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

Jess throws both palms over her cheeks at her desk in feigned surprise. That girl. She’s too much. “Thanks, I speak it with our housekeeper at home . . . and my parents have taken me to San Francisco a few times.”

“San Francisco, really?” Mr. Harvey asks. “Did you go to Angel Island? A lot of Chinese people came through Angel Island. Of course, now they fly through LAX.” He laughs. He glances at the clock and tells me to go to my desk. “It’s good to have you here, sweetheart.”

Jess pats the empty seat next to hers and adds, “Yeah, sweetheart.”

I slide into the desk next to Jess and get my computer out from my bag. I look around the room. I spot a couple of girls shopping online. My eyes stop at a Chinese boy sitting near the front. He has deep brown eyes and jet-black hair falling over perfectly chiseled cheekbones. A smile plays at his lips like he’s enjoying his own private joke.

“Who’s that?” I ask Jess.

Jess glances at the boy.

“Oh, dream on,” she says. “That’s Jay. His dad owns like half of Beijing.”

Jay looks over at me, and I quickly shift my eyes.

“He’s single too,” Jess continues to dish. “I think. Can you imagine landing a guy like that? We’ve all been stalking him on WeChat for months.”

My own WeChat dings. It’s a text from Teddy.

Hey babe. How’s your first day of school? I love you.

Mr. Harvey walks by and passes out the assignment for today. I quickly put my phone away and turn the piece of paper over.

Please write two paragraphs on your favorite American food and why.

NOTE: If you can’t write the English, you may use Google Translate. image

I turn to Jess. He’s kidding, right? This is the assignment?

She shrugs. “You can write whatever; they don’t check. One time I literally wrote, ‘This sucks balls.’ And Mr. Harvey still wrote ‘great job’ at the top,” Jess says.

The other kids in class have barely flipped their papers over. That boy, Jay, is talking on his phone, while Mr. Harvey sits at his desk, with his feet up and his headphones on. His headphones! If this were in China, our teachers would be walking up and down the aisles, scrutinizing our every character stroke with their hawklike eyes.

Jess takes my paper and quickly scribbles, I love hot dogs. They are my favorite American food because they are long. I love long foods.

“Done!” she announces.

I look down in horror at what she wrote as she holds out her hand.

“Now give me your phone. Let’s set up your Insta!” she squeals.