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
Dani doesn’t start the engine right away. Instead, she sits in the hot car, texting.
“What are you doing?”
“Texting my mom and searching pro bono lawyers,” Dani says, fingers tapping on her phone.
Gently, I reach over and put a hand over her phone. “Hey, breathe. You’re not in this alone anymore,” I remind her.
It takes Dani a second to process this, and when she does, she puts down her phone. Her face relaxes.
“How do you feel?” I ask.
She thinks about the question for a long time. “Like I’m starting a tournament and I’m finally on a team I like,” she answers. “With someone with as much skin in the game as me.”
Wow. It’s an honor hearing her put it like that. And a little terrifying.
“And how do you feel?”
“Relieved,” I say, then gaze down at my hands and start thinking about my mom’s face when I get home—I hope she will have a proud smile, but I’m still not sure. “And like I might be sick,” I confess.
Dani starts looking around the car for a bag.
“I’m kidding, I won’t!”
Dani finds a brown paper bag and holds it up. “It’s okay. If you do, I’ve got you.”
I smile and reach my arms out to give her a hug. “I’m so glad I finally started talking to you.”
“Me too.”
As she starts the car, I put my feet up on the dash. Two girls from opposite sides of the earth, emerging from the ashes, stronger.
Author’s Note
In 2016, four “parachute” Chinese kids in Los Angeles were sentenced to prison for the violent bullying of a fellow Chinese parachute student. The judge said the case reminded him of Lord of the Flies. Ever since then, I’ve been researching parachutes, interviewing current and former parachutes, their parents, host families, and teachers, as well as visiting schools, including the school where the four kids attended. What I discovered from talking to these students was how unique their experience was growing up, grappling with issues of homesickness, privilege, identity, peer pressure, all while trying to navigate a new country on their own.
Currently, China sends the greatest number of international students to US high schools. Around two in five international students enrolled in American high schools come from China. The number of international high school students from China rose by 48 percent between 2013 and 2016.1 The American schools I visited view this new, full-pay pipeline as a godsend, but it comes at a steep price. Many of the Chinese students I talked to struggled with loneliness, alienation, or worse. Recent headlines of foreign exchange students getting sexually assaulted, raped, gone missing, or murdered are just some of the reminders of the perils parachutes face.