chapter two
"God damn it!"

Zac looked up from his book to glance over at Jina, who was sitting at the computer, pulling at her hair in frustration. "What?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"I can't get this right. Whatever it is I'm trying to say, which, bear in mind, I don't even know, it's not coming out right." She got up and flopped next to Zac on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "I hate college essays."

"Why are you even applying so early? It's your junior year." Zac patted her gently on the head before picking up his copy of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and continuing to read.

"Senior, technically, with all the extra shit I've been doing. It better be worth it." Jina snatched her teddy bear and hugged it close to her chest. "I just want to get out of here."

Zac lowered his book once again. "I don't know whether to be happy for you, or to be offended."

Jina sat up and looked at her best friend. He had been the only one to befriend her in the beginning, when her parents were still being called 'gooks' and other equally racist names. Her mother was still cleaning houses, and her father still owned the same convenience store. The scenery hadn't changed, it was only Jina that had. She still spoke Korean at home, only speaking English when she went to school or spent time with her friends. Not that she had any friends to speak of, really. The Hanson family had been the only ones to really accept the Kangs into their neighborhood. She couldn't understand why - before moving to Oklahoma, she had lived in San Francisco, where there were tons of other Asian people for her to play with. Here in the south, there was no one but the Hansons.

Zac was her best friend, probably her only real friend. She trusted him with the majority of her secrets. He protected her and defended her from the people that weren't so kind. They had been friends for eight years. Jina had many memories of them together, and pictures to go with them. There were three thick photo albums in her room, and three identical albums in Zac's room. She had made the decision early in high school to take as many extra classes as possible, so that she could graduate early and escape back to California for college.

"You know I'm not leaving because of you."

"I know." Zac said sadly. "I just wish you wouldn't leave at all. We should be leaving this hellhole together, after surviving it." He joked.

"Who's to say we'll survive it at all? There's still almost a whole year of high school left before I graduate…Providing I don't fuck up."

Zac looked at her incredulously. "Listen to me, Jina. You're not going to fuck up. You're going to get out of here, and go back to California, and wait for me there, because you know I'll be there."

"Yeah. I know."

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Later that night, Jina wandered through the neighborhood. She hadn't gotten the chance to explore all of the city like she wanted to, but she knew the neighborhood like the back of her hand. There was the playground, where she and Zac used to play with his family. There was the creek in the wooded area where kids would go and swim, even though their parents warned them against it. There was the old drive-in movie theater just outside the neighborhood, where Zac had his first date with a girl named Alyssa, who he had ended up getting rid of when she cheated on him with his older brother. And finally, there was the old willow tree.

The old willow tree was a source of great storytelling for the more romantically inclined in the neighborhood. The most common story was that there had been an old couple that lived in the house nearest to the tree, and their daughter had died of leukemia. She had always loved nature and everything about it, especially the way willow trees would sway on a windy day. The father had planted the tree in honor of his daughter, and apparently there was a box buried somewhere near the tree that held the girl's most precious belongings, that she had wanted buried in the earth.

Jina's story was different. For her, the willow tree was a sacred place. When she was twelve, there had been a group of kids her age, some a bit older, that didn't like her. They would throw things at her house, making her bedroom window a yellow-splattered mess of eggs. They left mean notes in her locker, and once got the combination in order to leave potting soil in it, ruining all of her textbooks. They never thought to look for her near the willow tree, and so she would go there, sitting and looking at the stars until it felt as though it were okay to go home. The only person who ever found her there was Zac. Not even his older brothers knew that was her place.

Jina walked up to the tree, smiling slightly through the bad memories. She circled the tree, running her hand along the trunk. She knelt down and touched the carved initials at the base of the tree - "ZWH + JAK =". She and Zac had carved it years ago, as a promise to each other - trees lived forever, and so would they. They hadn't known what to put after the equal sign, so they just left it blank, to be filled in later. She sighed as she sat with her back against the trunk of the tree, closing her eyes and letting the sound of the rustling leaves soothe her.

A twig snapped, and Jina's eyes shot open. She looked around defensively before getting up and peering around the tree, one hand on the trunk. A hand covered her own, and she let out a gasp.

"Hey, calm down, it's just me." Zac's voice said in the dark.

"Shit, Zac! Don't sneak up on people in the middle of the night! Didn't your momma teach you any manners?" she asked, hitting him in the chest. Zac laughed as he sat down, patting the grass beside him. Jina sat down, glaring.

"Sorry. I called your cell phone and you didn't pick up, so I figured you'd be here." Jina stayed quiet for a moment, still glaring at him. "I didn't mean to scare you, you know."

"I know. I was just thinking, and I get more wigged out when I'm thinking. You know I'm practically in a different place anyway."

Zac turned around to look at the carved initials. "Man. I had forgotten about that." A smile lit up his face as he looked at her. "We really should carve something after that equal sign."

"Yeah. We should. We will someday."

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