BooksBarbecue
Back Parachutes
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 look on her face makes me wonder when Zach and I will get there too. I can’t wait.

Ming places the pillow back down on the bed. “Anyway, all I’m saying is maybe the posts you read, that’s just China Claire . . .”

“Maybe . . . ,” I say.

“Have you thought more about what you’re going to do with Mr. Connelly?” Ming asks.

I shake my head. “Just gotta try to maneuver it, I guess. Not let him get any wrong ideas. . . .”

“That’s the way to go,” Ming says. Her eyes widen. “Speaking of awkward situations, you won’t believe what I found out when I went to drop off my rent yesterday at the host agency. They’re placing teenage Chinese girls in the homes of single men.”

“What? I thought in order to be a host family, you had to be an actual family.” I walk the vacuum across the room. I start tidying up the desk.

Ming shakes her head. “I overheard the sales team talking, and apparently, there are so many Chinese kids who need rooms, they’re now just taking anyone,” she says. “All you have to have is a spare bedroom. And go through a background check. That’s it.”

I shake my head as I straighten the desk, peeking at the papers lying on top. We’re in the bedroom of Tiffany Davis, from geography class. And she’s labeled all her Middle Eastern countries wrong.

“Can you imagine the stuff that goes on?” Ming asks, squirting the room with Febreze. “I’m thinking of working there on the weekends.”

“At the host agency?” I ask.

She nods. “Who knows, maybe I can help them screen potential hosts,” she says. “Make sure we don’t get more Underwear Kevins in the system.”

“Good for you,” I say. I smile as we finish up the rest of the room, proud of her for using her experience to try to help other kids. “So when am I going to meet this Florence?”

“I’ll introduce you when we’re in school!”

Twenty-Seven

Claire

There are fifteen emails in my in-box from Teddy. They all say more or less the same thing.

Can we talk? I’m so sorry I overreacted. But the thought of never seeing your beautiful body again blah blah blah.

I delete all of them and set up a spam filter in my email for the jerk. I grab my swimsuit and head to the school pool. It’s a Saturday, and as I punch in the code, I see I’m the only one there. I dive into the water, searching for solace. The warm water greets me. With each stroke, I try to put Teddy behind me.

As I’m swimming, someone else comes in and jumps in the water. The guy in the blue swim cap from the other day splashes toward me.

“Hi!” he says.