Aloneness
My friendship with Izumi and Kei was changing. I often visited them in their classroom during recess. Whenever I visited, Izumi was surrounded by other girls, and it felt awkward […]
Madonna’s “Sex”
In the year I was in the 2nd-grade of junior high school, Madonna released a photography book, “Sex,” which caused quite a sensation in Japan. On TV, I saw a […]
Izumi’s boy
Autumn was approaching, but I wasn’t enjoying the theatre club as much as the previous year. Izumi had started “dating” a boy whom I loathed. He would take pleasure in […]
Aftermath – new girls’ rules 3
From the following week, I started to play with my hair – ponytail with a cute scrunchy, two braids, headbands. The fun of it released some tension of being 14 […]
Freedom – new girls’ rules part 2
There were several girls from both 2nd-grade and 3rd-grade. On one side of the room, the 3rd-grade girls sat in line. 2nd-grade girls sat facing them on the other side. […]
Uprising – new rules part 1
As the 2nd-graders, we were no longer at the bottom of the hierarchy. I still wished for the equal relationship among all the girls, but there wasn’t much I could […]
Yuko
In the 2nd year of junior high school, Izumi and Kei were in the same class, and I in the other. Girls around me had already formed circles, but I […]
Crush
The 1st year of junior high school was coming to an end. Even though most of the 3rd-grade girls were downright oppressive, I only had warm feelings for them as […]
More theatre club
We did another play in February for the farewell party for the 3rd-grade. Upon the success of Cinderella, I suggested we did another fairytale turned into a comedy. I was […]
Theatre club
Besides the sports teams, students had to join a cultural club, which was not taken as seriously as the sports program and was only active before the cultural festival in […]