Sometimes you think that your body is going to snap into two because of the force you use to twist your waist around and from side to side. There’s a tone playing somewhere in your head, you have heard it somewhere before but you can’t figure out where and you don’t have time. Your mind connects to the tone and your body follows suite.

You pop your body as fast and as hard as you can, you feel your muscles stretch and you ignore the pain. You focus on how your body is breaking and twisting before you kick your right leg in the air, you hold it to keep it in place. Gracefully, you begin to spin at a slow pace and when you let go of your leg – you spin faster in a form of ballet. You put your arms to good use as you spin; they help with your balance. Soon enough, you find yourself sinking to the floor and you dramatically drop yourself on it like you have been smacked.

Hold it. Your moves come to a halt stop and you lay on the ground, lifelessly; you try to ignore the piercing stares. You close your eyes trying to catch the tune playing in your head.

“Too close – move back.” You hear Mr. Jung’s voice you can’t see his expression because you do have your eyes closed. Your ears twitch at the sounds of feet on the ground and you’re sure they have given you space but you can still feel their stares.

Go – legs first.With a touch of elegance you get up from the floor, you pretend to swipe the floor using your right foot in a way that it looks like you’re caressing it, seducing it. You move your foot in front of your left one and your eyes snap open. Faster than your mind can catch on, your arms are thrown in the air and you stick out your bodyline making it to more visible through the clothes you have on.

Your arms are still up and ever so slowly, you guide your right hand diagonal. You make it look like shockwaves are passing through your right hand to your arm before the waves go to your body.

Now. You don’t wait for the waves to stop; you use your left leg to do a kick similar to a roundhouse kick but the opposite direction. As soon as your leg reaches the ground again, you create a rhythmic movement of your limbs. Your dances’ attitude changes 360 degrees and so does your expression.

Freedom to show the world what you feel. Actions speak louder than words. You arch your back and your expression changes into one of pain. You keep your feet stuck on the ground and with your arching back; you touch the ground with your hands, you shiver at the air when your stomach is shamelessly exposed for everyone to your face heats up. Everything is upside down now.

Do the trick as fast as possible. You think to yourself and you bite your lower lip, you use as much force as you can master to kick both legs forward into the air. You use your arms to support you when your legs stop in midair. Your arms support your body weight and you try to ignore the whispers and shocked gasps coming from the student.

“She’s going to fall.” You hear someone and you smile. You have no idea. Your arms and hands adjust to your weight on them but you know it’s only for a few minutes. You spread your legs and you leave them floating, you mentally roll your eyes at the whistling from some of the students, you carefully force yourself backwards, your back pops out and your flexibility does its work. You find yourself standing on one leg. How’d I do that? You feel your leg weaken and you know you’re about to fall. You quickly but smoothly drop yourself to the floor and your body goes into fetal position.

I worked a few muscles. You pant tiredly, you hear a few people clap and they immediately stop clapping when you sit up.

“That’s all?” You hear a person say and you don’t bother looking around to find out who it is, you nod your head trying to catch your breathe. The room fills with claps, cheers and some more whistling. The students surround you with large smiles on their faces and you give them a smile of your own.

You blink at the hand in front of your face and you slowly reach for it. The hand pulls you up and you find yourself staring into eyes that you now think are you favorite to stare at.

“You alright?” HoWon questions, you see the look of concern in his eyes and you hide a smile. You nod your head and he lets you go. Not too long after he releases your hand, you stumble forward – he snakes his arm around your wrist and pulls you to him. Your cheeks grow hot and you sudden feel embarrassed at the looks you receive. “I guess not.” HoWon chuckles lightly.

¤¤¤¤

You step out of the girls’ locker room already dressed in your uniform after the refreshing shower. You adjust your backpack on your shoulder after you pull out your schedule. Sungjong is nowhere to be found, the last time you saw him he was with Mr. Jung.

You successfully find your next class and you walk over to an empty desk by the window side.   Not many people are in the classroom and all of them are from your P.E class. You feel their stares and you look outside the window to avoid them.

“Hello.” You look away from the window to the source of the voice. You find yourself staring at HyunA, if that’s her name. You give her a smile which she responds with her own. She takes the empty seat beside you and stares at you making you feel uncomfortable.

“You’re good.” She comments and your eyes widen at that, you’ve seen her dance – she’s amazing and in fact all the best students are amazing. Your favorite from them is obviously HoWon. “How long have you been dancing? Have you been going for practice? Do you have a personal trainer?”

She sure talks a lot.You think but you give her a sincere smile.

“Is it true?” You raise your eyebrow, confused. “That you’re mute? Doesn’t seem like it to me.” She shrugs unpacking things from her shoulder bag. You’re about to reach out for your backpack but a book is slammed on your desk.

You give her a questioning look and she chuckles.

“Talk – write to me – friends?”

Should I be creeped out?  You blink at her and you shyly get the pen from her hands. Before you get the chance to write down your answers to her previous questions, the door slams open – you don’t even remember it being closed.

You turn your attention to the door and you raise your eyebrow. WooHyun? You give him a weird look. His eyes land on your and he advances towards you, he stops before you and stares down at you. You look back at him with a questioning look.

“I need you.”

¤¤¤¤

You look from the hand wrapped around your wrist to the owner; you stare at WooHyun before you look around. The hallway is empty because classes have started and so has yours but WooHyun managed to talk to Mrs. Kang.

“I shouldn’t have dragged you out of class but I need you,” He breathes out, you look up at him and you slowly peel his long fingers off your wrist before your rub it. You watch him as he reaches out for something in his pocket; he pulls out his phone and gives it to you. “I need your help, alright?” He says stilling holding the phone in front of you.

You hesitate at first but you get the phone and you stare blankly at it. You pass your finger over the screen and it lights; you look at the apps trying to find the most helpful app for people in your situation.

You quickly type down a question and you turn the phone to him.

What do you need help with?

You observe his actions and the way his mouth moves. Is he nervous? You think before you lower the phone from his face. It takes him a few seconds to answer your question.

“We have this project on types of disabilities.” He trails off and he runs his fingers through his hair after he heaves out a sigh.

Okay. And you need my help how? You raise your eyebrow.

“Well,” He clears his throat. “You are – you know – I’d rather know about the disability from someone who has it.” He shrugs and you try not to let that get to you. He’s not trying to be offensive in anyway and you know it but there are times when you don’t have a wall built.

You tuck your hair behind your ear and you swallow thickly.   

Find someone else.

You gently grab his hand and you place his phone in it. Being polite, you wait for him to read the three words. He looks at you and back at the text and you see him bite his lower lip.

“Did I offend you?” He questions in a soft tone. You look away from him, finding the floor more interesting as you blink back unwanted tears. You wrap your arms around yourself and you shake your head, lying to him. Of course he offended you but you didn’t want him to know that – and you know he didn’t mean it. You don’t want to appear weak in front of anyone who is not your father.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.” He murmurs and by the tone of his voice, you can tell he feels guilty. “I’d never hurt you intentionally.” That triggers something in your heart and your tears pour out. Through your blurry vision you reach out for his phone, you take it and you stare at it.

I know.

You look up at him and you force a smile on your face. You blink when his thumb wipes away the tear from your face. Seconds later his hand retreats back to him side.

“It’s not for the project only,” He admits. “I want to learn more about you.” He says and you can’t help but give him a real smile at his awkwardness.

And my muteness?

He pauses and you notice how he looks in deep thought. Wow, he does think. You think as you use your free hand to wipe the tears away.

“No,” He shrugs, “You – because I don’t want to say something that’ll cause you to cry.”

You’re being nice. For once.

He his lower lip and pokes your forehead lightly. “Do you like the mean me?” He questions wiggling his eyebrows and you snort. You immediately cover your mouth and nose.

“Mr. Nam?” You both look at the person walking towards you and WooHyun. You raise your eyebrow not knowing who the person is. “Shouldn’t you be attending my class?” The man answers, his voice full of authority.

“I’m working on your project – do you want it done or not?” He rolls his eyes and your eyes widen at how rude he sounds. You’re expecting the man to scold him but the man merely gives him a shrug and chuckles.

“That’s shocking.” He rolls his eyes, “Is a girl involved in this?” He turns to you and gives you a small smile. “I hope he doesn’t rub his laziness on you.” With that the man walks away casually.

“That’s Mr. Park – I’ll see you around, ‘kay?” He rubs the back of his head and you give him a nod. He doesn’t make a move to walk away and you give him a confused but curious look. He takes a step closer to you not taking his eyes off you and you take in a deep breath.

No one has ever looked at you the way he is, he is looking at you like he’s about to eat you. You’re not sure if you should freak out and run away from him or if you should wait for his next move. You pick the latter and you notice that you have his phone.

He stops way too close for comfort and attempts to take his phone away but you don’t release your grip on it. “I need this back.” He chuckles and your eyes widen. You blush sheepishly and you shove the phone in his hand. You spin around to go back to your class but he grabs your wrist.

“You haven’t told me. What do I need to know about you?” He pulls you back to standing before him. You have no idea what he’s talking about but you pretend you do and you get his phone from him.

You stare at the blank screen and pass your finger on it. Its light up and somehow, you find that amusing, a smile graces your lips.

I’ve missed half of the lesson because of you.

Go to class, WooHyun. I’ll see you after school.

You turn around not wanting for him to respond and you enter your class. You bow to Mrs. Kang and you walk over to your seat next to Sungjong.

“Welcome back,” He says not taking his eyes off his textbook.

“Nice of you to join us!” Mrs. Kang says before she goes back into whatever she was teaching before you walked in. “Shakespeare.” As soon as those words leave her lips most of the students groan and whine softly amongst themselves. You take your textbook out of your backpack and you flip the pages open after picking a glance at Sungjong’s textbook to see the page number.