The Pencil Stealer by Hye Jee Kim

Kirkner and Kim are usually put next to each other. Even in middle school, it was always me, then Alexis Kirkland, then Jodi. So we were always together, even when we didn't know each other.

My first impression of Jodi was completely off. I thought she was a rocker chick because back in sixth grade she always wore this giant headband. Also, she hung out with a couple of other girls, and they always wore similar oversized accessories from Claire's. For some reason, I thought that meant she was this alternative person who was angry and cool but in a slightly terrifying way. 

Then in sixth or seventh grade, I noticed that Jodi was using a pencil. It was black and had a gem at the end. I knew immediately that it was my pencil, because my dad had brought it back for me from South Korea. Since this was before Jodi's whole "I love all things Korea" thing, I knew that there was no way that she somehow had the same pencil as me. So I confronted her. She had the nerve, the GALL, to say that it was her pencil, and that I was lying. So my slight uneasiness around Jodi turned into an outright hatred.

Fast forward past two state academic team competitions, one Hunger Games premier, many sleepovers, and one Domo poster. Now I know Jodi pretty well. She's happy about 75% of the time, and the other 15% of the time there aren't words to describe her emotions. Imagine what a dog would feel if he/she walked into a room and it was filled with steaks and peanut butter and a small Tyrannosaurus Rex. That's how she seems like she feels. If she was a color, it would probably be a marble of bright orange and yellow. It seems bright and happy, but then the longer you look at it the more it feels like being sucked into a vortex of loudness and dizziness and organized chaos. 

89% of Jodi's personality is about Asia. It's a little bit bizarre since she knows more about the culture of the country that I was born in than I do. She loves K-Pop and K-Dramas and K-food and K-boys and K-air and K-otherstuff. She goes to Korean school voluntarily. As a former victim of Korean school I can't imagine why she continues with the self-inflicted torture but hey, to each her own. In 5 years she's probably going to be at college in some I Love Asia club, learning how to successfully live in another country. I know she likes Indiana University and UChicago right now, but like 4 years ago she liked Yale and at some point I think she liked Centre, and also she thought the Georgetown campus was gross so I don't really trust her current judgement about colleges. If she proves me wrong and goes to Indiana, then good for her.

Jodi does this thing, and I think it sums up her personality pretty well. She shakes her leg ALL OF THE TIME. ALLLLLL OOFFF THEEEE TIMEEEE. It usually doesn't bother me, but sometimes she shakes her leg so forcefully that it vibrates our desk, the couch, the aisle that we sat in when we watched Dracula in the eighth grade, and once even an entire mobile classroom. That's when it gets really annoying. Her personality's the same. It's fine in some quantities, but when it gets excessive, it's unbearable. JK JK (lol those are also her initials) I actually love Jodi (sometimes). It's gotten to the point where many of our actions are eerily similar. We say things in unison a lot (the creepy similarities peaked in the latter years of middle school, though).

Here are some things that I've learned about Jodi over the past couple of years:

1. She makes old man wheezing noises
2. She cried before the AP Gov test
3. She thinks that we almost got hit by an ambulance but we really didn't
4. She sometimes makes agreeing noises in English class that are very strange and slightly irritating
5. She founded the badminton club
6. She's better at conceptual science than me
7. She loves Changjo
8. She used to do her nails almost religiously
9. She is becoming increasingly similar to her mother
10. She has a very messy room
11. She has a very comfortable bed
12. Her dad makes amazing french fries
13. She wears leggings a lot
14. She loves my mother's cooking
15. She likes to complain about me to my mom
16. She likes to tell me to chill
17. She likes to tell me to get off Netflix
18. She knows where to get super good school supplies
19. She got teeth surgery or something that made her teeth look whiter or something sophomore year and she really liked it
20. She's a Republican

So that's Jodi. If you're reading this Jodi, sorry. Actually nope not sorry. 

Sorry.