DAWN | a blackpink fanfic

2. horizon

Chaeyoung stared at her reflection in the table.

          the teacher across from her, however, was looking straight at chaeyoung's nervous expression. the tension in the room was palpable; neither the student nor the teacher wanted to be the one to set the tone for the discussion lest it turn out inefficient or, well, harmful. and yet in the end, it was the older woman who took charge of the situation. she was trained for this, and very rarely did the student have any real rebuttals to the teacher's verdicts. 

"park chaeyoung." her high, reedy voice cut through the silence at last. "park chaeyoung, you must know why i've called you here."

         "i...," chaeyoung paused to contemplate this. if she said she did, she would seem like she was some good-for-nothing troublemaker who had no qualms about parading around her deliberate attempts at disturbing the peace (that's what it said, at least, in the student handbook). if she said she didn't know what was going on at all then she would become an entire liar. there was no way out but to give a non-answer and hope the teacher told chaeyoung what she had done so wrong herself. "i... maybe..."

"chaeyoung, look at these papers."

     a stack of familiar quizzes were slid across the glossy table to chaeyoung. all of them had a bright red "0" at the top and next to them a big, ugly "F". even though chaeyoung knew those were on purpose and that she already knew what her file looked like, it was still a sight that made her heart drop. 

          "you did all of this on purpose. you weren't even guessing, you would have gotten at least some correct if you were truly guessing. you knew what the correct answers were and you chose the wrong ones deliberately. and that's why i gave you an A."

        mrs. brown leaned back in her chair to look at the young girl before her. this wasn't even puzzling, really, students only did this if they wanted to get a rise out of their teachers or maybe their parents (usually due to neglect). but chaeyoung wasn't looking for attention. she came from a relatively well adjusted family, despite her father being the only parent she had. it wasn't anything horrible as far as she knew.

"why?" she asked finally. "what do you want?"

"mrs. brown...," chaeyoung began. "mrs. brown, i don't want to do this anymore."

     it was vague. a non answer. nothing she could really pinpoint. and mrs. brown recognized the game she was playing. as the saying goes, two could participate.

"is what you want to do worth it?" she asked-- in the same tone as the student.

"i believe so. it's not going to be easy. but i think i will be happier for it."

"ah. tell him, then."

      the two stared at each other. chaeyoung felt cornered and trapped and every synonym in between. the power she wielded over someone like chaeyoung was impressive, and no matter how hard the girl tried to resist, the experience of the older woman cut through her. 

"maybe i will."

"you won't regret it. you hardly ever regret something you did do. it's always what you never tried."

      chaeyoung gave a curt nod and made a movement to indicate she was leaving. mrs. brown smiled serenely at her. she made no indication that she wanted her to stay or even to go.

she hesitated, then left.

[----&-----]

Lalisa was dancing.

"ms. manoban, you are truly on fire today!" mrs. srisuk called over the bass that shook the studio. "i love it!"

      lalisa heard it but didn't register the praise quite yet. for now, all her focus was on her body. her body had to move with the sound, the beat, the emotion, and every nuance the artist had placed in the song.