My Summer of Love and Misfortune

by Lindsay Wong

  I finish off his cheesecake and when it doesn’t look like he’s ever going to drink his coffee, I add four packets of sugar and begin to sip it thoughtfully.

  “Iris Weijun Wang, you’re the most unique, most fascinating person that I have ever met,” Frank/Paul says, looking intensely at me. “There is a reason why your uncle chose me to be your tutor. There is a reason why you’re in Beijing. We were supposed to meet. Have you thought about what we could accomplish together?”

  The question completely throws me off. Not to mention, I’m a huge sucker for flattery.

  Is Frank/Paul asking me to be his long-term girlfriend/business partner?!!!

  For a moment, I can’t help but stare at his too-perfect profile. His chiseled statue jawline. Full lips forming a too-bright, too-dazzling, I-want-you-right-now-Iris-Wang smile. His furrowed forehead makes him look genuinely wise and remorseful. He catches me looking, and then for a second, his entire being lights up like he’s starring in his own off-Broadway musical.

  Despite my own misgivings, my stomach flips over like a stack of warm, gooey chocolate chip pancakes. As ridiculous and impossible as it sounds, I suddenly feel like I’m the only girl that he could ever want on this side of the Pacific Ocean.

  Frank/Paul is even wearing Frank Liao’s infamous blue grandpa-cardigan. But Paul isn’t Frank. And Frank isn’t Paul. There was never even a boy called Frank Liao who said that he liked me in a hotel room at Chengdu Hot Springs and said that I was “special.”

  Blinking, I break his vampire X-ray eye contact. His nerdy lying poet bad-boy spell.

  I force myself to breathe. I inhale deeply. Exhale. And ignore my fast, thumping flower-heart.

  Then I realize that I’m mouth-breathing way too loudly to be normal.

  Attempting to focus extra hard, I finish off Frank/Paul’s coffee. I don’t think about what happened at the hotel. I don’t think about his lips, tongue, teeth, fingers, and bare skin pressing on mine. The harsh mechanical grinding of coffee beans serves as a reminder of my present, not-so-unpleasant reality.

  Even though I’m terrified of what the future will bring, I’m also secretly excited. But in order to be okay, I first need to understand myself. I keep hearing Ruby’s words Diǎo sī in my head to describe Frank/Paul, which apparently means “loser” in Mandarin. She’s a loyal cousin and thinks that anyone who hurt me is worth her hippopotamus wrath.

  “Diǎo sī,” I accidentally say without thinking, trying the phrase on my tongue.

  Frank/Paul looks shocked. “Excuse me?”

  “I have nothing to say to you, and I don’t believe you have anything to say to me.”

  “Iris—” he begins.

  “Please don’t contact me anymore,” I say firmly.

  I’m honestly surprised by my own answer.

  Then I stand up, pay the bill, and don’t even look back.

  After I leave the coffee shop, I find myself picking up a Forbes Asia at a newsstand and browsing the headlines. As I walk to Wangfujing Snack Street to buy an assortment of deep-fried bugs and crunchy doughnuts, I circle the Top 10 marketing companies in Asia. When I start my internship at Feng Construction Corp, I’m going to help by promoting events for Uncle Dai’s investors. I wonder if I could become a successful entrepreneur by the time I’m twenty-one. I could literally become a millionairess, since money seems to run in our family’s DNA. I could even be on the cover of Forbes Asia and even the American Forbes one day. The possibilities are beautiful and infinite.

  Excitedly, I begin to clap for myself. And a pigeon takes a huge shit on my head. I start to laugh and can’t stop.

  WECHAT GROUP (#1WangFamily!!!)

  IrisDaddy: How are you? We heard from your uncle that English teaching is going well?

  Iris: It’s fun but hard. I’m reading the kids Archie comics and even learning grammar myself. I have to know prepositions and pronouns in order to teach it hahahahaha. My vocabulary has improved too.

  IrisDaddy: Hahaha that’s good.

  Iris: Sometimes I read my GED book to more advanced students and we learn together.

  IrisDaddy: Hahaha.

  IrisDaddy: How is Ruby?

  Iris: She’s good. She likes teaching but is more interested in rescuing Beijing’s stray dogs.

  Iris: Also she tied for first place with her Miss Piggy mastiff!!!! Someone from Germany had a cool Elmo terrier.

  IrisDaddy: Good for her.

  Iris: We start our internship at Feng Corp next week!

  IrisDaddy: Wow. Make sure you listen to Uncle Dai!

  * * *

  WECHAT GROUP (#1WangFamily!!!)

  Mom: We are so proud of you.

  IrisDaddy: You are doing amazing work. Uncle Dai sent us the article from South China Morning News!

  Mom: You are even on the Beijing News and China Daily!

  IrisDaddy: I can’t believe you have been teaching English for three whole months!

  Iris: ME TOO.

  IrisDaddy: This is the longest you have ever done anything!

  Iris: I KNOW!!!!

  Mom: Did you get the box of Twix and Oreos we sent you? There’s another box of Snickers for Ruby and Mars Bars for Uncle and Auntie on its way.

  Iris: YUM! Thank you!!!

  WECHAT GROUP (#1WangFamily!!!)

  IrisDaddy: Am I talking to Iris?

  Iris: It’s me, Dad.

  IrisDaddy: Haven’t heard from Iris in a long time. Uncle Dai keeps you so busy at his company. How do I know it’s you?

  Iris: Umm … ask me a question?

  IrisDaddy: Okay, what is the square root of 25?

  Iris: I don’t know!

  IrisDaddy: Okay, it’s my daughter. How did you pass your GED?

  Iris: Hey, I studied hard. Ruby helped me.

  Mom: We miss you. Are you sure you don’t want to come home?

  Iris: Yes. I love Beijing!

  Mom: Dad and I are booking flights to see you at Christmas. We are so PROUD of you!

  IrisDaddy: We love you so much! Can’t wait, one more month before we see you. Send us a selfie when you finish work.

  WECHAT GROUP (#1WangFamily!!!)

  IrisDaddy: We just got to JFK. So many delays because of the snow. We have to pay extra for overweight luggage. Too many Xmas presents.

  IrisDaddy: Ruby really likes those Snickers bars …

  Iris: Hahahaha I know! She is obsessed with American candy bars.

  Mom: How’s it going?

  Iris: Fine.

  IrisDaddy: Okay, good. I heard you are dating another boy?

  Iris: No boy.

  IrisDaddy: Hahaha, right.

  IrisDaddy: Iris always has a boy.

  Iris: Guess what?!! I got into NYU SHANGHAI!!!

  Mom: Are you serious?!!

  IrisDaddy: Great joke.

  IrisDaddy: Hahaha.

  Iris: No seriously, I GOT IN!!!!!!!

  IrisDaddy: Right.

  Iris: You don’t believe me?

  IrisDaddy: LOL

  Mom: Hahaha.

  Iris: I GOT INTO COLLEGE!!!

  Acknowledgments

  Writing typically turns me into a three-headed monster. I cry, complain, and curse nonstop, and I usually dislike the entire process. However, to my shock and delight, I enjoyed working on this book immensely.

  As always, I’m very grateful to have my incredible agent, Carly Watters, who is like a life coach, crisis negotiator, and financial advisor all in one. The supremely magical Jennifer Ung: a brilliant, patient, and generous editor, who took a chance on me and believed that I could bring Iris Wang to life. She made the process of book-creating nearly painless. The rest of the team at Simon Pulse: Mara Anastas, Chriscynethia Floyd, Lauren Hoffman, Liesa Abrams, Christina Pecorale, Nicole Russo, Caitlin Sweeny, Alissa Nigro, Savannah Breckenridge, Michelle Leo, Chelsea Morgan, Sara Berko, Laura Eckes for her gorgeous book design, and Jen Strada for her incredibly savvy copyedits.

  The S&S Canada team, including the fabulous Felicia Quon, Arden H
agedorn, Mackenzie Croft, Rita Silva, and Rebecca Snoddon.

  Much gratitude to the wonderful Marni Berger, for those dreamy long walks at Riverside Park and chatting about writing and dogs and letting me send her my manuscripts (she reads at least everything 10x and her feedback is always invaluable).

  The following individuals, corporations, and animals also read drafts, fed, supported, or loved me while I displayed poor judgment during the making of this book:

  The Freezer and Refrigerator of Mom and Dad

  Alexis Marie

  V.S. Chiu and Mr. Mistofolees

  Eli the Grey Schnauzer Hughes

  Cafe Bustelo

  Starbucks

  McDonald’s

  Thank you, thank you, thank you all. <3

  About the Author

  Author photograph by Shimon

  Lindsay Wong is the author of the bestselling, award-winning memoir The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family. She holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University in New York City, and she is now based in Vancouver, Canada. My Summer of Love and Misfortune is her first novel.

  LINDSAYWONGWRITER.COM

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/teen

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Lindsay-Wong

  SIMON PULSE

  Simon & Schuster, New York

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  SIMON PULSE

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

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  First Simon Pulse hardcover edition May 2020

  Text copyright © 2020 by Lindsay Wong

  Jacket photograph of girl copyright © 2020 by Nabi Tang/Stocksy

  Jacket photograph of toy tiger by Gabrieluskal/iStock

  Jacket photograph of skyline by bingdian/iStock

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Jacket designed by Laura Eckes

  Interior designed by Tom Daly

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Wong, Lindsay, author.

  Title: My summer of love and misfortune / by Lindsay Wong.

  Description: First Simon Pulse edition. | New York : Simon Pulse, 2020. |

  Audience: Ages 12 and Up. | Audience: Grades 10-12. | Summary: After a series of disastrous choices and rejections, seventeen-year-old Chinese American Iris Wang is thrust into the decadent world of Beijing high society as her cousin’s English tutor.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019035425 (print) | LCCN 2019035426 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534443341 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534443365 (eBook)

  Subjects: CYAC: Conduct of life—Fiction. | Family life—China—Fiction. | Chinese Americans—Fiction. | Love—Fiction. | China—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.W6359 My 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.W6359 (eBook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019035425

  LC eBook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019035426