BooksBarbecue
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

A few of them go wild and change it up with something like

Roses are red

Lilies are white

I sure hope you’ll be

My date on prom night!

Okay, that one is better, but only in the sense that dying of old age is better than being eaten alive by a pack of rabid hyenas. It’s still terrible. It makes me want to scratch my own eyes out.

Hannah says I’m being mean-spirited and uncharitable and I need to remember to embrace my pain and also embrace others’ joy and hope. She’s probably right. But if I died and went to hell, the devil would make me sit in my brimstone-and-sulfur cell and embrace writing horrible punny promposal cards for all eternity.

A few kids have asked for consultations about which flowers would be best to use for the specific person they want to ask. It costs more, so I get why people avoid that option. But you’d think people—especially the ones who haven’t already done a soft ask (which I always recommend, because rejection is doubly humiliating if it’s a promposal)—would want to do everything they could to ensure a yes and a happy prom experience. Holy shit. What is happening to me? I’m becoming Hannah.

The worst part is that Owen and Emily aren’t here to laugh with me. Or at me. Or scold me for being a grouch, because to be honest, they’d both probably be on Hannah’s side. But Emily hasn’t spoken to me since the party, for obvious reasons, and Owen quit working at Heart’s Desire the week after for less obvious reasons. Hannah says it’s because spring is super busy on the nursery and supply end of things, so his dad needs him for that. But I keep wondering if it’s also because of me.

Usually I can get lost in my work when I’m putting together a bouquet or a table arrangement. But now I can’t even enjoy work anymore. I keep finding myself grinding through my arguments with Emily, then with Owen, over and over, until I’m left with nothing but dust and resentment and confusion and loneliness.