Hayi covered her eyes with a hand from the glare of the sun. Sitting alone underneath a tree, with guitar in hand and a notebook spread open in front of him, was Lee Chanhyuk. Hayi prepared herself and walked up towards him.

"Found you," she said, flopping herself down beside him.

Chanhyuk looked up from his notebook to her. "Oh hi."

"I have a favor to ask you." Hayi decided to go about it directly.

"Well, the answer will depend on what kind of favor it is," Chanhyuk answered with a smile.

"Will you, go to," Hayi was stuttering. This was kind of a big favor to ask for someone like Chanhyuk. "Will you go talk to Jennie Kim? Try to find out what she has in mind for her dance group?"

"Ah, you want me to be your spy," Chanhyuk said teasingly. "But you're the girl here. How will I go about talking to someone like Jennie Kim?"

"If I go talk to her, she'll automatically be suspicious."

"And I won't be suspicious because..?"

Hayi sighed. He was right. There was no going about this.

"I know you want to help the boys team. But the girls also want to join the contest. They have to right to join. No one can stop them."

"I'm not trying to stop them."

"But you don't like them competing against Hanbin's group?" Hayi opened at this but Chanhyuk stopped her. "It's a healthy, friendly rivalry. Just let things run on their own course. We all win in the end anyway."

"It won't be the winning kind of feeling the boys would want in the end though."

"Are you sure it's not?" Chanhyuk began strumming on his guitar. "They work hard preparing for the competition. They shed blood and sweat in the process. They share experience and memories along the way. They get to stand on stage together. But it won't be the last stage for them. There can be many more if they want to. Isn't that kind of winning too?"

"Are you composing a song?" Hayi started to laugh.

"At least you gave me an idea," Chanhyuk grinned and began scribbling on his notebook.

Hayi sighed, stretched out her arms on the grass behind her and basked in the afternoon sunlight.

"Anyway, I already asked Baek Yerin to sign up for Jennie Kim's dance group today," she said.

"Baek Yerin?"

"Park Jimin's best friend. She used to take dancing lessons back in elementary."

"So you're hoping to gain insider access into the girls team?" Chanhyuk chuckled.

"Well, for that to happen, Yerin has to actually get into the group first, which, unfortunately, I don't think would be happening."

Chanhyuk looked at her with a mock shocked face. "I can't believe you, Ms. Lee Hayi." 

Hayi giggled. "Jimin told me she'd seen Yerin dance. She said I would've had a much better chance getting info out of Jennie herself directly about the group than getting Yerin into the dance group."

They both laughed heartily until it eventually died down and they proceeded into a comfortable silence as Chanhyuk continued to write and Hayi watched the school grounds in front of her.

At that moment, she saw Kim Jinhwan come out of the school building with a couple of other guys she didn't know. She watched as they walked across the open court, talking and laughing, until they disappeared into another smaller building adjacent to the school's main one.

They must be his actual same-aged friends, Hayi guessed even though Jinhwan was visibly smaller than the other two boys. She began to wonder how Jinhwan ever got to know Hanbin and Bobby in the first place, going on to become a part of their dance group and performing on the national competition.

The bell rang signaling the end of free period. Hayi got up, patting away the dirt from her skirt. Chanhyuk was hurriedly scribbling down some final words on his notebook then immediately closed it, tucking his guitar into its case.

"Thanks, by the way," Hayi said to him awkwardly.

"Oh don't mention it." He answered nonchalantly, getting up, grabbing his notebook and slinging his guitar over his shoulder. "I'm glad I could help somehow." He told her with a smile.

They walked back to class together but a commotion in front of 2B's classroom stopped them on their way to Class 2C. Hayi briefly caught a glimpse of Jennie Kim's face before a much larger girl moved to her front and blocked her view.

"What's going on here?" Chanhyuk muttered out her own thoughts.

Hayi was trying to get a look around the students who were crowding around when she happened to see Hanbin and Bobby standing by the doorway of their classroom, 2A, looking at the crowd and shaking their heads with similar looks of disdain on their faces.

She walked towards them. "Hey, what happened here?"

Hanbin gave her a double take, maybe just realizing that it was Hayi who had talked to him. He also glanced at Chanhyuk, who had apparently followed behind her. 

"Alright, alright, enough, everybody back to their classes now," Ms. Jung Injae, Class 2A's homeroom teacher, suddenly commanded over the loud chattering of students.

"2B, it's time for our English class now," Mr. Kang Sechan's voice boomed after.

The crowd of students eventually dispersed, amidst groans of disappointment at having had their moment of fun cut short.

"I guess we can move on to our class now," Chanhyuk said from behind Hayi. Hanbin just nodded to her, Hayi taking a last glance to Bobby before they went to their respective classrooms. 

"Cho Miyeon was in my uncle’s cram-school. Didn't she dance so well? I didn’t know she could dance like that. Ah, now I'm even more looking forward to this year's dance competition." Hayi overheard a boy from 2B say to his friends.

Back in their room, her classmates were also talking about the recent happening on the corridors. It seemed that Jennie Kim had finally completed the line-up for her dance group and they just held a flash mob in celebration. This of course was successful in grabbing the attention of the other students, especially Hanbin's, and eventually their support after showcasing the skills of the group at the same time. Some other girls were apparently not impressed and have now chosen to support Hanbin's group instead.

Hayi was kind of disappointed she wasn’t there to witness the whole occurrence. She'll just have to content herself with more information from Yerin later on.

---

"Ahhhh, I'm never going to dance in front of anybody ever again," Yerin wailed over lunch the next day.

Jimin was trying to hold back her laugh as she comforted her friend beside her.

"I'm sure you weren't that bad," Hayi tried to console, though it was a futile attempt. "Maybe the others just have more experience in this kind of stuff? You did say it's been so long since you last took dancing lessons."

Yerin sniffed. "Thanks, unnie, but if you could have only seen what happened. It's like my arms and legs suddenly had a life of their own. It was soooo embarrassing, huwaaaaahhh," she wailed again and buried her face on her arms.

"Well, I think they finally completed their line-up," Hayi continued. "They celebrated by performing a dance on our hallway yesterday." 

"Oh, I heard about that, unnie," Jimin said, still patting her friend on the back.

"I didn't get to see it though, so I still don't know who're in the group, except maybe two people."

"They're matching up the number to Hanbin's, so there'll be six girls," Yerin finally said, holding up her head. "There's Jennie Kim of course. Kim Jisoo-unnie, Jennie-unnie's friend. She's really pretty." She was counting off the members with her fingers. "Some girls think it's unfair that they have this foreign girl in the group, but they can't say anything because she's really good so..."

"Lalice," Hayi said, nodding.

"You know her, unnie?" Jimin asked.

"Goo Junhwe and Kim Donghyuk know her. We met her once on the street. That's when we learned she was a part of the girls team."

"You were out on the street with them?" Jimin seemed to be more shocked about that bit of info. "Where did you go, unnie?"

"We just ate dinner after practice," Hayi brushed her off impatiently. "I also know about Cho Miyeon."

"Oh yeah, Miyeon," Yerin said reproachfully. "We were all kinda surprised to see her dance and turn out that good. I guess it's because she's always just been quiet, kind of in the back girl, and not really trying to stand out."

Hayi's description of Miyeon suddenly reminded her of Junhwe and she couldn't help wondering if she were the same case. "Are you guys in the same class as her?" She asked the two.

"No, she's in Class 1D, same as Lalice," Yerin said. "But come to think of it, I've never seen them hang out together though. I mean, from what I've seen."

Hayi wondered what would happen if Miyeon turned out to be a trainee too. It would definitely raise the stakes for the boys. But what are the chances of her being in a top entertainment company like Junhwe? Could she be in SM or YG? Hayi tried to shake out the thoughts. "How about the other two girls in the group?"

"The last two are from Year 3. Kim Eunbi-unnie and Kim Euna-unnie. They're okay too," Yerin answered. “Honestly, I’m not all that thrilled about the girls team. I’ll continue to support Hanbin-oppa’s group like before,” she sniffed. “Unnie, you’re also for oppa’s group right?”

“Er,” Hayi said.

“You’re just saying that ‘cause you didn’t get into the group,” Jimin said bluntly. “We have to support our kind!”

“Aish, what do you mean ‘our kind’?” Yerin threw her empty soda can at her. “Are you a different animal species?”

“People are saying how good they were yesterday,” Jimin continued, throwing back the soda can.

“All they probably did was shake their hips and show off their legs like they told us to dance during tryouts yesterday. I hate that they made us dance to just one choreography instead of making us just do whatever we prepared for,” Yerin was about to throw the soda can again when Teacher Kang passed by.

“Girls, observe proper waste disposal,” he reminded them, pointing at the waste disposal area of the school cafeteria.

“Yes, sir,” they all bowed at him.

“Now look what you’ve done,” it was Jimin’s turn to wail. “You’ve got Kang-seonsaengnim reprimanding us.”

“You threw the can too!”

Jimin sighed. “He’s so dreamy. I can’t wait to move up another grade next year and have him as my English teacher.”

Hayi just chuckled and shook her head at the two girls, returning to her lunch.

---

"They danced pretty well, I have to admit. That flash mob thing was a great idea," Bobby said. "Gotta hand it to them.”

"Yeah it's a great idea but we'll stick to laying low for the meantime," Hanbin said. "It's good that they have all the buzz for now, get their group out there, but the deciding point will still be the actual competition. And that's when we'll be playing our cards. Though I still don’t know what they’re going for from what they danced yesterday."

“Well, from the feedback yesterday, I think they got it going,” Bobby said.

"So their lineup is basically the same as ours huh," Jinhwan said in turn. "Two from each year to form six."

"I know right? What a rip-off," Bobby joked.

"They're basically going all up in trying to beat us," Donghyuk said. "By matching our number."

"Yeah but how did they even manage to get two from each year too?" Yunhyeong asked.

"It could be just a coincidence, who knows," Hanbin said. "Maybe it's just that easy to pick out at least two decent dancers from each year and each gender in our school, who knows."

"Talk about the odds huh," Yunhyeong smiled.

Hayi had told them everything she learned about the girls team from Yerin, but Hanbin and Bobby pretty much had a good idea from yesterday. Junhwe just quietly took in everything they were saying.

"I still can't believe Jennie Kim and her best friend can actually dance too," Bobby scoffed. They all laugh.

"Oh get over it, hyung," Donghyuk told him smiling. "Who knew you and Hanbin-hyung could rap, and dance, be in the same class and become best friends too!"

Everyone else could barely contain their laughter as Hanbin and Bobby gave each other brotherly looks and hugs.

---

"Hey guys," Hanbin said one day. "My parents want to take us camping this Saturday."

"Count me in!!!" Bobby was literally jumping up and down with excitement. "I love camping trips!"

"Ooh, sorta like a teambuilding activity for us?" The class president Donghyuk asks eagerly.

"Sorry," Junhwe looked at Hanbin, a little regretfully. "You know I have training on weekends."

"Okay, minus Junhwe," Hanbin held out six fingers and put his pinky down. He kept his right hand up. "Anyone else not coming?"

"I'm in," Jinhwan and Yunhyeong said, looking at each other and nodding.

"Oh Hayi, do you wanna come?" Hanbin turned to her.

Hayi just blankly stared at him.

"She can come, right guys?"

"Sure, why not?" Bobby said.

"My mom and little sister will be there, don't worry," Hanbin assured her. All six boys were looking at her expectantly.

"Um, sure," Hayi finally said. "I'll ask my mom and dad if they'll let me come."

"Great," Hanbin beamed. "Okay do any of you have tents? We have two but of course not all five of us plus Hayi, my mom, dad and sis will fit."

They proceeded to talk about the preparations they needed to do for the camping trip, sitting cross-legged on the floor in a circle while Junhwe joined Hayi on the bench by the old piano to watch them. Hayi felt a little sympathetic towards him because he couldn't join them. Trainee life had to be hard, being like that, and she wondered if she would be able to do it, if she ever decided to. After all, she was taking vocal lessons. She also wanted to be a singer. But what made it different to trainees like him?

She thought of JYP and Wonder Girls came up. They were an idol group, one who had been famous for a while. She would definitely never forget the seemingly endless playing of their song "Tell Me" and the craze over the signature dance steps. Idols, it seemed, were expected to be all-around entertainers. To be able to sing and dance at the same time as capturing the hearts of the audiences with cute faces and charming personalities. She definitely won't be able to dance like the six boys with her are doing right now. And she doubts she'll be able to please a lot of people with her quiet, rather boring personality.

But Junhwe didn't have the pleasing personality either, she thought. He definitely has the bad boy aura that a lot of girls seem to fall for, with his intense glares and confident way of holding himself. She suddenly thought of another idol group, Big Bang, with their hip-hop image. Well, I guess that works too, she thought. But if there was someone in these boys who would have the charms of an idol, it would probably be Bobby with his fun personality. Yunhyeong-oppa has a different kind of charm, like 4D. Jinhwan-oppa and Donghyukkie were definitely sweet, even Hanbin too.

Hayi shook the thoughts out of her mind and glanced at the boys who were still hunched over on the floor together. Junhwe was now leaning his head over the piano, eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

Should she join them on their camping trip? Hayi looked through the videos in her camcorder again in an effort to look busy. She was getting to know these boys and she was enjoying the moments she had hanging out with them, even if it was only in the confines of the four walls of this storage room. It had been a long time since she had a fun day out with friends so why not? Hayi smiled inwardly as she began to look forward to the weekend.

*Disclaimer: So Cho Miyeon is the name being given to the blonde girl seen in recent fan-taken pictures of YG's upcoming girl group. Nothing official yet though, so take with a grain of salt. And I know Euna Kim is out of the picture, but I just felt like putting her in^^ I kinda like her and wish she was still part of the group D: The group's current line-up is said to be 6 members, although no name yet for the 6th mystery girl (and in GD's concert last September, only 5 of the girls were apparently spotted). Hope we also get news of the girl group soon ^^