Mr. Chiu, chorus director and theater teacher, had his own brand of cool. He used to be an actor, working in touring theater groups and a handful of movies. Once Ella made me rent this old Western just so she could fast-forward to the two-minute scene where the saloon owner, played by Mr. Chiu, tells a lady that she's better off without her cowboy. He was awesome.

I studied him as he called roll. Though his pants and shirt looked crisp and stylish and sort of Eurochic, he had a little stubble on his face. Hmmm, I thought. What was he doing last night that kept him up too late to shave?

"I do believe Mr. Chiu is the bad boy of Donghan Central High," I said aloud. I nudged at GuiGui. "Now there's a guy worth snagging."

GuiGui covered her mouth to hide a laugh.

"He is definitely the coolest teacher," Ella put in.

Genie rolled her eyes. "That's just the headline GuiGui's dad wants to see: Schoolteacher Caught in Affair with DA's Daughter."

"Genie's right," GuiGui agreed. "I'm better off starting with a guy my own age." She glanced at someone across the room.

I followed her gaze to Wang Zi, the star forward for our basketball team.

"All right!" I said, a little too loudly. Mr. Chiu flashed me a curious glance, but didn't say anything as he continued calling roll.

"All right what?" Ella asked idly.

"Wang Zi. GuiGui's guy project," I announced. GuiGui gaped at me, then turned pink.

Ella lifted her shades and squinted toward the tenors. "Which one is he?"

"Over there, sitting in the corner. Tall. Big, square shoulders. Tight butt," GuiGui answered. "I can't believe you don't know him! He's on the basketball team."

"Ella shrugged. "The whole organized sports thing leaves me cold." But she kept looking.

"Dark eyes," I prompted. "Brown hair with reddish streaks."

Ella nodded as it registered. "Oh, yeah, I see him now. Yes, I approve. Definitely."

GuiGui was even pinker now.

"Excellent," I said, feeling psyched. "Let's get to work." With Wang Zi in the chorus and on the basketball team, I could probably help push things along for GuiGui. Not that I knew him really well, but I'd spent enough time on the bus going to away games with him to be able to play matchmaker.

"But of course he doesn't have a clue that I exist," GuiGui said. "Mention my name, and he'll probably say it's an ancient civilization."

We all laughed. Maybe I shouldn't have been worrying so much about her, but I was starting to feel like she was this cute little duckling who was going to follow me into the big pond of boys. I wanted to make the waddle worthwhile.

"Well ,we'll change that," I said. "Right after chorus, we'll zip over to the tenor section and start talking."

"No way!" she buried her face in her hands. "I-I am too shy to just... just go up and talk to him today."

"What are you waiting for?" Ella asked. "The next millenium?"

"The year 3000 sounds just fine," GuiGui said.

"Let's focus, people," Mr. Chiu said, interrupting us. "First we need to get these handed out to each section." He waved a stack of song booklets.

"I'll do it." I jumped up and took them from him as inspiration hit. If GuiGui won't talk to wang Zi, I said to myself, I'll get him to go talk to her. I cut straight to the tenors in the back of the room. I paused in front of Wang Zi.

"This is going to take way too long," I said, as if I was just figuring that out. I pulled out a stack of booklets and handed them to Wang Zi. "Why don't you take these over there." I pointed to my friends.

I caught the surprise on GuiGui's face when she saw Wang Zi looking her way.

"Give them to one of the sopranos. Maybe GuiGui. Would you mind?" I asked sweetly.

"No problem." Wang Zi took the booklets and sauntered slowly across the room. I grinned. It was obvious he thought he was oh-so-cool. But so what? So did GuiGui.

As I continued handing out booklets, my eyes wandered back to them. Wang Zi was saying something, and GuiGui was nodding.

They were talking, and now he knew her name. My grin widened. Was I good at this guy thing, or what?

Now if I could only make the magic work on Jiro...

Mr. Chiu asked us to get into our voice sections, so everyone stood up and shuffled around the room to regroup. GuiGui and Ella were sopranos. They moved to stand in the center of the second row. Genie and I were altos. I climbed onto the risers beside her--- same spot as last year--- sixth row, on the left side. This was one class where it didn't feel like the first day of school, since most of us had been together for four years.

Thank God Genie had dragged me into the chorus freshman year. We glanced at each other, and from the glow in her brown eyes, I knew she was in the groove too. Gazing over the sea of heads to the sopranos, I could see Ella's purple hair and GuiGui's brown hair. Were they feeling the same thing?

I was sure they were. Synchronicity. Cool.

GuiGui was lucky to have Wang Zi in chorus. I wondered what Jiro was doing now. Writing an English essay? Zoning out during a Chinese History lecture?

And what was the deal with Han Cai? Was Jiro afraid to get really involved with a girl? Did he break up with people when things started looking serious? I knew that habit. I was guilty of it myself. Or maybe Jiro had been hurt by her. Or was it a friendly breakup?

I've got to find out, I told myself. I wanted to know every detail about Jiro Wang.