Having to parent your mother or father is a challenge that way too many teens have to deal with. Teens whose parents are dealing with substance abuse, financial hardship, job loss, mental illness and divorce deserve our love, support, and compassion. I wish America would stop judging and criticizing teens and instead, try to understand the battles they have to fight every day.

She turns to us, acts surprised to see us, then does the bit with the back of the hand to the forehead. "You're lost!" "You're angry!" "You're in the wrong school!" "You're in the wrong country!" "You're on the wrong planet!

I want to tell him that it's just a stupid car, but bits of me are scattered all over town; the graveyard, school, Cassie's room, the motel, and standing in from of the sink in my mother's kitchen. It takes too much energy to gather all the bits together, so I just sit there and watch him implode.

Rumors are spread by jealous people

I wish adults would spend less energy freaking out about the cutting itself and work harder to understand what drives kids to self-harm.

be aggressive, BE-BE Aggressive! B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E

Didn't help to ponder things that were forever gone. It only made a body restless and fill up with bees, all wanting to sting something.