“Hirai Momo.”

The girl widened her eyes at the mention of her name and her brows rose in surprise and a bit of shock.

Some students sighed in disappointment and Momo could even hear some “that’s not fair, I wanted her too…” but that really didn’t matter now. Myoui Mina chose her? The one that showed no emotion seeing her dancing? Did Mina choose her out of pity? Or because she thought she could teach Momo how to dance? Momo suddenly became angry.

“Momo it is!” Yuta said excitedly. “Okay, you can group up now, don’t you stay away from each other.”

Momo rolled her eyes and got up, walking over to sit next to Mina.

“H-Hey…” Mina said, her voice cracking.

“Hey.” Momo didn’t look at her, trying to hide her annoyance in order to be polite.

Next was Tzuyu and of course she chose Sana, who jumped from the floor and sat next to her girlfriend. The next students finished pairing up and they were now waiting for Yuta to explain the first project.

“Okay now that you’re all already paired up I’m going to explain what are you guys going to do. I want you guys to prepare to show us at least two minutes of dancing. Any genre you want, an original choreography, a cover, anything will do as long as you feel comfortable with it.”

“When are we going to present it?” A student from the other side of the room asked.

“Next week.”

“Next week?!” The students asked in disbelief.

Some of them tried to persuade Yuta to give them a little more time, but he insisted that one week was more than enough.

“You have the rest of this class to know each other a little better and discuss what you wanna do and if you want to start practicing already, feel free to! Good work everyone!”

The students all started talking to their pairs, discussing ideas. Momo stayed quiet, not really knowing what to do. She didn’t want to look at Mina and see that annoying expression again.

“Hmm, so…” Mina started, her voice a bit shaken.

Momo didn't want to seem that rude, so she moved her head slowly to face Mina, waiting for whatever she was about to say.

But... Oh my god. Did she just forget how to breathe? Momo’s features softened when she took a look at the red haired girl from so up close. If she was already beautiful from afar, from this close… Her eyes were big and round, coloured in a thousand different, gorgeous shades of brown, her eyebrows in a perfect shape, hidden behind her bangs that matched with her somehow innocent look. Her lips… they looked like they had been drawn on her face. Her nose was perfectly straight, not like Momo’s... and that only made her dislike Mina even more. But even her moles… on her nose bridge, two near her perfect, beautiful lips, another on the chin… It just made her face even more unique and beautiful. Not to mention her hair, that seemed even shinier and healthier up close. Momo could tell Mina took good care of it, it seemed so smooth…

“Hirai-san…?” Mina called, startling Momo away from dream world.

“Y-Yes! Oh god, don’t call me that. It makes me feel old.”

“Oh, I-I’m sorry…” Mina blushed and looked away.

“Call me Momo.”

“Just Momo…?” Mina hesitated.

She thought for a second and had an idea. An idea for Mina to understand that she's not in a place to judge her or think she's better than her when she's her junior.

“Momo-senpai.” She said, trying hard not to smirk.

Mina’s cheeks warmed up even more.

“O-Okay, Momo-s-senpai.”

She swore her heart stopped beating for a second when Mina called her like she asked. She felt like hitting her head on the wall. Seriously, what was that cute, soft, smooth voice?!

“Yes, Myoui-san.”

Mina had to look away again. Momo’s eyes were piercing her with mixed feelings. She wasn’t alright with the fact that Mina actually picked her as a pair. It didn’t make sense.

“Why did you pick me?” Momo blurted.

Mina was visibly nervous. She was avoiding Momo’s eyes as much as she could and the words came out rushed and stumbled over.

“B-Because you l-like KPOP.”

Momo frowned. Really? Just because of that? Not because Momo’s dancing skills are good? Not because she liked seeing Momo dancing? Just because she likes K-POP? So, if Momo had picked other song, Mina wouldn’t choose her, right? She wished she could go back in time and pick another song just to prove her own point.

That answer pissed Momo off even more but she couldn’t properly explain why. Maybe because she expected her to praise her dance skills, like most people do? She wasn't expecting such an answer. This girl was really, really off.

“I see.” Was all Momo answered. Then she remembered... “You were there on Saturday, at the academy.”

Momo’s eyes were glued to her, and even though she knew she just stated something, she was waiting for a reaction or an answer. But she sure was intimating the red haired girl, since she fidgeted and fumbled words and was only able to meet Momo’s eyes for a split second.

“O-Oh… Y-You remember me?”

“Yeah, why? You don't remember me?"

"I-I... think I do."

I think I do. Really now?! Was Momo that invisible to her? Seriously, who does she think she is? Is she so arrogant she doesn't even pay attention to anyone else's dancing? Doesn't she think she can learn from her seniors?

Momo couldn’t hide the shock, as she shook her head and almost scoffed, driving her stare somewhere else.

Incredible how just a minute ago Momo was so bewitched with the girl's beauty, but now she just disliked her. The way she spoke, the way she avoided her eyes...

But with 7 billion people in the whole world, she had to be assigned with Mina. She couldn't do anything to change it, so it was better for everyone if she just accepted it and made an effort to work with her.

"So, what do you wanna do?" Momo went straight to the point, returning her glare to her and pretending Mina hadn't said that she thought she remembered her.

This time, Mina actually returned the look. And she seemed confident by the way her words came out of her so goddamn pretty lips.

"Well, since we both like KPOP, and we like to dance to it, or at least I do, and I think you do too, r-right?"

Isn't... that obvious? Momo actually wondered for a second if she should answer that dumb question or not, but Mina continued her messy attempt at explaining her idea.

"So, I was thinking that, maybe, it could be a good idea if we did some KPOP cover."

That was a decent idea, Momo had to agree. But she could have said "let's do a cover." instead of beating around the bush like that.

"Yeah, that's a pretty good idea. What groups do you like?"

Not only did Mina keep her head up, still looking at Momo, but her face lit up too. She seemed happy that Momo liked her idea.

"I like a lot of groups, but my favourites are 2PM, EXO-"

Even before she could continue her list, Momo rose a finger near her lips.

"Say no more."

---

Mina could only say yes to Momo's idea, completely disregarding the fact that her opinion hadn't been asked for. There was no need to ask for it, since she actually really liked the idea anyway.

Momo thought that if she had to work with her, she wanted to, at least, dance something to her likings.

Since they only had one week to prepare the dance, they wasted no time moving to an empty studio to start practicing. Momo walked to the sound system to plug in her phone and turned back. She could feel the awkwardness in Mina's body. She was standing with her hands in her pockets, taking looks around the room, waiting for something to happen.

Momo couldn't read her at all. What was she thinking, what was she feeling, what did she want.

"So, what parts do you know?" Momo asked, taking a step closer to her.

Mina trembled a bit. Why did she seem so nervous?

"T-The chorus." She answered, visibly making an effort to look at Momo's eyes.

"Great! Let's dance it then."

Momo went back to the sound system. 'Call Me Baby' started playing as she went back to stand beside Mina, the both of them facing the mirror.

What could possibly happened to Momo for her to almost forget the moves she knew so well? It was because she was dancing beside that girl? Once again, something about her felt almost intimidating. And she was good - way better than Momo imagined. That only made Momo aware that she needed to dance even better than she normally did. Because she absolutely didn't want to lose to her.

But why? This wasn't a competition. It was a collaboration. They needed to work together, the both of them needed to shine as a team. Not only Momo or Mina. That was the one fundamental thing she had learned at the academy – a group routine simply doesn't work when one person tries to stand out above the others. Still, something inside Momo wanted to impress the red haired girl, but she couldn't understand why.

But in the end, she ended up having a little bit of fun. Maybe working with Mina was not that bad.

---

A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you're liking the story so far. What do you think about Momo's opinion about Mina? kekekekekeke I'll update in a few days again!!! <3