Disclaimer: I wrote this for an English grade.

Content Warning: Misogyny, abuse, racism

MAGS

I'll be out of here soon.

That's the one thing I had been thinking from the evening of my sixteenth birthday to the day I left home and never looked back.

For as long as I can remember, my father has never liked me. Almost every day, I had to hear something different. "She'll never be a baseball player; why don't you sign her up for a women's sport?" "Blue is a man's colour; get her the pink one." And of course, my personal 'favourite': "No daughter of mine is going to run away with some no-good hoodlum." When my younger brother David came along, he was all smiles and doted on him like a prince. That's when I made the connection: my father doesn't like me because I'm a girl. I was seven years old when I realized that.

When I got older and started to hit the preteen years, I got defiant. I would talk back, fight back, and just do anything to have a backbone. It rarely worked, and usually just ended in more shouting, more tears, and a couple of groundings here and there. I don't feel bad because I failed; I feel bad because of the example I set for my little sister. Poor Deborah; she had to see me fail to stand up for myself time after time when she was so little. I feel like it's my fault that she ended up as such a pushover.

But the final straw; the moment where I had finally had enough, and the moment I realized I was no longer a girl but a woman, came when I turned sixteen.

I was the oldest kid in my family; when this happened, David was twelve, and Deborah was eight. Since I had the first sweet sixteen, my mother wanted it to be super special. She invited my aunt Millie over, got my favourite ice cream and cake, and bought a beautiful dress for me to wear. All over my Visage and Fallovr, I got hearts and messages from even people I barely talked to. It was magical; I felt like a princess.

And then came dinner time.

At first, it was nice. My mother had made my favourite Caesar salad and veggie burgers, and Deborah presented me with a handmade birthday card with me wearing my nice dress on it. I was happy, at first, until the adults started talking and the topic of my ex-boyfriend came up. My dad never liked him because he was darker than me, and when I found out he was cheating on me, he started to hold it over my head and use it to excuse his bigotry.

"Mags, honey, he's just one bad apple. I'm sure that you're going to find yourself a true special someone someday." Dear old Aunt Millie was super nice about the whole situation.

"That's what she gets for dating outside the boundaries," my father grumbled. Mom and Aunt Millie both looked at each other with that oh-so familiar 'oh no' look.

"Humphrey, she's a teenager. She's going to fall in love with whoever she wants," said Mom. It sounded like she had been preparing for this the second I came home with a moose.

"And look where that got her," said my father. "This is why fathers are supposed to find suitors for their daughters."

"The 1800s are over," said Aunt Millie, scowling at my father.

My father stood up. Unlike my mother, Deborah, or even me, he had a hard time shutting down Aunt Millie. "I'm the head of this family, and you will not speak to me like that."

"Oh, please," snarled Aunt Millie. "You've never been family to me. Sure, you married my sister, but you treat her and your daughters like garbage."

"Mildred, I am the man of the house and I will not have my daughter going around acting like a-" Then he called me the S word; the final straw before I just.

Completely.

Snapped.

"She's right! And you're not family to me either! You have never been my family! It's always been nothing but clipping my wings and shooting me down! I had to give up my dream of being a baseball star because of you! I had to stop working at the market with Triton because of you! All while getting nothing but put-downs and insults! You're not my family because you don't love me! You've never loved me and when I move out, you're never gonna see me again!"

After that, I stormed to my room and slammed the door. I laid face-first on my bed and just cried. Everything I'd been holding back for years had just come spilling out all over the table, garnished with venom.

The door creaked, and then David was by my side. "Aunt Millie dragged Dad outside to yell at him. Come on, Mom brought out the cake."

I looked up, and he took my arm and pulled me into the kitchen. There, Mom had indeed brought out the cake and was letting Deborah help light the candles. Mom set the cake in front of me. "I'm sorry about your father, Margaret. Trust me, your aunt and I will make sure you don't get in trouble for this."

"He deserved it," said David.

I steadied my shoulders and blew out the candles. I felt good about myself for finally getting to stand up for real. David handed me a small box. I opened it to find a chain necklace with a baseball charm. I beamed.

My mom hugged me and told me "You were very brave doing what you just did. You're going to achieve great things."

That was ten years ago. After that day, my father never tried anything with me again. I moved out at eighteen and cut him completely out of my life. I still keep up with Mom, Aunt Millie, David, and Deborah, though, and it makes me especially happy that they both found partners; especially since Deborah is also "dating outside the boundaries".

I'm Margaret. And I am not a girl, but a woman.

MAGS

I'm getting graded on this, so I hope it was good.