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

“My mom really likes you,” he says.

“I like her too,” I say with a smile. “When’s she headed back?”

“Tomorrow,” he says. His eyes fall slightly. I can tell he and his mom are close. He hands me my Fred Segal shopping bag.

“Thanks,” I say, taking the bag from him. “For everything.”

The clothes. The dinner. The hotel. The earrings. “I don’t know how I’m going to make it up to you,” I say to him as I wave goodbye.

“I have a few ideas,” he answers with a grin.

Forty-Two

Dani

I study the motivational quotes outside Mrs. Mandalay’s office as I wait. It’s my third time in two weeks sitting outside her office, and I’ve nearly memorized them all by heart. I remind myself that both times I’ve been here, she’s given Ming and Claire what they wanted. Still, my fingers grip the corners of the chair. This time is different. This time it’s for me. And I’m not a parachute.

“Please come in,” she says.

I get up and suddenly have second thoughts about coming. I tell myself it’s going to be okay. She’s a woman. She’ll understand more than Mr. Matthews.

I take a seat in Mrs. Mandalay’s office. She looks at me in the kind of distracted way of a busy headmistress who doesn’t really have time to congratulate me on yet another tournament well done. But that’s not what I’m here for. I try to hold my trembling hands steady in my lap as I tell her what really happened in Seattle.

Mrs. Mandalay takes off her reading glasses. She sits there soaking in the information. “So you want to quit debate,” she finally says.

“I— No, I don’t want to quit debate. I love debate,” I tell her. “I want to go to Snider . . . ,” I say, hesitating before adding, “preferably with a new coach.”

“That’s impossible. Even if we can find a new coach, the season’s almost over. And Mr. Connelly is the finest debate coach we’ve ever had, one of the best in the country.”

Did she not hear me? “But, Mrs. Mandalay, his hand was on my leg.”

My voice hitches as I say the words, thinking of how I went to sleep that night in the hotel room, my eyes glued to the silver light beneath my door, petrified Mr. Connelly was going to come to my room.

She jots a few notes down on her notepad. “I’ll have a word with him, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she says. “And I’ll see what I can do about Snider.”