Miyako here and I just came to say that I’m gonna be in a PLAY! (HEY, I accidentally rhymed!)

 

Lemme give you some more deets.

OKAY, so our school’s spring play is Romeo and Juliet and I auditioned because, why not, right? I’m pretty confident in my acting abilities (mom says I’m too dramatic) but I also didn’t think I had much of a chance since I’m only a sophomore. Kazue, Ichiro, and Seiji auditioned, too. Kazue and Ichiro are seniors, and I figured maybe Ichiro would get Romeo since he’s such a ham and I bet his audition was super over the top. I was wrong! This junior named Jensen got the part. He’s pretty good looking… (But can he act? Must be able to…)

Ichiro is gonna be Tybalt and Seiji will be Mercutio (since Seiji and Ichiro don’t really look like brothers they can be on opposing sides). Ichiro is looking forward to slaying Seiji, haha!

Anyway, as for Juliet…

I AM JULIET!

 

Put that shocked look away! (Rude!)

I think Kazue is a little jealous. She made it in (as a small part) but she declined and decided to lead costumes instead; cousin Lindsay is going to help her. K’s not a bad actress (for real!) but I don’t think they wanted all the Ikeda kids to get parts (didn’t want to make it like they were playing favorites since we’re kind of a Big Deal here). There are six of us in high school, anyway. More on that later…

Kazue already started on our costumes! She and I are almost the same size so she was wearing one of the dresses to try it out.

 

My favorite is this red one with a plunging neckline. I feel like they’ll nix it since it’s a lot little revealing…

 

Oh, and K had Jensen come over to get measurements. Afterwards we went to sit together in my room and go over the script a bit. I think Jensen liked my dress, too, since I didn’t change before we practiced… (NO, nothing funny happened even though I think he’s pretty cool…)

 

---

So! Back to my extended family! I’ve neglected to mention the new Ikedas running around the neighborhood. In addition to Joclyn and Annabeth, Uncle Eddie and Aunt Shauna had twin boys (Johnny and Brendan) a while back.

 

 

Aunt Angie and “Uncle” Corey had another daughter (Sara) a bit ago (in addition to Lindsay).

 

 

Lindsay is pretty fun, btw!

 

…and, thinking about it, I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned our cousins on my mom’s side! There are four of them (mom has three siblings but Aunt Lyric has two kids). I feel like our family is super well connected because of them.

So first we have Uncle Philip. He’s Mom’s older brother and he’s not married and doesn’t have any kids (he doesn’t really like kids).

 

Mom’s younger brother, Corbin, married my Aunt Candy (née Behr) and they have a daughter my age named Alvetta (she’s really pretty).

 

 

Next is my Aunt Lyric and she’s married to my Uncle Max (Villareal; he’s a little younger than she is) and they have a son, Trey.

 

Before she met Max she had a daughter with Alexander Goth (who is a bit of a troublemaker in this town, not gonna lie – he has two other children with two other women). She just had a birthday and her name is Stacey.

 

Lastly, even though I’m not technically related to him, Max had another kid (Ibrahim) with Olivia Lewis before he met Aunt Lyric. He lives with his mom but he visits their house a lot so he’s technically a cousin.

 

Lots of kids in this family. I think the only person I know who is better connected than us is Charlene, Ichigo’s girlfriend. Her family, the Orozcos, have really spread out. Technically we’re distantly related (!) by marriage but not by blood so they’re good if they ever decide to have get married and have kids.

OH, and some neighborhood gossip (this is bad, I know) but Charlene’s aunt has two kids with BROTHERS. What a scandal!

Uh, I better stop talking about this; it’s really rude of me… (but I had to tell SOMEONE!)