Chapter Two
“This is your room.” The school rep, Mr. Wang, stops outside a door in the long hallway on the third floor of the girl’s dorm. He takes my key and knocks, then unlocks the door.
We enter into a narrow, white-walled room with bunk beds that take up nearly all the floor space. Two desks are shoved against the opposite wall, and there’s just enough room to walk between them and the beds without having to turn sideways.
A girl sits at one of the desks, her shoulder-length black hair bobbing as she shoots up to her feet, a massive smile brightening her face.
“You are okay now?” Mr. Wang asks in his thickly accented English, inclining his head toward my roommate and dropping the room key into my palm.
“Yes, thank you.” I bow my head like I read is the custom and watch him leave, my pulse kicking into high gear when the door slams shut.
My roommate lets out a little squeal, throwing her arms around me. I back up, both my suitcases clattering to the white tile floor. She bounces up and down with me still in her arms until I push her back with forced laughter.
“I’m so glad you’re here!” She claps her hands in excitement. “And you’re American!”
Her dark eyes are half-hidden behind thick, white-framed plastic glasses with lenses so big they look like they should be on a grandma’s face, but I can still see them light up at the mention of the magic word, which I’ve already noticed makes you a celebrity around here. But this girl is different from the people I met in the administration building—her American accent is impeccable. She has a pale, narrow face, with eyes turned up at the edges and pink lipstick that every teen in the eighties would have coveted. And despite her ridiculous T-shirt, she’s pretty in a tiny, impish way.
“My name’s Sophie.” She shoots out her hand and keeps it there until I hesitantly shake it. “Well, actually it’s Sae Yi, but my English name is Sophie.”
“I’m Grace.”
“It’s so nice to meet you.” She’s still beaming at me. “They didn’t tell me you were American. Did they tell you anything about me?”
I reach down to pick up the handles of my suitcases, but she beats me to it. She hefts one onto the bottom bunk, which sports a bare mattress. I lift the other and place it beside the first.
“Umm … no,” I say, searching the room for a closet or dresser or something. I spot two miniwardrobes, stacked on top of each other. Talk about space conservation.
“Well, I’m Sophie, and I’m a senior. I’m from here.” She holds up a finger, as if to stop my train of thought. “‘Here’ being Korea, not Ganghwa. I live in Seoul, which is way better than this old place.” She wrinkles her nose, then brightens an instant later. “But I grew up in the States. That’s why my English is so good. And—and it’s just so good to meet you!” Her cheeks redden. “But I already said that.”
A chuckle falls from my lips unconsciously. This girl’s crazy, but at least she’s nice.
“It’s just that it will be nice to speak English again with someone,” she continues. “You wouldn’t believe how tiring it is only speaking Korean when you grew up with English.”
I unzip one of the bags and begin to unpack my clothes, shoes, and toiletries. My entire life inside two suitcases. It’s sort of pitiful, in a way, that I fit it all into two such small spaces. Of course, I didn’t need a suitcase for the emotional baggage I’ve dragged along with me from Nashville.
“So you’re American, then?” I ask, though Sophie probably doesn’t need my prompting to keep up her soliloquy.
“Well, technically, I’m a Korean citizen, since I was born here. But my twin brother, Jason, and I lived with my dad in New York from the time we were babies. We visited Korea every summer, but we didn’t move here until we were fourteen to be with our mom in Seoul.”
“And now you’re here on the island?”
She scowls, the first negative emotion I’ve seen cross her face yet. “Unfortunately.”
I laugh. “Why come if you didn’t want to?”
She sighs, dropping down into her desk chair. “It’s a long story, but it involves my brother running away from home and dragging me along with him, even though I was top of my class last year and a total shoo-in for top this year. I had to leave all my friends and everything.”
With a grunt, I grab a pile of clothes and make to drop them in one of the wardrobes, but I realize once I’m standing in front of them that the doors are closed and my hands are currently occupied.
“Here, let me help!” Sophie opens the doors. “You’re on bottom. Just like the beds. I thought it’d be better if that matched. You know, easier to remember.”
I take in the excitement that’s practically oozing out of her, and a fresh wave of exhaustion washes over me. Jeez, I need some sleep.
Sophie frowns. “Oh, you look tired. How long have you been traveling?”
“Over twenty-four hours, including layovers.”
Her eyes bug. “Then you need to get into bed! I’ll be quiet so you can go to sleep.” She runs her fingers across her mouth like a zipper, and another laugh escapes my lips. I’m gonna like this girl.
I manage to unpack enough of my stuff to take a quick shower and brush my teeth and crawl into bed, after covering it with the school-provided sheets. True to her word, Sophie keeps silent at her desk, her knees pressed against her chest, poring over a magazine.
I pull out my phone for the first time since I landed in Korea and see three missed calls from Momma. I have no idea why she felt the need to call again after I told her I’d arrived. It’s not like we talked much when I was home, so why start now? Maybe opting for the international phone plan wasn’t such a good idea after all.
She left a voice mail: