Thursday went by so fast that I don't even remember what exactly happened that day. Once again, Iris meets up with me and for the first time, she's the one who's early. I help her during that time, trying to stay as calm as I can but snapping at her eventually after which she says something to me. Then, Mason arrives and puts an end to our banters.

We spent about two hours trying to be in sync and succeed to some extent. Of course, we can't possibly perfect this in just one day but we have to try to do the best we can. I adjusted my own pace to hers, which was trouble but I had to do that. I'm sure we will still be ranking last tomorrow but I'm also sure that we won't be as bad as I'm fearing it to be.

We practice a bit at night as well but I make sure that neither Iris or I stress ourselves out so much that we aren't able to do anything tomorrow. And just like that, Friday comes. On the last day of the week, we submit our older assignments and get new ones instead. Iris and I don't meet throughout the day though there are people around us talking about our evaluation.

This time, even the fashion and film students are talking about. The thought of it should have made me nervous but it didn't. In the afternoon, I once again sat with Kai and Rhea. Ryker is nowhere to be found and he's not willing to tell anyone of us about what's bothering him. I decide to leave early but just as I'm walking out of the building, I bump into someone and would have fallen if the person wouldn't have caught me.

"I'm so sorry," I mutter as the person steadies me.

"Oh, it's alright. I wasn't watching," he says to me, his grip ice cold. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say. I look up to see just who it is, only to find a guy, older than me. He's got dark olive skin, short hair and a charming expression on his face. I recognise him almost instantly - he's Gabriel Liamme. The top of Euterpe last year. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. You're a first year? I haven't seen you around."

"Yeah, I'm a first year," I reply. I'm about to excuse myself when I hear a familiar voice call out to him.

"Gabriel, you coming?" Asher's voice reaches my ears and he walks back, probably to find him. His eyes fall on me and he smiles - that small, teasing one that he always does reminding me that it's all a game to him. He walks over to us and if that isn't enough, almost all the others come here to see us too. There are two unfamiliar faces here - which I guess are Diego Matias and Clara Elvar.

Diego Matias has a bored look on his face. His hair is slick black, his skin tanned and gaze so scary that it sends a chill down my spine. He's intimidating, I'll give him that. Clara Elvar is tall and pretty with her fair hair and skin. Even her eyes are a deep, dreamy blue. She would look pretty with a smile on her face which is nowhere to be found right now.

She looks like a dance student. I think she would have been a dance student. And she would've been good.

"Lee," Penny says, a smile on her face as she walks towards her and wraps her arms around me, catching me off guard. My eyes meet Asher's, who's shaking his head, biting back a smile. "I missed you so much. I haven't seen you in a long time."

"Penny," I say as I pull away from her, "we see each other every day."

She clicks her tongue, playfully pulling my hair. "Quit it, will you? Let me be a little dramatic."

"Lee," Gabriel says, "you got yourself a new girlfriend, Penny?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Penny says, pouting, "yet."

"I'm straight," I say with a sick smile. "Not that you don't know."

"I forget." She shrugs, disappointment in her tone.

Gabriel shakes his head, a smile making its way on his face as he extends his hand. "Gabriel Liamme," he introduces himself.

I shake his hand. "Harley Kingsley."

"Ah, you're the first ranker. The recordbreaker."

I press my lips in an awkward smile.

"I'm pretty sure she's tired of hearing that," a familiar voice says from behind me. A heavy arm drapes across my shoulder and the moment I recognise the voice, my heart skips a beat. Nate's gaze on me, so cold that it makes a chill go down my spine. He looks at it for a good moment before looking at Gabriel with a smile. "Hey, Gabriel."

"Hey," Gabriel says. "So, you all are fond of the first ranker, huh? Cute."

"Yeah, well, wait till you see her dance," Asher says, his tone playful. I raise my eyebrows, scoffing as our eyes meet and I shake my head in disbelief. He doesn't miss this, of course, because my reaction only makes him smile more. "Isn't it, Harley?"

"Come on, it isn't gonna be as bad as you think it is," Mason mutters, scratching the back of his neck. "Not saying they're gonna come first but yeah, it's gonna be average."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure they're gonna suck," Ella says, smirking. "She's with Iris, right? That girl sucks too. Harley's not exactly the person to adjust to other's paces, is she?"

"Ella–" Mason says but is interrupted by Gabriel, who probably thought that it was the best to change the topic.

"Weren't we supposed to go to the Music block?" he says. "Come on. We have to see you guys' evaluation, too."

He throws me a smile before his eyes flick to Nate, who breathes out and lets me go. He looks at me and our eyes meet for a moment before he looks away. He's hurt and affected by everything I said that day but I don't regret it at all. If he wants to fix this, he needs to understand.

"See you at the auditorium, Harley," says Summer and it's now that I notice that she was here. I mean, she has been here the whole time and I knew that too but she's been so quieter than usual.

I smile a little and all of them leave. It's then that I notice that Diego had his eyes on me all the time, watching me with an amused look. When I catch him looking at me, his lips tug upward in a smile as he turns away and begins to walk with the other. Even with a smile, he looked so intimidating. I shake the thoughts away from my mind before walking to my dorm room.

I pass my time by reading my sister's diary for some reason. I don't have a reason to do that but it's the only thing that keeps me sane when I feel like I'm going to do something that I'll regret. That's the reason I always keep it to myself.

When it's time to leave, I wear an arm band that covers my elbow. It's for sports, really, but it doesn't matter as long as it supports my arm.

By four, we're all in a tense environment again. First, we're told the order of performance while we stand on the stage. Iris stands next to me, her face pale. She's scared today but it's nothing new. I figured it out last week that she has stage fright. We've been here for a while now and yet, we haven't said a single word to each other.

Apparently, Valeria had the wonderful idea of making Iris and I go last. That way, we're definitely going to be ranked last. We haven't practiced much anyway while the others have – not to mention the fact that they're actually better as a pair than us.

Rhea's performance is great as usual, Ryker's is average since his partner messes up with a stunt, and Kai is great too. I remember that he's dancing what Nate choreographed and I'm pretty impressed to see that his choreography is actually pretty good.

Three performances before ours, I walk backstage to stretch myself. Iris is already here when I reach, pacing around nervously. Remi, Zed, Lina, Julia and Zia are here. When Zia sees me, she waves. I smile back.

"God, you're a nervous wreck," I mutter under my breath as Iris stops right next to me, biting her nails. "Relax. It's going to be okay."

"Okay?" Iris says incredulously. "You're saying it's gonna be okay? How? Have you seen the other's dances? They're so good. They're all better than me. They're all better than us because I've been paired up with the overachiever of the century."

"If you know you're a loser, just don't compare yourself with the others."

"You're calling me a loser?"

"You're calling yourself a loser. And it's not a lie."

"Yeah, you can't count on Harley in making anyone feel better," I hear Mason as he approaches us, leaning against the barre, his eyes on us. "She sucks at that."

"I can see that," Iris mutters. "She sucks at everything."

"Not really," I counter casually.

"I agree with Harley," Mason says.

"Okay, but you still suck at being a friend." Iris rolls her eyes.

"I didn't realise we were friends."

She clicks her tongue in annoyance, making me smile. Mason and I share a look, both of us knowing exactly what the other was thinking. Hopefully.

"On a serious note," Mason says, "you guys won't be as bad as the audience is gonna expect."

None of us say anything for a while. The second last performance begins and ends and suddenly a wave of nervousness passes through me. Not for me but for Iris. Mason stands next to us for a moment, squeezing our shoulders and wishing us luck right before we walk on to the stage. The lights make me squint my eyes for a moment before I adjust to the lighting.

For some reason, I feel Iris hold my hand out of nowhere. She's cold and I'm pretty sure she's shivering. The moment she realises that she's holding my hand and that too on stage, she lets go of me, muttering a little apology under her breath.

"Hey," I say to her, touching her shoulder lightly. "It's okay. You'll be fine. Focus on your own dance, remember? And listen to the music properly. Our last practice yesterday was alright. I mean, not really, but yeah. You get the point."

Her nervous expression fades a little as a small smile appears on her lips and she shakes her head. "Thanks," she says.

"You both ready?" Park's friendly voice speaks through the microphone.

"Yeah," Iris says in a loud voice with a smile. I didn't expect her to speak up but it was good for her, I guess. "We are."

There are so many people in the auditorium, watching us. The familiar faces that I spot are Asher's whole group, Reece and his friends, Rhett and Atlas, and Gabriel and the two other graduates. So many people that it makes my heart jump but I close my eyes once, waiting for the music to begin.

The first beats hit me and the two of us begin our movements, so in sync that even in a trance, it surprises me. I don't look at her at any point and she doesn't look at me. She does what I've asked her to – she dances on her own, matching the beats on her own accord.

One thing about Iris is that she's loud when she dances. There are dancers whose movements are so smooth and soundless that it seems so easy and effortless when they've put years of practice to achieve this art. Since it takes years and everybody has their own pace, Iris' movements and the beats she's trying to follow are audible to me.

Of course, it's based on pure guesswork since I'm not looking at her. I'm just hoping that it looks as if we're both in sync.

Every move, every step, every lyric of the song we're dancing on is embedded in my brain. It's not intoxicating this time – it's just simply painful to pay attention to so many things at once. My mind wants to wander back into the chains, back in the dark where I know I'll be safe but this is something new for me too – dancing with someone who is so different from me in sync for the first time ever.

The chains that had been holding me clink together, a small crack at the edge of it as I feel something new. Staring back at the cracks while maintaining my movements, thoughts come over my mind, trying to distract me from what I'm doing. I'm confused and drowning and I can't breathe at all. The movements I'm matching with Iris pace up along with hers as the music nears the end.

I can hear her breathing heavily. She's still nervous and I'm pretty sure she's trying not to look at the audience. But for me, there's just the stage and us and I'm dancing for the sake of doing so as if it's equivalent to breathing for me. Maybe it is.

A sharp pain stings my arm. I almost yelp but I tell myself that it's just five seconds more before I can relax my arm. Five seconds feel like a lifetime at that moment. When we finally stop, Iris takes a moment to catch her breath, leaning forward and breathing heavily. Then, she lets out a laugh, shaking her head. My other hand instinctively moves up to my elbow, the pain not stopping.

Just like everyone else's performance, Mason walks up to the stage as well. Valeria's looking at us with an amused expression and I have no idea how we did. Mason nudges me and I look at him only to find him smiling.

"How was it?" I ask him.

"Amazing. Not really. But amazing."

"Can you be a little more clear, Mason?" Iris says in an annoyed tone.

"Don't know how she did it," Mason says, "but somehow, Harley matched with you. You were both in sync. Not a single hitch. Yeah, but you did not match the music at times so it seems like Harley here was following your timings."

"She was?" Iris says at the same time I say, "I was?" The two of us exchange looks.

"Yeah, you were." I let out a sigh of relief. It worked – it fucking worked.

"Thanks," I mutter right before Valeria's microphone switches on. The three of us look at her and my heart beats faster than it has for a while. It's my arm, I know it.

"The reason for pairing the top student of the class and the lowest student of the class was to show Iris the difference in skill and to see how adaptable Harley can be." She smiles. "Turns out you both can actually manage quite well. Iris's skills seem a bit better – not much. But there's been a really small improvement but baby steps, I guess. You're gonna have to improve more to catch up, Iris."

Iris presses her lips together and looks down. She still has a small smile on her face.

"And Harley – you are pretty good at adjusting and adapting to others' style and paces. Considering the time you both were given, you adjusted really well by matching with Iris. Good job, as usual. There's a lot of work to be done in your duo like syncing with the music. I didn't expect much from both of you, honestly, but you both were cool enough."

Her eyes flick to Mason.

"And Mason, your choreo was perfect for the two of them as usual. Could have been a lot better considering you are a third year student with a lot of experience but this was really good. Three of you – great job. You'll need a lot of practice but it's alright. You got this."

After that, all the first years are called upon the stage for a collected lecture, then dispersed. We walk to the studio for the joint practice. Iris goes back to her friends while I'm with Rhea, who is going on and on about something I don't know since I zone out half the time.

"Harley," Park calls out as I'm talking to Rhea in the joint studio. I look at the door to find him standing there, searching for me. His eyes rest on me and he gestures to me to come outside for a while. I excuse myself and walk outside.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Val's calling you in the office. Come on."

I don't say anything to that and just follow him to the only room in the studio. I've never been here before and the moment I enter, I'm surprised by how colourful this place is. If I didn't know of it, I could never have guessed that this place is an office. Posters of boy bands, dance groups, anime, movies, TV shows and what not cover every inch of the wall. Certificated are framed and kept on the wooden tables while some hang on the wall as well.

Val stands behind a table and it's not that I notice that her hair dye has begun to fade.

"Harley," she says when she sees me. "Sit."

I smile and sit down. Andy makes his way to the window and leans against it, watching us both.

"You know why I called you here?" she asks me calmly.

"No," I answer, confused.

She nods and makes her way over to me slowly. "What's wrong with your arm, Harley? When did you get injured?"

My heart stops working for a moment before I catch up my breath. "It's fine–"

"Oh, no, it isn't. I noticed it after the performance today. Did you get hurt recently?"

"I didn't."

"Don't lie to me, okay? I may be friendly with you all but I'm still your instructor." I bite my lip, not sure about what to say. "You're tough, Harley. You're the real deal, a real competition. Probably the only one in the entire school that can be on the same level as Summer and Lily. Even better, if I'm being honest. If you're injured and you stress yourself out more, it's going to have consequences. Like not being able to perform ever again."

I freeze at that thought. If I'm not good enough for Redville, then I'll have to quit.

"So? Are you going to be honest with me?"

I take in a deep breath before reaching for my armband and slipping it down. I stretch it, the pain stinging now that I've removed the support.

"Last December," I say quietly, "I had an accident. Fucked up my arm in the process – oh, sorry. I didn't mean to cuss in front of you. But yeah, it's alright now but sometimes it hurts. Not a big deal."

Valeria stares at my arm for a moment before letting out a sigh. She looks at Andy and he looks at me, his face unreadable.

"So," Val breathes out, "you're taking the week off."

"Wait–" I look up immediately, a flash of panic in my eyes. "The debut is this week. I can't take it off."

"You're not debuting this week, Harley. There will be better opportunities."

"But–"

"It's fine, Harley, and it's not up for an argument. You're no use if you permanently damage your hand. right?" I lean back, sulking and not sure about anything. The debut doesn't matter to me much but for some reason, I still want to perform in it. I practiced a lot but she's right too. There will be better opportunities.

I open my mouth to agree with her but nothing comes out of my mouth. Is this what she felt like? I immediately shake that thought away. It's just dance anyway, right?

"Then it's settled." Valeria claps her hands. "You'll be taking notes this week and helping me out like Rhea was in the first week. You'll come to the venue as well. I'll let you perform during the extreme conditions only but otherwise, you're not going on stage. And I'll give you a piece of advice, Harley."

I look up again, waiting for her to say something. Her lips curl in a warm and comforting smile.

"Competitions like these come and go, Harley. You'll get used to them in no time. You have potential and even at this level, you have room for improvement. You're one of the best dancers I've come across in a while. So, what I'm going to suggest you is that you should set your sights on the Summer Fest, because there are going to be a lot of scouts there, and the last event of the year – the Redville 'Eccellente' showcase."

"Eccellente," I repeat. I have heard of this show – it's a live show done by school students and hosted by Redville. It's the Summer Fest but on a much larger scale. I've seen it on the television and I've heard so much about it.

"Yes. It's the Italian word for excellent, you know. That's what you are."

I smile, knowing that I have absolutely no way out of this. I nod and get up.

"Thank you," I say quietly. "I'll rest my arm a bit. I promise."

"Take care, Harley," Val says. I get up from where I was sitting and excuse myself, making my way back to the studio room. On the way, thoughts swirl in my mind, an unfamiliar feeling of emptiness keeps on growing inside me. I feel so confused and I don't know what's happening to me at all. I want to hit my head against the wall, trying to beat the stupidity out of me.

Is this it? Am I getting attached? Am I feeling this way because I care about all this? Am I so fucking stupid that I can't keep my feelings out of what I'm here to do? God, I'm dumb. I'm so dumb. Getting attached to dance in a way that I can't accept the fact that I'm on the bench for a week. Getting attached to everything related to dance here at Redville knowing exactly what it did to her and what it can do to me.

I'm getting corrupted.

Not by the praise and opportunities, but by the thrill of the competition and the feeling of standing on stage as I try something new. This shouldn't be happening but it is. Like I had said numerous times before, things are changing.

But along with those things, a part of me is changing.

And changes? They fuck up plans.

That's why for the first time in a while – I feel genuinely scared of failing at what I am to do. Even though it only lasts for a few seconds, I know how I was feeling by the way my heart drummed against my chest and the way goosebumps rose on my skin.

I dig my nails into my arm, so deep that it leaves marks and would've bled if I'd have kept it for any longer. I'm not weak. I'm not going to give in and give up. I'm going to do what I have to, no matter what measures I'd have to take in the process.

Because I'm Harley fucking Kingsley and I'm a goddamn genius.

And genius'? They never lose.