CR25

Background Born in 1974, David Yoo has often felt like an outsider. While
attending an international school in Korea, he was the only Korean American
student among German and Saudi Arabian classmates. When his family
moved to Connecticut, he again encountered few Asian peers. He published
his first book, Girls for Breakfast, when he was twenty-nine. The book is a
humorous account of a Korean-American teenage hero's efforts to fit in at a
suburban American high school.

;j(4,j) As you read lines 1-36, begin to collect and cite text
1. ■
evidence.
• Underline adjectives that describe Heartbeat.
• In the margin, summarize how Heartbeat tries to gain weight.
• Highlight text that reveals how Heartbeat feels when he tries to gain
weight.

M y nickname's "Heartbeat," because my friends swear that you

can actually see the pulse on my bare chest. I've always been
skinny. Everyone assumes I'm a weakling because I'm so thin (I prefer
"lean and mean" or "wiry"), despite being a three-sport athlete. I
decided to do something about it this fall when Sarah, the girl I have a
crush on, said, "Oh my gosh ... you are so skinny." She was visibly
repulsed by my sunken chest as I stepped off the soccer bus after
practice.I silently vowed to do everything within my power to
become the "after" picture. I was sixteen years old, but looked like I
10 was eleven.
For the rest of fall, I did countless push-ujpS and curled free
weights until I couldn't bend my arms. I got ridiculously strong and
defined, but I wasn't gaining weight. I wanted to be thicker.I didn't
care about getting stronger if nobody could tell. I did research, and
started lifting heavier weights at lower reps and supplemented my
meals with weight-gainer shakes, egg whites, boiled yams, and tubs of

Cmchts
1 I
 CRl6

cottage cheese. I forced myself to swallow the daily caloric intake

equivalent of three overweight men and still wasn't able to increase
my mass. (I have a ridiculously fast metabolism.) Over Christmas
20 break I cut out all useless movement, like Ping-Pong and staircases,
because I'm like a sieve-the 83 calories in a mini-Snickers bar is
moot because I waste 90 chewing it.
I returned to school in January depressed, because I was still
Heartbeat in everyone's eyes. I constantly weighed myself. At least
once an hour, no matter where I was, I'd find a bathroom so I could
take off my shirt and flex in the mirror for a couple of minutes. I was
so frustrated that nothing was working-but the frustration didn't
last. I was sitting in study hall two weeks ago when Sarah said the
magic words: "Have you been working out, Dave? You look bigger." I
30 couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic. I went home and inspected
myself in the mirror. I did look bigger!
But then I realized the reason: I'd accidentally worn two T-shirts
under my rugby shirt that day. It was just an illusion. I was futilely
stuffing my face and religiously pumping iron and failing to alter my
appearance, and now I'd stumbled on the Sim]Plest solution to looking
bigger. I felt like I was reborn.
I went to school the next day wearing two T-shirts under my
turtleneck. I felt solid. By the end of last week, I was wearing three

2. (j;h;JiJ•) �eread lines 23-31. Highlight the narrator's real name.How

does he think his classmates perceive him? Support your answer
with explicit textual evidence.

3, ■ ;Jtj•j)
As you read lines 37-75, continue to cite textual evidence.
• Underline the number ofT-shirts Heartbeat wears.
• Highlight Heartbeat's interpretation of the way his classmates feel when
they see him wearing extra layers.
 CR27

T-shirts under my rugby shirt.This Monday I tucked four T-shirts

40 under my plaid button-down.It gave me traps that didn't exist. My
Q-tip-sized shoulders transformed into NBA-grapefruit deltoids.[1] I
could tell my classmates subtly regarded me differently.It was respect.
Sarah gave me a look I'd never seen before,as if she felt ...safer
around me.I was walking down the hallway at the end of the day and
must have twisted awkwardly because suddenly my zipper literally
exploded, and all my T-shirts spilled out of my pants. Luckily,the
hallway was empty and I was wearing a belt.
I realized I had artificially outgrown my clothes. My button­
downs were so tight that a few seconds after jamming the extra layers
so into my pants, the pressure would suddenly bunch the cloth up in
random places so it looked like I had a goiter[2J on my shoulder or
something. I complained to my parents over dinner last night. "I don't
fit into anything anymore," I said. "It reflects poorly on you guys. You
could get arrested."
"What are you talking about? You look the same as always. You're
still my little boy," my dad replied, putting me in a headlock and
giving me a noogie. I glared at him.
"I need a new ski jacket," I said. It was true. I could barely clap my
hands with all the layers I was wearing.I was getting out of control at
60 this point. The four T-shirts under my wool sweater were smushing
my lungs together like a male girdle. It was a small price to pay;
nobody called me Heartbeat anymore, I reminded myself.
After dinner I went to a party.Even though it was winter,I opted
to hang out on the back porch as much as possible because it was so

I Cmdds)
 CR28

hot inside. Being indoors was like a sauna, but Sarah was in the
basement so I headed that way. We were talking and she noticed that I
was dripping with perspiration. "You're trembling," she said, touching
my shoulder. She thought I was nervous talking to her and probably
thought it was cute, but in reality I was on the verge of passing out
10 because I was wearing four tight T-shirts and two long-sleeves under

my wool sweater, not to mention the sweatpants tucked into my tube

socks to add heft to my (formerly chicken-legs) quads. She squeezed
my biceps.(31
"Jeez, Dave, how many layers are you wearing?"
I couldn't even feel her squeezing them.
"I have to go," I said, excusing myself to another corner of the
basement. Everyone was smushed together. It was so hot everyone
except me was hanging out in T-shirts and tank tops. I was sopping
and delirious and felt claustrophobic. My chest was cold because I
so had four drenched T-shirts underneath my sweater. It looked like I
was breaking out with Ebola[4J or something. When I coughed people
turned away from me in fear. Abandon ship, abandon ship! I had no
choice but to take some layers off. I lurched to the bathroom. My arms
were ponderously heavy as I pulled off the sweater. Just lifting my
arms exhausted me, and I had to stop midway and take a rest by
sitting on the edge of the tub, gasping. I slowly peeled off the layers,
one at a time. I took off my pants and peeled off my sweatpants, too,
down to my undies. I dried myself off with a wash cloth. My red
T-shirt had bled onto the three white Ts because of the sweat, so they
90 now were faded pink tie-dyes. I hoisted the bundle of clothes and was

4. ◄ REREAD AND DISCUSS Reread lines 37-44. Dave says, "my

classmates subtly regarded me differently. It was with respect." With
a small group, discuss whether Dave's assessment of his classmates'
response is reality-based or a product of his imagination.

S. 1;j!J•j) As you read lines 76-113, continue to cite textual

evidence.
• Underline adjectives Heartbeat uses to describe himself.
• In the margin, summarize how Heartbeat feels when he sheds his
layers at the party.
 CR29

' ' I was sopping and

delirious and felt
claustropllobic. ' '

shocked at the weight. I jammed them into the closet. I'd retrieve
them later, before I left. I put my sweater back on without anything
underneath. After two weeks of constricting my air supply and range
of motion by wearing upwards of six layers, I was amazed at how
much freedom I had with my arms. I felt like dancing for the first
time in my life. I suddenly realized what I really looked like at this
party: a padded, miserable, and frustrated puff ball, burning up in all
my layers. All this because I hated my nickname?
I got home and realized I'd left my bundle of wet clothes back at
1oo the party. I took this as a sign. My days of wearing extra layers was
officially over. Had Sarah fallen for the padded me, she'd be falling for
someone else. Besides, winter wasn't going to last forever, and I
couldn't just revert back to wearing just one set of clothes like a
normal human being come spring. The change in my outward
appearance would be the equivalent of a sheared sheep. From now on,
I was going to just be me.
That was last night. I'm not disgustingly thin, I constantly remind
myself. I am wiry. I'm lean and mean.
 CR30

Outside it's snowing again. There's a party tonight, and my friends

110 are on their way to pick me up. I don't know what to wear, so I lay out
four different outfits on the floor as if they're chalk outlines of people.
A car horn honks ten minutes later and I still haven't decided on an
outfit. Maybe I'll just wear all of them.

6. (■ ;j#;j@•• As you reread lines 76-113, make notes in the margin

about why Heartbeat decides he is done wearing extra layers. Then
reread the story's final line. Do you think Heartbeat's essential
personality has changed? Support your answer with explicit textual
evidence.

SHORT RESPONSE

� Cite Text Evidence Write a brief summary of the plot of "Heartbeat." Review
your reading notes, and use your own words to answer who? when and where?
and what happens? Cite text evidence to support your response.