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Back Verona Comics
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  52. CHAPTER FIFTY
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  55. RESOURCES
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  57. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  58. What’s next onyour reading list?

My mom’s face falls; she still gets nervous when I talk about him. “Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“He had my whole repertoire on that flash drive. I figured I didn’t really have anything to lose, so I emailed it to them last minute and asked to be considered after all. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to get your hopes up. The application fee was nonrefundable anyway—I thought we may as well make them work for it.”

“Oh my god, baby.” Vera laughs. “You did it; you’re going to the conservatory!”

And then I realize what the letter doesn’t say, and my stomach drops to the floor.

“What’s wrong?” my mom asks.

I flip the paper over and look in the envelope, but there’s nothing else besides a brochure. I swallow hard. “I didn’t . . . I didn’t get the scholarship, though.”

“Let us worry about that,” Vera says. “You got in. You’re going.”

“It’s too much.”

“We’ve been setting aside little bits for this whenever we could, just in case.” My mom gets up and kisses my head. “And Vera’s been having a very good year on Kickstarter.”

“Wipe that worried look off your face.” Vera smiles. “Because you’re going to the summer program, Jubi. You did it. You did it!”

“Oh my god. I’m going to Carnegie!” I squeal as they smother me in hugs.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

PEAK: Are you still in Boston?

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Ridley

IT’S SUNNY OUT, borderline too hot, but not too humid for mid-August, and I’m sitting on a picnic table, waiting. She’s late. A part of me thinks she’s not coming, but I am prepared to sit here all day.

I pull out my phone and make a note of that in the app. I should probably mention that in group, just to be sure. I think it’s probably okay, though. I think some people are worth the wait. But what do I know? As my therapist says, I’m still “recalibrating my normal meter.” I’ve graduated back to outpatient, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.

It turns out I have a whole host of issues, which I knew going in, but there are also a lot of ways to manage them, which I definitely did not know. Apparently when you’re the child of narcissists and not the golden child and predisposed to mental health problems, it kind of fucks you up extra. But we’re working on it, and it’s mostly okay.