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Back This Time Will Be Different Save as PDF
Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part I
  6. 3
  7. The History of My Beef with Brynn Foer-Preston
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part I
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part I
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part II
  20. 13
  21. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part II
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. The Complicated History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Imaginary Relationship with Her Nonexistent Dad
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part III
  33. 23
  34. 24
  35. 25
  36. A Brief, Backward History of the McAllister Family, as Paraphrased from the San Jose Mercury News
  37. 26
  38. 27
  39. 28
  40. A Quick and Eerily Relevant History of Asians in America
  41. 29
  42. 30
  43. 31
  44. 32
  45. 33
  46. 34
  47. 35
  48. 36
  49. A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part IV
  50. 37
  51. 38
  52. 39
  53. 40
  54. 41
  55. 42
  56. 43
  57. 44
  58. A Series of Screw-ups: The Chisaki Joan Katsuyama Story, Part II (Or Maybe It’s a Prequel)
  59. 45
  60. 46
  61. 47
  62. 48
  63. 49
  64. 50
  65. 51
  66. 52
  67. 53
  68. The History of the Katsuyama Family, Part III
  69. 54
  70. A Note from the Author
  71. Index of Flowers and their Meanings
  72. Acknowledgments
  73. About the Author
  74. Praise for This Time Will Be Different
  75. Books by Misa Sugiura
  76. Back Ad
  77. About the Publisher

But no more. Owen is going to use Weekly History Minute to talk about the history of discrimination against Asians in the United States, ending with a call to sign a petition to change Robert McAllister High School to Ryōhei Motohara High School. We’re calling our movement STORM: Students for the Original RM. I know. It’s not great. But it could be worse.

We’re having a working lunch to plan the demonstration for Friday; Aviana, Zach, and Owen are here already; Em should be here any minute. I watch Owen as he works on the Weekly History Minute script for Friday. He does this funny thing where three little vertical lines appear between his eyebrows when he’s concentrating, and I’m kind of mesmerized by it.

My enjoyment of the forehead show is ever so slightly spoiled when Emily arrives with Brynn, Nikki, and Lilianna. I mean, okay. Brynn has been helpful. She got Owen extra airtime for Weekly History Minute on the video announcements. She’s checked out tablets from the ASB office so we can have kids sign an electronic petition at the demonstration. She’s been in touch with every club president on campus and told them to get their members to the demonstration, and she’s brought Nikki and Lilianna on board.

But the more we talk, the clearer it becomes that something serious is brewing between Brynn and Emily, and that I can’t trust Em not to fling her heart at Brynn’s feet. What’s worse, the old protective feeling keeps getting pushed out by my new sense of betrayal, which scratches at my heart and at the back of my brain like sandpaper, and makes me passive-aggressive and disagreeable. Like as soon as they sit down, Brynn announces that she and Nik and Lili are going out Saturday and do any of us want to come; Em looks at me and says, “Wanna go?” and I smile and say sweetly, “No, thanks. Seems like you’ve already made up your mind, though. But whatever, you don’t need me, right?” I know it’s not a great look on me, but it keeps happening.

“I put the Robert McAllister stuff in the daily announcements for the rest of the week, to raise awareness,” Brynn says. “For people who don’t have Traudt and Mangin for English and history.” She cracks a smile at Emily, and Emily laughs, Oh, witty Brynn. Okay, it’s not just Emily. Nikki, Lilianna, and Aviana laugh, too.

“I don’t see what’s so funny,” I say.