Chapter 1
Makoto Edamura was one of the only kids in his school who knew how to speak fluent Japanese. While he was born in California, his parents were both born and raised in Japan. Edamura has visited his grandmother there a few times, but after she died when he was nine he never went again.
Edamura may have been born and raised in California, but he still lived like a Japanese kid. He went by his last name and spoke Japanese at home. He had perfected his American accent at a young age in hopes he wouldn’t get made fun of at school. This wasn’t exactly the case.
While he didn’t get picked on or bullied as much as the unpopular kids in the movies, Edamura felt isolated at school. He didn’t have very many friends, he only had two from when he moved to his current school district in the fifth grade. They had other friends though, so he was mostly alone at school.
It also didn’t help that Edamura had perfect grades. He was a straight A+ student and he was at the top of his class. He was always answering questions in class. He knew the other kids got annoyed that he knew so much, but he liked to think they’d be working at McDonald’s while he had a big corporation job in the future.
“Edamura! Hey!” One of just friends from fifth grade, Katie, came up to him. Katie had been his best friend since a month after he moved here. At first, while the other kids crowded around him to meet the new kid, she stood off to the side with his only other current friend, Hannah, and glared daggers at him. Later, he found out that Katie had been the new girl before him, so she was probably just jealous.
Once the teacher paired Katie and Edamura up in class, he quickly became friends with her. He found out that behind her angry daggers was a happy girl from a broken home. She had helped him out a lot after his father got arrested in 6th grade and his mother died freshman year. Currently, they were juniors.
“Hey, Katie!” Edamura smiled at her.
“I feel like I never see you anymore. That’s too bad really. Anyways, I have to meet my boyfriend so I just thought I’d say hi to you real quick. See ya!” Katie waved before jogging off when she saw her boyfriend waiting for her at the end of the hallway.
Somewhere between fifth grade and now, Katie had changed a lot. She went from being a sweet girl and an amazing friend to being kind of a bitch. In middle school, she became friends with a popular girl who pretended to be nice, but Edamura knew she was really a bitch. Edamura had been completely replaced at that point by the other girl.
In 8th grade, Katie’s new best friend had ditched her and started awful rumors about her. Edamura’s empty lunch table became occupied by Katie once again as he held her while she cried.
When high school started, Katie ditched him once again. This time, it was for a boyfriend. A week later, her boyfriend found out she had been cheating on him. Throughout freshman year, she cheated on a few more guys with no consequences. She also began posting videos of her eating ice cream in very sexual ways on her social media. The worst part was the things she said when she finally spoke to Edamura.
“Have you gotten fatter? If you were a girl I would’ve thought you were pregnant.” She commented offhandedly one day. Edamura felt like shit after that comment and began feeling insecure about his body.
Now, she was dating some random senior from their school. Edamura didn’t know his name and didn’t care to know. Katie hadn’t spoken to him in so long, at this point he was sort of giving up.
“Edamura! Can I have a hug?” Then there was Hannah. She seemed like the sweetest girl ever, which she was known as to the entire school. Edamura knew the truth, though. She would speak badly about her other friends constantly. She also made comments about Edamura that made him feel insecure about himself. He was used to it at this point, though. His self esteem had been crushed since middle school.
“Wanna try a sip of my blueberry latte?” She held up a Dunkin’ Donuts cup and Edamura put the straw to his lips and took a sip.
“That tastes great!” He smiled.
“I know, right?” She giggled. “Well, I guess I should get to class. You should too! Can’t have the smartest guy in school being late!” She punched him lightly on the arm before waving goodbye to him. They were his only two friends and they rarely ever even spoke to him. Edamura was lonely.
Despite the fact that Edamura barely hung out with Katie and Hannah, there were still many rumors about him since his only two friends were girls. Many people thought that Katie was cheating again with him. Some people thought Hannah and him were dating. Majority of their school, though, thought Edamura was gay. That was only half true. Edamura tried not to mind those comments though.
Later that day, Edamura sat in the hallway next to the gym. He sat in the small space between the wall and the vending machine. While it was a bit dusty, he always sat here to eat his lunch. It was better than sitting in the cafeteria alone, yet surrounded by everyone.
As Edamura bit into his granola bar from the vending machine, he heard footsteps walking his way.
“Should we skip next period?” A girl’s voice asked.
“If I skip again my parents will flip.” Another girl with a deeper voice replied.
“We only have one period left after this, it would be a waste.” A male voice spoke.
“That’s true.” The first girl sighed. The three of them stopped in front of the vending machine and Edamura prayed that they wouldn’t see him. He didn’t know their names, but he recognized one of the girls and the guy as seniors. He also recognized the other girl from his grade who didn’t care about her grades and always slacked off. He assumed the other two must be rebels as well.
The senior girl was beautiful. She had a large chest and long pretty red hair. She had long eyelashes that complimented her brown eyes and perfect complexion. She’d probably be popular if she hung out with a different crowd and played a sport.
The girl from his grade had pretty, darker skin. Her black hair was cut into a bob and she had large brown eyes. She was also very pretty.
When Edamura laid eyes on the only boy, he wondered to himself why these three were so attractive. The boy was tall and had his eyelids half closed. It somehow made him look cool. He had light blonde, almost white, shaggy hair with bangs that fell into his face. He had a strong jawline with sideburns. Finally, he had a smirk that perfectly complimented his cool guy exterior. Edamura hoped to god these cool people wouldn’t notice him cowering in the corner like an idiot.
The girl with black hair put a dollar in and pressed the button for a bag of cheezits. When they got stuck, she became enraged. She shook the entire machine and Edamura thought he’d be crushed between the wall and the machine. He yelped in shock a bit too late, because the red haired girl pulled her back and they immediately noticed the noise in the silent hallway. The three of them exchanged glances before looking between the wall and machine.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” Edamura looked up into the blue eyes of the cool guy. His smirk became even larger as he stared down at Edamura.
“Why the hell are you sitting there?” The girl with black hair huffed.
“Geez! You almost killed me and that’s all you have to say?” Edamura glared at her. The girl looked like she was about to hit him until the red haired girl held him back.
“Makoto Edamura. Interesting.” The boy grinned.
“How do you know my name?” Edamura’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I know everything about everyone in this school, Edamame. At least, I hear all the rumors that is. Are you actually gay?” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Who the hell are you?” Edamura avoided the question.
“Laurent Thierry. Nice to meet you. You’re the smartest kid in school with the highest GPA. Impressive!” He held a hand out to Edamura.
“Wait a minute, did you call me Edamame? It’s Edamura!” Edamura refused the hand.
“Who knew the smartest kid in school was this feisty!” Laurent laughed.
“Hi! I’m Cynthia. This is Abby.” The red haired girl introduced herself and the scowling girl.
“Nice to meet you.” Edamura blushed.
“I’m hurt! It’s nice to meet Cynthia and Abby but not me? You must not be gay after all.” Laurent chuckled.
“You can’t just ask someone if they’re gay.” Edamura mumbled.
“Why not? I don’t mind when people ask me.” Laurent smiled.
“People ask you a lot?” Edamura looked up at him curiously.
“Obviously. I’m in the same position as you, Edamame. My only two friends are girls just like you. Although, I actually hang out with my friends.” Laurent mentioned.
“Hey! I hang out with my friends!” Edamura lied.
“Is that why you’re sitting here eating lunch and not in the cafeteria with your so-called friends?” Laurent smirked.
“Leave me alone. Lunch was so peaceful until you showed up.” Edamura rolled his eyes before finishing his granola bar and getting up to throw the wrapper away. Cynthia and Laurent parted to let him pass.
“You know, if you ever want real friends we’d be willing to let you hang out with us.” Laurent offered.
“No thanks. I need to focus on studying anyways.” Edamura threw his wrapper into the trash can next to the gym door.
“That’s boring, though! You’ll never have any fun that way.” Cynthia pouted.
“I need a good job in the future. Fun is a waste of time.” Edamura began to walk away. Laurent and Cynthia watched him walk off with interest. Abby glared at him in annoyance.
After school, Edamura went straight home to work on his homework. He entered and waved to the orphanage director. She was a nice woman named Linda. She loved all the kids as if they were her own.
“How was school, Edamura?” She asked.
“It was alright.” Edamura shrugged. “Boring as always.”
“I’m sure an opportunity will come where it gets more interesting soon! Try to make some new friends, I still can’t believe you’re the only teenager here and yet you never use your 12 PM curfew.” She joked.
“It’s not exactly easy, Linda. Everyone has known each other for years now, they’re not gonna suddenly wanna become my friend.” Edamura sighed.
“You never know!” Linda shouted as he began his ascent up the stairs and to his room. He shared his room with the second oldest boy in the orphanage. His name was Ethan and he was in the seventh grade.
“Hey, Edamura!” Ethan grinned when he walked in.
“Hey, kiddo.” Edamura ruffles his hair. He thought of Ethan as a little brother.
“I overheard Linda talking on the phone this morning. Apparently a couple is coming in next week and they want a son! Maybe one of us will get adopted!” Ethan’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Edamura hoped that Ethan would be the one picked. He was so excited to have a new family that loved him. Edamura doubted he’d get that. He was turning eighteen next year, nobody wanted to adopt a kid that would only be under their roof for a year before they’d have to help him pay for college.
“I bet they’ll pick you. Who wouldn’t want a kid as cool as you?” Edamura smiled at him.
“Yeah, but who wouldn’t want a kid as smart as you?” Ethan grinned.
“Apparently lots of people.” Edamura muttered under his breath. They sat in silence for a couple hours, doing their homework. That was until Ethan broke the silence.
“Hey, Makoto?” Edamura looked up from his homework with an eyebrow raised in question.
“What’s up?”
“If you don’t get adopted by next year, it’s okay. You’ll always be my cool older brother.” Ethan smiled. Edamura began to tear up at that. He pushed his textbook off his lap and ran forward, engulfing Ethan in a hug. Ethan chuckled as he hugged him back. Edamura didn’t need a family or friends as long as he had Ethan.