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

“Sexual crimes are not just a hashtag on Twitter. They are real. They can happen to anyone, even the strongest, loudest of us,” I say. “We need to combat it. We need to make victims feel safe to come forward. We need to boycott the work of artists who commit sexual crimes, and remove those in positions of power who use their authority to abuse our trust. So that new, emerging artists have a chance to thrive.”

The audience claps wildly. Many people stand. Mr. Connelly ducks out of the room. When I’m finished, the chief adjudicator, Mr. Burroughs, comes onstage and takes the mic from me.

“Thank you so much for those electrifying speeches! Let’s give these incredible young men and women another round of applause!”

An organizer leads me backstage to where all the other debaters are waiting for the results. Some of them offer words of condolences for my suffering; others look at me like they’re not sure what to say to me. I keep my eyes to the ground, listening to the pumping in my chest. I try not to think about my teammates, Mr. Connelly, my teachers watching back home, my mom—oh God, my mom. What’s she going to think?

Suddenly, I hear the judges call out, “And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The winner of the fifth-annual Snider Cup for Excellence in Debating and Public Speaking is . . .”

I suck in a breath.

“Danielle De La Cruz of American Prep!” he announces.

I won. I fucking won!

Seventy-Nine

Claire

Tears stream down my face as I watch Dani’s speech on my Facebook feed. This whole time, I can’t believe we’ve been suffering silently on two sides of the same wall, drowning in separate puddles of the same shame.

The questions Mr. Francis asked me during the ad board proceeding, they were questions I’d asked myself a million times—what were you doing in his bedroom? Why didn’t you scream louder? Kick him in the balls, dig your nails into him, run out of there? Why didn’t you do all the things society tells you to do when you get raped, having never been raped themselves?