Chapter 4 In my past life , Mom chose to walk away with nothing to get custody of me . ] ] Dad had broken her heart so completely that she took me and left that painful place , heading for a bigger city . [ ] A middle - aged woman with no work experience , on her own with a kid in tow - we could barely survive day to day . [ ] Desperate to make money , she even got scammed out of what little savings we had left . We ended up wandering the city like homeless people . When Mom saw that I couldn't even stay in school , she regretted everything and called Dad , begging him to take me back to live with him . Dad coldly refused : " No way . My wife's pregnant , and she's high - risk . Can't have any complications . You and Sienna need to tough it out a little longer . " ] He hung up , and Mom stood there in the darkness holding the phone for the longest time . [] After that , Mom never mentioned Dad in front of me again . She threw herself into making money with the fury of someone who hated the whole world , working three jobs a day . : she'd get up to help someone sell breakfast ; [ ] 8 AM to 6 PM : she did housekeeping ; 7.PM to midnight : she picked up a cleaning job at the movie theater . The jobs weren't what stressed her out most - it was my education . ] ] When we got to this city , Mom ran to every middle school trying to get me enrolled , finally finding out about the best one in town . The best middle school meant the best teachers , but it also meant sky - high standards for students . I'd been top of my class back in our small town , but that didn't mean much in the big city . Mom had no connections , no network . If she wanted to get me into that school , she was on her own . [ ] Every single day , she'd show up at the principal's office , cleaning it for free , getting kicked out countless times , but she'd swallow her pride and go right back to begging But that alone wasn't going to move the principal There were plenty of kids with connections waiting in line . Then Mom overheard one of the school janitors mention that the principal's elderly mother was sick in the hospital Chapter 4 Mom went to the hospital and took care of the principal's mother - helping her with everything , more devoted and hardworking than any of the old woman's actual relatives . When the old woman was discharged , she told the principal : " You have to help Sharon . " [ ] Sharon was my mom . [ ] The principal was a good son , and just like that , I got into that middle school . I knew the opportunity was precious . Other kids just studied hard - I studied like my life depended on it . Like mother , like daughter . [ ] Mom worked herself to the bone making money , and her daughter studied herself to the bone . [ ] thes