*Huoyin*

I stretched my legs as I waited for dance class to begin. That goofball had yet to arrive, giving me some quiet time in the mostly empty room. Only the boys and a few girls remained. Like our teacher said last week, only a few could cut it. To think that irksome blondie would be one of the few to stay. Although, it was also surprising to see Katsuo stayed, given how much he complained during our first class.

Lidia grunted as she tried to stretch.

"You know, you didn't have to join me," I said.

She grumbled. "I didn't do it because of you. I'm doing it because I want to dance like Mom used to."

My eyes widened. It had been a while since she had spoken about her. Felt she was closer to her late father.

I chuckled. "I too have to defeat that annoying old man of mine." The image of his back reappeared in my eyes. The words from my dream rang in my head. I had no idea how my training was coming along. I'd spied on Renshu teaching Carter, but I'd yet to apply a thing. Maybe I could sneak off tonight and do so. But where? Trying out my magic in the forest was a bad idea when I was barely learning how to use it. However, I didn't want Carter to see me either, so the plaza was out of the question.

"What's wrong, Huo?" Lidi asked, glancing at me.

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You sure?"

I glanced at the other students. They all seemed more flexible than either of us. Compared to them, we were stiff.

"Oh, are you comparing yourself to others again?" she asked.

I looked at my legs and continued stretching. Comparing myself to others wouldn't help me reach my goals. Although, I couldn't help it. I lacked the talent of those like Nat. Even the annoying blondie had his points. What was I good at? Being a human encyclopedia? I was proud of being knowledgeable, but I didn't want to be a one-trick pony either! I had to improve. Else, I would be left in the dust by everyone else.

"Hey, don't overdo it," Lidia said, patting my shoulder. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

I gritted my teeth and moved back. Being weak sucked. I was a good dancer, but my body couldn't keep up. T-that's why Grandma gave up on me.

Lidia sighed. "Let's stand up."

"Okay," I said, getting off the floor. My legs felt funny.

"See? You're going to hurt your precious legs one day if you keep doing stuff like that."

My cheeks reddened. I prided myself on them. They were nice and slender and had a bit of muscle to them. But they were both a blessing and a curse.

"I've endured worse," I mumbled. Grandma had pushed me to do more than this. Some days, my body would become like a pretzel. Sadly, all of those lessons were wasted on me. I could never live up to Dad's talent.

"Warming up?" a voice called out. Lidia and I turned to see Enkai. The muscular blue-haired boy waved at us.

I sighed. "Yes."

He blinked. "You alright? You seem tuckered out."

I turned away. "You're imagining things. Anyway, what do you care? We're rivals."

"Rivals?" He chuckled. "I guess we are! But, I don't want to beat a guy who looks like his legs might give in at any moment."

I grumbled. This guy wasn't as annoying as Carter or Aurelius, but he was pretty close to the latter.

"I'm fine," I said, throwing him a kick.

Enkai smiled and dodged. "You're pretty fast!"

I jumped and spun in the air.

He ducked my kicks, causing me to jump directly over him.

"Woah, not bad!" Enkai said as I landed.

I felt heat pool in my cheeks. Couldn't tell if he meant it or was mocking me. Guy was one of the strongest people in our grade. Plus, despite his looks, he was even an honor student.

"Hey, N.K.! Playing with your new friend?" a sing-song voice echoed.

I narrowed my eyes at the 'prince' of the class, the other top student.

"Woah, what's with that glare? Did I step on your toes?" he asked, looking down at his feet.

"If you had, you would know it," I said, scoffing.

"Guy's not very friendly, is he?"

Enkai scratched his head. "Think he's just shy."

"Shy? As if! I just dislike people. Especially a pair of frat boys like you."

"Huo, please don't argue," Lidia said.

"So, that's how you see us," 'Mr. Greenie' said, stroking his chin.

Enkai laughed. "He's not wrong about you, Shuai."

He covered Enkai's mouth. "Hey! Don't say that in front of the girls!"

Ah, so he was that kind of guy.

Lidia chuckled. "You two seem close."

He let go of Enkai. "Well, we have known each other since we were little tykes."

Enkai nodded.

The bell suddenly rang and in came pouring Carter and Kanja.

"You two barely made it, again," Enkai said, chuckling.

Kanja grumbled and said, "No thanks to him!"

"What did he do now?" I asked.

"He decided to take a nap outside. I had to go find him!"

I smirked. "Are you his babysitter or something?"

Carter's cheeks turned as pink as his eyes. "N-no! Kanja's my buddy!" He fidgetted. "As for the nap, I thought I could catch up on some Zs since I finished my cooking assignment early. A-Adela's big bro was fine with it too."

Lidia giggled and said, "You did stay up pretty late studying, didn't you?"

He nodded. "I-I didn't feel tired until after lunch."

Kanja grumbled. "You made Nat worry over nothing. The guy even asked me to help him locate you."

"Wow, he must really care for him, given he hates your guts," Enkai said.

She sighed. "Yeah. Also, why did you even study? Thought you had Obi's class tomorrow."

"Oh, right. Wait, but he said the test was today!" Carter said.

"It is. It's after school. Didn't you read the syllabus?" Lidia said.

"No one ever reads those things!"

"Yikes, the guy is an ogre, giving a test after class," 'Mr. Greenie' said, whistling.

"Yeah, that should be illegal," Enkai said.

It was annoying, but Mr. Obi must've wanted it that way to avoid wasting precious lecture time.

"He sort of looks like one too," our teacher said, chuckling. "Anyway, enough chatter. You heard the bell. Class is in session!"

I blushed. Ugh, I allowed myself to get sucked into one of their conversations again.

"I don't think she's reprimanding us," Lidi whispered as we walked toward the edge of the class.

She wasn't?

Our professor stepped to the middle of the room. "Alright, class. Listen up! You're to gather into pairs. I know that several of you already did stretches before the bell, but there are some that I'll like to show you. Especially the beginners." 

"But, miss. Why can't we pick our partners?" the girl who had paired up with Carter and Kanja last week asked.

"Because of how messy it was last time. We still have more girls than boys, so I don't want you ladies lurching to pair up with one of them."

Jinpei chuckled. "Sorry, ladies."

Several of the girls rolled their eyes at the orange-haired doofus.

"Anyway, these are the pairs!" Mrs. Hirata snapped her fingers, causing several halographic-like screens to appear across the room.

"Eh? The boys are all paired with each other," Lidia said.

"Except for me," Shuai said, smiling at her.

Lidia laughed awkwardly. Ugh! Why did he have to pair up with her? Well, at least I didn't get Carter nor Enkai, who got paired with one another.

I glanced at Katsuo as he stared at the floor.

"Wish we got paired up," Jinpei said, patting him.

"It's okay," I could hear him mumbled. He glanced up at me and seemed to recoil as soon as our eyes met. Did I scare him?

"We got paired up," I said.

Katsuo nodded. "I-I know."

The guy was shy like Jude, but for some reason, I felt Jude was less of a pushover.

I smiled. At least he was a quiet one. Would've hated getting paired up with Kanja or any of the other guys, except for maybe Mrs. Hirata's son.

"Alright, one if you is to watch your partner and correct any issues you see with their posture. I made sure to pair up those with experience with those lacking. You are to copy my movements. We'll begin as soon as you're settled."

"I am the experienced one, right?" Carter asked.

Enkai chuckled. "I think that would be me."

He grumbled. "I thought so..."

Well, at least he admitted to it easily.

"Say, how long have you been dancing for?" I asked, eyeing Katsuo as he got up.

"Since middle school, but that was mostly self taught," he whispered. If not for my sensitive ears, I might not have heard a thing he just said.

"So, I'll be the one guiding you."

He nodded. "I understand."

"Alright, seems everyone is in position. Now, music, start!" An orchestra like tune played from the speakers across the room. Mrs. Hirata slowly moved her leg directly in front of her and then did a sweep until her foot was pointing away from her. She then brought her leg back to the center, slowly lowering her foot, letting only the big toe touch the floor. She repeated the process two more times.

It was relatively simple, but a beginner would surely feel prickly tug on their upper leg.

"Think you can do that?" I asked.

Katsuo nodded as he faced me. "I think so."

I stepped away and motioned for him to go ahead.

He slowly raised his leg and moved it. His movement was lacking the elegance of Mrs. Hirata's demonstration, but it certainly wasn't bad. Now, Carter on the other hand...

"I said to raise your leg a bit higher," Enkai said, pushing the annoying blondie's leg up.

"H-hey! Don't touch me like that!" Carter said as he jerked away.

Enkai groaned. "Alright, I won't, but please get it right this time."

Carted pouted. "You can't rush perfection."

Enkai sighed.

I chuckled. So much for becoming a world renown dancer.

"Huoyin," Katsuo said.

"Yeah?"

"Did I do it right?"

"Sorry. I only saw the first one."

He lowered his head. "I get it, I'm lacking in grace."

"Yeah."

He flinched.

"Try to copy me to the best of your ability," I said, raising up right leg up slowly. I moved it to the right at a steady rate. Could've gone faster, but it would've defeated the purpose of the demonstration.

Katsuo smiled. "You were taught to dance by an instructor since you were little, right?"

"How did you figure?" I asked.

He lifted his left leg up, mirroring my earlier movements. "You move like a pro."

I averted my gaze. "You're exaggerating. I am nowhere close to being one."

I eyed Shuai as he did the movement without missing a beat. 'Mr. Greenie' was a lot closer to one than me.

"Maybe you're right. But it is still impressive."

My face heated up. Did he mean that?

"T-thanks," I mumbled. "But this is a really basic step."

Katsuo sighed. "Yet I struggled with it."

"I didn't mean it like that! You did pretty well for a self taught guy. Better than the other guy who has been at it longer." I pointed my thumb at Carter.

"Woah."

"Huh?" I turned and saw Carter do the movement repeatedly. His leg was still too low, but he had a big smile on his face as he did so. Even Enkai had stopped reprimanding him.

His dance, something about it reminded me of Dad's. Maybe it was the jovial expression.

Dad. Why did he give up on ballet? Was being a singer that much more important to him?

"Let's continue practicing," I said, turned back to look at Katsuo.

He smiled slightly and nodded. "Alright. Please correct any issues you see."

Good. He had a willingness to learn. That was the most important part when entering a new endeavor. Without it, one would lose interest right away. Or become bitter toward it, like I had done years ago.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Predictions? Theories?**