ch. 12

"i'm standing in front of a new beginning."

-precious

"jieun, you need to stop doing vibrato on every note. you're just making your voice shaky."

the said girl bows in apology to the teacher and attempts singing the song again.

eunbi lifts her head up to the ceiling, boredom clearly written in her face; she never expected this class to be the absolute worst. her ears are literally screaming in pain after hearing each student trying to sing the song off their paper.

for the past few days, she has been in a bad mood; she does not need more things making her mad.

giving up on the student, the vocal instructor cuts jieun off and proceeds to the next person in line. she plays a few chords on the piano for them, so they could know the pitch, and begins accompanying them once they start singing.

for a couple weeks, the school has been preparing for a showcase that will be held in the middle of the semester. the event will display the students' fierce competition, improvement, and collaboration skills.

with class f, however, they have been struggling with their performance; the vocal department can't seem to find someone to sing because their voices aren't suitable for any song while the dance department have students who are struggling with learning choreography.

at the very moment, ms. hwang has lined up all her second year vocalists and is evaluating them individually with a song that will be sung as a collaboration with the other class levels.

eunbi hates the fact that she was placed last in the line, meaning that she may have to stay back through lunch. her legs are already aching due to the fact that she has been standing for the past hour.

as the teacher continues down the line, the girl feels someone tapping her shoulder. she brings her attention from the ceiling to her classmate, who places her lyric paper in front of her and points at a specific spot.

"do you know what this part sounds like?" hana asks politely in a quiet voice.

she leans over and reads the words carefully, trying to recall the melody of the line. remembering the arrangement of notes, she brings her lips close to hana's ear so she can hum it to her.

but before she could manage to let out a note, her teacher calls her out.

"it looks like eunbi volunteers to stay back after class to sing me the entire song," the instructor sarcastically beams as she applauds for her student. "please take a seat in your chair, you're going to be here for a while."

although she groans in dissatisfaction, at least eunbi can sit down and rest her legs.

she watches everyone sing from the back of the classroom and eventually meets eyes with hana, who flashes her an apologetic expression. the girl simply smiles at her and mouths 'it's okay' to her.

after listening to almost every student sing, the bell rings and releases the students into lunch, earning silent cheering from class f of the vocal department. everyone retrieves their belongings and flashes a specific student a sympathetic gaze before leaving the teacher alone with her.

she drags her face with her hands when the dreadful time has come.

at least people don't have to hear my awful singing, she comforts herself.

"eunbi, stand up."

she obliges to ms. hwang's request with her paper in her hand.

her teacher plays a few notes on the piano and looks up at her. "on the count of three, start singing okay?"

the girl nods, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves down. she warms up her voice by singing the first few notes of the song before proceeding with her small evaluation.

bobbing her head to her instructor's counting, she lets her voice do its work. "where are you-"

her voice suddenly cracks.

the piano playing stops and the student feels her cheeks flare in red due to her embarrassing voice crack. she clears her throat once more and attempts the song again.

naturally, she can feel the flow of the melody as the emotions of the song seep into her body, the lyrics coming naturally to her. her voice adjusts when the piano increases in volume.

and when the chorus arrives, she belts out her high notes.

"heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven~"

the music is suddenly put to a stop, the vocalist's voice echoing throughout the empty room. eunbi scrunches her eyebrows in confusion, wondering what she did wrong, until her instructor approaches her and places her hands on the girl's shoulder.

"what did you eat today?" ms. hwang questions. "what did you drink? what did you do to obtain such a voice?"

being surprised at her teacher's odd behavior, the student leans back to create space between them. "uh... i don't know?"

eunbi then realizes she has fucked up.

she was singing with her actual voice, not her screaming voice that she has been using for the past month.

the woman releases her and ponders about the girl's enrollment in this class f. it makes no sense for someone with a beautiful voice like hers to not be in class a, but how did she end up in the lowest class level? she should be where all the talented people are instead of being in the discarded pile.

then she remembers when she was reviewing her student's videos in the beginning of the year.

it was probably just stage fright, ms. hwang concludes, although that wasn't the actual reason.

she looks over to the girl with a scheming smirk pulling on her lips, frightening eunbi a little. she's planning something in her head, and it doesn't look good for the vocalist.

"this is the year class f will rise," the instructor states as she paces back and forth in the room. "eunbi, are you willing to be our main vocalist?"

"uh," her student hesitates. "i mean, i don't really have a choice."

"you're a smart one," the woman comments before ushering the girl to stand closer to her. "we need to start planning now. we need to show the class levels who's boss."

hearing how excited her instructor was, eunbi lets out a smile.

the two females begin discussing about the showcase, giving feedback to their ideas and so forth. in a few minutes, the whiteboard is covered with scribbles and the two of them let out a satisfied smile. the teacher takes a snapshot of the board and finally dismisses her student to enjoy the last twenty minutes of lunch.

the girl collects her belongings and exits her classroom, bidding ms. hwang goodbye. when she enters the hallway, she notices someone leaning on the outer walls of the room with their earbuds blasting music into their ear. although she is taken back in surprise, she taps their shoulder to catch their attention.

"san, what are you doing here? aren't you supposed to be with wooyoung?"

hearing a familiar voice, the said boy takes out his earbuds and looks over his shoulder to see the girl standing next to him. "oh, you're done."

she scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. "what do you mean by that?"

"i was waiting for you so we can eat lunch together," he answers, avoiding eye contact with her.

the brunette takes a moment to appreciate his thoughtfulness before responding.

"awww, san." she ruffles his head playfully. "that's so sweet of you."

eunbi walks over to the wall across from her classroom and settles herself on the floor, patting an empty spot next to her. he takes the offer and plops his bottom next to hers and pulls out his lunch from his backpack, the girl copying his actions.

they hold a conversation among each other as they enjoy their food, laughing at everything they say. once in a while, they steal the other's food while one is talking about something and almost end up doing a food fight every time. their smiles brighten the awkward atmosphere and their laughter livens up the empty hallway.

unfortunately, their time together has ended when the lunch bell rings throughout the school, signaling the students to return to class. the two friends stand up from the floor and pack their lunch boxes into their backpacks before flinging it over their shoulders.

san is about to depart until he feels a hand hold onto his shoulder. he turns his body around, facing eunbi. "what is it?"

building up the courage, she manages to say what's on her mind throughout their interaction today. "why did you want to eat lunch with me? you could be hanging out with the guys."

in an instant, the boy faces away from her and starts walking away from her.

"yah!" she calls out, noticing his red ears. "answer my question, you idiot!"

with that, he looks over his shoulders and raises an eyebrow at her.

"is it a problem that i just wanted to spend some alone time with you?"