<span style="color: deepskyblue"> “My engine’s ready to explode, explode, explode; So start me up and watch me go, go go.”</span><br/><br/>A blonde swaggered down the road, obscenely loud lyrics spilling from her lips.  Her eyes were closed as her head nodded to the beat of her song. One hand held a blue and white checkered phone while the other flailed randomly.  Large headphones covered the girl’s ears.  Whatever appearance of modesty her school uniform might have provided was ruined by her actions as she suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and shimmied.<br/><br/><span style="color: deepskyblue"> “Baby you got the keys; Now shut up and drive, drive, drive.”</span><br/><br/>All the other pedestrians on the street gave her a wide berth.<br/><br/><span style="color: deepskyblue"> “Get it, get it, don’t stop, it’s a sure shot.”</span><br/><br/>Contrary to what her schoolmates thought, Genevieve wasn’t<span style="font-style: italic">stupid</span>.  Just because Japanese wasn’t her native language and she wasn’t<span style="font-style: italic">that</span>fluent in it, they all thought her deaf and stupid.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">“That gaijin…. So tall!... Was she asking for a dumpling or to sleep around?... I heard… easy… maybe she’ll… Scarecrow!”</span><br/><br/>They didn’t intend to be mean, not really; they were just a bunch of kids who watched too much TV and was stuck with a<span style="font-style: italic">gaijin</span>as a classmate.  Honestly,<span style="font-style: italic">she</span>was just a kid who watched too much TV and, well, she was the outsider.  Another song switched on: Vienna Teng this time.  A quick double click of her index finger had her phone playing the next song.  She didn’t feel like getting all melancholy, especially not in the middle of the road.<br/><br/><span style="color: deepskyblue">“You know the bed feels warmer; Sleeping here alone.”</span><br/><br/>She’d always been the outsider, even back in America.  Her parents were just a bit too old fashioned; she was just a bit too tall; her interest in music was just a bit too serious to be ‘cool;’ and she honestly just didn’t care.  She didn’t doubt she could have found herself a group of friends, a<span style="font-style: italic">clique</span>of some sort, had she really wanted to in middle school.  But at the end of the day, she didn’t.<br/><br/><span style="color: deepskyblue"> “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, doesn’t mean I’m lonely when I’m alo~one!”</span><br/><br/>Her voice lowered as she left the East District and started into Residential Area B.  While she didn’t care if others thought her strange, she didn’t want to cause trouble for her sister.  Her sister, Gabrielle, had been working in Iwamura for almost four years now, having transferred here from Australia.  Unlike her, Gabrielle was naturally a sociable person and had made quick friends with her neighbors despite being the local<span style="font-style: italic">gaijin</span>at that time.  Their fondness for the elder sibling had transferred to the younger sibling and Genevieve was loathe to give that up.<br/><br/>Entering her sister’s apartment (technically, their apartment now, she supposed), the blonde toed off her shoes and started down the hallway.  Three steps in, she stopped, sighed, turned around, and walked back to line her shoes up.  These Japanese people were so neat!  Dropping her messenger bag on the kitchen table, she pulled out a textbook and took a seat on the ground by the coffee table.  A press of a button and the TV blared to life, the voice of Tyra Banks filling the otherwise silent room:<br/><br/>“Welcome, ladies…”