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Back Parachutes Save as PDF
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

Mr. Rufus walks out, hands Ming the sheet music, and gives her a big thumbs-up. Ming puts her violin and bow back in her case. Walking down the hall together, we see Florence with her friends. She’s deep in conversation with Jess.

“Hey!” Ming calls out to her.

“Hi,” Florence says politely, and keeps walking.

Ming shakes her head. “I don’t get it. She introduced me that one time, but she still never lets me hang out with her and her friends.” Ming stops walking and turns to me. “You think it’s because I’m poor?”

“No. That’s not it.”

“We’ve been dating for almost two months! I want to get to know who all her friends are.”

I gaze over at Florence with her squad and sigh. “Well, I know one of them,” I say, eyeing Claire. She’s been gone a lot. I don’t know where she disappeared to this weekend. I hope she’s okay. I turn back to Ming. “Maybe Florence just needs a little more time.”

Later that day, I walk into the auditorium for our usual debate training, only to find it empty.

Where are all my teammates? Snider’s in a month. I look down at my phone. There are no emails in my in-box from Mr. Connelly or any of my teammates.

Did they move practice to Mr. Connelly’s class, since there are only six of us going to Snider?

I grab my backpack from the floor and hustle over to Mr. Connelly’s classroom, but it’s empty too. And his door is locked.

Huh.

I go over to the main office, nearly colliding into Claire and her friends as I’m running.

“Watch it!” Jess yells at me. She throws her backpack down and looks like she wants to get into it with me.

“It was just an accident,” Florence says in my defense.

“Sorry,” I call out as I keep running. At the main office, I ask the assistant if she knows whether the debate practice got moved. I tap my fingers while she checks.

“Looks like debate’s been moved from Wednesdays to Thursdays in the auditorium,” the assistant says. She looks at me. “Did you not get an email about this?”

My face reddens. “Nope, I did not,” I say to her.

If that’s how they’re going to play it.

Forty-Nine

Claire

Every time I close my eyes, it comes to me. Jay’s arm around my waist. Legs twisted together. Waking up in his sheets, feeling so adult, it almost feels like we’re playing house. I stare out the window in class, thinking about our weekend in Newport.