I returned to high school in January. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get to pick up where everyone else was; I had to catch up in all the other classes. Luckily, I caught on to everything quickly, so I could get to where I needed to be in all my other classes without too much effort. My tutor from the hospital, Mr. O’Krancy, issued a mark for the work we did together in the first semester. He was very generous with my marks, which took away some of the pressure for the rest of the year. I also returned to teaching piano after school, which was great because I was earning money again.
I took driver’s education classes in the spring at the high school and got 100% on my driver's test. I was happy with that and asked my dad when I could get a car. He had bought a car for everyone else, so I figured it was only fair for me to get one, too.
Life at home didn’t get much better after the surgery. My dad found out that Dr. Cawsey had put me on birth control while I was in the hospital and was furious. In my dad’s opinion, birth control was only necessary if you were married and trying not to get pregnant. To use it otherwise was a license to sleep around, and only sluts did that. I tried to explain that it was to help with the crazy bleeding every month, but Dad was having none of that. I told him to call Dr. Cawsey, and he would explain, but Dad said Dr. Cawsey had already tried. As usual, his mind was made up, and there was no changing it.
I was always pretty good in school and got good grades, but by the time I got to high school, I just didn’t care as much as I did before. If I came home with a 95 on a test, the response was always, “Why didn’t you get 100?” Eventually, I just quit trying. It didn’t matter anyway.
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