Faking Reality Page 6

My phone pings. Nevaeh’s text comes with a screenshot of the tabloid picture. My stomach drops.

  NEVAEH

  Is that Leo in the pic?

  ME

  Yes. Keep that to yourself.

  NEVAEH

  Ummm. Too late. You 2 are hot gossip in the group chats.

  ME

  ?!?!?!?!?

  NEVAEH

  Not everybody thinks it’s Leo though.

  “Nooooo.” I look over at Leo. “The picture. It’s all over the—”

  Before I can finish my sentence, Leo’s phone sounds like it’s caught in a pinball machine. To his credit, Leo delivers my plate of yakisoba and a pair of chopsticks without stopping to check his phone. Leo plates up his portion of yakisoba and puts it to the side before pouring water all over the griddle. Once he’s scraped off all the slightly burnt bits and the griddle is clean again, Leo turns off the propane and joins me on the bench of the picnic table.

  “You don’t want to see the latest disaster?” I nod at Leo as his phone continues to ping.

  “Would it make you feel better?”

  “No.”

  “Can I at least turn it off before my phone overheats and my pants burst into flames?” Leo stands back up and pulls his phone out of his back pocket.

  I hold up the mini fire extinguisher. This pulls a laugh out of both of us. When Leo sticks his butt out in my direction, I tap it with my foot.

  “Hey, now.” Leo turns off his phone and slides it into his pocket like this is no big deal to him. He calmly sits back down and digs into his yakisoba.

  “What do you think?” Leo points to the yakisoba to make sure we are on the same page again.

  “This is … yummm.” I slurp up a mess of noodles.

  One piece flips out and smacks me in the chin. Leo points at my face before licking his thumb and hovering it close to my chin.

  “Gross.” I lean away from him and wipe at my face.

  “Made you laugh though.” Leo bumps my shoulder with his.

  “You always do.” I bump him back. “Sometimes, even intentionally.”

  Leo nods at the build. “I hope this works. I need to make $200 by Friday. And that’s $200 profit because I still have to pay Ojiichan for the raw supplies.”

  “Don’t worry. This idea is fool-proof.”

  “Didn’t we say that about the tree house idea?”

  “Okay, that was a bad idea. I can see that now. But this one?” I nod at the yakisoba stand. “Is solid.”

  “I hope you’re right. And Koty, don’t worry about the picture, okay? Just keep your head down, and it will soon blow over. Seriously, nobody is going to care five minutes from now.”

  Chapter

  6

  “Five minutes? Riiiiight,” I say as Leo and I walk down the hallway at school the next day. I’m used to people staring at me, but Leo looks like he has a permanent sunburn.

  “Is it true?” Lindsay whispers from her seat behind me in Japanese class. “Is this really Leo?”

  “What makes you think that?” has been my standard answer all day.

  “Matsuda-san. Tatte kudasai.” Iwate-sensei gestures at Leo to stand up and holds out her dry-erase marker toward him. “Please conjugate hanasu.”

  Leo stretches his arm up to conjugate “to talk” above where Jax conjugated “to wash” already on the board. Lindsay isn’t the only person in class who suddenly looks into their lap at their phone and then at the long, lean guy at the front of the class.

  “It was Leo, wasn’t it?” Lindsay whispers. “So, are you guys going to Homecoming together?”

  “No comment and no.”

  “Does he have a date?”

  I look back over my shoulder at Lindsay and lie, “I don’t know. That’s his business, not mine.”

  “Hmmm.” Lindsay sits back and looks at Leo.

  I don’t know why I suddenly feel stabby at the mere thought of Leo going to Homecoming with someone. And it’s not just Homecoming. Or even Lindsay.

  “Yoku dekimashita, Matsuda-san.” Iwate-sensei nods her head at his conjugation. “Now, you pick someone to conjugate ‘to sleep’ for us.”

  Any other day, Leo would pick me. Leo always picks me. I always pick him. I want him to pick me today. I also don’t want him to pick me today. As if he can read my mind, Leo looks me in the eyes but hands the marker to Lindsay. I sit on my hands so I don’t strangle her.

  What is wrong with me?!?!

  Leo sits down in his seat in front of me. The red continues to creep up from the collar of his T-shirt until it disappears into the back of his closely cropped, dark brown hair.

  * * *

  “Maybe we should eat lunch separately today to help things die down?” A still beet-red Leo says after class.

  My stomach falls. We’ve been lunch buddies since kindergarten.

  “Yeah. I’ll be in my usual spot because I refuse to let them win.” I can tell from his face that Leo took that as me calling him a coward, so I clarify. “It’s my drama. Not yours.”

  We split up at the door to the cafeteria and I make a beeline to our usual table. I slip my earbuds in and work on my kanji worksheet like it’s the most important thing in the world.

  As always, Neveah sees right through me. They sit down next to me and pull one of my earbuds out. “Hey, you okay?”

  “Perfect,” I say though the three bites of tuna sandwich I forced down my throat are currently lodged behind my sternum like cement. Neveah cocks their head to the side. “Honestly, I’m just okay, but I’m used to this. Sorta. You should check on Leo though. He looks ready to spontaneously combust.”

  “On it.” Nevaeh gives me a one-armed hug—because they are allowed to hug me—before flitting off.

  Five minutes before the bell, a still-red Leo slides in next to me. I remove my earbuds. My barriers melt like sand in the rising tide.

  “This has been the weirdest day ever. I might have a social life.” Leo smiles. The Full Dimple Smile. “Lindsay asked me to Homecoming. Of course, I can’t go thanks to Aurora already taking off, but then the words ‘How about we do something else sometime’ flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. And guess what? Lindsay said yes. Is that awesome or what?”

  Or what.

  I mute the stabbiness in my heart and scrape up a truth. “I’m happy for you, Leo.”

  “Now let’s find somebody for you.”

  “Yeah. One day. Once the show is over.” I pack up my mostly uneaten lunch. “I’m not feeling well. I’m going to see if Mom will check me out.”

  I want to go home and tear something apart. Like, myself. I want to rebuild me into something new. Someone new. But who and how?

  This will be my toughest project yet.

  Chapter

  7

  “This is going to be a disaster.” Leo paces back and forth in front of our delivery truck as Ojiichan micromanages our dads on the Homecoming Carnival plans. “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

  I grab him by the arm. “Leo. Stop. Breathe.”

  “What if Cholla Vista High School isn’t ready for yakisoba? What if it’s too weird? Iwate-sensei already gave me an extension on the trip deposit. Tonight is pretty much do or die time.”

  “It’s a good idea. Trust me. People may come to the JCC’s side of the booth first for Pocky and Ramune, but then you can woo them with the smell of your awesome noodles. You are going to be great. And if things get desperate, take your shirt off and announce to everybody that you are the guy in the tabloid picture.”

  “First, that would be a health code violation. Second, Ojiichan would baka slap me into next week. Third, I thought we were trying to get people to forget all about that.”

  “Yeah, we are, but I also don’t want to go on the Japan trip without you. I’m not kidding, Leo. If you’re not going, I’m not going. At least not this summer.”

  “But you’ll lose your deposit.”

  “Don’t care. Either we both go, or neither of us do. Hey, I don
’t make the BFF rules. I just follow them. To the letter.”

  “Leo!” Sasha, still wearing her school’s official pastry-chef-in-training uniform, rushes out the front door of the restaurant with a big tray in her hands. “Don’t forget the manju.”

  Underneath a layer of plastic wrap, a huge cookie sheet is covered with dainty, white, egg-sized confections decorated to look like sleeping bunnies.

  “These are amazing!” I squeal.

  “Try one.” Sasha pulls back a corner of the plastic wrap.

  “I don’t want to eat the merchandise. Also, I most definitely want to eat the merchandise.” I bite into the soft, white, sweet rice outside to find anko—sweet red bean paste—on the inside.

  “This is soooo good,” I say.

  “Oooh, may I have one?” Dad says from over my shoulder. Sasha holds the tray up to him. “I see you got a heaping helping of the Matsuda cooking gene. Did your grandpa teach you how to make these?”

  Ojiichan and Sasha look at each other and scowl.

  “No. Google did,” Sasha says flatly. “I have an exam on Wednesday, so I have to practice this weekend. Which means the restaurant is having a special on manju all weekend long.”

  Sasha pulls the plastic wrap over the manju and hands the tray to Leo. “Do not drop them.”

  “Here, take this with you too.” Mrs. Matsuda hands me the blank Specials board and a baggie with chalk markers inside it. “Maybe Dakota can work some of her magic.”

  It’s true. I’ve been doing doodles and designs on the Specials board for years now. It started as a joke. Like every time I was in the restaurant, I would sneakily add a cute drawing to the Specials board just to see if anybody noticed. Except for the time Leo double-dog dared me to make a drawing of a steaming pile of poo, my designs have always gone over well. I even do Japanese holiday-themed designs now.

  “Okay, you guys have fun tonight.” Mrs. Matsuda looks at Leo. A smile crosses her face. “My baby, the entrepreneur. I’m so proud.”

  Leo ducks around his mom before she can hug him.

  “Ittekimasu.” I’m off, he says.

  “Itterasshai,” she replies, but adds a stern warning, “Ki o tsukete ne.”

  “Hai, hai.”

  “I’m serious, Leo.” Mrs. Matsuda yells after him. “Be careful.”

  Once we are tucked in the middle of the Matsudas’ minivan, I notice the little bit of white mesh fabric peeking out of the top of Leo’s happi coat sleeve.

  “What happened?” I tug the happi coat’s sleeve farther up his arm. A bandage circles his arm up near his elbow.

  “It’s nothing. I had the heat up too high. Hot oil splattered me.”

  “Did the hot oil splatter your neck too?” I run my fingertips down the side of Leo’s neck to the dime-sized splotch on his skin. “Or did your ‘chat’ with Lindsay about the pricing of the Ramune and Pocky go that well yesterday?”

  I quirk an eyebrow at Leo.

  Leo scoffs. “Why? You jealous?”

  I elbow him in the ribs. “No.” Yes. Horribly.

  “Hey, watch the manju. There’s easily a hundred dollars’ worth of merchandise here. Which Sasha gave me for free, by the way, even the materials. She knows about the Japan trip, but promised to keep it on the DL.”

  I pull out a chalk marker and write manju in hiragana on the Specials board. “Three bucks apiece?”

  “Yeah.”

  I add a chibi drawing of Leo in the corner, complete with the happi coat and white cloth around his forehead.

  “You have to be on the board too,” Leo says. “This was a Dynamic Duo idea after all.”

  In the opposite corner, I draw a chibi version of myself in a yukata holding a plate of yakisoba in my hand. I write Oishii desu!—It’s delicious!—in hiragana in a speech bubble above Chibi Dakota’s head. Leo gives me a satisfied nod.

  “Ikimashō,” Let’s go, Ojiichan says as he gets into the driver’s seat of the van. He signals our dads riding together in the delivery truck.

  “I hope this works,” Leo whispers.

  * * *

  I’m glad Homecoming is in early October this year. Phoenix continues to hit over ninety degrees during the day, but at least the temperatures are bearable at night. Still, all five of us are sweaty by the time we get the booth unloaded and set up on the track inside the football stadium.

  “Looking good, Dakota.” I turn around to see Mr. Udall. “And you must be Dakota’s father. Nice beard.”

  “I am. And likewise.” Dad shakes Mr. Udall’s hand. Whereas my dad’s completely white beard against his white skin makes him look like Santa, Mr. Udall’s shorter, silver-flecked black beard against his dark brown skin makes him look like Idris Elba.

  “Dakota got a double dose of creative genes from your family.” Mr. Udall nods as he walks around our setup. “I’ve given my students this assignment for twenty years now, but Dakota is the only one who has ever turned it into a life-size model.”

  “Life-size working model,” Leo says, as the pilot light makes a pop. “Come back in about ten minutes, and I’ll have the first batch of yakisoba made. It’s on the house, even.”

  “You don’t have to bribe me, Leo. Dakota is already getting an A on this project.” Mr. Udall makes small talk with Ojiichan and our dads.

  Meanwhile, Leo sends me back to the van to retrieve the case of Pocky from the cooler. When I get back, our fathers are still hovering.

  “We got this, Dads.” Leo takes the case of Pocky from me. “If we run into trouble, we have Ojiichan.”

  “Proud of you, Leo.” Dad pounds Leo on the back a few times. Unfortunately, it’s always my dad who encourages Leo first.

  “Don’t turn the heat up too high. The oil will splatter.” Mr. Matsuda adds his version of encouragement. “We’ll be back at ten fifteen to load you back up.”

  “Hai. Hai.” Ojiichan waves the dads away. “Leo-kun is fine.”

  Ojiichan places a picture frame—which contains the restaurant’s business license along with his, Aurora’s, and Leo’s food handler’s cards—on the back table.

  Leo looks at the time on his phone. “You too, Koty. Go. I’m fine.”

  “I feel bad.” I rearrange the Pocky and Ramune display for a third time as Leo washes his hands. “As usual, you’re the one working while everybody else is having fun. I feel like you’re Cinderella—or Cinder-fella—who never gets to go to the ball.”

  Leo shrugs. “I have a goal to meet. Failure is not an option.”

  “Gambatte, Iron Chef Matsuda.” I put out my fist for him to bump, but he doesn’t.

  “I don’t want to rewash my hands.” Leo puts out his elbow for me to bump instead.

  When Ojiichan spots Aurora and Jayden, he puts two fingers in his mouth and lets out an ear-splitting whistle followed by, “OI! AURORA-CHAN!”

  Aurora looks mortified, especially when Ojiichan gestures at her to come to our booth. Jayden starts to come with her, but she shakes her head. He goes off with some of their drumline friends instead.

  “You are the future businesswoman.” Ojiichan gestures at Aurora to come even closer. “What do you think of the booth?” Before Aurora can answer, Ojiichan adds, “And who is that boy?”

  Aurora shoots us a panicked look. Leo and I stifle a laugh and busy ourselves reorganizing his supplies for the hundredth time.

  “I think it looks good, Ojiichan.” Aurora puts my Specials sign on the other side of the mobile cash register. “I know people are going to love it.”

  “Good.”

  “The manju needs to be up front, though. Nobody is going to see them back there,” Aurora says and Ojiichan grumbles. “What? You don’t think Sasha made them to your standards?”

  “No, they are good.” Ojiichan still doesn’t move them to the long table next to the cash register. “Very good.”

  “Then put them out.” Aurora swoops around him and grabs the smaller decorative tray, which holds about twenty of the manju bunnies and a pair of wooden ton
gs under a protective layer of plastic wrap. “And smile, Ojiichan. You aren’t in the kitchen tonight. You are the host. Look friendly and inviting. More teeth, please.”

  “What is it with Americans showing their teeth? I look like a mad dog.” Ojiichan pulls his lips back, and his forced smile does look like a rabid dog’s.

  “Yeah, that’s disturbing. Go for friendly then. Like you are talking baseball with Mr. Doug. Eh, good enough.” Aurora squeezes her grandfather’s arm. “Now, I’m going to get back to my friends. And that boy is Jayden. We’re going to Homecoming together. Ask Mom about it later.”

  “Hmmm,” Ojiichan says as Aurora walks away. “Oi, take Dakota-chan with you. She is under my foot.”

  Yes, it hurts my feelings when I see Aurora hesitate. Last year, she would have immediately grabbed my elbow and insisted that I come along. This year, I feel like a continuous third wheel with her. The regret must show on my face because Aurora checks herself.

  “Of course.” Aurora has lied so much recently that I can’t tell if she is telling the truth or not. “Just because Leo is boring doesn’t mean you have to be too.”

  Aurora waves at Jayden and the three other drumline guys standing next to him. She links her elbow through mine.

  “Who knows,” Aurora says as we walk away. “Maybe your future boyfriend is here tonight.”

  I look over my shoulder at Leo, who is already preparing his first order of yakisoba for Iwate-sensei. I feel a twinge of guilt about Leo’s half-truth to Iwate-sensei about why his parents hadn’t told Ojiichan about the Japan trip yet. That Ojiichan would lose face for not being able to afford to send any of his grandchildren on the annual trip. She doesn’t press the issue. Instead, Iwate-sensei must be highly praising Leo and his yakisoba stand based on the amount of culturally required deflecting Ojiichan is doing.

  “C’mon, Koty.” Aurora suddenly pulls me to the left. “Let’s go buy tickets for the games before I have to work my shift at the dunk tank.”

  * * *

  The fourth and final hour of the carnival is my JCC timeslot with Nevaeh. Ojiichan sits on a stool with his arms crossed, while Tori and Jax run the JCC part of the booth. He taps his foot impatiently.