Girl, Get up.

Chapter 16

Loud cheers echo in Minji's ears. This is it. If she makes this goal then the team will make it to Regionals. Minji takes a deep breath, she tries to slow down her heartbeat, sweat stinging her eyes as they drip down from her face. She looks from across the field and sees Yunjin running towards her direction. Her opponent blocks her vision of the goal post, she makes a decision to kick the ball towards Yunjin. Yunjin catches it and maneuvers the ball away from the opposing team. Minji makes a run for it, Yunjin keeping her eyes on Minji and passes the ball towards her. Minji dodges one of the girls' attempts at stopping her catching the ball. Her whole body is full of adrenaline, it takes over and she doesn't think and just lets her body guide her. She makes one swift kick and in a matter of seconds she's on the ground. Her teammates are piling on top of her. She hears the cheers again, louder this time and she could hear them cheer her name. She made it. She made the goal.

Yunjin helps Minji up from the ground and hugs her tight. They shared an embrace before they felt someone push their way into their hug. It was Hanni. She was cheering for both of her friends.

"Omg! That was an amazing play guys! I'm so proud of you!" Hanni tells them both, she had Minji on her right and Yunjin on her left. They look at her and give her a big hug.

"Couldn't have done it without your cheering, Pham" Minji and Yunjin tell her, still locked into their group hug. They talk about the game and Minji's winning goal, but they didn't notice the two boys heading their way.

Sunghoon and Sunoo stand just a few feet behind the girls, giving the best friends some space. They congratulated the girl's team for also making it into Regionals, just like the boy's had done earlier on the day. Yunjin was the first to notice the boys' presence and called out for them to join their little group hug. As the group celebrates both of their victories, they decided they should all go out for burgers and milkshakes.

"Omg yes, I'm starving. I felt like I was going to pass out during the second half of the game" Yunjin says dramatically.

"I agree! But I'll only go if both of you take a shower" Hanni says, pinching her nose in the direction of the two girls. Yunjin and Minji both look at each other, smile and make their way towards Hanni. Hanni sees her friends are plotting something, she hides behind the two boys. The group laughs, the girls both stop in their tracks; their coach is calling them to head to the locker room. They let the other three know that they'll be back and they can leave once they're done.

In the locker room, their coach gives them their winning speech and congratulates the team. The girls are in high spirits, they each take a quick shower before heading out to meet the rest of their friends. Minji stops in her tracks and looks at her friends. She left one of her notebooks in her last class. She needs her notebook.

"Shit, I left one of my notebooks in class. Let me go grab it real quick" Minji tells the group.

"Can't that wait till Monday? We don't have any homework this week either. Come onnnn, Minjii. I'm hungry" Yunjin pouts at Minji. She shakes her head no and promises that it won't take her but a second to grab it. The two boys nod and Yunjin continues to pout, Hanni decides that she'll go with Minji in case she needs help finding it.

They make their way through the classroom and Minji immediately goes to her desk. Hanni sees her furiously looking around for her notebook. She's never seen her friend this frantic towards a notebook before, Minji has a habit of leaving things behind and never acts like this. She usually just tells the girls she'll get it when she gets it, this is new.

"Minji, let me help you find it" Hanni offers her help to Minji.

"No, it's fine. I know it's here somewhere. I can look for it myself, Hanni. You can go back to them" Minji says, dismissing her offer. Minji, still furiously looking around. Hanni goes to the back where all the items that were left behind are located. She flips through a few notebooks and doesn't see or recognize any of Minji's handwriting. She finally sees a black book at the end of the pile, she flips through it and just stares. Her expression is unreadable. Minji finally looks at where Hanni is and sees her notebook in her hands. Hanni has opened up her notebook and has seen what is inside. She makes a beeline for Hanni and snatches the book from her.

Hanni and Minji both stare at each other. Hanni saw it. She's seen the contents of Minji's notebook. Hanni, still shocked, takes a second to register that Minji is now clutching her notebook in front of her. She looked scared. She takes a step towards her friend but Minji backs away from her.

"Minji, it's okay. I won't tell anyone about what I saw. You also don't have to explain everything to me right now. Just know that whenever you're ready to talk, I'll be here waiting." Hanni looks at her with sincerity, she tries once again to approach her friend and this time Minji doesn't move. Hanni holds Minji's hands, gives it a light squeeze and leads her back to where their group is waiting.

They make their way towards Sunghoon's car. Sunoo and Yunjin have started their daily dose of making fun of each other again. Sunghoon has his arms wrapped around Minji's waist and tries to get her engaged in their conversation. Hanni is at the back of the group, lost in thoughts. She looks at Minji and Sunghoon's back, her eyes focusing on Minji. She knows what she saw.

They weren't notes in Minji's notebook. They were sketches. And not just random sketches. Hanni recognizes those eyes in Minji's notebook. Her friend has reassured them that she didn't feel anything towards the girl in her sketches. So why is it that Minji was sketching the said girl with so much detail. Like she has studied the girl's features for a lifetime and could tell her apart with a room full of people with similar features. Why has Minji not told her or Yunjin yet? What about Sunghoon? Why is Kim Minji drawing Haerin from memory? There's a lot of questions swirling in Hanni's head, she wants to ask Minji more questions but she knows she's going to have to be patient if she wants more answers. When Kim Minji is ready, she'll talk.