After my dad dumps me at the restaurant, I wait in the chilly night for an Uber, teeth chattering in my short Dior dress. Finally, I manage to get one. I call Jess in the back of the Uber.
“Jess! I need you,” I whimper into the phone. I’m so sorry I got into that stupid fight with her over Emma Lau. I feel a sob building as I tell her what happened. “Can you believe the bastard just left me in the restaurant?”
“Hang on, girl, I’ll meet you at your place,” Jess says.
She’s waiting for me in my room when I get home. I take off my Dior dress and change into pj’s. Jess helps me wipe the mascara stains and makeup off me. We watch Chinese movies on my computer, cussing our trash dads. She sleeps over, the two of us talking late into the night until we finally fall asleep.
Dani wakes us up the next morning. She raises a sharp eyebrow at Jess. “Is she slumming it here too from now on?” she asks.
I scrunch my eyebrows. What’s Dani talking about? Jess takes a slipper and throws it at Dani, who quickly closes the door before it hits her. Jess gets up, yawning. As the two of us change for school, she examines some of my new clothes, bought online. Not everything I’ve purchased has been amazing, but I haven’t quite figured out how to return things yet.
“That’s it, we’re going shopping after school,” Jess announces. She picks up my Amex card on the top of my bureau and smiles mischievously. “And guess whose money we’re going to spend?”
Oh, it’s on!
In English class, I try to block out the death stares from Emma and focus on what Mrs. Wallace is saying about Gatsby. Today we’re discussing Myrtle and how she’s always aspiring to be a part of the upper crest but she’ll never be fully accepted by Tom, who only uses her and takes pleasure in her powerlessness.
One of the white kids raises his hand and draws a parallel to colonialism. “Kind of like Britain and India. Or . . .” He tries to think up another pair. “The European powers and China in the 1800s.”
“China was Europe’s mistress?” the other kids ask.
The whole class looks at me, and I slide down in my seat.
“They were called concessions,” I say. “The French and the British forced China to open up after the Opium War.”
“Open up how?”
“I’ll force you to open up!” a boy cackles from the back.
Jess meets me after class. As we’re talking in Mandarin, Mrs. Wallace walks out of the classroom. She frowns at us.
“You should be speaking in English, Claire,” she scolds me.
I instantly stop talking, lips hot with humiliation. Jess gasps as Mrs. Wallace walks away. “Who the hell made her the language police?” Before I can stop her, she turns and yells at Mrs. Wallace in Mandarin, “Hey, woman, it’s a free country! Why you think we came here?”
Later, Jess drives us over to Plaza East Covina. I get a text from my mom.
Heard you gave your dad a hard time at dinner.
I text back, He walked out on ME at dinner.
She types back, He went all the way over there to see you, after he’d been on a flight for thirteen hours!
I put away my phone. Why is she always defending him? Jess pulls into the mall. We hit Nordstrom. Jess shops like my mother, picking me up jeans, tops, and shorts, with no regard for price. As we’re shopping, I see someone looking over at us from across the floor. It’s Jay. I poke Jess, who spins around.
“Hey!” she greets him in Mandarin.
“Hey,” he says back, but he’s not looking at her. He’s looking at me. “You never texted me back the other night.”
“I was tired.”
“I was worried about you . . . ,” Jay says. Jess jabs me lightly on the ribs and makes an aww face.
“So what are you doing here? Shopping in the girls’ section?” Jess teases him.
“I’m getting something for my mom,” he says. “It’s her birthday. Actually, maybe you guys can help me.”
Jess nods. “Sure!”
We follow him over to the fine-jewelry section, where he points to a pair of drop-diamond earrings. The sales girl opens up the case and retrieves them.
Jay turns to me and asks, “Will you put them on?”
“Me?” I ask.
I look over at Jess, who is fiddling with some of the other earrings. She’s too distracted by the jewelry to follow what’s going on. I look to the sales girl and nod. As she cleans the earrings and hands them to me, Jay leans in closer to me.
Carefully, I put them on. Jay examines them, studying my face. His face is so close to mine, I can feel his breath. I stare at the diamonds glistening in the reflection in the mirror. Gently he touches my ears.
“They look beautiful on you,” he says.
Jess clears her throat. “But are they too young for your mom?” she asks, craning her neck to see from the other side of the display counter.
Jay considers this. They are on the fun side of earrings. My mom would like them. Jay picks up another pair instead—classic solitaire diamonds. He tells the sales girl to wrap them up. Jess smiles, pleased he listened to her.
As we walk out, Jay thanks us for our help. We watch as he gets inside his blue Lamborghini and drives off.
Jess pretends to swoon onto the hood of her Porsche. “He is so hot,” she squeals.
“Can’t believe he’s getting his mom such expensive earrings,” I say. The diamonds he chose were close to $20,000.
“Mama’s boy,” Jess says.
“Total mama’s boy,” I agree. Although, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think about my dad and how he almost never goes and visits my grandmother.
“You want him, don’t you.” Jess grins. “Admit it.”
I blush.
She giggles as she gets into the car. “Girl, if you want him, you’re going to have to let him touch a lot more than your ears!”