Beauty And A Beast

Chapter 7

Sana

"Hey! You're Sana, right? I remember you from the field!"

Mina, Momo and I turn around to the voice. I recognize Jihyo coming towards us.

"Who's that?" Mina asks.

"That's Park Jihyo. She's a really good girl Mina, don't worry." Momo shoves Mina playfully.

"I'm not worrying, I'm just asking." Mina rolls her eyes.

"Hi." I greet Jihyo who smiles at me and the girls. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no. It's just that the contestants for the Trials will be announced in a while and I thought you'd like to see if you're in." Jihyo says as we start walking towards the cafeteria. "My opinion though, you are definitely in. That show you put up with Tzuyu was extremely good, people loved you! I voted for you too, obviously." she continues.

"Woah, she talks a lot." Mina whispers at Momo behind me and I turn around and slap her arm with a smile. "What? She does talk a lot!"

"Yeah, for your standards, everyone talks a lot." Momo teases Mina.

"Whatever." she rolls her eyes again.

When we arrive at the cafeteria, half the school is already there. The students are gathered in a circle around a big screen in the middle of the cafeteria, waiting for the results of the vote. I turn around to glance at Momo, Mina and Jihyo but end up bumping onto someone.

"Shit, I'm sorry-"

I tilt my head upwards to meet with a very familiar smirk.

"Still can't stay away from me, hm?"

"I take it back, I'm not sorry." I sneer at Tzuyu and, just as I am about to walk past her, I hear students cheering and clapping. I spin to the screen in the middle of the cafeteria.

DEAR SENIORS, MEET THE CONTESTANTS OF THE 8TH 'SENIOR TRIALS'!

CHOU TZUYU
ADACHI YUTO
WANG JACKSON
CHONG ELKIE
MINATOZAKI SANA
LIM JAY
NAKAMOTO YUTA
PARK JIHYO
KIM KAI
JUNG EUNHA

THE 1ST DANCE WILL TAKE PLACE IN TWO WEEKS AND THE 1ST CHALLENGE THE NEXT DAY!
GOOD LUCK TO EVERY CONTESTANT!

"Sana, you're in!" Momo says excitedly while Jihyo keeps telling Mina how she never thought she would get in. Mina is forced to nod and smile shyly since she has never been a fan of extremely talkative people. Well, except when it comes to me.

"I wouldn't be so happy if I were you."

I turn to Tzuyu who's still standing next to me. This time though, she is accompanied by two shorter girls who are talking cheerfully.

"And why is that?" I ask sarcastically.

"Remember the 'unfortunate events' from last year? Students' deaths were the unfortunate events."

"What!?" Mina, Jihyo and me exclaim. Tzuyu shrugs.

"My brother told me. Last year, more than fifty students took part and less than twenty-five of them ended up graduating at the end of the school year."

"And why the fuck am I hearing this now!?"

"My brother just found out as well. A friend of his who competed last year told him."

I look at Mina and Momo. "Guys, I can't take part. I need to-"

Tzuyu chuckles, interrupting me. "There's no going back now, Minatozaki. Since the people in charge of creating the Challenges are going to do anything so nobody gets the money, the only way out is winning. And I'm planning on doing just that. So you better start practicing your skills and your dancing."

Woah, did Chou Tzuyu just give me advice?

"Dancing? What the hell are you talking about?" I scoff.

"Before each Challenge, a Dance is held. Keep up, will you?" Tzuyu huffs in annoyance and points at the last sentence on the screen.

"Pfft, Sana is a terrible dancer." Momo laughs and later Mina joins in.

"Shut up." I murmur.

"Well then, I pity your partner." Tzuyu chuckles and leaves with the other girls who were busy chatting with Mina and Momo.

★★★

I can't believe this. It's already a week to the first Dance and I still can't believe it. I was never in the mood for killing people or being killed. If I had known that from the start, I would have never fought Tzuyu in the ring to earn votes.

And then, there's the thing Tzuyu said. That the organizers are going to do anything so no one gets the prize. Does that mean the Challenges they will come up with will be aiming to kill us? Hell, why did I transfer to Momo's school?

"Sana?"

I snap out of my thoughts and turn to the owner of the voice. A small smile tugs at my lips.

"Mark, hi."

"You found my favorite spot." he says as he comes next to me, hands in the pockets of his pants. We both stay silent for a while, gazing over the rooftop at the soccer field where many students relax on their break.

"I was looking for you actually." Mark breaks the silence.

"Really?" I ask, trying to hide the surprise in my voice.

"Yep. You know, to know how you feel about the Trials, the Dance, if you have a partner..."

Okay, it's obvious where he's getting to. I chuckle before I turn to him. "No, I don't have a partner, and no, I wouldn't mind if we went together."

Mark's eyes widen in surprise. "Y-you really wouldn't?"

"No."

"Oh, okay. Well then, do you want me to pick you up the day of the Dance, or are you-"

"Mark, Mark, chill." I say and hold his wrist. "We'll talk about this. Later."

Because, right now, I need to learn how to dance.

★★★

I am sleeping extremely peacefully when I hear constant tapping at my window. At first, I switch sides and choose to ignore it. It's probably just the air anyway. But then, I'm hearing it again. I groggily get up, yawning and rubbing my eyes and head to the window.

I swear, if it's Momo playing a prank on me, I'm going to kill her.

I unlock the window and pull it open slowly while also gripping on my father's pocket knife. I rub my eyes one more time to adjust to the phone flashlight pointing at me and slightly raise the knife.

"Just, lower that down, will you?" I groan. The flashlight no longer blinds me, allowing me to see who disrupted my sweat dreams.

And hell, am I going to kill her.

A/N:

Short one because I was kind of busy today.
Nighty night. 🫡

Also, don't forget to stream "Run Away", I'm so excited for Tzuyu's mini album, let's support our baby 💪💪💪