[Bye!]

Sara called out as she left through the back door of the house, getting two cheerful farewells from her parents in return.

On her back, Sara carried a small backpack, packed with a few essentials that came to mind in preparation for the day ahead. Two bottles of water, a spare pair of clothes for when’s she’s sweated out the ones she’s currently sporting, deodorant etc.

One bus trip later, Sara stepped off into a rather populated area of the city. Several businesses lined the sidewalks in buildings with at least three stories, all a mixture of historical and modern design of recent years.

Sara’s destination, as directed by the card she had received in the Lily Pond Café from Jennifer Wallace, was a dance studio that was located on the second floor of one of these very buildings. From what Sara could gather online, there were a few dance studios in the building, and they were all actually owned by Petal Entertainment, who would usually loan them out to third parties most of the time.

With the help of her phone, Sara located her destination after some wrong turns. Thankfully, looking at her watch, Sara was still early to the 9:30am time dictated on the card. She could only be glad that the director was lenient on the starting time.

Taking a deep breath, Sara tucked her phone into her jacket pocket as she ascended the little stairs to the building and opened the door inside. Entering a little demurely as she did not know what to expect, Sara found that there weren’t any people around and instead there was only a door on the right wall and a set of stairs that ascended upwards.

Walking towards the door, Sara peaked in to find what could only be a dance studio, the far wall comprising fully of a mirror, with armbars to boot and a sleek wooden floor. The image perfectly matched what Sara had seen in the media.

The place was noticeably empty, however, and knowing that this wasn’t the studio room she wasn’t meant to be at, headed to the stairs instead and ascended to the second floor where she was met with two doors this time, both on the right side as well, as the building entrance had been at the far left of the establishment when entering.

The first door had a sign of a toilet on it, so she simply skipped that one and headed forward instead to the second door and as expected found another dance studio. This one looked exactly the same as the one on the first floor, only a little smaller due to the inclusion of the bathroom taking up room on this floor.

Also, unlike the first floor, inside the room was the sight of a familiar person.

A laptop settled on a small polished table that one would expect to see in a school, Jennifer Wallace was hunched over it as she set up everything for the hours ahead.

Amidst doing this, Jennifer pulled her attention away from the laptop when she heard the familiar creaking sound of the doors littering this building. Turning around, she smiled at the appearance of Sara Weiss as she entered the room gingerly, inquisitive eyes scouring the room with held back excitement.

She had obviously been looking forward to seeing a dance studio in person.

But she wasn’t so enraptured by it all to forget to greet Jennifer as she entered further into the room:

[good morning, Dire-*cough* Jennifer Wallace.]

[Good morning to you too, Sara Weiss.]

Jennifer chuckled at the girl’s flub, but chose to leave it unmentioned as she continued:

[Are you ready for the day ahead, hm?]

[Hn!]

Sara nodded seriously, and Jennifer could see the sparkle of determination laying deep inside those dark blue eyes of hers that proved her determination to be true.

[I see you’re already dressed and ready, so just let me finish up here and we’ll get started, okay?]

Jennifer said, returning her attention to the laptop after getting an affirmative nod from Sara, who now only stood a meter from her. Her eyes shifted to the laptop screen curiously every few seconds, but not overtly as to not intrude.

Jennifer easily noticed this and had trouble holding back her laughter as she worked away, an amused smile on her countenance.

‘What an honest personality.’

Jennifer chuckled internally.

[Alright.]

Jennifer licked her lips as she pressed firmly on the mouse, immediately the sound of music began to play in the room, bringing Sara’s attention to speakers attached to each corner of the room. The music was an acoustic track, a little upbeat tune that seemed suitable as background noise, but a little simple otherwise and with no vocals as well.

[We’ll start with some warmups. I’m just going to have you follow my lead, okay?]

[Got it.]

Sara nodded once again in affirmation as she placed her backpack against one of the walls before returning to the centre of the room, where Jennifer Wallace now stood just a couple meters across from herself.

[Follow my lead!]

Jennifer instructed and the two began to perform a few simple stretches, taking several minutes to really prepare for the long hours ahead. When they finished, Jennifer finally got to speaking about what Sara would be learning this session and the days going forward:

[For this first week, we’re just going to work on some simple dancing choreography, have you drill them into your body. On the side, I’ll have you begin some vocal practices as well. Then, on the next week and onward, I’ll start teaching you the choreography of the song you’ll perform a month from now. And on the singing side of things, I’ll start mentoring your singing, teaching you vocal exercises among other things... With all that being said, have you got any questions?]

[Yes, what song will I be learning?]

Sara enquired with a curious tilt of her head, almost holding her hand up like a school student in the process before hastily correcting the embarrassing action.

[I haven’t decided on that yet… Its next week’s problem anyway.]

Jennifer carelessly shrugged the matter off with a wave of her hands, causing the side of Sara's mouth twitch in a mixture of vexation and amusement. This teacher to be was certainly an eccentric fellow, wasn't she...