Chapter 8 – Revelations

The powerful chorus of Deja Vu roared into Solbin's ears, and the vibrations from the bass rumbled underneath her feet as she moved her body along to the beat. Sweat was beginning to line her forehead, and her limbs were starting to grow sore. Nonetheless, she pushed herself to keep up with the others, who seemed to be declining in energy as well. She was a bit slower though, observing herself in the mirror. Her moves were not as sharp or synchronized as the others. She felt bad, especially for Hayoung, who was working particularly hard since she was the best dancer in their cabin.

Solbin stole a glance at the members of Pitter Pat and Red Velvet. They were doing well, and in spite of her wanting everyone to get along and succeed, tension levels were soaring high. The Laboum Music Show was fastly approaching, and practice grew increasingly intense - not only as the choreography became more difficult, but as the competition became more fierce. They all wanted to win, each and every one of them. Meals were notably quieter, and free time was spent on individual practice. Solbin, however, continued her lessons with Yujeong to build up her self-esteem and become more confident in herself.

Solbin breathed heavily through her nose; she felt like she'd swallowed a match and set fire to her lungs. She fumbled with one of the moves, and she caught Jinye's sly smile in the mirror. She swallowed hard and pushed herself harder - she couldn't afford to be a weakness in the group.

Sojin noticed that some of the girls were beginning to lag behind in their dancing, so she gestured for Soyeon to cut the music, in which she quickly did. As soon as the music evaporated, they all stopped immediately to catch their breath, wipe away their sweat, and take generous sips of water. Solbin wanted to simply collapse on the floor at this point as she leaned her body against the mirror for support. Many of the other girls did the same; sitting down wouldn't help at all.

"It's getting so hot and stuffy in here, I'm going to ask the counselors to see if we can open the windows or something. The choreography cabin is way too small to deal with this many sweaty girls in one closed room..." Yulhee mumbled as she left Haein and Solbin to talk to Sojin.

"Solbin, how are you doing?" Haein asked her friend worriedly. The two friends watched as Yulhee helped Sojin and Soyeon open up the windows. A wonderfully cool breeze drifted in, and the girls within the choreography cabin managed to relax a bit. The more comfort, the better their performance would be.

"I'm okay..." The taller girl quietly replied, swiping the back of her wrist across her moist forehead. She grimaced as her skin was more soaked than she'd expected it to be.

"Here's a towel..."

Solbin turned to her side and blinked as Yujeong approached her, a small white towel in her hand. "Thank you - " Just as the younger girl was about to take it from the older, Yujeong stood right in front of her and began gingerly dabbing at Solbin's perspiration for her. Solbin could feel heat rising in her cheeks as she remained completely still and allowed the blonde to take care of her. Haein watched their brief interaction and grinned - hopefully something would happen before they left this camp.

When Yujeong was finished cleaning up Solbin's sweat, she turned to Haein. "Would you like me to clean you up as well? I'll grab another towel - "

Haein shook her head and waved her hands about in refusal. "No thank you, it's totally fine. I brought my own towel, see?" The pinkette pulled out a small yellow rag from the back of her pocket to show the counselor, and Yujeong nodded in acknowledgement.

"How do you feel about dance practice? It's not too much, is it?"

"No, I think it's just right for us to prepare for the music show. We're going to need to develop good stamina and improve our dancing abilities. Right, Solbin?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Don't overexert yourselves now. I know I said that you should work hard and put a lot of effort into practice, but if you feel like you're going to fall apart you can tell us and we'll stop the music right away. The last thing we want is for one of you girls to collapse from fatigue. Understood?" Haein and Solbin simultaneously nodded, although Yujeong's eyes were clearly fixated on the brunette. Solbin felt a twinge of discomfort as she knew that Yujeong was closely observing her and she knew that she was struggling. The blonde gave them a small smile of encouragement. "Good luck. We'll be dancing for just a little bit more before moving onto singing in the studio cabin." 

The Petit Macaron counselor walked away before anything else could be said as she noticed Soyeon preparing to start up the music again. She stood next to the radio, her finger pressed against the play button. "Everyone, get into your positions! Ready?" The tension was certainly thick; no one said anything in response and just waited for the counselor to play Deja Vu all over again. With the press of a button, the girls of Petit Macaron, Pitter Pat, and Red Velvet were at it once more.

Solbin felt much better this time, maybe because of the opened windows or maybe because Yujeong was supporting her at the fullest and she was afraid to disappoint her. Either way, her performance improved, and the corners of her lips turned up upon this realization. 

Everything seemed to be progressing rather smoothly, up until they reached the middle of the song. Jiae, who had been dancing next to Jinye, accidentally stepped on her cabinmate's foot. Jinye couldn't keep up her kindness act for long as the anxiety of the music show was getting to her, and she was quite irritable as of late. So when Jiae made this small mistake, Jinye snapped at her.

"Are you serious?! Why are you stumbling around? Why can't you just dance normally like everyone else? You're going to drag the cabin down and make us lose! You're so useless!" 

Jiae was feeling anxiety from the upcoming music show too, but she was more prone to self-deprecation than irritability. She instantly bursted into tears upon Jinye angrily shouting at her, and she stayed silent, not daring to talk back. Simple because she felt like she deserved it. The song was paused and the practice came to a halt yet again. The other girls were much too tired to do anything, and before the counselors could step in, someone else shockingly made a move instead.

Solbin moved forward from her position in the formation and made her way to where Jinye was belittling her friend. She didn't know what prompted her to do this, or where her courage came from exactly, but she knew that she couldn't stand watching her friend receive this kind of treatment. After all, she knew firsthand what it felt like to get bullied by Jinye.

"Stop yelling at her." Solbin muttered, and that was the first sign that this confrontation wasn't going to turn out so well. Her voice was quivery, and weak. Yulhee and Haein tried to intervene but Yujeong kept them back, wanting to observe the results of her and Solbin's lessons. If anything went wrong, she herself would step in. For now, they would see how far Solbin had gotten in her progress.

Jinye whipped her head around to glower at Solbin. The two of them were among the taller of the campers, and this confrontation intimidated some of the other girls, who ducked behind each other. The tension was steadily rising as Jinye narrowed her eyes at her former victim. "What did you say? I can't hear you too well, Solbin. Speak louder."

There was a split second of hesitation before Solbin repeated herself as Jinye had requested, a little louder this time: "Stop yelling at Jiae."

Jinye placed her hands on her hips, eyeing Solbin from head to toe. Her posture wasn't confident at all; in fact, she looked like she would take flight and run away at any second now. Jinye was sure that Solbin wouldn't be able to properly stand up to her - she was too weak and lacking, emotionally and confidence-wise. This would be too easy. It was laughable, really, that she was even trying when she probably knew that she was going to fail anyway.

"No. I'm not going to. She stepped on my foot, and she needs to be taught a lesson."

Solbin's eyes flickered over to a teary-eyed Jiae, who was practically begging to be saved judging by her facial expression. It gave Solbin a bit of drive to continue. "It was an accident." Her voice remained low and quiet, but she could easily be heard as the interior of the choreography cabin was engulfed in a deafening silence.

Jinye stepped forward and jabbed a finger into Solbin's chest; she smirked as the girl flinched from the physical contact. She was growing afraid at the prospect of a physical alt