BooksBarbecue
Back Parachutes
Chapters (93)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Forty-Six
  49. Forty-Seven
  50. Forty-Eight
  51. Forty-Nine
  52. Fifty
  53. Fifty-One
  54. Fifty-Two
  55. Fifty-Three
  56. Fifty-Four
  57. Fifty-Five
  58. Fifty-Six
  59. Fifty-Seven
  60. Fifty-Eight
  61. Fifty-Nine
  62. Sixty
  63. Sixty-One
  64. Sixty-Two
  65. Sixty-Three
  66. Sixty-Four
  67. Sixty-Five
  68. Sixty-Six
  69. Sixty-Seven
  70. Sixty-Eight
  71. Sixty-Nine
  72. Seventy
  73. Seventy-One
  74. Seventy-Two
  75. Seventy-Three
  76. Seventy-Four
  77. Seventy-Five
  78. Seventy-Six
  79. Seventy-Seven
  80. Seventy-Eight
  81. Seventy-Nine
  82. Eighty
  83. Eighty-One
  84. Eighty-Two
  85. Eighty-Three
  86. Eighty-Four
  87. Eighty-Five
  88. Author’s Note
  89. Acknowledgments
  90. About the Author
  91. Books by Kelly Yang
  92. Back Ad
  93. About the Publisher

Our eyes meet, and I lean in toward him to kiss him. Zach makes a sharp move to reach for the remote, accidentally knocking into my head. “Ow!” All of a sudden, the door swings open and in walks Claire.

She looks at Zach, confused for a second.

“It’s you!” Zach says, jumping to his feet. “What are you doing here?”

Thirty-Seven

Claire

I stare at Blue Cap, standing in the middle of our living room. For a second, I think I’ve entered the wrong house.

“I’m Zach, remember?” the boy says. “We met at the pool.”

“You know Claire?” Dani asks, surprised.

I’m confused. “Is he your boyfriend?” I ask Dani.

“What? No!” Zach denies quickly. Too quickly. Dani retreats behind one of the couch cushions.

I leave the two of them and go to my room. I open my laptop, poring through the emails and messages from parachutes, saying how much it meant to them that I stood up to Mrs. Wallace. When I hear Zach leave, I call out to Dani.

“Dani, come look at this,” I say, lying in bed, pointing to my computer. There’s an email from a parachute saying her science teacher has been making fun of her accent for six months.

But Dani doesn’t come in. Instead, she walks right by my room.

“I’ve got an assignment due,” she says as she closes her door.

I sit on my bed wondering what I’ve said.

In English class the next day, we get none other than Ms. Jones! I almost whoop out loud when I see her. Ms. Jones is in a blazer and wearing hoop earrings, her braided hair tied in a bun on top of her head. She smiles as she tells us she’ll be teaching us while Mrs. Wallace takes a leave of absence.

“Now I know you guys have been reading and talking a lot about The Great Gatsby, but Gatsby’s old! I want to hear about you. When’s the last time you felt like you wanted the respect of a group of people whom you just could never get to take you seriously? I’ll tell you, for me it was five p.m. on Friday, when they called me and asked me if I wanted to take over for Mrs. Wallace.”

We all sit up.

“I’d been substituting here for a while. Some of you guys might have had me,” she says, winking at me. “But I never thought they’d give me a more permanent position.”

Ms. Jones opens up to us about herself. She tells us that she used to be a public school teacher, until she had her kids. Then she took some time off to be with them, and when she wanted to go back, it was hard to find a job. The public schools weren’t hiring due to budget cuts.