Hurshey candy bar

I lick to eat candy

It tastes very good

No, that wasn't right. The second line was six syllables.

Chunkee bars on sail

They'are delishis trapezoids

Raisens are helthy

This time, the second line was eight syllables. I was starting to get frustrated, but I kept my cool.

Kit-Cat, Sneckrs, Mars

I am a candy addict

So far, so good…

I liv in a howse

Perfect! You're probably wondering what was going on. I was trying to write a haiku, which is a type of Japanese poetry. Why Japanese? Well, I'm Japanese-American. Second-generation Japanese-American, to be more specific. My parents were born in Japan, but came to America when they were young. Sometimes I think they must miss it, since they haven't been back since before my older sister, Janine, was born. That was sixteen years ago!

I've told you a little about my parents, and you know I have a sister, so I guess I should tell you who I am. I'm Claudia Kishi, I'm thirteen years old, and I'm an eighth-grader at Stoneybrook Middle School, or SMS, in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Most of my other friends, including my best friend, Stacey McGill, are as well, but I have two sixth-grade friends, Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike. I'll tell you more about them, and this great club we have, later.

Back to the haiku. My English teacher, Ms. Hall, had assigned us a poetry project. She called poetry a type of art, which was exciting to me because I love art! Painting, drawing, sculpting – you name it. I even extend my love of art to what I wear. Not to be conceited, but I am the wildest dresser at SMS. Just to give you an idea, right then, I was wearing green cowboy boots, black tights with holes cut in them, purple denim overalls, and a purple and green tie-dyed lab coat. I tie-dyed the lab coat myself. I also had on a necklace made of black and green pipe cleaners, a bunch of black plastic bracelets, and two silver hoop earrings in my right ear. That's right, I have two holes in my right earlobe! I have one in the left. Cool, huh? My long hair was in five ponytails, each fastened with a purple pipe cleaner. My color scheme for the day was black, purple, and green. My inspiration was some black, purple, and green painting I saw somewhere. I just have an artistic mind.

So even though the poetry was supposed to be like art, it wasn't as fun as some other artistic activities I could think of. Then again, school isn't really my thing. I get average grades, but I am actually of above average intelligence. Honest! I just don't apply myself, because the truth is there are much more fun things to do than schoolwork. My sister Janine, who I mentioned before, thinks the opposite, and she is actually a real live genius. Her IQ is 196 and her social life is pretty pathetic, so sometimes I can bribe her with dates with Rock Brompton to do my homework. He's really into Asian girls, so it works out for both of them

I was not, however, bribing her to write my haiku. It sounded simple enough to do, so I figured I could write a poem of seventeen syllables myself. And I did, after only three tries! It just goes to show you how talented I am at anything remotely artistic.

"Claudia!" That was my mom, sounding slightly annoyed.

"What, Mom?" I called back.

"I've been calling you for ten minutes! Come down, it's time for dinner!" I clomped down the stairs in my boots and sat at the kitchen table. Mom, Dad, and Janine were already seated, and Janine was spooning peas from a dish onto her plate. I glanced around and saw that dinner was, in addition to the peas…well, I wasn't quite sure.

"Um, Mom? Dad? What's…for dinner?"

Janine answered me. "It's a tofu and lentil loaf! I made it while I was waiting for my lab partner to call me back and admit that she analyzed our data incorrectly. We got in an argument writing up our heat of fusion lab." She cut a huge piece of the grayish mass and slapped it onto my plate. Janine loves to cook, and I will eat almost anything, but my appetite was receding at the sight of her latest concoction. I wondered how much of it I could hide in my napkin before running back to my room and pigging out on Baby Ruths.

Before I could make a guess, though, my mother spoke. "Girls, I have news. My cousin, Mei – do you remember her?"

I didn't, but Janine did. "Isn't she Mimi's older sister's daughter?"

"Right. She's my obachan's youngest daughter, she's only ten years older than you, Claudia." So how old was she? I began counting on my fingers, but I only have ten fingers, so I couldn't get to the thirteen I had to add the ten to. Well, she had to be at least ten. "Anyway, she's getting married, but we only got the invitation to her wedding yesterday. It's in three weeks, and since your dad has accumulated so many vacation days, he and I thought we could go to Japan for Mei's wedding."

Darn. I wanted to go to Japan, too. I've hardly been anywhere. I went to the beach with my friend Kristy Thomas's family when I was ten, and my family has been to Vermont, but besides those trips, the two times I've been to California this year, my school trips to Hawaii and Europe, and the cruise to the Bahamas, I'm practically a homebody.

"Just you and Dad?" Janine sounded as dismayed as I felt. "But Claudia and I could come, too! In three weeks, we'll be on spring break."

I glanced outside. It's the middle of March right now, and it snowed yesterday. I don't think Janine knew what she was talking about. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Lambs must mean we'd all be wearing wool by the end of the month, so it would have to be freezing.

My parents didn't really look pleased at the prospect of bringing us along, but Janine was still talking. "Neither Claudia nor I have ever been to Japan, and the experience would allow us the opportunity to obtain vast amounts of knowledge we would be unable to absorb elsewhere." She sounded convincing, and I took a bite of tofu and lentil loaf to express my solidarity. Then spit it into my hand, took off my boot, and dropped the chewed tofu and lentils into it. I reached into the side of my overalls and removed the chocolate chip cookies I keep in my bra for emergencies.

"Janine, honey, we'd love to take you along, but it isn't that simple. Mei lives with her older sister's family in a Tokyo apartment – it's crowded and two houseguests are probably all they could handle," Mom explained. Dad was taking small bites of tofu-lentil loaf and washing them down with large gulps of water. "When we called to tell them we were coming, they didn't insist that the two of you also come, so we can't very well bring you along and spring two extra bodies on them. You'll have other chances to go to Japan," she said encouragingly.

My parents are so unfair. I deserve a change of scenery; it feels like I've been in the eighth grade at SMS for ten years already. Then, suddenly, I had a great idea. I knew how not only Janine and I, but also six of my closest friends, could go to Japan for spring break. "May I be excused? Janine, this is great, but I can't eat another bite." At least that last sentence was true. "I have a lot of homework," I added for good measure. That did the trick, and my parents quickly gave me permission to go back to my room.

There, I sat on my bed and dialed a familiar number into my phone (I have my own phone number, so I never have to worry about anyone listening in on an extension! This is especially handy when Pete Black calls and asks what I'm wearing. I wouldn't want anyone stealing my ideas for extremely cool loungewear). "Hello, Kristy? It's Claud."