I sighed as I sat down at the lunch table. Another history test AGAIN.

“Sonya! Help me study!” Julie whined as she and Alexis, who had the same history class as me, sat down.

“Okay okay okay,” I assured her, rolling my eyes. Most likely Julie would have so much fun during lunch that no studying would get done.

Elizabeth came over with her bought lunch. “Ugh, Hans is following me again,” she groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Still flirting with you?” She and Julie shared a knowing look.

I sighed on the inside. Yeah, my friends are pretty hopeless. At least they don’t brag about guys crushing on them or asking them out, especially since the guys are pretty unattractive. Then again, if the guys my friends were crushing on liked them back, how would my friends know? Instead of bragging, they’d probably be worrying their hair out over it.

Like I was.

I remembered when Jeanine had gathered me and her best friend Terry over to hang out during lunch.

“Hey Terry!” I exchanged a high fiver. It was still warm, so I was wearing bracelets to cover my bare arms. My bracelets clinked as our hands met.

“Hey Sonya,” she said with a smile. Her highlights made her stand out, since most of the Asians in the school had their plain black hair.

Then again, there were plenty of them who had highlights. One of them had rainbow-colored bangs. Pretty cool, huh?

“Is your dad back from Korea yet?”

“Oh yeah! He returned two days ago.” She grinned, her braces glinting in the light.

“Did he kidnap Super Junior for us, like you asked?”

Terry laughed. “I wish! But he brought the next best thing. Look!” She took out her left hand, which she had been holding behind her back. She was holding two albums.

I blinked. “No way, Super Junior’s new album, Don’t Don?”

She was grinning, like a mother watching her kids on Christmas Day. “And that’s not the best part.” She turned them over.

A gasp came out of my mouth. “THEY’RE AUTOGRAPHED????”

“Yup.” Terry handed one over. “Happy early birthday.”

I laughed. “You’re closer to my half-birthday than my birthday!” I hugged. “You’re the best.”

“Hey guys!” Jeanine came over, breathless. “Sorry I’m late.”

Terry and I stopped jumping, but I could barely stop giggling over my excitement. “Hey Jeanine,” we chorused together.

She looked at us, a bemused look on her face. “What’s up?”

“We got Super Junior albums!” I waved mine in the air album.

Jeanine rolled her eyes. “Seriously, that’s all?”

Terry elbowed her. “Come on, it’s a big deal! Super Junior is one of the most famous celebrities in Asia. Everyone can’t stop talking about them!”

“’Cuz I can’t, stop, thinking about you girl,” I sang out, and Terry joined me as we did a modified, more appropriate version of Super Junior’s dance.

Jeanine shook her head. “You guys,” she said, somewhat pleading.

We stopped at the end of the chorus. “What?” I asked, smiling.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be about what I have to say?”

“Yes, go on,” Terry said, leaning on to the wall, trying to catch her breath.

Jeanine smiled. “A guy is going to ask me out on Friday!”

We both now looked at her, our full attention in her grasp. “What?” Terry blurted out.

“Some random guy?” I asked, scrunching my nose.

Jeanine waved at me with irritation. “Not some random guy. You know that British guy on Facebook who posted ‘I love you Jeanine’ on my wall?” I nodded as she waited for an answer. “It’s him,” she said, her face beaming.

Terry fell silent. I could see discomfort growing in her eyes.

“Well, you may get your first boyfriend, but I haven’t had my first kiss,” I quipped, smiling.

“Me either!” Terry smiled, good mood restored. We high-fived again.

“Sonya!” I blinked to see Elizabeth waving her hand in front of my eyes. “Yo girl! Any other news?” She leaned back.

I turned to the left so I was facing her.“Nah. Besides the conversation note? Nothing new.”

“Wait, whoah whoah WHOAHHH!” Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “What’s the conversation note?”

“The one that says if you want to have a conversation, here’s space for us to.”

“WHAT?!” She started freaking out. “YOU NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THAT?”

I glanced at Alexis. “You know, right?”

She nodded. “Julie told me.”

I leaned forward on the table, toward Julie and Alexis. “The funny thing is,” I said, letting a smile grow on my face, “That Jeanine has implanted the idea whoever wrote the notes has the letters S, E, and A in her name, even though I intentionally put S and A there since there are no Saras in our school. And she has concluded there’s no such person.”

Alexis nodded. “Yeah, that’s tough.”

“The only name I can think of is Sean,” said Julie, throwing a water bottle into the recycle bin. “And of course, he’s a guy. Weirdo.”

Suddenly my eyes bugged out. “Wait.” I stared at Alexis. “Your name, has S, E, and A in it.”

Everyone started to gape. “WHOAHHH!!” Julie cried out.

“It’s true,” Alexis replied, smiling.

“Are you sure Alexis could be considered?” Elizabeth asked.

I smiled. “All I said was that the person likes music. I didn’t specify which program. Just because Rachel is in band doesn’t mean she’s ruled out.”

“Perfect!” Julie threw her hands up in the air. “Alexis will be our confederate!”

Alexis giggle as I stood up. “YEAH! Alexis, can I make you suspect for a while?”

“Sure Sonya.”

“Sure about what?” came a voice, as we turned to see Hans join our table.

We all looked each other and together, got up to throw away our trash and escape the lunch room.

At the end of the day, I found Jonghyun. “Hey, man, just saying, Alexis has an S, E, and A in it,” I spoke nonchalantly.

“Wait, Alexis from Concert Chorus?” he asked as I walked to the door. “Sonya? SONYA!”

I started laughing when I exited the school. I couldn’t hold it any longer.

When I finally logged on that night, a box immediately popped up.

[BlingDino: Sonya! Tell me-do you know who it is?]

[YaSon: Yeah I do.]

[BlingDino: TELL ME!!!! Is it Alexis?]

I stuck my tongue out. Should I tell him? It was SO tempting.

[YaSon: That’s for you to figure out, smartie.]

[BlingDino: COME ON!!!! Can’t you just tell me?]

[YaSon: Maybe. :P BTW you don’t even go on facebook a lot. Why the change?]

[BlingDino: Oh, I usually just go on if I need to talk to someone urgently. Like this conversation.]

Figures.