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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

Okay. I know that Brynn being an unscrupulous, girlfriend-betraying jerk is not nearly as bad as Washington being a racist douchebag slaveowner. But the underlying principle is the same. People are who they are. Once an unscrupulous girlfriend-betrayer, always an unscrupulous girlfriend-betrayer.

I’m about to tell Em about my brilliant analysis when Owen sees us and waves, and Emily nudges me so hard, it would be more accurate to call it a shove. “He’s nice,” she says, and I smack her with the Kettle chips bag. “I think you two would be cute together,” she insists.

“Well, I don’t,” I say.

“Come on. He’s hecka cute.”

“Well, I mean. He’s not horrifying or anything.”

“No, for real. Take a good look at him sometime.”

The five-minute bell rings and ends that conversation, thank God. On my way to Algebra II, I find myself going over and over it in my head. I’m worried about what’s happening with Emily. It was so easy to talk about Owen and whether I should be into him. And it was so easy to tell her the other day about Heart’s Desire, and I love that she knew a bag of snickerdoodles would make me feel better—how the cookies were shorthand for “I love you and I’m here for you.” But I feel like the ground is shifting under my feet. First she bugs me about not trying hard enough in school—since when do friends do that?—and now all this stuff with Brynn . . . I don’t know what’s gotten into her. I don’t know why she thinks things will be any different this time around. I wish I could figure out a way to make her see that they won’t.

A Brief History of Chisaki Joan Katsuyama’s Romantic Learning Opportunities, Part I

Preschool through Kindergarten: Joel Schumacher

We had several playdates together. We played firefighters, store, and fairy kingdom. We talked about getting married, and we even played wedding one time (Hannah made a little nosegay and a tiny boutonniere and took a zillion pictures), but we drifted apart in first grade.

What I learned: Your colleague at the fire station may be cute and also a great shopper, a fairy king, and even a willing groom, but he is not necessarily marriage material.

Third Grade: Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon

This was a one-way thing, for obvious reasons.

What I learned: Animated characters will never love you back.

Sixth and Seventh Grade: Zayn Malik (yes, that Zayn Malik)

Also a one-way thing (you might even say one direction, ha ha) for nearly the same reasons.

What I learned: You don’t have to be a good dancer to be sexy.

Beginning of Eighth Grade: Ryan Cardoso