I show him the other note.
“You’re in my way. He’s going to pay the price for you,” Alfie reads.
“Who is he?” Jace asks.
“That’s what I want to know,” I say.
“Let’s just hope this is a prank somebody is playing on you,” Alfie says. “I’m not sure what we can do with a bunch of notes anyway. It’s not like they’re really threatening you or anything. Just let me know if you get anymore notes and we will go from there.”
“Okay,” I say, taking the notes off his desk. “I’m going to keep these, just in case I need them later.”
“Good,” Alfie says. “Also, just so you know, I do want you here.”
I can’t help but smile. “Thanks.”
Tuesday, August 30
Banana milk.
Jace ate jjamppong. And he literally cried because it was so spicy, and I felt bad. He was shocked when he saw Alfie and me eating it like it was nothing. Though, Alfie was drinking a lot of water with his. I guess he’s gotten used to American food.
I tried fried chicken. At first, I thought I would be grossed out by eating it, but it was awesome. I can’t believe I missed out for so long by being a vegetarian. I wonder if my mom would be disappointed if she knew.
On Tuesday morning, when I get to school, there is a bottle of banana milk sitting on my desk in math class with another sticky note. I smile, because I know this one is from Noah.
Do you like me? (Circle one)
Yes
No
I smile at the note as I pull out a pen.
Thanks for the milk, friend. How did you know banana milk is my favorite?
I put it on his desk and start drinking the banana milk.
I could definitely get used to this.
It’s hard to find banana milk in the states. It’s not exactly popular. I could pick it up at any convenient store in Korea. Me and my friends often drank it while we were studying. My teacher would allow one person to go pick it up for everybody during break. I miss those days.
School in America is too easy. I find myself very bored. I have a lot of free time. I’ve already studied through all my books and have not had any sort of challenge.
I pull out my phone and send a text to my best friend from back home, Suel-bi.
Me: I miss you.
이슬비: Miss you too. Class isn’t the same without you. Can’t talk though. I’m studying… SO TIRED! But we have a crazy hard test coming tomorrow. Hope all is well in American! FIGHTING!
I put away my phone and sigh.
I am glad I am in America, because here I have Alfie. But it’s nearly midnight there, and Suel-bi is still studying. I’m so jealous.
Noah sits down in the desk beside me and smiles as he reads the note.
“I special ordered it,” he tells me. “I have a fridge full of it, so you should expect one every single morning.”
I take a drink. “Ah. So refreshing. I’ll drink it well.”
“What does that mean? I’ll drink it well. I notice you say that when you eat too,” he says.
“Sorry. It’s a Korean thing. It’s a habit. I always forget.”
“So, do you have plans this weekend?” Noah asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know yet.”
“This weekend is Labor Day Weekend, so we will have Monday off from school,” he says. “We should try to do something fun.”
“Maybe,” I say. “I wonder what Alfie has planned.”
Noah holds up the note. “You never did answer my question.”
“That is because, if I circle yes, you will think I want to date you,” I answer. “And I’m not going to circle no, because you’re my friend. I like you as my friend. So I am not going to answer.”
“You know, you’re the only girl that’s ever turned me down.”
“I must be a huge blow to your ego,” I say.
“Why won’t you date me?” he asks.
“I’m still trying to figure you out, honestly. My brother doesn’t like you. Everybody says you change girlfriends every few weeks, even you’ve said that. And you were unkind to Austin Yang on the first day of school,” I say. “Austin was scared of you. But you’re a different person with me. I guess I’m just waiting to see what your true colors really are, because I don’t want to be just another girl that dated Noah Pennington.”
“Then I guess I will have to prove myself to you,” he says.
The warning bell rings and the classroom fills with kids, so I turn my attention away from Noah and towards my studies. But I can’t help but wonder exactly how Noah will prove himself. Only time will reveal.
Three minutes.
When I sit at the table, I pull out my container of food. After a few days of eating the school cafeteria food, I decided to start bringing my own lunch. I brought my jasmine rice and left over jjamppong. Alfie and me were the only ones who would eat it after it made Jace cry.
“What do you have there?” West asks, as I open the first container. The spicy smell hits my nose, making my stomach growl.
“Jjamppong,” I answer. “Want some?”
“It smells awesome,” he says.
“Don’t be deceived,” Jace says. “It’s so spicy that I thought my tongue was going to burn off.”
I laugh. “He’s a wimp.” I scoop out a bite onto West’s tray. “Try it.”
He hesitantly picks it up with his fork and smells it. “It does smell spicy.”
“Scared?” I ask.
A tray sits down beside me, and I look over to see Alfie sit down.
“Is that jjamppong…” Alfie’s voice trails off, as West puts the bit in his mouth. His eyes immediately start to water as he grabs his drink off the table.
Jace and me laugh hard.
“You’re so mean, Gracie,” Alfie tells me.
“Just like my brother,” I reply.
He smiles. “True.”
“Have you gotten anymore notes?” Jace asks me.
“No. Just one from Noah. That kid is persistent,” I say. “But at least I got banana milk.”
“No fair,” Alfie says. “Maybe you should date him and convince him to bring me banana milk too.”
I laugh.
“So why aren’t you dating him?” Jace asks. “He obviously likes you. I don’t think he’s never been turned down by a girl before. Do you not like him?”
“I don’t know,” I answer. “I mean, he’s attractive and nice, but I also think you’re attractive and nice. It doesn’t mean I want to date you.”
Jace’s face turns a shade of pink.
“What about me?” West asks.
“Of course.” I give him a thumbs up. “You even handle you jjamppong very well.”
“I handled it well?” he asks.
I nod.
“Jace cried,” Alfie says.
“You guys didn’t give me anything to drink,” Jace says, in his own defense.
“Should I be worried that my sister finds you attractive?” Alfie says to Jace.
“Ainyo,” I tell Alfie. “Why would guys go for me in this school when there are so many pretty girls? The only reason Noah is interested in me is because I’m new. I turned him down. Once somebody else captures his attention, he will move on from me. Until then, I’m going to enjoy my banana milk.”
“As long as you don’t date my best friend,” Alfie says.
“You’re the only Asian girl in the school,” West says.
“What does that have to do with anything?” I ask.
“I just saying, some guys find Asian girls attractive,” he says.
Alfie whacks West on the back of the head. “Don’t talk about my baby sister like that.”
“Baby sister?” I ask, then laugh. “He’s three minutes older than me. Hardly enough older for me to be called younger.”
“Three minutes is three minutes and I am going to claim it,” he says.
“Aish,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Oppa, you annoy me sometimes.”
“We have no such customs in America,” I say.
“But we’re not completely American,” Alfie says.
“You, my brother, are completely American,” I say, motioning towards his fork. “How can you even eat with that thing? Better yet, why would you want to. Forks are useless. Chopsticks are superior in every way.”
Alfie grabs the chopsticks from my hand.
“Hey!”
He starts eating his lunch with them, so I pull another set from my purse and start using it.
“Do you carry those things everywhere?” Jace asks.
I nod. “I ordered a bunch of disposable ones to carry with me.”
“You are serious about you chopsticks,” West says.
“She needs them, trust me,” Alfie says. “I watched her try to eat with a fork once. It wasn’t pretty. She spilled food all over herself.”
Alfie picks up a piece of his food with the chop sticks and ends up dropping some down the front of this shirt. I smile, victoriously.
“Sorry I’m not westernized enough for you,” I say.
Even though the school is too easy and I miss my life in Korea, I’m genuinely happy to be here with my brother and his friends. Because I have something I didn’t have before—Alfie. I didn’t realize how much I missed him living so far away. I’m glad my mom made me come back. No matter where life takes me, I will always cherish these memories.
An accident.
As I am sitting in my room, I read through one of my texts books for the third time. If I were in Korea, after school I’d be going to special tutoring. I miss my tawkwondo classes. And my Japanese classes. Most of all, I miss my piano classes.
I think about the piano sitting in Noah’s foyer. I wonder if he’d let me come over and play it sometime. I pull out my phone and text him.
Me: Can I come over sometime and play your piano? I miss playing. I’m quite good. I’d even let you listen.
I watch my phone for a couple minutes, waiting for for a response, but I don’t get one. I let out a sigh and close the book in front of me. I knew that Noah would get bored of me. I didn’t think it would be this soon, but it was bound to happen sooner to later.
My phone starts vibrating and I look on the screen and see Noah’s name pop up. I grin and I slide my phone to answer it.
“Hey,” I answer.
“Gracie?” I hear a girl’s voice on the other end, and the girl sounds like she’s been crying.
“Yeah.”
“It’s Vanessa, Noah’s sister,” she says. “Noah has been in an accident.”
“An accident?” I ask, sitting up. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know,” she says, sniffing. “He’s in surgery now.”
“What hospital are you at?” I ask.
“Bayside General Hospital,” she answer. “Gracie, please hurry and get down here.”
The call comes to an end and I run to Alfie’s room. I knock.
“Alfie!” I yell through the closed door.
Alfie swings the door open, Jace standing behind him looking worried.
“Noah’s been in an accident. I need you to take me to the hospital,” I tell him. “He’s in surgery. His sister just called me.”
Alfie and Jace both swing into action. Alfie grabs my hand and we run down the hallway. Jace follows closely behind us.
When we get out to the car, Jace is the one who quickly climbs in the back seat. I get in the front, and Alfie takes off before any of us even have time to put on our seat belts. I reach over for mine and quickly put it on, then scoot up my seat so Jace will have room in the back. Even I think his backseat is small, and I’m short. Jace is tall, so I know he needs the extra room.
The whole way there, I am a nervous wreck, wondering is Noah is going to be all right. He’s the only friend I’ve made on my own, the only friend that isn’t my brother’s friend first. I feel close to him. He even did a Korean confession to me, which is probably embarrassing for him. And he brought me banana milk, which pretty much takes him to a new level of awesome. I want him to be okay and back at school with me.
When we get to the hospital, Alfie parks in the parking garage and then we head inside. The lady at the desk tells us where Noah is having his surgery, so we run up there. When we get to the floor, his older sister, Vanessa, is talking to a police office. She calls for me and waves me over when she sees me.
“Hey, Vanessa,” I say. “Any news yet?”
“Not yet,” she answers.
“Are you of any relation to the victim?” the police office asks me.
“No,” I answer. “He’s just my friend.”
“Is it a romantic relationship?” he asks.
Why is the cop asking me this?
“No, sir,” I answer, my face turning red.
“She didn’t have anything to do with it,” Vanessa tells the cop.
“To do with what?” I ask, turning towards her. “What happened?”
“Somebody cut the brake lines on Noah’s car,” she says.
I put a hand on my chest, trying to ease the ache. “Somebody did this to him on purpose?”
She nods, tears filling her eyes.
“Where were you this afternoon at four P.M?” the officer asks me.
“I was at home,” I answer.
“We can attest to that,” Alfie says, as him and Jace step forward. “Gracie doesn’t have her license yet, so she gets a ride with me to school. I gave her a ride home after school and she’s been in her room.”
“Okay,” the cop says, then turns to Vanessa. “We’ll be investigating and will be in contact with you soon.”
“Thank you,” she says.
The cop walks away.
Vanessa turns to me. “I’m so glad you’re here. Caleb is out of town on business and Dad is away on his honeymoon. I’m the only one here.”
“I’m so worried,” I tell her.
“Me too. Alfie, Jace, I’m glad you two are here as well.” She takes a deep breath. “Let’s go sit down and wait for news from the doctor.”
We follow Vanessa to a waiting room nearby and wait anxiously for some news. As I’m sitting there, I think about the two notes I got that are currently in my room. Does that person have something to do with it?
I stand up abruptly.
“I’m going to get some coffee for everybody,” I say. “Alfie, come with me.”
“Um… sure,” he says, standing up to follow me. Jace stays with Vanessa. I hate leaving her alone right now, but if this person does have something to do with it, I need to tell the police as soon as I can. What if Noah is still in danger.
“Alfie,” I say, coming to a stop just outside of the waiting room. “Do you think that I have something to do with this?”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“Those notes…”
His mouth opens as he makes the connection. “You think Noah could be the he that the person was talking about?”
I nod.
“Maybe,” he says. “But you don’t know for sure. Right now, we need to be smart about this. Let’s just wait and see how Noah comes out of surgery, then we will talk about it, okay?”
I nod.
“Let’s go grab coffee,” he says.
Alfie is right. We shouldn’t jump without thinking about it first, but I still can’t help but wonder if somehow this is partly my fault. Maybe I should have taken that warning more seriously. But it’s too late to do anything about it now.
MEANWHILE…
X’s cellphone goes off and they are startled by it. They weren’t planning on falling asleep, but the phone call took longer than expected to come through. Hopefully it is the good news they were waiting for.
“Hello,” X answers.
“The person you were asking about, Noah Pennington, he has come out of surgery and it was successful. The boy is going to be fine,” the peppy voice say
s on the other end of the line. That was not the news they wanted to hear, but they can’t let the person know that. Police are already suspicious. Not that they will ever find out it was me who cut the boy’s break line. I covered my tracks well. But the last thing I need is an investigation going on. It would delay plans
“Thank you.”
X hangs up the phone by pushing hard on the screen and then throws their phone across the room. It hits the wall with a loud thunk.
Noah Pennington wasn’t supposed to be fine.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s not my main target anyway,” X says out loud, looking at a picture that is pinned on the cork board by their desk. It’s of a young Korean girl. Her long, dark hair is put into a bun on the top of her head and she’s smiling. X hates seeing the smile on her face. “Gracie James, you will pay.”
The end.
Look for Imperfectly Gracie (Book 2) coming soon!
Letter from Scarlett
Hey! Thank you so much for reading the first book in my newest series, Bayside Academy. Sorry about that cliffhanger ;). Don’t worry, I have a lot more planned in this world and look forward to spending time with these characters. I hope you enjoy it as well! Episode two, Imperfectly Gracie, is coming soon.
If you did enjoy this book, it would mean a lot to me if you left a review wherever you picked this up.
For more information on this series, be sure to check out my blog https://scarletthaven.wordpress.com!
—Scarlett Haven
More books by Scarlett
New Hope Academy Series:
Luck (Episode 1)
Fate (Episode 2)
Fame (Episode 3)
Wish (Episode 4)
A Girl Like Gracie Page 8