Great Call of China (S.A.S.S.) (8 page)

Cece was completely caught off guard. “Um. . . ”

“Wrong,” Professor Hu said. “America. How many of you know this already?”

No one raised his hand.

Professor Hu smiled, but her grin looked kind of evil. “And this is why you are in my class.”

She got right down to business, returning to the chalkboard and writing two words:
Final paper.

Cece turned to Kallyn and mouthed,
She’s talking about finals already?

Kallyn shrugged, looking just as horrified as Cece.

“I expect big paper at end of term. You pick something in Chinese culture that influence human behavior today. Example be religion, pop culture, holiday, what you please. But you must apply theory from class to your paper. Worth forty percent of grade. I give you time to think about what you write.” She wagged her finger at everyone. “Topics due in six weeks.” She tossed her piece of chalk into the tray.

Cece swallowed. Forty percent on
one
paper?

When the day ended, Cece and Kallyn walked out of the academic building together. “Can you believe all this intense work?” Kallyn asked.

“I know. I love evolution and archaeology, but language and culture are going to be tough.”

“Man, I wish Ryan were here,” Kallyn said.

“Yeah?” Cece said as they crossed the lawn.

“He’d love this program. He’s as into anthro as I am.” Kallyn stopped to lift the flap of her bag. An oval pin of Kallyn and her boyfriend was stuck to a pocket underneath. “Cute, isn’t he?”

Cece nodded.

“What about you, Cece? Do you have a boyfriend back home?”

“Not exactly. The guys who like me are always. . . well. . . a little weird.”

“
Hmm.
Well, there are plenty of guys to choose from here. What about Will?”

Cece turned. “What about Will?” she said, a little nervousness creeping into her voice.

“Hey, Cece!”

Cece turned to see Will trotting up to her, a couple of textbooks under his arm.

“Hmm, what about him?” Kallyn whispered, a grin on her face. Then she spoke louder. “Well, I’m off to meet... uh. . . James for lunch. Bye!” She left so quickly Cece hardly had a chance to say good-bye.

Will caught up with her. “Hey, I was bummed that you aren’t in any of my classes.”

“Really ?” Cece said.

“Yeah. . . . Look, I wanted to talk to you.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and Cece stared at those dark gorgeous waves. So cute. “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t share with anyone what I said last night. About my parents?”

“Oh, of course,” Cece said. “And um. . . maybe it’s a good idea to keep my plans for Beijing quiet, too.”

“Sure. No problem, but I was wondering. . . ” He shifted his books from one arm to another. “Aren’t you going to need some help? I was thinking about it last night. . . ”

“And if you need anything, just ask. Okay?”

Cece’s heart pounded in her chest. “Same here,” she said. “I mean if
you
ever need to talk or whatever. . . ”

“Right, thanks.” Will smiled. “Well, I have to meet up with the guys. So I’ll see you later?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Great.” He took a few steps backward and waved with his free hand, then turned and headed off in the opposite direction.

When Cece returned to her room, she finally got around to checking her e-mail. She’d been gone for only two days, but she knew there would be at least a couple of messages from her mother wondering why Cece hadn’t contacted her. She opened her laptop and logged in. Yup, two e-mails from Mom—both titled:
Where are you?,
and one from her dad, saying
WRITE YOUR MOTHER.
Cece typed up a short message, letting her mom know everything was fine.

Then she opened an e-mail from Alison.

 

Cece couldn’t believe it.
Now
Eugene gets fired?

She wrote to Alison and gave her an update of her stay in China so far, including the vomiting episode, her trip to the Muslim Quarter, the club, and finally all the details about Will she could give. Writing about him—the way he looked, talked, what he’d said—made Cece wonder if she’d met the perfect guy at last. When she finished her e-mail, she closed the laptop and sighed with satisfaction.

For the next couple of weeks, Cece had to follow a tight routine to keep up with her classes and intense workload. Mark hadn’t been kidding about cramming an entire semester into one short summer. If she wasn’t in class, she was working with Peter over lunch or studying with Kallyn. Cece hardly had time to think about Will, and, more important, she hadn’t made any progress with her plans for Beijing.

But finally, on a Friday, just before Cece had to go to the lecture hall to get her team project assignment, she stole a few moments to try to locate the orphanage in Beijing.
The Great Call of China
She sat at her desk, blew air at her bangs, nd opened her laptop.

Cece went to Google’s mapping site and typed in the address she had for the orphanage. She quickly discovered the Web site didn’t cover China, but found a link for Google’s China mapping site instead. She clicked on the link and a map of China came up, with Chinese labels all over it. Not a word of English. Cece frowned. It could take her months to understand it. She went to a blank field at the top, entered the address, and clicked a button. Hardly anything on the screen changed. The map of China was still there, but this time, several lines of Chinese characters came up on the left. Cece squinted at the screen, recognizing only a few words, but not enough to understand it. She sighed. Maybe she had to enter Chinese characters instead of letters. She stared at the alphabetic keys on her laptop. Good luck with that one.

Cece stared at the screen, wondering what to do next.

She then tried to find a plain old map of Beijing online, one that was in English. But everything she found turned out to be too basic—tourist maps essentially—without nearly enough detail to locate anything but temples, palaces, and gardens.

Cece rubbed her eyes. How could something so simple be this hard? She glanced at the calendar on her desk. She had three weeks to go before Beijing.
Three weeks.
Could she learn enough of the language to get herself there and then ask questions?

A wave of nervousness swept through her.

Maybe she should ask Peter for help. Surely he could figure this out.

Hopeful, Cece got up. She’d broach the subject with Peter during their study session at lunch. She grabbed her backpack and left for the lecture hall.

When she arrived, she took a seat next to Kallyn.

“So where’s Jessica?” Kallyn asked.

Cece looked around. She spotted Will, sitting with some guys on the opposite side of the hall, but no Jess. Or Lisa for that matter.

“Maybe she’s at another massage session?” Cece said. “Or shopping?”

“I wonder how she keeps up with everything,” Kallyn mused.

“Me, too.” Over the past couple of weeks, Jess had gone out a lot. She regularly asked Cece to come with her, but lately, Cece had declined the invitations, worried she wouldn’t get things done for her classes. Plus, she wasn’t fond of watching Jess be so flirty with Will all night. So when exactly
did
Jess study? “Maybe she’s secretly a genius or something.”

Kallyn raised an eyebrow.
“Right
. . .
”

“Well, perhaps it’s easier for her because she’s got the Chinese part down.”

Kallyn looked like she was considering this. “True.”

Just then, Mark took the podium. “
Zao
, everyone! I hope you’ve had a great couple of weeks at XU. The professors tell me we’ve got a bright bunch this year, which means I know team projects will be better than ever. Jenny is handing out the assignments and a description of the requirements. And before anyone asks, there will be no switching. The teams were handpicked according to your proficiency exams, so that some of our weaker students will be paired with the most learned. This ensures a fair playing ground for all. Now I’ll give you a few moments to read over your team assignments.”

Jenny came to Cece’s row and gave her a stack of papers. Cece took one and passed the rest down. She scanned the sheet for her name. There it was, under Team 3; next came Alex’s name, then Will’s. . . Cece’s heart skipped. Then she saw Jessica’s name, and her enthusiasm dissipated. No doubt Jess would be excited by the lineup, too.

“Darn,” Kallyn whispered. “You’re not on my team.”

“I know.” Cece found Kallyn’s name under Team 6. Kallyn looked over the list some more. “Hey, that guy Will is on your team.” She gave Cece a nudge, and Cece smiled nervously.

“So you like him, huh?” Kallyn said.

“I don’t know. . . maybe.”

“Go, you,”
Kallyn said with approval.

At that moment, Mark started talking again, and Cece turned her attention toward the front. “I want you all to split up into your groups. Team One, please take the first row. Team Two, the second, and on down the line. I’ll give you a few moments to get situated, say your hellos, and then we’ll begin again.”

Cece and Kallyn got up and started moving toward their rows.

“Try not to drool,” Kallyn whispered.

Cece smiled, rolling her eyes, and headed to the third row. She took a seat next to Will and tried to act like being mere inches from him wasn’t going to give her a panic attack. Since the night at the club, they hadn’t really talked without Jessica around.

“So is it you?” Will said.

Cece glanced around nervously. “Uh, is what me?”

“You know,” Will said, smirking, “our team’s weakest link.”

“Oh.” Cece blushed. “Well, I
did
flunk the language part of the exam.”

“Just the language, huh? That’s nothing. I screwed up both the evolution and archaeology sections.”

“I guess it’s you then,” Cece said playfully. Before Will could respond, Alex and a guy Cece hadn’t met yet joined the row.

“Hey, Alex,” Will said. “What’s up, Chris?” The boys sat beside him.

Will looked over at Cece. “You know, I think I know the answer to our question. Chris has to be the deadweight on our team. Am I right?”

“Yup,” Chris said. He was a stocky guy with a super-deep voice to match his physique. “I slept through the exam, if you have to know the truth.” He pointed at Alex. “From what I understand, this one’s the nerd.”

Alex tried to look innocent. “Since when is it a crime to have a high GPA?”

“It’s not,” Chris said. “It’s just, you know,
nerdy.
” He looked at Cece. “You’re Jessica’s roommate, right?”

“Yup,” she said. “I’m Cece.”

“Chris. Nice to meet you.”

“Where is Jess anyway?” Will said.

“I’m not sure,” Cece said.

Just then, she heard Jess calling her name. “Cece!”

Will and Cece both looked back.

Jessica was hurrying down the aisle, waving a copy of the team list in her hand. “We’re on the same team. I can’t believe it.” She sat next to Cece. “Sorry I’m late, guys. Lisa lost an earring in the middle of the lawn, and it took forever to find it. Did I miss anything?”

Will smiled. “Not yet.”

Cece looked at Will and Jess, and inwardly sighed.

“All right, everyone, ” Mark interrupted. He waited for the room to quiet. “On the back of your team list you will see project topics.”

Cece flipped her paper over and scanned the list: The Silk Road and Its Influence on Xi’an’s Inhabitants Today. Burial Rituals of the Banpo. The Peking Man and the Theory of Evolution... almost any of them would be great to work on, but the one that caught her eye was Qin Shi Huang: The First Emperor of China.

“The main goal this morning,” Mark continued, “is for your team to rank your top three choices and turn those in. This should go fairly easily. In the future, however, you should plan on spending every Friday developing your documentaries. Also, Jenny will be handing out camcorders next week, and if you need props, XU’s theater department can loan some to you.