"Nah," I say about the brunette at the next table.

            "Isn't she more your type?" But the truth is, even though Kyungsoo's my best friend, I don't know his type. He doesn't date-he says its just asking for drama.
           

             His lip twitches upward as if he's suppressing the urge to laugh. "What about Lee Jinah?" he asks, trudging through the not-very long list of girls who don't have dates for prom.
           

             I groan. Jinah is extremely shy-so shy I've never heard her say anything but "sorry" and "excuse me." Prom with Jinah would be one long awkward silence.
          

             Kyungsoo pops a ketchup-covered fry in his mouth and scans the cafetaria for another subject while he chews. "I know!" he says. "Kim Dasom. You both do the school's magazine so you could talk about literary magazine stuff."
            

            "I heard she was going to ask Oh Sehun" I say, stealing two fries from Kyungsoo's plate.

            "Jongin, every girl without a date is asking Sehun."

            "Huh?" I ask.

            "He's safe," Kyungsoo explains. "Safer than asking some guys you have a crush on, right?" He grins, showing a row of his straight teeth.

            "Wait." I hold up a finger. "What?"

            "Come on, Jongin," Kyungsoo says. "Everyone thinks Sehun's gay."

            "Gay?" I echo. Whoa. We are not talking about this. Kyungsoo and I don't talk about gay.

            Kyungsoo shrugs as if it's no big deal. He picks up the last fry and points it at me. "Sehun has a date. I have a date. You, my friend, still need a date."

            "You have a date?" I ask. "Since when?"

            "Since I asked Kim NamJoo in physics."

            "Huh?"

            "You're the one who wants to go to prom," he says, as if breaking his streak of all studying and no grilfriends was my fault. "So I'm going."

            "Thanks, but I still need to find someone to go with." I drop my head into my hands.

            "We don't have to go," Kyungsoo whispers. "We could do something else."

            I look up.

            "Like what?"

            "I dunno," he says. "Go to Gyeongju. Stay in your uncle's condo."

            "We never have any fun there," I say. My uncle has taken us to Gyeongju a few times-male bonding and all that-complete with hikes in the woods, canoeing on the lae, and once, fishing. It's boring. We'd have a much better time at prom.

            "Without your uncle," Kyungsoo says, and glances down the length of our table to where our friends Yixing and Jongdae are sitting.

            Now I get it-my uncle's condo without my uncle.