Annyeonghaeseyo, I am Seo Joo Hyun, second-year student at Seoul Arts High. I'm aiming to become a famous Korean idol singer with my unnies one day, even though I'm the maknae among the nine of us. I love sweet potatoes--

 

"Arrasso," Ms. So, my English teacher announced, "It's almost time for class to end so be sure to finish up those autobiographies to turn in at the end of the lesson."

 

Hurriedly, I jotted down the last of the paragraph to my autobiography just in time for the bell to ring, signaling that it was time to go home. I got up from my seat to join the line of students waiting to turn in their work and placed my paper in the basket seconds later. As I grabbed my bag to head over to my locker a familiar voice called out my name. 

 

"Yah, Seohyun!"

 

I looked around to find Taeyeon unnie walking towards me. 

 

"Hey Taeyeon unnie! Gonna head to practice with me today?" 

 

She smiled and pinched my cheeks, "Of course, badminton is my life and you're my partner...soooo let's go!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me away just as I finished putting away my books and closed my locker door. 

 

"U-unnieee waaait!" I pleaded as we zigzagged our way through countless crowds of students towards the school's girls locker room. I gave a huffed sigh as I sat down on a bench near my gym locker and started changing into comfortable athletic wear, which were just shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of second hand court shoes I received from a sunbaenim. 

 

I got up to walk towards the mirrors in the locker room to tie my hair and joined Taeyeon unnie back at my locker. 

 

"Seohyunnieeee, hurry up! We might be late," she lightly scolded, tapping my head with her Yonex brand badminton racket. I reached into my locker for the same brand of racket, the only difference being that mine was pink and Taeyeon's red. 

 

"Alright, let's go," I said while giving a small smile. Practice was going to be fun today!

 

We quickly jogged towards the school's gymnasium to join other students part of the badminton team, who were crowded around the coaches for the daily routine agenda. 

"Good afternoon team," Coach Wu announced, "as you all know the season's district tournament is coming up, this year we're going to take the championship for sure." He spoke with confidence that infected the rest of us since...well, since our school hasn't taken the top spot in any of the past tournaments. Not that we're bad players or anything, we just have a bad losing streak...each year.

 

My eyes wandered off until I spotted a familiar face, a bit too familiar in my taste. Jung Yong Hwa. A student who was in the grade above me. I had met him when I was a first year on the team, we didn't become friends at the time since I was still quite reserved and shy and so it was another sunbaenim who befriended me and introduced me to more students on the team, including Yonghwa-sshi. That first year went well and by then I was considered his dongsaeng that he loved to torment. 

 

Hmm..I guess Tiffany unnie is his partner again this year... I sighed quietly to myself. As Yonghwa's 'little sister', I really wanted to be his partner on the team to be able to grow a little closer in terms of our friendship...and my one-sided admiration towards him...no wait. Shaking my head and those thoughts away, I once again reminded myself that I shouldn't have any feelings for my big brother. Although....

 

"-hyun...Seohyun!" I snapped back into reality as I heard my name being chanted by Taeyeon unnie, "YAH! Seohyun come back to Earth. It's time to practice and the courts are almost all taken...you okay?"

 

"Ah, yeah unnie. Gwenchana. Let's practice!" I shouted excitedly while running to an empty court and practiced my swinging techniques. No time for personal thoughts, if we want to get into the badminton varsity team we have to work hard!

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