In Pursuit of Perfection | Nalu | Collab with ofthefeels

| Chapter 9 |

La Lune, by Madeon ft Dan Smith

| Previously in Chapter 8 |

A funny feeling erupted in his stomach, sending jittery signals down his spine. It's fine, it's fine. Taking a deep breath, he knocked loudly on the door, twice. Here he was, at the door of a girl he despised. What a day.

"Come in."

Come  in? He didn't agree to going inside her dorm, just to go and check on  her! Make sure she was alive and stuff. Just do it, it's no big deal. He  reluctantly pushed open the door and found Lucy in the middle of an  arabesque as she quickly dropped down and shrieked, her scream bursting  my eardrums. Oh great.

| Chapter 9 |

"What are you doing here?" I said, clutching my pounding heart. I gulped in a breath. "Out! Get out! You're not supposed to be in the girl's dorms anyway!" Uncrossing my arms, I pushed him towards the door, but he was like a 100 pound rock that wouldn't budge.

"I know I'm not suppose to be here," he said, rolling his eyes, "but my dad wanted me to see if you're alive and stuff."

"What do you mean?" I asked, still breathing heavily. "Why would I be dead?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away. "Uh...huh? What? When did I say that? I don't think I said that, you know what—I didn't say that, yeah, I didn't say that, you probably heard it wrong and stuff you know? Better go to the doctor and get your ears checked right?" I raised an eyebrow and he turned around and bolted for the door before he could make a bigger fool of himself.

"Natsu!" I yelled, narrowing my eyes as he halted in mid-grabbing-for-the-doorknob-position. "I know a lie when I hear one, so you better explain yourself."

He turned around slowly, avoiding my gaze. "I told you, I came here because my dad wanted me to."

"That's not all of it," I said. "Tell me the truth."

He stared at everywhere except me. It hit me and I clenched my fist. That no good stupid director! I told him to keep his mouth shut and he just had to blab it to this pink-haired idiot! "It's about my father, isn't it?" I asked, my voice cold.

"My dad told me," he said, quietly. "Hey, um, don't worry about it. He'll be f—"

"Get out," I whirled around to face the barre, my back to him. "I don't want that stupid and cheesy nonsense." Don't think about it no no no. My face felt hot and so did my head. In fact, everything did. Bursts of red appeared in my vision and I gulped in air to keep my temper in check. Not now, not in front of him.

He didn't leave and my temper rose to the surface, bubbling hot red and orange. The entire week was a disaster; our fight at rehearsal, the useless improvising game, and father getting—no. Don't think about it.

I had enough to deal with and I didn't need him to be another factor. "I told you to leave me alone," I said, steely. "Get. Out." My fingernails dug into the palms of my hands and I bit my lip.

He didn't say anything for a moment. "You know, you're weird."

"Excuse me?" I turned to face him.

"Yeah," he said, finally making eye contact. "Why—tell me exactly why you're cooped up in your tiny room practicing ballet instead of taking a second to breathe and de-stress? I mean, you took off from practice to spend time with your dad, right? So why're you still rehearsing?"