Member-only story
HALF-BLOOD TRUTH
Earning Ninth Grade
Family Secrets, Sisterhood, and Brain Training
High School Hustle: Life Lessons and Truth Bombs
Ninth grade started better than any year before. I had worked over the summer, bought myself some new school clothes, and felt more in control of my life.
It wasn’t the same as being taken care of, but being able to handle things on my own was a big deal.
I stuck with my core group, the ones who kept me steady, and I fought to get my grades where they needed to be so I wouldn’t flunk out.
No fucking way I was getting left behind in junior high.
Mom seemed a little more lucid that year. Maybe the glaucoma diagnosis had her facing reality. She was in and out of doctors’ offices, trying to work small jobs at resale shops, but nothing ever stuck. She’d quit after earning just enough to pay rent to my uncle and buy some cheap Christmas gifts. The heavy-lifting type of parenting wasn’t happening anymore, but she’d still surprise us with some dime-store treasures now and then.
The contradictions were never-ending.
