Pas de Deux

o6

⊱ ✿ ⊰

"I can't believe that asshole."

"He's such a shameless piece of scum."

"Why don't you just skip practice with him today?"

Yuxing's head whips toward Zihan at that, glaring. As much as she hated being in the same room as Wang Chengrui, she could put that aside for the sake of improving enough to dance in the school ballet. When Madame Huang had threatened Chengrui with replacing him with his understudy if he wasn't good enough, Yuxing realised that applied to her, too.

"Or don't," Zihan quickly adds sheepishly. Yuxing finally lets up, returning to picking at her lunch. She had no appetite at all. 

"But seriously, Yuxing, did you get any sleep last night? You've got dark circles," Lihua cuts in, quickly changing the topic.

"A few hours, I stayed up so I didn't fall behind on my revisions," Yuxing explains. In the days following the first time she and Chengrui had after-school practice together, she hadn't returned early to the dorms a single time. That didn't mean she was going to slack off on her studies, however, as she very diligently stayed up very late to stay on track.

"See! It's all that blasted Wang Chengrui's fault! The next time I see that prick, I swear I'll beat his ugly face in—" Zihan starts, more peeved about this whole situation than Yuxing herself.

"That's enough, Han-ge. Don't get in any fights," Mingsheng scolds, elbowing him lightly, "And lower your voice, we don't need the entire cafeteria overhearing."

"Tch, there you go again, acting like my dad," Zihan mutters under his breath.

"Speak of the devil," Mingsheng mutters back. Zihan's expression immediately sours.

Yuxing looks at them confused, about to ask what he meant by that when she feels someone slide into the seat next to her.

"Yo, Miss First Place, Madame Huang said she wants to see us both after you're done eating." 

Yuxing grimaces. Wang Chengrui was not the person she wanted to see right now. She could feel her friends sending her awkward glances, wondering what this was about. 

"Hello? Did you hear me, or have you gone deaf?" Wang Chengrui asks after Yuxing doesn't respond, waving his hand in front of her face.

After a few more seconds of ignoring him, she finally speaks, "What did she say it was for?"

"Fuck if I know, she just saw me in the hall and sent me to get you," he scoffs, leaning back in the chair. 

"Fine, let's go," Yuxing gets up, leaving behind her barely-touched lunch tray.

"Yuxing, wait. Didn't she say to meet her after you finish eating?" Lihua says, expression concerned as she gestures to Yuxing's tray which was still full of food.

"It's okay, I'm not hungry," she responds, trying to sound reassuring.

"Hear that? If she wants to starve, then let her. Let's get this over with," Chengrui says with an air of finality, already leaving. Yuxing sighs, smoothing out her skirt as she leaves as well, lagging a little bit behind him as he left first.

The rest of her friends exchange worried glances between themselves as they watch the two figures disappear. 

୨ ♡ ୧

"Can you walk any slower?" Chengrui asks, irritation showing as he abruptly turns around in the corridor after a few minutes of walking. 

Yuxing stops as well, a safe distance away as she speaks, "I'm walking at the same pace as you are. If you used your brain, you'd notice that the distance between us has remained consistent this whole walk."