Piecing Me Together

By October, Jade has her routine down: she rides the bus and she eats lunch with Sam, and they often ride home together. Today, Jade is taking a different bus to go to the first Woman to Woman meeting in Northeast Portland. She meets Sam at her locker after school and Sam jokes about the woman who’s going to change Jade’s life. They laugh. Outside, Sam says that at least people notice that Jade needs to talk to someone; nobody thinks Sam needs anything. Sam walks away before Jade can ask her what she needs.

Jade arrives at the appointed library. She accepts her nametag and packet and she finds a seat where she can wait for her mentor, Maxine, to arrive. Then, Jade discreetly takes refreshments and she sneaks them into her backpack. When Jade finally makes a plate to eat, she returns to her seat. A girl named Jasmine is sitting next to Jade—her mentor isn’t here yet either. Then, a woman calls everyone to attention. She introduces herself as Sabrina, the founder and director of Woman to Woman, and she explains that she started the program to promote sisterhood and attend to the needs of girls. As she speaks, a regal-looking woman arrives, gets a nametag, and sits down next to Jasmine. Jade feels awful.

Sabrina continues. She recites the adage that teaching a man to fish feeds him for a lifetime, but she says this doesn’t go far enough. Rather, people need to teach the man why the river is polluted so they can organize and clean it up to serve the whole community. She smiles and she says that this is what the program is about: they’ll discuss barriers to success and figure out how to overcome them. Sabrina then asks everyone to make a circle so they can play a name game. Jade thinks this is stupid, especially since Maxine isn’t here, so she sneaks out. At the bus stop, a drunk man asks Jade for her number by name. Jades realizes she’s still wearing her nametag, rips it off, and walks to the next stop when the man tries to kiss her.

At home, E.J. is already folding down the sofa for bed. Mom is on her way out to Ms. Louise, but she can tell that Jade is upset. Jade explains that Mom seems to read minds and have premonitions, like she did on the night E.J.’s best friend, Alan, was killed. Nothing has been the same since then. E.J. isn’t fine, but Mom seems to believe E.J. when he says he is. Jade says her mentor didn’t come and that she left. Mom points out that Jade should’ve said something, but Jade insists that she didn’t want to interrupt. Mom grouses that Jade needs to stand up for herself, but Jade cuts Mom off and shoos her out the door. Jade tries to do homework, but she thinks about what Mom said. She doesn’t think she’s shy; she just has a hard time saying things like this.