L-Shape Pose

Not even a pin drop would shatter the incomplete silence in the room. The darting eyes, a fleeting motion of uneven breath. For a moment, a girl quietly closed her quivering eyelids, anticipating an enormous hell of a lecture.

"I'll talk to you after class," Instructor Yang said. "Newbie, come here."

The class let out a huge breath for their fallen one, hoping the punishment for Yu Yan wasn't too harsh. A few gave Yu Yan a pat as she gloomily went to her dance spot, knowing that she might have to do overtime dance practice late at night while everyone else sleeps.

On the other hand, Yi Fei was slowly walking with heavy steps towards Instructor Yang, her heart nervously beating a thousand miles per second. She felt the unwieldy eyes of her classmates balancing on her spine, driving their weight so she would slump lower and lower.

"Okay, come a bit closer. You'll be dancing with me at the front, newbie," Instructor Yang said with a pleasant grin.

Yi Fei looked up at the teacher, an appalled look amassing her face.

"What?" Yi Fei blurted out, faintly hearing another girl say it too. Yi Fei quickly glanced towards the group of students in front of her, finally fixating on a familiar girl who was angrily scowling in her direction. Yi Fei recognized the girl as the one rebuked Yu Yan and her just moments ago.

"Instructor Yang!" She interrupted with a shrill voice, her finger arrogantly pointing at Yi Fei. "Only the top dance trainees are allowed to dance next to you!"

"I appreciate your enthusiasm for the rules, but I'm making an exception today since she's new," Instructor Yang calmly responded. "Okay newbie, come quickly so we can start class."

"But Instructor Yang! We don't even know if she deserves to be there or not! When we were new, we weren't at the front of the class," The girl complained. "You had already put us in the specific rows!"

"Shut up, Zhen Duo. I already answered your question, she's a newbie," Instructor Yang growled. "And who told you it's okay to f**king argue with your teacher?"

All the trainees' faces fell, their tiny mouths gaped open. One even squealed.

Instructor Yang just dropped the f-bomb!

"I-I'm sorry," Zhen Duo muttered, passively lowering her gaze to the cold empty floor. A few others began to giggle a little despite their initial shock, bruising Zhen Duo's pride. Zhen Duo infuriatingly tightened up her fists to small little balls with her pink face flaring up from humiliation, viciously cursing the newbie in her mind.

"Why am I the one in trouble?! I didn't do anything wrong!" Zhen Duo grumbled under her breath.

"Newbie." Instructor Yang snapped.

"Y-y-yes?!" Yi Fei awkwardly spoke, her tiny figure shaking under the teacher's gaze.

"Come here before I get even angrier," She said, pointing at the spot next to her.

Yi Fei obediently ran to the spot as fast as she could, earning a few more snickers from her classmate.

--

"We'll be doing some basic pop and lock arm movements," Instructor Yang said. She promptly raised her arms shoulder-height with her forearms pointing towards the ceiling, making an L-shape. "Okay, while doing this pop, you need to think that you're flexing your arms. So flexing and unflexing quickly, like this."

Instructor Yang motioned an abrupt burst on both of her arms, generating a few claps.

"Simple enough? Row 1, try it," Instructor Yang commanded. "Then Row 2, Row 3, etc."

The seven students at the front of the classroom tried to do the same thing Instructor Yang did, a small snap arising on both of their arms. The subsequent rows did pretty much the same thing, only a few students unable to grasp the concept.

"Nice! 23, 17, and 6, move up one row. 10, 16, 22, move down one," Instructor Yang said, and then whispered to Yi Fei. "Newbie, the best students are in the front rows while the worst are in the back rows. If you want to get noticed, be at the front, got it?"

Yi Fei nodded at Instructor Yang's underlying words, quietly looking at the six moving students with various expressions.

'Back-to-back competition,' Yi Fei thought. 'How does everyone handle this kind of pressure?'

"Okay, newbie. Now you try," Instructor Yang smiled reassuringly. "Do you remember my instructions?"

Suddenly, every pair of eyes were strongly directed at Yi Fei. They all had the same question: is she good or not? In other words, they were trying to find out whether she was competition or an average joe to fill up the room.

"Y... yes, I-I-I remember," Yi Fei mumbled, imitating the L-shape pose Instructor Yang just did.

Suddenly, the room went quiet.

"HOLY SH*T!"