A Close Second

Fifty Fourth

Hello, my loves!
Happy New Year!

TW. Mental Illness
--
--Courtney Beatrice Singson--

I stared at the video.

It didn't show my face. It just showed my body from the neck down. I was dancing gracefully, a chiffon cloth dancing along with me, making me a silhouette. It was hard to believe that a bunch of students shot this, and this was still a teaser for a perfume commercial.

"Is this..." I looked up from the screen, still in the white dress and the flower crown that I was given as a costume. "Is this really me?"

They wanted me to do some ballet, which was easy and to be honest, it was kind of fun. I had my fair share of dancing with audiences, but never specifically for the camera. They even had their soundtrack which was a bit modeled after Swan Lake. It had been a while since I did ballet, but they were all encouraging and giving me suggestions on their vision.

"So, this is just a rough edit para lang makita mo kung paano siya gagawin." Via tells me, her hands working on the laptop. "No need to worry about anything, I'll make sure that you look stunning in any angle."
I blushed. "Uh.. I wasn't really worried about that." I shook my head. "I'm just really impressed. I'm not even sure na ako yan."
Via blushes too before turning back to her work. "It's you." She quips.
Natawa si Matt na nasa tabi namin. "That's Master V for you." He says, placing his arm around V's shoulder. "So basically, what we're trying to convey is that this perfume is a graceful note that would dance for your senses. Does that make sense to you?"

I stared at the video in the screen of myself doing a mid-air split. It was graceful in slow motion, making it look like I was flying.

'Now, I'm not really sure that's us.'

I almost rolled my eyes at 'Courtney' who was still in her black dress, in contrast to the white I was wearing right now, and was peering over Via's shoulder, her attention fixated to the screen where my video was playing.

I ignored her as always.

"It makes total sense." I tell Matt, giving him a smile. "You guys are amazing."
Natawa si Matt. "You need to be amazing if you're majoring in Advertising" He says. "Kaya nga perfect fit si Master V, and she's carrying us into victory."

I hear agreeing noises from their other classmates who were manning their lights, the cameras and some more equipment that I'm sure I'd be lost for. Nakakabilib sila.

"Wag. Walang ganoon." Via says, silencing them all. "We need to work more. These shots are good, Sasha. Keep it up. The overhead needs a little work though, can we check if we can put it a little higher?"
A red-head girl from the camera nods. "Sure, V."

Pinanood ko lang siya, her non-chalant attitude about the praise kind of familiar. I smiled despite myself, realizing how she was essentially being a leader kahit na mas bata siya sa mga kasama niya (We weren't really of the same age, but she just turned 20, which meant she was at least a year older than me once I turn next April).

Gifted people and their talents really.

"Ken, can we shift the music into a little more upbeat?" I hear Via say.
"Do we do a modern one?" The one by the sound board says.
Via shakes her head. "Dapat graceful parin. Iniisip ko sana Tchaikovsky parin so classic. Do you have The Nutcracker?"
"Sure." Kenny grins. "Are you familiar, Beatrice?"
"I think I remember." I give a small smile. "Parang bata pa ako noon though so baka I need a refresher. Ate Naya?"

I looked at the choreographer that we had, who smiled at me. Turns out Ate Naya, one of the dance instructors in the studio I worked on was an XEI senior too. She was nice and it made sense that she taught ballet to little kids.