I walked into my Biology class. At my side Bae Suji was sulking. "Morning blues?" I guessed and she just nodded. "But our next topic is about Human Reproduction. Or should I say, ."

She turned to look at me and had that look on her face. "So?"

"Why, Suji," I said, "I could've sworn you've been looking forward to this unit all semester."

Suji smiled wickedly. "This class isn't going to teach me anything I don't already know." She winked just as the bell rang, sending us both to our seats, which were side by side at our shared table.

Coach Park grabbed the whistle swinging from a chain around his neck and blew it. "To your seats!" Coach considered teaching tenth grade biology a side job to his role as varsity basketball coach.

"It may not have occurred to you kids that is also science. And what is science?"

"Boring," some kid in the back of the room shouted.

"The only class I'm failing," said another.

Coach's eyes scanned the front row, stopping at me. "Jinri?"

"The study of something," I answered reluctantly.

He walked over and poked his index finger on the table in front of me. "What else?"

"Knowledge gained through experimenting and observing." Genius.

"In your own words."

I bit my lips, thinking of a synonym. "Science is an investigation." It sounded like a question.

"Science is an investigation," Coach repeated. "Science makes us turn into spies."

"Good sleuthing takes practice," he continued.

"So does ," came another back-of-the-room comment. We all laughed while Coach pointed a warning finger at him.

"That won't be part of tonight's homework." Coach turned his attention back to me. "Jinri, you've been sitting beside Suji since the beginning of the year." I nodded but had a bad feeling about this. "Both of you are on the school newsletter team." I nodded again. "I bet you know a lot about each other."

Suji kicked my leg under our table. I knew what she was thinking. He had no idea how much we know about each other. Suji is like my twin. Sure we look a lot different than each other. But there is an invisible string that ties us together. Both of us swear it will hold for the rest of our lives.

Coach looked at the whole class. "In fact, I bet each of you knows the person sitting beside you well enough. You picked the seats you have for a reason, right? Familiarity. Too bad the good sleuths don't like familiarity. Which is why, we're creating a new seating arrangement."

I opened my mouth to protest but Suji beat me to it. "What the hell? It's almost the end of the year. You can't pull this kind of stuff now."

Coach hinted at a smile. "I can pull this stuff up to the last day of the semester. And if you fail my class, you'll be back here next year, where I'll be pulling this kind of stuff all over again."

Suji glared at him. Apparently Coach was unaffected by it. He blew his whistle, and we got the idea. "Every partner sitting on the left-hand side of the table , move up one seat. Those in the front row, yes including you Suji, move to the back."

Suji shoved her notebook inside her backpack and zipped up. I looked up at her and waved a silent goodbye. Then I turned around, checking out the whole class. I knew the names of all my classmates... except one. The transfer. Coach never called on him, and he seemed to like it that way. He set his book down on the table and slid into Suji's old chair.

I smiled. "Hi. I'm Jinri."

His black eyes carved into me, and the corners of his mouth tilted up. My heart dropped a beat and a feeling of gloomy darkness seemed to slip like a shadow over me. It vanished in an instant, but I was still staring at him. His smile wasn't friendly. It was a smile that says trouble.

I focused on the chalkboard. Coach said, "Human reproduction can be a sticky subject-"

"Ewww!" Everyone groaned.

"It requires mature handling. And like all science, the best way to learn is by sleuthing. Practice this technique by finding out as much as you can about your new partner. Tomorrow, bring a write-up of your learnings and discoveries. I want to see real interaction and teamwork."

I sat still. I sniffed, trying to figure out what he smelled like. Cigarettes? No, something richer. Cigars.

I placed my elbow on the table and propped my chin on my fist. I blew out a sigh. I had my eyes pinned forward, but I heard the glide of his pen. He was writing, and I wanted to know what. I looked sideways.

"What are you writing?" I asked.

"And she speaks English," he said while writing it down. I leaned as close to him as I dared, trying to read what else he had written but he covered the paper.

"What did you write?" I demanded.

He reached for my clean paper. He crumpled it into a ball. Before I could argue, he threw it at the trash can beside Coach's table. The shot dropped in.

I stared at the trash for a while, trapped between disbelief and anger. I opened my notebook to a clean page. "What's your name?" I asked.

I glanced up in time to catch another dark grin. As if daring me to get anything out of him.

"Your name?" I repeated, my voice seemed to waver.

"Call me Taemin. I mean it. Call me."

He winked, and I was pretty sure he was making fun of me.

"What do you do in your free time?" I asked.

"I don't have free time."

"I'm assuming this assignment is graded, so do me a favor?"

He leaned back in his seat. "What kind of favor?"

I was sure it was an innuendo, and I struggled for a way to change the subject.

"Free time," he repeated thoughtfully. "I take pictures."

I wrote 'Photography' on my paper.

"I wasn't finished," he said. "I've got a collection going of a school's newsletter editor who writes poetry in secret, and who shudders at the thought of choosing between Stanford, Yale, and... what's that popular one with the H?"

I stared at him for a while, surprised at how dead on he was. It didn't feel like it was a lucky guess. He knew. And I wanted to know how—right now.

"But you will end up not going to any of them."

"I won't?" I asked without thinking.

He pulled my chair, dragging me closer to him. Not sure if I should move away and show fear, or do nothing and show boredom, I chose the latter.

He said, "Even though you'd pass all three schools, you scorn them for being a cliché of achievement. Passing judgement is your third biggest weakness."

"And my second?" I said with a silent rage. Who was this guy? Was this some kind of a sick joke?

"You don't know how to trust. Wait, no, you trust—just the wrong people."

"And my first?" I demanded.

"You keep life on a short restraint."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're scared of what you can't control."

The hair at the back of my neck stood on end, and the temperature seemed to be cold.

"Do you sleep ?" he asked.

My mouth threatened to drop, but I held it back. "You'd be the last person I'd tell."

"Ever been to a therapist?"

"No," I lied. I was in counseling with the school psychologist, Dr. Kim.

"Done anything illegal?"

"No." Breaking the speed limit wouldn't count.

"Why don't you ask me something normal? Like... my favorite kind of music?"

"I'm not going to ask what I can guess."

"You do not know the type of music I listen to."

"Baroque. Something complex. I bet you play... the violin?" He said it like he knew it all along.

"Wrong." Another lie, but this one sent a chill flowing along my skin. Who was he really? If he knew I played the violin, what else did he know?

"What's that?" Taemin tapped his pen against my wrist. Instinctively I pulled away.

"A birthmark."

"Looks like a scar. Are you suicidal, Jinri?" His eyes were connected with mine, and I could feel  him laughing. "Parents married or divorced?"

"I live with my mom."

"And your dad?"

"He passed away."

"How did he die?"

I flinched. "He was... murdered. This is kind of personal, if you don't mind."

There was a brief silence and Taemin's eyes seemed to soften. "That must be hard." He sounded like he meant it.

The bell rang and Taemin was on his feet, going towards the door.

"Wait," I called out. He didn't turn. He was through the door. "Taemin! I didn't get anything from you."

He turned back and walked toward me. Taking my hand, he wrote something on it. I looked down at the numbers on my palm and made a fist. I wanted to tell him there was no way I'm going to call. I wanted to tell him it was his fault for taking all the time questioning me. But I just stood there.

Finally I said, "I'm busy tonight."

"So am I." He grinned and left.

"I won't call!" I called after him. "Not—ever!"

Suji came up beside me, jotting notes on the notepad she carried everywhere.

"So how's the new partner?"

"My new partner," I said, pointing at the back of Taemin. He had an annoyingly confident walk.

"The senior transfer? Guess he didn't study hard enough the first time around." She gave me a knowing look.

"He creeps me out. He knew my music. Without any clues or whatsoever."

"Lucky guess?"

"He knew other things."

"Like what?"

I sighed. "Like how to get under my skin," I finally said. "I'm going to ask Coach to switch us back."

"Go for it. But I won't back you up this time. I have to get home early."

At the end of the day, Coach shot down my request to reconsider the seating chart. It appeared I was stuck with Taemin. For now.