[Note: BOYS & GIRLS: PART II is under production, and this preview may contain lines and content that do not reach the final book. In addition, this book assumes that you have read PART I all the way through. You can read more about Part I here.]
October 23rd, 2011
Kinsky, California, USA
Rose
The girl looked at her new school with some concern. It looked much, much bigger than she had imagined in her head – flatter, too.
“And you sure there no uniform?” an older Japanese man in the driver seat of the car asked the girl, in somewhat stunted English.
“Yes, oto-san,” The girl replied, still looking out the car window. “They don’t do uniforms here.”
“Okay, okay,” the man said, waving his hand. “Good, good. Here, let me walk you to the gate-”
“You don’t have to-”
By the time the girl had made any attempt at a complaint, her father was already out the driver seat and part of the way to opening her door. She relented, and walked with her father inside the school.
…
“We have a new student today,” the girl’s new teacher announced at the start of the class. “Please, everyone, join me in giving a warm welcome to Ms. Rose Kawakami.”
There was a set of polite clapping that sweeped the room. Rose stood up briefly, giving an awkward bow, then sat back down in her seat.
“Now Rose, where are you from?” The teacher asked once the clapping had died down.
Rose was unsure if she should stand back up again. “Umm… from Hokkaido.”
The older woman looked at her somewhat confused. “And where would that be?”
“Well, it’s, umm… it’s in Japan.”
The woman’s face went from confusion to a rather pleasant surprise. “Ohhh, how exciting! Well then, students, I’m sure Rose has a lot of interesting stories about how life is like overseas. She might even be able to help some of you when we get to our Asia section. Anyway, thank you for sharing, Rose.”
Rose decided to stand back up, giving a brief bow towards the teacher. This time when she did it, however, she heard some snickering from behind her. She turned back around to see where the noise was coming from, but saw nothing besides a couple of boys in the back smiling to themselves. She thought nothing more of it, and continued to focus on the class.
…
One thing which Rose noticed early on was that Kinsky Middle School was almost entirely made up of white kids. Her mother had promised her multiple times that there would be at least one student also from Japan, and that had reassured her. But she was beginning to think that this might have been false. An anxiety began to plague her for the rest of the day that perhaps she wouldn’t find anyone who she could talk to. Who she could make friends with.
This anxiety peaked as she entered the cafeteria for lunch and realized how few open seats were left. Wandering around she eventually found a spare area at the end of one of the tables near where the others had gotten their food. She, however, had brought her lunch that day – a leftover noodle dish that her mother had prepared for her. She had barely begun to eat when she heard the person next to her grab her attention.
“Uh, hello?”
Rose looked up. There was a white girl, around her age, who had brown hair and blue eyes. She was well-kept, with a light colored denim jacket and pink dress. Her brown hair was in two pigtails.
“Umm… yes?” Rose meekly responded back.
“Your lunch kind of smells. Can you sit somewhere else, please?”
The new girl was confused. “But, this is… how it’s supposed to smell….”
“Well, it doesn’t smell good. It smells like… my cat’s pee, when she’s sick. Plus my friends don’t like it either. So can you move?”
Not knowing how else to respond, Rose – in a rather shocked state – began to pack her lunch back up. The girl walked back to where she was sitting, and Rose could see her talking with her friends again, smiling and giggling to each other.
The new girl hurried off, out of the cafeteria, down one of the hallways. She felt like she could cry. She avoided the looks of those she passed as she pushed herself outside into an area under a ramada. There was a corner between two walls that didn’t have much foot traffic – she sat over at it and, squeezing herself into the corner, looked down at her lunchbox.
Then she began to cry.
It all came flooding into her at once. Being in a place which was unfamiliar, one that she couldn’t figure out how to be normal, one that she now knew was hostile. She cried quietly at first, trying her best not to make any sort of scene, but the more alone she felt in the world the more the dam broke and she lost all her self control.
“Hey, you alright?”
A voice suddenly spoke to her. She looked up. It was another girl, one she didn’t recognize – she had cloudy blue eyes and golden blonde hair, done up in a ponytail high on her head. Her dress was casual, haphazardly put together, much like Rose – mostly just consisting of a red fleece jacket and jeans.
The girl took a seat next to Rose. “You’re the new girl, Rose, right? I think you’re in my class.”
Rose didn’t speak, but she nodded, tears still dripping down her face.
“Is there something wrong?”
There was a bit of silence as the new student grew the courage to explain, at least partly, what it all was about.
“There was… a-a group of girls…” she finally stuttered out, “They said my food… that is smelled gross, and-”
“Let me guess. Second table to the left, closest to the cafeteria bar, brunette girl with pigtails and a prissy-looking outfit?”
Rose thought for a moment. “I-I think so.”
The blonde girl rolled her eyes. “What a bitch,” she muttered under her breath. She then turned back to Rose. “Listen, some people aren’t worth your time to worry about. She’s one of them. Do yourself a favor and don’t listen to her.”
Rose felt a bit better, knowing that she had an ally in all this. The girl kept speaking.
“Hey… you wanna hang out with me and my friends instead?”
Rose looked up. The blonde girl had a soft, comforting smile on her face. It made Rose smile, too.
“O-okay,” she replied.
The girl helped her up. “Name’s Kat, by the way,” she continued, “my friends are right around the corner.”
Kat led her to a little alcove near the ramada where two others – a brown-headed boy and a blonde one – were sitting atop a table, eating their lunch. Their eyes gazed upwards as they saw the two approach.
“Cole, Luke,” Kat announced, giving some space to the new girl. “Meet Rose.”
“Another girl?” the boy named Cole questioned. “I can barely handle you as it is.”
Kat gave him a sour face. “What about you, Lukas? Are you okay with Rose joining?”
Lukas, the one with the blonde hair, looked back at Cole for a moment. Cole gave him a look of indifference. He turned back towards Kat.
“Sure, I guess.”
Kat met the answer with excitement. “Great! You hear that, Rose? You can hang out with us from now on. Don’t stick with Thea and her group of dorks.”
Rose smiled. She gave a gentle bow towards the two boys. “Thank you for letting me into your group… I really appreciate it.”
A smirk appeared on Cole’s face. “You know, you should start bowing to me too, Kat. About time I got the respect I deserve around here.”
The blonde girl gave him another glare. “Oh, you wish!”
The others laughed, and Rose laughed along with them. For the first time, she thought that maybe she could do it. That maybe this new transition wouldn’t be so bad after all.