun’s supposed location.

“We’re gonna surprise the maknae,” Taeyeon responded, smiling at her boyfriend and squeezing his hand, “She always practices or studies so late so we are successful at this about 75% of the time.”

“Make it 90%, Hyunnie is not aware at all of her surroundings when she’s doing stuff like music or studying,” Yoona whispered obnoxiously.

Sunny just nodded and followed her silly friends as their walking turned into tip toeing and eventually crouching. It felt like the old days when they would all hang out together and tease the one person who was last to join the group. It felt like her dear group of friends again with how close they all were and how comfortable they were with Sungmin. It made her happy, really happy.

Once they reached the door, Yoona took charge and turned to her unnies with a finger to her lips. Yuri followed right after her and all eight of them slowly followed after, being careful not to make too much noise.

Seohyun was practicing some sort of score on the piano. Her eyes were closed and she played a beautiful song that no one recognized. She was so intent on making music that she didn’t notice her unnies behind her with their arms reaching for her.

In a flash, the group grabbed the maknae and pulled her back into a huge group hug which caused her to scream at first before laughing and hitting her unnies.

Yeahup, just like the old days.