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Ban Heesoo finds old tapes in her attic. When she watches them back, she remembers the five friends she made years ago.
–
Heesoo moves to town over summer break. Her parents kick her out of the house while they unpack because apparently she’s “no help” and her sluggish attempts to help only irritate them. So she changes into an old t-shirt of her dad’s, shoves on her sneakers, and leaves to explore the neighborhood.
She films as she goes. It’s easier to interact with the world from behind her camera.
The town feels both big and small. There’s a bus stop a five minute walk away and the neighborhood convenience store is next to that. If she takes the bus in, she can be in what is effectively downtown in fifteen minutes.
She sees them for the first time as she gets off the bus.
Five girls, her age. They’re running.
She raises the camera and hits record before she even realizes she’s doing it.
They have matching long black hair. A pair of them are holding hands. They’re dressed– cool. Clearly high schoolers, like Heesoo, but somehow brighter, more vibrant. They dash up to a concert hall that has a handful of stragglers waiting outside.
The girl in front hands the usher what must be five tickets. Then she opens the door and they all file in, grinning in excitement as they do. The music that filters out from the opened door is loud. It sounds like teenage rebellion.
The last girl looks behind her before she walks in. For a moment, she seems to look straight at the camera, and right at Heesoo behind it.
Heesoo drops the camera, ashamed. The girl turns and joins her friends.
It would be cool to be like them, Heesoo thinks. It would be cool to have friends like that, to run without a care in public, to wear clothes that are fashionable, and to just– be a teen.
When she gets home, she watches the video she’s taken on her camera again and again. She tries to imagine what they would be like.
The one who handed the tickets, she would be the mom of the group. The one to chide the younger girls, but also give the best advice. The two holding hands, the youngest, surely. The one in yellow, who looked like sunshine. The soft one. The nicest one, maybe. And the last one. In a skirt, who had looked back and seen Heesoo.
Heesoo imagines a world where the girl in the skirt looked back at her, smiling. “Hurry up Heesoo! We’re gonna miss it!”
She shuts the camera and closes her eyes.
–
“Hey, you just transferred right? What’s your name?”
Heesoo looks up at the girl in confusion. She reaches for her camera out of instinct– she feels better even just holding it, but it’s in her cubby during class.
“I’m Danielle,” the girl adds when Heesoo still doesn’t answer her. “Well my Korean name is Jihye, Mo Jihye, but I’m from Australia and everyone calls me Danielle.”
Jihye, Danielle, is one of the girls she saw yesterday. The one in yellow. Of course it makes sense that she also goes to this high school. There’s really only one school in the area.
“Heesoo,” she says, suddenly remembering that she’s forgotten to respond. Danielle smiles as soon as she responds. It makes her eyes turn into crescents. “You can call me Heesoo.”
“Heesoo!” Danielle repeats, an almost western accent to it as she says it. “Nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you,” Heesoo nods. She wonders when Danielle will realize that Heesoo is weird, and start ignoring her like the rest of the girls in the class. She just never knows what to say. She’s always ruining things.
“Did you bring lunch?”
Heesoo nods.
“Do you want to eat lunch with me and my friends? We usually go to our club room.”
Heesoo’s heart pounds. “Okay.”
The room is for their dance club. It’s a dusty old thing, dark even in the daytime with only a bit of natural light from the windows. But there’s a long comfy couch and a little tv in front of it. The walls are lined with old knick knacks and random boxes that Danielle tells her are mostly leftover from past clubs.
Heesoo loves it as soon as she sees it.
She wants to capture it. She wants to remember it.
“Is that a camera?”
Heesoo hides her camera behind her on instinct. Danielle doesn’t look surprised. “It’s, ok,” she says.
Heesoo flushes. “Sorry.”
“I’m just curious,” Danielle reassures her. “Hey, do you want to try recording me?”
Heesoo’s filmed people before. Her parents, mostly. Her grandparents once or twice. Never anyone her age. They think it’s weird. They think she’s weird, always walking around with her camera, trying to record things.
“Are you sure?” Heesoo asks.
“Yeah, I’m meant for the camera,” Danielle jokes, striking a pose. “Come on!” she laughs, jumping onto the sofa to pose for Heesoo. “How about like this?” Danielle arranges herself in french-girl style. “Like the titanic, have you seen it?”
Heesoo shakes her head. She’s still nervous, but her hand raises her camera and she can hide behind it. She records. She feels calmer when she’s recording. Like everything on the other side of the camera is another world separate from hers.
Danielle, despite her claims, looks awkward and even shy as she attempts to give the camera a sultry look from the couch.
“How do I look?”
Heesoo hesitates. “Youthful?”
Danielle pouts. She starts to complain, but is interrupted by the door bursting open. Heesoo startles and swings the camera to face the door. In the grainy screen of her camcorder, she sees three girls file in.
The ticket holder is in front again, but she’s being pestered by another one of the girls who’s all but hanging off of her neck. “Unnie,” the girl whines. “Please? Just this once.”
“Yah, Lee Hyein. That’s what you said last time.”
“This time will be the real last time!” The girl, Hyein, begs while pressing her cheek to the older girl’s.
The older girl huffs. Then her eyes catch the camera and Heesoo, and she comes to a halt. Heesoo drops the camera to her side. She knows that she should introduce herself. She’s allowed to be here, Danielle invited her. But she’s so nervous that she can’t find the words. She can feel the way everyone’s eyes fall on her.
“Oh,” the older girl says. There’s a beat where Heesoo can’t breathe. And then, “You’re Heesoo right? Dani told us about you. I’m Minji,” the girl smiles. “And this leech hanging off me is Lee Hyein.”
Minji shoves Hyein off of her until Hyein is standing on her own. The younger girl rubs her ribs where Minji elbowed her with a hurt expression, then steps up to Heesoo. “Is that a camera? Were you recording? What type of camera is this?”
Heesoo abruptly remembers that she’s still recording and stops it. “It’s a sony. My mom’s old one.”
“That is so cool! Can I see?” Hyein sidles up next to her before she’s finished nodding. Heesoo navigates to the newest recording and slips the camcorder off her hand so that Hyein can hold it herself to watch. “Is it ok?” Hyein asks as she slips it onto her hand. “I’ll be really careful!”
Heesoo nods. Hyein grins and runs to the couch. She sits on the edge of the couch next to the third girl who hasn’t spoken a word yet. She has an arm linked with Danielle and seems vaguely interested as Hyein begins playing the footage.
“Oh let me see Hyein!” Danielle says, leaning over into the lap of the girl next to her to try and watch with Hyein.
“Unnie!” The girl protests. “You’re crushing me.”
“Oh shush,” Danielle laughs. “I need to see my acting debut.”
“That’s Kang Haerin, by the way,” Minji chimes in, pointing at the girl watching as best she can from under Danielle. She pulls up two chairs across from the couch and sits in one, gesturing until Heesoo sits as well.
Hyein cackles at Danielle’s attempts at seduction. Haerin begins laughing as well, although not quite as evilly as the youngest. Danielle puts on a brave face as she insists that “just because you guys haven’t seen the titanic doesn’t mean that I didn’t do a good job,” and “just wait till Hanni gets here, she’ll get it.”
“Do you like filming?” Minji asks.
Heesoo jerks her attention back to the girl next to her. She blushes and looks down at her feet. “It’s okay.”
“That’s cool. You’ll probably get sick of it though,” Minji laughs. “Those kids are never going to shut up about having you record them doing stuff.”
Heesoo marvels at the assumption that there will be future hangouts where she is present. But she doesn’t know what to say, so she nods. Then, desperate to keep the conversation going, "Danielle said she was made for the camera.”
Minji snorts. “Of course she did.”
Someone puts a CD on the radio in the corner and English music that Heesoo can’t place begins playing. They eat their lunches in relative peace. Hyein succeeds in getting Minji to lend her the math homework so she can copy the answers. Haerin introduces herself to Heesoo, and although she’s fairly quiet otherwise, she does mention that “the video was really funny.” Danielle tries the banchan Heesoo’s dad packed her and declares it’s the best of anyone’s in the group, prompting Minji and Hyein to shyly ask her if they can try as well.
“Everyone’s really nice, don’t you think?” Danielle asks her as she walks Heesoo back to her classroom after lunch.
Heesoo nods.
“You can meet Hanni next time!” Danielle adds. “I mean, Hanni unnie. I always forget she’s older than me. She’s from Australia too, like me!”
Heesoo nods again, a little shy. “I’d like that.”
She meets Hanni the next day at lunch. Heesoo holds her breath for a moment as she holds her hand out in greeting. She’s scared that the other girl might remember her, might call her out for recording them that day they were running.
But Hanni smiles, bright as the sun as she shakes Heesoo’s hand. “Hey! Dani told me I have to watch your video and defend her.”
Heesoo lets her take the camera to watch the video. Hyein crowds the older girl, eager to give commentary on how it doesn’t matter if Danielle was imitating a movie, she still looked weird. Hanni, stilted in her Korean still, laughs and tries her best to defend her compatriot.
Heesoo watches them, a small smile on her face.
–
She begs her parents to let her get a bike. They don’t need much convincing. They don’t say it, but Heesoo can tell they’re excited at the prospect of her having friends. She doesn’t tell them much about the other girls though. She doesn’t want to jinx it.
When school ends they meet in the courtyard. There’s a gentle hill from the school gates down to a row of street vendors. Heesoo trails behind the group as they bike down. From behind, the girls look normal. Indistinguishable, even from each other, with their matching hair.
But then Minji hops the curb just to prove she can, and Hyein copies her, eager to show that she can keep up. Danielle and Hanni stand up on their bikes, stretching up towards the sky as the wind blows their hair back. Haerin looks back at Heesoo, as if to say, are you seeing this?
And suddenly they are no longer just another group of girls. They are Heesoo’s friends, distinctive, and young, and cool. Heesoo lets herself laugh along with them and pedals hard so she can catch up.
Later, when they’re parked around their favorite ddeokbokki stall, Heesoo pulls out her camera.
She gets Haerin standing with her mouth open, pouting until Danielle feeds her. Hanni eats a piece too quickly and pays for it, gesturing frantically for water. Minji laughs at Hanni’s misery but eventually dashes over to ask the ahjumma at the cart for a cup.
“Heesoo!” Hyein calls out.
Heesoo turns with the camera to point at the youngest. Hyein has her bike and is pushing it back up the hill. “Get me going down the hill!”
Heesoo laughs. She prepares the shot and waits for Hyein to give her the signal to start.
–
“Can I record you guys?”
The question hangs between Heesoo and the other girls for a moment. They’re practicing a dance in the club room. Heesoo’s sitting on the couch watching. Danielle offered to teach her, begged her to join, even, but Heesoo shook her head resolutely and sat on the couch instead.
She doesn’t know where she got the courage to ask to record. Usually she would never. But something about the way they dance makes her want to immortalize it.
“Are you sure?” Hyein laughs. “I mean, we’re not that good.”
Heesoo sits up and shakes her head back and forth, indignant. “You are!”
She means it. The girls look like girls. They don’t look professional, they aren’t particularly coordinated or clean. But maybe that’s the charm of it all. Danielle forgetting a move and making Minji laugh before she turns to face Hanni for the next step. Haerin bumping into Hyein and getting knocked flat on the floor, much to her chagrin.
There’s all the laughter and fun and those moments in between where everyone’s hitting the moves right on target. Heesoo feels an itch to record, like she has to record, because it feels like the girls are meant to be seen. By more people than just her, on a bigger stage than their club room can provide.
“Please?”
Minji looks off to the side like she’s a little embarrassed and shrugs. “Only if you want to, I guess.”
“Ah, Minji just wants to be able to watch herself back on video,” Hanni teases.
Haerin perks up the way she does whenever she can make fun of the older girl. “Minji unnie does have a face that you can never get tired of.”
Minji flies into a rage, tackling Haerin to the ground. Hyein starts a mime of a princess looking into a mirror, wondering if she is the fairest of them all. Minji gets her in a headlock once Haerin is down for the count.
Heesoo smiles and hits record.
–
Through the little rectangle of her camcorder, Heesoo captures the world.
She captures memories and makes them immortal. Laughter, and dancing. Friendship, and love. She loves her friends. They make her laugh and sing and dance along with them. They make her happy, asking nothing in return, and Heesoo sometimes wonders how she can repay them. But maybe that’s the point. That they do all of this and ask nothing in return.
–
“Look at my boyfriend-look,” Hyein brags as she struts around the room. She found an old blazer in the closet that is several sizes too large for her, and hasn’t stopped waltzing around in it since.
Hanni rolls her eyes at the spectacle.
Seeing this, Hyein runs up to Hanni, a mischievous look in her eye. She sweeps the older girl under her arm, grabbing Danielle who had been sitting quietly minding her own business as well.
“Hey girls, come on!” Hyein smirks into the camera. Hanni and Danielle scream in disgust. Heesoo laughs from behind the camera.
–
Minji winks at Heesoo, miming a camera until Heesoo gets the message and picks up her camera. Then the older girl walks over to Haerin.
“Hey.”
Haerin ignores Minji, focusing on eating her lunch one bite at a time.
“Yah, Kang Haerin,” Minji says again, poking Haerin on the arm now.
“What?”
“Which vegetable has the best kung-fu?”
Haerin sighs. “Dani unnie! Make her stop!”
Minji slaps Haerin’s shoulder and repeats the question. Haerin, realizing Danielle won’t be saving her, shoots a wounded look in Danielle’s direction before giving up and turning her attention to Minji. “I don’t know. Which vegetable?”
Minji giggles. “Broc-lee.”
A resounding groan echoes through the room. Someone (Minji tries to look back at the footage to see who, but Heesoo didn’t catch it on camera) throws an empty tissue box at Minji’s head.
Haerin drops the broccoli banchan that was in her chopsticks. “You made me lose my appetite.”
Minji cackles, delighted. Danielle jumps up as if summoned. “Ooh! I’ll eat your brocco-lie if you don’t want it!”
–
Hanni enters the room with a bang, ecstatic. “Girls, look what I found!”
Heesoo picks her camera up, sensing something iconic is about to happen.
“Everyone close your eyes!”
They hear Hanni fumbling around for a bit. Hyein gets tired of waiting and peeks, then bursts into laughter. Everyone else follows suit, and they see Hanni, a blonde wig slightly off center on her head.
Hanni pouts. Danielle takes mercy on her and gets up to help her adjust the wig. When it’s in place, Heesoo has to admit that it looks startlingly realistic.
Hanni skips up to the camera, stars in her eyes. “I have long, blonde hair! I love it!” She twirls the tips of the wig as she does it.
Amidst the laughter that breaks out, Heesoo swivels to catch Minji and Haerin who have joined forces. “I have long, blonde hair,” the two announce in unison. “I love it!”
Hanni rips the wig off and throws it at the pair. Danielle tries to appease Hanni, saying, “I think it suits you!” Haerin and Minji take shelter behind the couch as Hanni continues pelting things at them. Heesoo turns to get Hyein’s take.
The youngest simply looks at the camera, office-style, and shrugs.
–
The first time they meet outside of school, Hanni directs them to the local stadium. It feels bigger than it is. The grass is bright green and fake, with white lines sprayed on for some sport Heesoo can’t quite identify.
“Are you sure we’re allowed to be in here?” Haerin asks for what must be the third or fourth time.
Hanni rolls her eyes. “Yes, and anyways, what are they gonna do? Kick us out? I’ll fight them if they do.” The Aussie begins shadow boxing the imaginary security coming to kick them out.
Haerin groans and looks at Minji. The older girl laughs and throws an arm over the cat like girl. “Seriously, Haerin, it’ll be fine.”
“You always take Hanni unnie’s side,” Haerin pouts.
“Guys, what about here?” Danielle shouts from the center of the field. She’s far ahead of the rest of them, too excited to match their slow pace.
“What do you think?”
It takes Heesoo a moment to realize that Hanni’s question is directed at her. She tilts her head. “What do I think about what?”
“Going over there! For you to record us,” Hanni says as if it’s a given.
Heesoo looks over at Danielle. She’s jumping up and down, waving her arms like crazy trying to get the other girls to walk over to her. “Yeah, that works.”
Out of uniform, the girls remind Heesoo of the first time she saw them. Larger than life. High schoolers, like her, and yet not. Almost like superheroes.
Minji’s wearing an oversized jersey that she insists is “super trendy”. Hanni’s top is a red handkerchief that took the combined efforts of Heesoo, Danielle, and Hyein (for moral support) to tie properly. They’re all wearing big hoops courtesy of Haerin’s mom. Even Heesoo, although she feels a little silly wearing them behind the camera.
Hyein looks at the camera with such intensity on their first take that Heesoo stumbles over herself as she walks backwards and Hanni immediately makes fun of their youngest for flirting with the camera. Hyein turns red as she defends herself.
It’s a beautiful, sunny day. It feels like the start of summer. Or like dipping into the pool and coming up feeling clean and refreshed and new.
–
They sit on the curb outside the convenience store afterwards. The mood is dead serious.
“Okay,” Minji claps her hands together. “We only have enough money to get one, so on three everyone say what you’re voting for.”
“One, two, three!”
A chorus of “bread” and “cake” rings out.
“Who said cake?” Minji asks, looking to her left and right. “Raise your hand.”
Hyein, Danielle, and Minji raise their hands.
Haerin gasps. “Minji unni?”
Hanni turns to Minji, murder in her eyes. “Minji, how could you!”
Minji avoids her eyes guiltily. Hanni jumps to her feet and runs to Heesoo. “Heesoo! What’s your vote?”
Hanni takes the camera out of her hands to record Heesoo as she hesitates. She’s not used to being on camera. The other girls rush up to try and convince Heesoo to join their side.
“Heesoo! I know you’ll pick the right choice,” Hyein says with a greasy wink and finger guns.
Heesoo bursts into laughter.
–
They watch Heesoo’s footage of them dancing in the club room, all pressed together shoulder to shoulder on the couch.
“We look like idols,” Danielle says.
The others look too shy to agree, but Heesoo sees the way Haerin smiles to herself. Hyein pauses the video to point out an arm flying out a beat behind everyone else’s. Hanni sighs and pulls the younger girl up to practice the move again.
Heesoo wonders if the girls watch the video and see what she sees, or if they can only see the mistakes they made and the ways they can improve. To her, they’re already idols, larger than life and bursting with colors.
“Miss Heesoo, urgent question,” Haerin suddenly says, turning to Heesoo with her hand out like a mic. “Who is your favorite member of the girl group? I heard it might be Kang Haerin with her outstanding cat-like visuals.”
Minji immediately shoves Haerin. It doesn’t look that hard, but Haerin tumbles off the couch and rolls several more times for good measure.
“Unni!” Danielle yells, rushing to Haerin’s side to make sure she’s okay. Haerin laughs in triumph from the ground as Danielle continues chastising the older girl.
“I’m your favorite, aren’t I?” Minji asks, ignoring Dani and facing Heesoo.
Heesoo laughs. Hyein grabs Heesoo in a tight hug from behind. “Stop trying to pressure my Heesoo!”
“Your Heesoo?” Hanni repeats indignantly. “She clearly likes me the best, did you see that close up she did of me at the end?”
“She did close ups of all of us!” Hyein reminds her.
“I’m the one who met her first,” Danielle says. “So obviously I’m her favorite.”
“That’s not fair, you just got lucky.”
“First is the worst–”
“Shut up, I’m older than you so I’m right.”
“See unnie, you’re so bossy that’s why you wouldn’t have any fans.”
Heesoo takes in the chaos in front of her and can only laugh.
She’s never had friends like this. She’s never felt like her opinion mattered, or that her affections were something to fight for. “You guys are all my favorite.”
“Cop out,” Haerin mutters.
Eventually order is brought to the room, and they sit back down to watch the video again. They watch it over and over, basking in the sunshine of that day. They stop only when lunch ends and classes loom.
The girls filter out of the room one by one. Danielle hangs back. “Hey Heesoo,” she says quietly.
Heesoo looks up from where she’s kneeling in front of the tv retrieving the tape.
“Thanks for making us into idols. Even if it’s just for the day.”
Heesoo blushes. “It’s nothing. I’m just recording what’s in front of me.”
Danielle shakes her head with a fond smile but she doesn’t push further. “Come on, we’ll be late for class.”
–
Minji calls her one day, a video call from an outing with the girls that Heesoo couldn’t join because she had plans with her parents.
Heesoo gives her parents an excuse and steps outside the restaurant.
Minji’s holding the phone high above her head to try and capture the background. Heesoo can just make out what looks to be Hanni and Danielle practicing cartwheels behind her.
“Heesoo! How’s dinner with your parents?” Minji asks.
Heesoo shrugs. She watches as Hanni does an almost perfect cartwheel. She wishes she could be there. “It was fine. They let me get a cola at least.”
Minji, briefly distracted by the cartwheels, turns back to look at the camera. “Lucky. My parents never let me order soda.” Then she pouts, pointing back at Hanni. “Did you see that? They’re trying to one-up me.”
Heesoo laughs. She wishes so sorely that she could be there with them. She feels a bitterness at her parents.
“Anyways,” Minji says. “I miss you. You’ll still be there at lunch tomorrow, right?”
Heesoo flushes. “Yeah. I’ll be there.”
Minji grins. “Perfect. And I’ll show you my cartwheel. It’s way better, promise.”
“Miss you too,” Heesoo gets out.
She’s embarrassed, but she’s glad she said it. Minji cackles when she hears it. “Ban Heesoo! Do you like me or something?”
Heesoo rolls her eyes. Her mom comes out to see if she’s coming back inside. The last thing she sees before she hangs up is Minji, laughing into the camera.
–
“I want to go…” Danielle starts. Minji parrots her, thinking seriously.
“To Italy!” The sunny girl announces with a grand stretch of her arms.
“To Canada!” Minji follows.
They both turn to look at Haerin. She looks back at them. She turns to Heesoo, as if to ask for help. “Where should I say?”
“Hurry,” Minji answers instead, still holding her pose alongside Danielle.
Haerin thinks. “To home!” she announces at last, throwing her arms in the air.
Heesoo laughs, loud and bright. Haerin pouts at the noise and slumps on the couch next to her. “You see, everyone?” Haerin whispers as she turns the camera towards herself. “They’re all making fun of me.”
Heesoo steadies the camcorder to capture Haerin’s pout. Danielle and Minji are continuing the bit, jumping around as they continue naming places they want to go.
Haerin, seemingly exhausted from all the bullying, leans her head on Heesoo’s shoulder and closes her eyes. It feels a bit as though a cat has chosen to come and sit on her lap. Heesoo makes sure to stay extra still so the younger girl can sleep.
–
They meet at the park on a sunny weekend. They have to lay squished together like sardines to fit on the single blanket. Minji bemoans the fact that she’s the only one among them with the common sense to bring a blanket to a picnic.
“Don’t you think that cloud looks like a heart?” Danielle asks, pointing up.
Hyein is the first to burst into laughter. In Danielle’s defense, it could be a heart. But it could also be a comma, or a lightning bolt, or even a dog if you squint.
“You guys have no imagination,” Danielle chides. Then, as if the greatest idea has come to her, Danielle gasps and claps her hands with excitement. “What if we were all aliens? What would you guys be?”
Minji slaps a hand to her forehead. Hanni bursts into laughter but tries her best to match Danielle’s energy. “A singer, maybe? An alien singer?”
Danielle nods approvingly. “With shiny blue eyes, yeah?”
Hanni laughs. “Sure, shiny blue eyes.”
“I would be a bunny,” Hyein announces.
“Does that count as an alien?” Minji wonders. Hyein reaches out with a blind arm to try and smack Minji, and succeeds in hitting not only Minji, but also Hanni and Heesoo on the way.
“Fine,” Hyein amends. “I’d be a bunny with a cool boyfriend.” This results in not only Minji, but also Hanni and Heesoo turning to smack her, laughing as they add on, “as if you could get a boyfriend,” and “let alone a cool boyfriend.”
“I would be a weather forecaster,” Danielle says proudly. “With lightning powers.”
“Lightning powers?” Hanni repeats. “What for?”
Danielle shrugs. Minji groans. “You’re all weird. I’ll just be a normal human being.” A chorus of boos is started by Hyein and quickly adopted by the other girls.
“Haerin?” Danielle says when they’re finished shaming Minji. “What about you?”
Haerin, who’s been spaced out at the far edge of the blanket, blinks once. “Maybe I’d ride a unicorn.”
“I love it,” Danielle says as the rest burst into laughter. “With zebra stripes, what do you think?” Haerin nods sagely as if she’d been thinking the same thing.
“What about you Heesoo?”
Heesoo flushes, put on the spot. “I don’t know. Something…”
She wants to be something like a videographer. Something that records. Something like–
“An iPhone?” Danielle interrupts. Then she claps, delighted at the thought. “You could be an iPhone, Heesoo!”
Minji sighs as if Danielle’s suggestion has personally offended her. Heesoo laughs at the outrageousness of the idea, but nods along all the same. “Yeah. You can be a weather reporter–”
“With lightning powers,” Danielle reminds her.
“With lightning powers. Hyein is a bunny with a potentially cool boyfriend, Hanni is a singer with silver eyes, Haerin rides a zebra unicorn, Minji is a normal human, and I’m an iPhone. Perfect.”
–
Hanni and Heesoo stand shoulder to shoulder as Heesoo films from her vantage point at the top of the stairs.
Hyein screams her anger to the sky as Danielle puts out paper, beating her rock. Danielle jumps up and down in victory and goes up two steps, gloating all the way.
Haerin watches on as she often does, silent but with a smile on her face.
Eventually Minji gets tired of how slowly the game is progressing. “Dani, can’t you just let Hyein win so we can go get ice cream already?”
Heesoo zooms in to capture Danielle’s indignation, but she reroutes as she realizes that it’s actually Hyein who’s most offended. “Unnie! You don’t think I can win?”
“Look, you should play like this,” Minji says, moving Hyein to the side to stand in her spot. “Here, rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”
Heesoo focuses the camera on the battle between Minji and Danielle’s hands. Somehow, Minji wins. And then wins again. And again, until she’s at the top of the stairs, cheekily showing a peace sign into the camera.
Hyein runs after Minji, pestering the older girl to ask her how she did it. Danielle looks confused but eventually shrugs and walks back down the stairs to bother Haerin.
“Do you want to know the trick?” Hanni asks.
Heesoo nods.
“Dani always just rotates through rock paper scissors in order.”
Later, Heesoo will look back at the footage and confirm what Hanni’s saying. In the moment, she shakes her head in disbelief.
–
“Meow.”
“Aw! A cat!” Danielle exclaims.
“Don’t humor her,” Minji groans. “She really thinks she’s a cat.”
Danielle covers Haerin’s ears. “Don’t say that!”
“Meow,” Haerin says.
“Do you think we’ll have to send Haerin unnie to a mental hospital?” Hyein asks from where she’s lying on the couch. Hanni snorts.
“Meow!” Haerin says.
“Maybe,” Danielle says thoughtfully. Then, “we’d all have to go in together I suppose.”
Hyein laughs as if she likes the idea. Then she springs to her feet and repeats a move from one of their dances. “We’d all be in gowns there, dancing. Like this.”
“Meow,” Haerin agrees.
Minji sighs. “You guys tire me out.”
Heesoo laughs.
–
“Please,” Hyein begs, putting on the performance of a lifetime to the camera. “If I die today, tell my parents I love them and–”
“Yah Lee Hyein!” Minji shouts from the driver’s seat. “If you don’t want to come, get out of the car.”
The car in question is Minji’s parents’ minivan. And the event that has all six of them packed inside is that Minji has finally gotten her driver’s license.
Minji is nervously adjusting her seat, moving it back and forth as if she can’t decide exactly which distance she wants it at. Hanni is sitting beside her, busy trying to set up navigation and get her phone connected to the speakers.
There had been no discussion over who was to sit in the passenger seat. Hanni, obviously, was the only option. That left the other four girls to fight over the other seats. When the fighting got too intense (Haerin and Hyein were the ones wrestling on the ground, Heesoo and Danielle just watched), Minji made them pick a number closest to the one she was thinking of.
The middle two seats are taken by Danielle and Haerin, who picked numbers 8 and 9, which were closest to Minji’s 10. Heesoo and Hyein are in the back.
Despite having lost, Hyein is still in high spirits. In particular she seems excited about being right next to the camerawoman, constantly turning to Heesoo to give little quips like, “do you think Hanni unnie put in the right destination?” or “you don’t think we’ll get in an accident, do you?”
“Okay, I think I got it,” Hanni announces from the front. “Forty five minute drive. Let’s go!”
The drive is hectic. Hyein begins gasping every time Minji turns or brakes. Minji hits her with the “don’t make me stop this car,” which Hyein disregards until Minji pulls into a gas station and then jumps out of the driver’s seat to open the trunk and (playfully) choke Hyein until she agrees that Minji is “the greatest driver and unnie ever.”
Somehow the main point of discussion in the car becomes a debate over whether the egg or the chicken came first. Hanni and Danielle begin arguing in English that Heesoo can’t follow. She only knows that Danielle keeps saying the word “dinosaurs” as if they’ve offended her. Haerin, of course, manages to sleep through most of the chaos, opening her eyes only to check if they’re there yet.
But, Hyein’s new bruises aside, they reach their destination in one piece. They all stumble out of the van and stretch their limbs.
“It’s the ocean!” Hyein exclaims, running for the water. Haerin looks back at the older girls once, her eyes taking in the bags waiting to be carried. Then she laughs and chases after Hyein, throwing her arms up in uncharacteristic excitement.
Minji rolls her eyes. “Thanks for driving,” Hanni says, patting Minji on the back. Minji shakes her head. “It was nothing.” But Danielle and Heesoo share a laugh over the way Minji can’t quite keep the sides of her mouth from quirking up.
By the time they carry the bags down to the beach, the youngest two have already thrown their shoes off and are screaming as they splash each other in the water. Heesoo helps Hanni set up the blanket. They shoo Danielle and Minji off to the water, citing their reluctance to get wet right away, then sit side by side, knees bent up under their arms.
Heesoo gets her camera out to record the other girls laughing and playing in the water.
“Do you ever get tired of being the one recording all the time?” Hanni asks.
Heesoo lowers the camera slightly. “I don’t know,” she answers honestly.
There’s a light breeze that just makes the sun bearable to sit under. The sounds of their friends laughing makes for nice background music. Despite the pointed nature of the question, Heesoo doesn’t feel called out.
“I think,” she starts. “I think that I like watching you guys. And seeing you guys be happy, makes me happy too. Or– hold on, that sounds weird.”
Hanni laughs and leans closer to bump a shoulder against Heesoo’s. “So you like watching us?”
Heesoo rolls her eyes. “Not like that.”
“Yeah,” Hanni says. She rests her chin on her arms and looks out at the ocean. “I think I get it.”
Then, just as Heesoo’s gotten used to the silence again, “I’m really grateful to you, you know?” Hanni turns to face Heesoo as she says it.
“I’ll always get to look back at this time. And remember how it was. And even if, you know, when we graduate and stuff– we drift apart and things aren’t the same later. This time won’t change, in the videos. And you’re there too, with us. Behind the camera. I’ll always get to remember us.”
Heesoo feels something suspiciously like tears prickle her eyes. But she won’t let them fall. It’s the happiest of days after all, here at the beach with her best friends. She smiles instead and leans against Hanni. She doesn’t have anything to say in response. But she knows Hanni will understand all the same.
Eventually Minji yells at them to stop being losers and get in the water. Hanni stands up first. She kicks her shoes off with a grin and holds her hand out. “Hurry up Heesoo! We’re gonna miss it!”
Heesoo takes her hand.
When they run into the water they’re greeted with enthusiastic splashes from their friends. They leave the camera behind on the sand.
–
The final video rolls to a halt. Ban Heesoo stays on her couch for a while longer. She remembers.
–
At night, Ban Heesoo dreams.
She’s in a stadium. It’s massive. Much larger than the one they filmed in all those years ago.
The seats stretch out for what seems like miles, in three stories that climb to the sky. It’s official, with equipment and massive speakers hanging in the air. She’s standing on part of the stage that extends into the center of the dome. She looks around her in wonder.
“Heesoo! Are you getting this?”
Heesoo turns and sees Hyein, her hands on her hips. “Hey, what kind of videographer misses my ending fairy?”
Hyein is pouting. She looks just like she did when they were all in high school. She’s wearing a backwards cap on her head.
Danielle appears next, bounding up next to Hyein. “How awesome is this?” she laughs, spinning to look all around them.
Minji and Hanni walk up. Minji’s pointing at something off stage, brows scrunched as she discusses it with Hanni. Hannie reassures the older girl with a pat on the cheek before running up to join them. Minji pretends to be annoyed with a small huff but follows suit, running to match Hanni.
Haerin is last, standing behind Hyein and imitating her pose with her hands on her hips before bursting into laughter.
They’re all in sleeveless white t’s and a gray skirt with sweats underneath. They have wings on their backs. When they all reach Heesoo, it’s a flurry of voices.
“How have you been,” and “can you believe this?” and “look!” as the seats around them fill with fans and the stadium is lit up in every color of the rainbow.
They dance. Both songs that Heesoo remembers, and new ones she hasn’t heard before. They shine on stage, just as brightly as they did in the club room, in the park, running to the concert hall. They tease each other and make jokes and run around, playing just as they did when it was only the six of them.
They’re idols. Larger than life, yet still themselves.
When the concert ends, and history has been made, they bow to the crowd. “Thank you so much for coming all this way to see us. I hope that we’ll still be able to see each other in the future. This has been new jeans!”
The girls turn to Heesoo, a secret smile sent just to her.
Heesoo smiles back, wide and bright. She lifts her camera and records.
This fic has been converted for free using AOYeet!