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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

I toss and turn on the hotel bed. I close my eyes and picture my mom, but that only stresses me out even more when I think about returning home empty-handed, having wasted her hard-earned dollars. Finally, I find solace in the most disgusting of places . . . Mr. Connelly’s old words to me: “You’re better than all of them.”

As I drift to sleep, I wonder whether in replaying his once cherished words to me, am I forgiving him? Am I betraying myself?

Seventy-Five

Claire

On the day of the ad board proceedings, I’m in the bathroom, checking my email in one of the stalls, getting ready to head to the meeting, when I hear two parachute girls walk in.

“Can you believe she’s actually going through with it?” one of them asks the other in Chinese. “The ad board?”

I peek out through the crack. I recognize the girls from my year, but I don’t know their names.

“She’s not going to win,” the other one says as she reapplies her lipstick in the mirror.

“I hope not. If she wins, what if it gets out? It’ll make the school look so bad, and all our degrees will be worth way less.”

My jaw drops. That’s why they don’t want me to win? Because their degrees are going to be worth less?

“I don’t know why she doesn’t just switch schools,” one of the girls says, flipping her hair to one side. She turns on the faucet to wash her hands.

“Or stay and just, like, avoid him,” the other one suggests.

“Totally.”

I want to laugh at the absurdity of this conversation, me pressed up against the bathroom stall while these two girls discuss how easy it is for me to cruise on through the rest of high school and “blend in” like I’m a tree lizard. I grab my backpack and unlock the door. The two girls freeze. The water collects in the sink.

“Claire! We didn’t know you were in here!”

I walk over to the sink to wash my hands as nonchalantly as I can. As I walk out, I turn to the girls and say, “Excuse me, I have to go devalue your degrees.”

Adrenaline and fear press me forward as I head over to the faculty conference room. The fear that if I don’t do this, this will be my normal, having to listen to people talk about how I chickened out while hiding in a bathroom stall.

Jess and Zach are already inside, waiting for me when I walk in. I smile and take a seat next to them.

“Nancy and Florence texted,” Jess says. “They’re on their way.”