Koi No Yokan

i.

The small salon on the corner of 30th and Broadway St. in Astoria was dying down for the night. It was just an half an hour before closing and the salon was dead. All the hairdressers and colorists and the rest of the employees were sitting around the welcome desk.

"Ji, first day of school on Monday! Are you excited?" The oldest hairdresser, Kahina asks the fifteen year old.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get my hands on all that equipment! That school puts my stuff to shame." Ji answers, her arms shooting around her.

"Oh my, girl, you think you can survive waiting the next two days?" The youngest colorist, Chikondi asks.

"I'm protesting at the ICE building down on Steinway and 35th because they deported a legal citizen because he didn't speak english. And they sent him to the wrong country! He was from North Korea and they sent him to China. It's completely ridiculous!" Ji responds, knocking over a cup of pens off the desk.

"Ay, chica, tu es una negada!" Maritza, the hairdresser whose worked in the salon the longest yells out while laughing, picking up the pens.

"Sorry Maritza, you know I get too into things." Ji, is blushing slightly, scrambling to help clean her mess.

"You are an intellectual, mama. You don't need to be coordinated to be a genius! It might help with your time in gym though." Chikondi responds, all the girls laughing. 

The door opened and a small Korean woman entered the salon. Her longer black hair was tied up in a loose bun; pieces of hair falling out, framing her taut face. She has dark circles and bags under her eyes, revealing the countless hours working to try and make ends meet. She rushes over to the desk, putting down her bag and countless papers. 

"Hey girls, how's the Smiles doing today?" Mi-Young asks, not looking up from what she was doing. 

"Pretty good, it's been slow since 6 but before it was pretty crowded. Which job were you working today, honey?" Kahina asks. '

"Yeah was it the deli, the hotel, or the bar?" Maritza asks.

"Hotel today, the deli is tomorrow and I'm heading over to the bar the pick up a shift. You can eat some leftovers from yesterday; that okay Ji-Eun?" Mi-Sun asks, looking up to her daughter.

"Yeah, that's fine, Umma." Ji answers, helping the ladies clear up the shop and get ready to leave. 

"Do you need anything else for school? Notebooks or clothes? We can stop by the goodwill on 50th street tomorrow."

"I'm good umma, I have what I need."

"I'm just making sure! I can't believe my baby os going all the way to Midtown to start her sophomore year! I remember when we were giving you baths in the sink!" 

"Umma, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself sometimes. I'm fifteen, sixteen in two months! I'm practically an adult." Ji answers, causing all the girls to burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Babygirl, you may be a genius but you are far from being an adult!" Chikondi exclaims in between laughter.

"Well, I just so happen to disagree.." Ji answer, crossing her arms and furrowing her brows, a look of stubbornness adorning her face. 

"ji, why don't you head home. I got it from here." The girl's mother responds, shooing the girl out of the seat. 

"Okay, Umma. I'll see you tomorrow. Night everyone!" Ji says, scooping up her backpack and rushing out the door before the women could even respond. 

After taking the subway over to her apartment, Ji sat in her small bedroom trying to figure out what to where on her first day. It didn't matter that she still had two days to figure it out, she needed to be prepared. Midtown was a big deal for her, and she didn't have much friends. All of her free time is spent either at protests, running the salon, or hidden in her room running countless science experiments. This didn't leave her much time to find friends. And before this, Midtown was too far for her to go to, she went to a closer public school that was rundown and overcrowded, some days at school were scary. But Midtown had the best of the best. Everyone there also was smart, cared deeply about there studies, and loved science. She needed to impress the people in the school, show them she belonged there.