Raise the Barre

Chapter 4

By the time the weekend rolled around, your compartmentalization had reached a breaking point.

The situation with Jimin had spun out of control. You considered this while, feet pounding the pavement, you ran alongside the river at an hour best described as 'too early.' Running was something you started the summer your family couldn't afford the dance intensive you wanted. It was a good way to release stress when the practice room wasn't available.

Since your conversation with Jimin on Wednesday, he'd been nothing to you but cordial. Cordial. As though you were strangers, or vague acquaintances at best. It wasn't like you and Jimin had been friends before – far from it – but at least you'd never felt like you needed to walk on eggshells around him. It might've been easier had Jimin been antagonistic towards you. Anything would be better than this awkward half-silence.

In Thursday's ballet partnering class, Jimin barely spoke ten words the entire time. He did everything correctly; gone were his attempts to fuck with you, but he played the role of a partner without interest or passion. As soon as each combination was finished, he lowered his arms and politely stepped away. You hadn't realized how much you'd come to depend upon his presence.

While it was true Jimin could be an insufferable ass, he was also incredibly hard-working. You'd never once doubted his proficiency as a partner. Even without asking him for help, you'd learned things from him over the past month. Keeping in mind it was only September, the idea of three more months of cold shoulder seemed to be unbearable.

Everyone knew being assigned a random dance partner was kind of a test. In the real world, you'd be expected to partner with people you didn't know and quite often didn't like. It'd be up to you to forge chemistry and put aside your personal differences. If you couldn't get your relationship with Jimin under control, you knew it'd reflect poorly upon you at the time of evaluation.

Lowering your brow, you began to run a bit faster.

Yesterday had been a grueling master class by acclaimed ballerina, Anna Hodelle. Finn had invited you to a party later that night, but you'd been so exhausted you fell asleep before 10:00 PM. It had been an incredibly lame way to spend a Friday evening in college, but the week had taken so much out of you.

As you rounded the next bend, you slowed when you saw the sun rising over the harbor. Coming to a stop, you fought to control your breathing as you walked towards the rail.

If you were being honest, it wasn't just practical factors bothering you about your relationship with Jimin. You'd been an ass and, despite your past run-ins, he didn't deserve what you'd said to him. He'd made a lot of solid points in his responses, albeit in a semi-annoying way.

You were behind your peers, and that wasn't his fault. While it was true you'd been rivals for years, you were now both at Russet. It was fruitless to keep pinning your mistakes on him – if you kept going that way, you'd never solve anything.

Ever since Miss Britt had pulled you aside, you'd been searching for private dance instructors in the city. You had found one through the recommendation of Kim Seokjin – who nearly jumped out of his skin when you stopped him after class – and had your first private lesson scheduled for Tuesday. It meant you'd take ballet six days of the week instead of four, but that was just a bullet you had to bite.

This only left Jimin to deal with.

With a sigh, you pushed yourself from the rail. After days in denial, you had to admit you'd been unfair to your partner. Even that first night, when he'd stopped you in the hall, you had no idea what he'd wanted to ask. You had snapped at him before Jimin could speak and everything after had been bitter and tense.