Chapter Nine
When I played dumb on the elementary school playground, I didn’t fully understand what I was turning down. Mrs. Keller made it sound wonderful, a school with all the math problems I could ever dream about, a place with teachers who paid attention to me. I felt the dark undercurrent, the same way I did on that river. Every muscle in my body clenched tight, my breath coming fast.
As I got older there were other men. Other offers.
I learned to put a name on what I wanted. Freedom. The freedom to decide where I go and when. The freedom to say who can touch me. The freedom to say no.
Some days I wondered if it was pointless to fight the currents. This is what the dark streets did to a girl. This is how they pushed us along, eddies swirling around us, sharp rocks at the bottom.
