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
“Fine,” Jess sighs. “I’ll delete them. But you owe me.”
I carry my pile of dirty clothes to the laundry room, dumping it onto the floor as I google “How to do laundry” on my phone. I snap a selfie of me sitting on the cold floor and post it on WeChat for my friends back home so they can see—this is my life now. I miss the simplicity of China, not having to deal with Instagram or followers (our WeChat accounts are not public). Thankfully, Jess took all the pics from last night off, but the stress and anxiety of this morning still lingers. What does she mean, I think I’m so “above it all”?
According to Google, the first step is to put your clothes in the machine. I dump my clothes into the washer in small batches, as Dani said, and put in the detergent. When I’m done, I stare at the control panel. Which button do I press?
Dani walks by as I’m trying to decide.
“Hey do you know which button I’m supposed to push?” I ask. She sighs at me, like, OMG, really? I ignore the judgment as she glances down at my clothes in the machine.
“You can’t just wash reds with whites,” she says. “You have to separate them. Haven’t you ever done laundry before?”
“No, I have not,” I inform her.
Dani mouths Wow. She starts pulling out my clothes and throwing them all on the floor.
“Hey!” I protest. “Those are expensive!”
“I don’t care how expensive they are. You still need to separate them,” she says. “Once it’s all separated, call me.”
I have no intention of calling her back. Instead, I sit down on the floor and YouTube “How to do laundry.”
Twenty-five minutes later, I’m still in the laundry room, studying my SAT book, while I wait for the load to finish, when Dani walks by. She glances at my piles of clothes on the floor and the roaring laundry machine, which I’ve successfully loaded by myself. She inspects the setting on the machine—cold wash, cotton, medium batch.
“Good,” she remarks.
As she’s about to leave, I close my book and offer a truce of sorts. “Hey, sorry for my friends yesterday. They can be . . .” I try to find the right word. “A bit much.”
Dani sits with the apology, then nods and points to my SAT book.
“You taking it soon?” she asks.
I tell her I’m studying for the placement exam to get out of my English class, but since I don’t know exactly what to study, I’m just reviewing the SAT book.
“Who do you have again?” she asks.
“Mr. Harvey.”
“Oh yeah, that guy’s useless. You should definitely try to get out,” she says. “But you shouldn’t use SAT stuff to prep.”