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
No, it’s not okay. It’s her one day off. She should put up her feet! But my mom nods, urging me to let it go. I throw the cord in my hand down dramatically, glaring at Claire as I walk back to my room to get ready.
The tournament, in nearby Orange, is comprised of more beginner debaters from the local high schools. Still, Mr. Connelly reminds us to take it seriously, as it’s all good practice for Snider. Just like at Snider, he’ll be splitting us into groups of two today.
“Heather, looks like you’re going to be paired up with . . . Dani!” he announces.
I groan under my breath. Great.
“Remember, just because you’re on teams, I’m still going to be looking at your performance individually. So try to rake in best-speaker points!” He looks at me. “You hear me, Thunder Girl?”
Heather rolls her eyes as I nod. We scribble down our assigned motion—“This house would legalize prostitution”—and the organizer leads us to our assigned prep room. We have fifteen minutes to prepare.
“I’ll be first speaker. What are our three points?” Heather says as soon as we walk into the room. I look at her puzzled—Wait, you can’t just call it.
“We should flip a coin to see who gets to be first,” I suggest.
Heather points to her Apple iWatch with her finger. “Hello! We only have fifteen minutes! You really want to fight about this for ten minutes? When we could be prepping? Ticktock!”
I hate that she’s using our limited time against me. But she does have a point. I slide into a chair. “Fine,” I say.
We prep for the fifteen minutes. When the time’s up, we have all three points mapped out. As first speaker, Heather is supposed to say the first two points, and I’m supposed the say the last point, which happens to be a highly sophisticated argument. I even came up with a model that proves why legalizing prostitution would have negative ramifications on society.
I walk back into the tournament room, pumped for my speech, when Heather walks up onstage, opens her mouth . . . and steals my point.
Fifteen
Claire
My leg taps outside Mrs. Mandalay’s office as I wait to talk to her about testing out of Mr. Harvey’s class. Yesterday, we didn’t do anything but play two truths and a lie in class, which was actually hilarious because that cute guy Jay said some really shocking things. His two truths and a lie were:
I once crashed a sports car that wasn’t mine.
I can fly a helicopter.
I’ve never been naked in -10 degrees Celsius.
Guess which one his lie was. It doesn’t involve transportation.
As soon as he said the word “naked,” all the girls in the room blushed. Jess fanned herself, turning to me and mouthing, “I’m dead.”