Host with the Most.
Well this could be fun after all.
It was probably going to be the coolest yet worst experience ever.
“Hopefully the family is nice and all…”
You shrugged the thought of the trip off again, and continued to fold the t-shirt’s in front of you. The school trip was about a whole month long, you only thought it was appropriate to pack your favorite shirts.
“Dinner is ready, get down here or you’ll have it cold!”
“Mom, can you calm down for about a minute and a half,”
A mumbled Jesus left your mouth, before laying the shirt in the suitcase and standing, making your way down the stairs.
“You couldn’t have waited maybe a little longer Mom, I was in the middle of packing my bag..”
She rolled her eyes, the table was set, and her mitt-covered gloves were pulling a dish out of the oven.
“You’re excited, yes?”
“Nervous, more like it…”
Her eyes traveled over to you, “Nervous, for what reason?”
“I don’t want to say anything wrong, Mom. Sure I’ve been learning the language for how long, but like-...that’s their native tongue, what if I mess up?”
That earned you a head shake, “Sit down, silly. You won’t mess up, you’ve been doing it for years…”
Stuffing your hands in your pocket, you decided against fighting with her, and took your seat.
“What if the host family is mean? Or they don’t have any kids?”
“Honey, stop worrying.”
“Mom, don’t tell me what to do,”
Well, your mom for sure wasn’t wrong in telling you to stop. It would eventually be alright and you’d be on your way to the airport from Portland, Oregan, USA...to Japan. There were about three seniors from your class, one of them being a relatively close friend of yours. Madison was that girl that anyone and everyone could befriend.
She took her seat in front of you, leaving a random passenger to sit on the left of you.
“How long does it take to get there again?” You asked.
Maddie shrugged, “Beats me, I’ll be sleeping.”
“For like 14 some hours? Madison are you kidding me?”
The brunette snickered slightly, “Does this look like the face of someone who’s kiddin’?”
The one stop would be in Canada, near the Toronto airport, something like that.
“Why the hell couldn’t she have sat by me…”
The woman next to you was older and looked like she’d rather have been dead then sitting on a plane next to a teenager.
“Maybe there will be cute boys at the school we go to…”
But then you remembered the many rules you had to read, and document that you understood...so many signatures...so many.
“I mean come on, how strict will they be? I could probably make out with someone and get away with it, a one time thing you know…”
All the while you were drifting off to sleep, head against the window. The clouds were large and puffy, kinda like you were already dreaming. Maybe that’s why you fell asleep so easily. Sooner than it seemed, you were being shaken.
“Hey, wake up, it’s at the first stop,”
You body groggily wanted nothing more than to shove the hand away.
“Fine, I won’t wait for you,” Madison’s voice rang out, making you stand, and grab your carry-on.
“You know-...you could be a bit nicer, you ass.”
Madison giggled, “I could be,”
“You should,”
“But I won’t.”
Sighing ever so slightly, you both trudged out of the plane and into the airport, following the ‘designated plane assitant’ that the school had sent with the group. It was only 2:45 in the afternoon, which meant 9 or so hours left in this god awful flight.
After about an hour of walking around the airport, and wasting time, the group gathered back around the gate, and soon were being filed into the plane once more.
“Time couldn’t go any slower…”
“Maybe if you’d stop being so nervous, time would go faster..”
“Shut up, I’m not nervous!”
Mindless sleep, thank god for mindless sleep.
The last 9 hours were a blur, of sleep...messy hair, and the child in the back crying endlessly. Nothing could have gone faster than time in that moment, hearing the voice over the speaker.
“We will be landing in approximately 15 minutes,”
Then was repeated in the now native tongue.
You couldn’t quite shake yourself awake until someone’s face poked between the chair and wall.
“Hey-...you, wake up. You didn’t want me sleeping, don’t be a bitch,”
You whined slightly, only finding Maddie’s joke half-amusing .
“Maddie, I don’t get why I’m friends with you sometimes,” Sitting up, you fix your hair and straightened your shirt before looking out the window.
“Are you ready for a month of Japan?”
“Maddie, I’ve been waiting for this since 8th grade, of course I am.”
Madison, however, barely passed the class, and managed to get picked for the trip.
“Cute boys. Cute girls, right?”
“No stop that, get it out of your head, you’ve got rules. Rule number 25 was that, ‘Under no circumstance was any romantic relationship permitted between host kids and students.’
Bummer.
You had a month to ignore cute boys?
Highly doubt it.
Cute girls too?
Wouldn’t happen.
Again, with being filed out of the aircraft, and being stuck behind Maddie. This airport was cramped and crowded, just as they had said. You didn’t mind, no, but it would take some getting used to. Now, for you, at least...this is when the scary part came. The host families would be picking up their respective student, and taking them home.
Bags?
Check.
Bookbag.
Check.
It always seemed to Madison’s voice snapping you out of things,
“Hey, I’ve got to go...quit spacing and find your host family,”
You nodded, and assumed that all the hosts were near each other. You were searching, when you spotted a younger kid..hopefully around your age holding a piece of paper with your last name on it.
You being the dork you are, raised you hand as you neared him.
“That’s me,” You then said, pointing to the paper.
“Ah yes..nice to finally meet you..”
Remember that thing about cute boys?
Yeah, you really wish they didn’t have rules now, don’t you?
“Ask for his name, idiot. Don’t just stand there all wide-eyed.”
“So your name is?” You spoke loud enough for him to hear over the larger crowds of people.
“George...or well-...here it’s Joji...but like same thing,”
He smiled, and you couldn’t help but take in his features. The dark hair fell just perfectly above his eyes, and the way his nose scrunched slightly.
“Anyways, it’s really cool to like-...have someone in the house my age, you know?”
You nodded and shifted in place. Not that you were uncomfortable with him, but his parents were behind him, and seemed to be waiting for you and him.
“It’s late, my parents have the room and stuff set up for you-..” His larger hand held out to your bag.
“Let me carry something for you?”
“I’ve got it, George...really,” “Call me Joji, and here-..” The brunette took the larger suitcase from you, then the duffle bag.
Well, you could see yourself getting along with this kid. He seemed a bit socially awkward, but it might pass. After getting your stuff in the trunk, Joji held the door open for you, before closing and clamoring in on the other side. He was explaining something to you about his parents not really wanting to speak much English-.. “Joji, I can speak some Japanese, you know?”
You felt rather nervous all the sudden.
“Really now…? Then you won’t have a problem, now will you?”
Joji’s eyes were on you for a bit longer than needed, and he finally turned and looked out his own window.
“How old are you?”
“18,” He spoke quietly, “You?”
“17..I’m graduating a bit early for my age, but it works…”
The male nodded at you, eyes still out the window, and a few more minutes of silence went by.
“How’s school work here in Japan..?”
That made him turn to look at you again, and he shrugged.
“I mean-...we have to wear a uniform, but it’s not bad I guess…”
“I’m going to stand out aren’t I, Joji?”
“Like a sore thumb,” He grinned.
Earning an eyeroll from you, he still was able to laugh about it probably too much.
“I’m kidding, like-..yeah, you will, but you’re gonna stick with me. Go to my classes yadda yadda,”
You took the time to ask him a few other questions, like what classes he took, and if they were super hard.
“I-...I’m just bad a reading a lot of Japanese, and it’s kinda making me nervous for school..”
“Don’t sweat it,” Joji nodded, “I’ll be allowed to help you, right? Eh, I’ll help anyways.”
Another round of silence, before they were parking the car in a driveway, Joji simply getting out and getting your door again.
“Anyways-..here we are...don’t be nervous, okay? You’ll be fine.”
You couldn’t help but shrug off the uneasiness. It was just something you would always have, being now that you were in another country and didn’t have anybody around.
“Just slip your shoes off before you even step in, okay?”
Joji had grabbed the bag once again, and led you to the front door, “I’ll come back and get your other things,”
Slipping your own sneakers off, you picked them up and followed the male in front of you. Something else you, rather creepily took note of, his how tall he was. He couldn’t have been more than a few inches taller than you. The house was small, though cozy. Just perfect, in your opinion. The kid led you and your bags to a room, where the bed was neatly made, and seeming like the one you had at home.
“I believe the school uniform is in the closet,” Joji nodded, and was quickly ducking his head low to leave the room, which he in fact did, closing the door and leaving you to yourself.
The room itself was nice. A light blue...reminding you of the color a child’s room would be painted. Sitting your backpack on the bed, you took a breath in and relaxed.
You were here.
There was a gentle knock on the door, and before you could answer really, a crack was opened, and Joji’s mother was speaking softly, you were able to understand most of what she whispered.
“Goodnight, darling. Joji will wake you in the morning,”
That wasn’t so bad, it could have been worse...you really just were making yourself worry about being unable to understand them.
The pale blue walls were fading with the natural light, and the curtains were now only letting in the dim streetlights, the only thing you decided to use as light. Changing into something more comfortable to sleep, thoughts of the day had filled your mind. The bed was soft, and rather light, almost making your eyes droop with jet-lag and whatever else made you just want to close them.
“You have no reason to worry. School will be just fine-..”
Wrong. As if when you just fell asleep, you felt a hand on your shoulder, shaking gently.
“Hey...time to wake up, sleepy head..we’ve got school.”
Begrudgingly, you sat yourself up to look at Joji, whom was in khaki's and a polo with some sort of logo on the top right pocket.
“I’m dead tired...this sucks ass..”
He chuckled and let himself stand next to the door, flicking the light on about your heads.
“You’ll adapt to it..I’m sure,”
Throwing your legs over the edge of the bed, you went and looked into the closet for the outfit they got ahead of time for you. Taking one look at the outfit you knew it wasn’t your cup of tea. The pants were crisp, and seemingly too untouched, making your skin crawl with a thousand little pricks. Walking to the school was a whole different ball game, in which you didn’t mind one bit. Joji kept his arm around your shoulder, in fear of:
“You might get lost, and I’d be fucking castrated,”
“Joji, I could easily just ask-..”
“No, no no. I would actually get killed by my parents,”
Or when you would bump into someone on the street, and Joji would snort as you got some distasteful words thrown your way. His laugh was heavenly.
Rule 25:
‘Under no circumstance are any romantic relationship permitted between host kids and students.’
Pushing the idea of actually listening aside for the moment, you decided to move closer as he motioned towards the building which was more than evident to be the school. His hand was in yours, ever so lightly swinging as you neared. Joji looked around, as a few boys called out his name,
“Hey Joj, who you have there? They’re pretty cute,”
“Jojii, my man, you scored it with this one.”
They probably were assuming that you couldn’t understand, being that you in fact, looked so foreign to this place. Your hair was light, and your eyes a light shade as well. You truly did stand out, a bit too much.
“They speak any Japanese?”
“Yeah, Joji, do you think they understand us?”
Joji’s hand went to the back of his neck, rubbing at the skin slightly. He was uncomfortable. So were you, and decided to respond back in the native tongue.
“Yeah, boys...I understand..”
They suddenly looked at the kid, who was still holding your hand, and became rather discomforted with this themselves. It was really just like any other school, and you weren’t surprised with that, the only thing being different is now this one was filled with the kids from the program from your school. You let the backpack shift on your shoulders as Joji kept leading you through the halls. If felt like they were all staring at you. That same nervous feeling bubbling back up into your mind, and body, as a few girls eyed you, then turned to whisper to one another. The hand in yours finally intertwining their fingers, giving reassuring squeeze.
“Calm...you’re just fine, and if anyone has a problem with you, I’ll handle it.”
Joji was finally pulling open a classroom door, and let you in first.
You waited, before he told you to sit next to him, and breathe.
But it just wasn’t that easy.
Fidgety and almost whining, you waited for the teacher to show up.
Joji was however talking, and carrying on his normal day, compared to you.
Though it did get easier for you, as the day went on, and finally you were walking hand in hand, back to Joji’s house.
“How did you feel about it?”
You shrugged and looked his way.
“It could be better, hopefully I won’t be like this the whole trip,”
Joji smiled ever so slightly, “I’ll make sure you have fun,”
