I stopped going to George C. Gills after I skipped the first time. I never called, or came by to return my books…I just stopped going.

It’s not like I wanted to be a secretary or anything anyways. I didn’t want to be like the girls that sat in the front row with their ratted hair, snapping their gum and flirting with the teacher.

I was going to be an actress.

I begged and begged to go to the actors workshop downtown. I had been in all of my school plays for as far as I could remember, I was drawn to the stage, to the theatre. But everyone said it was indecent, and downtown was for dime-a-dance girls and alcoholics.

But I used to sneak away some days. And it was exciting. I would sit and drink coffee in the cafes, and I would overhear conversations, and drink it all in…I knew that somehow, I’d make it there. I’d break away from the social restrictions.

But now there weren’t any.