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Chapter One

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Auditions came and went and Yideun was exhausted. With no time to rest between the end of auditions and the beginning of camp, Yideun drank some iced coffee and hoped adrenaline could pull her through.

Yideun was one of the first to arrive at the camp location; the band being too large to practice on any of the parking lots at Neul Paran and having been restricted from the football field (the sports directors reasoned that the band would tear up the field before football season) the organization was forced to find another location to hold their intensive three-week band camp, which ended up being a small-time soccer field on the other side of Seoul.

“Yideun-ssi,” Kangta called, waving the young drum major over to where he, Yoochun, and Junsu stood by the large make-shift podium. Yideun, being obedient – and tired – walked over to the directors. “Here,” Kangta practically threw a booklet of papers into the young junior’s hands. “It’s the music for this season.” Yideun looked through the booklet, realizing that it was the same sheet music she had in her little duffle bag, just organized a bit better and without her notes. The cover sheet, decorated obviously by the arts department, said, in large, dark colors ‘DREAMS OF FLIGHT’.

Twenty minutes later, the rest of the band showed up, coming in carpools and other means of getting to the location. Yideun waved to her friends, then went back to looking over the new sheet music for any changes she had to be aware of. Just sitting under the podium, she was beginning to sweat; so, in an effort to cool down a little, she pulled her long, light brown hair up and tied it around a black ponytail at the top of her head.

Yideun wasn’t surprised to see the vast amount of returners that filled the area, chatting and talking, the boys already discarding their shirts.

“Hi, Deun-ah,” one of the returners said, walking up to where Yideun sat and keeling down in front of her. This guy, even with his obvious non-Korean features, short dyed-blonde hair, was very attractive (it only helped that all he was wearing was dirty white tennis shoes that he probably worn last year to camp and cameo-cargo shorts). “Working hard already?”

“Hi, Nichkhun-ah,” Yideun said, smiling wide and putting down the sheet music for the first time in twenty-plus minutes. Glancing over at the young girl at Nichkhun’s side, who always seemed to be by Nichkhun’s side, she greeted her with a “hi, Byul-ah.” Byul was beautiful – long, shoulder-length black hair, round cheeks and pink lips. She and Nichkhun met their freshmen year when they both were auditioning for available spots on the colorguard and had been together ever since. “You guys ready for another year?”

“Darn right!” Nichkhun half-shouted, pumping his fist into the air, grinning wide and showing off his white teeth. “I don’t know what to do with myself when marching band and Winterguard are over. We just hang out in my apartment watching movies.”

“And going to dance class,” Byul added, chuckling softly. Yideun smiled at her, Byul was always one of her favorite members, although she wasn’t sure if they were friends. “The freshmen look good this year.”

Nudging the girl’s side, Nichkhun asked, “scouting to replace me?” Byul let out an indignant squeak and denied it, making Nichkhun laugh warmly. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, her face pressing into his bare shoulder. Yideun blushed out of embarrassment and looked away, glancing at the newcomers who gathered just off the right side of the field.

The newcomers looked just that – new. A couple stood out in particular, but most of them cowered by their friends they knew previously or met at auditions.

Looking through the group of them, Yideun’s eyes trained to one specific group of five, and a chill down her spine said they had been speaking of her. When her eyes locked with one of the pretty boy’s, the one with the long light brown hair and brilliant eyes, another chill ran down her spine.

“Yideun-ah,” Nichkhun called with force, shaking her shoulder, making Yideun wonder just how long she had really been staring. Looking at Nichkhun, and Byul, she noticed both of them looking back at her with concerned eyes. “Are you ok? You just spaced out there.”

“I’m fine,” Yideun mumbled, glancing over at the group again, who now seemed to be in a deep conversation amongst themselves.

Pretty soon, Kangta called a start to practice. First they had a little chat about how every practice and every performance was like another audition and that he and his staff weren’t afraid to make cuts. Then the band and colorguard were ushered off to one side where they would learn (or refresh upon) marching basics, and the majorettes began their own warm up.

Yideun, having no interest in the snoody majorettes and being a past colorguard member, followed Kangta to where the majority of the band was learning basics and watched. Sometimes she’d call out a mistake, like Kangta, Yoochun, Junsu, Changmin, and Jaejoong all did, and sometimes she pulled out a member or two to personally teach them in a way they might better understand. No use having weak links, she thought. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the boy with the long hair (now tied in a thin, pin-straight ponytail) and she could have almost sworn he tripped over himself on purpose, but before she could really think about it, Kangta asked her to pull him out.

“It’s simple,” Yideun said when she and the freshmen newbie were out of the shouting range of Yoochun and Junsu and their obnoxious gock block. She stood next to the newbie and slowly imitated the roll-step. “Heel -,” Yideun said, planting her heel firmly on the ground, toe high in the air, “ball, toe,” she rolled her foot until it was flat on the ground.

“I know,” the freshman said, grinning like a fox when Yideun glanced up at him. He was slightly taller than her, Yideun only standing 152 centimeters. “I’m Taemin.”

“…I’m Yi-”

“Ha Yideun,” Taemin interrupted, grin growing that much wider. “I know.” Yideun blinked at him, mouth gaping only slightly. “You said it at auditions remember?” Yideun was speechless for a moment and Taemin leaned in and lightly kissed her cheek. “Thanks for the help, Yideun-ah,” he whispered lowly into her ear, brushing loose strands away, before trotting away to fill in the hole he left in the basics block.

The first day of camp ended as the sun went down and all the members were tired and sluggish. The returners were faring better after the twelve-hour day than the newcomers who had never had to spend twelve hours on the practice field before.

By the end of the first week, they had more than half their show on the field and the music entirely memorized. The colorguard and majorettes had a little less than half their routines finished, and Yideun had choreographed her salute.

It was lunch hour on the first day of the second week, and Yideun and her friends were seated in the shade under the podium in front of the 50 yard line.

“You have it easy, Yideun” Haneul said, downing almost an entire bottle of water. Haneul’s dark brown hair was pulled up and off her neck, wearing a green-and-blue striped tank top and khaki capris. Hwajae next to her simply ate her meal, popping one goldfish cracker after another into , not seeming to take any interest in what Haneul is saying. Nichkhun and Byul were there also, eating a meal Byul made, and two newbies were with them: Hyunjae and Runa. Hyunjae had long, pin-straight back hair tied into a messy bun, and round, dark brown eyes. Her skin was slightly tanned, darker than the other girls present. Runa had shoulder-length chestnut brown hair and side swept bangs that were pulled back off her forehead, thin, dark eyes and light pink lips.

“Why?” Yideun asked, stealing some of the chicken Byul and Nichkhun had laid out on a napkin. She grinned at them with Byul squawked at her. Yiden wore a black sports bra (much like the ones Byul and Runa wore) and blue checkered short-shorts over zebra-striped spandex.

“You don’t have to be out there swinging around a flag, rifle or sabre,” Haneul explained, picking at the green grapes she packed. “And you don’t have to march or worry about playing an instrument.”

“I play three instruments,” Yideun said matter-of-factly, “And I’m learning the clarinet this year.”

“Really?” Hyunjae asked, gaping at her senior, “you know all those instruments?” Yideun laughed and nodded, pink tinting her lips.

“And you have to stand on top of this podium, waving your arms,” added Hwajae. Yideun wasn’t sure if she was making fun of her or not. “At least the rest of us get to move and not stand directly under the sun all practice.”

          Suddenly a group of five, all from different sections in the band walked by (most of them shirtless), taking the girls’ attention from their food, except Yideun who was more focused on stealing another piece of chicken from Byul. “Hey,” Hwajae whispered, nudging Yideun’s knee. “That Jinki, isn’t he cute?”

          Yideun, mouth full of chicken looked around and, with the help of Hwajae, spotted just the shirtless guy she was talking about. He was average height with messy brown hair that stuck to his neck and forehead. “He’s in the battery,” Hwajae informed the younger of the two, “plays the xylophone.” Hearing that, Yideun burst out laughing, almost choking on the rice she just put in . Hwajae pouted and slapped her shoulder.

          “Sorry, sorry,” Yideun apologized once her giggles stopped, “it just… took me by surprise is all.”

          With a pout, Hwajae just said, “yeah.”

          “Jonghyun there is pretty cute too,” Haneul said, “he’s on the quads.”

          As the girls continued talking about their crushes in the band, Runa and Hyunjae joining in, Yideun’s eyes couldn’t help but focusing on one particular boy with long, light brown hair and wide grin. As if knowing she was staring, said boy glanced over at where Yideun was, all the while not breaking conversation with Jonghyun.

          “unnie!” Hyunjae shouted, pushing Yideun’s shoulder so hard the elder almost fell over. “I asked if you thought Hyukjae is cute.”

          “Hyukjae?” Yideun asked, looking wide-eyed between her friends.

          Nichkhun laughed loud. “Man, what were you staring at?” he asked, “Hyukjae’s on the flag line.”

          Yideun’s lips formed an ‘O’ and thought back, hard, to think if she knew anyone on the flag line named Hyukjae. Suddenly, she exclaimed, “Yes! I know who you’re talking about!”

          Hyunjae laughed, “Isn’t he cute?”

          Munching on her chips, Runa said, adding her two-bit’s worth, “I think Minho is awful cute.”

“Why doesn’t anyone here think I’m cute?” Nichkhun asked with a pout, leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees.

“Because your girlfriend is right there,” Hwajae said smartly, pointing at Byul with her dark eyes and waving her free hand towards the girl. Byul looked none too pleased and Nichkhun chuckled, hugging the girl and trying to appease her.

The rest of lunch passed just as eventfully as it began, and soon it ended when Kangta approached them, looking smart in his man-capris and white tank top, and told Yideun to gather the band and call a beginning to practice.

Yideun climbed on to the top of the podium, Kangta and Junsu just behind her and shouted over the mumblings that they were going to run through what they knew of the show, music, routine, and all.

And, like that, the first day of the second week ended.

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End of Chapter One

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The ending might be a little rushed, Gilmore Girls and Geng Xin was distracting me and I wasnt too sure how to finish.

I might update with a little list of words-to-know...haha I dont know if its entirely needed though...

Anyway, I hope you guys like~<3