Joe Si (pronounced Shi)

Joe squirted some more hair gel in his jet-black hair. Then he carefully spiked it. “Red spikes, I love you more then my sister…but ssssh, don’t tell her!” He admired himself in the mirror for quite a while. He was Korean, full Korean. It didn’t matter to him. He loved the way he looked. It made him feel special to be different for once.

His father shouted for him to get downstairs. Joe dropped his hair gel container on his desk, and then he bolted down the stairs. “Hey Uncle Jade.” Joe greeted his uncle. He picked up his backpack and followed Uncle Jade out to his truck, saying a quick goodbye to his father.

Joe’s uncle is a teacher at Joe’s school. He teaches Civics, English, and Math and is the greatest teacher you can ever wish for. He hardly gives out any homework, and he never yells. Joe enjoys his uncle being a teacher, and is even more joyful when his uncle never embarrasses Joe. For Joe, life can be great. It can also be dreadful.

“So…Joe.”

“Yes?”

“Hear about that dance coming up?”

“What dance?”

“The first dance of the whole school year! How can you not know? Almost everyone in your school has been talking about it!”

“It must’ve just slipped my mind.”

“You going to dance with any chicks?”

“Well…no. I’m just going to hang out with Ray, Dakota, Kaleb, and Mitch.”

“Afraid of catching cooties?”

“They don’t exist!”

“That’s what you think.”

Joe rolled his eyes and stared out the window. He thought about how some of the preppy girls would walk up to him and ask him if he’d go to the dance with them. “Hell no.” He’d probably answer. But then again, he didn’t want to sound rude.

“Alright, we’re here.” Uncle Jade announced. “Remember, now that we’re on school grounds—”

“I call you Mr. Colorusso. I know, I know. You tell me this every time we get out of the car!”

“Making sure you remember.”

Inside the building, Joe and Uncle Jade split up without saying goodbye. Joe headed for his locker and Uncle Jade headed for his homeroom. Everyday, the procedure was the same. Joe would wait patiently in his seat, in his homeroom, for everyone to arrive. Normally he would read or draw, but this time he paced the room. His teacher came in while he had his back turned, and when he turned around, then nearly collided.

“Joseph, sit down!” Mrs. Mackay enraged. Joe winced from her loud voice and did as he was told. Mrs. Mackay gathered some papers and left the room.

Joe stared off into space. All he could think about now was the dance and whom he should go with. Not friend wise, but girl wise. Every girl in his school thought she was pretty and wore pounds of makeup. Yeah, all I need the stench of a girl’s $50 perfume when I slow dance with her, Joe thought and shivered slightly, even though there was not a trace of wind outside. He made sure Mrs. Mackay wasn’t coming back yet, and dashed to the open window. He shut the window right before the first bus came. Just in time, he realized.

Back in his seat, he tried to think of a girl who never wore makeup or perfume everyday in her entire life or in fact, not at all. That lowered the count from at least 200 girls down to one. Her name was Kori Do.