Sincerely, Addison [XO, Kitty]

Chapter 4 - Making Dinner with the Crush

Thankfully, I had Korean roommates who knew how to make the traditional Korean dishes that would be served at Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving at the end of September. And, yes, I reached the end of September without failing any of my classes so far. Naturally, my lowest grade was in chemistry. Honestly, I was doing my best since I wanted to impress Alex, but... I was having trouble. Dae and I met twice a week for tutoring, and that was only helping a little. Honestly, half of those sessions was him helping me with my Korean language class.

Dae told me about Chuseok last year. Apparently, Kitty started a tradition called "Chingu-Seok," and it was a combination of the Korean word for friends, which is chingu and Chuseok. It was where people who had no family around could come together and have a thanksgiving celebration and eat a bunch of food. That was pretty clever. I think I would like to know this Kitty. She had Dae and Min Ho wrapped around her pretty little finger, which I admired.

There was a day until Chuseok, and I planned on making some ddukbokki, or a spicy Korean rice cake dish. But before that, I had some student teaching to do in Mr. Lee's class. This was the second time doing it for me since he wanted me to do it every other week.

I had a lot of my friends in his class—Hae Mi and Yuna, Q, Florian, Dae, and... well, Min Ho wasn't really considered my friend, at least to me, but he was a part of our group. He didn't really bother me after Dae put him in his place. They were still pals, though, thankfully. If they could get through an argument like that, and one where they were fighting over the same girl, they had a pretty strong friendship. It was odd, but I wanted to be his friend, too. One step at a time. I needed to get through this class first.

"Good luck, Miss Fletcher," said Professor Lee as people were coming into the classroom, and Dae, Q and Min Ho did as well. "You did well the first time, so I'm confident you'll do great the second."

"Thank you. This is a good way to get over my stage freight."

"I didn't know you had it to begin with."

I chuckled at that, and he did as well. He was on my list of favorite teachers. So many people thought I was crazy, but whatever. Professor Lee was pretty cool. And, I had to add, I didn't just like him because he was Alex's dad. Although, that was a small factor.

The bell rang, and that meant I had to start. All my friends were giving me smiles, and Q mouthed, "You'll do great."

I got to it, but only five minutes in, someone came into the classroom, and I immediately stopped talking. Alex?! What's he doing here? Wait, he has a free period second period. But why be here?!

"I apologize for the interruption," he said and stood off to the side. "Please go on, Addison."

I cleared my throat and did my best to move on with my lesson plan, and all of my friends who knew about my feelings for Alex tried to hold in chuckles. Florian knew since Q told him. I really tried not to look at Min Ho since he would just make fun of me with his expressions.

This was just great. Well, so much for Professor Lee complementing me after the class. I looked over at him, and he put out his hand, indicating I needed to go on. He knew Alex would show up and didn't tell me? Well, maybe he thought it wouldn't be such a big deal.

It was to me. Being in front of a class teaching was intimidating enough, but when your major crush was watching?

With some difficulty, I bumbled my way through my lesson plan, and thankfully, it came to a close with me saying, "Remember to read chapters ten through twelve. That's it."

Everyone clapped for me, including Alex. I blew air out of my mouth in a large sigh as Professor Lee came up to me. "Well done, Miss Fletcher, although you seemed pretty distracted."