March 17, 1999

Chanyeol slammed his pencil down on his finished homework.

"Done!"

With that one word, everyone jumped up from their seats at once and grabbed their backpacks, running out the door of Baekhyun's house.

"Finally, hyung! I almost fell asleep waiting for you!" Kai exclaimed while stretching his arms. His arm accidentally hit Kyungsoo's nose, who yelped an 'Ow'.

"Whatever." Chanyeol slung his bag over his shoulder. "I'm done, so let's go!"

"Go where?"

Baekhyun stopped and turned around when he felt a light tug on his shirt. Yoonmi was looking up at him in confusion, having woken up from a nap.

He flattened out a clump of hair sticking out from her bangs, bothered by it. "To the basketball courts."

She made a face. "Again?"

"Yeah. Wanna come along?"

"Even if I do, you guys aren't gonna let me play with you anyways."

"Of course we're not. You can't play basketball."

That got Yoonmi to stand up.

"Who says?! You've never even seen me play!"

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, pulling her hand away from his shirt. "Stupid, no girls allowed in basketball. Little girls can't play sports. They can only watch. If you're gonna try to into our game, don't come at all."

Yoonmi gave an angry huff as she watched the older guy run after his other friends.

"Stupid oppa! Like I'd even WANT to go with a bunch of mean jerks!"

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"Pass us the ball, Yoonmi!"

Why had she come here.

She looked down at the ball that had rolled to her feet. She looked up at the twelve guys waiting for her to roll it back.

Ha. As if she would throw it back to them that easily.

"Wha--" Kai widened his eyes when Yoonmi picked up the ball with a smug look on her face. "What are you doing?! Give it back!"

"Bleeehhh." She stuck out her tongue at him. "No way! Not until you guys let me join!"

"W-What?! You little--"

"Shut up, Kai. Let me handle this." Luhan clapped his hands at the stubborn girl. "Come on, Yoonmi. Oppa will give you his extra bag of peach jelly beans."

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yep! Now, be a good girl and give us back the ball."

She suddenly frowned again and clutched the ball tighter. "No way! I'm playing basketball with you guys no matter what!"

Xiumin widened his eyes. "Wow. She even gave up the peach jelly beans she's been yelling about for the past few weeks. Shouldn't we just let her play with us?"

"What? No! I don't wanna play basketball with a girl!" Kai whined.

Yoonmi shot him a glare. "Kim Jongin, you brat, I'll go over there and punch you--"

"Ha! Go ahead and I'll punch you ba--"

"Woah, woah, woah. No fighting, you idiots." Suho slapped Kai's head with a roll of eyes. "Just let Baekhyun handle it. He always knows what to do with Yoonmi."

And so they all became quiet and looked at Baekhyun, waiting for him to do the magic. Seeing this, Yoonmi stepped back and narrowed her eyes at him in determination, as if preparing to withstand whatever he was going to do.

Baekhyun placed his hands on his hips in thought. Just what would break the stubbornness of the most stubborn little girl in the world?

The boy suddenly walked towards her. Chanyeol gasped. "He's gonna do the magic!" He whispered to Sehun.

Yoonmi tensed up and clutched the ball even tighter when he stopped right in front of her. "W-What're you gonna do?! Cause I'm not gonna give you the ball not matter what--" She stopped with a gasp.

And out came a fit of giggles and slaps instead as Baekhyun tickled the girl mercilessly, having grabbed her in an inescapable headlock.

"GAAAHH stop! This isn't fair!" She tried to push him away.

"Not until you let go of the ball!"

"Alright, fine fine fine fine--" She reluctantly stuffed the ball into his chest. Baekhyun instantly stopped as he high-fived Chanyeol, who was doubling over in laughter along with the rest of the guys.

Sadly, their happiness didn't last long.

Kai widened his eyes at Yoonmi rolling up her sleeves. "Uh oh. That's not a pretty sight. Hyung--"

It was too late. Baekhyun let out a surprised yelp as the younger girl started attacking him with tickles as well. Without any reason, the rest of the guys joined her in torturing him as well as the poor guy rolled on the ground in laughter muttering things like "Why is always me" or "I'll kill you all later".

And the basketball lay in the middle of the court, untouched and forgotten.

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"Class is dismissed!"

Yoonmi groaned with her head on the desk as everyone else quickly ran out of the classroom.

Byunghun gasped next to her. "Are you dead, Yoonmi?!"

She let out a deep, long sigh. "No. I'm alive. Just..." She sighed again. "Bored."

"Oh," He zipped up his backpack and slung it over his shoulders, clutching the straps like a kind innocent kid who studied diligently and had good table manners.

Yoonmi reluctantly sat up and looked around, seeing no one in the room.

"Where's Minah?"

Byunghun suddenly smiled brightly. "She's with Baekhyun sunbae."

"Oh..." Yoonmi rested her chin on her hand. Ever since they had come back from the Goeun Cabins, it seemed as if Minah had given up on chasing after the reluctant Byunghun. Which meant she was back to sticking to Baekhyun.

"Well, congratulations, I guess." Yoonmi said. "Oh, and did Sulli leave already?"

"Yeah. She said she didn't want to be last in the lunch line."

They both walked out of the empty classroom, passing by all the noisy kids running around the hallway. Yoonmi caught sight of a particularly larger group of guys looking out the window in silence. She stood on her tippy toes to see what they were looking at.

Im Yoona, Tiffany, and Jessica.

"The YTJ trio." Byunghun muttered behind her.

Yoonmi looked at him with a raise of eyebrows. "The YT... what trio?'

"The YTJ trio. Yoona, Tiffany, and Jessica 's first initials in English."

"Oohhhh..." Yoonmi nodded in understanding, once again reminded of where Byunghun had come from.

The YTJ trio. Yoonmi looked back at the three girls. They were as likable as always, looking sweetly girlish in their neatly curled hair and pink hairbands.

Yoonmi made a face. She couldn't help but be reminded of the Goeun Cabins all over again, where loneliness had engulfed her all because of those three girls and the stupidness of the twelve guys.

Yoona waved towards the group of guys staring at her. They giddily waved back.

"Come on, Yoonmi. Let's go."

Oh well. Yoonmi nodded in response and walked past them with the smallest hint of smugness on her face.

Baekhyun hadn't given Yoona a snowman that looked just like her.

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"Chicken for dinner?!"

"And cake for dessert?!"

Both Baekhyun and Yoonmi raised their hands. "I'll do the laundry!" They said simultaneously.

Yoonmi's mother smiled. It was always nice to hear to hear kids offer to do chores for her.

"Alright, then. I'll prepare the laundry basket and a tub of soapy water for you guys. Go to the backyard and roll up all your sleeves."

The two kids obeyed, racing outside while fantasizing about the chicken and cake Yoonmi's mother had promised them.

"I hope it's her double chocolate layered cake." Baekhyun said while rolling up his pants.

"I hope she makes the chicken extra spicy."

"Yeah. With no carrots."

Yoonmi frowned. "But I love carrots."

"Ew. Carrots are disgusting. They turn all mushy with chicken. And I hate the orange color."

"What's wrong with you? Carrots are delicious! Much more delicious than brocolli."

"What are you talking about? Brocolli tastes better than carrots!"

"I can't stand brocolli!"

"And I can't stand carrots!"

"Then I guess I'll put both in for tonight's chicken." Yoonmi's mother set down the large tub on the ground and began filling it up with water and soap. "You two should eat all your vegetables. Both brocolli and carrots are healthy for you."

Yoonmi pouted. "But brocolli tastes bad."

"So do carrots." Baekhyun muttered.

"And they're both healthy!" Yoonmi's mother said as she poured out all the dirty clothes from the laundry basket. "Here, it's all set. You two tell me when you're finished, and I'll call you in for dinner."

"Yes, ma'm," They both chorused as they slowly watched Yoonmi's mother walk back in the house. The second they saw the door close behind the woman, the two kids immediately looked at each other.

"I'll eat your brocolli."

"I'll eat your carrots."

Baekhyun smiled. "Good. Then it's settled as a truce. I'll have a carrotless dinner and you'll have a brocolliless one."

They both pinky promised each other before proceeding to jump inside the tub and stomp on the laundry like the excited kids they were.

It hadn't been five minutes when Yoonmi wiped her sweaty forehead and looked up at the sun.

"Oppa, it's already spring. I'm sweating."

"That's good. It'll be summer soon. When it gets hotter, maybe we can go play in the beach again."

Yoonmi's eyes lit up. "With campfires and tents?"

"Yup! My mom says she and Auntie will buy us marshmallows to put over the fire."

"That's great! I hope they buy four bags this time... Last time, three wasn't enough. Chanyeol oppa hogged one bag to himself."

They both formed a distant look on their faces, remembering the vivid memory of Chanyeol running to the other end of the beach with an entire bag of marshmallows clutched into his chest. Sulli had gotten so mad at him that time.

"I hope there's a lot of stars in the sky when we go." Baekhyun suddenly said.

Yoonmi nodded in agreement, but not before giving him a funny look. These were one of the few times she thought Baekhyun to be less boyish. He didn't seem to be the type to look at stars or enjoy the beach scenery. Rather, he was the kind of guy to play basketball and video games while saying 'No Girls Allowed' for everything.

These were also one of the few times she wanted to say something like:

"No boys allowed in watching stars in the beach." Yoonmi muttered to herself in a barely audible voice.

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

Yoonmi knew the sour feeling of having to hear someone say that you weren't allowed in something. She was nice enough to keep from passing the feeling on to anyone else.

Although, it would be a really refreshing moment of revenge--

"Ow." Baekhyun nudged Yoonmi's arm, gesturing to his poor foot she had just stepped on.

"Oops. Sorry." That was a bit of revenge, she thought as she pulled her foot away and continued stomping on the clothes.

The sweet smell of beach flowers in Yoonmi's garden seemed perfect with the chirping birds and buzzing bees flying around the air.

Yoonmi smiled.

Looking at the bumblebees in her backyard always reminded her of the end-of-the-summer party last year. She and Sulli had chased Baekhyun and Chanyeol around the yard with a bumblebee in their net. Such a memory was worth remembering for the rest of her life.

"Yoonmi?" Baekhyun called out uneasily.

"Huh? Yeah? What?"

"Nothing.... You just seemed kind of spaced out. Were you thinking of something funny?"

She broke into a grin, which made Baekhyun feel even uneasier. "Yeah."

She secretly wished to herself that more memories like that one would be made in the future.

And more chicken with carrots would be nice too.