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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

In the long pause that follows, I look over at Owen to see if he’s witnessed my badassery and Shane’s admiration. Big mistake. He is totally captivated by Sabrina, who is putting her arm on his shoulder and rising up on her toes to say something private, presumably. He leans down to listen. Then she steps back and waves, and Owen tucks the tablet under his arm and mimes texting, his hands holding an imaginary phone. Sabrina smiles and nods and practically skips off, perfect hair swinging back and forth, back and forth, just over her perfect butt, which is also swaying back and forth—for Owen’s benefit, I’m sure. Owen watches her for several seconds before turning back to the petitions.

“Looks like those two are getting pretty friendly,” observes Shane, who seems totally unbothered by the sight of his ex-girlfriend blatantly flirting with another guy.

“You jealous?” I can’t help asking.

“Of who—that dude? Nah.”

“Why not? What’s wrong with him?” I ask. Owen’s thoughtful, passionate, principled, sweet . . . Ugh, what’s wrong with me?

“Nothing’s wrong with him. It’s just that Sabrina doesn’t usually just run up and flirt with guys she barely knows. She’s probably trying to make me jealous.”

I don’t even know what to do with that information.

My phone buzzes. “Hang on a sec,” I tell Shane.

It’s Owen. Still right over there. Not even looking to see if I got his text, which reads:

O: Hey, we don’t have to work tomorrow night, right?

CJ: No. Why? You got big plans?

O: K cool. I might be going out w some people.

CJ: Who?

O: . . .

. . .

. . .

What’s taking him so long? I wish he’d just come over here.

Finally, a reply:

O: Brynn and Co. And Emily, I guess.

Sabrina. Sam and Will.

You’re welcome to come, obvi

Oh, obvi, I think. Doesn’t seem that obvi to me.

I type, No, it’s okay. Knock yourself out. I’ll just be at home alone with my Netflix queue, and hit send.

Wait. Seriously, what is wrong with me? I quickly add a winky face and a smiley face and type, JK it’s all good.

That’s better. I push the phone and all the weirdness into the depths of my bag and smile at Shane. If Sabrina can ask Owen out, I can ask Shane. Because I am a badass who has an admirer and who is not jealous of anyone. “Hey, um.” Here goes. “You busy tomorrow night?”

Shane’s face falls. “Aww. I’m gonna be at a tournament in SoCal. I’m actually leaving school early today to drive down there with the team.”

“Oh. Okay. No worries, I was just, you know. Wondering.”