• My Father’s New Family

  by Jaya Arellano

  Names have been changed. It was Christmas Eve, just after my 12th birthday. My parents had divorced earlier that year, and I had just found out that my dad had already married someone else. I’d never even met his girlfriend-now-wife.  My dad picked up my younger sister Ana and me outside our mom’s to take us to the mall to Christmas shop.

• Did I Get COVID-19?

  by Marvin Lezama

  During the last week of March, my older brother came home from work one day a little sneezy. The following day I began to sneeze. I hoped it was seasonal allergies. I did not want to assume the worst. My brother works as a supermarket clerk, delivering groceries.

• I Was a Second Mother to My Baby Sister

  by L.V.

  Names have been changed. “Valentina, stop crying!” I said, frustrated. I was trying to do my homework, but my newborn sister was fussing. “I don’t know what to do with you anymore!” I was 12 years old, and it was my job to take care of her, even though I didn’t know anything about babies.

• 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.”

• Pregnant at 13: What I Wish I’d Heard

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. Growing up, most of what I knew about sex I learned from TV or heard about from friends. We didn’t know from experience: None of us had had sex. We called ourselves the virgin crew. My Aunt Gina, who I lived with when I was 12, never talked about sex or how to protect myself.

• 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.