Chapter 14

as soon as the van pulled up to the katseye house, all six girls entered, and for a moment, all seemed normal. megan attempted to throw her suitcase up the stairs (assisted by lara), yoonchae immediately started boiling ramen, and manon and dani were their usual loud mess. sophia stood to the side, watching and realizing that this could’ve been the girls on the plane if it weren’t for her.

that night, megan and lara banged on every single door in the house. “attention katseye,” lara declared through a mic that beck had left accidentally. (mind you, these were concert mics, so they were awfully loud.) “due to certain circumstances between certain people, you know who you are, we’re going to be having bonding time.”

“EVERYONE COME DOWN TO THE TV ROOM SO WE CAN WATCH DREAM ACADEMY AND CRINGE TOGETHER,” megan shrieked. “sophia and manon if you don’t sit together we’re locking you in a room and making you guys watch dream academy together.”

“no. megan meiyok skiendiel, you shut your ass up and play cinderella instead,” sophia answered. “this isn’t a question.”

megan and lara shrugged together. “oh, well,” lara said, “oops.”

the girls made their way into the room, and megan found herself pressed against dani. bad idea.

as they watched, megan noticed dani had started crying when nikki was lecturing her.

“you’re good. congratulations, i don’t care. i need you to be better.”

the camera zoomed in on dani’s hurt face, while sophia’s concerned look was blurred slightly to focus on dani.

dani’s tears took megan back to that day.

flashback…

“a-and she said i wouldn’t be good enough… that my movements were too sharp… that i danced like a soloist and not as part of a group..” dani sobbed. “it’s like i’m not good enough… maybe i should quit,” she whispered.

“dani, what the fuck? i’ve literally never seen anyone dance better than you.. nikki’s a dumbass bitch who isn’t even skilled. don’t let her get to you, dani,” megan had murmured.

end of flashback…

as megan’s mind drifted back to the present, she realized she’d subconsciously wrapped dani into a hug and had been whispering words of affirmation to her.

then she realized that the girls had paused the documentary and were staring at her and dani.

right. dani! dani was still sobbing quietly into megan’s shoulder.

“… we’ll give you two a moment,” yoonchae said tentatively, and the other four girls filed outside.

“thank you, meggie.” dani whispered. “i- i miss us.”

megan paused at that.

“so do i, ela.”

the two stayed curled up together, in the corner of the couch, for the rest of the night. when they were both asleep, the rest of the girls tip-toed back in. sophia covered  them with a blanket and lara turned off the tv while manon and yoonchae cleaned up the snacks.

“goodnight, megan and dani,” sophia whispered.  “sleep tight.”

sophia didn’t sleep tight. yoonchae had declared, “yoonara is full on tonight. we have scheming to do,” and left sophia standing in shock.

yoonchae came back within the next five seconds and unhooked her hoodie sleeve from the door handle.

“goodnight, sophia.”

sophia paused, and remembered dani and megan asleep on the couch. they had a press meeting tomorrow, and she didn’t want the girls to wake up with cricks in their necks. when she went downstairs to check on them, she realized they were tangled together and she couldn’t bring them both upstairs by herself. 

there was only one thing she could do, and she hated it.

bringing her fist up to the door, she knocked. “… manon? look, i know you’re probably pissed at me but we have a press meeting tomorrow and megan and dani are probably going to have cricks in their necks and grant is going to yell at us for that so can you maybeee help me bring them up?”

manon shouted back, “one second, i’m getting dressed.”

sophia paused. “it’s not something i haven’t seen,” she whispered.

manon heard that. “yeah, but i don’t really want my ex to see me naked, you know?”

sophia broke. “what? manzy, what do you mean by ex?”

the door swung open. “yeah, well you’re my ex.”

realizing what she’d done, sophia froze. “manon,” she whispered, heartbroken.