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

“Claire, look, I’m sorry. I lost control. You hurt me, and I just . . . I lost it.” His voice rises and falls. “Haven’t you ever lost control before?”

I shake my head. No, I’ve never raped anyone before.

Jay puts a hand to his head and grabs a fistful of hair. There’s remorse in his eyes, I can see it. But that doesn’t make it any more bearable. “I haven’t been able to sleep. I haven’t been able to eat . . .”

“I don’t give a shit about your appetite.”

“I know, I’m just saying, I’m hurting here. I’m already hurting. You don’t have to go and ruin my life,” he says.

I shake my head at him. It’s so unfair he puts this on me—he did this. He ruined his own life. One of the mover guys squeezes by us, and Jay moves closer to me. “Please, I’m in so much shit with my parents.”

“As you should be!”

He plunges his eyes, and he’s silent for so long that I turn around and start walking back. “If you care about me at all, if you have even an ounce of feeling toward me, you’ll call this thing off,” he mutters.

I turn around. “I did care for you, Jay—”

“Yeah, funny how you showed it.”

We’re done here. “I’ll see you on Thursday,” I say, slamming the door behind me.

After Jay leaves, I sit on my new couch for the next hour, trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to survive being in the same room as him for hours when I feel gutted after a five-minute conversation.

Seventy-Two

Dani

I search for Claire. According to Messenger on my phone, she hasn’t been online in five days. I switch over to email.

To: Claire Wang

From: Danielle De La Cruz

Hi Claire,

I saw you looking into the ad board room. Are you in some sort of trouble? I saw Jay looking in there as well. I don’t know what happened but you should know Jay’s family is heavily invested in the school. They’ve been selling houses to Chinese families, packaging them as some sort of American dream home + American dream school deal. They’ve poured millions into American Prep through various subsidiary companies. They practically own the school!

Call me when you get this message!

—Dani

I type PS, debating whether to include a postscript. In the end, I decide against it and send the message as it is, hoping the urgency of my words can convey to Claire what I’m too proud to say outright: I’m sorry.

I head down the hallway after I send the email. Maybe I can catch Claire before she goes home. Instead, I bump into Zach.

“Zach!” I call. He looks up from the water fountain. “Do you know where I can find Claire?”