Yena woke at seven o’clock in the next morning and wasn’t too excited about the first day at school.  was dry and her voice was gone.  Yena wanted to sleep more but realized she didn’t have the class schedule nor she knew what class she had been put into.  

Yena propped herself up and got out of bed.  It took her ten minutes to change before heading to the school.  One hour later, Yena arrived and rushed to the announcement board.  By this hour, most students must be in the classrooms already, except two students, Choi Yena and Kang Hyewon.

“Hey, You actually came”, Hyewon approached Yena who was still searching for her name on the board.

“Yeah, surprise”, Yena spoke hoarsely.

 “Whoah, you got it worse than I thought”,  “I met Yuri this morning but you weren’t there”

“Neighbors don’t have to always be together”,       “and- I can’t find my name”,   Yena muttered.

There were seven notices on the board, listing the names of students based on ranks.  Yena was currently on the fifth notice but her name was yet to be found.

“She was having breakfast by herself at the canteen so I joined her”.

Yena, who had always skipped breakfast in the morning, halted for a moment.  Hyewon continued as though this topic was getting Yena’s attention.

“Breakfast is the most important meal, you know?”, Hyewon told her.

Feeling odd, Yena gave herself a little shake to concentrate on the board.  Yena should rather be worrying about her rank.  Her parents would tell her to quit the club if she was not studying well.  On the other hand, Hyewon who was the most carefree person among them went straight to the first page that listed top twenty-four.

“Why’d it take you that long to find one name?   You skipped these two pages-  You’re supposed to start from the first one”,    Hyewon started reading the first name out loud. 

“Let see first, Miyawaki, ”

“Second, Na Goeun-”, She continued. 

“Yah! Kang Hyewon, don’t be overconfident ”

“Fourth, - Choi Yena”,  Hyewon clapped happily, she grabbed Yena’s shoulder and shook her hard but Yena was standing still, couldn’t process what she heard.

“Huh?!,  I — what”

“Yes!  I’m 8th, the club power has paid off”.    “We are in 2B, Let’s go”

Yena’s response was delayed.  Before she could express her happiness, Hyewon was dragging her to the classroom. 

----

When Yena and Hyewon arrived, Ms.Cheetah was about to take a roll call.  The class was packed because it was joined by the first years.  Strange enough, Yena quickly noticed her neighbor, though the girl did not seem to recognize their presence.  Yena found spots among the sophomores, she went to sit beside Juri, and Hyewon followed her.

The class automatically became quiet when Ms.Cheetah was about to make an announcement. 

“Students in the class are expected to have a reasonable level of proficiency”.  “We’ll have an evaluation on Thursday, if you don’t pass I’ll recommend you take another class instead”

A loud buzzing noise was filling up the room after the unexpected news.  Who would have thought that she would change the requirement?  The intensive vocal class was the course Yena had been looking forward to.  As someone who was not in a voice major, she had to keep up good grades to be qualified for the class.  Apparently, she was not the only student disappointed by the news.  

“Be silent!”, Ms.Cheetah spoke loudly.  “The requirement is not a punishment. This will help you be on the right track”.  

Then, Ms. Cheetah started reading their names out loud.  She paused at Yuri’s name. 

“Ah— that’s right, a voice fellow”, she said softly.     “I forgot to tell you one thing”.  

“There is no exception for the fellows, even though the class is a requirement”.  

The class became more hectic after Cheetah let them practice on the repertoire.  The students formed a group to practice together.   Yena got out of her seat and looked around to find Yuri’s whereabouts.  The younger girl was talking to one classmate.  Yena was subtly watching her until the girl turned to Yena’s direction, she then quickly looked away.  

“Yena?”, Juri touched her arm. 

“Want to practice together tonight?’’

Yena pulled back from the music sheet, she looked at Juri,  and hesitantly nodded in response.  

“Yena has lost her voice”,   Hyewon said while jotting notes on the music sheet.  

Her statement made Juri frowned at Yena.     Juri let out a heavy sign in disappointment.

“Heh? What did I do?”,    Yena had a blank look on her face, not sure what she did wrong.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” , “You just want to make it up for last night, right?”

“No!,    I can sing,   seriously”,   Yena jerked the sheet away from Hyewon and signaled her to support what she said.  

Hyewon raised her eyebrows and said, “It’s true, I might over-exaggerate”.

After one hour, Cheetah called for gathering, and everyone got back to their seats.  She randomly picked some students to perform the evaluating song in front, one by one.  Yena was relieved to find out that she wasn’t behind those students.   It was unfortunate though that Cheetah did not seem to be entertained by the performances.  

“Next,   Choi Yena”

Yena heard her name clearly, a sudden coldness crept on both hands, she slowly raised one hand up in the air. 

“You better be good” 

Yena grabbed the music sheet and walked up to the front.  She was facing the whole class, all eyes were on her.  Her surrounding became unusually quiet.  For a moment, she made eye contact with Yuri,   the girl was clapping silently to cheer her up. 

Yena cleared and started singing.  At the corner of her eyes, she saw Cheetah smiling.  The notes weren’t too difficult to hit, but was not in the best condition either.

As the song went on, was getting dryer.  The high notes were draining her energy.  

Yena was about to run out of breath, 

until she choked, 

and her voice cracked. 

A burst of laughter could be heard following Yena’s cracked voice.  Some students were covering their mouths to control their laughter.  Yena’s ears turned red in embarrassment.

 It would be lying if she said she wasn’t hurt.      Yena turned to Cheetah, ready to be scolded but she was simply told to get back to the seat.