chapter one
Jina found herself disappointed when the teacher dismissed them to go to recess. All of the other kids seemed to know each other, and huddled in groups, giggling and talking, as they headed out to the playground. Jina followed them slowly, stopping at the swings and taking a seat. She dug a hole in the sand with the toes of her saddle shoes. Her stick-straight black hair blew around her face in the wind. A shadow fell in front of her, and she looked up.

"Zac? What are you doing?" she asked, looking not at Zac, but at the boys playing touch football in the field.

"You looked lonely. I thought I'd keep you company." He shrugged, sitting on a swing next to her. They sat in silence for a few minutes, not swinging, just sitting.

"Why aren't you playing with the other kids?" Jina asked him.

"Like I said, you looked lonely." Zac replied simply.

They sat in complete silence for the last twenty minutes of recess. When the teacher called them back inside, Zac waited for Jina before scampering back to the classroom by her side.

Jina paid attention for the rest of the class, learning how to do long division, memorizing the preamble to the Constitution, and trying to ignore all the other kids staring at her. At the end of the day, she boarded the bus with Zac, who seemed to be the only person who didn't think there was something wrong with her. They sat together once again, and Jina found herself smiling despite her sadness. Zac did funny impressions and voices for her. His goal seemed to be to make her smile, and it was working.

Jina stepped off the bus at her stop, saying goodbye to Zac. Her mother was waiting for her at the door, and gave her daughter a hug. "How was your first day?" she asked in Korean. Jina ignored her mother and dropped her backpack next to the coat closet. She tugged at her ponytail, heading straight to the kitchen. There was half-prepared kim chee on the countertop, and steam was coming out of the top of the rice cooker. She grabbed a can of Pepsi from the refrigerator. "What's wrong?" her mother asked. "How was your first day of school? Did you make friends?"

"I made a friend. His name is Zac." Jina replied in her native tongue. Although born in the States and perfectly fluent in English, she felt much more comfortable speaking Korean.

"Only one friend?"

"Yes, Ama. Only one. No one else wanted to play with me at recess." Jina replied, hoisting herself up onto a chair at the kitchen table. "I sat on the swings with Zac instead."

Her mother looked up from the cabbages, cucumbers, and spices. "Do you want to go to the playground?" There was a small playground in her neighborhood, near their house. It was close enough for Jina to ride her bike to…If she knew how to ride a bike.

Jina looked from her mother to the spicy cabbage sitting on the countertop. "Don't you want to finish cooking?"

"It can wait."

"No…Go ahead and finish. We can go later." Jina replied, sipping at her Pepsi. Twenty minutes later, there was a large jar full of the spicy food sitting on the kitchen counter, and Jina's mother was washing her hands. Jina leapt down from her chair and followed her mother out the door and into the sunny Oklahoma afternoon.

Upon arriving at the playground, Jina immediately hopped onto the swings, her favorite playground toy. She lightly swung her legs back and forth, barely moving. She watched as a happy-looking family with a little brunette boy played in the sandbox. She kicked higher, letting the wind blow through her hair and pretending she could fly.

"Hey, Jina!" Zac's voice disturbed her daydream.

Jina stopped kicking her legs abruptly, slowly coming to a stop. "Hi, Zac." She said in her shy nine-year-old voice. There were two boys with him, obviously his brothers, both older. "How are you?"

"Good! I didn't know you lived around here!" Zac seemed to be perpetually happy, always a smile on his face, eyes sparkling with the excitement of a nine-year-old boy who could do anything. Jina nodded as the eldest boy cleared his throat. "Oh! These are my brothers…Isaac, and Taylor." They both smiled at her when he said their names. "Want to come play with us? I think we're gonna crawl on the jungle gym." Zac suggested.

"Zac's a monkey anyway." Taylor retorted, sticking out his tongue at his younger brother.

Jina couldn't help but smile as Zac grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him.

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