Chapters (40)
- Cover
- Also by Saumya Dave
- 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
- Acknowledgments
- Readers Guide
- Discussion Questions
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Beta, are you okay?” Bina grips Suhani’s bony shoulder. “Is something wrong with you and Zack?”
“What?” Suhani asks. “No! Of course not.”
“Are you sure?” Bina presses.
Even though Suhani looks okay, Bina has to make sure. Whereas Natasha puts her wounds on display, Suhani keeps them folded inside herself.
Bina first learned this when she went to Suhani’s fifth-grade parent-teacher conference. Suhani’s teacher, Mrs. Lane, told Bina that Suhani struggled to finish reading assignments and kept to herself during recess. Bina was shocked. Suhani always told her school was “so much fun.” When she told Mrs. Lane this, the old, frizzy-haired woman shrugged and whispered in the most condescending tone, “Not all kids are meant to succeed. Sometimes it’s hard for parents to accept that.” Bina later cried in the parking lot and hated herself for not scolding the woman when she had the chance.
“Seriously, don’t worry.” Suhani smiles. “I should be asking you if you’re okay. Were you crying?”
“Ha! I should be.” Bina opens the link from Mira and tosses her phone toward Suhani. “You should see what Mira just sent me . . . and what everyone else is no doubt already watching in their cars.”
Suhani frowns with confusion. But then she starts the video. First she says, “What the heck . . .” then, “Oh my God,” then, “She said what?”
Bina can’t tell if Suhani is shocked, amused, or both.
“Can you believe her?” Bina asks. “The nerve? She puts me in her performance or whatever it is and then doesn’t even tell me? And I have to find out about it from Mira!”
“I really don’t even know what to say, Mom. But I guess at least she’s putting herself out there, right? This entire time, we were worried she wasn’t doing anything.”
“Putting herself out there? Is that what this garbage is called?!” Bina snatches her phone out of Suhani’s hand. She clicks on the tiny link at the top of the page. It takes her to another site. “Oh my God. There are more!”
“More? Really?” Suhani scoots next to her on the couch.
The next video is of Natasha on a windowsill. Atlanta’s skyline is behind her.
“That’s my apartment!” Suhani scrolls to the middle of the video.