"Hey, Mel, look, SM's doing their global auditions again. ...and, once again, they're just going to the coasts," Eliz told me over the divider between our two computers in the school library's computer lab just before the bell would ring for the end of the school day. 

I looked at my watch, then began to shut down the computer and gather my stuff. "Yeah, I saw. Not really surprising. Doesn't matter if it's a fan party, a signing event, a concert tour, or global auditons, the Kpop world NEVER comes here. Not even Chicago! My parents say that if a concert were in Chicago, they might met me go. But there's no way they're letting me go to California or New York for something Kpop-related. It's just too far."

She frowned. "Yeah, I really wish they could come here, just once. Life for a Kpop fan in Wisconsin is hard."

"Yeah. Seriously, why would they go to Seattle for auditions? Chicago is a MUCH better option!"

Eliz laughed. "What, you want to go audition?"

"What?! Like they'd ever take me! You know I have two left feet. Besides, I'm a blonde white girl. I'd kind of stick out in Korea." 

The bell rang, and we started heading down to the buses. While we walked, Eliz said, "But it would be kind of cool to be there, don't you think? To see all of the artists, learn how to dance and sing, or even act."

I scoffed her. "This is SM we're talking about. and I'm an ELF. I'm definitely not auditioning for the company that hurt Han Geng. Not only is it unforgivable, but if that's how badly they treated him, who says how much better they'd treat me? No way, I'm not doing it."

"Hypothetically, though," Eliz argued, "If there's one company you think produces the best music overall, which one would you say?" 

I thought about it. Finally, I had to cave in. "Okay, yeah. SM. But that doesn't mean I'd work for them! Besides, what are the chances of me actually getting in if I did audition? Not likely. I have better ways to contribute to society. I have plans! I'm going to go to college, get a Major in Psychology, a minor in creative writing, and while I'm at it, go to Japan on a foreign exchange and take acting lessons so I can audition for FUNimation and become a voice actress!"

Okay, so my dreams weren't exactly realistic, either. But I figured that if I kept a lot of options open, at least one was bound to work out.  

When I got home, my mom was making supper. I started to set my bag down at the kitchen table for homework, but she turned around and said, "I need some rice. You want to make some?"

"Sure! I'll go get the rice cooker." I replied, already heading to the basement door to got get it. I came back up and got the bag of rice out of the cupboard and set it down on the counter. It was a new bag, one I hadn't read yet. I was only a bit surprised to see Japanese characters on the side, only that they were upside-down. Wanting to practice my Japanese, I leaned over so that my head was upside-down as well, and read the katakana writing on the side of the bag, sounding out each syllable. "Ka-ri-fu...Ka-ri-fuo...Ka-ri-fuo-ru... Oh! California!"

 My mom grinned. "You're getting pretty good at that. Especially considering you're reading it upside-down." 

I straightened up. "It's always good to practice. And katakana is easy." 

"Speaking of California," Mom began, "Your grandma called. She wants to know if you want to go visit her during spring break." 

I stood up so fast that I hit my hand on the counter. "Really?!'

"Yeah. She said that she'd pay for the plane home if we paid for the trip there." I told her that seemed fair. Your sister's agreed to help fund it, so I think we can pull something together." 

"Ohmygosh ohmygosh, REALLY?!" I yelled, jumping up and down. I didn't know my Grandma from California that well, because she lived on the other side of the country. Actually, my mom's family was from Hawaii, so almost all of them lived there or along the west coast. We, however, lived in Wisconsin with my dad's family. We'd visited a while back, but I'd been so little then that I didn't remember much of it. But I knew that my Grandma had a nice house and a whole bunch of enormous, fluffy, loveable black dogs. She breeded Newfoundlands. Can you blame me for being excited?

Not to mention, I almost never left Wisconsin. Don't get me wrong, I love Wisconsin. It's my home. But I'm just the kind of person that wants to go places and do things. I'd always wanted to see California at a time where I'd remember it. My sister, who had visited my grandmother in California the previous year during her spring break (I couldn't go because her college's spring break was a different week than ours), and she'd said it was beautiful. 

Up to that point, my biggest adventure had been when I'd gone on a road trip down to Oklahoma with my paternal aunt, my cousin, and my sister, to visit my other paternal aunt during my freshman year. And I'd loved it. Maybe it was just the feeling of finally seeing new sights, but I'll always remember Missouri as a beautiful green place with huge hills and flooded rivers. 

But now I was going to California. As soon as I had the rice cooker set, I ran upstairs to my room to text my friends. 

"You guys! I'm going to California!"

"What? You're actually leaving the state?" Eliz replied.

"When?" asked Jacklyn."

"In April, during spring break. I'm taking a plane," I answered.

"Just you, or your family?" asked Eliz. It was a good question, coming from her. Being my next-door neighbor, if my family was gone, she'd be asked to take care of our chickens for us. Which had not yet happened because we never went anywhere.

"Just me." 

"On a plane, all by yourself?!" She texted back. 

I rolled my eyes, texting, "I can take care of myself, Eon-ni."

"But what if someone does something to you? What would we do without our precious Maknae? Who would we pick on?" 

"Yes, I love you, too. No one's going to do anything to me. Need I bring up my father and sister's theory about the yawn trick?"

"Okay, okay. Well, have fun!"

When that text was over, Emily texted me, "What, you're LEAVING ME?!"

"Don't be sad, Miri," I texted, "You have Ali. And B.A.P."

"But I want my maknae! I need someone to pick on!" 

Sigh. My friends love me so much. 

So, a little over a month later, I found myself at the airport, ready to get on the plane to California. My family had come to see me off, including all of my collge-going "sisters," my biological sister, and her two friends, Tessa and Ariel. 

Ariel hugged me. "Take care of yourself, okay, Mel? And make sure you come back! If anyone tries something on you, don't be afraid to use that thing Tessa taught you!"

I laughed, hugging her back. "I'll be fine, Ariel. If anyone tries anything, I'll just remember to SING," I replied, quoting the movie "Miss Congeniality." Solar Plexus, In-step, Nose, Groin. SING. 

"But, but I'll miss you so much!" she mock-cried, exaggerating burying her face into my shoulder. I laughed and squirmed away. She was older than me, but was so incredibly cute and funny. My Frosted Mini-Wheat sister, a nickname given to her by Tessa because she was short and sweet. Actually, she was just a bit shorter than me, making her VERY short, since I was just about five feet tall myself. Not exactly a giant.

Tessa just looked at me, then gave me a suffocating hug. "Gack! Tessa! Can't! Breathe!"

"But, but, I LOVE YOU!" she yelled, squeezing tighter just to annoy me. Tessa had been a powerlifter in high school and was now studying martial arts, so I knew there was no way I was getting away from her. My best option was to just stand still, because resisting her, just like quicksand, just made her squeeze you more. When I finally got away, she looked at me with her huge brown eyes and patted my cheek jokingly. 

"Bye Sibling, my actual sister said, giving me a hug. "Just remember to NEVER get Grandma talking about politics. If it's unavoidable, change the topic to her dogs." I nodded, feigning seriousness. "Okay, sis." 

I looked at my watch. Almost time to go. Just as I thought that, sure enough, an announcement came over the airport loudspeakers. 

"All of the passengers for the 8:15 plane to California, please begin boarding."

I sighed, grabbing my carry-on bag and waving to my family. "Well, see you guys in a week." And then I started towards the terminal.

"Send pictures!" I heard Jackie yell.

Next thing I knew, I was at the terminal at the airport in San Francisco, looking for my Grandma. Finally I saw a sign that had my name on it among the crowd, and I went towards it. When I found the person, it wasn't my Grandma, but her husband, my Grandpa Steve. Tehnically he wasn't my Grandpa, because my Grandma had divorced my mother's father, and married Steve, but who cared about that? It was Steve that my mom had grown up with. And as my sister had described him, he seemed pretty cool. 

"Hi Grandpa Steve", I greeted, fighting the urge to bow. Maybe I'd overdosed on the animes and Korean dramas. 

Either way, he smiled and said, "Let's go get your bags. You want me to carry them for you?"

I shook my head. "No, that's okay, Grandpa. It's just one bag." 

"Oh, just call me Steve."

On the car ride from San Francisco, I got to know Grandpa Steve a little bit better. He wasn't a continuous talker, but he was really nice, in a fun sort of way.

When we got inside my grandma's house, I was greeted by a pair of giant fluffy monsters. I petted them, rubbing their thick black heads, letting them slobber all over my face. "Well, hello!" I cooed, scratching one of them under the ear, laughing as he started to lean in the direction of my hand. 

When I looked up, my grandma was standing in the entryway. "Hi Grandma!" I said happily, jumping up to give her a light hug.

She smiled. "I see you've met the dogs."

"I'd say 'they attacked me' would be more accurate." But I love them! They're so cute!" I looked down to see the two dogs watching me, wagging their tails. It wasn't too far to look down, since their heads were higher than my waist. 

Grandma laughed. "I think they like you. I was afraid you'd be annoyed by them, like Jackie's friend..." When my sister had visited, she'd gone with three of her friends, Tessa included. One of the other ones had not had a very pleasant time at my grandma's house because she complained all the time about the dog hair and the slobber. 

"No, I love dogs, Grandma. Well, not little dogs, really. The bigger and messier the better!" I leaned down to let one of them my face. I stood back up with saliva dripping from my face. 

"Well, you must be tired. Let me show you your room." She started towards the steps, and I followed, carrying my bag with me. 

"Yeah, I actually couldn't sleep much on the plane. I don't know why. The guy next to me was actually pretty nice."

"Well that's good," she replied. "Well, here's your room. I didn't do much with it since Jackie and her friends were here, so I hope it's alright..."

I looked around, smiling encouragingly. "No, it's just fine!" It actually was. It was clean, and the sheets on the bed looked almost new. I could tell she'd been excited to see both my sister and I, and wanted to make us comfortable. 

I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping. Eventually, Steve came to get me for dinner. I petted the cat sitting on the stairs on my way down, then went to wash my hands. I didn't know the rules in my grandma's house, so I was being careful. 

"I'm not that great of a cook, so I hope it's okay..." Grandma stated when I sat down at the table. On my plate was what looked like roast beef. It was a little burnt on the outside, but otherwise didn't look so bad. I smiled. "No, that's okay. I've seen way worse concoctions than this from my mom. I don't know if Jackie told you the story of the honey-glazed chicken..."

I got comfortable pretty quickly. The next day I spent a good deal of time talking to my grandparents and playing with the dogs. Grandma taught me some tricks on how to make them behave, and I tried to teach one of them how to roll over. Unfortunately, by "roll over" he was thinking that I meant I was going to give him a belly rub. 

It was the longest I'd ever gone without going on the computer. Finally, on the third day I was there, I asked Grandma if I could use her computer. I could tell she didn't use it very much, and the internet was really slow, but that's okay. When I did, I logged onto Facebook and saw all of my notifications. I answered all of them, and then scrolled down the page to see all of the updates from my friends and the pages I'd liked. Eventually I came to one from the SMTown page. 

"Oh, hey, SM's Global Audition is tomorrow in LA..." I said to myself. My grandma, passing by, heard me and asked, "What's tomorrow in LA?" 

"Oh, SM's Global Auditions. I told you about my love of Kpop yesterday, right? Well, SM is a Korean entertainment company. One of my favorite artists works under them. They've been trying to break into the western markets, so they have auditions all over the world to get international talent."

My grandma thought about it, then asked, "do you want to audition for them, then?" 

I was taken aback. "No, um, I was just commenting, because I'd forgotten about it. And it's a Korean entertainment company. Don't you think it's weird that I'm more interested in them than companies from my own country? I just hadn't really thought about it because they weren't coming anywhere near Wisconsin." 

"But you're in California now. Why not go?" 

"Uh, I..."

"I've heard from your mother that you're a pretty good singer and actress. While you're here, why not just go try out for the company while they're in town?"

I was a bit surprised that Grandma was encouraging this. You'd think she'd say, "It's a Korean company. Why not audition for an American one?"

But instead she said "I think I've learned enough to say that you wouldn't be happy making music in America. I know we don't know each other that well, yet, but... if auditioning for SM makesyou happy, I'll support you. Like you said, what are the chances you'll get in? But if you don't try, won't you regret it?"

I honestly didn't have an answer to that. Honestly, if I had to pick any Korean entertainment company to work for, I'd give SM a wide berth. but since it was the only one presenting opportunities at the time... and I did like its artists... 

"I think you're right. So... would it be okay if..."

"Don't worry. You can go. I'll ask Steve to take you." 

I gave her a hug. My grandmother, who I barely knew, was encouraging me to do something I'd never seriously considered before. And LA was a long ways away, despite being in the same state. But, because she'd encouraged me to do something that most Grandparents would consider ridiculous, I decided to do it. It was a total snap decision. It was worth a shot, right?