Journal Entry 3

Dear Journal,

We didn't get a letter. Minsoo thought that it would magically appear in our mailbox (like the doofus that he is) but it was empty, except for a few bills and shopping magazines.

We hid the magazines (Lord knows Mom can't control herself when she sees a sale coming on) and worried over the bills.

"One-twenty-five? This is insane," Minjae muttered.

"Minhoe, have you been doing squats in the shower again?" Minsoo asked me, giving me a look.

"I like to get as much exercise in as I possibly can. And, no, I haven't, ever since we got the last bill. Although I hear a lot of off-key singing while you're in there, Suey." (Suey is our nickname for Minsoo, as his favorite thing to cook his chop suey.)

Before he could snap back, Minjae exclaimed, "Forget the water, look at the electricity! One-forty-five! It shouldn't even reach the hundreds!"

I grunted and took the paper from him. "You realize this is because you guys insist on keeping the closet light on, right?"

"So what?" Minsoo growled. "Sometimes I get a little creeped out at night."

I punched his shoulder. "We share a room, idiot. What's there to be scared of?"

"Your snoring."

I jumped on him. He let out a painful grunt as we fell and tried to push me off of him. Need I remind you that his noodle arms can hardly lift a 5 lbs weight when they work together.

"Alright, enough," Minjae snapped. "We don't have time for this. How are we going to take care of this?"

Minoo sat up. "The last time we tried to help Mom with the bills, she got upset and told us to stop worrying about it."

"Mom is stubborn," I told him. "She doesn't want our help even when she needs it. But we've got to do something."

"Yeah," he sighed, running his hands through his hair. "But what?"

"Before we worry about the money, let's think about what we can do here," Minjae said. "First off, five-minute showers from now on."

Minsoo made a face. "You serious, J? Minhoe needs all the time she can get after she gets out for a run."

I grabbed him and roughly put him in a headlock. "At least I shower!"

"Agh! Fine, fine! Let me go!"

"You guys can't focus for one second, can you?" Minjae snapped, gently kicking my leg.

I scowled and let Minsoo go. He was right, but I didn't like that he was right. "Whatever. What's next?"

He thought for a moment. "We keep the lights off unless we're eating or an emergency. And we've got to cut back on TV."

"What am I supposed to do while I'm cooking dinner?" Minsoo argued. "Not watch El Príncipe? That show is intense!"

"You and your Spanish dramas," I muttered. "It's not like you need to watch TV while you cook."

"None of you want to talk to me! I get lonely..."

"And TV characters you can hardly understand help?"

"At least they're there."

"Ouch," Minjae and I said in unison.

It might not sound like it with how much we fight, but we're close. We used to do everything together when we were little. It got to the point where we'd stop whatever we were doing if one of us had to pee because we didn't want them to miss out on the magic of torturing ants.

But as we got older, I started getting into sports while Minjae was shadowing Mom and her ragtag band of musicians. Minsoo was just kinda stuck at home, watching his dramas and discovering new dishes.

He always complained that we ditched him all the time. I never knew that he felt comforted more by TV characters than his siblings.

"How about we, um, talk, I guess, instead of watching TV?" I suggested.

They stared at me as if talking to one another just because was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.

"Fine, then. Let's not talk. And we can just stare at each while we wait for feeding time."

Suey stared intensely at Minjae, leading to J kicking him in the ribs. Minsoo tried to kick him back but J dodged. Unfortunately, he fell on me. Suey got the bright idea to do a pile on. He didn't weight that much but an extra body on top of me wasn't okay.

"You little nincompoops, get off!" I yelled, pounding Minjae on the back.

He laughed. "You hit like a girl!"

He stopped laughing when I dug my nails into his back. Tossing Suey off of him, he rolled away so he was lying next to me and slipped his arm under my neck. Suey, never one to miss out on the Triplet Cuddle Time, crawled over to my other side and rested his head on my stomach.

"You guys," I said, "what are we gonna do about the money problem?"

"I dunno," Minjae sighed. "We'll think of something."

After a moment of silence, Minsoo asked, "Do you think that kid was lying about the invitation to Edgewood?"

Minjae reached down and lightly thumped the back of his head. "Who knows, Suey?"

"Speaking of Edgewood, that kid said I'm a Speeder."

"I dunno, Minhoe," Minsoo said, twisting so he could look up at me. "There hasn't been a Speeder in ages."

"I've never seen an Athlete move that fast before, though," Minjae put in.

"Well, she's obsessed with running," Suey pointed out. "Especially ever since that Farmer guy joined the track team."

"We're not talking about Baron," I cut in.

"But you want to," he teased.

"Shut up, you jerk. He's not important right now."

"So he's important later?" Minjae joined in, poking my ribs.

"Stop it! What about me being a Speeder?"

Minsoo tapped his chin. "I wonder what Baron would think about our Minnie being a Speeder?"

I grabbed his hair and yanked. "Shut up, you!"

"Tsk tsk," Minjae said. "I'm not sure Baron would appreciate this behavior, Min-Min."

Long story short, they stopped talking about Baron after I talked some sense into them.