Chapter 29

I arrive at class the next day, to our only non-hospital lecture day that work-week, and everything changed. In the hallways, the native students are pointing and snapping pictures of me. I pray that in my international students class that there will be some degree of normalcy. I try to shield my face by pulling the top of my hoodie over my head. It doesn't do much good. In class, Andrew approaches me first. Calvin gives me a polite smile and waves from his seat at the back of the classroom.

At least that hasn't changed. I may be a famous gossip-rag queen, but Calvin is still treating me like I am carrying the bubonic plague ever since I got intimate with him.

"Do you have any idea this was happening to you?" Andrew squeals as he spreads out his backpack and personal effects out in the chair beside me. He is scrolling through his phone furiously now. I have a feeling Andrew's discovered that the Fang Yao fandom has quite the presence online, and his fans are all out for blood. How dare I, a simple, clueless girl from the United States, steal their beloved heartthrob? I imagine that the female race for the mightiest, most sought-after of man-prizes, the competition is fierce and nasty indeed.

If Liyuan was a jerk to me at the bar, I bet the internet is a million times worse under the cloak of anonymity.

"What? Did I get canceled?" I ask with a haphazard chuckle. "For wearing a jean jacket? Or for wearing ripped jeans?"

"No, silly," Andrew sighs and slaps his forehead at my cluelessness. "You need to have an internet presence first before you can get canceled. You're just lucky the blood-thirsty fangirls haven't found your Facebook in the states yet. I'm sure soon they'll have a VPN, and you are going to be plastered all over every message board on this side of the world. Did you have any idea that the leader of Fang Yao's fan club has put out a hit on you?"

"What? Who?"

"It's this girl who goes by the alias XiaoLiLi. She changed her alias to Yuan after Fang started dating Liyuan. She goes by that nickname online because she sees a lot of herself in Liyuan."

"So, she's a complete psycho stalker."

"Yeah, except she has more followers than there are people on this planet."

"That's not possible," I reply with a laugh. "Unless some of those followers are Martians or from the planet Krypton."

"Well, at least some of those followers are real. And they're furious that Fang Yao dumped Liyuan only to go out with you." Andrew has always had my back in the past, but now he is shaking his head and reading off the messages on his phone like he can't believe his eyes that a man-deity like Fang Yao could possibly see anything in a life form that is lower than pond-scum like his fellow classmate in this acupuncture class.

"So they're going to stalk me and snap photos of me in the hallways? Then they're going to mock my bad-hair-day on their message boards?"

"Be careful around these girls," Andrew tells me in absolute seriousness. "They're not your friends, and if their ringleader tells them to go after you, they might be doing more than shooting pictures of you. Just this morning, XiaoLiLi said that to help Fang get back with Liyuan, that she would send a free pair of Fang Yao's used socks out to any girl with the flu who spits into your morning tea."

"Wait, seriously? Where did she get his used socks? eBay? How can she even prove he wore them?"

"Watch what you eat or drink. And don't stand near any large piles of rocks or bricks. Also, avoid standing too close to the subway tracks on your way home or near the path of any incoming buses."

"Back to the socks. How much do those go for on eBay? I have a pair of sneakers that Fang Yao threw up on. You mean I can sell those and fun my college tuition?" I laugh, but Andrew doesn't find me funny. The instructor is late. Instead of sitting here and tolerating Andrew's crazed rantings, I get up and visit Calvin.

"So, it looks like I might be heading home early, after all," I say to Calvin, who is trying not to meet my eyes. He probably wouldn't mind if I got pushed in the path of an oncoming bus by a Fang Yao groupie.

"I heard about what happened with you and that star," Calvin replies politely. He crosses his arms over his chest in a way that makes his biceps bulge. I suspect he's not doing it to show off his muscles, but rather as a defensive posture because he's hoping I'm not here to make a scene. "That is great. You two look cute together."

I hear the hidden subtext under his words. You and Fang look great together. You'll look great with anyone who isn't me.

"You and that girl you're dating look happy together. I'm glad. I never liked you much, you know?"

"Really?" Calvin asks with a raised eyebrow like he doesn't believe me.

"Yeah, I liked you, sure — but I like myself more. And I don't think we could have been very good together."

Before he can say another word, I turn to leave. Calvin clears his throat as I take a step away.

"Sara, I'm sorry you're going home early. This isn't going to be awkward when we go back to school in September, is it?"

"No, no, of course not. We're friends with the same people. Let's stay friends, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Calvin replies eagerly as though being friends is a relief. I guess "friends" is the word you use when being dumped to show you're not going to be in the parking lot keying his cars or around here — spitting into his morning tea. "Sara, the truth is, I don't think we could have dated this summer. I-I'm not good at dating girls who I have to compete with and who might outcompete me for college."

"What?" I demand. "Is that why you dumped me?"

"I have to go to Harvard, Sara. And we both know, Harvard is only taking one Asian kid from our grade. I came up with this great idea about going to this acupuncture class in a third-world country, and I was afraid by copying me, you would be that kid. You have a quirky story with your dad, and you're well, colorful. My parents are more, well — traditional."

"You were worried that I'll earn brownie points for my messed up life? That because of that, I would get into Harvard over you? That's hella stupid."

"I know! And we both know, you-you don't study very hard." Calvin gulps like he didn't mean to say that. We both know that he thinks it. I don't think either Andrew or I study a fraction of the amount that Calvin does. Or work out at the gym, for that matter. He's the one who has A+ pecs and an even more eye-popping GPA. "I need this, and we both know, only one of us can win. I was worried that you were trying to distract me so that you could ace the final exam here. That's why I had to start seeing someone else. Now that you may be leaving, I'm sorry I was so paranoid."

"I don't even want to go to Harvard!" I snap. "I just had a crush on you. It was never about some Hunger Games-like desire to see you fail. God! Why is everything always about getting to be that one person that is allowed to succeed?"

"Yeah, you're right," Calvin says with a sad smile. "Wouldn't it be nice if we can all make it? But that's not what the reality is, is it?"

I get up and return to my seat. Andrew is still babbling on and on about how I need to download Norton to my phone before one of these crazy girls sends me a virus. Pretend to be preoccupied with studying the meridians and acupuncture points in my textbook.

Maybe Calvin is right. Only one of us Asian Americans can get into Harvard, like only one girl in Shanghai can date Fang Yao. I didn't come here a couple of weeks ago wanting either of these things. Now I'm being chased around and backstabbed because it seems as though I might get both. I suddenly realize that all I truly wanted was to go back home.

Yet, the outline of Fang's pill bottle seems to bulge out of the front of my backpack. No, I can't fly home, not until I tell Fang the truth behind his accident.

"Are you upgrading your antivirus like I told you?" Andrew asks when I start typing into my cellphone.

"No, I'm telling Fang I'm going to go shopping to pick out a dress for the party next week."

"Are you insane?" Andrew asks with his concerned eyes nearly popping out of his head from behind his thick glasses.

"No, and I think I'll recruit you to help me make sure no one spits in my morning tea."

Andrew sighs. "Do I have to? Are you going to make me go to Starbucks every morning to bring you your coffee?"

Wow, I had no idea he was willing to do that. I was too distracted by Calvin's muscles this entire time to see that maybe Andrew is a truly good friend. Either that or he is used to the girls at home pushing him around. 

"Yeah, sure," I reply. "I like my latte with coconut milk."