Give and Take

Sakurako was on her way to class. As she was walking down the hallway, students were staring at her and commenting on how she looked.

“Is she smiling?”

“She looks like she’s in pain.”

“I think she needs to go to the infirmary.”

Sakurako was confused as to why they were saying things like that. She’s decided today that she would try to change a bit. Instead of being the rude, cold, icy girl that everyone knew her by, she would try to show a new side of herself by being more happy and smiley.

“Sa-sa-cha-AHHH ARE YOU OKAY????”, Yumi was coming from the other side of the hallway when she noticed her friend was looking like she was in pain. “What’s wrong? Did you eat something bad? I’ll take you to the infirmary!”

Sakurako was feeling embarrassed by her friend’s antics. “I’m not in pain, I’m just smiling?”

“Smiling? I thought you were constipated!!!”

Sakurako felt disappointed by her efforts.

“No one looks good when they try to force themselves to smile. Just think of something happy and let that make your natural smile come out.”

“Think of something happy?”, she was thinking hard about this and suddenly Chiharu popped in her head. She thought about their conversation last time and the words of encouragement he gave her. A smile formed on her face, one that wouldn’t make others worry about her.

“There it is! What are you thinking about?”

“Uh…just something history related.”, she lied.

“That is so you. We have to get to class before it starts!.”. Yumi grabbed Sakurako’s hand and they rushed to class together.

As they entered the room, classmates were talking to one another, trying to finish up homework, and some trying to catch up on some sleep. Yumi went to her desk but Sakurako stood in front of the class. Everyone who noticed her was confused on what was happening.

“Sakurako! What are you doing?”. Yumi questioned.

Sakurako held up her finger to signal to Yumi to wait a second. She cleared her throat loudly and caught everyone’s attention. Everyone was now looking at her. With a loud and proud voice, Sakurako announced to the class, “Good morning! My name is Sasaki Sakurako! I moved to this school at the end of last year and have not had the chance to meet many people yet. I hope I will be able to get along with everyone here and everyone will get along with me!”, she bowed to the class and stood back up straight. “That is all. Thank you.”, the whole class looked at her with confused expressions. Yumi was embarrassed for her friend, but Sakurako thought what she did was okay and calmly walked to her seat with no shame.

Once Sakurako reached her desk, she took a deep breath and turned to the person who sat next to her. She put on the same creepy smile and said, “Hi! I’m Sakurako, what’s your name?” The classmate was startled by her sudden introduction but was even more scared of Sakurako’s expression.

“I’m scared”, the classmate whispered to another

“Just don’t say anything.”, the other replied.

Yumi went over to Sakurako’s desk. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”, Sakurako felt that she wasn’t doing anything wrong. A male classmate walked by, “Hi! I’m Sakurako!”, she startled the male classmate and he rushed to his desk frantically.

“This. And that announcement. You’re acting differently today.”, Yumi was filled with suspicion. “Did Daiki dare you to do this? Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be the type to care too much about a dare. What did you bet on?”

“It wasn’t a bet. I just...want to be more open to people. Is that wrong?”, Sakurako was blushing a bit as she confessed her real motives.

Yumi’s eyes widened. “Our Sakurako wants to meet new people and make more friends? You could’ve asked me to help you!.”

“Or me!”, Daiki appeared behind Yumi. “I overheard everything you guys were talking about and count me in on this!. After all, I’ve made tons of friends!”, Daiki sounded proud of himself.

“We want her to make real friends, not online geeky ones.”, Yumi retorted back.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sakurako, Yumi, and Daiki were behind the school. Sakurako was sitting on a bench while Yumi and Daiki were standing facing her.

“Okay, how good are your people skills?”, Yumi was ready to analyze Sakurako.

Sakurako cleared her throat. The same creepy smile came back on her face since she was forcing it.

“Wait. Remember what I told you! Think of something happy and let the smile happen naturally.”

“Right!.”, Sakurako conjured up a happy image and naturally smiled.

“Whoa! You’re totally cute when you smile!.”, Daiki commented which made Sakurako blush. ”Whoa, now she’s blushing! I’ve never seen this Sakurako before!”

“Daiki! Focus!”, Yumi tried to get them back on track.

“Right. So, when you first meet someone, you’ll want to try and get to know them and the easiest way to do that is to ask them a question. Think of something you want to ask someone.”

“Tell me your secret”, Sakurako said with an ominous tone.

“Wait wait wait. Too personal! And that’s not even a question!! Most people start with ‘what’s your name’ but she wants to get their secret out first”, Daiki was creeped out by Sakurako.

Yumi sighed because she saw the hard work she would have to put in so Sakurako can open up more. “Another way is to find something you like about them and compliment them. Example, 'Sakurako, your hair is so pretty, tell me what products you use to keep it that way!'" The compliment made Sakurako blush again. "Now try it with Daiki.”

Sakurako looked up and down at Daiki. She took a while to think of something but couldn't, “It’s too hard.”

“What? Are you saying there’s nothing you like about me?”, Daiki sobbed. “My self-esteem has been destroyed today. I have to go now, there must be someone here who can restore my dignity.”, Daiki left Yumi and Sakurako by themselves as he walked back into school half-heartedly.

“I can’t do this.”, Sakurako gave up.

Yumi hasn’t seen Sakurako this frustrated before but was glad to see a new side of her. “Sakurako, tell me why you’re doing this. All of a sudden, you want to change yourself. Why?”. Yumi was ready to listen.

“It’s just…it’s just I want to be more open. I feel like I close myself off too much and it’s only hurting me more. I want to accept more people into my life. I didn’t tell anyone this but I’ve been seeing someone lately and they helped me to understand that I shouldn’t be scared to open up anymore. I want to overcome this fear.”, Yumi had a surprised expression.

“You can’t change yourself within minutes. It takes time, but if you try everyday, it will only get easier and the change will happen faster. You have me and Daiki to support you along the way.”, Yumi reassured her. “Or maybe just me for now. It’ll take a while before Daiki gets better.”, she joked.

“Yeah, I am a bit harsh on him. Actually, I’m kind of harsh on everyone. I need to change that.”, Sakurako admitted.

“You don’t have to change your personality. You can still be cold, harsh, and say blunt things. The only thing you need to change is your willingness to trust people. If you trust more people and act this way, people won’t think you’re rude and cold, they’ll say you’re just strong and honest.”

Sakurako realized Yumi was right. The only thing she lacks is her ability to trust. “You know, I’ve always wondered, how come you and Daiki still talk to me? When we first met, I was pretty harsh on both of you, but you guys still made your way to get close to me.”.

“No matter what you think, there are people who need you in their life. You keep us grounded. If it was only me and Daiki, we would never come back down cause our heads are always in the sky. You’re the one who brings us back if we get too far above, so we need you. You help to balance us out.”

Sakurako was happy to hear her reasoning. She’s been taking them for granted and she’s just now noticing. After knowing this, she is going to promise herself to treat them better and to instill a bit more trust in them.

“I guess I’ll try to be less harsh on Daiki.”

“It’s fine, he needs a harsh reality check from time to time,” Yumi joked which made Sakurako laugh.

“You know, all of this talk about trust. I want to start by telling a secret.”

Yumi became attentive to what Sakurako was gonna say.

“I’ve never felt this way before, but… this person makes me really happy and I feel like I want to be with him forever.” Yumi was quiet and anxious about what she was going to hear. “I think…I think I’m in love with someone.”