The International Kissing Club (13 page)

“I think my parents are just really shitty planners.”

We really wanted to send you, honey,
her mother had cooed at her last week.
But it’s just not going to work out. You understand, don’t you?

Cassidy frowned. “But they already paid for it. They were on board from the beginning. Not going doesn’t save anything.”

Izzy pulled her shirt back on. She’d gone over all of this with her parents. Again and again. She didn’t want to dissect it with her friends,
too, like one of those poor frogs in biology class. But she knew they wouldn’t let it alone.

“My parents just paid the deposit. So we’re only out two hundred dollars there.”

“The airline ticket,” Cassidy protested. “You’ve already paid for that, too, right? And that’s nonrefundable.”

“It’s exchangeable.” She sighed. “My mom and Shane are going to use the tickets to hit the qualifying rounds of some big competition in New York in the spring. They said there’s no money for anything extra. Not the rest of the fees, not the cost of books and supplies. Not any spending money.”

“What are you going to do, Iz?” Mei asked, her voice quiet.

“I’m going to stay here and get a job.” The resolve in her voice surprised her, because she hadn’t thought it through until just this second. One thing she knew: she wasn’t going to let this happen again. She was done relying on her parents. “And I’m going to study my ass off for the SAT. If there’s not enough money for them to send Linc to college without a scholarship, then you can bet there’s not enough money for me, either. Plus, I’m going to need money for gas—if I even get to keep Brittney.”

Cassidy sucked in a sharp breath. “Your car. They can’t make you sell your car! That’s your freedom.”

“Forget the car,” Piper jumped in. “Screw that! Sell the damn car and use the money to pay for the trip to Costa Rica!”

Izzy nearly smiled at Piper’s indignation. “Sorry. It’s a done deal. They’ve already canceled everything.”

“No way.” Piper poked a finger up in the air like she was leading troops into battle. “We’re the International Kissing Club. We’re not leaving a member behind while the rest go off to have a grand adventure.”

“Really, it’s fine. I’ll—”

“I’ll stay, too,” Mei interrupted softly.

All heads swiveled in her direction.

Mei nodded with stoic resolve. “Piper is right. You shouldn’t have to
stay here alone just because your brother’s a dick. I’ll stay behind to keep you company.”

Izzy’s throat constricted and the tears she’d been trying so hard to keep in check finally spilled out. “Thanks, Mei.” For a second, she even considered it, how nice it would be to have a friend with her for the next ten weeks.

It wouldn’t be Costa Rica. It wouldn’t be living in the rain forest, helping the researchers who were—literally—going to save the world someday. It would still be another ten weeks trapped in tiny, boring Paris, Texas, where gas-guzzling SUVs ruled. But at least she wouldn’t be alone. She’d have a friend with her. A friend who had given up on her own dream to keep her company.

Finally, Izzy shook her head. “I can’t ask you to do that. I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I let you stay behind. Going to China is just as important to you as going to Costa Rica was to me.”

She studied Mei, who hadn’t been back to China since her parents adopted her when she was two. Who rarely got any closer to Chinese culture than the Panda Express in Sherman.

Izzy managed to dredge up a chuckle. “Who am I kidding? Going to China is way more important to you.”

Piper sat down beside her and wrapped an arm across her shoulder, bumping her head against Izzy’s. “Are you sure? We could all stay.”

“Don’t be silly.” But she had to swallow back another wave of tears. “I’m just not used to being the one left behind.”

Then her gaze darted to Cassidy as it hit her. This must be how Cassidy had felt all their lives. All the times they’d gone off to summer camp or to Six Flags in Dallas for the weekend. They’d never meant to exclude Cassidy, but there’d simply been things she couldn’t afford to do or work she couldn’t get out of. Somehow, Cassidy always bore it with a grin. She’d wave them off with a cheerful good-bye. “Have fun storming the castle,” she’d say, quoting
The Princess Bride.

Now, feeling slightly sick to her stomach, she looked at Cassidy
and tried to smile. “Boy, this staying-behind thing really sucks. I’m sorry, Cass. I didn’t know.”

Cass just smiled, not her normal cheerful smile, but one that was a little sad. “I’m sorry, too.”

Three days later, all four of them loaded up Brittney, and together they made the three-hour drive to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The windows were down to hold the bungee cords strapping Piper’s extra suitcase to the roof. At first, Izzy had only planned on driving Cassidy, whose mother had to work and couldn’t bring her. Then, since all their flights left on the same day, Piper had decided it would make a fun road trip.

Mei’s parents had been the holdouts. Susan cried at the thought of not bringing Mei to the airport to see her off, but Mei’s feisty grandmother, Janece, had faked a fall to convince her to stay behind so Mei could make the trip with the rest of her friends.

They spent the drive singing along to their favorite songs and gossiping about the kids at school. Piper’s flight was around noon, but Mei and Cassidy would have to hang out at the airport most of the day before their flights later in the evening. Mostly, Izzy tried not to think about them, waiting in the airport, browsing the shops, and eating at the food court. No matter how bad airport food was, she knew they wouldn’t mind. It was the start of an adventure. One she wouldn’t be going on.

Still, Izzy managed to push down her sadness until the moment they all stood outside the security check point. With their boarding passes in hand and their suitcases already checked, the girls waited to get in line as long as they could. Finally, it was Izzy who said, “Come on, you’ve got to go. Piper, your flight boards in twenty minutes and you don’t know how long this line will take.” She gave Piper’s shoulder a friendly shove. “Just go already.”

“Okay, okay.” Piper held up her hands in a sign of surrender. “I’m going.”

Mei and Cassidy looked at each other. “Our flights don’t leave for hours,” Cassidy said. “We’ll hang out here with Iz for a while.”

Izzy forced a smile. “No, it’s okay. Really.” She pulled out her phone to check the time. “I’ve got to get back anyway. I’m stopping by DQ to pick up an application.”

Mei cringed. “I can’t believe you’re going to apply at Dairy Queen.”

Cassidy smiled too brightly. “Hey, free Blizzards. You can’t argue with that.”

Izzy tried again to smile. “It’ll keep me busy. Besides, I can start saving for next year’s exchange program.”

Finally, Piper laughed, pulled everyone into a big hug, and whispered, “You should still kiss as many boys as you can, Izzy. We’ll make a special exception for you and allow boys from other counties as well as other countries.”

A few minutes later, just before Piper, Mei, and Cassidy disappeared into the crowd of international travelers, Izzy gave one final wave and called out, “Have fun storming the castle.”

When the last of them vanished through the metal detectors, she headed out to her car and started the long, lonely drive back to Paris, Texas. North of Dallas, she pulled off the highway into a parking lot and burst into tears. She cried until she almost couldn’t breathe. Then, when she opened her eyes, she realized she was in the parking lot of a Panda Express. And she laughed.

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Chapter 8
Mei

Bleary-eyed and trembling from fatigue and nerves (she wasn’t a great flyer), Mei deplaned and trudged up the ramp at the Shenyang airport, rolling her spiffy new Samsonite carry-on with the extra-padded laptop compartment. At the opened double doors to the terminal, she paused. The airport was bustling even at this early hour, not unlike a major American airport. Except that here, everyone looked like her.

Never in her life had she seen so many Chinese people in one place. Of course, this was China, her practical voice reminded her. But knowing something and seeing it were two different things. Mei looked up and down the wide airport corridor and all she saw, except for the American businessmen who had been on her flight, were Chinese people. It was odd, but exciting.

She located a sign overhead with a little cartoon picture of a suitcase and guessed that it pointed the way to the baggage claim. She merged into the throng of luggage-toting people heading in the same direction, and, for the first time in her life, she blended into the crowd. Everything about the outward appearance of these people was familiar. Though their rapid-fire, singsong voices sounded completely foreign to her, and she could barely discern a word here or there, the intricacy of the sound spoke to her on a soul-deep level.

As she made her way up to the baggage return with her plane’s
flight number on it, she couldn’t help feeling a profound sense of relief. Though she hadn’t admitted it to anyone—had barely admitted it to herself—she’d been worried about coming to China.