Paganini's Puppet | Ryeji

Julliard Pre-College

Chaeryeong sighed.

"Yuna, SHH!"

"Oops. Hehe."

"Ryujin, this is Yuna, Yuna this is Ryujin."

A tall girl with blonde hair sat across Chaeryeong and I. She looked like a baby.

"Hi!! Are you new here?? You look new. Oooh, you look pretty handsome. How old are you? What subgroup of the school are you part of? Do you also live in Manhattan? Why are your finger nails so short? Wha-

"Yuna! Slow down," Chaeryeong cut her off.

I chuckled. This girl was cute.

"You're quite energetic, aren't you?"

Her eyes sparkled like a puppy.

"Why? Is it bad?"

"NO, no. Hahah. Well Yuna, I'm 16, turning 17 soon; I play the cello, yes I am new here, no I live in downtown Bronx, and I cut my nails often so it doesn't interfere with my cello playing...also you're quite attractive yourself."

I saw her blush, which made Chaeryeong smack her in the arm.

"OW, what the hell Chae??"

"No cursing! Also, you're too young to be flirting."

"Meanie!"

I chuckled at their interaction.

"Oh, by the way. I'm a theatre student and I'm a sophomore here!" Yuna excitedly stated.

(For the sake of the story, Chaeryeong, Ryujin, Lia, and Yeji are all juniors while Yuna is one year younger)

"Well it's nice to meet you."

"You too!!"

We ate lunch together before our next class: music composition.

Yuna didn't have any classes with us since she was one year younger and a theatre student. She's known Chaeryeong for years as they live in the same gated neighborhood. I guess they were also pretty rich.

Damn, why do I feel like I'm the only one here who isn't rich??

"Bye Yuna, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye Chae, bye RyuRyu!"

"RyuRyu?"

"Don't mind her, she's like a baby."

"I figured."

We sat through music composition before going to our last class: music history. Nothing interesting happened in those two classes. We stayed far away from Yeji and Lia. Those two were intimidating and I really didn't want to get into drama with two rich kids who could probably ruin my life.

The rest of the week went by fine as it was just the beginning of the school year.

I was so excited for Saturday. It would be my first day attending Julliard Pre-college.

I would get to participate in this program every Saturday from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. This was going to be a great experience.

I woke up in the morning with full energy.

"Got to go, mom! Today's the first day of the Julliard Pre-college program!"

"Ok, sweetie. Have a great day!"

Julliard was located super far way from where I lived. Transportation through subway took almost an hour, but I didn't mind. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I arrived and wow.

It was so freaking gorgeous.

The modern design with hundreds of large windows.

I felt so lucky to be here.

I walked to the auditorium where the directors of the program would be giving introductory speeches and instructions.

Upon entering, I was awestruck. The interior was huge. The design was simplistic yet elegant, and the polished wooden walls were absolutely beautiful. There were hundreds of seats with a roof that hung three stories high. I scanned the whole place in admiration until-

I was snapped back into reality when I saw a familiar figure. Scratch that, two familiar figures.

Fuck.

You've got to be kidding me.

I closed my eyes and opened them again.

God damn it.

I'd have to spend 6 out of 7 days a week with the two people I wanted to avoid the most.

Yeji and Lia.

I sighed.

My mood exponentially dropped.

Yeji spotted my eyes on her and stared back with a cold glare.

I saw her scoff from a distance, making Lia's head turn to the direction where Yeji was looking at.

Great.

Please, please, please do not approach me.