I was lieing on my bed reading my history homework. We were studying the French Revolution, and I was doodling jiyoung's giant teeth on the picture of Marie Antoinette being led to the guillotine. I sat up when my dad tapped on the door. He and my mom stoof by the doorway.

"Hey, sweetie," Dad said, scratching his arm. My parents' latest thing was clothing made from hemp. It was supposed to be super-renewable and great for the planet, but my dad was having some kind of allergic reaction to the whole thing.He kept breaking out in hives, but he countinued to wear it. Saving the planet wasn't supposed to be easy.

Dad looked at that I was reading and broke out in a big smile. "Ah liberté, egalité, fraternité." He took the book from my hand and flipped through the pages. He had majored in French in college, one of those degrees that might have been useful if, for example, we lived in France. My mom took a step forward so she was standing right next to him. She tucked her hair behind an ear. I was so curly that it instantly sprung back out.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We have some good news." Dad rubbed hus hands on his pant legs and my mom gave him a reassuring nod. "The school has approve of my research grant."

"Dad that's awesome!" The alternative school where my dad taught was always out of money, so for them to support anything was a big deal. Also, research wasn't completely their thing. It was more of a live-and-let-live kind of place. His eyes shifted to my mom.

"Your dad will have the chance to look into the role of meditation in healing. He might even have time to write the book he's always talked about."

"Okay." I drew the word out slowly so that it was more of a question. My dad has talked about writing a book on alternative health care for as long as I can remember. He should be thrilled, and instead he seemes like he had come to break the news to me that he was going off to war or something like that.

"We'd be living at the Kiseop Center," Mom continued. "It's chance to learn meditation techniques from the very best in the world."

I had sudden insight into what was up. My parents wanted us to pick up and move to some granola hippe camp where everyone would be praying to their muse. chanting, and eating a strict vegan diet. Great. Why couldn't my parents be happy in the suburbs like everyone else?

"What is the school like?"

My dad looked confused. "There isn't any school."

"How am I suppoed to finish high school?" My parents are really smart, but not great at the common sense stuff. Maybe they thought colleges would accept me based strictly on how Zen I was, no high school diploma needed.

My mom sat down next to me on the bed and petter my knee. "The Kiseop Center is in the woods of Maine. It's completely off the electrical grid." My mom seemed thrilled but the self sufficiency of the place, but I could already picture it was going to be a problem if I wanted to bring a hair dryer. My mom was a big fan of the all-natural look, but I didn't go anywhere without my flat iron. "The center has a small farm and grows most of its own food. The closest school is almost fifty miles away."

"So are we going to get an apartment or something halfway?" 

My mom and dad exchanged another look, and my stomach went into a sudden free fall. I knew what they had in mind.

"No way."

"We've talked to your grandmother and she would love to hve you stay with her for the year," my mom said, as if it were completely resonable for me to consider moving back there. 

"Do you remember what happened, what they did to me? Do you honesty expect me to go to school there? Why don't you ask me to move with Jiyoung?"

"All this negative energy isn't good for you."

"It's not random negative energy, Mom. I hate her. I hate Korea. I don't want to live there."

"And that may be exactly why the universe is bring you this opportunity. It's a chance to heal, to come full circle." My mom made a large circular motion with her hands, her silver rings flashing in the light.

"This isn't the universe. this is you and dad deciding you want to chant for a year."

"it's more than chanting," my dad said as if that was the point. Both mom and I gave him a look, and he stopped talking and went back to scratching his hives.

"Your grandmother is really excited," my mom said.

"What about what I want?" I gave a noisy sniff. I wouldn't let them treat me like a fiver-year-old -- easily distracted. Sure we're ruining your life -- but look over here, a shiny grandma! Hell no. I wasn't falling for it. 

"This is a huge opportunity for you dad and me. Living at a center like this is something that we've always wanted to do, and now the school is offering the funding to make this possible. You don't need to be afraid of Jiyoung."

"I am not afraid of Jiyoung," I said. I loathed her, but I wasn't afraid. What else could she possibly do to me?

"You should walk back ther ewith your head high. Heck, I doubt any of those kids would even recognize you now," my dad said.

"Nice way of saying I used to be fat." I turned and faced the wall resting my head against the cool plaster. Trapped.

"I didn't mean you were fat. It was more your old nose I was thinking about," my dad said.

"Great, so I was fat with a big nose. This conversation is doing wonders to my ego."

"What your dad is saying is that you've grown into a lovely young woman. The only power Jiyoung has over you is what you giver her. Hating her just feeds the negative engergy. I'm asking you to think the situation over. Grandma is going to give you a call tommarow morning to talk about it, but if you want my advice, you go back there and you show them that they may have knocked you down, but you didn't say down."

"What if I think about it and decide I still don't want to do it? What if I want to skip the whole holding my head high thing and instead stay right here and feed my negative energy?"

My mom gave a tired sigh, no doubt thinking I had been switched at birth and somewhere was her real child.

"Mom, I will go back to Korea then."

My mom looked at me and was surprised. I decided that it would be the perfect chance to give Jiyeon the karma she deserved.