“I’m Jinsoul,” I introduced myself.

“Well Jinsoul, it’s a pleasure to have you in our trigonometry class, please feel free to take a seat anywhere,” the professor gestured to the seats in front of him.

I bowed my head at him before walking up the steps, to an empty seat in the back.

“What’s with her eye patch?”

“Is she blind?”

“She’s not that bad looking, for the half of the face we can see.” Students whispered to each other as I walked by their seats.

I took a seat in one of the back rows next to a male that was sleeping, his arms were crossed over the table and his head was facing the other way. The olive green bomber jacket he wore acted as a makeshift pillow and cushioned his face. I did my best to pay attention and take notes during the lecture feeling stares here and there. The male next to me made no attempt to pay attention to the lecture as he was still asleep even when the lecture had ended. Standing up from my seat, I reached a hand out just about to tap him to wake him up.

“Hey new girl,” someone called, I looked over to one of the other students that was seated two rows below. The male that had called me shook his head, “I’d leave him if I were you, and pick a new seat next time,” he said before turning to leave with his friends. I ended up retracting my hand and leaving the male there to sleep, going to my next class.

Walking into the dance studio Lucas had showed me earlier I found the practice room where my class was being held. Stepping in, there were already students inside sprawled out stretching and watching two students dancing in the center, they were both barefoot and moved majestically. When the music stopped a few students clapped, the two males who were dancing huffed.

“That’s all we have so far, but it doesn’t feel complete,” the shorter of the two spoke.

“Well at least you two know it’s not complete,” the instructor was standing in front of them at the mirror, a clipboard in hand, “Just be sure to fix it before the competition.”

The other male sighed, “We don’t know how to fix it.”

“Why not grab each other’s neck?” I blurted out.

All eyes in the room shifted to me.

Oh goodness, I shouldn’t have said anything. One of the worst things you could do is give input to someone else’s dance that doesn’t concern you at all.

“What?” the shorter male asked, his face had become stoic, “And who are you?”

“Jinsoul, I was just giving my input,” I shrugged.

The instructor flipped through her clipboard, “Oh you’re right, you’re the new student in my class right? What do you specialize in?”

“I’m sorry?” my eyes shifted to her.

“In dance,” she held out a hand as though I knew what she was talking about, “Hip hop? Ballet? Jazz? Contemporary? What?” she asked.

“Oh, I actually don’t,” I confessed to her, “It’s been ages since I’ve last danced.”

Everyone was still staring at me.

The short male scoffed, “Then how are you going to tell me how to fix my dance?”

“Ten, it’s okay, we should listen to other’s opinions too,” the other male put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“Well if you know how to fix my dance then perform it for me,” his eyes pierced right through me.

“Maybe I will.”

The male, Ten, scoffed once more.

“I’ll perform with you, just tell me what you want to change,” the male behind him took a few steps towards me.

I put my bag down against the wall, “Then at the beginning, you two pretended as though the both of you are a mirrored reflection of yourself right? Well pretend as though you reach through the mirror, don’t stop once you reach the mirror but go through it. Then grab onto my hand before you sit down.” The male nodded along as I explained, listening attentively as I demonstrated to him just what I wanted.

“Is she crazy?”

“What is she thinking trying to tell Ten how to change his dance?”

“Can she even dance?”

“She’s only seen the dance once, will she be okay?”

“What should I call you?” I asked him. He knew my name but I didn’t know his.

“Just call me Sicheng,” he gave me a soft smile.

I nodded, “That’s all I really saw that you could change to the dance.”

“Will you be okay?” he asked.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

“Can I touch you then?,” his eyes widened realizing what he had just asked me, “For the dance.”

I nodded again as I took off my shoes and socks.

We made our way to the center of the room and stood in front of her.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“They didn’t even practice.”

Students were whispering to one another again.

“You can start the music,” Sicheng looked over at the teacher who had the remote in her hand. She nodded before pressing the play button.

The two of us moved in sync, our eyes not leaving each other’s. On beat the two of us reached for each other’s neck before letting go and grabbing each other’s hand. As we continued, his lips brushed past my neck and I could feel his breathing, closing my eyes for a second I hoped that it would keep my face composed. I could feel my muscles tense and had to resist the urge to elbow him away from me. The song they had picked was more melodious and the feel of the song it looked like they wanted was a gloomy one. As we neared the end of the song, I grabbed my ears, looking down at the ground, before slowly turning to meet Sicheng’s eyes. He moved towards me and gently put his hand behind my neck, pulling me towards his chest. The music ended and I could hear his small breaths next to my ear as I felt his chest rise up and down. A pair of hands started clapping before a few more joined in. I looked up and took a step back away from Sicheng, his hand dropped to his side. Looking over to where the clapping first started was Lucas along with the dancing male from this morning whose gaze I met and the other dancer that was with him.

Ten stood in the front of the room next to the instructor, his hands crossed over his chest.

The instructor, whose name is Ms.Yu that I learned later, looked down at her clipboard once again, “You don’t specialize in anything?” she asked.

I shook my head, “No ma’am.”

“When was the last time you danced?” she asked.

My hands found their way to each other as I fiddled with my nails, “A few years now.” The last time I had danced was before I committed myself to my father’s business. I became so busy after I had joined that I didn’t have time to dance anymore.

A few students gasped.

Was the dance really that bad? Did they only clap out of pity?

The instructor dropped the page she was looking at, “Well I better see you making a debut at our dance competition this semester,” she smiled.

“What?” I asked.

“Everyone please, a round of applause for our new student Lee Jinsoul,” the instructor started clapping and so did other students, only Ten didn’t join in, rolling his eyes.

“Good job,” Sicheng patted my back.

“Thanks, you too,” I smiled at him.

“Yo, I didn’t know you could dance,” Lucas was beaming at me.

“I didn’t know either, it’s been a long time since I’ve danced,” I admitted.