Page 14 of Rules for Rule Breaking
“Her husband is a quantum chemist. What are the chances I get a quantum chemist to fall in love with me?” Winter asked, her eyes narrowed. “My personality is sort of an acquired taste.”
“Your personality tastes fine. You will find someone one day,” Umma snapped. “You young people only want butterflies in your stomachs. But butterflies don’t help you through hard times. When you have your career, you’re going to want a partner.”
Winter sat up. “But what makes you think that person has to be Bobby Bae?”
Umma frowned. “You may or may not like Bobby one day, but if you don’t give people a chance, you will never like anyone. I don’t know why you’re so determined to be alone.”
The closest Winter had ever come to having a proper crush was in the tenth grade with the new kid, Anthony Nichols. He sat behind Winter in band, and it quickly became evident that he didn’t know the meaning ofpianissimo. And despite her hesitancy, she was roped in to a double date with him; her stand partner, Lucy; and Lucy’s boyfriend, James. Anthony was way too loud in class and way too loud in life. He talked through the entire movie and then didn’t ask for Winter’s consent before stealing her first kiss. She swore never to date again unless she met someone who was worth attaching her name to, and Lucy became herformerstand partner.
Winter often fantasized about having a love like Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan’s. They worked together to send a golden record into space with sounds and images from Earth in case some alien neighbors happened to find it and were curious about what humans were all about. It included people speaking in over fifty languages; the sounds of whales and birds; music, including jazz and classical; and a recording of the brain waves of a woman in love—Ann Druyan. She’d proposed to Carl Sagan only days before, and their love wasimmortalized on that gold disk, which was designed to last over a billion years. Winter couldn’t imagine Anthony or anyone being able to give her that.
Winter gave her mother a hug and then shut the suitcase before Umma packed her bed too.
“People are different when they’re away from home, Soon-hee,” Umma said. “I think you’ll have fun with Bobby.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Once Umma left the room, Winter got comfortable among the plushies on her bed. She lay down for a long while, staring at her copy ofJamaica Inn. She had only read the blurb on the back even though she and Emmy had chosen it for book club in March. When she opened the book, her note cards from AP Bio fell from where she’d hidden them. She could feel Bobby’s eyes on her at lunch sometimes, willing her to fail with his mind, so she studied while pretending to read.
Winter threw the note cards and book onto the floor and video-called Emmy. Winter was surprised Emmy answered. They’d been playing an elaborate game of phone tag all summer.
Emmy took a second to adjust herself in the camera, giving Winter a moment to admire her friend. Emmy was the main character of her own life. She was strong and athletic from years of training in contemporary dance. She often forewent real clothes, choosing to remain in her black or nude leotards with jeans or flowy skirts on top. Emmy’s mother left when she was a baby, so she spent most of the time with her dad, save for the summers she stayed with Nai Nai. Yet, it didn’t stop Emmy from being the girlier of the two, having learned to mother herself at an early age with a uniquely feminine protectiveness that she extended to Winter, who she viewed as a little sister despite Winter being a few months older.
Emmy poked out her lips and threw her long, perfectly straight ponytail over her shoulder before asking, “How’s my favorite unnie?”
It was nice to see Emmy in a good mood. Talking to her lately made Winter feel like she was walking on eggshells. Winter wasn’t quite sure how to meet her friend at these feelings, and sometimes she opted to keep things light. Occasionally it worked. Other times it backfired. She took a chance.
“Anxious,” Winter replied. “I’m going on a college-visit road trip with your least favorite oppa, Bobby.”
“Stop it,” Emmy said, the corners of her mouth slowly turning upward. “You’re not serious. Is his girlfriend okay with that?”
“Why does everyone assume she wouldn’t be okay with it?” Winter retorted. “And it doesn’t matter anyhow. They broke up, and apparently he’s taking it hard. I’m going to have to deal with his moping all week, and Umma says I have to try to cheer him up.”
“You can ask him to get ramyun,” Emmy replied, running her tongue over her teeth.
“Gross. No. Never. Please stop.”
Emmy shrugged. “The only way to get over someone is to get with someone else.”
With a snort, Winter said, “Getting his first girlfriend was a fluke. You want me to find him a second one?” Emmy looked at her like she had a million heads. “What is that face for?”
“I know this is going to be painful for you to hear, but it wouldn’t be that hard. Bobby is hot.”
Winter’s face scrunched up in confusion, and she feared it would stay like that forever if somebody didn’t clue her into what the hell Emmy was talking about. Maybe she was coming down with that disease where people can’t see faces. Face blindness. Either that or she was really into guys who looked like car-dealership air dancerswhose best chances at getting tans were from the blue light emitted from computer screens.
“You’re kidding, right?” Winter asked.
Emmy laughed. “Bobby kind of sucks, but he’s a beautiful Asian man. Plus he’s going to be, like, the next Warren Buffett or something.”
Winter looked all around her to see if anybody else had stepped into the twilight zone she was currently in. “But you... okay, no. I’m not helping him find another girlfriend. And I thought you were on my side! You can’t in good conscience be calling him hot in front of me.”
“Okay, whatever. All I’m saying is that he has a hot girlfriend.”
“Bobbyhada hot girlfriend,” Winter corrected.
Now that Winter thought about it, Jacqueline Charlotte Turner was one of the prettiest girls in their grade. But she’d always assumed Jacqueline had had a serious lapse in judgment that lasted for... a year and a half. There had to have been more to this. Winter wanted to write a think piece: “Is Bobby Bae Hot? An Investigation.”
“Did you think Bobby was hot this whole time and you never told me?” Winter asked.
