Fifteen-year-old Jung Soojung didn’t care much either way about going to the beach party, but her best friend, Choi Jinri, felt pretty strongly about it. “It’s the last party of summer vacation,” Jinri reasoned as the two of them played badminton in Soojung’s backyard. Jinri swatted the birdie over the net with an energetic, if inaccurate, swing.

                Soojung dove to return the shot, her waist long brown hair flying. “Wouldn’t you rather see a movie?” Soojung asked. “It’s not like there won’t be other parties once school starts. We’re not going to prison-we’re just gonna study for another year!”

                “But it won’t be vacation.” Jinri waved a hand at the lush green foliage that spread in a canopy over their heads. “Pretty soon the leaves will fall. There’ll be a frost. We’ll be wading around in snow up to our knees.”

                Soojung laughed. The muggy, late-summer air pressed with a warm weight on her bare skin-winter seemed like a long way off. But Jinri had a point. “Well, when you put it that way,” she relented good-naturedly.

                “I knew you’d come around,” Jinri said with a satisfied smile. “I knew you wouldn’t pass up your last chance to see the entire Yongsan High JV football team in their swim trunks.”

                Soojung swung at the birdie and missed. “Who says I’m interested in the JV football team, with or without swim trunks?”

                “Give me a break,” Jinri teased, sweeping a trendily of wavy reddish brown hair off her forehead. “Everyone saw you ogling Kim Jongin at Taeyeon’s pool party last weekend.”

                “I wasn’t ogling,” Soojung said in self-defence. She found the birdie in the grass. “I was just... inspecting. Besides, all the girls ogle Jongin. He’s a hunk.”

                “Okay, but he was giving you the eye too,” Jinri replied. “There was a definite two-way checking out going on.”

                “There was not,” Soojung protested, her cheeks burning.

                “Was so,” Jinri insisted.

                They were still debating the point that evening in the backseat of Jinri’s mother’s car as they got a ride to the beach. “Why would Jongin be checking me out?” Soojung asked Jinri.

                “Oh please.” Jinri rolled eyes. “Don’t make me say it. You’re the prettiest girl in the class. Guys are always checking you out. You’re just too shy to notice.”

                Soojung didn’t answer. Was it possible that Kim Jongin really could have any interest in her? And if he did... then what? She looked out the window toward the water as Mrs. Choi steered the station wagon into the town beach parking lot. Just beyond the dunes, the Yellow Sea caught the last light of day, glinting silver under the cloud streaked eastern sky. There was now a breeze in the air, carrying with it the smell of salt and sea grasses.

                Soojung took a deep breath of the ocean air and realized her heart was pounding with anticipation. In the distance, a cluster of kids were gathered around a portable barbeque grill. Is Jongin here already? She wondered.

                Jinri negotiated a pickup time with her mother, and the two girls hopped out of the car. As they waded through the dune grass, Soojung slowed her footsteps. “Hold on,” she said.

                “What’s wrong?” her friend asked.

                “I’m nervous,” Soojung confessed, her face turning pink under her suntan. “What if... I mean, what should I do if, well, if... you know,” she stammered.

                Jinri grinned, her hazel eyes twinkling. “If Kim Jongin comes over to talk to you? Just relax. Be yourself.” She gave Soojung’s arm an encouraging squeeze. “I have a feeling this may be your big night, Jung Soojung,” Jinri predicted.

                Relax. Be myself, Soojung thought as she trailed Jinri toward the beach. Jinri made it sound easy enough. Besides, Soojung reasoned, maybe he won’t try to talk to me. So he smiled to me a couple times. So what? He’s the outgoing type, that’s all. It took Soojung only about ten seconds to convince herself that she’d imagined the whole thing and there was no way that he could be interested in her. Ever since the seventh grade, when Jongin had first moved to Park Point, an affluent suburb on Koreas’s south shore where Soojung had always lived, he’s had girls falling all over him. He could take his pick. Why would he single her out?

                The beach party was already in full swing. A couple of guys were overseeing the grill, a big plastic tub was overflowing with ice and cans of soft drinks, Frisbees were flying, and music blasted from the speaker. Soojung knew almost everybody there. It was the “popular” crowd, and she fit in well enough, though she tended to stay near the fringes at these parties.

                Maybe it was because she took ballet lessons five days a week instead of being a cheerleader and liked classical music better than rock. Maybe it was her appearance. Tall and slim with a mile-long legs, Soojung had delicate features, a graceful dancer’s stride, a ruler-straight back, and a ballerina’s conscious habit of tilting her chin in the air that made some people assume she was a snob. Maybe it was because, unlike a lot of other girls, including Jinri, she hadn’t really started dating yet.

                “I’m going to grab a burger,” Jinri announced.

                Soojung followed the direction of Jinri’s gaze, which was fixed on Park Chanyeol, the rangy, brown haired JV football co-captain. Chanyeol was standing by the grill, a can of soda in one hand and a spatula in the other. “You mean you’re going to grab the guy who’s flipping the burgers,” Soojung teased.

                Jinri tossed her hair back, smiling. “With any luck, I’ll get the burger and the guy.”

                Soojung watched Jinri stroll toward Chanyeol, envying her friend’s self-confidence. Then she spotted her neighbour, Park Sun-young, kneeling next to the speaker and shuffling through a rack of CDs.

                Soojung started with Amber, but her route was soon blocked. A tall, athletically built guy with dark browned hair and brown eyes had stepped directly in front of her, and he wasn’t showing any sign of moving, Kim Jongin.

                As Soojung blinked up at Jongin, he gave her a slow smile. His smile caused her knees to buckle slightly, and she had a feeling he could tell.

                “Jung Soojung,” Jongin  said. Soojung hoped that, in the dusk, he couldn’t also tell that it raised her temperature ten degrees just to hear him speak her name. “Just the girl I was looking for.”

                “Me?” She squeaked.

                “Yeah, you. Come on.” He put a hand on her arm and steered her in a different direction. “Let’s get some food and find a quiet place to sit.”

                Soojung wasn’t quite sure how she managed to fill a paper plate without spilling coleslaw all over herself. She was still tingling from head to toe from Jongin’s brief touch on her arm.

                Before she had a chance to process how she was really feeling, Jongin led her way from the crowd. They sat down side by side on a piece of driftwood, their plates balanced on their knees. “Now we can hear ourselves talk,” Jongin said.

                “Yeah,” Soojung agreed awkwardly.

                He laughed “I’m pushy, huh?”

                She shook her head, her long brown hair swishing against her back. “Not necessarily,” she said cautiously.

                “You don’t want to hang out with me if you don’t want to,” he assured her.  He gave her another one of those weakening-smiles. “I’ve just been thinking, Hey, I want to get to know that girl better, so I decided to seize the moment, you know?”

                This time Soojung blushed so fiercely, he had a can of soda against her flaming-hot cheek. “Well... gosh,” she said lamely.

                Jongin chuckled. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to embarrass you.” He bit into his hamburger. Soojung did the same, although she was in such a panic, she could hardly chew and swallow.

                Say something, she ordered herself, before he gets bored and changes his mind about wanting to get to know you.

                But she was tongue-tied, Luckily, Jongin broke the silence first. “I hear you’re into dancing,” he said. “Ballet, right?”

                “Right,” she answered, somewhat surprised that he knew about her. “I take classes at the New Seoul Dance Conservatory. I started when I was four.”

                He whistled. “Wow, you must be really good.”

                She shrugged. “I’m okay, you play football, right?”

                He nodded, polishing off the hamburger and wiping his fingers on a paper towel. “And baseball in the spring.”

                “I love baseball,” Soojung volunteered.

                “You do? A lot of girls think it’s boring.”

                “Not me,” she said, “May dad’s taking me to some baseball games since I was old enough to hold a pencil and help him with the scorecard.”

                “That’s cool,” Jongin told her. “How about that doubleheader last weekend against the Yankees?”

                They launched into an animated discussion of the Red Sox’s chances of making it into the division play-offs, which then transformed into conservation about music.

                As Jongin told Soojung about all his favourite local bands, he kept saying things like, “I can’t wait to play this CD for you” and “I’ve got to take you to hear them live.” Soojung’s pulse raced as he spoke. I’m alone with Kim Jongin, she thought somewhat dizzily, and I don’t know for sure, but I think he's going to ask me out!

                Night had fallen. Down the beach, the embers in the grill glowed like red eyes in the dark. A bunch of kids were piling up small pieces of driftwood to start a bonfire.      

                “How’d it get so late?” Jongin asked. He’d slid closer to her on the log. Their arms were now touching.

                The hours had flown by like minutes. “I don’t know,” Soojung said softly.

                “I shouldn’t have monopolized you like this.” Jongin turned so he could look directly into her face. “Your friends are probably wondering what happened to you.”

                She dropped her eyes shyly. “I don’t imagine they’re worried.”

                “Soojung.”

                “She looked up, “Y-Yes?”

                “You have beautiful eyes.”

                Her cheeks flushed. “Uh... thanks.”

                “And beautiful hair.” He lifted a hand to brush a silky stand from her shoulder. “Do you think...”

                Soojung held her breath. He’s going to ask if he can kiss me! She guessed. She’d never actually kissed a boy before, not on the lips anyway. What should she say? What should she do?

                Before Jongin could finish his sentence, the magic of the moment was broken. “Sorry to in,” Jinri called from a respectful distance, “but my mom’s here, Soojung.”

                Soojung looked at Jinri and nodded. “I have to go,” she told Jongin regretfully.

                They stood up. Jongin collected the paper plates and empty soda cans. “I’ll call you,” he promised.

                “Okay.”

                “I will, you know.”

                She laughed. “I believe you!”

                Jongin leaned his head near hers. His lips brushed the corner of , light as a butterfly. “No I mean, seriously, I really will.” He gave her a wink before sauntering off. “So long, Soojung.”

                “So long,” she echoed.

                As soon as Jongin was out of earshot, Jinri descended on Soojung and demanded details. “Soojung, he didn’t talk to anyone else the whole night!” Jinri shrieked as they dashed through the dunes to the parking lot. “Kim Jongin’s in love with you!”

                “He’s not in love with me,” Soojung protested. But her face was still glowing.

                Jinri sighed rapturously. “You and Kim Jongin. He’s the cutest boy in our school. Did he ask you for a date?”

                “He said he’d call me.”

                “Tomorrow?”

                “I don’t know!”

                “You have to call me the instant he calls you,” Jinri insisted.

                “Okay.”

                “Gosh, Soojung.” Jinri gripped Soojung’s arms and gave her a shake. “Kim Jongin!”

                They ran towards Mrs. Choi’s car, both giggling like crazy. Adrenaline fizzed through Soojung’s veins. She felt as if she could have floated home.

                Up until that moment, she hadn’t given much thought to what a new year would bring. She’d figured it would be a lot like last year, only with harder classes. But now, suddenly, she was looking forward to school in a whole new way, for a whole new reason. She had a feeling her life was about to change.

                Kim Jongin, Kim Jongin. She sang the name in her head, her feet dancing across the pavement. Jinri had been right. It had turned out to be a big, big night.