I shook my head and used both hands to support my head. Blinking rapidly, I backed up. "My new brother?" 

"Yeah! Did I not tell you?" 

"Mom, you don't tell me a lot of things," I sighed in exasperation. This was too much to take in. When did my parents decide to adopt a kid? And why did they choose a kid who was my age? 

"I'm sorry, honey! I was supposed to tell you," she frowned. "Well, anyways. He's here already. Jaehyung, this is your new sister. Kaina, this is your new brother. And Jess… you're still Jess."

"Um… okay." I was used my mom's randomness and spontaneous action. "I'll… did my mom show you around the house yet?"

He shook his head. 

"Then come on," I waved my hand. "Sorry if I appeared rude today," I said over my shoulder as we ascended the stairs, "but I'm was, and still am, completely shocked. My parents are really random people, but this… this has got to be the most random thing they've ever done in my entire life."

"It's fine," I could hear his smile. 

"So, you're Korean?" I attempted to make conversation as we traveled through the house, with Jess trailing behind us with an eager expression. 

"Yeah. I was born and raised in Korea." 

I turned toward him in surprise. "Your English is really good!" 

"Thanks." He didn't offer any more information. 

"So you probably know you're really good-looking, and I said it earlier too, but I don't know if you have these girls in Korea, I see them a lot in the dramas though, but there will definitely be a bunch of girls who act super nice and cute tomorrow at school. Let me warn you, I know almost all the kids at my high school, and I grew up with at least half of them. Most of the girls who approach you on the first day and start flirting in one way or another are really fake. I don't know you that well, but hopefully you won't fall for their false charms." 

Jess jumped in. "Watch out a girl named Jordan. She's amazing at acting innocent, but in reality, she's a bitc- a… brat."

"We have her in our first period," I informed him dryly. 

"Thank you," was his quiet reply. 

"You might want to watch out for Jess, too," I switched to Korean, "She's a good girl with a great personally, but she tends to fall for the really good-looking people too easily. I'm worried about her. And she's Chinese," I added when he glanced at me sharply. 

"What'd you say to him?" My best friend whined as she puffed out her cheeks.  

I gave her a look as we passed through the door leading to the game room. 

"What? No! Kaina, come on. I'm not going to fall for your new brother!" Jessica was a loud girl who didn't care about who heard what she said, especially when the person she was talking about was walking right next to her. Jaehyung looked at me in amusement. 

"Really, I'm not! Besides, I'm taken."

I stopped short and whirled around on her. "Excuse me?" 

She visibly swallowed and lowered her gaze to the floor. "I'm uh, going out with… uh… this super amazing guy."

"Jessica. You're not going out with the guys I hang out with. Trust me, I'd know if you were. And besides for the guys I hang out with, the others who are your type are complete douche bags." I planted my hand on my hip. "Who is it?" 

"Steven… but before you start telling how bad he is, I just wanted you to know that he's super sweet! He's different than the others," she defended her boyfriend. 

"Steven… Steven Kim? That disgusting, erted, jock?"  

"Yes. Wait, yes to the jock part. And no to the disgusting and erted part." 

"Jess. He asked me to sleep with him last week." 

"That's a total lie," Jessica crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin. "Steven cares about me and he said he's not into having with random girls. He says he's waiting for the right one." 

"Jess." 

"He's different than the other guys I've dated. He makes me feel like I'm important." 

"Jess." My tone grew impatient. 

"I don't CARE what you say, Kaina. I'm NOT breaking up with Steven, no matter what," Jess glared at me before stomping away. 

I heard a door slam and I looked up at Jaehyung with an incredulous expression on my face. "Did that really just happen?" 

Jaehyung nodded. "Is this Steven as bad as you say?" 

"He's worse." 

"He really asked you to sleep with him" 

Letting out a long breath of air, I crouched down on the floor. "Yeah. More than once. He plays with girls like they're toys. He disgusts me." 

Jaehyung joined me on the floor. "You care about Jess a lot."

"I've known her since forever. We've been best friends since we were little kids." I absentmindedly drew a pattern on the wooden boards. "Anyways," I said after a moment of silence, "I don't know how much my mom's told you. I usually have volleyball after school, but the season just ended so I can drive you to school and from school. And since we apparently have the same classes, we don't have to meet up in a certain location; I'll just walk with you." 

He nodded. 

"We have the third lunch, which is at 12:06. You'll probably get hungry before then, so bring a snack to eat. Our fourth and fifth period teachers don't care if we eat, as long as we clean up the mess. Most teachers don't care about cell phones or ipods either." 

He nodded. 

"Um, fights are common. If you want to watch, just make sure that you're not too close to the action or else you might get punched on accident."

He nodded. 

"We have fire drills once every six weeks. Oh, by the way, my school runs on a six week schedule, so at the end of every six weeks, the final grade you have in your class is factored into the semester average, which then factors into your GPA. GPA is what the colleges look at."

He nodded. 

"Do you talk a lot?" I couldn't help but ask. 

"Me? I tend to be quiet around new people, sorry." He smiled sheepishly. "I become talkative once I get to know people better." 

“I see.” 

We lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Downstairs, the phone began ringing. My mom answered it within a heartbeat. 

“Kaina! It’s for you,” she called. 

“Who is it?”

“Some guy! –what’s your name?- It’s Steven, honey.” 

I tensed and stood up. “Steven?” 

Jaehyung was a step ahead of me and he handed me the upstairs phone. 

“Thanks,” I smiled at him before answering. “What do you want?” 

Placing the phone on speaker because I was too tired to continuously hold the phone to my ear, I laid down on the ground, belly to the floor; my head rested on my arms. 

“Kaina?”

“What.” I had no patience for this guy.

Jaehyung sat back down near me and was listening intently. 

“Jess called. She sounded very upset.” 

“Yeah, you as-,” I had to keep this rated PG, “butthole. What are you up to? Going out with my best friend after I rejected you?” 

“I’m going to make you regret not becoming my girl friend,” he hissed. 

“You’re getting on my last nerves,” I sighed. “How about you tell Jess the truth, break her heart now before you crush it later, and leave me and everyone else I know alone?”

“Sorry, no can do honeybuns. This is fun. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, honeybuns,” he laughed. 

“So you called me just to tell me tha-,” beep, beep, beep. “Did he just hang up on me?” I stared at the phone in disbelief. I threw the phone across the room and buried my head into my arms in frustration. “AAAARRRRRG!” 

Out of nowhere, I felt a gentle pat on my head. When I looked up, I saw a mildly embarrassed Jaehyung. He coughed and looked away.

“From what I can tell so far, you’re different from most of the girls I know,” he mumbled. “Back in Korea, I had the same problems as you do, just with girls, so I know what you feel like right now.” 

Tilting my head to the side, I studied his face. “You… you’re a nice guy,” I decided. “Tomorrow, I can introduce you to my guy friends if you want. I trust these kids. Most of the other guys at school can be pretty untrustworthy.” 

“I’d like that.”

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen,” he glanced at me. 

“Same here! … do you miss home?”

He let out a breath. “Yeah, I do.”

“Why are you here? Not that I don’t want you to be, or anything. I already decided that I like you, so I’m glad you’re here. And I meant ‘like’ as in, as a friend.”  

“I was living by myself for a while, but then some stuff happened and I had to come here,” he shrugged. 

There was definitely more to his story than he was telling me, but hey. It’s his personal information. 

Backing off, I opted for his style and nodded.