Friday, April 10th, 1885 – A Day at School

Isuzu-chan comes to sit next to me at lunch. She’s the only one who does. The teachers said we could eat out in the courtyard when the weather was nice if we -behaved- like “little ladies” and sat on the benches and not the ground. “You know they won’t talk to you if you sit over here.” I poke at my food with my chopsticks. I stab the onigiri so much that it falls apart, it’s now a loose pile of rice and fish.
She doesn’t talk and eats her lunch. Maybe I should be used to this? Things the other kids say. Oh, and grown-ups too. About Okaasan.
Some adults are nice, like Isuzu-chan’s parents, but some are like Sugiyama-san and I don’t think she’s as nice as she acts. I don’t like people that call me “adorable”. Stupid Yuzuya-chan and her stupid ribbons is -adorable-.
I finish my lunch. Isuzu-chan is still quiet. That’s weird, she usually talks all the time. I see her glancing over to the other girls, they’re playing something. “You should go play with them if you want to,” I shrug. I look down by the bench and there’s a good rock. I put it back in the bento box before closing it up. I’ll have to get it before Okaasan finds it, though. I don’t think rocks go in bento boxes.
Isuzu-chan shakes her head. “No, I don’t want to play. Do you know any new stories?”
I look at her. “Go play.” I mutter. They’ll just be mean to her too.
“Hiroshi-neesan said that there was a boy like you in his class and that boys -push- him.” Isuzu-chan looks worried. “He got all scraped up and everything.”
I sigh. “I don’t let anyone push me.” Reassured, she looks relieved. “So Makoto-chan, stories?” She smiles at me.
I look back over to where they’re all chattering and giggling. Yeah, their games are stupid.
But it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t play if they asked. Maybe.
Before I can start telling Isuzu-chan the one Okaasan just told me about the wolf and the princess (I’ll have to make up the ending since I fell asleep), the teacher calls us inside. After lunch is English. Soon I’ll be able to read those books that Okaasan’s brother sends us. Looking back before I go in I see the older girls going out and remember that I still have that stick in my secret base.