It was normal to see that everywhere there were different kinds of Asians throughout Cerritos, California and there were many people of Hispanic heritage. Though, there weren’t many people living in Cerritos that were white. Growing up in the area, Emiko Davis never noticed those that were out of the ordinary for Cerritos. It was a serious culture change going into high school and learning more about how the norm for Cerritos is… not the norm for everyone else.

Emiko “Emi” Davis is currently a sophomore at Cerritos High School and has lived in Cerritos all of her life with her older sister Bella, a senior at Cerritos High. The two are often found talking with each other, though if you ask either of their teammates they'll tell you that Emi and Bella playfully argue with each other all the time. Even though they are like that, you can tell that they are close to each other and that they know each other's thoughts just by a look on the other's face. The two sisters are 50% Filipino, 25% Japanese, and 25% White/European. Of course, Emi has met others who are Filipino or Japanese-American, but never anyone who was as mixed as they are. Going to high school, she met and made friends with a lot of other mixed kids, and still, none were as mixed as her or her sister.

Emi is an avid participant in school and school activities, specifically sports. She is a varsity wrestler on the girl’s team and is acknowledged as the team co-captain. At practice on this particular day, Emi was off practicing with her partner, Faith. The two basically grew up with each other and are inseparable. Everyone was doing light work and were all talking amongst themselves about their weekend and how they all did at their tournaments. While practicing, both Faith and Emi were ranting about how the refs were biased towards certain schools and they would have been ranked higher if not for those refs. Veering away from that conversation, Emi had a random thought moment.

“I’ve never really seen many people that were like me, super mixed Asians.” Faith paused and looked at Emi, trying to see if she would elaborate at all. Faith was used to hearing Emi's unfiltered thoughts, but this was an unusual unfiltered thought. It was interesting to hear because Emi never really said anything like this before. Emi loves to talk about anything and everything, but she's never really talked about people's race or ethnicity. Hearing the door to the wrestling room open, Bella walked in looking worn out from her Track&Field practice.

Bella was friends with basically everyone on the wrestling team and often visited to see how everyone is doing. She was scanning her eyes across the room trying to see who was there and who wasn’t there. Bella already knew that Emi was at practice and spotted her on the floor staring back at her. Kicking off her shoes and throwing on her wrestling shoes, Bella made her way over to her younger sister. She'd stop every once in a while to say hi to one of the kids or help a pair with a move they are trying.

“Bella! Emi was saying how she’s never met a lot of mixed kids. Well, as mixed as her.” Faith was the first to speak up as soon as Bella had reached them. And this, took Bella by surprise because she knew exactly was she was talking about. Looking between the two, it was evident Faith had no idea what to say about this and definitely made an effort in trying to go through Emi's thoughts.

“Well, have you ever met any other white European-Japanese-Filipinas in Cerritos besides my sister and me? I don’t think I have.” Bella’s comment had a hint of sass in it. Though, most of what Bella says has sass. Bella's personality is shy and bold at the same time with hints of sass and sarcasm. Looking at Emi, Bella tried to see if she could spot any emotion on her face, but she didn’t see one that concerned her. Emi just looked confused. Bella sat down beside her sister and looked at her with sincere eyes.

“Emi, we are just the most unique people here then! Okay, maybe not the most, but were are close to the top for being unique.” Bella remarked as if she had thought of this before. It was clear that Bella was the older sister for a reason, even if she doesn't act like it from time to time. Emi sat there thinking about what her sister said. They weren’t the most unique, but they were definitely one of the unique ones.