“I got a 100 on the math test, what did you get?” Jenny looked up and saw the smug look on her best friend’s face. He was waving about his paper and not bothering to cover the large 100 painted in red on top of it.

            She smiled, happy to know that she didn’t lose to him. “100 too, so ha. You thought that because I had trouble with one homework, I would fail the test? Don’t be stupid, Kyuhyun. You know that I always beat you.”

            The nine year old smirked. “Not true. There was that one time when you got a 98.”

            “I was sick! And the teacher didn’t see my work.” He ran off his seat, covering his ears with his hands and blowing raspberries.

            “Blah, blah, not listening to your excuses. You’re just mad that I’m better than you.” Jenny huffed and rolled her eyes. He was such an immature brat.

            “I can’t believe we have to share the valedictorian spot,” Jenny complained after they both received the news. They were moving onward to high school.

            Kyuhyun shrugged. “It’s only because your writing is better than mine. Because I beat you in science. Ugh, that teacher never understood my poetry.”

            Jenny snorted. “’Roses are not always red, violets are not always blue. But in the end, the most important thing is you are always you.’ Really? That’s not even a sonnet. No wonder she gave you such a low grade. That was so stupid.”

            “Hey! That was poetry at its finest. You just cannot see the inner beauty of it.”

            “Poetry at your finest maybe.”

            “Watch it,” he wagged a finger in her face. “One day I will be known as King of Sonnets and you will be nothing. All the girls will be swooning at my feet and you can only go on writing stuff about how the moon and the trees are one and whatever nonsense you and Ms. Choi happen to appreciate.”

            Jenny punched his arm and continued walking.

            “Hey, guess what? I got into Seoul University on a math scholarship. You?” Kyuhyun showed her his acceptance letter and cocked his head. Jenny had a frown on her face and looked upset. “What happened?”

            “I got in.”

            “That’s great! Now we can go to college together too and you can see me beat you again and again.” But his grin faltered when he noticed that she was still really quiet. “Ya, there’s something wrong with you. What is it? Did you not get the scholarship?” He grabbed the letter from her hands and perused it. “You did.” Now he was completely confused. “What’s up?”

            Jenny finally looked up and he saw tears in her eyes. “I also got into a college in America and my parents want me to go there.”

            “Oh.” He was silent for a while. “Well that really .” He was at a loss. He didn’t really know what to say. Jenny has always been there for him all his life. They’ve been friends ever since she moved from China when she was five and they’ve always been competing against each other and hanging out. They had planned to go to college together and maybe choose similar careers.

            Jenny nodded and tried to control her sniffles. “And the thing is they want me to go to America in two weeks to help me get assimilated and used to the culture so I don’t even have the regular two months to prepare.”

            “Two weeks? That’s not a long time. I guess you’ll have to start preparing now.”

            She sighed. “Yeah I guess.”

            At the airport, Kyuhyun stood at the terminal and waved. Her parents had just left and only he remained. “Hey, Jenny, it’s okay. You’ll be fine. Kick some at the school and come back and show me all your awesome math scores. We can always talk to each other online you know. It’ll be good. Just don’t get too good that I can’t keep beating you.”

            She laughed weakly and smiled. “Don’t forget me okay?”

            In a moment of rare affection, in all their thirteen years of friendship, he has never done this. But in this one moment, he leaned forward and hugged her. “Hey, don’t cry okay? You’ll make all of us proud. Get through the first year and come back in the summer okay?”

            She hugged him back and wondered why she never touched him before. Kyuhyun smelled good and was soft. Feeling his large hands on her back made her feel better and she pulled away when the announcement for her flight came on.

            “Thanks, Kyuhyunnie.” He waved at her and she turned to walk into the terminal. When she settled in her seat, the lady next to her smiled.

            “That boy out there, is he your boyfriend?”

            Jenny turned red and shook her head. “Oh no. Best friend.”

            She winked. “He’s still very cute.”

            Jenny thought of all his obnoxious moments and rolled her eyes. Very cute indeed.