Around & Around

Goya Rotri is a charming and handsome young man with a stoic demeanor, who captivates everyone around him with his princely aura; he possesses an irresistible charm, stunning looks, and exceptional piano skills. Known throughout Cypress as the Harmonic Prince, the mere sight of him causes people to swoon and fawn. Kamon Sunan hated him. After joining the college dance club 2 years ago and eventually becoming its captain, Kamon's leadership is challenged by Goya's frequent presence in the dance room. He is practically stealing her members as his company in the club has become a constant distraction. The dancers would rather stare at him than practice and that jeopardizes Kamon's plan on participating in the Rhythmic Showdown this year. It’s exhausting for her just to think about it.  “Dude, what's wrong?" Ida asks, sitting down next to Kamon with her lunch. "Nothing," Kamon shrugs. "Unless you count never succeeding in life and everyone hating you." Ida raises an eyebrow and chuckles, finding that ridiculous. "Who hates you?" "The entire Cypress Dance Club." Ida lets out a sound of understanding. "They don't hate you." "Uh-huh.” "They just like the Prince more." Kamon cringes internally. "Seriously, who unironically calls themselves a prince?" Ida takes a bite of her lunch and shrugs. “Hey man, each to their own, yeah?” A look of disbelief flashes across her face. “I literally can’t do this.” “Yeah, you can! Just lock the club doors when practice is happening.”  “I’ve tried. Club coordinators did not like that--‘hazardous’ or whatever.” Kamon explains, emphasizing the word 'hazardous' with jazz hands. Ida's face scrunches up in confusion. "But the orchestra gets to close their doors." “Cypress is known for orchestra. Dance is literally second to last.” “Nah, no way.” “Yeah way, I checked.”  Ida sips her soda while nodding, “Okay…so, what’s last?” “Anime.” Exasperated, Kamon drags her hands down her face.  After lunch and attending one more class for the day, Kamon heads over to the studio to set up for practice. As she sets everything up and the dancers start to show, Kamon feels she might have overreacted a bit, maybe her dancers will pull through. Maybe they will have a chance in the showdown, maybe she won’t be a disappointment, or maybe Goya got food poisoning today so he won’t show up. Regardless, her heart rate begins to slow, and a glimmer of hope emerges. She felt better and she feels she can probably make her team feel more dedicated too. This feeling lasted all the way up until the very moment a collective gasp fills the room as Goya steps through the studio door, unharmed and unaffected. Not food poisoned. As expected.  Kamon musters up all her strength to sound as civil as possible. “Goya. We'd really appreciate it if we could have a spectator-free practice today. Please leave.”  Goya meets her gaze, his expression unreadable. "I won't say anything."  “Yes, I know you probably won’t. But just you being in here is…well, distracting.  We have an important performance to prepare for, and I need the dancers to be fully focused.” Kamon feels her eye twitch.  “I’ll sit in the back.” Before Kamon can even say anything else, one of her dancers pipes up. “It’s not that big of a deal, Kam. We’ll do just fine.” A chorus of agreement follows, leaving Kamon with a bittersweet feeling.  She can't help but wonder how the previous captain would react to the state of the dance club now. “Whatever, but whoever messes up today is doing drills afterward with me.”  One of the dancers chimes in with a gasp of theatrics, almost mocking. "Captain, is that a threat?" Kamon narrows her eyes, her voice unwavering. “Keep it up and find out, Sotos.”  So starts the practice. Kamon leads the team through the choreography, pushing them to give their best. The dancers try their best to focus, but their glances still wander toward Goya from time to time. To her relief, there are no major mistakes or fumbles during the session, and they manage to finish with no one staying behind. The practice session ends, and while Kamon is glad the practice is over, she can't shake the nagging feeling that this is the limit of what the Cypress Dance Club is capable of.  As she gathers her belongings, Goya approaches her expressionlessly. "The choreography is coming along," he says, his tone irritatingly casual. Kamon rolls her eyes as she stuffs her towel and water bottle into her bag; then responds with a hint of sarcasm, "Thanks for your valuable input." Without waiting for a reply, she quickly leaves the dance room, her mind already preoccupied with how to push her dancers forward. Once home, she quickly eats dinner with her mom before diving headfirst into the rabbit hole of competition research. She scours through the rules, deadlines, and guidelines, devouring any and all information she can get her hands on. She flips through past winners and interviews with the judges. She watches last year's champions and as she delves deeper, a sense of discouragement settles in her heart. The club members are far from the level required for the showdown. The next day, with no classes on her schedule, Kamon spends her morning going over the choreography--looking for holes. As lunch comes, she makes her way to Ida and as she makes the walk over to the cafeteria, Goya approaches her, seemingly unfazed by her attitude from yesterday. He stands in her path and asks, "Do you want to come see my performance this evening? It starts at 6." Kamon's eyes widen in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? That’s when practice starts. How can you even ask?" Goya's calm demeanor remains intact as he replies, "I know, but I thought you might want to watch." “Why the hell would I want to watch you perform?” “Your choreography is already doing well. A day off shouldn’t hurt.” What the hell is supposed to mean? Was he mocking her? He might as well have just cackled at her. Taking a deep breath, Kamon regains her composure and retorts, “I'm not interested. Excuse me, I've got somewhere to be.” She starts walking around him.  “But I’m always watching you perform.” “I never asked you to. Get out of my way.” Goya stands aside and starts walking with her.  “You can’t take just one day off?” Kamon's frustration reaches its peak, and she snaps. "God, are you dumb or something? I am the Captain of the team! I can’t just not show up!”  “They can handle themselves one day without you.” Goya shrugs.  With a scream of anguish, Kamon freezes in her tracks and swivels on her heels, facing Goya, pointing and poking at him. “You're always watching, always distracting, always taking away the focus! If there’s a reason why my dancers can’t handle themselves, that reason would be you! God, just leave me alone!" She storms off, leaving Goya standing there, momentarily taken aback by her outburst. Kamon continues to Ida, her mind consumed by a newfound determination.  I am going to destroy him. She’s fuming, a burning right in the middle of her chest so suffocating that she’s made up her mind; channeling all her frustration and anger into revenge. She texts Ida.  I’ve had it.  With a beat and pause, Ida replies. Uh oh. What happened? The audacity of this man knows no bounds. I’m going to ruin his life.  Kamon’s phone then rings with Ida’s name as the caller and Kamon picks up.  “What do you mean “ruin his life”, girl, this isn’t middle school.” Ida starts.  With an eye roll, Kamon shrugs, “Yeah, I know; but you don’t even know what he did.” “Okay, hurry up and get here and you can tell me.”  Kamon hangs up and quickens her pace to meet Ida. Once at the cafeteria, she spots her friend at her usual table and walks over. Ida, already eating, sees Kamon and waves her over. “Ruin his life?” she raises an eyebrow. “Utterly destroy his life.” Kamon begins retelling the incident that happened not an hour ago and Ida’s face has a somewhat unreadable expression. “What,” Kamon deadpans, “you think I’m overreacting?” “No, but that’s weird of him, ain’t it?” Ida chews her food.  “What?” “You guys have never talked before so, like, why did he ask you to come?” Kamon groans, “I literally don’t care why! He’s literally at every club meeting, so he knows the showdown is important. I have the word CAPTAIN written across my shirt -- how could he still even suggest that!”  Ida nods along, a little absent-minded.  “Dude, are you listening?” “Yeah, yeah, I am. It’s just a little abrupt, no?” Kamon’s head droops down into her arms with an exhausted groan.  “Okay,” Ida huffs a laugh, “dramatic.” “Ida!”  “Okay, okay, but look dude. if you want that competition to go well, you can't spend most of your time focusing on him. I’m warning you now, you can get -- well…intense.” Ida takes another bite of her food.  “The moment I take care of him, that competition is going to go smoother than your smoothie.”  Ida gives her a look but shrugs. “So, how does a person ruin another person’s life in this day and age?” The two friends stare at each other and Ida sips her drink. Kamon blinks a few times and says, “I have no idea.”