Freshman Life

Ten minutes after this photo was taken, I picked up the schedule for my freshman year of high school and learned I had tested into all AP courses; I was overjoyed. The dreams I had since I was a little girl were coming true. I rushed home to call my dad at work and tell him the great news - and the even greater news - that this meant I could get into Harvard. He said “you can’t go to Harvard. I’m not paying for you to go to Harvard.”

An hour after this photo was taken, I gave up. I decided nothing mattered. My mom had died a year before and now I was being told that the only thing I wanted except her coming back was impossible.

Four months after this photo was taken, I was a drug addict.