I’ve Never…

I’ve Never…

I’ve talked to a stranger before. Yup. I’ve broken my pinky promise with my mother. But, to my defense, if it was really like that, I’d never would’ve dared to befriend kids from my school, right? Also, it was really on accident. I’ll tell you the story if you want. Okay, here it goes: I shuddered as I walked through the plane. I’ve never walked—or have rode a plane before. I thought of the time I beamed so brightly during my ballet competition. It was my third year. My first two years were pretty bad—all just improving. My first competition of the year, on March 12th, 2025, Wednesday, was the first time I’d ever gotten into finals at my competition—ever. I remembered the stage lights flowing down towards me, my makeup shining brightly, sweat streaming down my body and face. But it was the single best experience of my life. I followed my mom down the walkway. The plane rumbled with its engines. I was flying to South Korea from San Diego. I was Taiwanese. I’d never been in South Korea—I’d never been outside of San Diego, in fact. My strict parents, Lucky and Bianca Huang, never let me. They put in all their work to make me successful. I had a math tutor, I did cello, swimming, art, ballet, contemporary—and Sunday school. I know. Usually Taiwanese people are Buddhist or Taoist, but about 1-2% of the whole population can be Catholic. Also, my parents have forgotten the ways of our country. Once they moved to America, they changed everything. They used to be Buddhist, now they’re Catholic because most of the Americans here in the U.S. are Christian or Catholic. I’m OK with that because most of the kids in my 5th grade class, plus my best friend, Juliana, are either Catholic or Christian. They’ve also changed their Taiwanese names. I sat down in our economy seat and stared out the window. I was starting to feel nervous. I’m known for carsickness. What was I going to do here? 

The plane rumbled again, then started moving. I screamed. People stared at me. My mom, who took me(my dad, Lucky, was at home caring for my baby brother Timmy.), shushed me. “The plane is only taking off, Avery.” I brushed back my long, poofy brown hair. “Really?” I asked. My mom nodded. I forced myself to calm down. The plane accelerated. It was now zooming across the road in a sort of formation. People were waving glowing sticks in bright neon uniforms and construction hats. One looked particularly cool. He had a long beard. I decided to name him Billy. “Mom, look at Billy!” Mom leaned over. “What? Didn’t I tell you not to interact with strangers?” I laughed. “No! Don’t you know I’ve been naming strangers I look at without talking to them?” Mom rolled her eyes, clearly relieved I kept her pinky promise. My mom was very protective. “That guy with the long beard!” I pointed, but now the plane started floating. I widened my eyes as the plane floated up and up…”wait!” I said, clutching my mom’s leather jacket. But I couldn’t make the plane stop. I fought the urge to scream. I pressed hard against my airplane pillow, scrunching my eyes tight. The person on the aisle seat in our row looked to me with concern. She was Korean. “Are you okay?” She said in an accent. My mom chuckled. “She’s never been on a plane before.” I moaned. “Honey, are you sick?” my mom said to me with wide eyes. “No, not really…” I lied, because I knew there was more to come. 

I’d survived(not to be too dramatic) about six-and-a-half hours of the plane, rejecting airplane food and taking naps. The trip was about thirteen hours. There was still as much as I’d managed to take on without vomiting or screaming. My ears were so clogged I was yawning every single minute. I’d pulled out my phone but no WiFi. I got up to go to the bathroom. My mom was chatting with the Korean woman on the aisle seat. Her name was Soonji. I guessed Soonji would be writing down her phone number and the rest would be history. Yup, my mom was very social. I inched out, because the sign above our seats was green, which meant we could go out of our seats or unbuckle our seatbelts. The movie I was watching on the screen in our airplane was still playing. I waited in front of the bathroom because it was occupied. Suddenly, the plane started shaking, violently. Uh oh. My mind drifted to the little bit of food I’d managed to eat on the airplane. I felt it going up and up and up through my body…the door slammed open from the bathroom. A boy my age stepped out. I puked all over his shoes. 

The boy widened his eyes and let out a squeak of alarm. Instead of giving me the side-eye and telling some adult, he leaned over me. “Are you okay?” He asked. I shook my head, embarrassed. I stepped backward and puked again, this time not on the boy. A flight attendant rushed out from behind a curtain. She glared at me, then started to put on gloves to clean up the puke. “Young lady!” she said. “I’m truly sorry,” I gasped, then puked again. She groaned. My mom tried to come but now the light above the seats were red, meaning that we couldn’t get out of our seats anymore. The boy, me, and the flight attendant were the only ones. The boy stared down at his shoes. “I’m sorry,” I said again to the boy. The boy smiled sideways. “Yeah, no biggie.” I realized he had a thick Korean accent. “Are you from Korea?” I asked. Then I blushed, because why should I ask now when I’ve puked all over him? He smiled again. “Yup. I visited San Diego for a vacation and I’m coming back.” I smiled back at him, puke dribbling over my chin. “I’m Taiwanese. I’m coming to Korea for a ballet competition.” then I wiped the puke from my chin as fast as my wrist could move. He nodded. The flight attendant finished up, gave me a final glare, then stalked away behind the curtain once more. Then a different flight attendant, a man this time, came out. He spoke in Korean. The boy spoke back to him, probably explaining I wasn’t Korean. He switched to English. He held a sort of Korean treat in his hand. “Would you like to have this? I know it’s been hard for you, vomiting and all that. Is this your first time? I’m sorry there’s been turbulence. Turbulence is an irregular motion of the air resulting from things called eddies and air currents. Or are you sick? You’re not supposed to be on this plane if you’re sick.” Wow. He asked a lot of questions—and talked a lot. “Um, first question. Sure! Second question, it is my first time. I’m not sick. I’m just very surprised and I get carsick a lot…so…” the flight attendant smiled and handed me the treat. I glanced at the treat—it was a chocolate brownie with marshmallow filling. Mmmm. The flight attendant disappeared back into behind the curtain and me and the boy were alone, together. The red light was still on—but technically we were still allowed to be here. The turbulence—or whatever it was called—was gone as well. The boy smiled at me. “I’m Minjun.” I nodded. “I’m Avery. Avery Huang.” We shook hands like we were at a job interview. The woman flight attendant came back out with a wipe and cleaned up Minjun’s shoes. I blushed. Then, we went back to our separate seats. Turns out Soonji was Minjun’s mother—just my luck. But, however, Soonji was all okay about it. I switched seats with my mother, and Soonji switched seats with Minjun, so now me and Minjun were sitting together. We laughed and talked all the way through the plane ride. The plane slowed to a crawl after it rumbled along the road—we were in South Korea. I thought back to my friend Vienna’s Instagram posts of South Korea—mouthwatering foods, fashion, sights to see. I was pursuing my ballet dream now. Minjun’s family was one of the first to get out of the plane because we were right next to the exit. I waved wildly as Minjun’s family rushed out the door—they were late to their flight to another state in South Korea. “Bye, Minjun!” I yelled. He waved back. “Bye!” he said. I blinked back the tears. Would I ever see him again? I focused on our conversations full of fun, my ballet competition, the amazing sights I would see in South Korea. I snuggled my tutu bag and waved and yelled until Minjun was out of sight. My mom rubbed my back. If someone would ask me, have you ever ridden a plane before? I’d say, Yes. I went places that went farther into my heart than in the world.