After a week of orientation, the new students now faced another busy task: becoming members of their new extracurricular clubs.
North Star High School offered at least twenty different extracurriculars, so it was only natural that some clubs had overlapping meeting schedules.
This Wednesday, the Olympiad, music, modern dance, and basketball clubs all met at the same time. That meant Cheresse had to think carefully about which club she should attend.
Though she was hesitant at first, the girl eventually filled out forms for the modern dance and Olympiad clubs. Her choices might sound like suicide, but maybe the modern dance club here was open-minded, right?
“Damia, you’ve got this!”
The girl glanced at the desk beside her. Zora was pumping a fist in the air, her expression blazing with enthusiasm.
Oh, right—don’t ask why Zora called her by her last name. When Cheresse had protested yesterday, the girl had stubbornly insisted on keeping it. In the end, Cheresse could only give in.
“I saw you filled out the form for the Olympiad club. Today’s the meeting, right? So good luck, Dam!” the girl explained with a broad smile.
Cheresse smiled faintly. “Good luck to you, too. Today’s the basketball club meeting, right?”
The girl nodded excitedly, wrapping both arms around her shoulders. “I’m so freaking nervous! What if the basketball club rejects me?”
“What are you even thinking!?” Cheresse shot back. “Extracurriculars are meant to develop people’s interests and talents, right? There’s no way they’d reject someone who wants to join. You’ve gotta be confident!”
Zora blinked cutely, stunned by what she’d heard. “Thanks, Damia!”
A few minutes later, Cheresse left the classroom and headed to the room designated for the modern dance club meeting.
All the way there, the girl kept rubbing her palms together. She didn’t even understand why she felt cold in the middle of such scorching weather.
Cheresse knocked on the classroom door and peeked inside. The room was already nearly half full. At the front, she also spotted Tania sitting at the teacher’s desk. The girl gave a slight bow before walking in and taking a seat in the far back corner.
“Din, count how many people have arrived.”
One of the girls sitting on the floor near the teacher’s desk stood up and immediately did as Tania instructed. Once she was sure of the number, the girl sat back down.
“More than half, Tan.”
Tania nodded, then stood up. Her eyes moved from one new student to the next before stopping on a girl sitting in the corner. Tania narrowed her eyes, an unmistakably meaningful expression crossing her face.
“Okay, shall we get right into it?” Tania smiled warmly at her new members. “I’m Ellamina Tania from Class 12 Language 1. You all know what position I hold in this club, right?”
Some students nodded, while others quietly muttered, “President of the Modern Dance Club.”
Tania then gave her friends a subtle signal to introduce themselves as well. After all fifteen of them had finished, it was finally the new students’ turn to introduce themselves, Cheresse included.
“Okay, next,” Tania said after the last person finished introducing herself. “To our new members, I’d like to share some general information at our first meeting.”
“The rules of the modern dance club are actually very simple.”
Without realizing it, Cheresse began rubbing the back of her neck. She didn’t know why, but it felt like something was stuck there. The girl tried to brush the sensation away and refocused on listening.
“Whoever perseveres is the one who survives,” Tania said. “There’s no point in having an interest if you’re not serious about participating.”
Tania swept her gaze across the room again, and the impatience in her eyes was obvious. “You all know how prestigious the modern dance club is compared to the other clubs, right?”
“I don’t know what your reasons are for joining this club. But we seniors can tell the difference between people who are serious and people who are only here for clout, joining just so they can feel like they’re part of the famous crowd.”
Thwack!
A faint smile hovered on Tania’s face. The bait she’d thrown had hit its target perfectly.
“We’ll see at the next meeting! People who only want to be famous will definitely rarely show up for regular practice. Survival of the fittest will slowly eliminate them.”
Tania clapped once, trying to break everyone’s concentration. “Okay, let’s continue! To make it easier to share information, can we list everyone’s Chat IDs first?”
Cheresse clenched her cold hands into fists. She knew exactly who every one of those words was meant to hurt. The girl immediately stood and picked up her bag. She tried to walk calmly, even though her heart was in complete turmoil.
“Excuse me, upperclassman?” Cheresse approached one of the upperclassmen. “My family called and told me to go home as soon as possible because there’s something I can’t miss.”
The person Cheresse was speaking to nodded in understanding. “Oh, did you write down the ID yet?”
Cheresse nodded, even though she hadn’t touched the paper at all.
“In that case, be careful on your way home!”
Cheresse left the room and ran as fast as she could, searching for somewhere secluded. She couldn’t hold it in any longer. Her heart shattered, and tears raced to spill over.
Why was there always something stopping her from showing another side of herself, even just a little?
‘Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!’
Cheresse berated herself over and over. ‘What the hell was I thinking, signing up for this? Look! It ended up the same way anyway! Idiot! You’re being excluded again, aren’t you?!’
The girl collapsed onto the ground. Her legs could no longer support her. The pain surging inside her forced its way out through her tears.
It hurt. Her heart truly hurt.
The girl bit the inside of her lip, trying to suppress her sobs. At least she could distract herself from her emotional pain by creating another kind of pain.
One minute... Two minutes... Ten minutes...
“You idiot!” she screamed, unable to take it anymore. “What were you expecting? You’re only accepted when you’re wearing a mask, not when you show who you really are!”
The girl drew her knees up and buried her head between them. She didn’t care if anyone saw or heard her. All she needed was a little more time to calm down.
It was okay. Once she felt better, the girl would go back to being “Nobody.” Cheresse only needed to let her feelings out for a moment.
“I hate—”
Her words stopped. Through the haze, she could make out someone else kneeling in front of her. Both of the young man’s hands rested on the girl’s shoulders, as if signaling for her to lift her head.
The girl froze.
“Come on, let’s go home,” the young man said softly. “I’ll take you.”
To be continued