My Little Dancer

seven // unexpected

"Life is crazy, unexpected,
and endlessly beautiful."
Daniel Wallock

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Yein let her legs give way and crashed on the floor beside her belongings. Clumsily unscrewing her bottle, she began to hydrate herself. Today's practice was especially hard. So much that she could feel a cramp coming in her calves. Stretching out her legs, she tried to loosen the muscles by leaning forward.

"Gather around," she heard Howon ssaem instruct. "You can bring your bottles. Just gather around."

Howon ssaem was the club's dance instructor. He, himself, used to dance in the club when he was on campus. Yein found it amazing how he was able to balance his full time job with his coaching commitments.

"You know Seoul Dance Festival is coming up right?"

Everyone nodded.

Seoul Mega Dance Festival. Yein had heard from Mijoo and Jimin (who gave an extremely detail explanation that tired her out). It was firstly, a festival held annually. And secondly, it was a well-known competition that many crews auditioned for. There were three rounds of auditions where the first was a video to be sent to the organisers, while the second and third were real performances in front of at least three judges.

Revolution had qualified for the festival since the club's formation and remained in the top three spots for the last five years despite the harsh competitors that emerged each year.

"What we learnt today is a snippet of our competition routine. And as much as I have choreographed solos, you all know I can't have a solo for everyone."

"It'll be just as competitive and even if you get selected, you can be dropped anytime once you don't perform. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Jimin, explain."

"Yes," Jimin stood up and continued from where Howon ssaem left off.

"As our usual practice, Howon ssaem will select at least two people for each solo or two pairs, in the case of a duet. You will practice your parts and there will be an audition to see who gets the position. This is so that we'll have substitutes if there's an injury or if the selected one doesn't perform well."

Howon ssaem concluded, "so make sure you don't slack off on your parts because every single person plays an important role in the whole picture. Okay?"

"Yes."

"I'll announce the positions then." Howon ssaem took out his clipboard and began reading out from a list.

As he read, Yein, feeling low on sugar, began to zone out. She didn't really bother to pay attention because being a freshman, there was a really low chance in being chosen. Furthermore, there were a lot of good dancers in Revolution. Yein looked down at her hands as she fiddled with her bottle.

"... and Yein."

Yein lifted her head up so suddenly and quickly that she could have snapped her neck. She immediately regretted doing so as she could feel hard stares from her seniors. Although some were genuinely happy-for-her kind of stare, there were also some how-can-a-she-get-selected stare.

Folding her lips nervously, Yein dropped her gaze and wished for it to all end soon.

Her ordeal finally ended after a grueling fifteen minutes of Howon ssaem and Jimin talking and explaining about what needed to be done till the next practice.

"Yein!!!" Mijoo pounced on her, wrapping her slender arms around her. Ruffling the younger one's hair, she congratulated her for getting selected.

Standing up, Jimin asked, "are y'all up for supper? I'm starving."

"Let's order in," Mijoo suggested. With Yein still in her arms, she asked, "you wanna eat too?"

Weighing the things she needed to do and her stomach that was in need for some sugar and food, Yein ultimately nodded her head. She was feeling rather weak after using up so much energy on dance.

As Yein slung her bag over her shoulder, she recalled what happened a while ago. Feeling uneasy, her hands gripped the strap of her crossbody bag.

While she had gone to get her bag right after Howon ssaem announced the end of practice, someone bumped into her from behind, causing her to stumble forward. Keeping her head hung low, she heard the girl say curtly, "I don't get why Howon ssaem would pick her."

Another girl's voice was heard agreeing, "yeah, you'd have been a much better choice."

Yein stood frozen. It was fairly normal for people to get upset, especially for a senior towards a junior who had gotten a spot. It was something she had gone through while in art school and yet it was never really something she could learn to adapt to.

She didn't understand though, as to why the senior was so upset since every single member in Revolution were part of the competition team. It's not like I got a great solo part right. It's just a small portion of the routine.

A cough snapped Yein back to reality.

"What are you doing? We're leaving," Jungkook gazed at her with his head craned to the side, as if he was wondering what she was thinking about.

Seeing how she looked down, he lightly knocked her head, causing her eyes to squeeze shut as a form of reflex.

"You can't be so distracted. We've got a lot to work on."

"A lot to work on?" Yein frowned puzzledly. We?

Looking at her as if she wasn't making any sense, Jungkook replied, "we're partnered for the duet portion, miss."

As Jungkook turned around and followed after Jimin and Mijoo, Yein remained rooted to the ground as everything suddenly began to make sense to her. She was paired up with Jungkook for the duet portion. And that was why she was receiving more hate from the other girls.

What. The. Heck?