November 30, 1941, Los Angeles, California

Amelia Jones rode on the handlebars of her bicycle while her Japanese neighbor boy, Kiku Honda, pedaled it. Since she was usually loud and pushy and Kiku was very soft-spoken, there was never much room to wonder whether or not Kiku really wanted to do that. He really did not seem to mind it, though. After all, the two were constantly together. It was rare to see loud, rambunctious Amelia without shy, quiet Kiku by her side.

The young, American girl laughed into the wind as it blew her short curls behind her. She squeezed her aqua blue eyes shut so the wind wouldn't dry them out. Her hands got a tighter grip on the handlebars as she tilted her head back, eager to feel the warm sunshine on her face. "Hey, Kiku?" she asked, getting his attention.

"Hai," he answered, tilting his head to the side to glance around her. He definitely did not want to run into anyone with Amelia on the handlebars, especially since they were always getting yelled at by adults for it anyway.

"Do you think I have what it takes to be a pin-up girl?" she asked, turning slightly so she could look at him.

Kiku sighed. "We have been over this many times, Ami-chan," he said. "You are lovely. You are more beautiful than a pin-up girl. The way they are posed and the clothes that they wear are not becoming of a girl such as you. Only one man should look at you the way men look at pin-up girls. Only one man deserves to."

Amelia blushed a deep scarlet and turned to face forward once more. "Kiky, you shouldn't talk to me like that," she softly said. "Someone would think you're my boyfriend or something."

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked.

"N-No," Amelia answered, flustered. "It's just...Never mind, let's just get to our houses, Kiku, okay?" She narrowed her eyes as she looked toward their houses, which were at the end of the dead end street.

Her father was outside talking to Kiku's father, a regular everyday occurrence. The two were good friends, just like their children. They always joked about arranging a marriage between Kiku and Amelia until Amelia would whine at her father to stop, red-faced and embarrassed. She partially did it for Kiku's benefit, knowing that he got embarrassed by nearly anything that involved girls. Amelia was just glad that Kiku was never nervous around her like he was around other girls at school. It was probably because they had been neighbors for as long as both of them could remember.

"Hey, our dads are outside talking," Amelia said, giving Kiku a heads-up on the situation in their front yards as they neared their houses. She narrowed her eyes a little more to try to see their expressions. "It looks pleasant, though, from what I can tell." She turned back to look at Kiku. "I don't think they heard about science class yet."

"You mean what you did," Kiku sighed.

"It was a team effort," Amelia huffed, turning back to face forward. "Besides, if I go down you're going down with me, Honda."

Kiku rolled his eyes. "Stubborn as always, Ami-chan," he sighed. He couldn't help but smile, though.

Anyone who ever observed them knew that he adored the beautiful blonde. Everyone but Amelia seemed to be aware of how Kiku truly felt about her, yet no one said anything for his sake. They all figured he would eventually say something when he was ready, whenever that would be. At the rate he was going, she would be happily married with grandchildren by the time he told her.

"So what if I am?" she asked. "I get it from my father." She stuck her bottom lip out in defiance and chewed her inner right cheek a little. "Besides, you're my partner in crime. You're the only one who is ever down to have fun with me, Kiku."

"Fun always means trouble when it comes to you," Kiku reminded. "That's why no one ever wants to have fun with you."

Amelia laughed loudly. "They're just all scared! But not you, Kiku. That's why you're my best friend." She turned and flashed him a toothy grin. "You're not afraid of anything, Kiku! That's why I like you so much!"

Kiku smiled a little, trying to prevent a blush from forming on his cheeks. "Yeah, I like you too, Amelia," he said, struggling to keep his voice even. He felt relieved when Amelia turned back around, laughing wildly.

"Amelia Eleanor Jones!" Frank Jones called when he spotted his daughter and Kiku a few houses down. "You have some explaining to do!"

"Yup," Amelia sighed. "They definitely heard about science class. You might want to stop the bike so we don't get yelled at more, Kiku."

Kiku obediently stopped the bicycle and helped Amelia off the handlebars. "I'll take the fall with you. We both go down together, right?" he reminded, smiling wryly to her.

Amelia giggled. "Right," she agreed with a nod as she grabbed the handlebars of her bike and walked it over to where their fathers were waiting. "Hi, Daddy. Good afternoon, Mr. Honda."

"Konnichiwa, Mr. Jones. Konnichiwa, Otousan," Kiku said, politely bowing his head to each of them in greeting.

"We both got calls from your teacher today," Kento Honda began. "Would either of you like to explain to us what happened?"

Amelia turned a light shade of pink. "You see, Mr. Honda, what happened was that we were supposed to dissect frogs today. I don't like that kind of stuff. It would be like if someone were to dismember me after I die, and that's just disrespectful to the dead, you know? So Kiku and I took ours out to the schoolyard to bury it instead…"

Frank frowned. "Just get in the house, Amelia. We'll discuss this further later. You just need to understand that not everyone shares the same views as you on most topics." He pointed toward their white duplex that they shared with the Hondas. "Go straight to your room, and I will be in there in a bit to talk to you."

Amelia slouched a bit and walked her bike toward the house. "Yes, sir," she softly said as she went on her way.

Kiku watched her walk, nearly all of the bounce out her step. He thought she looked as if the life had been sucked out of her. "It's not her fault, Mr. Jones," he quietly said when she was inside. "I suggested to bury it."

"I expect this kind of behavior from my daughter," Frank began, looking sternly at the young Japanese boy, "but not from you, Kiku. I trust you to keep her in line at school. Now I understand that's not an easy job after what happened this past spring, but she needs a friend badly. She needs someone who will understand. I thought you could be that person."

Kiku nodded, ashamed of himself for disappointing Amelia's father. "Hai," he softly said. "I apologize, Mr. Jones. I won't let it happen again."

"I need to go inside to make sure she's okay," Frank sighed. He nodded to Kiku and Kento. "Have a good evening, folks." He then turned on his heel and went into their side of the duplex.

"Was it really your idea, Kiku?" Kento quietly asked his son as they walked toward their side of the house. "Or did Amelia talk you into it and you said yes because you would feel guilty if you didn't?"

Kiku shrugged. "I wanted to do it," he said. "She may have suggested it, but I was thinking it as well. Ami-chan is very sensitive to things like death and what happens to things after they die."

Kento nodded silently. "I understand that, but you need to understand that it is your responsibility as her friend to keep her out of trouble."

"Otousan, please forgive my rudeness, but I do not see what we did as wrong," Kiku said. "As I have said, Ami-chan is very sensitive to things of that sort, and it hurt to see her looking so sad with a scalpel in her hand. She couldn't dissect the frog and the gave her no other options without failing her." He frowned. "I will go to my room as well." Once inside, that was what he did.

Hatsune Honda walked over to her husband when he entered the kitchen. "Where is Kiku? Dinner will be ready soon?"

"He's punishing himself because Amelia is being punished," Kento explained, sighing. He sat heavily in a chair and rubbed at his temples. "Our son has too good of a heart, Hatsune. I just hope it doesn't hurt him one day."

.

Amelia laid on her stomach on her bed, crying into her pillow. She was so tired of getting into trouble for doing things that she had thought were the right thing to do. It was getting old. And it didn't help that it was just her and her father at home now. Her older brother Allan had left for college as soon as he graduated high school that past spring and never came to visit. It wasn't like she could blame him. Their father was always nice when people were around, but he was a completely different man behind closed doors. She was dreading the moment he would walk through the door of her bedroom. At least he wouldn't yell. She knew the Hondas would hear him if he did.

Frank knocked on his daughter's door. "Amelia, we need to talk," he said, walking in. "You can't keep going around and doing whatever the fuck you want. I'm tired of you going around and acting like the world owes you something. Look, I know it's not fair that your mother died this past spring, but that's not an excuse for you to act this way."

"It's not fair that Mom died the way she did!" Amelia said, tearing up even more at the mention of her mother. "She shouldn't have had to die like that! Why didn't someone help her?"

"No one knows," Frank simply said. "But we can't worry about that now, Amelia. It's all said and done, and no one can change what happened. I miss her, too."

Amelia sat up on her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. "She was in pieces when they found her…" she softly said. "Who chops someone up like that after they kill them? What kind of person is that fucked up?"

"Watch your language. You're already on thin ice, missy," Frank warned, pointing at her. "I get why you don't like dissecting things. It reminds you of the fact that someone 'dissected' Grace…"

Amelia put her hands over her ears. "Stop!" she yelled. "I don't want to hear it! Don't remind me!" She shook her head. "Don't talk to me about her! I can't take it, Dad!" Tears spilled out of her eyes. "Just stop!"

Frank went silent, just staring at his daughter until she finished raging on her bed. "Are you done yet?" he asked her after a moment.

Amelia slowly lowered her hands, nodding. "Yeah," she softly said.

"You need to apologize to Kiku tomorrow when you see him," her father said. "You're always getting that boy into trouble. Do you not care about how he feels about the things you make him do?"

"First of all, I don't make him do anything," Amelia snapped at him. "Kiku does everything because he wants to. I don't even ask him most of the time, he just follows along with me."

"Have you ever thought that he goes along with it because he feels sorry for you and thinks he has no other choice?" Frank asked. "It's not like you any other friends."

"Get out!" Amelia cried out, jumping up from her bed. She pushed Frank out of her room and slammed the door after him, shaking her head as she leaned heavily against the door, sinking against it.

That couldn't be true. She had plenty of other friends. Her mind was just too foggy to think of all of them on the top of her head. But they were there. They had to be. She couldn't have just Kiku. She had to have more than just him.

.

Kiku cringed when he heard Amelia shout and then heard her bedroom door slam. Her bedroom was right next to his. They found that out as children and had learned Morse Code once they learned to read, knocking out little messages to each other on the wall. He was not waiting patiently for her tapping to begin. He knew she was going to tell him what had happened. The walls may be thin, but he hadn't heard the whole conversation. Amelia's yelling had been muffled.

Sure enough, he heard Amelia knock out a simple message. Are you there?

Kiku sighed and leaned against the wall. Before knocking. Yes. Are you okay?

No. My dad is the worst. He makes me wish I were dead.

Please do not say such things. I would not want you to die.

I want to. I hate my life. It has turned to shit since my mom died. I want to just disappear.

I would miss you if you did that.

Thanks. I think I might take a nap. Take care. I'm sorry for getting you in trouble.

It is no problem. Rest well.

Kiku listened intently for another minute and heard nothing. He figured she must have been exhausted. He knew she had been in there crying, because Amelia only cried when no one else was around to see. She only cried in her room.

He leaned back in his bed and got his homework out of his backpack. He was ready to do homework instead of just moping about and worrying over Amelia. After all, he was certain she would talk to him tomorrow about everything that had happened. Kiku just hoped that he could be a rock for her one day. Maybe one day she could trust him enough to cry in front of him.

.

Amelia waited on their shared front porch the next morning for Kiku to come outside. She sat on one of Kiku's family's deck chairs and tapped her foot on the whitewashed boards of the porch. She had slept from her conversation with Kiku all the way until her alarm went off that morning. Amelia guess that she just hadn't realized how tired she really was. Or maybe she just didn't know how tired being sad made her really feel.

Kiku came out a few moments later. "Good morning, Ami-chan," he greeted, smiling to her. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"Not at all," she assured with a fake, carefree smile. "I just got out here myself." She reached around and into her backpack to pull out an apple. "Here, I brought this for you. I'm really sorry for getting you in trouble yesterday. You didn't have to take the fall for me like you did."

Kiku smiled and took the apple. "It's fine, Amelia." He took a bite as they began their walk to school. "Did you sleep well?" he asked after swallowing.

Amelia pulled another apple out of her backpack. "Yeah. I slept all through the night and up until my alarm went off. I guess I was really tired." She laughed a little before taking a bite.

"Well maybe you really needed that rest," Kiku said with a nod.

"I guess so," Amelia said after swallowing. "I'm sorry if I worried you last night. I swear that I'm okay. I just have been having a rough time since, well, you know…"

Kiku nodded. "Anyone would have a rough time after something like that, Ami-chan."

"Apparently my dad wouldn't," Amelia bitterly stated before taking another bite of her apple. She chewed on it with a sour expression on her face. "He seems just fine. It's almost as if it doesn't bother him at all that Mom and Allan are gone," she complained after swallowing that bite. "Doesn't he care that two important people in his life are just gone now?"

Kiku shrugged, choosing silence over what he really wanted to say. He took another bite of his apple to distract himself from conversation. His mind began to think of how Frank had changed to him since Grace had passed away. He didn't notice too much of a difference either.

"I wish Allan didn't leave," Amelia softly said. "Why did he have to go to college? I get that it's important, but he left a week after Mom died. He doesn't even call. The only time he ever did was for my birthday this past summer." She frowned and then looked at the apple with a look of disgust. "I'm pretty sure I've lost my appetite," she sighed, dropping the rest of the apple on the side of the street. "I'll leave it for the birds or whatever…"

Kiku frowned. "Amelia, are you eating okay at home?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she grumbled. "Besides, I need to stay thin if I want to be a pin-up girl."

Kiku sighed. "You still have your heart set on that?"

"Maybe it could save me and get me out of the house and away from my dad," she sighed. "I heard pin-up girls travel all over." She looked up at the sky. "I would love to travel and get out of here, Kiku. And then I'd only come back to visit you and your family."

Kiku smiled a little. "That's kind of you, Ami-chan, but I think you should focus on school and go away to college like your brother did."

"Are you kidding?" Amelia groaned. "I'm not smart enough for that." She looked over at Kiku. "You're the only kid in our house who has a chance at college, Kiku."

"That's not true. I know you're smart," Kiku defended. "You just have to try and believe in yourself."

"How am I supposed to believe in myself when no one else does?" Amelia demanded, whirling onto Kiku. Tears stung her eyes, threatening to escape. She stopped walking and just stood there, breathing heavily as she faced her neighbor boy for a moment before turning away quickly. "I just don't want to do anything regarding school, okay? I hate school."

Kiku nodded in understanding. "Okay, Amelia," he said, stopping as well. "Here, I'll let you gather your bearings before we continue walking."

"Stop," Amelia softly said. "Don't be so nice to me. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve friends. All I do is get you in trouble." Her father's words to her the night before were stuck in her head. She was always getting Kiku into trouble. "You would be better off with someone else for a friend."

"But I already chose you," Kiku told her. "And I like the decisions I make in my life."

Amelia looked over at him. "Why do you say things like that to me?" she asked. "Why are you so nice to me when all I do is make you life hell?"

"You may think that you make my life hell," Kiku began, "but what you actually do is give me a life. If it weren't for you, I'd be one of those normal Asian kids always doing homework or reading. With you, I am always doing something. We could be out riding your bike on a nice day, or walking to school together like this. No other kids at school really talk to me, you know. So why wouldn't I want a friend like you?"

Amelia shook her head. "You know, I don't think I'll ever truly understand you," she began, "but thanks for sticking around me anyway. Even if I put you through a lot of bullshit."

"What else are friends for?" Kiku asked with a laugh. "Now come on, let's get to school."

Amelia nodded and walked with him. She didn't understand that boy at all. He had so much going for him, yet he chose to hang out with someone like her, a girl with no real future. And he seemed to be perfectly fine with it. She decided to shrug it off. Maybe time would tell.