Kina's POV
"I hope you're all having a good time today. We have so many more amazing contestants for you to see so over to Hannah to introduce our next contestant." Mr Lupton the head of student affairs at our school announced.
Today was the last day of senior spirit week. To mark the occasion, the senior talent show was well underway. Don't be fooled by the name. None of the seniors actually perform. They just pressure people to perform in order to hype the school up one last time before the new seniors take over.
Unluckily enough I had an older sister who was a senior. Before they had even started planning the talent show I was already on the list to perform. Apparently she only signed me up so I could show off my talent for dance but I knew she had ulterior motives.
"You got this Kina. Make me proud" my best friend Gale joked. I rolled my eyes. Zara definitely owed me big time for this. I went over the dance in my head so that I wouldn't forget any of the steps when it came time to perform.
"Our next contestant is Kina Song who will be performing a dance for us today. I was told to give an honourable mention to the senior who signed her up" the head prefect Hannah announced. I exhaled deeply and ran out onto the stage as the lights dimmed. The music started and the stage lights faded in.
Breathe Kina.
I let my body glide to the music, executing each step of the choreography sensually. A few 8th graders in the front row swooned when I briefly glanced in their direction. I ended my dance off with a wink causing one of the 8th graders to faint. I chuckled lightly to myself as the audience roared with applause, taking a bow before running off stage into the arms of Gale and Cassie.
"Fuck Kina that was sooo much better than in practice and that wink at the end! What the fuck was that!?" Cassie said slapping me on the shoulder I hit her back playfully and she retreated behind Gale. I chased after her causing her to scream and run back to where we were before. The A.V Techs sent us glares and Gale sent me a warning look
"Stop it you two or I'll leave you here" Gale warned playfully. Cassie and I immediately shut up and sat on the railing of the stage stairs so we wouldn't have to go back to where the rest of the school was.
"Now we have a special performance from a very brave 8th grader. She is my freshman so be nice or else. Please welcome. Erika Park" Hannah announced before walking off stage. The audience applauded lightly as the lights dimmed again.
When the lights came on again, I was mesmerised by the sight before me. Cassandra and Gale shared a look before drawing their attention back to the stage.
"She's so cute. She reminds me of myself" Cassie gushed. Gale and I simultaneously rolled our eyes before drawing our attention back to the stage.
The music started and Erika began to dance. I had been forced to watch many ballets as a child but the way this girl danced made it seem like a whole new style of dance.
I was mesmerised.
Erika's POV
I hadn't danced Giselle in years. Let alone in pointe shoes. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I ran through the choreography based off muscle memory over anything else. I didn't let my smile falter through the excruciating pain that radiated through my legs with each little hop I did on pointe.
Breathe Erika.
I made eye contact with one of the judges before finishing off the choreography as gracefully as possible, trying my best not to trip over my own feet. When the dance ended I took a deep breath to steady my dizziness enough to curtsy. The sound of my heartbeat filled my ears before the roars from the crowd did.
I bowed once more before scurrying off stage. I stumbled into the arms of my best friends as they steadied me while I overcame my spell of dizziness.
"Well done Riri that was amazing" Nancy said. My friends hummed in agreement. As soon as I felt stable enough I sat down on the floor in attempts to steady my racing heart. When I had returned to a state of calm, my friends and I made our way back to our seats in the auditorium to watch the remaining performances.
"Did you see the girl that danced before you?" Maya asked me. All my friend's eyes landed on me. Some filled with curiosity but others has smugness plaguing their features. I nodded carefully.
"She was really good. Her style is quite similar to Aspen's except it looks like she has a little bit more experience than he does" I explained. Maya stifled laughter beside me, pushing my shoulder lightly.
Once I had returned to a state of calm, my friends and I snuck up to the gallery of the auditorium to watch the remaining contestant's performances. There were a few poets and a lot of singers, some of which I felt second hand embarrassment for.
"Please tell me if there's something I'm not good at before I embarrass myself in front of the whole school" Maya teased. I smacked her lightly and she playfully slapped my shoulder in return which granted us a scolding from Airi to behave ourselves.
When the last contestants had performed, Hannah returned to the stage with the results in her hands. Excitement bubbled inside me as it did at every dance competition I had ever competed in when it came to placing.
"Before I open this envelope I want to congratulate everyone who performed today, you are all winners in my eyes" Hannah paused as the crowd applauded. Tabitha rolled their eyes. The whole 'everyone is a winner' spiel always bored them.
Hannah opened the envelope and read over the results carefully. She looked up at the crowd with intrigue as she placed the piece of paper back into the envelope.
"In third place we have Alexis for her stand up comedy piece" Hannah announced. Everyone applauded as Alexis returned to the stage to collect her prize.
"Now ladies and gentlemen for the first time in history we do not have a second place winner but instead a tied first place winner" Hannah paused for dramatic effect. My friends and I looked at each other in turn before looking back at Hannah on the stage.
"Drumroll please!" Hannah instructed. Everyone drummed on their laps in anticipation. Hannah smiled before opening the envelope once again to announce the results.
"Our winners of this year's talent show are Kina and Shae!" she announced. The auditorium went wild, with many people giving the winners a standing ovation. I applauded politely as they accepted their prizes .
"Sorry Erika. Maybe next year you'll get it" Airi reassured. I smiled at her gratefully. Hannah dismissed us to go home early today. My friends lead me out of the auditorium quickly so we could get outside before everyone else got out.
"I finally found everyone a person I ship them with" Tabitha announced. Everyone looked at them expectantly.
"Airi with Flynn because they're both shy little introverts with a love for drawing" Tabitha started. A light flush spread across Airi's cheeks and she attempted to cover it up with her hands.
"No I don't think so" Airi shook her head and scrunched up her nose. I draped my arm over Airi's shoulder comfortingly as everyone chuckled at Tabitha's bluntness.
"Nancy with Faye cause that's a couple that'll shake the world since they're always at the beach together anyways" Tabitha continued. Nancy gasped and narrowed their eyes at me. I raised my arms in surrender but before I could defend myself Tabitha spoke again.
"Before you start pointing fingers it was Maya who told me not Erika" Tabitha clarified. Nancy's icy glare landed on Maya and she froze turning to glare at Tabitha.
"Continue Tabitha I want to know who you ship me with" Maya quickly interjected to avoid the wrath of Nancy.
"Maya with either Felix or Cassandra cause I really don't know her preference" Tabitha continued. I raised an eyebrow at the first option knowing full well that Maya wouldn't even go within five meters of Felix.
"Not bad" Maya approved. I scoffed, earning a slap from Maya. I rubbed my skin where she had hit me before hitting her back with the exact same amount of force. Nancy and Airi shook their heads at our childish behaviour.
"Lastly Erika and Kina belong together. I decided that when I discovered Kina existed 0.3 seconds ago" Tabitha concluded. I chuckled loudly and rolled my eyes.
"I could never date Kina she probably has a girlfriend and last time I checked, my parents forbade me from dating until college. Imagine if my mother found out I was breaking that rule and with a woman at that. I would die" I said as we walked through the 8th grade locker hall.
I twisted the dial of my locker to open it and grabbed all my stuff from inside slamming the locker shut when I was done. I waited for my friends to collect their things as well before we left the school building together.
"But what about your dad? Would he care that you're gay?" Maya asked. I shrugged. My father never really took a stance on such things and would always change the subject when uncomfortable topics were brought up.
"My dad doesn't talk about it. He always changes the subject when it comes up. I don't think he had those types of conversations growing up in Korea" I sighed. My friend group stood under a tree in the parking lot waiting for our parents to come pick us up.
"Don't look now Maya but Felix is looking at you" Tabitha changed the subject. I rolled my eyes and turned in the direction Tabitha was looking. Maya silently protested, pulling on my shirt to stop me from doing what I was about to do.
"Hi Felix" I greeted really loudly waving in his direction. He lazily waved back turning back to his conversation with his friends. Maya groaned and covered her face with her hands.
"Erika how could you do that to me?" Maya whined. I giggled and attempted to pull her in for a hug to which she dodged.
Suddenly a pair of cold hands pulled me back into them before covering my eyes. Hannah's perfume surrounded me and I felt the comfort it had always brought me every time high school felt overwhelming.
"Guess who?" the person asked in a funny voice. I could hear my friends stifling laughter around me. I chuckled nervously before answering.
"Hannah?" I asked. The person removed their hands and I turned around to confirm my answer. I pulled my senior mentor in for a hug to which she returned.
"I got you a gift for being the most amazing freshman buddy a girl could ask for" she released me from the hug and turned to her friend for the gift. I accepted it gratefully and gave her another hug. I pulled a wrapped gift from my bag and presented it to Hannah.
"I got you this to thank you for helping me stay alive this school year" I smiled. Hannah looked at the gift with teary eyes before pulling me in for another hug.
"You are so cute Erika. Stay in touch okay?" she held me at arms length. I nodded and she ruffled my hair like she always does only this time I felt an ache in my heart knowing it would be the last time she did. I signed her school shirt before she left towards the senior parking lot.
"How did you handle being the head girl's buddy?" Maya asked. I shrugged, sneaking a peek in the gift back that Hannah had given me.
"It wasn't that big of a deal. She was really nice so I wasn't uncomfortable with the fact that she was a prefect" I answered. My older brother pulled into the lot and I grabbed my bags. My friends bid me farewell and I ran towards my brother's car.
"Erika why did you not answer your phone" My brother Taeyang imitated our dad. I rolled my eyes at him.
"Quick we gotta get home so I can change for dance" I urged drumming my fingers on the dashboard in excitement. Taeyang pulled out of the parking lot and we sped off towards our house.
"Halmeoni sent us stuff from Korea so I put it on your bed. Also appa said you need to try on your new hanbok before he gets back from work" Taeyang said. I nodded.
"I hope Hyejin and Aideen didn't go through what I got from Korea because they like to take the nice things halmeoni sends me" I said.
The rest of the trip there was no conversation. The only sound being the music coming from the radio. I watched the beach slowly creep into view as we got closer to the house. I loved living near the beach. The sound of the waves when it got really quiet at night was comforting.
"You go get ready for dance and grab a snack and I'll go check up on Elise" Taeyang said when we arrived at the house. I groaned and threw my head back on the car seat.
"Of course Elise's here" I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. Nobody liked Elise but Taeyang didn't care. He still loved her no matter what. I opened the outer door of our house and took off my shoes in the entry room. I pushed open the inner door of the house and was immediately greeted with the screaming of Aideen, Hyejin and Elise.
"TAEYANG TELL YOUR BITCH TO STAY IN HER PLACE OR I WILL PUT HER IN HER PLACE" Aideen yelled. Aideen is my oldest sister, the first born of our family. She is always the type of person to put you in your place which is why this interaction didn't surprise me.
"I'M THE BITCH NOW? YOU DESERVE TO GET YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU" Elise yelled back. I drew in a sharp breath knowing what was about to happen now.
Hyejin and Aideen looked at each other before Aideen lunged at Elise but Hyejin pulled her back before she could do anything. Taeyang ran a hand through his hair and sighed before stepping in.
"ENOUGH. Erika to your room go get ready for dance. Hyejin, Aideen and Elise. Outside. Now." Taeyang said sternly. Everything stopped and Aideen glanced at him briefly before obliging. Even if Taeyang was younger, Aideen never questioned him when he was angry.
I ran off to my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I looked at my bed to see some garmet bags and two big boxes on the bed. I made a mental note to go through them later. I changed into comfortable clothes for practice before returning to the kitchen for a snack.
"Be ready to go in five minutes I just have to finish up outside with Elise." Taeyang said as my older sisters came back into the house. My sisters and I shared a look before Hyejin rolled her eyes.
"Explain" I pried. Aideen grabbed a wine glass out of the cabinet and poured herself a generous glass of wine, taking a long sip before speaking.
"So Taeyang brought his bitch here and they were talking on the couch" Aideen paused to take another sip from her glass.
"Anyways she thought we weren't here so she tried pressuring Tae to break his purity vow. He kept refusing and eventually they had a fight and Tae left to go pick you up from school" Aideen paused again to down the rest of her glass of wine. She poured herself another glass before returning the bottle to the fridge.
"We decided to mind our own damn business but we wanted food so we came to the kitchen. Elise started talking shit so I put her in her place. And now we're here" Aideen finished. Silence came over us as I processed what I had just been told. If I hated Elise before I definitely hated her even more now.
"How was the talent show Cherry?" Hyejin changed the subject. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
"Well I didn't win but I think I did pretty well" I said. My sisters looked at me apologetically. As the youngest sibling, my older siblings are forever looking out for me. Sometimes it was overbearing but a lot of the time it was nice having them looking out for me.
"At least you had fun right?" Hyejin asked. I nodded. I relayed the story of the day on them and watched their facial expressions change with every detail. I obviously left out the detail of Tabitha shipping me with a girl.
"When you get back from dance you need to show us what you got from Korea we've been dying to see" Hyejin changed the subject. Aideen hummed in agreement, nodding eagerly at what had been said.
"Well I know I got a hanbok but I wonder what colour I got" I shrugged. I was never as picky as my older sisters when it came to hanbok colours. My grandmother always said that I was born in spring because I was the calm child.
"I got pastel pink and Hyejinie got pastel blue so maybe you got pastel yellow or purple" Aideen suggested. I really liked the idea of both colours. Either way I would appreciate the hanbok because I had grown out of my other one.
When Taeyang and Elise returned inside the tension in the room grew once again. My sisters and I shared looks as an awkward silence spread across the room
"Let's go Cherika you don't wanna be late" he said grabbing his keys from the hook. I grabbed my bags and said goodbye to my sisters before leaving the house without a word.
The silence continued through out ride to the studio not even any music could be heard. The tension between Taeyang and Elise could be cut with a knife and I wanted nothing more than to open the car door and jump out of the moving vehicle.
When we pulled up to the front of the studio and I could not have exited the car faster. I was about to run into the studio when Taeyang stopped me.
"Wait Erika. What time am I picking you up?" He asked. I wracked my brain for an estimate time to give him considering that practice never really ended on time.
"At 7" I answered finally. He nodded drove off. I sighed and strolled into the studio.
"Erika finally" my best guy friend and forever dance partner Aspen said running to the door to greet me.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who's early" I said giving him a big hug.
"Did you hear we would be having a new person on our team next season?" Aspen asked. I shook my head putting my bag down next to his before following him to our stretching corner.
"Well apparently she's really good. I heard she was scouted by Aubree at an underground competition" he continued. I raised my eyebrow at him. Aubree took our studio's team very seriously and getting a spot on the team was almost impossible these days. Being scouted by Aubree herself was a huge deal.
"That's crazy. None of us who are still on the team were scouted" I gasped. He shook his head. The problem with scouted team members is that they always had a superiority complex and that always got in the way of their performance. The end result was always them being kicked off the team with immediate effect.
"She could never be better than us though" I teased. Aspen chuckled and pushed me lightly. We decided to warm up and stretch before practicing our duet for today's check-in. A check in is where our coach Aubree watches all of our dances for upcoming competitions just to see where we need to improve.
As Aspen and I polished the existing choreography we had, the rest of the team began to arrive. The studio filled with chatter as everyone socialised while they prepared for today's check-in.
"Well it looks like everyone's here" Aubree stated. The studio fell quiet at the sound of her voice. We all sat on the floor around her to find out how today's practice was going to work.
"Firstly we have a new edition to our team and no I'm not pregnant before any of you ask." Aubree started. A lot of people sighed causing Aubree to roll her eyes.
"Kina would you like to come up and introduce yourself to your new teammates" Aubree said.
My heart stopped.
You've got to be fucking kidding me
A part of me wanted to run away and hide but I froze. The last thing I wanted was for my school life and my private life to cross over. This could only mean trouble.
For both of us.