* * *
“You’ll do fine, Grace,” Jason whispers to me as we flip over our Korean exams. “Don’t stress yourself out.”
Don’t stress myself out. Right. Calm. Focus. I can do this.
He flashes me a smile, and my insides squirm. How can I focus when he’s freaking grinning at me? He smiles so little, I should fear the apocalypse.
I rip my attention away from him and focus on the paper.
I got this.
No problem.
Iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc …
I move the pencil slowly across the paper, making my lines just like Jason showed me.
I move through the exam with a lot less difficulty than I expected. Each time I run across a translation I’m unsure about, I think back to our study sessions in the library, Jason’s head bent over the textbook and his calm, even voice explaining vocabulary words and grammar.
An hour and a half later, I practically float through my next exam, knowing I did way better on the Korean test than I expected.
After our last class before winter break, Jason and I walk together toward the dorms. We tilt our chins down to hunker against the freezing wind blowing across campus.
“I can’t believe I’m done with all my midterms,” I say. “Done. Free.”
Jason nods. “You have officially completed your first semester in Korea.”
“You’re right. Wow.” I stop in the middle of the path. “That’s insane.”
He pauses and turns around to face me. “Why?”
“Because if I’d stayed home, I would still be at my old school, applying for colleges and stressing about the graduation test at the end of the year. I’m only seventeen, and I’m living in South Korea, going to graduate in six months with zero plans for college. My parents are terrible people for letting me do this.”
Laughter explodes from his mouth, louder than I’ve ever heard from him, and a grin lights up his face. I resist the urge to clutch my chest as my heart threatens to stop, and not only from shock. I’ll admit it—I’m incredibly turned on right now.
Breathe, Grace.
“But if they hadn’t let you come here, you never would have met Sophie.” His smile softens. “Or me.”
If he keeps this up, I’m going to have a legitimate heart attack. I pray my face hasn’t turned the bright red of his shirt. Just like a boy to send your head spinning and mean absolutely nothing by what he says. I prefer to think that Jason has no idea what he’s implying instead of him buttering me up to get something.
I force my legs to resume walking, buying me time to think of a response. “Yeah, Korea is a lot more fun than Nashville. Promise.”
And I mean it. It was an awkward transition at first, and I saw a lot of negatives for the first few months about basically everything. But now I feel like I actually belong, and I wouldn’t give up rice and chopsticks for corn bread and grits.
He falls into step beside me. “I’d like to visit the South sometime. I met your father in New York, but he spoke highly of Tennessee.”
“It’s been sort of bugging me—where did you see him? No offense, but I’m not sure he recognizes any value in KPOP.”
“My father owns a hotel chain that a lot of wealthy people frequent. Your father stayed there while visiting New York, and my father introduced me to him.”
“Well, I hope he wasn’t too rude.” I laugh, though I secretly pray he really wasn’t—Dad’s not exactly known for his social skills.
“He was polite.”
“That’s nice of you to say, but I’m sure—”
I’m interrupted by loud buzzing from my backpack. I fish out my phone, check the caller ID, and nearly drop it on the pavement.
“What’s wrong?” Jason asks.
“It—it’s my mom.” My pulse kicks into overdrive.
This most likely has something to do with the email I sent her last week that read, I’m actually spending Christmas with some friends from school. I’ll email you later with more details. Never did send that second email. Oops.
I take a steadying breath before I answer. “Hello?”
“Grace?” Momma screeches in my ear, like she thinks she has to talk extra loud because we’re an ocean away. “Grace, is that you?”
“Yes.” Who else would have my phone?
“I got your email.” She falls silent, either waiting for me to respond or allowing a sufficient amount of guilt to build inside me before continuing.
“Okay,” I finally say.
Another awkward silence.
Jason shoots me a curious glance, but I angle away from him, letting my hair fall to hide my face from his view.
“You can’t be serious about not coming home,” Momma says. “We haven’t seen you in months.”
“I know that, but I was invited and I said yes.”
“Tell them you need to see your family.” Her tone sharpens, revealing just how much family bonding time she’s interested in—none. She’s probably just concerned with what her friends will think if her oldest daughter doesn’t show up for a holiday gathering.
“I already told you, I’m not going.” I turn off the path and take shelter in the shadow of the stairs leading up to the dining hall, keeping my back to the people passing by. “Besides, Dad probably won’t even be there. He’ll be working, ignoring us like he always does.” I huff. “We’re not going to argue about this.”