Once everyone had gathered at the lobby and Ms. Payton had done a roll call, they got into the bus to head downtown to The Library. Everyone took many pictures of the buildings as the bus driver drove by.

When they reached The Library, they all crowded inside and took their seats. The Four Seasons took the booth with the road view. They ordered their meal when the waitress came and began scrolling through Shervonne’s camera to see the pictures and took more.

“Check to see if they have free WiFi,” Lia said, looking around. The café was just like any ordinary cafes back home. “Hmm, this place seems homely.”

Shervonne took out her iPod touch and tried logging on. “Oh good — they have.”

“Upload the pictures on Instagram and Twitter,” Paige pleaded.

“It’s all done. I uploaded the pictures we took yesterday last night when you all were asleep.”

“Impressive,” Rylee remarked with a sly grin. “Huh, it’s a no wonder you look so dead now. Owww!”

Shervonne had kicked her under the table for her cheek. “At least I still look better than you,” she scoffed.

“That’s not possible,” Rylee said, flicking her hair to one side with a straight face as an intimation of Shervonne who does it all the time.

“Rylee, you did it so perfectly, you could pass for Shervonne,” Lia teased.

“All you need know is the color pink and curly red hair,” Paige added, laughing.

Rylee made a face.

Shervonne gagged. “Ahem. You were born an original; don’t die a copy.”

“Where did you get the quote from, Sher?” Paige said with a laugh.

“I got it off from John Mason,” she replied. “I have no idea who he is, though.”

Just then their food came and they dug into their breakfast hungrily. They ate in silence, each lost into their own thoughts.

When they were nearly done with their meal, Toby McGuire, the best-looking and also most arrogant boy in class, strolled up to their booth. “Hi, ladies,” he said, nodding toward Paige, who blushed.

“Hey,” she replied, smiling at him.

He smirked at Shervonne, his stepsister, who was throwing murderous and dagger stares at him, while Rylee and Lia gave him suspicious looks. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” Lia replied, “which means you should get going too.”

There was no mistake that Lia and Toby didn’t get on well. In fact, they were arch enemies.

“Get lost, monkey,” Shervonne snapped.

Toby ignored them and concentrated on Paige. “Wanna hang out with me?”

She gave a little laugh. It wasn’t mean, but it wasn’t nice either. “Toby, I know your type.”

“Which is . . .?” He smiled cockily.

“You’re the popular type of guy who gets any girls he wants, screw them over, dump them in a flash and a week later have another to screw over. In other words, a jerk,” she replied a-matter-of-factly.

“That’s not true! I’m not like that,” he protested defensively but weakly.

“Then how do you explain Molly Rollins?”

“Shervonne told you.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. He turned to glare at his sister, who shrugged innocently.

Paige shook her head. “No. Molly is a family friend,” she replied. “She told me about you and how you had screwed her over then dumped her.”

Toby was surprised. This wasn’t how it was suppose to go! She was supposed to be charmed under his spell! “I —”

“Listen, Toby, you should go.”

“Come on, you haven’t even given me a chance!” he called after her.

“Don’t need to.”

“Paige —”

She smiled sweetly at him. “All your friends are watching your epic failure. You might wanna leave before you embarrass yourself further.”

Sulkily, Toby left and they all slapped high fives. There was no way the Four Seasons were going to let boys try to walk all over them without playing with fire first.

“Okay, Shervonne,” Paige said once she was sure Toby was out of sight. “Out with it. What did you tell your brother?”

Shervonne grinned. “Oh, only that you think he’s hot,” she replied slyly.

Paige punched her on the shoulder. “No! I don’t! No offense, Sher, but I think your brother is nothing but a jerk.”

“He is.” Shervonne shrugged. She loves her brother but at times like these, Toby was nothing but a world-class jerk.

Paige nodded seriously. “I agree,” she said. “Besides, there are way better and hotter guys out there.”

“And by that, you mean Mark, don’t you?” Rylee . “You love him so much. You want him. You want to kiss him. You want to touch his manly six packs  . . .”

Shervonne crinkled her nose. “Mark has six packs?” she asked.

“Don’t you wish you could touch it, Paige?” Lia asked, leaning forward.

Paige blushed. “Go away.”

The other girls burst into laughter.

“Spotted any cute guys lately, Lia?” Paige asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, my brother — owww!” Shervonne yelped as Lia punched her on the shoulder.

“Nah.” She shook her head. “It’s too early to decide who’s cute and who’s not.”

“What about Dylan?” Rylee suggested thoughtfully. “I mean, he’s best friends with Toby but he’s not a total world-class jerk like him. Besides, he’s sort of cute.”

“Do you like him, Rye?” Paige asked.

Rylee made a face. “No way, José. But I seriously think that Lia does. Either him, or Ned,” she said slyly.

“Nah, I think it would be Ned’s brother, Blank,” Shervonne cracked up.

Lia blushed. It was true she had a thing for Ned’s older brother, William — but commonly known as Blank. He was tall, blue eyes, curly gold locks, smart, funny, kind.

“Why do people call him Blank, anyway?” Rylee wanted to know. “I mean we don’t call Ned ‘Ship’.”

“I’d like to see that happening,” Shervonne laughed. “Ship — that sounds so ridiculous! No wonder no one calls him that.”

“No, or else they’re in for it,” a voice said and they looked up to see Ned Blankenship standing before them, scowling. “What are you guys doing, talking about me, anyway?”

“Ah, we were just curious,” Rylee replied coolly. “You got a problem?”

“Yeah,” he retorted. “Stop talking about me as though I’m some kind of prize to be fawn over.” He walked away.

“What’s his problem?” Shervonne asked, irritated by his behavior.

“He’s just being an idiot,” Rylee replied.

Paige nodded.

Lia just kept quiet. She knew why Ned was so uptight. She was the only who knew. And personally, she didn’t blame him, what with what’s going on in his life. It was a big change.

“You know something,” Paige observed. “You know why Ned is so angry all the time.”

She shrugged. “Well . . .”

“What is it?” Shervonne and Rylee asked, leaning forward.

Lia felt uncomfortable. “It’s not really my business to say anything.”

“You can trust us!” they urged.

“No, you don’t need to tell us,” Paige said, shooting angry looks at the other two. “If it’s personal, you don’t have to tell us.”

Rylee frowned.

Shervonne caught Lia’s eyes and saw how uncomfortable she was. She had a feeling she knew the reason. The two of them, with Ned, Dylan Chiu and Mark Wedloe, grew up in the same, small neighborhood so everybody knows everything. But Lia was closer to the guys than Shervonne was. But that was only because Lia bothered to care about them.

Yet, judging from the shouting and yelling going on next door in Ned’s house, Shervonne suspects that Ned was mad because his parents might split up. She knew how he must have been feeling. She remembered the time when her parents would yell and scream. It felt like it happened only yesterday.

Her mother and father would be yelling, her mother throwing things at her dad. She and her little brother Sebastian would crowd in a corner and cry, terrified. Their dad would get so frustrated that he’d storm out of the house to the pub and not return until way past midnight. Unfortunately, their mother would be waiting for him and the screaming would start all over again.

If it weren’t for the support from Lia and Dylan, Shervonne would probably have been a very bitter person. Luckily not long after her parents’ divorce, her mom fell in love with Toby’s dad. Even though it meant getting a jerk like Toby for a stepbrother (Lia was appalled when she heard that news), as long as her mom was happy with her relationship with James, that’s all that matters.

“We’re leaving in five minutes! Chop, chop!” Ms. Payton said, snapping Shervonne out of her thoughts.

The Four Seasons quickly paid the bill and went back to the bus to wait for everyone else. Once the bus was filled with a class of thirty, very full, energetic teenagers and their teacher, the bus driver pulled out of the curb.

“Next stop: National Museum of Korea!” Ms. Payton announced happily and grinned when her announcement was greeted by a bus full of groans. That was just what she expected. “Now, I know what you’re thinking, but just because we’re here in a vacation doesn’t mean we have to stop learning. It’ll be fun.”

Rylee just rolled her eyes, gagging to the others. They grinned. They were feeling the same as she was. Even Paige, the studious one among them, didn’t like the idea of spending her vacation studying unless a really big, important test was coming up.

On their way to the museum, Lia fell asleep while listening to music. Rylee turned to the others. “Lia has been acting weird ever since we found out that we’re going to Korea.”

Paige frowned thoughtfully. “You know, you’re right. Why do you think that is?” She turned to Shervonne. “Do you know?”

She shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. “No,” she said slowly. “You know how Lia is. She doesn’t like to share her problems with anyone because she doesn’t want to burden them.”

“Thus, burdening herself even more,” Paige muttered as the three of them looked at her, wondering what to do.

Without them knowing, a single tear fell from Lia’s cheeks.