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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

By the time I’m done swimming, the other kids start arriving at school. I head to the parking lot, hoping to find Jess. Instead, I spy that girl Emma Lau, the one who gave Jess lip in the cafeteria.

Her mom calls to her in Mandarin as Emma gets out of the car, “Don’t forget you have SAT tutoring after school!”

Emma turns and flips out at her mom. “I told you a million times, don’t speak Chinese to me at school!” she yells.

I jerk back. Whoa.

“No pride,” a voice says from behind me. I turn, and Jay is standing next to me, watching Emma, shaking his head.

“Hey,” I say to him in Chinese. “It’s you.”

He smiles. “It’s you too,” he answers. He locks his Lamborghini, parked in the first row and swings his backpack over his shoulder. The sun glistens in his eyes.

“Thanks for the waters,” I say.

“What?” he asks, furrowing his eyebrows. He looks at me like he has no idea what I’m talking about, and I blush. I’m so embarrassed to have made a big deal out of it in my head when he doesn’t even remember. He probably buys waters for every girl.

I shake my head. “Never mind,” I say. A few parachutes walk by. The girls take in me and Jay. I wish Jess and the girls were here to see this, but they haven’t arrived yet.

My phone rings. It’s probably Teddy. I silence it with my finger.

One of Jay’s friends calls out to him, and he turns to leave.

“See you around,” he says to me.

I feel the slip of disappointment as Jay walks away, even as my vibrating phone reminds me I already have a boyfriend.

Twenty-Four

Dani

“Who was that in the back yesterday?” Mr. Connelly asks at our private coaching session the next day. He puts his feet up on his desk as I prepare the cue cards for my speech.

“That was just Zach,” I tell him. I clear my voice to start making my speech, but Mr. Connelly isn’t finished.

“Zach Cunningham?” Mr. Connelly asks. He seems amused by this as he shakes his head. “Didn’t figure him to be your type.”

I look down at the cue cards.

“He’s kind of a lightweight, don’t you think?”

I don’t like where he’s going with this, so I clear my voice and start my speech.

“Ladies and gentlemen . . . ,” I begin.

Mr. Connelly cuts in again. “So how long have you guys been dating?” he asks.

I put down my cue cards. “We’re not dating.” Not yet anyway.

“C’mon, I saw his hand on your shoulder. That looked like dating,” he says. Why’s he so interested in this?