SHe'll turn eighteen in February, he tells himself, it's only seven more months, he can leave as soon as he's eighteen. The only way out is through, he reminds himself. He doesn't have anywhere to go, he reminds himself, and they'd call the police, and he can't leave and he can't run and he just has to endure. He can do that. He can be good at that. 

He makes ill-advised choices regarding Harriet Hook that are nonetheless better than not making them, and he doesn't eat whenever he can avoid it, and he avoids counselors' eyes and he sits through group sessions on performing your gender correctly and he does whatever he has to to not be recommended to somewhere even worse and he endures. This is what he's good at. This is the one single thing he's good at that it's still good to be good at. 

SHe'll turn eighteen in February, he tells himself, it's only seven more months, he can leave as soon as he's eighteen. The only way out is through, he reminds himself. He doesn't have anywhere to go, he reminds himself, and they'd call the police, and he can't leave and he can't run and he just has to endure. He can do that. He can be good at that. 

He makes ill-advised choices regarding Harriet Hook that are nonetheless better than not making them, and he doesn't eat whenever he can avoid it, and he avoids counselors' eyes and he sits through group sessions on performing your gender correctly and he does whatever he has to to not be recommended to somewhere even worse and he endures. This is what he's good at. This is the one single thing he's good at that it's still good to be good at.