Chapter Text
My name is Leshawna Olongola and last year, I attended my first year at Toronto-Tokyo Alliance High School. I was sent here because it was close by and my time there was alright. Whenever I think about my homeroom classmates, I mostly think about their love for anime. Whether they were debating which shonen protagonist was the strongest or complaining about a relationship that had not been fully fleshed out in a shoujo, it seemed to be a common conversation topic among them. Sometimes I got involved in these conversations too, despite having only watched two anime series at the time; ‘The Two Nations’ and ‘Player Club High’.
There was at least one character in ‘The Two Nations’ that each of our classmates resonated with. Gwen told us about her admiration of Inoue, Owen was a huge fan of Uehara, Bridgette liked Serizawa, Trent related to Kawaguchi, and Cody saw himself in Aoki. I personally took a liking to Oshiro, even though she was objectively a background character, but I never let other people’s perception on something change mine (unless I am incorrect). Bridgette and I were both fans of ‘Player Club High’, as were many teenage girls at the time, for reasons such as the beauty of the male characters or the general romance element. Sometimes Trent would show curiosity in this show due to the cast of romantic teenage boys, particularly when Gwen was not with us.
When me, Bridgette, and Trent were on our way to the yearbook team meeting in week 4, he asked us, “What do girls like about that blonde guy?”
“You mean Tsutomu?” I corrected, politely, “A lot of things,”
“Yeah,” agreed Bridgette, “He’s quite the heartthrob,”
“Do you reckon if I acted like him, Gwen might notice me?” asked Trent as we got closer to the room.
“I think she already has,” I stated optimistically, “I mean, have you seen the way she lights up whenever you’re there? Do you not notice how much she admires you?”
“She does?” asked Trent, getting his hopes up.
“Please,” I said, “What would make you think she wouldn’t?”
“Leshawna’s got a point, Trent,” added Bridgette, “Maybe you could try asking her out,”
“I’ll think about it,” smiled Trent as we entered the room. The room was meant for collaborative working as the desks were pushed beside each other to create tables. About half of the other members have not arrived yet, so we took our seats at the table closest to us. Seeing as we were early, we continued our conversation just among the three of us.
“You’ve got a pretty good chance with her,” encouraged Bridgette.
Just as Trent was about to say something, the third-year members who were leading the team arrived, one with two books within her arms. When another member asked what she was holding, she responded, “We brought a few yearbooks from previous years to get ideas,”
She placed one on our table and one on the other table. The one on our table was the TTA yearbook from 2005. On the cover was the school logo and a few graphic design elements in bright colours. I lifted the cover to find an array of contents from graduating third years of 2005 to entries from class presidents about school-based events. The other leader of the team, also female, said, “If you see anything that you think is worth including in this year’s yearbook, please let us know,”
Bridgette raised her hand and when noticed by the leaders, she suggested, “We could still have the class presidents talk about the events,”
“That’s a good idea,” agreed the leader as she wrote it down on the chalkboard.
“However,” continued Bridgette, other members watching in anticipation for what she had to say, “Since the class presidents have been given a new method of promoting the school, we could include entries not only in the yearbook but also online through videos for the public to see,”
The two leaders looked at each other in thought before one of them turned back to the front and said, “Yeah. That could work,”
I gave Bridgette an encouraging smile to show my approval. In week 1 when we were voting for the class presidents, I voted for Bridgette because I had a gut feeling that she knew how to assist us as a line and I genuinely believed everything she pledged in her speech was true. In fact, she only pledged one thing; to always be there to help her fellow classmates, and even if she had only been a class president for a few weeks, she was already doing a great job at that.
I try my best to see the goodness in everyone, regardless of their general behaviour. In my line, I could already notice a few people who I knew were good influences based on my perception of their morals. Gwen was reserved and sometimes pessimistic, but she was genuine and cared for the people she connected with. Owen was outgoing and just radiated good vibes all around. Trent was kind and dedicated to not only his personal goals, but to the people around him as well. Cody was a bit geeky but he meant well and had a few talents as well. Also, it was not just my friends who I had faith in, but a few other people in my line. The other class president Geoff was full of positive energy, Courtney was hard-working and diligent, DJ was full of sincerity and humanity, Tyler was devoted to Lindsay and they treated each other with love and respect, and even Harold had assisted me sometimes in the classes we shared. I remember one time in science when-
“Do you know what Beth told Geoff and I this morning?” whispered Bridgette with a sober tone.
“What?” I asked, curiously.
“She thinks Heather is developing an ED,” stated Bridgette.
I widened my eyes in shock. I knew Heather was the type of girl to prioritise her looks over how she treated others (in fact, everyone knew just from how she acted), but taking it to such an extreme? This was a surprise to me because I thought she might have been smart enough to know that was a bad idea. I asked Bridgette, “Is she?”
Bridgette nodded, a worried look on her face.
“Who’s doing what?” asked Trent at a normal volume.
“I’ll tell you later,” said Bridgette, bluntly.
Regardless of me not hearing Bridgette tell Trent about Heather’s situation, and only knowing about it vaguely, the thought stuck with me all night until school the next day.