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
A crowd gathers. Emma is freaking out. She steps on the grains in her platform sandals, nearly losing her balance. Her eyes zero in on Claire.
“Did you do this?” she demands.
Claire, who’s standing there with her friends, shakes her head. She looks every bit as bewildered as the rest of us. I know for a fact it wasn’t Claire. She doesn’t even know where we keep the rice in the kitchen, and she certainly hasn’t ordered any from Amazon.
Mrs. Mandalay arrives at the scene in time to break up the crowd. “All right, that’s enough!” she says. “Let’s get the janitor to clean this up.”
As Mrs. Mandalay ushers the crowd out of the hall and the janitor cleans up the mess, I glance over at Claire.
“You okay?” I ask her.
“Dani, we’re all waiting for you!” Mr. Connelly calls me from the end of the hall. “Hurry up!”
I leave Claire and run after Mr. Connelly and my teammates.
On the flight to Seattle, Mr. Connelly sits between me and Heather. Heather makes small talk with him while I look over my notes, reviewing last-minute case studies. Usually, on these off-site tournament trips, there’s a parent chaperone, but Mrs. Berstein, Gloria’s mom, had to cancel at the last minute because something came up with her other daughter.
The flight attendant walks down the aisle, and Mr. Connelly orders a Bloody Mary. He turns to me and tells me our team assignments. Thankfully, I’m not paired up with Heather this time. Instead, I’m paired up with Josh, and we’re told we’re going up against Marlborough, the elite all-girls private school in LA.
Mr. Connelly swirls the Bloody Mary in his hand. “The team they have this year is quite good,” Mr. Connelly says. He looks at Josh. “Don’t worry, I have full confidence we’ll still beat them!” He smiles. “If we place, we’ll go out and celebrate. Seattle’s fun!”
The tournament kicks off the next morning, and Josh and I hold our own against the Marlborough team. Mr. Connelly’s right: they are pretty good. But our diligent planning in prep pays off. And unlike Heather, Josh does not steal my points. By the end of the first day, we’ve broken into the semifinals! Mr. Connelly suggests we all go out and grab some Seattle seafood instead of just eating the bland conference food.
“Sounds great!” Josh says. “We’ll meet you in the lobby at six thirty!”
At six thirty, I’m waiting in the lobby for Josh and the rest of my teammates, but only Mr. Connelly walks out of the elevator. He’s wearing a blue shirt, unbuttoned at the collar, and jeans.
“Where’s everybody?” I ask.