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
Something catches Dani’s eye. She peers into my room and points to my bed. “Is that a new bed?”
“Yeah.” I smile. “Do you like it?”
She puts a hand over her stomach like she’s having cramps. “What’d you do with the old bed?” she asks.
“We threw it away,” I tell her. The delivery guys helped us chuck it. But now, judging by Dani’s expression, maybe that was a mistake?
Dani calls out something to her mom in Tagalog, and Mrs. De La Cruz walks over. My mom follows her from the living room. I turn to my desk and see that Teddy has logged off.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were going to throw away the old bed?” Dani asks me and my mom.
My mom raises a sharp eyebrow at Dani’s tone while Mrs. De La Cruz puts a hand on Dani’s back, trying to calm her.
“Dani, it’s okay!” she says.
“No, it’s not okay, Mom!” Dani responds. “My dad got us that bed!”
There’s a hitch in her voice as she says the words, and I suddenly realize how important it is to her. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I say. I run inside my room and grab my phone. “Maybe we can call them. Maybe they haven’t thrown it out yet!”
As I google the number for Sealy, my mom reaches for her purse. She starts pulling out cash, and I’m so embarrassed, I pull her into my room and hiss, “Put it away,” in Mandarin. Can’t she see? This is not something her money can solve. The mattress is priceless.
I dial the number for Sealy and explain the situation. We all crowd around my phone while the Sealy customer service rep puts me on hold. The whole time I’m saying, “I’m so sorry . . . I didn’t know” to Dani, who doesn’t say anything back, just stands there, trying to keep it together, staring at my new mattress like it doesn’t belong there. Like I don’t belong there.
Finally, the rep comes back on, only to say, unfortunately, the delivery guys have already discarded the mattress at the dump.
“Do you want me to go look for it?” I offer. “We can go to the dump.” I look over at my mom, who wrinkles her nose, a hard no.
Dani’s mom says that won’t be necessary, and my mom breathes out an audible sigh of relief.
“I will of course pay for the mattress,” my mom says, getting her wallet out. “How’s one thousand dollars?” She pulls out a thick wad of cash.
Mrs. De La Cruz and Dani are silent. I don’t know if they’re offended by my mom’s offering or that she’s offering too little. Awkwardly, my mom fumbles with her wallet and pulls out another stack of hundreds, increasing the amount to $2,000.