Pas de Deux

o4

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Nickname pronunciation guide!

Xiao - See-ow, it means small and is an affectionate way to give someone a nickname
Gege/Ge - Means older brother, usually used with boys you're close with
Jiejie/Jie - Same as Gege but for girls

Gege and Jiejie are also respectful titles, so someone might use it when trying to suck up to someone else or when they're trying to appear cute!

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In the few days following the auditions, Yuxing is able to relax for the first time in months. No stress, no deadlines, no nothing. She slept for a whole 16 hours on Friday, not emerging from her room until it was well past noon on the weekend. 

"Look who's up, sleepyhead," Zihan whistles from the common room couch, a few of her other friends looking up to greet her. He was engrossed in some game on his phone, but it was easy to tell whenever Yuxing entered the room, or any communal space for that matter. Everywhere she went, conversations would quiet down to no more than a whisper, some people would even leave the room. She just had that effect, which meant she didn't get to make many friends outside of class and the ones she already had. 

She didn't normally mind, but at this moment, she didn't even notice. This was one of the very few occasions where she actually felt enough anger to be classified as rage.

"Which one of you turned off my alarm," she said slowly, trying not to freak out at how she'd woken up so late. She turns her gaze over to Lihua and Huiying.

"I know it was one of you two. You were the only ones in my room yesterday. Spill." 

Lihua and Huiying share a look of concern with each other before eventually looking defeated.

"It was me,' Huiying started, shifting in her seat, "you've just been so tired recently, and with auditions over I thought you could use the extra rest!" 

"But I was going to work on some trigonometric identities today," she says, anger already melting away when she found out that her friend was just worried for her.

"Trig identities? We haven't started on that in class yet," Mingsheng chimes in, looking confused.

"I know, it's for next month—"

"You're already studying for next month's lessons?!" Qingling bursts out. This causes them all to stare at her, even Zihan pauses his video game to gape.

"Are you guys not...?" Yuxing says quietly after a few awkward beats of silence.

"Your smart ass is so annoying, you know?" Zihan grumbles.

"No wonder you're so tired all the time, you're a month ahead on all the curriculum!" adds Qingling.

"We've got to get you out more," Huiying states, "Lihua, make a mental note."

"Oh, shut up," Yuxing mutters, before eventually flopping down onto her spot on the couch, surrounded by her laughing friends. It felt nice, maybe she'd forget about all her textbooks just for today.

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"Woah, woah, woah! Huiying, slow down! What's gotten into you?"

It was now Sunday, and Yuxing was currently being dragged towards the school gym, trying to juggle not tripping over due to Huiying tugging her arm and not letting her bag slip off her shoulder. 

"Nothing? I just feel really motivated right now. The gym is the place to be on this lovely afternoon," Huiying says, voice a little sharper than usual.