seananmcguire:

projectendo:

I love the term “legally an adult” because it implies there are illegal methods of becoming an adult. black market adulthood

Fourteen years old with double-D breasts so new they still ache at night, unwanted guests who will never go away.  When she gets cornered by men twice her age, they’ll say they thought she was eighteen and the police will believe them, because “ha ha her boobs come into the room before she does.”  Her voice still sounds like Pokemon cards and Saturday morning cartoons.  Her age is not a shock to anyone, but they’ll still take it away from her in their own defense.

Fifteen years old and tall for his age, with dark skin and shoulders he hunches because he isn’t comfortable, yet, being the size he is, much less the size he will be.  Or would be.  When he startles a man with a gun by coming around a corner too fast (because otherwise he won’t be home in time to play PS4 with his friends), he’ll take three bullets to the chest before there’s time to put up his hands.  His age will be forgotten in the public trial that follows, the one that turns him into a monster to make a hero out of a coward.

“Legally adult” is used to distinguish between the period where you can be afforded the punishments and protections of your age, and the period where you can be slapped down for daring to survive to reach puberty.