• Figuring Out Relationships By Myself

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. When I started 8th grade, my friend Ashley posted a status on Facebook saying I was looking for a boyfriend. Soon after, I received a friend request from a boy named David. I accepted it and we started messaging.

• Taking My Life Back From My Abusers

  by E.O.

  Names have been changed. When I was 9, I moved to New York to be with my parents and sisters. Like many immigrants from Central America, I took a two-month journey north across Mexico and crossed the border illegally into the United States.

• Smaller Classes and Hands-on Learning Helped Me Find My Way

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. I’ve tried my best to not let anything interfere with school, but my life keeps twisting me away from it. I was born in Brooklyn, and then my mom moved us to Georgia. She had fallen in love with a guy who lived there and gotten pregnant.

• Claiming the Life I Deserve

  by Marreka M. Beckett

  For years, so many people abused me that I started to feel like I deserved it. But part of me stayed clear that I was made for a better life, and I kept telling the truth. Finally I found people who took me seriously and helped me escape and heal.

• Saving Myself—and My Sister

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. When my sister Kimberly was born, I promised her that I would never let anyone hurt her. Four years later, when I was 11, I was changing Kimberly’s diaper when my mother said, “Jasmine, come over here, we need to talk.”

• My Uncle Abused My Sister and We Both Got Hurt

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. My sister Elsa and I were inseparable. Even though she is two years older than me, we took the same dance and Sunday school classes and had the same friends. On days when we played outside after school, she would do my homework for me if she was done first and I would do the same for her.