Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai

by Debbi Michiko Florence

  I refrained from rolling my eyes. “My friend Isabella wants to write an article about you. And about youth open mic.” She had an interview with Avi this afternoon.

  “Why can’t she ask me herself?”

  That was a good question. Isabella was a romantic. Did she have ulterior motives, or did she just think Rin and I were friends? “I’m sure she’d be happy to.”

  “Cool. Do you have her number?” Rin took out his phone. And I gave it to him.

  “So, groupies, huh?” I asked.

  Rin grinned. “Jealous?”

  “Not even!” He could be so arrogant. I was glad he’d asked for Isabella’s number. She could interview him herself.

  I got out my homework, and Rin took the hint. He went back to drawing behind his stupid wall. I had more important things to do. I just hoped Olivia would come through for me.

  Waiting was never easy. Over a week went by with no word from Olivia. I didn’t want to be a pest, so I forced myself to keep busy. At least I had a great distraction. It was Tuesday, which meant I was officially a teenager!

  “Good morning and happy birthday,” Mom said when I walked into the kitchen. “How about dinner at Hirai Ramen tonight?”

  My stomach rumbled in approval. “Sounds great!” It wasn’t our usual sushi place, but ramen was just as good.

  Mom dropped me off at school, and I laughed when I saw my hall locker. It was wrapped in the New York Times with a turquoise bow that matched my hair. Happy birthday, Jenna! was scrawled in black Sharpie in Keiko’s loopy writing across the top.

  I opened my locker and then leapt back as a cloud of confetti floated onto the floor.

  “Happy birthday!” Keiko appeared next to me, a big smile on her face. She waved a little dustpan and brush.

  “You think of everything. Thanks!” I stepped back as Keiko swept up the paper confetti. She went to dump it in the recycling bin, and by the time she’d returned, I had already pulled out a small silver bag from my locker.

  “Open it.” Keiko was practically jumping up and down.

  I pried open the bag and pulled out something small wrapped in blue tissue. Keiko was nearly bursting. I purposely paused, scratched my ear, slooooooowly placed the empty bag back in my locker. Then I straightened the bag, centering it, while still holding the wad of blue tissue.

  “Jenna!” Keiko screeched.

  I laughed. “Okay, okay!” I peeled back the tissue paper. Nestled inside was a black-and-white beaded bracelet. “Cool,” I said. I wasn’t much for jewelry, and not to be ungrateful, but I didn’t understand why Keiko was so giddy over this.

  “It’s made from the New York Times!” she shouted.

  “What?” I took a closer look at the bracelet. From a distance, the beads looked like, well, beads, but when I examined them, I could see that each one was actually rolled newsprint, sprayed with something that made them shiny. I blinked. “This is awesome!”

  “Right?”

  “Thank you!” I put it on. “I love it!”

  Keiko was super pleased with herself. She was good at giving thoughtful gifts. I was glad that things seemed normal between us, despite some of the weirdness and distance over the past couple of weeks. And that I had already figured out what I was getting for her birthday at the end of the month. I was going to do a chocolate-of-the-month club for her, on my own. I’d hand deliver curated chocolate bars every month for a year.

  At lunch, the guys sang “Happy Birthday” to me, which was sappy but kind of cool. Keiko presented me with a giant cupcake she baked. This was definitely a better birthday than last year or the year before. I shoved those memories aside. I was having too good a day.

  After school, I headed to the diner as usual. When I got there, the booth was empty. Yes! It really was a perfect birthday! I’d finally beaten Rin. Maybe I’d give him a hard time before allowing him to join me.

  When I sat down, I noticed a large manila envelope with my name on it staring up at me.

  “Happy birthday!” Leigh strode up with a pink milkshake and a plate of cheesy fries.

  She sang a line about being wonderful. Leigh’s voice was definitely pretty. “This is a special shake I’m calling Glinda and Elphaba’s Raspberry Mint shake,” Leigh said, placing everything onto the table in front of me. “From Wicked? It’s raspberry mint ice cream with just a drizzle of chocolate fudge. Get it? Pink and green? On the house!”

  “Wow,” I said. “Thank you! How did you know it was my birthday?”

  “Rin told me.”

  “He did?” How did he know?

  The phone by the register rang, and Leigh went to answer it. Where was Rin anyway? He was never late.

  I picked up the envelope, wondering what else Leigh got me. She was too generous. Inside was a sheet of paper, and as I pulled it out, I realized that this was not from Leigh. My heart tripped, recognizing Rin’s style in the manga drawing.

  “Wow.” I breathed. He had totally captured my likeness. I was dressed in my regular clothes, jeans and a T-shirt. The shirt had a fierce-looking bear with CUB emblazoned across it. I smirked at the journalism reference. A cape flapped behind me, and I wielded a sword that looked like a giant fountain pen and a shield that looked exactly like my newspaper club notebook. The only color on the drawing was my turquoise hair. Impressive.

  I slid the drawing back into the envelope and tucked it into my bag. I didn’t want to accidentally spill food on it. Then I took a sip of my birthday shake. It was, of course, delicious. Finally, Rin strolled into the diner from the back hall.

  “Hey!” I said when he reached the booth. “Where were you?”

  He dumped his backpack onto the bench. “Leigh’s husband, Tom, needed a hand carrying some boxes into the kitchen.”

  Rin sat down and grabbed a handful of fries, popping them into his mouth. “Happy birthday,” he said, his eyes scanning the tabletop.

  “Thanks! And thanks for the portrait. It’s amazing,” I said. “How did you know it was my birthday?”

  “I saw your decorated locker.”

  “You did this drawing today?”

  For some reason, his cheeks turned pink. First, he shook his head. Then nodded. And then shook his head again.

  “Wait, you did or you didn’t?”

  And then there it was, the classic Rin shrug. “I’ve been practicing, you know, drawing female characters. But yeah, I did this one today at lunch.”

  He’d been practicing drawing female characters? Because of what I’d said?

  I liked Super Cub Reporter manga me. “Well, thank you,” I said again, running out of words.

  Leigh sang the usual Hamilton song when she brought Rin his chocolate shake. I really did need to bring Keiko here. Maybe later this week.

  And then I made a snap decision. It was my birthday. I was having pretty much the best day in a long time and was feeling lucky. But I was also tired of waiting to hear back from Olivia. I hadn’t wanted to bother her—she must be super busy with school and hanging out with Marina. But I needed to know if she’d been able to get me a name. So I’d text her and ask her.

  What was the worst that could happen?

  I tapped out a quick message and was pleased when Olivia texted right back.

  I gripped my phone and held my breath, watching the dots, waiting for the rest of her message.

  This was exciting! I felt like a real reporter as I typed back:

  OMG, Olivia. Just spit it out. My leg was jiggling so hard, the whole bench was shaking.

  Wow. These rich people obviously had something to hide. They were powerful, entitled, and wealthy. Exactly the kind of people who couldn’t be trusted.

  Another long pause while I watched the dots as she typed back.

  I nearly dropped my phone. Watanabe? I flicked my eyes at Rin, who continued to draw.

  I typed Thank you to Olivia and immediately did a web search on my phone, pressing against my legs to try to keep them from bouncing. There! A profile of Kenji Watanabe in USC�
��s alumni magazine. Kenji and Traci Watanabe owned and ran a family business turned international corporation that sold machine parts. I kept skimming until I found what I was looking for. They were the parents to two children, Sarah and Rin.

  My legs went still. Rin’s family was rich? So rich that they could drop a million dollars just to make a cafeteria pretty? I stared at my phone, the words going blurry.

  Rin had pretended not to know about the donation! He’d probably offered to “help me” so he could steer me away from learning about his family. He’d paid for my food to make me feel indebted to him. Mom was right. Dad bought me things so he’d feel less guilty for leaving. And Rin was doing it to make himself feel better about hiding the truth from me. He wrote a song about secrets and lies being bad, but he was the one keeping secrets and telling lies! Anger bubbled inside me until it was a full-on rage boil.

  “You!” I pointed at him. “All this time you acted like you wanted to help me. But you just didn’t want me to find out!”

  Rin looked up from his drawing. “What are you talking about?”

  Oh, he was such a great actor. “Your parents are the donors!”

  “My what are the what?” His eyebrows were scrunched, making him look confused instead of busted.

  “Your parents! Your stupid parents gave a million dollars to the school for the ridiculous cafeteria renovation!”

  Rin’s face grew stormy. “Did you just call my parents stupid?”

  I’d thought his usual scowl was annoying at best, but this look actually scared me a little. I could almost feel his anger coming off in waves. I would not be intimidated! I was onto the story of the century!

  “Don’t try to deflect! Why did you hide that little piece of information when you knew I needed it for my article?”

  “I didn’t know!”

  “Sure!” I shouted. “Well, I guess if you have the kind of money your family does, a million is nothing! Like pennies!” I lowered my voice. “It’s not like the school could’ve used the money to actually help its students or anything.”

  Rin’s scowl deepened. That fueled me even more. What right did he have to be angry? Because I found him out?

  “Why are you here anyway?” I hissed. “I’m sure you can afford to eat at some fancy five-star restaurant!”

  Rin grabbed his backpack and jolted out of the booth. He leaned toward me. “You don’t know anything about me,” he growled, and then stormed out of the diner.

  Finally! I had the booth all to myself. I spread my notebook out and started scribbling down the facts. The Watanabes didn’t care how they spent their money or think things through enough to really help. They could have gotten the school new computers or funded extracurricular clubs … like our newspaper. Why the cafeteria? There had to be a reason, and I was going to dig until I found it. Then I’d write the best investigative piece ever!

  I leaned back, feeling satisfied. I was not only going to be the winning entry from PV Middle but in the running to win the scholarship!

  “Everything okay?” Leigh asked, concern on her face.

  The tips of my ears burned as I realized the entire diner had probably heard me shouting at Rin.

  “Um, yeah,” I said.

  “Happy birthday, Jenna,” she said quietly, gathering the empties.

  I tried to smile, but it felt forced. “Thank you for the shake and fries.”

  “Try to have a nice rest of your day.” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure Rin didn’t mean to leave that.”

  His sketchbook sat abandoned on the table.

  “Give it back to him?” she asked.

  It was probably better for her to keep it since it wasn’t like we were going to hang out again. But my reporter’s instinct told me to hold on to it. I tucked it into my messenger bag next to the envelope that held Rin’s drawing. Something tugged at me. Why had he given me a gift? Was it to distract me from investigating his family? It didn’t make sense. He didn’t make sense!

  I walked home, lost in thought. Why didn’t Rin go to a fancy private school? Why was he hanging out at Leigh’s diner? He sure wouldn’t have to try to win scholarships for college. Not when his family had millions of dollars to spare. Why would he hide that?

  One thing was for sure—I was going to get to the heart of this story. Not only for the scholarship, but for me. I deserved to know the truth.

  I got home earlier than usual. I had over an hour before Mom came home to take me for my birthday dinner. I hurried to my room and opened my laptop. I typed Kenji and Traci Watanabe into my search engine. This time I slowed down, carefully reading everything I found and taking lots of notes.

  AkiWata Corporation made and sold parts for machinery. The founder was Akira Watanabe, Rin’s grandfather. He had invented a special heat-resistant spring originally used in cameras, but the company expanded to manufacture other parts. I jotted down a note to myself to see if these parts were used in school cafeterias. Maybe they funded the renovation to encourage other schools to buy their products. Could it all be just a promotion for AkiWata? I kept reading. The company, now run by Rin’s father, Kenji, was privately owned and hugely successful, meaning the Watanabes were richer than rich.

  I clicked to another article that was more recent. Rin’s sister, Sarah, had graduated with honors from a private high school and was now a freshman majoring in business at Harvard. I knew I’d never be able to go to a college like Harvard. Mom couldn’t afford that for sure.

  I typed Rin’s name into my search engine, but nothing came up other than the articles I’d already found.

  “Oh, birthday girl!” Mom called. “You ready to go?”

  I hadn’t even heard her come home. With a sigh, I closed my laptop. Once again, I had more questions than answers.

  * * *

  When my alarm went off the next morning, I hit snooze four times.

  “Jenna?” Mom said, opening my door. “You’re still asleep? I have to leave in ten minutes.”

  That got me out of bed. I got dressed, grabbing my Asian American Girl Club T-shirt. After I brushed my teeth and ran a brush through my hair, I barely had time to grab a Pop-Tart before hopping in the Honda. Mom had already backed it out of the garage.

  “You okay?” Mom asked.

  “I stayed up late doing an assignment,” I mumbled, trying to force myself awake.

  “On your birthday? Wow. I’m proud of you, Jenna.” Mom beamed at me. I hadn’t told her about the Orange County Junior Journalism Scholarship because I didn’t want to get her hopes up.

  I felt good about the draft I’d written so far. I was missing the key element, though. I had to have proof that the Watanabes had an agenda. I mean, it was bad enough that they’d wasted money on something so frivolous, but that wouldn’t win me the scholarship. I needed time to do more research. I was sure I’d discover something important.

  Once I had that, maybe, just maybe, I’d share my article with Ms. Fontes. She’d offered to help newspaper club members with their contest entries. I was feeling pretty confident that I wouldn’t need help, but it wouldn’t hurt to have Ms. Fontes know how awesome my entry was. I was feeling so confident that I’d written and saved a draft of the email I’d send to her when my article was ready.

  I couldn’t remember what time I’d gone to bed, but I’d been researching and writing until at least three a.m. Good thing I didn’t have any tests today. I would not be at my best.

  By the time lunch came around, I felt a little more like myself.

  While the guys got into a heated debate over a video game, Keiko and I caught up.

  “How’s your article coming?” Keiko asked me.

  “Pretty good! I think I have most of the information I need.”

  “That’s great, Jenna,” Keiko said. “I’ve missed you.”

  “Yeah, sorry that I haven’t been around.”

  “It’s okay. I know this scholarship is important.”

  “Once I’m done with it, we can hang ou
t on Tuesdays and Thursdays again.” At least, I hoped she’d still want to.

  “Can’t wait!” Keiko smiled. “And Mom still can’t find our Scrabble set, so we can play something else again on Saturday.”

  That got the guys’ attention. They whooped and cheered like they’d won a trophy. Keiko and I laughed. It felt good to laugh with her again.

  “Hey, isn’t that your friend from newspaper club?” Keiko asked.

  Isabella stood at the bottom of the bleachers, waving to me. I marched down to meet her.

  “Hey, what’s up?” I asked.

  Isabella grinned. “I had to tell you as soon as I found out.”

  “What?”

  “Ms. Fontes got approval for us to do a digital newspaper next year!”

  My grin matched Isabella’s. “Really? That’s incredible!”

  “We’re going to try to raise funds this semester to cover some costs. Plus, if we raise enough money, there’s a cool journalism conference we all might be able to attend next year!”

  “That would be awesome!”

  “We’re voting today on what fundraisers we’ll run. Come back, Jenna. It’s not the same without you. And you know you want to be part of creating our school’s first paper!”

  Isabella was 100 percent right. There was no way I was going to miss it. But I didn’t know how Ms. Fontes would react if I just showed up again like nothing had happened.

  “She’s been asking about you,” Isabella said, studying my face. I would be a lousy poker player. “Just come back. It’s a club. Everyone and anyone is allowed to join. She can’t stop you from being in it.”

  Couldn’t she, though?

  After school, I paced up and down the hallway that led to her classroom. I was going to go in. I really was.

  But I ducked back behind the corner when I saw Elliot. He was first as always. I counted to ten and peeked. Carlos and Thea followed and then Isabella and Caitlin. It looked like they were getting tight. I wondered if they were sharing a table now. Everyone was gelling as a team. Without me.