I go back to my bedroom, sit in front of my computer, turn off my phone, and stare at my computer screen. The only thing that motivates me to work on my history paper is the deep-rooted desire to procrastinate my college essay. So I churn out a five-pager on Pearl Harbor in under two hours. I have written a clear and concise thesis statement, and I have effectively proven it with every word and paragraph that follows. It’s the kind of paper my history teacher will use as an example for future students. It is well written and engaging and grammatically correct. It is all the things I always am, because good grades are the only part of myself I feel like I can control. A high GPA can provide some necessary solace when the rest of your brain is so out of whack. That’s why mine is a 4.7.

GABRIELA

My moms and I live just above the poverty line—but not compared to any of the kids in our swanky school district. Winchester is one of the best high schools in the county, and it allows rich parents to feel morally superior for still sending their kids to public school. I don’t actually live in our upscale district, but one of Elena’s favorite professors at San José State said we could use her address to get me in.

The reality of our unstable finances has never been ideal or convenient, but I try to remind myself that living paycheck to paycheck is the trade-off to living in California. If we flew the coop and settled down in some rural town in Mississippi or Alabama, I’d probably have an actual bedroom, but that’s not a sacrifice I’m willing to make. I’d rather be poor in a progressive bubble than middle-class in a racist and homophobic one. Not that everyone who lives in a red state is racist, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that Mexican lesbian moms wouldn’t go over as well in the Bible Belt. So, all things considered, I don’t have a lot of hang-ups about the fact that I sleep on a sofa bed and that sometimes I have to hold my pee for an unhealthy period of time because we have only one bathroom—but that’s the cost of entry in liberal America.