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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

“She was going to come and support you guys, but I told her not to. And she listened. She’s picking me up afterward as a compromise.” Emily tilts her chin and looks at me like See? Brynn’s trying to be better.

But I’m not convinced. “Is she staying away because she doesn’t want to upstage us? Or because she doesn’t want to make us mad?”

Emily doesn’t answer.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

I want to ask her why she’s going home with Brynn, and why she waited until now to tell me, but I don’t want to let her turn that into evidence that I’m obsessed. Screw her, anyway.

I’ve been telling everyone that our presentation is fine, that we don’t need Brynn, but I’ll admit the stress has gotten to me, so when it all goes well, I could cry with relief. Everyone’s wearing tiny little bunches of iris leaves and heather that I gave them for eloquence and good luck. Owen (wearing a T-shirt that reads, Don’t make me repeat myself. —History), Zach, and Aviana talk about the history of the land, and Mizhir, Nikki, Tulasi, and Lilianna talk about how keeping the McAllister name feels like an endorsement of racist government policies today. Shane and a passel of his white friends are there as promised, to show that it’s not just a minority issue, and I refrain from telling Owen I told him so, but I can’t help raising my eyebrows at him when Shane’s squad whoops and hollers right along with everyone else at the end of the presentation. The all-white school board seems impressed by the entire show.

After a brief round of hugs and high fives with STORM, Owen goes over and shakes Shane’s hand and thanks him for coming. I hate that he’s so freaking ethical and fair-minded and all “let’s do this for the greater good.” It makes me feel bad about myself.

Owen, Aviana, and Zach answer Geoffrey’s questions for his Mercury News article and pose for pictures; I notice that Emily is nowhere to be found. She must have left with Brynn before the rest of us even made it out of the boardroom.

It started raining during the board meeting, and I’m making my lonely, wet way back to my car when Shane breaks away from his pack and jogs over to me. “So, hey, I know we talked about getting together, right? I just found out that the Hoas are having a party on Saturday,” he says. “They live up in this ginormous mansion in the hills, and it’s gonna be like the party of the century. You should go.”

“Oh. Um, okay.” Only, party of the century? It sounds like a mob scene. I’d rather not spend another evening hanging with the bros and getting high.