“Junhyung,” I said sweetly when I saw him at school the next day, “Would you do me a big favor?”

“Probably not,” he replied. “Every time I do you a favor, I get in trouble.”

“I promise you won’t get into any trouble this time. Do you know who you’re playing Friday night?”

He looked at me as if I’d asked if he knew his own name. “Seoul National High School. Why?”

“Do you know where it is?”

“Seoul. Duh, Yoseob. What kind of question is that?”

“That’s not what I meant. SNHS is where I lived before we move here.”

“I didn’t know that,” Junhyung said. “But what does it have to do with me?”

“Well, I used to date their striker-“

“His name wouldn’t happen to be Jinwoon, would it?” Junhyung interrupted.

I nodded.

“So what do you want me to do?” Junhyung asked, with a smirk that said he already had a pretty good idea.

“Oh, Junhyung, take revenge for me!”

“Now I know what they mean about a heart broken person.” Junhyung shuddered. “You are one tough person, Yang Yoseob. I’ll do my best.”

“Oh, thank you!”  Impulsively, I threw my arms around his neck, and when his cheek brushes mine. I felt as though I’d had an electric shock. I jumped back as if I’d been burned. What was I doing? “I mean, thank you very much,” I said, offering my right hand.

“My pleasure.” He answered, giving me a firm handshake. He gave me that crooked smile. “But I liked the way you thank me the first time.”

When we joined Doojoon, Dongwoon and the others in the cafeteria for lunch, we found them passing around a newspaper and laughing uproariously.

“Here they are! Hey, Junhyung, you’re famous,” Seungho said, snatching the newspaper out of Kikwang’s hands and tossing it across the table.

The newspaper was Seoul’s tiny weekly, The Seoul Free Press. An article on page five announced, “Seoul travels to Jeju: First meeting in twenty years.” Junhyung held the paper between us, and there was silence at the table while we read the article. About halfway through, a familiar name leaped of the page:

Jinwoon, starting striker for Seoul, feels that offensive line will play the

major role in Friday night’s game. “We’ve got to shut Yong Junhyung down,”

Jinwoon continued. “We’re really looking forward to it. We want to see if he’s

                                                                         really good, or if its just media hype.”          

“Dongwoon says you used to go to SNHS, Yoseob,” Kikwang said. “Do you know this guy Jinwoon?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” I answered.

“Is he as conceited as this article makes him sound?” asked Seungho.

I considered the question for a moment. “No, I’d say he was a lot worse.”

“He used to be a close personal friend of Yoseob’s,” Junhyung explained. I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Uh-oh,” Kikwang said with a grin.

“Hey, Junhyung, are you going to show him a little media hype?” Seungho asked.

“I’m sure gonna try,” Junhyung said, that crooked smile very much in evidence.

On the morning of the big game, I opened my locker and found it full of something large and green. It turned out to be a green-and-white letterman jacket. At first I assumed it was Doojoon’s, left there for Dongwoon. The jacket I was holding bore the number fifty six. There was no doubt about it. The jacket belonged to Yong Junhyung.

“I see you found it,” Junhyung said, coming over next to me.

I looked up at him. “What’s it doing in my locker?”

“I put it there. The door was standing open. I guess Dongwoon forgot to close it.”

“And every time you see a locker standing open, you put something inside it? That’s cute. Sort of like stealing, only in reverse.” I joked.

Junhyung smirked. “I put it there because I wanted you to wear it to the game tonight. For good luck.”

I was surprised. “Junhyung! Are you sure?” I had never worn a letterman jacket before, but I knew it was a big deal, even if it was only a loan.

“If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have given it to you. You can keep it for a week-“ He glanced at the calendar taped to my locker door. “No, make that six days. Hey, there goes Doojoon. I’ve got to talk to him. See you later, Yoseob.”

Only six more days, I thought, staring down at the green-and-white jacket in my arms. All of a sudden time seemed to be rushing by. I ripped the calendar off my door, wadded it into a little ball, threw it into my locker, and slammed the door.