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There was a new girl at class today. She came in with her mom, her scared eyes darting around the colourful classroom. She clutched a soft tiger plush to her chest, her other hand clinging onto her mom’s arms like she was on a lifeline.
“Honey, eomma has to go to work now. You be good and I will buy you ice cream when I pick you up, okay?”
The woman pushed her forward by the collar, into miss Sophia’s embracing hands. As soon as she was untangled from her mother, tears started falling uncontrollably from her big, chocolate-brown eyes.
“No, eomma, don’t make me go here… Come back…”
The teacher gently picked the little girl up, patting her lightly on the back to soothe her endless sobbing. The woman gave an apologetic bow, saying that her daughter isn’t really susceptible to change. She excused herself, leaving the child in the class.
The new girl’s crying finally watered down to barely audible hiccups as Sophia rocked the 5-year-old in her arms, whispering reassuring things into her little ear.
Megan waddled her way up to Sophia, tugging at the teacher’s shirt:
“Miss Soph, who is she?”
The Filipina put the crying child back down to ground level, then she crouched down to Megan’s eye level:
“I don’t know myself. Why don’t you ask her yourself and report it back to me? And make sure to be nice and take care of her, otherwise, she would be shyer and not tell anything. Agent Meimei, did my order get across?”
Upon hearing the word “agent”, Megan gave a salute, nodding with enthusiasm:
“Aye, aye, captain!”
Sophia gave her a small smile before answering Manon’s call for help in the corner of the classroom. Dani’s probably refusing to eat her breakfast right now, staring at the bowl of noodles that had long gone warm in front of her. She only ever listens to miss Sophia. Little Megan thought to herself, giving herself a head pat for the genius idea.
But her attention is on the new girl again.
“Hello! Who are you? I’m Meimei, or you can just call me Mei.”
She looked at the girl with anticipation, hovering around her like a butterfly swarming a beautiful flower. She checked her back, checked her front, nothing wrong, so why wasn’t this girl talking to her?
“Hey, you with the tiger plush. I like it a lot.”
She finally looked up at her with those red, watery eyes, croaking out a snotty answer:
“You like it? Ah, thanks a lot.”
Megan offered her a tissue from the packet behind her, reaching out to wipe the tears on her face away. Tiger plush girl took the piece of paper and sniffled, dabbing her wet cheeks.
“I–I’m Yoonchae. But my parents call me Chip at home. I like being called Chip.
“Okay! Hi Chip, I’m Mei. I honestly don’t remember my real name yet, but Mei is okay!”
Megan repeated herself with the same amount of eagerness, grinning like a child at Yoonchae. Oh, wait, she is a child.
“Hi, Mei.”
Yoonchae put forward the tiger plush, showing it to Megan:
“This is Shelly. Shelly is a girl tiger. Shelly says hi to you too, Mei.”
Megan leaned closer, examining Shelly the Tiger from head to toe
“Hi Shelly. Shelly is a pretty girl tiger.” She concluded.
Yoonchae agreed, nodding slightly:
“Yeah, she’s my beautifulest plushie.”
The frown on her face began to fade away, soon replaced by a big smile. Yoonchae liked that someone also likes Shelly a lot.
Megan spotted the pink backpack still clinging to Yoonchae’s figure. She tilted her head, asking why she was still wearing it. The other girl replied shyly:
“I don’t know where I can put it.”
Megan eagerly grabbed her hand, showing her way to the wooden cabinet outside the corridor.
“Here! You put your things here.”
She showed Yoonchae her cabinet drawer with a bunch of cherry stickers and a sticky note with a big “MEI” on it. She led Yoonchae to a blank one with no sticky notes taped to it, opening it for the girl.
“This can be yours. It’s empty, I will tell miss Soph to add a sticky note later.”
Yoonchae stuffed the pink backpack into the drawer, sliding it close with ease. Megan pulled out something from hers. It turned out to be a fox plushie as soft as Shelly, the color orange like your stereotypical fox:
“This is Foxfox! Foxfox is also my handsomest plush, too.”
Yoonchae held Shelly closer to Foxfox, trying to put them together:
“We can make them play with each other. My beautifulest Shelly and your handsomest Foxfox would make the others jelly.”
Megan tilted her head, not understanding what Yoonchae meant:
“Chip, are you hungry? Do you want jelly? Miss Soph doesn’t allow jelly in the morning, but miss Manon can sneak us some.”
The other girl shook her head, scrambling words in her head to explain what she was trying to say as they strolled back into Megan’s little play corner in the classroom.
“Uhh,... Okay, so what if, –”
“Uh huh.”
“Shelly turns into a guy tiger named Shello and is the handsomest instead of Foxfox–”
“Nuh uh, Foxfox is the handsomest!”
Megan placed Foxfox down on a high stool, telling Yoonchae to get a good look at her precious fox plush.
“I said what if!”
Yoonchae puffed her cheeks, redeeming herself.
“Okay. So what if Shello is the most handsomest, so what?” Megan reassured her, easing the little girl’s nerves.
“Does Foxfox get mad at that?”
Megan scratched her head, thinking hard.
“I mean, he did lose his place as the handsomest, but Foxfox is a nice dude, so no.”
The other girl’s brows visibly furrowed, thinking hard of another scenario to get the idea across to her new friend:
“Okay, so I did hocus pocus abracadabra magic to Shello and he’s not the handsomest anymore. Foxfox is the handsomest, and Shello hates Foxfox for being so.”
“I thought you said our goodest-looking toys can play and be besties.”
“That is for Shelly, not Shello.”
Yoonchae inhaled, making a final statement to end this once and for all:
“That is Shello being jelly. He hates Foxfox for having something that he doesn’t have, which is the handsomest title.”
Megan nodded along, letting the words play in her mind in half coloured doodles where the colours aren’t even inside the lines.
“Ohh… Yeah, the others will definitely get jelly if we put Shelly and Foxfox together.”
“Meimei!” She heard Lara call.
“Do you want to play with my dolls with me?”
Megan shook her head, lowering her voice as if it were a top secret:
“Miss Soph said I need to investigate the new girl. I’m staying with her, and I will play with her.”
Lara understood the assignment immediately. She wished Megan luck, dead serious because “what if the girl is a human-eating monster that eats little children specifically?”
“Children and their imaginations.” Manon sighed to herself, watching the kids from afar.
“I had to convince Dani she isn’t Batman and she can’t fly so she doesn’t jump out of the window when she sees a flashlight.”
Sophia chuckled, patting Manon’s back:
“But it’s fun that way. It’s much more interesting for them and children like interesting things.”
The older leaned closer into Sophia’s orbit, letting her stroke her hair now.
“I’ve still got a lot to learn from you.”
“Mei, who is that?” Yoonchae peeked from behind Megan as she waved Lara goodbye.
“That’s Lara. She’s really nice. She’s my friend.”
Yoonchae observed Lara, looking at the way she plays with the dolls. These plastic humanoids were actually wearing decent clothes, not the usual kiddy mix-and-match style. Yoonchae was impressed.
“You have a cool friend.”
Lara waved at Yoonchae. Yoonchae waved back with Shelly, swinging the doll from left to right to greet Lara properly.
“Yoonchae, do you want to play restaurant?”
Megan pulled out the toy stove and cooking equipment, setting them neatly next to the pile of velcro-connected fruits and vegetables, which colours are starting to fade gradually.
Yoonchae dug in the box of toys Megan just gone through, finding a little knife and a pink bowl. Oh, she also found a small tie and a briefcase from another set of toys.
Yoonchae looked at their cool setup, and then at Shelly and Foxfox chatting together behind the toy box before something clicked:
“I know! We can play house! I can be the dad, and you can be the mom.”
The girl picked up Shelly and Foxfox: “And they can be the children!”
Megan pouted, clearly unpleasant with the idea.
“But I want to be the dad! I’m always the dad when I play house with my brother.”
Yoonchae stared at her, eyes widened to the max: “Is your brother the mom?”
“No! He’s my good for nothing big child that I love very dearly. I have a doll at home. She’s usually the mom.”
Megan recalled what her mother usually says about her brother. You good for nothing big child! her mother would yell at her older sibling.
“Oh, me too! Let’s play rock, paper, scissors to see who can be the dad.”
“No. Oh! I have an idea. Chip, when is your birthday?”
Megan asked out of curiosity. Genuine curiousity, but she also wanted to be a good agent Meimei, and complete her duty, and definitely for whatever scheme she’s plotting.
“Uhh, I think it’s December 6th? Or is it June 12th?”
Yoonchae counted on her fingers, the numbers 12 and 6 jumping around.
“Have you had your birthday this year? It’s September at the moment.”
Megan helped her new friend brainstorm. Either way, she is born after Megan, whose 6th birthday is closer than her 5th.
“I think it’s December 6th. It has been long, and I don’t know how much longer until my birthday. When is your birthday, Mei?”
Yoonchae asked her back:
“February 10th. I was born before you.”
Megan clapped her hands joyfully:
“I will be the dad, since dads are older than moms.”
Yoonchae didn’t agree. She said that dads can be younger than moms, too.
“I heard my sister talking to her friends about three older women fighting for a younger guy. I think it was from a TV show. I don’t know, though. But TV isn’t wrong.”
Megan’s tongue got stuck in her throat after that. Yoonchae had a point. People wouldn’t put wrong information on TV, right? Since lying is bad, and everyone’s mother told them that. They surely don’t want to be grounded.
“Oh. But I still think I should be the dad because I am the dad more than you so I’m clearly better.”
“No.”
Yoonchae said firmly, outright refusing to be worse than Megan.
“So who will be the dad?” Megan pondered.
Yoonchae snuck to Megan’s side, hovering over her figure. She tapped her hand lightly on Megan’s head, lining it up with the highest point of her forehead:
“I’m taller. I should be the dad.”
The older finally caved in, agreeing to play the mother in the family. Yoonchae clipped the tie onto her pink collar, turning to wave Megan goodbye.
“Bye honey, I’m off to work!”
She took Megan’s hand and pressed it to her cheek, acting out those scenes from the K-dramas her sister watches. (“My parents also do this!” Megan squealed.)
Yoonchae strutted out of the corner, walking a few laps around the classroom before climbing up the miniature slide to get back into the ring.
Megan was busy cutting through the plastic vegetables, the halves separating with a “rip.”
Yoonchae landing on the soft mat with a “thump” made Megan turn her head back.
“Uh. Hi. Hello.” The younger stood up, dusting her clothes.
The girls put on a whole show, imitating what their families do on a daily basis. Yoonchae helped Megan with the “cooking,” digging up mismatched plates stuck together with duct tape.
She held up Shelly and Foxfox when Megan forced them the plastic carrot.
“Meimei, are you sure tigers and foxes eat carrots?”
Yoonchae looked at the plushies worringly, asking Megan. She was holding the poor babies too hard now, she’s scared that she might suffocate them.
“Carrots are good. They should eat their vegetables.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Playing house got boring after a while and it wasn’t time for their lessons yet. It was boring because Megan decided it was so.
“These good for nothing children. Can’t even eat carrots.”
Manon stifled a laugh walking past that corner. She bit her lip so hard it looked like it could bleed.
“What’s so funny?” Sophia raised an eyebrow.
The older woman finally let go of her lower lip, explaining the situation in breathy giggles, almost dropping the pile of aluminium cups on her hands.
Sophia’s expression softened at the sight of Manon grinning, even laughing along with the other.
“I’ll talk to her mom later.”
(…)
Megan dropped her pencil. Again. This time, it was beyond her reach. The girl tried to lean forward to reach it, almost falling from her chair.
Megan bent down, trying to look for the pencil. But it is nowhere to be found.
Not until she rose back to the table did she see the little pink pencil lying neatly in the middle of her workbook.
“Oh.” She blinked. Yoonchae had picked it up for her right when it fell.
“Thank you.”
They were learning the letter “m” today. Megan scribbled her name, “Meimei,” on the blank piece of paper.
“This is my name.” She pointed with the little eraser on the other end of the pencil.
Yoonchae studied the uneven string of letters, then wrote her own, “Chip.” And another word, longer than both. It spelt “Yoonchae.”
“This is Chip,” she added.
Megan squinted at the unfamiliar words, sticking out her tongue.
“Yoon… Keh? Is it Yoon-keh?”
She tried to pronounce it, failed anyways.
“No. It’s Yoonchae. My real name.”
“Like the one you use when you go to school?”
Yoonchae nodded. “Yeah.”
The older girl scooted over closer to her friend, whispering eagerly.
“Do you want to know my real name? It’s a secret.”
Hearing the word, Yoonchae piped up. Megan was going to tell her a secret? Yes, of course, go on. She’s just special like that.
Megan looked around like a spy undercover, lowering her voice even more.
“My name is actually Megan. Like, nobody knows this yet. You’re the first ever person I said to.”
Yoonchae crouched lower, resting on the table so she’s matching Megan’s eye level.
“Ooh, Megan.”
“I like Meimei more though.”
“Me too. Yoonchae sounds old. Chip is cute.”
The girls giggled a bit too loud in the supposedly quiet classroom, catching Sophia’s attention.
“Meimei and Chip, stop talking,” she warned them with a stern voice.
“If you talk again, no stickers for you.”
They both sat straight up, Megan mouthing “Oh shit.” Yoonchae mirrored her, also mumb shit.” straight at her teacher. Yoonchae mirrored her, also mumbling “Oh shit” under her breath. Neither of them knew what it really meant. Megan just heard her brother saying it, and she copied him, and, well, Yoonchae copied her.
“No stickers for both of you.” Sophia declared. She even gave them one more page of writing. Oh god. As if it Megan wasn’t struggling enough.
And so Megan and Yoonchae were stuck there at the table together, stickerless, while the other children flexed their funny doodles attached to their palms.
“You know, I heard my brother saying that and nobody punished him.”
Megan pouted, tracing over the faintly dotted lines, the letter appearing after she lifted her pen.
“That’s unfair. You should tell your mom about him,” Yoonchae suggested, genuinely wanting to help.
“Yeah. Does your sister do that?”
“I don’t know. But I think she does.”
They started chatting again about everything their little minds could conjure up.
“My favourite pony is Pinkie Pie because she’s pink.”
Yoonchae exclaimed, scribbling something that was supposed to resemble a pony’s torso. A crooked circle and a squiggly line made a balloon — three of them — forming Pinkie’s cutie mark.
“No. I claimed Pinkie Pie first. Pinkie is my favourite pony because she’s funny.”
Yoonchae didn’t agree with that. Pinkie was her pony. How dare someone claim her before her?
She scoffed, crossing her arms.
“If you didn’t know, Pinkie Pie was my pony. I choosed her before you. I liked her when I was 4.”
Megan snapped back, moving the timestamp to a year before Yoonchae.
“Nuh uh. I liked her before you! Since I was 3!”
Yoonchae took a step further, making an unbelievable claim. Who cares? As long as it backed her up.
“My mom swallowed Pinkie Pie down her tummy when I was still there. I liked her before you!”
“What time, what minute, what second was that?”
The legendary Very Specific Timestamp was brought out. That was the strongest argument known to mankind — or at least to a child. If they couldn’t answer the time down to the exact millisecond, they were lying. That was the logic behind it.
Yoonchae became quiet, like the cat got her tongue. She sighed, admitting defeat.
“Well, okay. Pinkie Pie is your pony. I’ll like Fluttershy from now on. Her hair is pink.”
“Yes. That works,” Megan said proudly.
The extra page filled up with uneven lines, letter by letter, as they chatted away. Sophia gave them a sticker anyway, because “they worked hard and said sorry.”
Megan got a tiny pink bow, and Yoonchae got Pinkie Pie. Yoonchae traded the sticker anyway because “she didn’t like Pinkie anymore and the bow was pinker than Pinkie.”
Lunch happened, with Megan giving Yoonchae two full scoops of her food because Yoonchae said she really liked it, and Sophia scolding her because she wasn’t eating properly
.
“But you told me to take good care of her. What if she’s hungry?”
She nudged the woman, presenting her reason.
“You can always ask miss Manon to give you more.”
Sophia pointed to Manon standing near several pots, the ladle swinging on her hand as she got more for the hungry children.
“Don’t give away your food like that again, okay?”
She patted Megan’s head before telling Manon to give the little girl another portion.
Yoonchaw chose to place her mattress next to Megan’s when it was nap time, curling up next to her new friend, snoring slightly.
The kids are always given a carton of milk each post-nap. They sat together in a circle while Manon hands them little blue cartons with the straw attached.
Megan came a little bit late to the circle. When Manon had already moved on with her work, setting up the classroom for whatever activity they have that day.
Megan looked around worriedly. Where is her carton of milk? Did Miss Manon forget her?
Just as she was about to run after the teacher, caretaker or whatever people call them these days — Yoonchae pulled her back and handed her a carton with the straw already sticking out of the little hole.
“I told Miss to hand me your carton as well. You were a little late, Meimei.”
She said with a little pout on her face. Right. She was new. Megan was like her only friend here.
“Ah… sorry,” she apologized, plopping down behind Yoonchae because Lara couldn’t scoot over a bit for her to sit.
Sipping the milk like she was trying to suck the life out of the box, the drink went down her throat too fast, causing her to choke.
At the sound of her cough, Yoonchae acted quickly, patting Megan on the back. She didn’t know what good that did, but when she choked, her mother also patted her back like that, until she would stop coughing.
The afternoon went by like a breeze, swinging, playing, eating, then playing again. It was 4 p.m in no time, and they were standing at the cabinets again, this time Yoonchae’s had a sticky note just like Megan’s that read CHIP. Their backpacks slung over their shoulders, stuffed animals shoved into the backpack, only leaving the head out.
“Leave them like that so they can breathe,” Megan declared. Yoonchae just listened and played along.
The bags were left lying under the tree. Shelly and Foxfox were probably having fun in their own little stuffed animal world. At the other corner of the yard were the swings. Both their parents were running late today, so the girls just hung out with each other until they went home.
Megan gave Yoonchae a strong push, sending her high up into the air, the creak of the metal chains blending in with the giggles and laughter.
But then Yoonchae decided it was unfair to Megan, so they moved their spot to another swing. It looked like a bench, but it was a swing.
“You are like the bestest of my best friends ever,” Yoonchae said as she pushed the swing higher by her legs.
“You’re…” She paused a bit, finding the right words to describe what she thought of Megan.
“You’re like a chocolate chip. I like chocolate chips a lot.”
Megan’s ears perked up. She also liked chocolate chips, but the wires in her brain were clicking to form another thought.
“Huh, I’m also Chip because I’m a chocolate chip. We have the same name now.” She clapped happily.
“Chippy, you are younger so you are baby sister to me, right?”
She pointed at Yoonchae then at herself. The younger girl nodded, awaiting what Megan was about to say.
“My mom told me younger sister is meimei. You’re also Meimei. We both have the same names now!”
It was Yoonchae’s turn to point. Her eyes looked at Megan with confusion, like a “Me? Meimei?” kind of question was written on a A4 paper and stuck onto her forehead.
The other girl gave her a thumbs-up and the biggest smile ever.