Front Desk (Front Desk #1) (Scholastic Gold)

by Kelly Yang

“Because it’s freer here,” she finally said, which didn’t make any sense. Nothing was free in America. Everything was so expensive.

butterflies in my stomach their usual pep talk—It’s going to be okay. I’ll make friends, and if I don’t, I’ll borrow books from the library.

“The fact that a penny can be worth four hundred thousand times more because of a mistake, what does that tell you?” I shook my head. “It means a mistake isn’t always a mistake,” he said. “Sometimes a mistake is actually an opportunity, but we just can’t see it right then and there. Do you know what I mean?”

“What roller coaster?” I asked. Lupe explained. According to her dad, there were two roller coasters in America—one for rich people and one for poor people. On the rich roller coaster, people have money, so their kids get to go to great schools. Then they grow up and make a lot of money, so their kids get to go to great schools. “And ’round and ’round they go,” Lupe said. “And poor people?” I asked. “We’re on a different roller coaster. On our roller coaster, our parents don’t have money, so we can’t go to good schools, and then we can’t get good jobs. So then our kids can’t go to good schools, they can’t get good jobs, and so on and so forth,” Lupe said.