According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Tweenager: “a young person between the ages of approximately eight and twelve.” A collective jumble of years, that for most were filled with awkward conversations, the end of elementary school, and balancing on a constant tightrope of still receiving a kids menu while switching from Disney Channel to the CW.

Imagine sitting at a desk, papers and books filling every possible space. The teacher at the front of the class speaks with a fast, steady speed; you wish she would go slow, or stop talking altogether. Your eyes are heavy, and your brain is full. I can’t do this much longer, you think, how much more can I take? The pencil in your hand is beginning to feel like lead-- hard to drag across any page. The memory of shiny plaques and printed names displayed across the school hallways comes across your brain, you used to want that so bad, now you feel like you can’t do anything at all. Sitting at a desk numbly listening to the teacher, pencil in hand, ready to write an essay that you know, will never be written.