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Back Parachutes Save as PDF
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

The comment comes out of nowhere and temporarily lifts me. Then the pride mixes with my disappointment of having just bombed at the tournament.

“What’s wrong?” Zach asks.

I shake my head, not really wanting to say.

“What, you can tell me,” he urges.

There’s a gush of wind and some of his papers drift on the sidewalk, but Zach makes no attempt to get them.

I sigh and tell him what Heather pulled at the tournament. I don’t know what it is with him, he has an uncanny ability to get things out of me. I’d like to blame it on his blue eyes, but I’m not even staring at them now. I’m looking down at my hands as they fiddle with the hole in my thrift-store cardigan.

“That’s bullshit,” Zach says. “I can’t believe she did that.”

It feels good to let it out, though my fists still tighten every time I think about Heather.

“Hey, next time you know what you do?” he asks, putting a casual hand on my arm. I glance down. It looks good there. “You feed her bad arguments.”

I shake my head, reaching to help him gather up his loose papers off the ground. That’s the thing. Heather was perfectly willing to let us lose as a team today, so long as she scored her individual speaker points, but I’m not. That’s a line I’m not comfortable crossing.

Zach takes the loose papers and puts them in his backpack. We both get up. I smooth out my skirt as we head over to the bus station. He apologizes for not being able to give me a ride home, as his mom was using his car.

“No problem,” I say.

I feel better. Zach thanks me for my help and hugs me goodbye before crossing the street to wait for his bus.

“Hey!” he calls out from the bus bench across the street. “You’ll beat that speech-stealing, coach-bribing fraud! I know you will! She ain’t got nothing on you!”

I grin at him, kicking my feet under the bench as I wait for the bus.

Seventeen

Claire

Friday night, I’m Skyping with my mom. It’s her Saturday morning. I’ve been in California a week. I miss the comforts of home, not having to make my own bed, not having to Uber everywhere. I miss Tressy. On the other hand, life by myself and not by committee is incredibly freeing. I can finally do whatever I want, and eat, say, drink whatever I want. There’s no one here to stop me.

My mom’s sipping tea and nibbling at a pineapple bun. She seems distracted when I tell her about my week. Judging by the silence in the house and the single plate setting, I’m guessing my dad did not come home again last night.