Chapters (93)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Books by Kelly Yang
- Back Ad
- About the Publisher
I turn to my mom and plead with her. I promise her the moon and the stars—I’ll write whatever the tutor wants me to write; I’ll get better grades; I’ll never talk back, ever. “Please, Mom, I don’t want to go to America,” I beg. “Where am I even going to live?”
“Oh, don’t worry, the agent will take care of it,” my dad says. “You’re going to American Preparatory. It’s in LA. And you’re going to live with a wonderful host family.”
My dad dishes out the death sentence like it’s dessert.
Four
Dani
I try to push the image of the guy having sex in the big Mediterranean house out of my head as I ride the bus home from the agency. We didn’t have time to wait for Eduardo. Ming and I got out of there as fast as we could, Ming nearly tripping with her chunky boots on the dragon statue by the door. I’ve seen some weird stuff cleaning houses, but this is a first. And the way he said, Wanna join in? Like it was a video game. I hope when I finally have sex, it’s with a guy who respects me.
“Mom?” I call as I walk inside my house. “I thought you were picking me up today from the agency?”
I waited for her for a half hour, trying her on her cell.
“Dani!” my mother answers from the spare bedroom. “Come in here and help me!”
I dump my backpack on the floor and walk over to see her kneeling, reaching under the bed. Three large trash bags sit next to her, and she’s pulling out more junk from underneath the bed: newspapers, old Christmas ornaments, little bottles of shampoo she’s been hoarding.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Clearing out this room,” she says, sitting cross-legged on the floor in her whitish stretch pants. For all her separating other people’s laundry all day long, my mom never bothers to separate her own whites. Says it wastes too much water. As a result, her whites are gray.
“Why?” I ask.
We never use the spare bedroom. Ever since my dad left, it’s been just the two of us. My mom’s relatives are all back in the Philippines. I’ve met my grandparents only once, as they’re too old and weak to make the trip from Manila to the US. Still, my mom prides herself on the fact that we have a spare bedroom. “See? We’re not strapped. We have extra,” she’d say.
“I’m renting out the room!” she announces to me.
“What?” The news cramps my throat. “To who?” I ask.
“A nice girl from China, you’ll like her,” she says. “She’s gonna go to your school. Her parents are paying us two thousand dollars a month just for her to live with us!”