Chapter 5

Calvin and I are making out before the clock strikes nine. I was emboldened by Andrew's tip that Calvin is a bonafide man-whore. By the time we were halfway through our Stellas, I brushed my knee against Calvin's baggy jeans, and then I leaned into him with my hip. Without missing a beat, he placed a single hand on my knee.

My memory is a blur after that. It must be a combination of the jet lag and the beer. The club is packed; people are knocking their elbows against my head as they're trying to take selfies against the view of the skyline. The music has transitioned to full-on techno mode, and drunk girls are trying to dance on the high-top tables. I don't care because I'm locking lips with Calvin Suzuki.

I even have my legs thrown over his lap. It's for practical reasons. Someone spilled an ice bucket at the table beside us, and no one has noticed yet to clean it up. It gives me an excuse to throw my legs over Calvin's lap without making it completely obvious that I'm trying to mark my territory. Everyone back home knows that Jessica Lee made out with Calvin after his last swimming championship. Both she and Calvin denies it ever happened, but there are pictures on Instagram to prove it.

All I know is, I want my own opportunity to deny ever making out with Calvin Suzuki. It's practically a rite of passage now for the cool kids at my high school.

The scary part is, even scarier than flying halfway across the world for the summer, is that I've never done this before.

I've never kissed anyone, not even my grandparents or a dog or the bathroom mirror.

I hope I'm doing this right.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dr. Su shaking his head at us. It's true, I'm straddling Calvin's lap now, and my palms are mashing up against his hard, concave swimmer's belly. I have my thighs wrapped around Calvin's hips, and I'm grinding against him.

The fact that our adult chaperone doesn't approve makes this all the more enticing.

"Wait," Calvin hisses as I tug at the small, insignificant button directly above his fly. He holds me at arm's length and licks his delicious, perfectly moist lips. "I'm not looking for anything serious."

"I know, I know," I reply with an exasperated sigh. I can't believe he's making me shove my hair out of my face to talk.

This is not how this played out in my imagination. In my dreams, we're going at it in a bathroom stall. Everyone sees our feet from under the stall, and they're shaking their heads at what a skank would lose her virginity above a graffiti-covered toilet. Good God, it's not even one of those artsy bathroom stalls with infinity mirrors and rose petals like Morimoto's.

"I know this is just for fun. What happens on the banks of the Huangpu River will never resurface on the shores of the Hudson. No one back home has to know."

"No, what I mean is, I don't want things to be weird in class on Monday," Calvin explains and sheepishly runs his fingers through his tousled hair. "Can we take it slow?"

"How slow?"

"Let me take you out to dinner? Let's get some soup dumplings at Yuyuan Garden this week?"

"Yeah, s-sure."

"It's supposed to be gorgeous. I can't wait to take you there, shorty."

I take a minute to think over Calvin's request. Why did he call me shorty? I'm not short. Is he mixing me up with Jessica, who is a petite 5'2"? Was my make-out session so forgettable that he couldn't even invite me out using my first name?

I contemplate grabbing Calvin by the front of his halfway undone dress-shirt and going back for a second sloppy kiss session. If I shove my tongue into his mouth, maybe he'll see I'm so much more deserving of being his girlfriend than Jessica. I dropped a perfectly good Kaplan SAT class this summer to follow him here because I'm exciting and adventurous, just like him!

If only he knew me, he would see that I am the girl he should be Facebook official with. We're kindred spirits, and now that Jessica is on the other side of the globe. We're just two pre-med kids who want to help save the world. This definitely had nothing to do with the fact that Jessica and I had fought over boys since middle school, especially since Jessica held a birthday party in eighth grade where she invited everyone except me.

Calvin straightens up his shirt and goes over to Su's side. He's all smiles and his shoulders are rolled forward like he's trying to appear smaller, and more deferent to the mighty Dr. Su.

"Hey, Dr. Su, can you take me to see some cleft palate repairs this week? I want to write about it in my Harvard essay."

"That depends," Su replies, finally putting his phone away.

"On what?"

"Do you and Andrew intend to bring me some soup dumplings too?"

"Of course, Chairman!"

"Why is Calvin calling Dr. Su chairman?" I ask Andrew in jest. "Is this some kind of Inception reference?"

"Dr. Su is the Vice-Chair of Internal Medicine at Shanghai East Medical Center."

"Looks like Calvin is gunning his way to a stellar college recommendation," I note and sigh. Only Calvin Suzuki would interrupt a make-out session with a girl to work on his Harvard application.