My Parents' Separation

It was a Sunday—the last day of the Shrek Jr. performance. After the final show, we had an afterparty in the cafeteria to celebrate. The party was so much fun. We signed T-shirts, danced, sang our hearts out, and ate way too much junk food. When it was over, we helped the parent volunteers clean up, and then it was time to head home.

On the way back, my mom said there was something important we needed to talk about. I didn’t think much of it at first. But once we got home and sat down in the living room, everything changed.

My mom and dad looked at each other, and then they said:
“We are going to be separating.”

I froze. It felt like a punch to the chest. A million emotions hit me all at once—I didn’t know what to think or feel. I was completely lost. My parents asked if we had any questions, but I had nothing to say. I couldn’t find any words. My little sister, Aadhya, didn’t react. She just sat there quietly.

I tried my best to keep it together, but the second I got to my room, I locked the door and broke down. I sobbed like I never had before. I didn’t know what to do or who to turn to—until I picked up my phone and called my best friend, Sophia.

The moment she answered, I burst into tears. Through the crying, I told her, “My parents are separating.” I couldn’t stop crying. She listened and told me she’d sit with me at lunch and that I could call her anytime I needed to talk. That gave me a small glimmer of hope—but inside, I still felt completely overwhelmed.

After the call, my mom came upstairs and asked if we could talk. I didn’t feel ready, so I told her, “Can we talk later?” I stayed in my room the rest of the night. I cried until I had no tears left. I couldn’t sleep at all.

Everything felt like it had changed in a moment.

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It was Monday. I felt like rotting in bed. I didn’t want to show my face at school. I was overwhelmed with emotions.

When I got to school, I looked for my homeroom teacher, Ms. Moy—who’s also my science teacher. I asked if we could talk privately. As soon as we were in the hallway, I told her about my parents' separation. The tears came rushing back. I couldn’t hold them in. I felt completely lost.

She gently asked if I wanted to see the guidance counselor, but I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk to more people about it. Everything inside me felt jumbled and heavy.

I pulled myself together as best as I could and walked into class. After the bell rang, I got up from my seat and quietly made my way to civics. My civics teacher, Mr. Lemay, is a kind and humble person. When I walked in, I asked if we could speak privately. He nodded and stepped outside with me.

The moment we were alone, I broke down. I told him about the separation and how hard everything had been. Through my tears, I asked if I could take the test another time.

He looked at me and said, “Listen to me, your parents love you no matter what. They’ll always support you.”

Then he added, “Of course you can take the test another day.”

I nodded, trying to collect myself before going back into the classroom. My friend Helen was waiting for me and asked what was wrong. I whispered, “I’ll tell you at lunch.”

Then I put my head down and cried quietly.

The next class was Engineering. I hated that class. I tried to look as normal as possible, hoping no one would suspect anything. When I got there, we were watching a video about how bridges are engineered. I laid my head down and held back my tears as the video played across the screen.

After Engineering, I had Spanish. When I got to the room, Señora Roman wasn’t there yet. I waited quietly. When she finally came in, I asked if I could speak with her in the hallway. She said,

 “Yes, let me get class started and then we can talk.”

She got the class settled, and once it was time for independent work—we were working on how to conjugate verbs in the past tense—she took me into the hallway. I told her about my parents’ separation. I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore. She listened, then told me she had gone through the same thing growing up. She said if I ever needed anything, I could come to her. Then she asked if I wanted to go to the counselor’s office.This time, I said yes.

She told me to gather my things and gave me a pass. When I arrived at the office, I signed in. After about five minutes, a counselor came to get me. She wasn’t the one assigned to my team—Team Alliance—but she said I could come with her anyway.

Once we were in her office, she shut the door and asked gently, “What brings you here?”

I told her about my parents’ separation—how hard it’s been. I cried more than I ever have before. She asked when I found out, how my sisters were handling it, and what I was could do to take care of myself. She suggested that therapy might be a helpful tool.

About ten minutes later, another counselor walked in—Ms. Robinson. She’s the guidance counselor for Team Alliance. She told me that Mr. Lemay and Ms. Moy had already spoken to her, along with Ms. Casey (my English teacher) and Mr. Karanja (my math teacher) during the team meeting. They had told her how I was feeling, and the emotions I’d been dealing with. She told me she was really sorry I was going through this.

Next was English. I didn’t want to miss it—we were watching Hamilton. Ms. Robinson offered me additional time to stay  but I told her I wanted to go to class, so she wrote me a pass, and I walked to class.

When I walked in, independent reading was already over. We did the attendance question like always, but I barely heard it. I took my seat quietly, thankful no one asked anything. The lights dimmed and Hamilton played across the screen. I watched in silence, the music in the background filling the space where words were too hard to speak.

I was so, so grateful we didn’t have to talk. My voice felt buried somewhere deep inside me, and I wasn’t ready to bring it out.

After the bell rang, I headed to science. As I walked down the hallway, my friend Jua came running up to me and spilled the latest tea. It actually distracted me from my broken self for a moment.

It was lab day, so that meant I had to talk to the others in my group. We were working with hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and a bunch of other things. At our table, we divided up the tasks. I took notes, while Jua and Aydin—my crush—ran the experiments.

I was feeling low, like usual, and Aydin noticed. He asked me what was wrong, but I didn’t hear him the first time. When he asked again, I heard him, but I brushed it off so he wouldn’t get suspicious about what was really going on. Just then, Ms. Moy walked by and asked why we stopped the experiment. Aydin quickly jumped in and asked if I wanted to add the baking soda to the vinegar. I agreed and poured the vinegar in. 

After we finished the labs, he gently brought it up again. I didn’t really feel like talking about it, but I ended up telling him. More tears came out as I told him about the separation. He looked genuinely sorry and was really empathetic. He told me that if I ever needed to talk, he’d be there to listen.  After that I felt a little hope in me. 

After science class was over, it was finally time for lunch. I could finally get this weight off my shoulders. As I checked out my lunch, I waited at the table for all my friends to arrive so I could tell them the news. While I was waiting, Sophia joined me. It was around Ramadan, so she couldn’t eat anything, but she sat with me anyway.

When all my friends arrived, I told them the news. I wasn’t really crying much anymore, but I still felt empty. My friends hugged me and told me everything was going to be okay.                                                                              

After lunch, it was time for math class—the last class of the day. We were playing Jeopardy, so it was a bit more relaxed. I tried to act as normal as possible. When the final bell rang, I felt so relieved to leave school and not have to face anyone anymore.

When I got home, all I wanted to do was rot in bed. I didn’t want to show my face to anyone. Neither of my parents were home, so thankfully, I didn’t have to face them. The only homework I had was a math packet for the tutoring class I take after school. There weren’t many pages left, so I finished it pretty quickly.

After that, I just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about what might happen next. Eventually, I decided I should try to be productive, so I got up and checked my emails.

At the top of my inbox was a message from my civics teacher. When I read it, something shifted—it gave me the light I didn’t know I needed. In that moment, I realized that maybe things weren’t falling apart. Maybe they were just starting to come together in a new way.