and my little brother, Jake, kept going on about soccer.
 
 It didn’t take long to figure out I was in serious trouble.
 
 Not the Kind of Trouble
 
 You might think I’m
 
 talking about. I was pretty
 
 sure I could get away with
 
 B.S.ing Mom and Scott.
 
 I’d always been such a good
 
 girl, they wouldn’t make the
 
 jump to “bad” too quickly.
 
 Especially not if I stayed cool.
 
 I wasn’t worried about
 
 getting busted at school
 
 or on the street. I’d only just
 
 begun my walk with the monster.
 
 I still had meat on my bones,
 
 the teeth still looked good.
 
 I didn’t stutter yet. My mouth
 
 could still keep up with my brain.
 
 No, the main thing I worried
 
 about was how I could score
 
 there, at home. I’d never even
 
 experimented with pot, let alone
 
 meth. Where could I go?
 
 Who could I trust with my
 
 money, my secrets? I couldn’t
 
 ask Leigh. She was the prettiest
 
 lesbian you’ve ever seen. But
 
 to my knowledge she had
 
 never used anything stronger