Chapter Text
The summer before senior year is meant to be an exhilarating experience. It's a time to indulge in all the fun a senior can have without the pressure of college bustling around the corner. The stressful times are meant to be saved for college applications in the late fall -- Yeji Hwang doesn't even want to think about that time yet.
The summer and the months leading into November is the time she completely devotes herself to soccer. She'll worry about college applications the day before they're due, or in other words, after soccer season is officially over.
She had been the starting varsity goalie since freshman year. It's an honorable title considering most freshmen and sophomores play for the junior varsity team. She already knows no one will challenge her for the position once senior year starts, but that doesn't mean she can start slacking off.
This summer would be all about focusing on her training. She was hoping to take the Redwood High Wolves to the state championships this year.
The only problem was that her parents were forcing her to get a part time job. They said it would be good for her to have on her college applications, and they told her she could use the money to pay for gas since they finally got her a car.
It was a used car, but only a few years old. Her father's coworker was selling it and gave it to her father for a lower price since they had known each other so long, which made Yeji the owner of a dark grey 2016 Dodge Challenger.
It was a bit too boyish for her taste, but she wasn't going to complain when her parents were gifting her an entire vehicle. It was nice being able to drive everywhere now instead of relying on her bicycle or needing to ask her parents for a ride.
Plus, she would get to drive to school every day with her best friend, Lia, once school started. Lia Choi was also going to be a senior, but she wasn't very athletic like Yeji. She wasn't very competitive at all, in all honesty, so the role of being the soccer team's manager fit her quite well.
Their best friend duo used to be a trio. It still technically was a trio, but their other best friend Chaeryeong Lee, who was going to be a junior, was being forced to transfer to a nearby school. The county decided to re-draw the district lines, and even though Chaeryeong's house was only a 10 minute walk away from Yeji's, she was told she'd have to attend their rival high school, Timber Creek High.
Despite Chaeryeong's protests and making her parents send in a petition to keep her at Redwood, the school district denied her request along with everyone else that was jumbled into the mess.
The rivalry between the schools was due to nothing more than the close distance between the schools. Yeji was the only one in their trio that took it somewhat seriously since she was on a sports team. Chaeryeong was a cheerleader, but she didn't care what school she cheered for as long as the uniforms were cute. And changing schools wasn't going to tear apart their friendship, anyways.
Besides, someone else close to Yeji also got caught up in the re-districting madness. Sungchan Jung was also going to be a junior with Chaeryeong, and he was currently Yeji's boyfriend. He had asked Yeji out to the winter dance previously. He was tall and cute and seemed respectable enough, so Yeji decided to give him a chance.
They started officially dating shortly after winter break, and went to prom together in the spring. He was one of the only sophomores who was able to attend the dance since prom was only for juniors and seniors, plus their dates -- perks of dating an upperclassman.
With Sungchan and Chaeryeong about to officially become Timber Creek Panthers, Yeji figured she could give the rivalry a bit of a rest this year. Especially considering their school's soccer team was only mediocre anyways. Yeji had other schools she needed to worry about instead. The Panthers were probably the least of her worries.
Yeji was ready to get her summer started off on the right foot. She got dressed for work, clad in her signature Carolina blue polo with the ice cream shop's logo on the front, and black slacks. The pants would normally feel way too uncomfortable in the summer heat, but working in an ice cream parlor had it's benefits. She had a black cap and matching apron she was supposed to wear as well, but she didn't put those on until she was actually in the shop.
She had already been trained for two weeks and was ready to start working without much supervision. Since the last few weeks of school had exam-week schedules, she was allowed to be home much earlier than usual. And since she was confident in her studies, she didn't think going to work to get trained for a few hours would mess with her test scores in the slightest. She was right about that -- the scores had been posted and she passed all her classes, as expected.
It was Monday afternoon and she had a 4 hour shift from 2pm to 6pm. She preferred the earlier shifts that started when the shop opened at 12pm since it would allow for her to practice in the evenings, but she was stuck with the 2pm shift for her first real day of work. Her manager promised she'd do her best to adjust her schedule by the next week. She grabbed her keys and headed out the door to make it to work on time.
When she drove by the front of the building she saw there was already a small line forming outside the door. She grit her teeth in frustration. She was hoping for a relaxing first day, but clearly that wasn't going to be possible since apparently all the high schoolers in the county wanted to get ice cream. She drove around to the back of the building and parked in one of the designated employee parking spaces.
She made her way to the back door and hesitated before she turned the doorknob. She looked up at the sign on the door:
Itzy's Ice Cream Parlor
Employees Only
She shook out her nerves and slowly turned the knob to enter. She could hear the hustle and bustle inside as soon as the door was opened a crack. She mentally prepared herself for what she imagined would be a long 4 hours. She made her way into the break room and put on her apron and hat, which had logos that matched the one on her shirt. She made sure the apron was tied tightly and that her ponytail was secured in the hat loop before stepping out to get started with work.
She smiled at her coworker, Dahyun, who was a college student two years older than her. Dahyun smiled back but got back to work since the line was only getting longer. Yeji stepped up to the space next to her and made eye contact with the customer waiting across the glass display of their ice cream flavors. "Welcome to Itzy's, where we always keep it Icy! What can I get for you?" she asked.
A middle schooler was standing in front of her, looking at the different ice cream tubs with wide eyes. "Can I get a scoop of cotton candy and a scoop of rocky road?" he asked excitedly. Yeji cringed internally at the thought of the two flavors being put together, but put on her best smile for the boy.
She would admit she liked her fair share of odd flavors, like Shooting Star and Cherry Jubilee, but she knew where to draw her limits. "Sure, do you want that on a cone or in a cup?" she asked, and he asked for a cone. He then went on to ask for a plethora of toppings, including gummy bears, oreo cookie crumbles, rainbow sprinkles, and peanut butter cups.
Yeji did her best not to gag at the concoction she was placing into the boys hands, with a napkin neatly wrapped around the cone, before asking him for payment. He paid in cash and ran off with his ice cream, leaving Yeji to move back to the front of the line to get to the next customer. She and Dahyun had a good system going, and the line was getting noticeably shorter much quicker than when Dahyun was stuck working by herself.
About two hours had passed in the blink of an eye. The flow of customers was steady and surprisingly not too hard to handle for a newbie. Her manager, Sana, who was a college senior, had arrived and was helping out whenever there was a sudden rush, so that definitely eased some of the pressure. There was a bit of a lull in customers for about 15 minutes when the bell rang and Yeji looked up at the door to see Chaeryeong walk in with a taller girl.
They both bounded over to her with a smile, and she greeted them with her own brightest smile. "Hey Chaeryeong! I thought you had cheer camp," she started with, before she was interrupted. "I did earlier today, but anyways, shouldn't you be saying a catchphrase or something? I'm a customer!" Chaeryeong teased.
Yeji rolled her eyes but was still smiling when she said in the most monotone voice possible, "Welcome to Itzy's, where we always keep it Icy... what can I get for you guys?"
Chaeryeong and the taller girl both laughed at Yeji's misery, before Chaeryeong decided to finally introduce the two to each other. "This is Yuna, she's going to be a freshman at Timber Creek. I met her at cheer camp this morning," she stated.
Yuna smiled and said hello, while Chaeryeong moved onto the next introduction. "Yuna, this is one of my best friends, Yeji. She's gonna be a senior at Redwood."
"It's nice to meet you, Yuna. I hope you and Chaeryeong can get along well since you'll both be new to Timber Creek," Yeji said sincerely. Yuna was bouncing on her toes in excitement when she responded, "I'm actually new to this city in general! We just moved here at the start of the spring semester, so I was only at the middle school for a few months.
How cute, Yeji thought. Before Yeji could respond to the soon-to-be freshman, Chaeryeong cut in again. "Speaking of Timber Creek, though, we saw Sungchan at his football practice!" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Yeji.
"Oh right, he did mention football camp was starting this morning," she said, before she heard the bell ring as another customer stepped inside. Flustered, she eyed Dahyun who was idly sitting by the register, who caught her eye and knew she was being called to action.
Dahyun immediately got up and went to help the other customer, while Yeji turned back to the two girls. "Sorry, I probably should get you guys rung up now. What did you both want?" she asked again.
Chaeryeong asked for a scoop of yogurt flavored ice cream in a cup, while Yuna asked for a mint chocolate cone. Yeji got to work scooping the ice creams while she heard Chaeryeong berating Yuna's ice cream choice. Yeji held back a laugh since she knew what if felt like to be in Yuna's shoes.
She handed them both their items before Yuna looked up with wide eyes. "Oh I almost forgot, can I get a to-go cup of vanilla? It's for my sister," she exclaimed, holding a hand to her chest at the shock of almost forgetting. Yeji nodded and grabbed a scoop of vanilla to place in a cup with a lid, before handing it to Yuna with a spoon. "Are you guys paying together or separately?" she asked, and tried not to laugh as Chaeryeong easily beat Yuna to the race of who could pull out their money first.
"You're just a kid, let me do it this time," she said victoriously, before handing Yeji the money. Yuna whined for a bit, but both girls thanked Yeji and said goodbye to both her and Dahyun before leaving. As they walked out the door, the next rush of customers came in. Yeji blew out a breath as she prepared for the next hour and a half of scooping.
Before she knew it, it was finally 6pm and Yeji clocked out and ripped her hat and apron off. Her back was hurting a bit from having to crouch over so much to scoop the ice cream. She'd have to stretch a lot before she practiced later.
She said goodbye to Dahyun, who was scheduled to work until closing, and quickly made her way to her car. She was starving and needed to eat dinner as soon as possible. She drove home and ran inside to see her mother was standing over the kitchen stove.
"Ah, Yeji, just in time for dinner. Can you go get your father?" she asked. Her parents usually got home from work around 5pm, but her father liked to work some more in his home office despite the fact that it wasn't necessary. He was just too much of a workaholic -- a trait he was hoping to pass onto Yeji.
Yeji went to get her father and the three sat down to have dinner together. "So, how was your first official day at work, honey?" her father asked, looking up from his plate of kimchi fried rice. Yeji's mouth was stuffed, cheeks puffed from being filled with food, so she made sure to finish chewing before she answered.
"It was pretty good! Chaeryeong came by with another cheerleader, so we got to hang out for a bit when it was slow," she said cheerfully. Her mother shook her head, sucking on her teeth. "Such a shame the school board denied her petition to stay at school with you all. It doesn't make sense to separate children for no good reason when they already got to know each other," she grumbled, and her father muttered something in agreement, adding his own two cents on how it was related to politics.
Yeji nodded along, not really sure if she was meant to add anything to the conversation. She wasn't worried about her friendships, especially considering Chaeryeong was still in the same house. A 10 minute walk was a 4 minute drive, and now that she had a car it would be even easier to see the other girl whenever she wanted.
Yeji finished her dinner and got up, placing her dish in the sink before turning back to face her parents. "I gotta get to the field, I'll be home before dark!" she said, running up the stairs to get changed. The soccer team's bootcamp was starting, and she needed to be there on time to prove to her coach she was worthy of being a captain her senior year.
The bootcamps weren't official team activities since that technically wasn't allowed outside of the season, so they weren't mandatory, but the coach made sure to keep note of everyone who showed up. It was an opportunity for current players to sharpen their skills, as well as a good recruitment opportunity for any new players who were interested in joining.
Usually these practices would be held at the soccer field at Redwood or at a park nearby, which everyone unanimously called "The Plex," that had multiple soccer fields. Since it was the first bootcamp of the summer, her coach set it up at the park so that hopefully more people would be willing to attend. It was less intimidating than being under the school's stadium lights.
She put on one of her many goalie uniforms, re-tied her hair into another high ponytail, grabbed a ball and her duffel bag full of gear, and made her way back to her car. She made it to the field a little earlier than everyone else. She wanted to get some stretching in before everyone else showed up.
She set her bag and ball down by the goal nearest to the parking lot, and crouched down by the bag to start pulling out the cones she wanted to set up. Before she could gather everything into her arms, she heart a throat being cleared behind her.
She turned so that her upper body was facing the sound, while she stayed in her crouched position. She was met with eyes looking at her in annoyance. The eyes belonged to a girl with dark hair, bangs falling just over her narrowed eyes, who was crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. She had on a black T-shirt and black shorts, and the scowl on her face made her personality seem as dark as her clothing.
"I was here first," the girl stated. Yeji was taken aback by the hostility, and dropped everything back into her bag before standing up. She turned to fully face the girl and realized she was a few inches taller than her. It definitely helped her feel less intimidated, but not enough.
"Uh, you weren't here when I got here..." she started, but the girl cut her off. "I was filling up my water bottle, but I left my ball here to claim this spot," she said, pointing at the ball on the other end of the goal.
Yeji sighed, not willing to pick a fight with some shortie that could potentially be there to attend her school's bootcamp. She grabbed her bag and ball and gave the girl a tight-lipped smile as an apology before making her way to the field that was directly adjacent to the one she had just been in.
Who knew people could get so annoyed about having to walk a few yards over? Yeji was glad she knew it wasn't worth the trouble. She set her things down again and started setting up her cones, wanting to get some dribbling practice in after she stretched.
She sat down on the grass and stretched one of her legs out as far as possible, before bending forward to to grab the toe of her cleat. She felt her back crack slightly and sighed in relief. She continued doing some stretches and gave a sideways glance at the girl in the adjacent field.
The shorter girl was taking practice shots by herself, lining up the ball to shoot and bringing it back to the same spot over and over again. Yeji had to admit, the girl had a decent shot -- for someone that was aiming at an empty goal, that is.
She stood up and dusted off her shorts before grabbing her ball to start her dribbling practice. About 10 minutes had passed before she noticed her coach and a few other players walking up. She greeted the players she recognized and introduced herself to the new players whom she had never met before.
She noticed the rude girl from earlier was still in the adjacent field, paying no mind to the bootcamp session that was about to begin. Hmm, so I guess she's not trying out for our team, Yeji thought. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt arms wrap around her neck.
"Lia!" she screamed, wrapping her own arms around the smaller girl. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Manager duties carry over into unofficial team activities," Lia said with a laugh. "Plus, I figured I'd come see you guys anyways," she added. Yeji smiled at her and helped her get set up with her clipboard for the coach.
The coach blew his whistle and all the girls gathered. He introduced himself to the new girls as Coach Park, and gave a rundown of the day's activities he had planned. He separated the girls into teams and had Lia set up cones to get them started on their drills.
As much as Yeji enjoyed conditioning and working on her skills, being in goal was when she was truly in her element. She couldn't be more thankful when coach Park asked the girls to set up for a quick scrimmage. Yeji obviously volunteered to be in goal, and another girl volunteered for the other side.
It was a quick game that only lasted for two 15 minute halves, but Yeji's team managed to score two goals in that time frame. And obviously Yeji didn't let any goals in. She felt proud of herself.
Everyone gathered together to say their goodbyes before heading to the parking lot. Coach Park patted Yeji on the shoulder and mentioned a few things to Lia for her to jot down before he left. Lia was scribbling notes down while Yeji helped her pack up all the cones.
Yeji could feel someone staring at her, and she turned around to see the rude girl was sitting on the ground looking directly at her. When their eyes met, the girl quirked her eyebrow up in a challenging manner, but Yeji ignored it. Not wanting to pick a fight with a stranger, she turned back around to continue helping Lia.
After the girls were done cleaning up, they made their way over to the parking lot as well. Yeji couldn't help but notice the rude girl was still watching her as she walked away. She grit her teeth in annoyance -- what did she do to deserve so much animosity?!
To her surprise, Lia chuckled next to her once they reached Yeji's car. "That girl was kinda cute, huh? Maybe she liked you," Lia teased. Yeji rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, more like she hated my guts," she grumbled in response. Lia smiled cheekily at Yeji before saying, "You didn't deny she was cute though," and laughed despite feeling Yeji glare daggers at her.
"Yeah, whatever. Do you need a ride home?" she asked. Lia gave her a one armed hug before hoisting her bag higher up her shoulder. "Thanks, but I brought my bike today! I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked, but frowned when Yeji shook her head.
"I'm going to the movies with Sungchan after work tomorrow," she said apologetically, but Lia started smiling again. "Oh yeah, Chaer said she stopped by today! Maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow," she said, laughing again. Yeji smiled back at her before they parted ways. As Yeji pulled out of the parking lot, she noticed the rude girl walking towards another car parked on the other end.
She scoffed, wondering why the girl wanted to pick a fight with her without even having a real reason. Whatever, she thought, before finally driving home. She had much more important things to worry about, like how she was going to get any work done if Lia came to visit her at the shop tomorrow. She smiled at the thought of the other customers huffing and puffing in annoyance at Lia's slow and steady approach to picking out a flavor.