30
Change
by Qihan (Jody) Zhu
At the age of six, I moved to the United States. My parents told me that fitting in was the most important task, even more crucial than learning English. I, being the compliant child I was, obeyed blindly.
The first step was changing my name. Teachers were guaranteed to stammer at the sight of the letter “q” in Qihan. The next step was altering my speech. My first colloquial English class was taught by the popular girls who constantly repeated the words “cray-cray” and “totes cute” when they gossiped about the new boy at lunch. The third step was updating my closet. For my birthday, I often received Justice or Abercrombie & Fitch gift cards. The last step was increasing my knowledge about popular culture. From the High School Musical trilogy to country Taylor Swift’s latest album, I was well informed.
Elementary school passed quickly in this way until the fifth grade: a dark-haired, green-eyed boy had come along.
I still remember 2010. There was a book fair being held in the dimly lit library. A lonely jar of Legos occupied the space next to the cash register. Nearby, hastily cut slips of paper were in a disheveled pile along with a pen that was still warm from the last guesser’s hand. I muttered a quick prayer and arbitrarily scribbled down the number 279 while waiting for the librarian to count out my change. This was the only memorable event that ever occurred during my years of mindlessness. My guess won myself a book titled The Lightning Thief.
“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood” (Riordan 1), bemoaned Percy Jackson.
“Look, I didn’t want to be Asian,” echoed the eleven-year-old Jody Zhu, but then, I realized that that was just the first sentence of an ongoing series of five books.
My curiosity ordered my hand to turn the page, and the next page, and the page after that. This kid was only one year older than me and somehow managed to go from “I-don’t-want-to-be-here” to every demigod’s role model. He slayed monsters, rode winged-horses, and visited the land of the dead. That was not normal. That was freaking cool. Thus, demigod Jody was born.
She was capable, cordial, and courageous. Not only did she slay the monsters, ride the winged-horses, and visit the land of the dead, but she also communicated with