Finally Heard

Chapter 1 Chapter 1
Mom!" Millie, my sister, protests, banging on the door. "Lina's locked the door again!"

I search through my closet, frantically. How can T-shirts that fit me perfectly a week ago, now suddenly not fit?

"I didn't lock anything," I insist, glancing at the doorknob. Definitely locked. "It's probably just stuck again...." I tell my sister to jiggle it harder, to buy myself some time.

I sneak a look back at the mirror. I've gone through growth spurts before, but this one feels different.

I seem to be growing in all kinds of places, places I'm not ready for!

"Lina, c'mon! Your sister has to change too," Mom says in Chinese, walking over and knocking on the door. "Can you guys change together?"

Definitely not. I grab a blanket and cover myself with it. For a second, I seriously consider cutting a hole in the blanket and wearing that to school. At least then I wouldn't feel like microwave popcorn, exploding out of the kernel.

"Seriously, Lina, spring break is over. We're going to be late for school!" Mom says in her I mean business tone.

I know I have exactly five seconds before they both come flying in here. I stare at the mirror one more time, closing my eyes, hoping, praying for everything to just go back to the old days.

Days when I could walk into school with a thin white shirt, and not even think twice if anyone stared. When I didn't tower over the boys. When I could play hangman, without freaking out. Last night, when Millie and I were playing, and Millie wrote _ O O _ S, I got so upset, I almost threw a slipper at her. When actually her word was books.

I felt like a real dope when she added the K. Like now, after I opened my eyes. Still the same. Nothing's changed.

I make a final attempt to appeal to Mom.

"Do I have to go to school?" I ask through the door.

"Of course you have to go to school today," Mom responds. "Is it the photo? Are you still worried about that?"

I glance at the picture

Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk (winner of the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children's Literature), Three Keys, Room to Dream, Key Player, Top Story, Parachutes, Private Label, Yes We Will, New from Here, Finally Seen, and Finally Heard. Front Desk also won the Parents' Choice Gold Medal, was the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and has earned numerous other honors including being named a best book of the year by The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and NPR. Learn more at KellyYang.com.