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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

Since when has Emily been on “say hi to me if you’re around” terms with Brynn? I take the flyer with a little surreptitious side-eye at Brynn.

The flyer reads:

Are you a teenager?

Are you LGBTQIAP, curious,

or just looking for something fun to do on a Saturday night?

Join the crew at the South Bay Queer Teens’ January Mixer,

sponsored by South Bay OUTlet,

for great music, great food, great people, and great fun!

At the bottom there is a map, some photos of happy teenagers, and a website URL.

“I’m on the teen advisory committee,” she says. As if I’m supposed to care. “We’re actually looking for allies to be on it. Do you know anyone who’d be interested?”

In case anyone’s wondering, I do get how twisted it is to simultaneously not care that Brynn is on the OUTlet teen advisory committee and be insulted that she’s not inviting me to be on it with her. I don’t like either of those feelings, but there they are.

I don’t have long to stew in my own pettiness, though, because Shane moves in next to me to take a look at the flyer, and my heart starts bashing itself against my rib cage like an overwrought boy-band fan: It’s-SHANE! It’s-SHANE! It’s-SHANE! It’s-SHANE!

He says, “Sabrina’s brother was talking about going to this with his boyfriend. You got any extra? I can put them up at the pool for you.” The mention of Sabrina quiets my pulse somewhat.

“Aw, of course! You can double-date! Here,” says Brynn. She hands him a few flyers, and as he reaches out to take them from her—“Sweet! I’ll put them up today”—his arm brushes mine and I’m so stunned by the physical sensation of fantasy blurring into reality that I hardly notice when Brynn asks me, “You think it would be okay to put this one up in here? I should probably talk to Mrs. Baxter or a manager or something, right?”

“Huh?”

“I was wondering who I should talk to about putting a flyer in the window. Like Mrs. Baxter? Or . . .”

“Oh. Yeah, probably.”

“Okay, cool! And oh! I already got your aunt to put one up in her shop. Tell her thanks for me, okay?”

“Um, yeah. Sure.”