My Crazy American Crush

Sara 10:34 April 16th, 2046

One by one, the class makes their introductions. As they go, I begin to feel a sense of dread. It seems that all of them are from respected and distinguished families. Most are the children of company executives or major landholders, people with deep pockets and influence. One Moto Tsuruki is the son of a decorated general, and another Mori Ino came all the way from Edo, where her family is a significant landowner. As the introductions go by, I sink further into my chair, dreading my turn more and more. I feel more out of place than the two foreign students. Guo Meng, from China, and Tang Dae-Ho from Korea. I almost begin to envy Meng-kun, who will be leaving after the first semester due to his family being reassigned.

I begin to count out the people ahead of me when a wave of fear runs down my spine. Sora will go before me! And he’ll definitely mention that we’re twins? I had hoped that I would go first and that I’d be able to present us as another respectable family, but if Sora goes first, he’ll probably ruin it. I sit and think of a way to stop it. I try to look over at him to signal, not to do anything stupid, but he’s either sleeping with his eyes open or gawking at one of the girls in front of him. My mind then shifts to Tobias-kun and asking him to do something, but I can’t stand to look at him that hard for that long. I’ve been hiding my crush for almost a year now, and up until recently, I’ve been doing an excellent job of hiding it. But recently, I can hardly look at him without blushing. I’ve wanted to tell him, but I can’t risk ruining the relationship we have now. More than that, if it gets ugly, I won’t just be losing my best friend. I could also drive a wedge between Sora and Tobias-kun and maybe even our parents. I can’t risk it for a little crush I don’t even know is true or not. My mind races trying to think of a way to keep Sora from embarrassing me. I’m so hyper-focused that I don’t even notice it’s Sora’s turn till hes’ already taken the podium. “My Name is Sora Tesu,” he says confidently. Here it comes, I think, as I try to make myself as small as possible. “I’ve lived in Tokyo all my life and hope to join the baseball team.” ok, so far, so good I watch and listen attentively, ready to think of a way to do damage control for anything he says. “I’m very honored to be in a class with so many from distinguished and respected families. I look forward to learning with you” he bows respectfully and waits a moment for questions that don’t come. As he walks back to his seat, I look at him, astonished. How? How is it that he just went up there and acted like a completely normal human being? As he takes his seat, he looks at me and Tobias-kun, whose head is also turned. “Main characters are very humble,” he mouths, and I have to stop myself from slamming my head on my desk. He was really serious about that whole main character thing, wasn’t he? Well, if it keeps him from embarrassing himself and me, then I don’t really care.

It takes me a few minutes to completely process Sora, not doing anything to embarrass me that I miss the following two students, then it’s Tobais’ turn. He stands up and takes the podium, and I feel an aura of curiosity from the class. It makes sense he is the only one of African descent, I think to myself. I sit up straight and listen attentively. “Hello, my name is Tobiaa GoKegawa.” He says in a clear, confident voice. “As you can see, I am labeled as an American student though my mother is from Africa. I’ve lived in Tokyo all my life and am looking forward to learning with you.” He bows and waits for questions. Ino is the first to raise her hand.

“What part of Africa is your mother from?” she asks.

“Northern Gaboon,” he replies, turning to point at the map. “Right around here” He turns and circles a section of Africa right around where the grasslands meet the jungle at the intersections of west and central Africa.

“What about your father? What part of America is he from?” Ino asks again.

“Michigan,” he says, shifting his finger to circle the great lakes region of North America. “It’s not the largest, but you may have heard of it for its distinctive shape or how the war restarted its industry.” Dae-Ho raises his hand next.

“What brought your family to Japan?” he asks. I see an ever so brief look of confusion on his face as the question is asked. It’s so quick that I’m not sure if I really saw it or just imagined it, then it’s replaced with an amused smile.

“I’d like to know that too. My father seems to think I’m not old enough to be told yet. Still, I’m sure there’s an excellent story of how an American doctor met an African woman and decided to settle down in Japan.” he chuckles, and Fumiya sensei tells the class,

“No more questions; we still have others to get to.” Tobias-kun takes his seat, and it’s my turn to go up.

I’m a bit nervous but calm down slightly when Sora and Tobias-kun both give me thumbs up. “My name is Sara Tesu. As you may have guessed, I am Sora’s twin sister. My father is a cardiologist specializing in coronary bypass. I’m looking forward to learning with all of you.” I bow and wait for questions, but it seems nobody is interested, so I sit back down. The few remaining students give their introductions in short order, and Fumiya sensei takes his place back at the podium. “That’s all we have for class time today. If anyone is interested in being the class rep, stop by the teachers’ lounge to pick up the paperwork. We’ll be voting on that next week. As you all know, the rest of the day is set aside for clubs. They’ve all spent quite a bit of time setting up their stands, so I suggest you all go down and find one you like or at least one you can tolerate as it’s required you participate in at least one. If you find that none of the existing clubs strike your fancy, then feel free to start one. The paperwork for that is also in the teacher’s lounge. If there are no more questions, then you’re all dismissed. Please have a wonderful day and come ready to learn tomorrow. Most of you are in my Japanese class, and I intend to hit the ground running.”

With that, everyone begins to chatter and shuffle out the door. I turn to speak with Tobias-kun, but Sora calls to him first. “Hey, Tobias, you ready to strike out at the baseball tryouts?”.

“I’m ready to strike you out,” he shoots back, pulling a baseball from his pocket.

“Oh really?” Sora challenges, pulling out a baseball glove from the inside of his jacket. Where was he keeping that? “Put up or shut up,” Sora jeers, and Tobias-kun carefully tosses the ball over the desk and firmly into Sora’s glove. Great, I have to be the impulse control again, I think.

“Stop throwing that inside before you break a window,” I call.

“Aww, come on, sis, when have we ever thrown a ball through a window?” Sora complains.

“How about the time you hit me in my room with it?” I shoot back.

“You could’ve caught that one. It was a perfect throw,” He says in protest. “You just suck at catching, watch,” he says as he leans back for an exaggerated pitch. He launches the ball directly at me. It flights through the air at a breakneck pace. I barely have time to throw up my hands and close my eyes. This is going to hurt. I think before I hear a deafening “SMACK!”

I wait for the pain, but it doesn’t come. I open my eyes, and there centimeters from my face is Tobias-Kun’s strong hand. He managed to catch the ball before it hit me. He pulls his hand back and looks at me, his face centimeters from mine. “Are you alright?” he asks as he continues to look for any sign of harm on me.

“I… umm… I’m….” I stammer. I feel my whole body get warm and can feel my cheeks becoming the brightest shade of red. No.No.No. Don’t let him see, I think, before pulling away. “I- I’m just fine,” I say, taking a few steps back.

“Are you sure?” he says, stepping almost as close as he was.

“Y-yes,” I say, still stammering. “You caught it, but you messed up my makeup, so I have to go fix it.” I rush to grab my back, avoiding eye contact.

“Hey, wait-” he tries to say, but I ignore him.

“I’ll meet you two down in the courtyard,” I call as I rush to the bathroom. I close the door behind me and make sure I’m alone. I look in the mirror, and I’m still a deep red. He definitely saw this. How could he miss it? I think in a panic. What if he suspects something? I can’t just play it off as the ball scaring me. I’ve been hit plenty of times when we all play catch together. He’ll definitely suspect something.

I stay locked up in the bathroom for what feels like hours, stressing over what I’ll do when I have to face him. I can’t just go and act like nothing happened Tobias-kun will think that’s suspicious and pressure me with questions. I have to distract him somehow…. But what can I do to ditstr- that’s it! I realize. I’ll just come when he’s talking with the baseball team that way, he’ll already be distracted, and I can just play it off like nothing happened. I come out of my stall and poof up my hair, making sure my hair clip and ponytail are still neat and proper. I bet they’re already there. I should be able to stop by the astronomy club and sign up. It’s the perfect plan, I think to myself. To finish, I splash a little water on my face and tap my cheeks to clear my head. I exit the bathroom and look out the window to the courtyard, where there’s a buzz of excitement. People are manning club stands and freshmen walking from one stand to the next. I search for the astronomy club and think I see it. The banner is facing away from me, so I can’t read it, but they have a telescope set up next to them. What other club would have a telescope? I ponder as I make my way down to the yard.

The yard is even more crowded and chaotic than it seemed from the window. It’s a struggle to bob and weave through the crowd. As I do, a few people try to put fliers in my hand. “Join the literature club,” a boy says.

“Hey, do you wanna join the culture society?” another asks. One girl grabs my arm, saying,

“Hey, you’re super cute. What do I have to do to get you to join the cheerleading club?”

“Uhh, no, thank you,” I say nervously. “I’m on my way to join the astronomy club.”

“Oh, come one, why would you wanna look at stars when you can be the envy of every boy in the school?” she says. “Come on. I know you’ll enjoy it.” she begins to pull me to her club’s stand.

“To-” I begin to call out for him, but then I remember that both Sora and Tobias-kun aren’t here. I have to do this on my own, I realize before pulling away from the girl and disappearing into the crowd.

“Hey, come back,” she calls, but I don’t listen. Instead, I continue to make my way through the crowd. It takes a while but eventually, I see the banner for the astronomy club. I walk over to begin my high school club.