Tasha unnie has been drilling me for about an hour. I’m really tired, but I can tell I’m already improving. I slump down onto the couch at her house and she has a mischievous look on her face.

            “Unnie…I know that look…What are you planning?”

            “I was thinking we should go dancing…At Neon.”

            “For what purpose?” I ask.

            “To win your sunbae’s heart, of course!”

I shake my head.

            “Unnie, if showing up and trying to look nice were enough to win his heart, I probably would have won it already.”

            “Never say never!” she says as she scurries into her room and comes back with a pink minidress.

            “That would look really good on you.” I say, examining the dress. It’s gorgeous.

            “I suppose, but I want you to wear it!”

            “No! I couldn’t wear your dress, unnie!”

            “Sure you can!”

            “What would you wear?”

            “I just got a new black dress. I’ll wear that.”

            “Okay.”

At first I was a bit put off by the idea, but I’m starting to warm up to it now. I take the dress from her outstretched arm and go put it on. Tasha unnie puts hers on, and then we go to do our hair. I see her take her gorgeous mess of curls and somehow artfully gather them at the back of her head and pin them up. I glance at us in the mirror. My skin has always been tanner than most people’s, but Tasha unnie’s is even darker, because her dad is African-American. Some people on the street don’t seem to like it, but I think it suits her, and so does she. I couldn’t even imagine Tasha unnie as a pale girl with straight hair. I straighten my hair, but I end up pinning it up too, because I know it’ll get really hot, and I don’t want it in my face. We do our makeup, with Tasha unnie insisting on doing my eyeliner and eyeshadow, using some sort of “secret trick”.